May 6th is Eve's 20th Anniversary, Capsuleer Day, and it also happens to be Stay Frosty's 10th Anniversary. In the weeks leading up to this incredible day I will be spending some time talking about both things, as always, but in a bit more detail than usual.
If Stay Frosty could be said to have an over-riding theme it would probably be the concept of "Solo Together" which I've been using pretty much since day one. For most of our history the concept was pretty simple - Stay Frosty was always a collection of mostly solo combat pilots who sometimes flew together. The focus was always on solo first combat with small gang and fleet ops being the rare exception. This is what we became well-known for over the years.
Times change however and nothing has changed things as much as Uprising. Low Sec space, especially in those areas under Factional Warfare - has never been as busy as they are now. But along with increased activity has come increased cooperation and coordination among those who we fight with on a daily basis. Systems have more ships in them now and more enemy targets are working together to achieve their own goals. This has increasingly put pressure on us pirates to, once again, adapt or die.
After Uprising was launched I recommended several changes within our group to try and push those adaptations forward. I recommended daily organized gangs and regular weekly operations to start getting our players together more often, sharing intel, sharing targets, and being available to help each other take down targets beyond what a solo player could be expected to do alone. The first nine years of Stay Frosty focused on the 'solo' part of our theme - but in order to grow and survive our next ten years are going to need to focus on the 'together' part.
This change hasn't been easy. Some pilots have left to seek adventure elsewhere and our overall numbers have dropped slightly year over year. This was not unexpected. In addition, our activity numbers have also seen a slight decline. I freely admit that one stumped me for the last couple of months. But upon further investigation I've finally figured it out. Our Alliance continues to grow and many of our pilots have moved into roles with other corporations within our same alliance, including a brand new WH group. In addition real life has claimed more than a few of our older and often more active members to marriage, new jobs, and other reasons. As Stay Frosty approaches our 10th year, our player base has only gotten older. And that comes along with more responsibilities out here in the real world.
Stay Frosty is slowly and surely transforming into a small gang corporation that also encourages solo combat when possible. We used to do the opposite. Hell, back in 2013 weeks would go by without anyone in our group talking to each other on comms. Lots of things have changed since 2013.
And things will continue to change. Adapt or Die has always been the mantra of all PvP in Eve, especially -10 Pirates. And it will continue to be true for the next decade.
So, we are looking for new blood. If you have been looking for small gang combat experts to fly with inside of Eve Online - consider joining Stay Frosty. Not only do we have daily gangs, but we also have tons of weekly fleets including a regular Saturday Roam with Rixx each week with a different theme every time. We also have a 600+ player alliance with everything you'd need to succeed in-game readily at hand. 10m skillpoints and up, drop a request to join and we'll be in touch with you.
Solo Together.