First of all I am all for content that expands interest in Low Sec space, engages the player base and opens up new avenues for that engagement. 100%. I just want to make that clear from the beginning. I think Havoc sounds like a lot of fun for a lot of players. And it is also good to see the Jovians show up, at least their technology, and open up some new ships and new areas of space. It is all great stuff and kudos to everyone at CCP who worked on this expansion.
It just all makes my life harder. As soon as people heard the word "pirates" they all immediately started asking me if I would be joining a pirate faction. Literally right there in the audience when it was announced. And then my Discord started lighting up with the same questions, would Stay Frosty be joining a pirate faction? While understandable, it does highlight the continuing challenges I have faced during the last decade in keeping the old-school Pirate flame burning inside of Eve Online.
NPC pirate factions are fun. Lore is great. But these are not player-driven factions. And they are certainly not Pirates with a capital P. Stay Frosty is a Pirate Corporation with a capital P. We are a player-driven corporation inside of Eve Online. We fight everyone. We don't have blues. We have friends. We help people from time to time. And we often host incredible events for everyone to enjoy. But we are 100% about good fights, YARRR, and mastering the martial art of PvP in solo and small gang warfare.
We didn't join a militia when Uprising launched and we won't be joining any NPC pirate factions when Havoc launches. Why eliminate a chunk of potential targets? We'll happily show up and engage everyone on all sides of the aisle and sow our own form of chaos and suppression and corruption thank you. Just like we always have.
And we'll take those hard-earned BPCs from your cargo, thank you.
I love the idea of Havoc and I fully support it. It's just not for us.
Otherwise, WOW. Sitting in Iceland watching those gates go live - LIVE - was awesome.