Recently I’ve been sort of bad for bouncing between games. I just reactivated my Eve Online account. Not long ago I started playing World of Warcraft again, but I haven’t done much with it. I played a full season of Madden 10, winning the Superbowl with my Dolphins, then putting it down. I started playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, but realized quickly that so many people are way ahead of me in unlocks… so I die fairly often. Just bought Borderlands recently, seems like a good game so far. Oh and I downloaded Final Fantasy 7 off the Playstation Network.

It’s just felt a little weird lately, how I can’t seem to stay committed to a certain game. I was pretty dedicated to playing WoW for around 4 years, but none of these other games seem to pull me in as much. I do really enjoy Eve, but since my wife has had pretty much no interest in it, it cuts down on my playtime some. I do plan on playing it, but I’m also waiting on a few other games to come out.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2 – I’ve long been a fan of shooters, all the way back to the days of Unreal and Quake. I’ve been in “clans” for various shooters, which is really where it gets to be a lot more fun than your average play. I lead a Clan for awhile for Battlefield 1942, playing the Desert Combat mod. So after seeing the below preview, I’m definitely looking forward to checking out this game. The big debate is whether to buy it for PC or PS3.

Left 4 Dead 2 – If you haven’t played the original, I highly suggest picking it up. There have been an abundance of “zombie shooters” over the past few years and this one is actually pretty decent. Fair warning though – there is very little storyline to this, it’s all about killing massive hoards of zombies, as it should be.

Final Fantasy XIII – I’ve long been a huge fan of the Final Fantasy series, starting with the original. FF7 was definitely one of the best RPG type games of all-time in my book. The last few haven’t been as great, but by all looks they are bringing the series back to some of it’s roots with 13. The graphics are just drool-worthy. I am really hoping this one turns out well, I am definitely going to pick it up when it releases in the spring.

Last but definitely not least, I am really looking forward to playing Star Wars: The Old Republic. If you haven’t heard about this one, it’s an MMO being developed by none other than Bioware, the same RPG masters that created Neverwinter Nights and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, two of the most acclaimed RPG’s in the past 10 years. I’m really excited to see if this MMO will be better than the other Star Wars one, which was a huge flop imo.

So, what games are you looking forward to?

Last eve, we visited a tavern in Ilshenar near the Humility shrine. Many foul creatures roam near the area; I can see how quickly someone not paying attention to their surroundings would learn Humility. Skylar and I were able to safely make it to the tavern, though we did have to assist one unfortunate soul who had succumbed to the foul Junta. I remember the time when the Junta first appeared in Sosaria, but I will leave that to another page. I placed Zeus in a nearby stable, though I found it strange to see it was empty of any stable hands. Thusly, did I have to check on Zeus every so often to ensure he did not get angry with me for not feeding him. He can be so foul-tempered if not fed.

The tavern was not very crowded yet when we first arrived, though it filled quickly as the hour grew late. I was most pleased to see such a gathering, as my return had not brought me into much contact with old friends yet. Pleasantly surprised was I then, to see a very old and familiar face – none other than Talon Skyfire, the illustrious leader of Sanctus. There were others as well, some of whom I had come into contact with already – Malicite from Moonglow; the Sheriff of Britain, Orelen, who is also currently a nominee for the Regent position; and quite a few others whom I did not recognize from my previous life here.

Much happened throughout the eve, too much to even put down on your pages here. Most significantly though, discussion of past times, past glories and battles, old friends and groups did occur. The topic even turned at one point to my most cherished memories, those of my time in the Heralds of the Awakening. I shall never forget my time spent as Sage of Honor. Talking about those times brought back so many old faces – the Oracles – Aleph and Azrielle Aeirs, Dayel Stormcrow, all mentors of mine. My fellow Sages – Lilyth Noir and Molly Teach, Analeiza and Jenna, Narisse and Lionel, Kronos and Thorin, and even the orc, Gub-Gub. Oh, how I miss each and every one of them!

