Yesterday saw a major ban wave hit World of Warcraft. Many botters believe the move was retaliation for the victory of Bossland GmbH, the maker of the Honorbuddy series of bots, in a German court concerning the Demonbuddy bot for Diablo 3:
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Bad News For Wildstar
The gaming press is full of bad news for subscription MMORPGs lately. From an estimated 18% drop in subscriptions for EVE Online over the past two years to World of Warcraft losing 3 million subscriptions in the first quarter, 2015 is providing a lot of arguments against the subscription model. But no serious observer thinks that either game will shut down in 2015.
Yesterday brought the first serious threat to the existence of a subscription game in 2015. NCSoft released its financial report for the first quarter and the figures look bleak for Wildstar.
After using the currency converter at Bloomberg to convert Korean won to U.S. dollars, I found that Wildstar only made $2.4 million in sales during the first three months of 2015. Not good. Looking at the history of sales for Wildstar shows an even bleaker picture.
How much did NCSoft invest into Carbine after purchasing the company in 2007? I don't know, but since Wildstar launched 6 1/2 years after the purchase, I figure the amount is closer to $100 million than the less than $50 million the game earned over the last year. Given the current health of the game, with only 4 shards still running (and 2 of those fairly deserted PvP worlds), I wonder if NCSoft will ever make back its investment in Wildstar's development.
The big question is, will NCSoft decide to cut its losses and shut down the game. While many point to NCSoft's closure of City of Heroes, I look at the decision to close Tabula Rasa. According to NCSoft's Q2 2008 earnings statement, TR earned 2 billion KRW in the last full quarter before the announcement of the plan to close the game servers in February 2009. Wildstar earned 2.6 billion KRW in the first quarter this year. Tabula Rasa only lasted 15 months, showing that NCSoft is not afraid to cut its losses.
When I looked at the state of Wildstar at the end of last year, I predicted that the game would not abandon the subscription model. I still don't. The process to convert a subscription game to either a free-to-play or buy-to-play game takes a lot of time and money. Unless Carbine is currently working on the conversion, I question whether NCSoft will cough up the cash. Why should they try to save Wildstar when Blade and Soul is performing so well? But without a revamp, I wonder how much time Wildstar has left.
Yesterday brought the first serious threat to the existence of a subscription game in 2015. NCSoft released its financial report for the first quarter and the figures look bleak for Wildstar.
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| Wildstar is lagging the NCSoft field |
How much did NCSoft invest into Carbine after purchasing the company in 2007? I don't know, but since Wildstar launched 6 1/2 years after the purchase, I figure the amount is closer to $100 million than the less than $50 million the game earned over the last year. Given the current health of the game, with only 4 shards still running (and 2 of those fairly deserted PvP worlds), I wonder if NCSoft will ever make back its investment in Wildstar's development.
The big question is, will NCSoft decide to cut its losses and shut down the game. While many point to NCSoft's closure of City of Heroes, I look at the decision to close Tabula Rasa. According to NCSoft's Q2 2008 earnings statement, TR earned 2 billion KRW in the last full quarter before the announcement of the plan to close the game servers in February 2009. Wildstar earned 2.6 billion KRW in the first quarter this year. Tabula Rasa only lasted 15 months, showing that NCSoft is not afraid to cut its losses.
When I looked at the state of Wildstar at the end of last year, I predicted that the game would not abandon the subscription model. I still don't. The process to convert a subscription game to either a free-to-play or buy-to-play game takes a lot of time and money. Unless Carbine is currently working on the conversion, I question whether NCSoft will cough up the cash. Why should they try to save Wildstar when Blade and Soul is performing so well? But without a revamp, I wonder how much time Wildstar has left.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
CCP's War On Illicit RMT: Rental Alliances
I don't spend much time in null sec, but writing about real money trading in EVE Online means I have to keep an eye on that area of New Eden. One of the worst kept secrets is the prevalence of botters and associated illicit activity associated with the null sec rental alliances. In Team Security's Fanfest presentation, they revealed that the three alliances receiving the most bans are all well-known rental alliances.
Monday, May 11, 2015
Nosy Gamer, Grammar Nazi
One of the benefits of blogging is practicing and improving my writing skills. Practice makes perfect, right? On the flip side, imperfect practice does not help and ingrains bad habits. So how do I avoid that trap since I do not have an editor to review my posts before pushing the publish button?
