Post 3000

Back in middle school my English teacher gave out an assignment. We had to keep a journal and write an entry every day for a month. The purpose, I learned when I became an adult, is that keeping a journal helps improve one's writing.  At the time I just thought the assignment was dumb. I'd never want to write about something every day or every other day.

Fast forward 50 years. I published my first post on The Nosy Gamer 16 February 2009, or 6360 days ago. Today I'm publishing my 3000th post. I'm averaging over that time one post for every 2.12 days. I think 12-year-old me would find that record amazing.

I think the subject of the blog would also amaze middle-school me. Back then video games were something I saw in bowling alleys. The Atari 2600, the first video game console my family would own, didn't come out for another year.

The first PC video games I played after getting out of the Army in 1987. I had a Commodore 64 which was my introduction to fantasy computer role-playing games. I started off the Pools of Radiance saga on the Commodore 64 and finished on a Macintosh which I won in a drawing. But I used that Macintosh more for typing out other people's research papers at college for money than playing video games. And after graduating I also ran fantasy baseball leagues.

I didn't really fall into video games as a serious hobby until a friend at work told me about a new game called World of Warcraft. The game was fun but I was kicked from my guild for non-participation in raids. Turns out the 55-60 hours a week I worked back then wasn't contusive to raiding. Imagine that.

After a month break I found myself playing Everquest II. I spent 2006-2009 playing that game which I found was more fun than WoW. But I left that game after more guild drama wound up destroying the small guild I belonged to.

During my time in EQ2 I became fascinated with an online radio station known as Online Gaming Radio. I then discovered podcasts and a website called Virgin Worlds. I also heard about a game called EVE Online, something called BoB and Goonswarm, and players known as Dianabolic and The Mittani. I wound up making EVE my main game in the fall of 2009 and have remained ever since. I have to credit the lack of guild or corp drama as helping keep me around so long.

I think 12-year-old me would have also not believed that keeping a weblog and playing a video game would lead to something pretty remarkable: air travel. Back then air travel was something for the rich, or at least the very well off. I did fly commercial when I was in the Army but that was about it. But EVE Online had a player convention held in Reykjavik that I wanted to attend one day.

My first Fanfest was in 2012. Since then I've travelled to Iceland for 7 other Fanfests as well as attended four EVE Vegas events and an event in Toronto. Looking back I still can't believe I've visited two foreign countries and a city I never had a desire to go to just because I played video games and owned a blog.

I am bad about remembering things like blog anniversaries. But I thought I'd take the occasion of this 3000th blog post to reminiscence about the journey that got me to this place. I might get to 4000 posts but I very much doubt I'll reach 5000. But that's okay. I've definitely had quite the journey so far.

Flying Solo In EVE: My Latest Ship Wish List

Some weeks I don't do much in EVE Online. But I haven't done much in Final Fantasy XIV lately either.  At work my group is undergoing a couple of months of training which requires my logging in an hour earlier than normal. As long as I have enough coffee and green tea I'm okay, but I do wind up taking a longer nap than normal at the end of the day. That not only impacts my blogging but the time I spend playing video games. Yes, having an hour extra at night to do things actually means less effective free time. Coffee and tea is okay, but nothing beats actual sleep. I probably need to do some shopping to put some excitement back in the game.

The weekly snapshot was taken a day late

Well, that's my story anyways. What about the rest of the players? Seems like they are settling into a holding pattern at 24,000 average accounts logged in during last week. I don't think EVE Vanguard's Operation Avalon event drew much attention last week even with the rewards. To be fair, Vanguard is in an early access alpha, but until the game becomes more integrated with Tranquility I don't think the draw will attract much attention until Vanguard reaches beta.

The price of PLEX flatlined last week

Looking at the global PLEX market caused me to double-check my code. Yes, the flat line running from 6 July's average price of 4,499,000 ISK per PLEX to yesterday's 4,500,000 ISK per PLEX is for real. The Liberation Day sale featuring discounts for the "In Rust We Trust" SKINs launched on Friday had no effect on the PLEX market. That flat line is probably not going to last much longer. Fenris kicked off another 20% off PLEX sale yesterday. We'll see how that goes with the summer slump beginning to make an appearance.

We are a little past the mid-point of 2026 and my plans for my new character in EVE took a week off to train up to flying a destroyer. But are there any ships I want to fly on my 16 year old characters?