Talk turned from this, of course, to the Virtues themselves. Quite a grand discussion took place. It surely made me remember giving classes during my time as a Sage. I have to admit that the dialogue did leave me deep in thought over my cherished Virtues. It seems that much of Sosaria these days does not hold the Virtues as dear, which greatly saddens me. Unquestionably, something should be done to return the people to our fold.

After Skylar and I left the tavern, we returned home to our bed. Unfortunately, my mind was afire from the discussions of the evening. I was unable to rest, so alight was my mind – as Skylar likes to say, “the cogs were turning”. I quietly crept from under the covers and padded downstairs, pulling on my clothing. Off into the night I rode, Zeus carrying me as ever to my destination. As I rode, I pulled out an old runebook that I had not used in many years – since right before my departure from beloved Sosaria. Opening it slowly, I saw the inscriptions for an all too familiar place. Murmuring the words, I felt the magic tingle through my body as it whisked Zeus and I across the world.
Dismounting, I patted Zeus’ nose gently, letting him know to remain. Pushing through the overgrown weeds and foliage, my eyes came to rest on the shrine that I could forget. Kneeling on the worn stone at the base of the shrine, my thoughts turned to past times. Without conscious thought, I recited the ritual words. “Summ, Summ, Summ”. This had been my mantra, my calling, and my very life in a time before.

Why must I refer to it as a time before? The world may have changed, I may have changed in some way, but my beliefs have not. I still hold the Virtues within my heart, as I know Skylar and others do. The ritual words continued to flow from my lips as my mind swirled. Perhaps it is time that the people know hope again. Perhaps it is time that the shadows feel the light shining upon them again. Perhaps it is time for a Reawakening.

The Army today is not the same Army I joined back then. I see things happen today that would have never (or very rarely) happened when I was a private. I also believe the Army’s current promotion system is broken. I have seen people that are promoted to NCO’s at 2 years – most times, others have to pick up their slack due to their lack of experience, or worse…  lack of care. I get evaluated yearly… and because I have struggled with my weight after having major hip surgery, my evaluations are never rated “excellent”. My last evaluation was written by a rather inept senior NCO. These evaluations mean I won’t see promotion for some time – nevermind the fact that my performance is rated above average.

My hip surgery has now lead to a medical board finding me “Unfit for Duty”, two years later. I have to admit I am pleased by this. The Army has just lost it’s appeal that it once held for me. Yesterday was when I found out the results, which left me ecstatic that finally I would be moving on to a new life, outside of the Army.

Earlier this week I also went to North Carolina, where I interviewed for a job doing the same thing I do in the Army. This job is almost perfect for me – same job field (which I love), at home, great pay. The only downside is possibility of deployments. Deploying as a civilian though – that I can look forward to. No pulling guard duty. No carrying a weapon (unless I want to). No going to the range. No mandatory Physical Training (though I hope to, but at my own pace).

They called me back today…     and I got the job! Things just really seem to finally be falling in place for me.

As for gaming, I have pretty much decided to give up on Eve Online. While I do enjoy the game and the “sandbox” play does appeal to me – it doesn’t appeal to my wife. Since our first year of marriage, we’ve been playing games pretty much together – Ultima Online, Final Fantasy XI, World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, Conan (we’ve played quite a few). It was always great playing with her, sharing my addictions with her, being able to discuss the game with her. Eve was just not for her, so as I got more and more into it, the more we seemed to be doing less together.

I got to discussing Ultima Online with a co-worker last week and it made me feel nostalgic for all the great times we had together in it. We were part of a large roleplaying community there. Memories of those times still linger after a 4-year break. Many of the other MMO’s never seem to manage this. Sure, we had good times in them…  but I can’t remember those times as well as our times in UO. So, last weekend we reactivated our accounts. We found quite a bit of our stuff is gone…  but it did not take long before old friends had helped us out on that front. I’m already addicted to it again, and playing side by side with my soulmate makes it that much better. To those in Eve or those reading this blog because of Eve, I apologize for leaving…  but I must follow my heart. I hope you will continue reading, as I tend to talk about many different things. If you do have any interest in Ultima Online, feel free to look me up on Atlantic shard.