Thursday, May 7, 2015
The Rise Of The Black Ops?
I usually don't write about null sec warfare because about the only time I spend in null is when I pop out of a Thera wormhole as I'm entering it into Tripwire. However, I do like cloaky ships. With those two conflicting impulses at work, I'll demonstrate why I'm a carebear.
When I first looked at the new sovereignty mechanics, I didn't think of the trollceptor. I thought about the mechanics as if two medium to large sized player entities were engaged in a conflict over a constellation. That's right, a constellation. With control of a system or a station determined by fighting throughout a constellation, I figure that the natural theater of operations is the constellation. If an alliance really wants a station, does it make any sense to let the opposition control the other 5-7 systems in the constellation? I don't think so, but then again, my only experience with system control is watching the Amarr and Minmatar fight for control of the war zone.
I figure that in the new normal coming in June, stargate control within constellations will prove key to controlling sovereignty and winning sov fights, at least in the early days. If I can think of bubbling all the gates, so will others. The next step in the evolution of combat is how to negate the impact of the warp disruption bubble. If the forces are large enough, they can fight for physical control of the stargates. But what about the side losing the gate fights? If the objective is important enough, they will want to keep fighting.
The obvious first answer is the use of interdiction immune ships like interceptors and strategic cruisers. I say obvious because the first thing everyone thought of was the trollceptor, partially because of its immunity. But I've always gotten the impression that strategic cruiser fleets are good at support and kiting. Would such a fleet be a good first choice for attacking a defended point in space? Remember, using the entosis link means the ship has to stay in range of the objective, can't receive remote reps (or assists of any kind), and can't warp away for two minutes (assuming the use of a tech 2 module).
When I envision a big constellation battle, I'd expect to see the attacking force putting up POS in the the first system targeted for takeover. Not only does that give the attacking force safe places to refit and repair, but also serve as a point to launch ships into other systems in the constellation. That's right, I'm thinking of an attacking force using cynos to bridge heavy forces past the defender's gate camps. I know, I know, one side can just post large forces in each constellation and crush the defender. But I'm thinking of more fluid situations where losses may make such a strategy untenable. Besides, ever hear the term defeat in detail? If a good sized war is happening, the attacker may try to get the defender to commit to such a strategy and then slowly whittle away at the defender in a war of attrition.
Given a situation in which an attacker with supercapital superiority initiates a constellation invasion and succeeds in reinforcing a station or iHub, I'd expect the defender to put up cynosural system jammers. Sure, the attacker can still jump through gates with an unstoppable apex force, but that force can only influence one system and one capture point at a time. More importantly, that force is slow. Very slow. I get the impression that control fights will require quickness and maneuverability.
What isn't slow is a black ops group. I imagine that in the new sov capture system, a black ops group will prove quite effective. Cynosural system jammers don't affect covert cynos so the group can jump past gate camps. I also have to imagine that a tech 3 fleet with bomber support is a much scarier proposition than a tech 3 fleet by itself. Add in the ability to interfere with the enemy's entosis links with Falcons (jamming) and Arazus (sensor dampening) and I think a well-run black ops group can cause the opposition some serious problems.
And if the enemy is large enough to stop the black ops group and doesn't have the protection of cyno jammers? That's where a reserve force sitting on a titan comes in handy. Of course, the enemy may want the reserve force deployed because they have their own plans. The enemy doesn't always sit around passively waiting to get stomped. That's why they're called the enemy.
As I mentioned before, I'm a carebear. What I just outlined is possibly entirely wrong and the null sec entities will just bash into one another in big set piece battles like they did under Dominion sov. But somehow, I don't think that will happen. If I'm even partially right, I see the use of the black ops battleship becoming more important in sov warfare come June.
When I first looked at the new sovereignty mechanics, I didn't think of the trollceptor. I thought about the mechanics as if two medium to large sized player entities were engaged in a conflict over a constellation. That's right, a constellation. With control of a system or a station determined by fighting throughout a constellation, I figure that the natural theater of operations is the constellation. If an alliance really wants a station, does it make any sense to let the opposition control the other 5-7 systems in the constellation? I don't think so, but then again, my only experience with system control is watching the Amarr and Minmatar fight for control of the war zone.