The first one is the Odysseus. Officially labeled an Expedition Command Ship, the Sisters of EVE hull is one of the newest in the game. I have the loyalty points, I just need to build the thing.

But building a ship doesn't mean its ready to fly. I have three ships I'd like to fly but I just need to go out and scrounge up the fittings. Those ships are from the CONCORD Assembly: Pacifier, Enforcer, and Marshal. The Marshal, a Tech 1 black ops battleship, is the worst of the ships because I built the ship in a low sec station and never went back to fit the thing. The greatest tragedy, however, is that I have a pilot with all racial battleship skills trained to V, Black Ops trained to V,  plus a security status of 5.0.

I really need to take advantage of my training

The other two ship classes might blow some minds. Next month marks my 17th anniversary in EVE and I've never flown either a strategic cruiser or a marauder. These last two ship classes came as advice from Gemini on ships that would do very well blitzing level 4 Sisters of EVE missions. I went out and priced a Loki a couple of weeks ago and the price wasn't too bad. The Vargur, on the other hand, would cost over 1 billion ISK and I'm still not comfortable with prices that high.

If I really want to I don't need any more releases to keep me occupied in EVE. I just need to set out to fly all the ships on my wish list. Realistically the only thing keeping me from doing so is the desire. Oh, and the ability to replace anything I lose.

The June 2026 Monthly Economic Report: The Money Supply And Global PLEX Market

Last Thursday Fenris Creations released the June 2026 monthly economic report for EVE Online. I decided to use the opportunity to look at two of my favorite topics in New Eden: the global PLEX market and the game's money supply. I had a simple premise to examine: does the money supply affect the price of PLEX? Is PLEX still a commodity like in the early years of its existence or have things evolved into something a little more complex? A silly question given that everything in EVE seems to get more complex the more players interact with a game system.

The global PLEX market: Q3 2025 to Q2 2026

I now have 360 days of overlapping global PLEX market and money supply data to examine, enough to start making some observations. I think I can safely say that the money supply in EVE Online is not affecting the price of PLEX. Not a slam dunk of an observation going into the exercise because the size and growth of the money supply in online games in relation to inflation is not agreed upon by the experts. At least, the experts I wrote about back in 2015. I'm glad that EVE is not going down the path of Gaia Online.

During the past fiscal year ending on 30 June 2026, the money supply increased by 15.8%, from 2.51 quadrillion ISK to 2.91 quadrillion ISK. Starting with the beginning of the global PLEX market on 7 July 2025 the average price of PLEX actually decreased 20.1% by the last day of June 2026.

Clearly the EVE gods sitting on their thrones in Iceland have a lot more power in the New Eden economy than a lot of people want to admit. I'm really not surprised as I cover the cash shop and New Eden store sales that directly influence players' decisions on whether to dip into the PLEX market or not. But I have a couple of ideas to look into. After all, we all know that Adam Smith is out there somewhere in a cloaked Proteus, right?

Final Fantasy XIV Cosmic Explorations: The End Game

Final Fantasy XIV's Cosmic Exploration feature has just about run its course. All Japanese worlds will have completed the Auxesia Development Initiative in the next week if not sooner. In Europe, 14 of the 16 worlds have completed the final infrastructure tasks. In North America only the newest virtual data center, Dynamis, is still working on progressing the content. And the five worlds in Oceania are still grinding.

Patch 7.55 or 7.56 might have a surprise like occurred with Island Sanctuaries in Endwalker. I have to admit the final missions on Auxesia didn't really feel final for the conclusion of the event. Cosmic exploration began with patch 7.21 in April 2025. I think some big shots from Old Sharlayan need to come out and see what the project has grown into.

But I still have titles and mounts to earn. I am now doing the tool mastery missions. I know reaching 500,000 tool mastery points will grant a title. But I don't know if reaching one million points unlocks anything. My highest total is on carpenter but I had only reached 900,000 points or so when I switched to blacksmith. Before pushing on I'm trying to get all crafting and gathering classes to 250,000 points.

For the tool mastery points I wound up making a multi-part macro to do the lowest payout Master mission. In the case of blacksmiths that mission is Master: Ruin Restoration Supplies. Hint: look for the mission that pays out 240 exploration tokens.

I found I can craft 10 items in 15 minutes, which is the length of time a Cunning Craftsman's Tisane lasts. So what I do is 2 tool mastery missions, crafting 5 items for each mission. I found if I pay attention to the crafting I can earn 17,000 class points per hour. I figure at that rate I might have the Excavating Vacuum Suit earned by Halloween. 