The economy is also a bit crazy. The Combine has been has been around for something like 10 years, in a constant state of “development” by programmers that work on it in their free time. Quite a few people are rich beyond belief, through being around forever,  stealing from others or being a leader of a large faction. Every month, factions earn income from their facilities they have built and  governments earn taxes from planets they own. The amount of money increases, but there aren’t many ways for the money to go away. Basically it’s just a continuous cycle of more money coming into the game, driving prices on ships, facilities, droids or whatever you’re looking for higher and higher. Just as an example, Bulk Freighters jumped from around 22 million credits to 30+ in the past month. This discourages most new players since they see most factions offering very low salaries.

Why does all this matter? Well, the glorious admins in all their wisdom have decided to change some fairly significant rules recently. The big part of this that applies to my group is the membership requirements. See, my group started out as a very small group of  friends pooling their assets and working together to build ourselves up on our own. We have come a long way from the 5 of us just starting out with almost nothing. Now, we have 3 factions and billions in assets. We are a government, a mining faction and a ship production faction. You could say we have been very successful for what we started with.

The admins changing the rules has threatened this. Now, they want us to have 35 members just for the government faction. The other two factions need to have at least 10 members each, bringing the total required to 55 members. We have maybe 40 active members. If we can’t get more people, we face losing our government status.

So I’m looking for your help. It doesn’t require much of you. All we need is to get some people that would be willing to log into the game once a week. You don’t have to actually play. If you’d be willing to help, please comment here or contact me and I’ll tell you what you have to do. Again, all I am asking is for you to log in to a website once a week. We’d really appreciate your help.

I hate using my blog/twitter to ask this…  but I’ve spent several years playing this game and I don’t want to lose it all because the admins decided they want to get rid of the smaller groups. I’m in need of your help. Thanks.

What am I looking for?

I’d like to find a fairly mature, active PvP corp for my Gallente. He is still below 3 million skill points so he’s got a lot of developing to do. I don’t really want highsec wars because they generally lead to station games and that gets old pretty fast. Essentially I’m looking for a PvP corp that is willing to “train” me and show me the ropes. I’ve already been through a basic PvP class that my previous faction ran and on a few 0.0 roams, so I’m not a total newbie but I know I still have a lot to learn.

As far as my Indy, I’m not sure yet if I want to just leave her in the NPC corp so I can mine without worry of wars or if she’ll tag along. Anyways, if you’d like a pilot that is willing to listen and learn, can follow orders and just wants to have fun…  feel free to comment.

Oh..  US Timezone corps only please.

Originally my current corp appealed to me because of how they said they responded to war decs – they would fleet up and fight. The first war dec that came in about a month ago, this turned out fine. We fought a few engagements and after the week was up the group moved on. The current war dec has been very different though – it’s essentially a group that just tries to pick on the weak, single targets with their better skills and better ships. Any time we bring a significant force against them, they start playing the lame station docking games. I’ve only lost one industrial that was my own stupid fault.

The problem isn’t this group that is picking on our weak though. It’s how their response has differed with the current war targets. Essentially, we are expected to always fleet up whenever we are doing any missioning or mining. That wouldn’t bother me so much…  if I could actually get into a fleet. Quite a few times, I’ve asked repeatedly for a couple hours if any groups were out doing missions. Either I get no response…  or I get a response that basically means I’m not wanted. I understand that some people may not want to split the isk/loot from their level 4 missions that they can solo. But if that’s true…  then don’t come on the forums and bitch at people for going off to do their own thing. I moved my Hulk out of the area the war targets were camping regularly, so I could still earn some decent isk. Apparently, I shouldn’t have done this…   I suppose I should just sit in station a couple hours each night, waiting for the chance to get in a fleet.

Did I mention the fact that a few people even mentioned that they will not provide “protection” for us miners that are only mining for ourselves? Forget the fact that the corp uses Mining Buddy to do payouts for mining ops, and these same people could easily get paid by joining up? Forget the fact that they could earn isk for doing nothing more than sitting on a gate, watching local for flashing red, while the miners and haulers are actually working? Sure…  mining is not all that much work, but it’s a damn lot more work than sitting watching local.