I figure that in the new normal coming in June, stargate control within constellations will prove key to controlling sovereignty and winning sov fights, at least in the early days. If I can think of bubbling all the gates, so will others. The next step in the evolution of combat is how to negate the impact of the warp disruption bubble. If the forces are large enough, they can fight for physical control of the stargates. But what about the side losing the gate fights? If the objective is important enough, they will want to keep fighting.
The obvious first answer is the use of interdiction immune ships like interceptors and strategic cruisers. I say obvious because the first thing everyone thought of was the trollceptor, partially because of its immunity. But I've always gotten the impression that strategic cruiser fleets are good at support and kiting. Would such a fleet be a good first choice for attacking a defended point in space? Remember, using the entosis link means the ship has to stay in range of the objective, can't receive remote reps (or assists of any kind), and can't warp away for two minutes (assuming the use of a tech 2 module).
When I envision a big constellation battle, I'd expect to see the attacking force putting up POS in the the first system targeted for takeover. Not only does that give the attacking force safe places to refit and repair, but also serve as a point to launch ships into other systems in the constellation. That's right, I'm thinking of an attacking force using cynos to bridge heavy forces past the defender's gate camps. I know, I know, one side can just post large forces in each constellation and crush the defender. But I'm thinking of more fluid situations where losses may make such a strategy untenable. Besides, ever hear the term defeat in detail? If a good sized war is happening, the attacker may try to get the defender to commit to such a strategy and then slowly whittle away at the defender in a war of attrition.
Given a situation in which an attacker with supercapital superiority initiates a constellation invasion and succeeds in reinforcing a station or iHub, I'd expect the defender to put up cynosural system jammers. Sure, the attacker can still jump through gates with an unstoppable apex force, but that force can only influence one system and one capture point at a time. More importantly, that force is slow. Very slow. I get the impression that control fights will require quickness and maneuverability.
What isn't slow is a black ops group. I imagine that in the new sov capture system, a black ops group will prove quite effective. Cynosural system jammers don't affect covert cynos so the group can jump past gate camps. I also have to imagine that a tech 3 fleet with bomber support is a much scarier proposition than a tech 3 fleet by itself. Add in the ability to interfere with the enemy's entosis links with Falcons (jamming) and Arazus (sensor dampening) and I think a well-run black ops group can cause the opposition some serious problems.
And if the enemy is large enough to stop the black ops group and doesn't have the protection of cyno jammers? That's where a reserve force sitting on a titan comes in handy. Of course, the enemy may want the reserve force deployed because they have their own plans. The enemy doesn't always sit around passively waiting to get stomped. That's why they're called the enemy.
As I mentioned before, I'm a carebear. What I just outlined is possibly entirely wrong and the null sec entities will just bash into one another in big set piece battles like they did under Dominion sov. But somehow, I don't think that will happen. If I'm even partially right, I see the use of the black ops battleship becoming more important in sov warfare come June.
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Did I Do That?
This is literally @noizygamer's fault. Madison Evemeet: redraw the galactic map over beers, why not? #tweetfleet
— The Mittani (@TheMittani) May 6, 2015
Okay, so I'm an evil person. Sue me.
Yesterday I drove up to Madison and attended the meetup that The Mittani and Sion Kumitomo hold on the first Tuesday of every month at the Come Back Inn. The meetup isn't a full-blown Goon/Imperium event, just a nice little get together that filled up a large table. Don't ask about EVE names because everyone used real names. Oh, and I didn't catch the name of the chihuahua that was snuggled underneath the wormholers hoody. Sorry!
One of the themes running though the night is how to keep players interested and having fun in EVE. In that sense, The Mittani isn't too much different from the someone running a 30-man corporation. He just has to provide content for thousands of players. And he has a talented staff to run things and help bring the vision to life. Okay, so not exactly like the CEO of a 30-man corp.
Now, sometimes the members of your corp/guild/clan want to do things that leadership thinks is old, and that is what The Mittani was facing. Another Burn Jita? That's where my big mouth came in. I asked why not just do a Burn Amarr, since The Imperium planned on role playing in Providence with CVA anyway. Shortly after came this tweet.
This year there will be no Burn Jita. To install the True Emperor, the False Empress must be burned from Amarr itself. #tweetfleet
— The Mittani (@TheMittani) May 6, 2015
I'm not going to go into all the details I heard, because anything I heard was just spitballing, but the people at the table have some crazy imaginations. I'm sure that some of the crazier ideas will drop off the radar screen. Others may (and probably will) mutate into ways no one anticipates. I will say that I know some of the thinking now and I can't wait to see what happens.