For anyone interested, here are my non-specialist stats and the macros I came up with using Raphael. The macros don't guarantee 100% quality, but does a good enough job I only lose a maximum of 100 class points per mission. And yes, I know I can shrink this down to 2 macros, but by using 3 I'm able to click the macros faster in order to get that 10 crafts per 15 minutes.

I have the feeling I could make the process more efficient so let me know where I screwed up.

Craftsmanship: 5933
Control: 5470
CP: 649

Food: All i Pebre (HQ)
Medicine: Cunning Craftsman's Tisane (HQ)

Macro #1

/ac "Reflect" <wait.3>

/ac "Manipulation" <wait.2>

/ac "Basic Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Refined Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Duty Action II" <wait.2>

/ac "Innovation" <wait.2>

/ac "Hasty Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Hasty Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Preparatory Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Manipulation" <wait.2>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Waste Not" <wait.2>

/ac "Innovation" <wait.2>

/echo Macro finished (1/3) <se.1>

Macro #2

/ac "Preparatory Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Preparatory Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Trained Finesse" <wait.3>

/ac "Trained Perfection" <wait.3>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Innovation" <wait.2>

/ac "Preparatory Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Trained Finesse" <wait.3>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Byregot's Blessing" <wait.3>

/ac "Veneration" <wait.2>

/ac "Duty Action II" <wait.2>

/ac "Rapid Synthesis" <wait.3>

/echo Macro finished (2/3) <se.1>

Macro #3

/ac "Rapid Synthesis" <wait.3>

/ac "Rapid Synthesis" <wait.3>

/echo Macro finished (3/3) <se.1>

EVE Vanguard: Operation Avalon Begins Today

This morning I woke up and checked the EVE Online patch notes like I do every Tuesday morning. I saw Operation Avalon, the event for Fenris Creations' new extraction shooter attached to EVE Online, but no article on the event itself. I guess I woke up too early, because as I check during lunch I see information on the EVE launcher, the main EVE Online website, the Steam page, and even the Fenris Creations corporate website. 

Now, I don't have a lot of time because I'm on my lunch break. What I am going to do is copy the press release from the corporate website. Why? Because with Operation Avalon, the game officially is in alpha. Not pre-Alpha like Star Citizen has been in for the past 13 years. An honest-to-goodness alpha. I want to mark down the occasion on the blog. Besides, I was in Las Vegas back in 2018 when Project Nova crash and burned at its public debut. I'd like to post something positive about a Fenris FPS game for a change.

LONDON, England – July 7, 2026 – Today, Fenris Creations launched Operation Avalon, the first time-limited Alpha playtest for EVE Vanguard, the in-development extraction-adventure FPS connected to the iconic sci-fi MMO EVE Online. Available to access for free from now until July 20 on Steam and the EVE Launcher, Operation Avalon brings EVE Vanguard’s core experience into sharper focus, with more responsive combat, expanded enemies, higher-pressure extraction, deeper progression, and escalating risks and rewards the longer players stay deployed. The further Warclones push, the harder the planet pushes back.

Watch the EVE Vanguard: Operation Avalon launch trailer here:

For a deeper look at what players can expect from Operation Avalon, including the goals of the Alpha playtest, watch the briefing here:

Set on the hostile planets of New Eden, EVE Vanguard casts players as brutal Warclones, technologically immortal mercenaries who can be redeployed after death. In Operation Avalon, players drop onto dangerous planetary battlefields to raid enemy sites, gather valuable technology and intelligence, fight rival players and hostile forces, then extract before the situation turns against them. What they recover helps fuel longer-term Warclone progression and supports the fight to establish Avalon, a future sanctuary for Warclones beyond the reach of New Eden’s empires, while the intelligence uncovered on the surface begins to influence the wider conflict unfolding across New Eden.

“Operation Avalon is the moment EVE Vanguard starts to feel like itself,” said Scott Davis, Game Director for EVE Vanguard. “You drop in with a plan, the planet pushes back, and suddenly you’re deciding whether to run for extraction or push your luck and risk losing what you’re carrying. That tension is the game. We want players to feel powerful, vulnerable, and very aware that every choice on the ground has consequences.”

