LIVE Paint Drying Battle

UPDATE: On the advice of CCP Explorer I started a Eve forum thread for feedback on the Event.

I have a serious love/hate relationship with events in Eve. So much so that I've created more than my fair share of them since the first DeathRace zipped thru Providence back in 2010. For that event I was stuck on a hi-sec gate waiting to record the finish. No play for Rixx. Since then we've had Frill Fleets, Frigate-Free-For-Alls and many other player driven events that I've either helped promote, or participated in. Most of which, went off without a snag.

Then there are the "LIVE" events driven by CCP or their agents. Obviously they get much more attention than player-driven events - which means more players show up for them. Which means insane amounts of lag or, as we call it these days, TiDi. Don't get me wrong, I really do love the 'idea' of these. Who wouldn't? Massive participation. Lots of ships. Excitement. Adventure. Sounds like a grand plan.

But it is never like that. Mostly my experience tends to fall into this example, "oh look, Rixx is here!" BOOM! Pod back home. I never made it to Asakai to shoot the Titan. I lived about five seconds on grid in Syndicate. And last night, well last night was something special. I did get to see the Revenant.

Nearly 5,000 people in Nisuwa last night is something to celebrate. 10% TiDi is something to hate. This wasn't my first experience fighting in 10%, but for many of those that showed up it was. It is a horrible experience. You cannot sugar coat it. It sucked balls.

Brackets off. Overview skimmed down to nothing. Quick locking rail fitted Ares is what I brought, totally to whore on as many kms as possible. And yet, strangely enough, I never locked anyone. Never fired a gun. The Revenant varied from about 14k to 75k from my ship and the target lock kept dying as the range varied inside and outside of lock range. I think. I can't be sure. One is never sure exactly what your ship is doing, is it responding to your last command? Or one you gave ten minutes ago?

Eventually I just gave up, warped to a safe and logged off. At least I survived this time.

Like I said, I love the idea of these types of events. They could be epic. But they are so far from being epic right now it isn't funny. As always I worry about this. I worry that this was the first massive experience many of those that showed up last night have had. What are they walking away with? What is their impression of Eve this morning?

I think about the time I sat in the darkness of a jump into a 2,500 player battle for 45 minutes, before TiDi was invented, and wonder which experience is better? I have to say, neither. Massive player fleet battles are a nut that remains to be cracked. As much as I love solo and small gang warfare in Eve, I also love the 'idea' of massive fleet battles. It is just sad that only one of those is actually a viable option right now.

On the bright side, I don't think I got podded this time.