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
The Imperium's Latest Antics
One of the benefits of playing EVE Online is the opportunity to watch the antics of the community up close and get the subtleties that outsides will miss. Whether it's Pandemic Legion hiding its love of k-pop in the shadow of Taylor Swift fanboi Elise Randolph or the trials and tribulations of Brave Newbies or the community's love affair with hats, I've never lacked for storylines to follow. But since I started playing in 2009, perhaps the longest running storyline is the Goons/CFC/The Imperium.
In that time, the most prominent Goon of all is The Mittani, although that's probably because Mr. Vee keeps leaving his Curor in NOL-9M and Goons keep having to invade Delve to get his ship back. Back in 2009 and before, one way to get hired by a game company was to become a prominent games journalist or a well-known guild leader. But, starting in 2010 with his talk at GDC I didn't believe that just working for a game company was The Mittani's end goal.
That belief was reinforced in 2011 with the emergency CSM summit held in the wake of the disastrous launch of Incarna and all the associated issues brought about with the introduction of a cash shop. The Mittani broke into the gaming news again as the chairman of CSM 6 and became, if not already, a media figure. Not bad for a mere player in a game.
Since then, I've watched both the actions of The Mittani and the CFC, er, The Imperium waiting for them to do unique things in the gaming sphere. The launch of TMC in 2012 signaled that, unlike what many believed, The Mittani was not out to destroy EVE. In fact, the existence of TMC now means that The Mittani is now invested in the success of EVE, as the game is the base of his fame as well as the centerpiece of an out-of-game enterprise.
What happened this weekend, with The Imperium launching an invasion into H1Z1, was bound to happen one day. Game companies cannot produce content faster than players can consume it. That's not such a problem for sandbox games, but players still like things like live events. But live events take planning, setup, and resources. CCP, with only one server, usually only has the resources to conduct live events in the EU time zone. Now, imagine trying to conduct live events across multiple shards. No company, not even Blizzard, is going to pull off that trick.
What if a game company can convince a large group to come into a game and hit multiple shards? That solves a problem, doesn't it? But you can't have a group of goody-goodies come in. The purpose is to have the existing community rally against the invading evil. But what group large enough to matter would not mind about having such a reputation? Also, who can a company find to inspire such feelings that would have a community rally against?
Okay, so The Imperium is a natural OPFOR (opposing force) to bring into a sandbox PvP game. Daybreak Games is a natural choice of game developer, as the ties between The Imperium and Daybreak are pretty close, going back to Smed's days flying with the CFC (as part of TEST?). And with H1Z1 still in a paid alpha, not only could the game use a little publicity but some server stress testing as well.
I will say I was surprised at how organized the effort is. Not the player organization displayed on the Twitch stream, that's a given. I'm referring to the item givaways. In addition to the cosmetic item pack, TMC gave away an ASUS ROG G751JL gaming laptop (the drawing conducted by Daybreak). For the TMC Twitch stream, Nvidia donated 5 Nvidia Shield Portables and 12 backpacks to give away to subscribers of the Twitch channel.
What The Imperium brings new to the table isn't a single guild playing multiple games. Many, many guilds have done that for years. The same holds true for establishing communities in multiple MMORPGs. No, what The Imperium brings is a group of players willing to go into games and serve as the opposing force in a live event. I haven't heard of that occurring before. And that is why I play and follow EVE. Fascinating things occur, and I'm interested in how this one turns out.
In that time, the most prominent Goon of all is The Mittani, although that's probably because Mr. Vee keeps leaving his Curor in NOL-9M and Goons keep having to invade Delve to get his ship back. Back in 2009 and before, one way to get hired by a game company was to become a prominent games journalist or a well-known guild leader. But, starting in 2010 with his talk at GDC I didn't believe that just working for a game company was The Mittani's end goal.
That belief was reinforced in 2011 with the emergency CSM summit held in the wake of the disastrous launch of Incarna and all the associated issues brought about with the introduction of a cash shop. The Mittani broke into the gaming news again as the chairman of CSM 6 and became, if not already, a media figure. Not bad for a mere player in a game.
Since then, I've watched both the actions of The Mittani and the CFC, er, The Imperium waiting for them to do unique things in the gaming sphere. The launch of TMC in 2012 signaled that, unlike what many believed, The Mittani was not out to destroy EVE. In fact, the existence of TMC now means that The Mittani is now invested in the success of EVE, as the game is the base of his fame as well as the centerpiece of an out-of-game enterprise.
