A Sleepy Patch Day

Yesterday CCP released the Mosaic patch for EVE Online. As is usually the case, I didn't really have an eventful time as I spent my time playing in the desolate reaches of Great Wildlands. But I do have to say I noticed some of the features.

The first thing I did after downloading the patch, as regular readers may have guessed, is put two-factor authentication on all my accounts. For me, after my experience both Wildstar and Guild Wars 2, sticking Google Authenticator onto the accounts is a no-brainer. In Wildstar, Carbine didn't institute two-factor authentication until the actual launch date, not at the beginning of early access. When I discovered that 2FA was an option, I just played that day and planned to download and use Google Authenticator the next day. Big mistake, because before I could log on again, my account was hacked.

In GW2, I used email as a second layer of protection for my account. But the last time I tried to log into that game to take a quick screenshot, I discovered botters/RMTers had hacked my account and my account was banned. Oh well, wasn't playing that game anyway, so I didn't even bother to try to retrieve my account. Just another example of how the illicit RMT trade costs game publishers customers and possibly money, because I'm pretty sure I would have purchased the expansion. Now? Why bother?

I'll just add one more thing about Google Authenticator. Make sure you print out the backup codes. Especially for those going to EVE Vegas and may wind up going to a pool party. The instructions are pretty clear on how to move the app from one phone to the next, but if your phone decides to go swimming, the backup codes will come in handy.

Once I logged in, I received a pleasant surprise. Aura said hello. However, Aura is a bloodthirsty AI and wanted me to start shooting things. Even if I wanted to hunt down some Circadian Seekers for some of that material needed to produce Entosis links, I was exploring in a Cheetah. No guns. So I closed the window and Aura went away. As I probed and hacked sites, I would receive notifications that I had completed certain opportunities. But no voice notification from Aura. Was she sulking?¹

A last look around a completed relic site

One thing I didn't try was probing with the new map. Quite frankly, I didn't even think to do so. When probing, I just pressed the button that brings up the map. I logged back in later to see if I was using the old or new map for probing and now have the new map stuck in the probing window. While my corpmates are reporting issues when a site shows up as split signatures and are moving back to the old map, I probably should use the new map a few times just to see what the issues are for myself. That is, if the issues weren't fixed with the updates I noticed load when I fired up the client after downtime.

Hey, I don't fly Gallente

I probably should add something about the new ship skins, named, approximately enough, Super Kerr-Induced Nanocoatings (SKIN). I have a bunch of giveaway ships that I never bothered to redeem. Looks like I don't have to worry, as they appear to have transformed into the appropriate SKINs.

Overall, a pretty uneventful night. But uneventful is okay. Sometimes I just want to spend some time scanning and play the hacking mini-game. I'm getting pretty good at the game too, not losing any cans and failing a hacking attempt only once. So, let's call Mosaic a tentative win as we look forward to the big release featuring the null sec sovereignty capture revamp in June.


NOTES

1. I don't actually expect CCP to put voice notifications for opportunities into the game. Voice acting is expensive.