“Operation Avalon is a critical step for EVE Vanguard because it marks our move from experimentation into a more focused Alpha phase,” said Snorri, Executive Producer for EVE Vanguard. “The long pre-alpha period has given us the time to refine and battle-test the foundations of the game. With Operation Avalon, players will experience EVE Vanguard as it was always meant to be: a more complete, cohesive vision where Warclones fight to build Avalon and influence the wider conflict unfolding across New Eden. We’ll continue to evolve that vision together with our players as we head toward persistent 24/7 Alpha later this year.”

Operation Avalon introduces:

• Lost Convoy Map: Deploy into Lost Convoy, a planetary combat zone set around an Upwell salvage recovery site, where wrecked ships, dig sites, and refineries create high-value targets to raid.
  
  
• Overhauled Gunplay and Weapons: Gunplay has been rebuilt to make weapons feel heavier, clearer, and more responsive in combat. Players can earn, manufacture, buy, and deploy with five additional weapons, including a bolt carbine, laser pulse DMR, beam rifle, scatter cannon, and slug launcher.
  
  
• Revamped Enemy Response: Mordu’s Legion now escalates its response as players move through key sites, sending in smarter patrols, drones, marksmen, troop drops, and imposing Heavy Oppressors. The deeper players push into contested sites, the harder it becomes to survive and extract.
  
  
• Harmonic Bridge Extraction: Recover equipment and resources through Harmonic Bridges, extraction points that must be found and activated during a deployment, burning the Warclone out of the battlefield in the process. Orbital bombardments shut them down over time, leaving fewer ways out the longer players stay.
  
  
• Resource Gathering and Permanent Progression: Operation Avalon expands the ways players build strength between deployments. Gather resources, earn Deathmarks, unlock blueprints, use vendors, manufacture equipment, and develop longer-term progression that persists beyond what is carried into a single deployment.
  
  
• Refined Looting: Looting now creates greater tension, with items revealed over time as players search enemies, containers, and sites. Choosing when to keep searching, when to move, and when to extract can be the difference between building your arsenal and leaving empty-handed.
  
  
• Fueling Platform Raid: Track down a Mordu’s Legion Reserve Leader, recover a keycode, and unlock the Fueling Station. Inside, players face a tougher combat encounter with some of the strongest rewards available in the deployment.
  
  
• A Wider War Across New Eden: Operation Avalon begins connecting Warclone deployments with the wider EVE Universe. In EVE Vanguard, Warclones fight to recover valuable resources and intelligence in support of Avalon’s future from the surface. In EVE Online, capsuleers can hunt roaming convoys, secure Vanguard Tokens, and exchange them within their empire’s space to influence where Avalon will ultimately be established.

The battle for Avalon has begun. Boots are already on the ground, and extraction is not guaranteed. For every Warclone deployed to the surface, the rule is simple: adapt, or die. Operation Avalon runs now through July 20, 2026, on Steam and the EVE Launcher. In November 2026, EVE Vanguard will move into persistent 24/7 Alpha access, available exclusively via the EVE Launcher on PC.

Flying Solo In EVE: The Vagabond

I took a little break over the Independence Day weekend. Not the entire weekend because I did need to play a little for blogging purposes. Then I started flying my old love, the Rifter. I did finish up in Exordium and maybe got a little carried away, working on another EVE project: making PvE fits for heavy assault cruisers. Eventually I want to make one for each NPC empire. My new thumbnail for EVE posts is a little bit of foreshadowing.

Online activity declining after the launch of CoW

Looking at the charts I wasn't the only one. For the week the average number of accounts logged in dropped again down to 24,000 +/- 500 accounts. So far in 2026 the line has not dropped below 24,000. Will the online numbers continue to drop or were Americans just off celebrating the holiday weekend (and everyone else watching the World Cup)?

A pause in PLEX sales

Over the week the average price of PLEX on the global PLEX market dropped 4.4% as the Omega time sale in the New Eden Store ended on Tuesday. The replacement sale in the cash shop involved skill points and Cerebral Accelerators which didn't impact demand for PLEX. Offering new SKINs for sale in the NES wasn't that enticing. Overall players traded nearly 15,000 months of gametime on the global PLEX market for 34.7 trillion ISK.

Statistics halfway through 2026

Last week was ship nostalgia week as I flew a couple of ships I hadn't in a few years. The first was when I finished up in Exordium on my new character. I forgot how much fun flying a Rifter is. A very low skill ship, the NPCs didn't manage to break my shield tank, a positive on a armor tanked ship. On my new character I am now busy training up to fly a navy destroyer for when I run the last obvious new player content, the Sisters of EVE epic arc The Blood-Stained Stars. Yes, I'm still traumatized by Dagan 17 years later.