What happened this weekend, with The Imperium launching an invasion into H1Z1, was bound to happen one day. Game companies cannot produce content faster than players can consume it. That's not such a problem for sandbox games, but players still like things like live events. But live events take planning, setup, and resources. CCP, with only one server, usually only has the resources to conduct live events in the EU time zone. Now, imagine trying to conduct live events across multiple shards. No company, not even Blizzard, is going to pull off that trick.
What if a game company can convince a large group to come into a game and hit multiple shards? That solves a problem, doesn't it? But you can't have a group of goody-goodies come in. The purpose is to have the existing community rally against the invading evil. But what group large enough to matter would not mind about having such a reputation? Also, who can a company find to inspire such feelings that would have a community rally against?
The Mittani makes a pretty good bad guy, doesn't he?
Okay, so The Imperium is a natural OPFOR (opposing force) to bring into a sandbox PvP game. Daybreak Games is a natural choice of game developer, as the ties between The Imperium and Daybreak are pretty close, going back to Smed's days flying with the CFC (as part of TEST?). And with H1Z1 still in a paid alpha, not only could the game use a little publicity but some server stress testing as well.
I will say I was surprised at how organized the effort is. Not the player organization displayed on the Twitch stream, that's a given. I'm referring to the item givaways. In addition to the cosmetic item pack, TMC gave away an ASUS ROG G751JL gaming laptop (the drawing conducted by Daybreak). For the TMC Twitch stream, Nvidia donated 5 Nvidia Shield Portables and 12 backpacks to give away to subscribers of the Twitch channel.
What The Imperium brings new to the table isn't a single guild playing multiple games. Many, many guilds have done that for years. The same holds true for establishing communities in multiple MMORPGs. No, what The Imperium brings is a group of players willing to go into games and serve as the opposing force in a live event. I haven't heard of that occurring before. And that is why I play and follow EVE. Fascinating things occur, and I'm interested in how this one turns out.
Monday, May 4, 2015
EVE's Ship Skins And League Of Legends
On Tuesday CCP introduced ship skins into EVE Online's cash shop. Some people were upset over the implementation of the feature, especially after the bug that allowed players to put skins on any of their ships. The cost of the skins is also an issue for many. Since I don't really know much about the pricing of virtual goods like skins, I decided to download League of Legends and take a look at the pricing structure in Riot's cash shop.
First, CCP changed the price structure on their Aurum packages. The $15 option was removed, the $5 and $10 buffed, and the amount of Aurum for $20 declined. But how does the new price structure compare to the cash shop in LoL?
Notice that CCP now has the same price points as Riot. Perhaps more importantly, the amount of cash shop cash offered rises approximately at the same rates also. In League of Legends, the amount of Riot Points increases 4.3 times from the $5 package to the $20 package. CCP is slightly more generous, with an increase of 4.5 times between the two price points.
As an aside, I noticed the $35 package for LoL is an even 5000 RP. A $35 price point is interesting as that is the standard price point for purchasing 2 PLEX for EVE. So basically, 5000 Riot Points is the equivalent of 1.6-1.7 billion ISK in EVE.
But what about the important part? The piece I was really interested in is how much are ship skins in EVE compared with League of Legends. Prices in EVE, as many probably already suspected, are higher in EVE. How much? In EVE, prices range from $3.67 USD for the cheapest frigate skin to $32.64 USD for the most expensive titan and supercarrier skins. Contrast that with LoL, in which prices range from $2.78 - $23.21 USD. Perhaps the most worrisome comparison is the median price. EVE's median price for a ship skin, at $11.85, is almost a full $5 higher than the median price of $6.96 for a LoL character skin.
Of course, just comparing EVE's ship skins to LoL's character skins is a bit unfair. For League players who wish to fully customize the look of their characters, ward skins are also available. Ward skins change the appearance of stealth and vision wards in the game. Each ward skin is 640 RP, or $4.57. However, ward skins are not bound to single champions, so I'm not sure exactly how to calculate the full cost of customizing a champion's appearance.
A secondary question I had when I looked at the price list was why so many skins that fit on the same ship had different price values. For example, the Rifter's Nefantar skin, at 1540 Aurum, is more than twice as expensive as the Rifter's Krusual skin (740 AUR). But apparently that's just a product of demand.
