For the last three months I've been shifting my play style in Eve. From dedicated and often-available fighter dude of awesomeness to a more casual, I only have 30 minutes to play, style. This has not been a very successful transition.
Yesterday I managed two hours in which to play Eve. I accomplished nothing in that two hours.
I'm seriously beginning to worry about the longevity of Eve within the cannon of my entertainment options. When Eve is competing with PS3, DVD/BluRay, Netflix, OnDemand, HBOgo, and the hundred other options available, including other computer based video games, it tends to come up a little short on the scale.
And you should know I am a HUGE EVE on-line fan. Obviously. Do I even need to speak to that? I shouldn't have to.
The days of me burning four hours waiting for a fleet to form up are behind me. I don't have a boosting alt, a scouting alt, or the option to dual box anything useful. I don't fly around with Snakes in my head, mostly because I am a poor pirate who hates making iskies in-game (more time wasted!), and I'm eliminated from probing because of all that mentioned above. So solo awesomeness eludes me for the most part, given that the above are required skills for such an activity.
Frustration mounts. I have ships in my hanger I haven't flown in almost a year. I like flying ships and I like exploding ships. That's it really.
So I remain frustrated at this point. Seriously trying hard to keep the bitter old vet at bay and maintain some entusiasm for a "game" that gives me zero game.
That two hours yesterday? I flew thru Verge, Black Rise and the borders of Caldari space in my Pilgrim looking for a fight. I would've attacked anything even remotely interesting or available. Nothing was. Nothing.
In a station, in a POS, in a mission, seems to be the order of the day in New Eden.
Sigh. I'm not giving up.
A Pilgrim in a strange land
I don't fly Pilgrims very often. I remember hurrying to train for one at some point, but I don't remember why now. In some dark corner of my mind they have always seemed like an excellent choice for solo PvP, but in practice tend to fall short for one reason or another.
Of the dozens and dozens of ships in my hanger, I didn't have a Pilgrim. Having lost the last one back in January. So I sent Anastasia up to Dodixie to buy one for me and fitted a new one up for the week. I figured I'd give it a shot for an entire week and see how I did in it.
While I haven't been able to play much lately, I have managed to squeeze in some time here and there. So let's call it 4 or 5 hours total for the week. I snuck around the pipes, went into dead-end systems, hung out at stars and generally tried to be invisible and wait for someone, anyone, to fall into my trap.
And then I waited some more.
The only success I managed was by accident. I had just undocked in Hevrice when someone mentioned a Typhoon was docked in Jov. I warped to a safe above the Jov gate and waited. My anticipation was nearly zero, since usually these things never materialize when I'm on-line. They usually only happen when I'm not around. But sure enough, the Phoon pilot warped to the Hev gate and I dropped down on him. We all did. It was certainly a gank, even though most of our ships didn't have any dps on the gate.
Mostly however, things like this happened. I jumped into a system with six tasty frigates on the gate. They run off. Being as how I can't kill people on gates, with all my dps coming from fragile drones, I can't stop them.
I come into system and there are three people... either 1) in a POS, 2) docked in station, 3) running a mission, or 4) in something that would kill me. Or worse, with a dozen buddies in the system next door.
Such is the ever exciting life of a pirate in New Eden.
I'm not around when exciting things are happening. I'm not on long enough for exciting things to develop. So I'm pretty much on my own trying to make exciting things happen when I am actually on-line.
This is a problem I haven't developed a solution for.
Tricky this Eve.
Of the dozens and dozens of ships in my hanger, I didn't have a Pilgrim. Having lost the last one back in January. So I sent Anastasia up to Dodixie to buy one for me and fitted a new one up for the week. I figured I'd give it a shot for an entire week and see how I did in it.
While I haven't been able to play much lately, I have managed to squeeze in some time here and there. So let's call it 4 or 5 hours total for the week. I snuck around the pipes, went into dead-end systems, hung out at stars and generally tried to be invisible and wait for someone, anyone, to fall into my trap.
And then I waited some more.
The only success I managed was by accident. I had just undocked in Hevrice when someone mentioned a Typhoon was docked in Jov. I warped to a safe above the Jov gate and waited. My anticipation was nearly zero, since usually these things never materialize when I'm on-line. They usually only happen when I'm not around. But sure enough, the Phoon pilot warped to the Hev gate and I dropped down on him. We all did. It was certainly a gank, even though most of our ships didn't have any dps on the gate.