Apparently I should also be spending all my gaming hours in a fleet that does nothing but sit in the same system the war targets are in, docked in station and talking crap in local. I’ve done this multiple times and let me tell ya…  it gets boring, FAST. Of course, because I quit doing this over the past week, because I’ve basically been ignoring the “war that isn’t a war”, I’m not supporting the corp. I’m some carebear miner that won’t help my corpmates. Pfft…   obviously you missed the fact that I have 2 accounts, one for mining/production and one that is developing my PvP character. Obviously, you missed the fact that I’ve participated in several 0.0 roams – you missed the fact that the first 2 weeks of the war, I spent quite a bit of time in these fleets that sit for hours.

The straw that really broke the camels back for me though was looking at the forums today and seeing someone say that they will not invite someone to their mission fleet that is not in Vent. I have Vent and it works. But if my wife is watching TV behind me…   you yelling, or laughing, or acting drunk means she can’t hear. I don’t like wearing the headphones, especially due to those things I just mentioned. So if my wife is asleep on the couch, then no…   I’m not hopping on Vent to listen to you talk about useless junk.

I pay to play Eve the way I want to play it. So if you’re going to bitch and moan about how I’m not supporting your precious corp…   well, I can find somewhere elseto play. o7

This is my first time participating in the Blog Banter, I look forward to participating in them more in the future.

Welcome to the eighth installment of the EVE Blog Banter , the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed here . Check out otherEVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

This month’s topic comes to us from me, Ga’len at The Wandering Druid of Tranquility.  He asks: “What new game mechanic or mechanics would you like to see created and brought into the EVE Online universe and how would this be incorporated into the current game universe?  Be specific and give details, this is not meant to be a ‘nerf this, boost my game play’ post like we see on the EVE forums.”

I’m a newer player so I still have a lot to learn and discover about Eve Online. So far I’ve mostly been involved in mining, mission running, and a few highsec wars. I have a bit more skill points (at least on my miner) than the average new player because I originally started my Eve account a few years ago. I only played about a month or two back then before I got too involved in World of Warcraft to keep up with Eve. Essentially though, I’m still what most would call a “newbie”.

I say this because I know many that participate in this month’s Blog Banter are likely more experienced, longer time players. I still have so much to learn…

Anyways, my suggestion for a new game mechanic would be to implement a system that allows for NPC-based scenarios to be run by CCP. I’ve played many different MMO’s through the years and some of my most memorable experiences came from those games where the game developers participated more in the game by running storylines that the players could participate in. I played Ultima Online back when they actually did things like this and I will never forget those days.

I know that many may be against this, as Eve is specifically designed to be “run by the players”. Imagine though, when the latest expansion released and the wormholes appeared throughout space, how different would it have been if small fleets of NPC “rats” had of jumped into your home system and started attacking the local star bases? Would players have rallied to defend? What if the “rats” had of managed to actually destroy the local Concord defense ships, temporarily changing that highsec system into lowsec? Would pirates have used this as a chance to prey on the locals?

CCP has been working more on the storyline for Eve lately from everything I’ve read, which to me is always a good thing. I’ve been a roleplayer for many years, starting with D&D and even getting into it various MMO’s. I don’t roleplay in Eve but I always enjoy it more when there is a good back-story to the game I’m playing. These “scenarios” would be great to allow the players to get more involved in the Eve universe, more so than just fighting for sovereignty or the various 0.0 dramas I hear about.

Mission running can also get pretty boring fairly quickly. Many missions become the same, repetitive steps and grinding faction standing can get tiresome pretty fast. What if these scenarios allowed you to gain faction standing for participating? Perhaps even new faction rewards could be added in, given to only those who participate in the scenarios?

Eve Online was designed to be a sandbox game, I fully understand that. I’m not asking for these scenarios to be run all the time. Even if it was only with each expansion or with major change or event in the game, I think it would seriously add more to the game and perhaps draw in even more players to the game.

Other Blog Banters