Different prices for skins on the same champion is a frequent practice for Riot. Miss Fortune apparently is one of the more popular champions with 5 character skins. The prices range from $3.71 to $9.64, with fans of the champion needing to pay $32.64 for the entire set of skins.
I should add one important fact. We don't know all of CCP's plans for the cash shop and skins. For example, how often does CCP plan to release new skins? How often will CCP have sales, and how long will the sales last? And how annoying will the ads letting us know about the sales get? League of Legends and other free-to-play games that rely on cash shops just don't put products in the cash shop and forget about them. I don't expect CCP to do so either. But, I will say one thing. I do think the skins are a bit overpriced.
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| EVE Online Aurum Prices |
First, CCP changed the price structure on their Aurum packages. The $15 option was removed, the $5 and $10 buffed, and the amount of Aurum for $20 declined. But how does the new price structure compare to the cash shop in LoL?
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| League of Legends Riot Point Prices |
As an aside, I noticed the $35 package for LoL is an even 5000 RP. A $35 price point is interesting as that is the standard price point for purchasing 2 PLEX for EVE. So basically, 5000 Riot Points is the equivalent of 1.6-1.7 billion ISK in EVE.
But what about the important part? The piece I was really interested in is how much are ship skins in EVE compared with League of Legends. Prices in EVE, as many probably already suspected, are higher in EVE. How much? In EVE, prices range from $3.67 USD for the cheapest frigate skin to $32.64 USD for the most expensive titan and supercarrier skins. Contrast that with LoL, in which prices range from $2.78 - $23.21 USD. Perhaps the most worrisome comparison is the median price. EVE's median price for a ship skin, at $11.85, is almost a full $5 higher than the median price of $6.96 for a LoL character skin.
Of course, just comparing EVE's ship skins to LoL's character skins is a bit unfair. For League players who wish to fully customize the look of their characters, ward skins are also available. Ward skins change the appearance of stealth and vision wards in the game. Each ward skin is 640 RP, or $4.57. However, ward skins are not bound to single champions, so I'm not sure exactly how to calculate the full cost of customizing a champion's appearance.
A secondary question I had when I looked at the price list was why so many skins that fit on the same ship had different price values. For example, the Rifter's Nefantar skin, at 1540 Aurum, is more than twice as expensive as the Rifter's Krusual skin (740 AUR). But apparently that's just a product of demand.
Different prices for skins on the same champion is a frequent practice for Riot. Miss Fortune apparently is one of the more popular champions with 5 character skins. The prices range from $3.71 to $9.64, with fans of the champion needing to pay $32.64 for the entire set of skins.
I should add one important fact. We don't know all of CCP's plans for the cash shop and skins. For example, how often does CCP plan to release new skins? How often will CCP have sales, and how long will the sales last? And how annoying will the ads letting us know about the sales get? League of Legends and other free-to-play games that rely on cash shops just don't put products in the cash shop and forget about them. I don't expect CCP to do so either. But, I will say one thing. I do think the skins are a bit overpriced.
Friday, May 1, 2015
The Scope: The Imperial Navy Reacts And More On The Entosis Link
CCP released the latest The Scope video today. As expected, the aftermath of the Drifter attack featured prominently. The report seems to indicate that the Drifters have only increased activity in Amarr space, although I don't know if that's true or just part of the story. In any event, the Imperial Navy has begun to mobilize to meet the threat. Of course, the Drifters may feel confident in confronting the Amarr based on past dealings with them. As Drifter battleship pilot Apollo Tyrannos tweeted on his unofficial, unverified account...
I'm sure that Amarr loyalists will argue that the navy has improved dramatically since the Battle of Vak'Atioth.
One of the reasons for watching these videos is to pick up clues for changes in the game not mentioned in the patch notes. The big one in this video is that using an entosis link on Jove Observatories can lead to getting valuable loot. One caution, however. I'm pretty sure doing so will draw the attention of the Circadian Seekers and Drifter battleships.
We also learned more about the back story of the entosis link. The Scope report is reporting that some believe the Carthum Conglomerate's decision to market the entosis link as the cause of the escalation of tensions with the Drifters. However, information gleamed by those using the entosis link have uncovered proof that the Jove observatories have operated for decades observing activity in New Eden. But were tensions bound to escalate once the cloaking devices on the Jove observatories began to fail?