Mostly however, things like this happened. I jumped into a system with six tasty frigates on the gate. They run off. Being as how I can't kill people on gates, with all my dps coming from fragile drones, I can't stop them.
I come into system and there are three people... either 1) in a POS, 2) docked in station, 3) running a mission, or 4) in something that would kill me. Or worse, with a dozen buddies in the system next door.
Such is the ever exciting life of a pirate in New Eden.
I'm not around when exciting things are happening. I'm not on long enough for exciting things to develop. So I'm pretty much on my own trying to make exciting things happen when I am actually on-line.
This is a problem I haven't developed a solution for.
Tricky this Eve.
The Modern Accumulation of Senseless Toxins
I've been playing Eve for almost four years now. I started playing for a wide variety of reasons, but none more important or profound than who I started playing with. My son introduced me to Eve. This happened shortly after he started living with me again full-time after I divorced his evil Mother. He was thirteen at the time and Eve gave us something that we could share, talk about endlessly and do together.
Eve saw me through a very painful and expensive divorce. Eve saw me through a difficult period in my professional life, the heights of success and the devastating lows of defeat. Eve saw me thru new love, a new life with a wonderful wife and new family. Eve saw me thru to the other side.
And much of that journey was chronicled here in the pages of this blog.
But nothing stays static. Life slides onward. Things change. That thirteen year old is eighteen now and preparing to move on into his own life. My three other boys are growing up fast and two of them have special needs that take time, effort and care to deal with. My old business is gone and a new one has taken its place. I'm four years older. Life has slid.
As it will for all of us.
I'm extremely proud of the virtual Eve community, my friends, enemies, fellow bloggers and those that I have helped along the way. And I'm proud of all that we accomplished together here and thru this silly little blog. So thank you all for that. Sincerely.
I may very well never stop playing Eve. I have often said as much within these pages. My time in-game may be limited at the moment, but those things tend to come and go across the months and years. Lately Eve has stepped back somewhat to other, more important, things in my life.
But I've also made another decision. My time in Eve will once more return to how it started that very first day. As a private citizen. Eveoganda, for all intents and purposes, is closing for business today.
I'm just another pilot in the vast sea. Another stone that causes a ripple here and there and is gone once more. My intention is to focus solely on my abilities as a pilot, to have fun when I can and to enjoy the serious business as often as life will allow. Quietly and without fanfare.
I could keep writing. I haven't lost the enthusiasm for it. But this blog is entwined in a life that no longer exists. And while that concept may be difficult for some of you to understand, others out there reading those words, will know exactly what I'm talking about. The man that wrote this blog is dead.
A new man has taken his place. And it is about time I realized it.
Keep the courage.
Fade to black.
Eve saw me through a very painful and expensive divorce. Eve saw me through a difficult period in my professional life, the heights of success and the devastating lows of defeat. Eve saw me thru new love, a new life with a wonderful wife and new family. Eve saw me thru to the other side.
And much of that journey was chronicled here in the pages of this blog.
But nothing stays static. Life slides onward. Things change. That thirteen year old is eighteen now and preparing to move on into his own life. My three other boys are growing up fast and two of them have special needs that take time, effort and care to deal with. My old business is gone and a new one has taken its place. I'm four years older. Life has slid.
As it will for all of us.
I'm extremely proud of the virtual Eve community, my friends, enemies, fellow bloggers and those that I have helped along the way. And I'm proud of all that we accomplished together here and thru this silly little blog. So thank you all for that. Sincerely.
I may very well never stop playing Eve. I have often said as much within these pages. My time in-game may be limited at the moment, but those things tend to come and go across the months and years. Lately Eve has stepped back somewhat to other, more important, things in my life.
But I've also made another decision. My time in Eve will once more return to how it started that very first day. As a private citizen. Eveoganda, for all intents and purposes, is closing for business today.
I'm just another pilot in the vast sea. Another stone that causes a ripple here and there and is gone once more. My intention is to focus solely on my abilities as a pilot, to have fun when I can and to enjoy the serious business as often as life will allow. Quietly and without fanfare.
I could keep writing. I haven't lost the enthusiasm for it. But this blog is entwined in a life that no longer exists. And while that concept may be difficult for some of you to understand, others out there reading those words, will know exactly what I'm talking about. The man that wrote this blog is dead.
A new man has taken his place. And it is about time I realized it.
Keep the courage.
Fade to black.
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