The Vagabond is a blitzing beast

I decided I wanted a HAC to blitz level 3 missions to make running through the Daily AIR missions run faster. While my Sacrilege is a long range sniper that shrugs off damage, Gemini gave me a Vagabond fit that relies on speed and a lot of close-in autocannon damage. Yes, my AI experiment with letting Gemini fit ships continues.

My testing with the ship is almost over and I have to do a write-up and post on the experience. Admittedly I'm an afterburner type of pilot and don't like the idea of someone shutting off my microwarpdrive with a scram. But I decided to let Gemini fit the ship and take advantage of the Vagabond's role bonus. The resulting 2400 m/sec speed is really nice flying around mission pockets.

The AI did let me know the Vagabond relies on speed. I was a little slow figuring out the situation once and had to warp out. But once I remembered how to manually pilot by clicking in space the experience was pretty fun. And satisfying. I'm just glad I was doing the level 3 versions of the missions.

I do have to admit I started thinking about the movie Dr. Strangelove and Slim Pickens waving a white hat as he rode a nuclear bomb to a target over the Soviet Union. That image, plus some of the coverage of the World Cup in Texas, inspired the below Vagabond image. Which is one of the reasons some may not like AI: cat ears in EVE.

Not exactly the way the devs imagined riding a Vagabond

Cloud Imperium Games Cash Shop Records $67.7 Million In Sales In Q2 2026

We are only at the halfway point of 2026 and I've already run out of superlatives to describe the revenue performance of Cloud Imperium Game's online cash shop. According to the CCU Game dashboard, in June the company sold $11.8 million in goods, mostly in the form or virtual space ships, an increase of 29.1% over the total in June 2025. 

The year-over-year comparison was even more impressive when looking at the total for the second quarter. The $67.7 million in cash shop revenue for the past three months was a 47.4% increase over that recorded in Q2 2025. For the first half of 2026, the company raked in $95.1 million. Not bad for a video game studio which has yet to commercially launch a game.

Cash shop sales up 52.9% over the average from 2022-2025

The $1024.3 million ($1.02 billion) displayed on the Roberts Space Industries funding page at the end of May was not a comprehensive accounting for all of CIG's revenue since the project's Kickstarter in October 2012. Overall, the company has recorded $1,179.4 million ($1.18 billion) in confirmed revenue (the funding page & the 2024 financial report).

• Sales/Pledges: $1024.3 million ($1.02 billion) (through 30 June 2026)
• Other cash shop revenue: $2.7 million (through 31 December 2024)
• Subscriptions: $46.8 million (through 31 December 2024)
• All other sources: $105.6 million (through 31 December 2024)

Q2 cash shop sales up 75.5% compared to the previous 3-year average

In addition, the company has received a total of $68.25 million in outside investment. According to the 2023 financial report, $4.8 million of the amount was returned to investors in 2020 and another $3.1 million in 2023-2024. Including the outside investment money, the total amount raised by CIG to create Squadron 42 and Star Citizen is $1,247.6 million ($1.25 billion), or $1.239.8 million ($1.24 billion) when excluding the returned funds. An additional $12.6 million in loans issued in March 2025 and due for repayment on 31 December 2027 are not included in the total.

New account creation still grew by 12.7%

The new user account generation may come as a surprise to those who followed Star Citizen in June. Despite all the complaints about server performance introduced with patch 4.8, new user account generation still increased by 12.7% year-over-year up to 38,060 accounts. Not only is new account creation not related to sales, apparently the statistic is not an indication of game stability either.

The 2024 Financial Report: CIG finally got around to posting the combined financial report for the company's worldwide business on 7 June. With that I was able to update some of the financial categories in the monthly summary of known revenue. In total, an additional $30.3 million in revenue is added to my running monthly tally. The total known revenue collected outside the cash shop comes out to $155.1 million from 2012 to 2024, the same amount the cash shop earned in 2025.

The 2024 financial report also showed spending hit a plateau in 2023-2024. CIG spent $163.1 million in 2023 and $160.9 million in 2024. If the company managed to maintain that spending, then CIG spends approximately $13.5 million per month. If CIG was able to keep spending increases at the level of inflation in the UK, we can expect spending in 2026 to wind up at the $14.5 million per month range.