I should add one interesting fact before concluding this section. The biggest stockholder in the Carthum Conglomerate is the Sarum family. That's right, the family of Empress Jamyl I. Are we seeing a bit of corruption in the Empire? Or is something a bit more ominous happening?
For those not keeping track, the Sarum family is the only one of the Amarrian royal families who still believes in The Reclaiming, the term used for the Amarr Empire's methodical conquest and enslavement of other races throughout New Eden. Surprisingly, upon her ascension to the throne, Empress Jamyl I did not renew the policy. I can't help but wonder if this is a sneaky way to bring The Reclaiming back to the fore of Amarrian religious and foreign policies.
The following stories appeared in the news scroll:
The mention of the Lai Dai corporation is interesting. The Lai Dai is a Caldari mega corporation that helped form the Carthum Conglomerate. Coincidence? Or is the leadership of the Lai Dai trying to save face by stating they don't need to cheat to outperform their Ishukone competition?
Is the Federation Navy going on alert just prudence since the CONCORD-owned constellation of Sanctum (of which Yulai is a part) adjoins the Gallene regions of Essence, Everyshore, Sinq Laison, and Verge Vendor? Or is this more foreshadowing that the Gallente are the Drifters' next target. If the Sisters of EVE are somehow involved, then the Gallente are probably a good guess.
The Sanmatar Shakor story is in reference to a post on the official EVE forums by Rhavas asking about one of the great Thukker caravans that was lost in the aftermath of the Seyllin Incident. Given that the wreck of the caravan's Hel is in Thera, I'm kind of interested myself.
Villore Accords is a player alliance that participates in factional warfare for the Gallente. I also understand they do a little role playing, so the desire to prevent the Caldari from finishing the new Jackdaw tech 3 destroyer makes perfect sense. Especially since the Gallente don't have one yet.
Another reminder in the scroll that the Jove observatories are dropping loot. Is this a hint that the loot is valuable and important to how CCP wants to develop the game?
More from the forums, as a petition is formed asking for the removal of slaves from New Eden's markets.
Finally, the news scroll ended with "Empress Jamyl I atten". Really? The empress finally makes a public appearance and the story gets cut off. What a tease!
Pfft...what exactly can the navy do, not like they have a steller record when it comes to battling Jove tech now does it #tweetfleet
— Apollo Tyrannos (@apollotyrannos) May 1, 2015
One of the reasons for watching these videos is to pick up clues for changes in the game not mentioned in the patch notes. The big one in this video is that using an entosis link on Jove Observatories can lead to getting valuable loot. One caution, however. I'm pretty sure doing so will draw the attention of the Circadian Seekers and Drifter battleships.
We also learned more about the back story of the entosis link. The Scope report is reporting that some believe the Carthum Conglomerate's decision to market the entosis link as the cause of the escalation of tensions with the Drifters. However, information gleamed by those using the entosis link have uncovered proof that the Jove observatories have operated for decades observing activity in New Eden. But were tensions bound to escalate once the cloaking devices on the Jove observatories began to fail?
I should add one interesting fact before concluding this section. The biggest stockholder in the Carthum Conglomerate is the Sarum family. That's right, the family of Empress Jamyl I. Are we seeing a bit of corruption in the Empire? Or is something a bit more ominous happening?
For those not keeping track, the Sarum family is the only one of the Amarrian royal families who still believes in The Reclaiming, the term used for the Amarr Empire's methodical conquest and enslavement of other races throughout New Eden. Surprisingly, upon her ascension to the throne, Empress Jamyl I did not renew the policy. I can't help but wonder if this is a sneaky way to bring The Reclaiming back to the fore of Amarrian religious and foreign policies.
The following stories appeared in the news scroll:
- Northern Associates lose sovereignty in systems across Insmother, Feythabolis, Oasa, and Period Basis.
- Lai Dai corporation denies rumors of involvement in raid on Propel Dynamics warehouse in Tamo.
- Increased Drifter presence in Amarr territory places Federation Navy tripwire forces in standby in Solitude and Sinq Laison.
- Sanmatar Shakor declines to comment on capsuleer request for further information on Lakat-Hro caravan, citing concerns for Republic security.
- Villore Accords blockade fails to prevent trade and passage in Okkamon as Caldari Navy are sighted in continued final testing of Jackdaw prototype.
- Capsuleers begin to collect snippets of data salvaged from Jove observatories with entosis link.
