Sunday, October 18, 2009

Rethinking this whole EVE thing

I'll get right to the point: I'm starting to wonder where my EVE career will take me. Don't get me wrong, I love EVE, even if once in a while I have to pay dearly for a mistake or flying dangerously. These days I seem to be losing ships way too fast, and one Hurricane in a show of pure noobish carelessness that's likely to get me booted out of BOZO. Add to that the fact that my new ships don't come exactly cheap and that living the PvP lifestyle means more ISK goes out than it comes in, and things start getting less interesting.

About the ship losses (the regular ones... not the stupid ass-clown ratting loss), I summed it up in our Alliance chat after an interceptor loss: I don't play enough and I stay rusty. Maybe a different fit could have helped, but I guess I'll find out on another roam. But my “not playing enough” factor seems to be getting more important as time goes by. Not only does my Real-Life situation have a nasty habit of getting in the way (one of my boys screaming out at 10PM because he had a nightmare while I'm flying the fleet's interdictor is a good example), but unlike a lot of serious PvPers I have interests in other games than EVE like race sims, flight sims, shooters, the occasional RPG, etc. And where some of those games may not have the depth or complexity of EVE, they at least have a Pause button, or leaving the game doesn't cause an entire fleet to be angry at you. Also, the other games I'm interested in are mostly played in the first-person view; I'm very much a twitch gamer and having to think too much does cause me to either make big mistakes and/or lose interest. I've been in EVE for close to 2 years now and even after all this time I still don't get a lot of little things that come only with non-stop practice and a very deep pocket book.

This leads me to the second subject, ISK. If you're a PvPer who doesn't do any of the important money-making activities in EVE because, frankly, mining asteroids is right up there with painting and doing the dishes as far as excitement goes, and missioning/exploration requires a lot of time away from PvP, the only way to get the necessary ISK for ship replacement is by spending real money on GTC's and converting them into ISK. While some may say that 35$ USD is not much to get 600 million ISK (once you've sold 2 30-day PLEXes) it's still something that will need to be done regularly because even if your alliance's ship replacement program is great, you will still lose ISK when you lose a ship. Now, EVE is currently my only subscription MMO with only one account active, and I really don't see myself shelling out more real money for a game that, interesting as it is, I barely have time to play.

So it comes to this. Playing EVE and doing the only thing I find really fun in the game is getting painful, I don't have the patience to do the money-making strategems nor do I want to bleed myself of real Canadian Dollars because a hangar full of T2-fit battlecruisers, HACs, Recons, interdictors and interceptors is not exactly cheap. Add to that the fact that I want to keep my driving and flying skills honed (I'm wondering if I can still land an SR-71... I miss flight!) and that I need to shut off my brain and swim in blood sprays once in a while, virtually of course, and EVE loses some of its shine. And then you see a video like Incarna and you see all the possibilities with EVE. But there are two up-coming Space-sim MMO's that are in the works that while I don't think they'll get even near EVE in depth, they look like they'll deliver more accessible action, and they are actually flown in the good-ol' traditional space-sim fashion, using throttle and stick controls. Black Prophecy or Jumpgate Evolution, whichever comes out first, will most likely spell the retirement of Cozmik R5 as a capsuleer. In the meantime, I'll do my best to give BOZO what help I can give, but I understand how serious about PvP these guys are and I may find myself lacking. My future in EVE may lie somewhere else, but as I write this I truly do not know.

Fly your best

o7

10 comments:

Niraia said...

can i have your stuff?

Benoit CozmikR5 Gauthier said...

LOL, I knew this one was coming :)

Eventually, different people will receive different stuffs :)

Crimsoneer said...

I know the feeling! I'm pretty much in the same boat...EVE just doesn't make pure PvPing possible really! I'm sticking around, but damn it's tough to remember why I do sometimes.

Nicomedes said...

Hey look on the brightside its not as if you were caught ratting in a no resist sheild and armour repping caine now is it :)

AlansJourney said...

Find a corp that doesn't take itself too seriously and allows for casual players. Instead of thinking about leaving the game, think about changing corps and changing your style of play, so that you have less stress and more fun.

Play Eve on your own terms.

Benoit CozmikR5 Gauthier said...

As I was mentioning to my buddy Cerui, I'm not biomassing or stopping completely, but for a good while I will be flying for myself only.

Latro said...

Nothing worng at all with slowing the pace for a while. If your corp can't handle that, leave them for a sabbatical and solo or join a more laid back corp. I was just about to get all serious about seeking a larger player corp, then I realized "Borderlands" is 9 days out. My EvE time is about to be reduced for a while. :-)

Letrange said...

My advice? I've met enough people that if they decide to quit they then sell the char saying I'll never be back and then a year later they go "I wish I never sold that char". I'd simply put everything up on sale that is not absolutely critical to you starting back up and then un-subscribe the account but don't let it go.

For all it's warts EVE is like no other game out there. Which is why people come back to it. Leave yourself with the option of coming back to a x mil SP character. it's better than a 50k SP character. And isk will be isk.

Cartboard Box said...

I'm in the same boat. I'm bored and barely have time to play anymore. Work has me working a lot, I have a new girlfriend, and most of my eve-friends are not actively playing anymore.

Wanna become a lowsec pirate with me? It's the only thing I find remotely interesting atm anyways.

Benoit CozmikR5 Gauthier said...

@Let: no worries. Coz ain't disappearing, and not even going close to the freezer! I just need to do stuff my way for a bit.

@CB: that is a possibility. I even came across Spectre3353 as I was picking up my Firetail from Azer and had a good chat with the Pythons. But before I settle down anywhere I'm gonna take it eeeeaaaasy :)