The 9th Annual FF4A is in the record books. The wrecks are being salvaged, drones collected, transport ships full of stolen frigates are being exploded, and the dust has settled. And while we haven't gotten official word or results from CCP yet - I am going to claim a victory for this year's event. Somewhere around 13,000 total ship explosions, somewhere around 10,000 ships handed out in six hours, and somewhere around 3,500 total participants over those six hours. Wow.
As we expected this year's event was not the record breaker that last year's event turned out to be. And while we are 100% pleased with the results, several factors went into limiting the turnout to this year's event. Mostly that boils down to bad-timing with several alliances involved in on-going Null Sec Wars. Last year we had a healthy number of participants from alliances that are now deeply involved with fighting in Null Sec. And, obviously, they were unable to attend in significant numbers. Totally understandable. And nothing anyone can do about that.
Also, with the new FW mechanics an entire faction was unable to dock in any stations inside of Ouelletta. Some found ways around this mechanic by bringing in ships ahead of time and putting up POS in local to store them in. But essentially this caused some significant drop in participation numbers. Again, nothing I can do about game mechanics either. Although I will say that this situation has caused us to seriously consider our options when it comes to hosting next year's FF4A. More on that in an upcoming post.
Something of historical note did happen yesterday - I flew in a Mining Barge for the first time ever! Yes, I bought three large skill injectors last Thursday specifically to train the skills needed to fly the ship. Our alliance mates in Mount Othrys wanted to run a "mining fleet" during the event for lols, so I decided that was such a funny idea that I would join them.
What was intended primarily as fun and a laugh turned out to be pretty awesome. I ended up getting 51 kills in that Procurer, which is now mothballed for history inside one of the stations. Obviously over the years I've used plenty of Procs as bait for various campaigns, I've just never been the one inside the ship. I have a new understanding of why people love this things for combat baiting. Especially when they are RR spider fitted like these were yesterday.
The only negative from yesterday was my disappointment in several well known community players showing up in local with Jackdaws, Osprey Navy Issues, and other ships designed specifically to take advantage of the system being full of T1 Frigates. Let's be honest here, all of us could do this if we wanted. It is choosing not to do it that shows true courage and understanding about what this event is truly all about. The fact that some people I thought I knew, or that are considered well respected in our community choose the easy way - was seriously disappointing.
In case you are wondering what this event is all about:
And no I won't be mentioning anyone by name. They know who they are.
And honestly - nothing else of any consequence happened yesterday.
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Thank you to everyone who attended and had fun. Thank you to everyone who donated to help make this event possible - your donations are extremely appreciated and this event would not be possible without your generosity. Thanks again to Lucifer's Hammer for building the extra 5,000 frigates we needed to top off the supply this year. Thanks to CCP and especially CCP Convict, Swift, Overload, and Zelus for all of your help and support - and for showing up to be exploded. And extra special thanks to all the hard-working and dedicated members of ABA who sat in stations yesterday handing out ships for six hours!!
The FF4A has become a signature event in Eve Online and we are hard at work at making it even better for the 10th Anniversary next year. Ship fittings will be updated (more mwds!) and more ships will be added to the handouts. Other exciting changes are also in the planning stages, so more information about those as they develop.
Onward & Upward.