- Capsuleers continue to press for removal of slaves from SCC market listing.
- Empress Jamyl I atten...
The mention of the Lai Dai corporation is interesting. The Lai Dai is a Caldari mega corporation that helped form the Carthum Conglomerate. Coincidence? Or is the leadership of the Lai Dai trying to save face by stating they don't need to cheat to outperform their Ishukone competition?
Is the Federation Navy going on alert just prudence since the CONCORD-owned constellation of Sanctum (of which Yulai is a part) adjoins the Gallene regions of Essence, Everyshore, Sinq Laison, and Verge Vendor? Or is this more foreshadowing that the Gallente are the Drifters' next target. If the Sisters of EVE are somehow involved, then the Gallente are probably a good guess.
The Sanmatar Shakor story is in reference to a post on the official EVE forums by Rhavas asking about one of the great Thukker caravans that was lost in the aftermath of the Seyllin Incident. Given that the wreck of the caravan's Hel is in Thera, I'm kind of interested myself.
Villore Accords is a player alliance that participates in factional warfare for the Gallente. I also understand they do a little role playing, so the desire to prevent the Caldari from finishing the new Jackdaw tech 3 destroyer makes perfect sense. Especially since the Gallente don't have one yet.
Another reminder in the scroll that the Jove observatories are dropping loot. Is this a hint that the loot is valuable and important to how CCP wants to develop the game?
More from the forums, as a petition is formed asking for the removal of slaves from New Eden's markets.
Finally, the news scroll ended with "Empress Jamyl I atten". Really? The empress finally makes a public appearance and the story gets cut off. What a tease!
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Training To Fly A Stratios
I admit I'm a bit strange. When I mined in low sec, I did so in a Procurer and with neutrals in system. I fly in fleets hunting down war targets armed only with festival launchers and ECM. I like the hacking mini-game. So when I say I want to train to fly a Stratios, I'm referring to what skills to inject into the queue.
I'm not saying that I am not lacking skills. Currently I'm training for tech 2 heavy and sentry drones. As more proof I'm a strange EVE player, I've never used sentry drones. Never. I've always flown either shield-tanked Minmatar or shield-tanked ORE ships. While Procurers rely on drones, the drone bandwidth pretty much limits the ship to using light drones.
Now, see my problem? The Stratios is an armor-tanked drone boat that ideally uses lasers. I, on the other hand, have always flown shield-tanked, Minmatar ships fitting either projectile weapons or missiles. Drones were something I used to handle NPC frigates and cruisers while I concentrated my main weapons on bigger ships. I may have the skills to fly a Stratios effectively against NPCs, but I don't have the experience I'd really like when flying such an expensive ship.
So, if I want to spend a few days getting used to armor tanking in a cruiser, what should I use? I came up with three possibilities: Vexor, Omen, or Arbitrator.
The Vexor seems like a good ship to learn how to use drones. The drone bandwidth is a bit smaller than the Stratios', but like the Sisters cruiser has 4 turrent hardpoints. Both ships also have 10% per level drone bonuses. One other factor in favor of using the Vexor is that the SoE ships share the same armor resist profiles as Gallente ships. I could probably learn a lot about using different types of drones, but I also want to learn about cap use.
The Omen, on the other hand, looks like a nice, sturdy ship. Capable of fitting 5 turret slots, the Amarr cruiser lacks the drone bonuses of the Vexor. But, I would learn armor tanking in a laser ship, something I possibly did running an Amarr character through the old tutorial. Maybe. I probably need to practice that.
The most intriguing possibility is the Arbitrator. Yes, I know, the ship is an electronics warfare cruiser, but that never stopped me from running low sec sites in a Bellicose. The ship receives the same drone bonuses as the Stratios, but with 2 less turrets. The Arbitrator doesn't receive armor bonuses like the Sisters cruiser, but doesn't have that huge Gallente explosive armor resistance hole either. One big disadvantage that the Arbitrator has is that its drone bandwidth is half that of the Stratios.
What to choose? The Vexor seems like the strongest choice, especially if I decide to take a hit to my cargo capacity and fit autocannons or artillery to the Stratios instead of lasers. That seems to cut against the design of the ship as a self-sufficient long rage exploration ship, however. The other choice is the Arbitrator. The Arbitrator may seem sub-optimal, but if I can handle running level 2 missions and sites in an Arbitrator, I shouldn't have a problem flying a Stratios, right?
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