Failure to maintain

I was asked the other day via Eve mail how you maintain interest in EVE while playing solo. I gave the same advice I’ve rolled out on this blog over the years. The importance of setting goals, sourcing new goals, and engaging (even from afar) with the community. As I hit send on my reply I was suddenly tinged with guilt. Here was I giving advice when I no longer maintain much interest in playing EVE myself.

At the moment I am mainly playing a game of skin collecting. (What a creepy sentence.) As the Dev Blogs arrive I pay attention to the old skins being retired, the new skins being added, and the event skins that become available. I carefully go through them all looking for any to purchase.

https://www.eveonline.com/article/p9v3nb/caldari-ghostbird-skins-now-available

The latest new skins from CCP are the Ghostbird series for the Caldari hulls. I can’t say I think much of them – but that is obviously a personal view. The Crow and Raptor look ok, but not interesting enough to buy. The Manticore was to me the pick of the bunch – but I already have the Raata Sunset and Wiyrkomi skins for that hull, which I like much more.

The Bloody Hands skins do look very nice, particularly the Nidhoggur and Panther, but they come at a premium price. As they are for hulls that I rarely if ever fly, I won’t be purchasing any of them either.

Often however, I have ended up undocking and taking a trip to Jita to spend ISK on my Skin Collection.

The EVE Faction Citadels are here:

https://www.eveonline.com/article/p9usoa/the-outpost-retirement-release-is-now-live-faction-citadels-are-here

The process seemed to have gone relatively smoothly. The Asset recovery rules mean this won’t be the ruination of the game, but it was a reminder about who in EVE has power (the few), and who doesn’t (the vast majority).

I remarked a few times when this was all announced that I expected Providence to lose all its stations before the transformation, so the groups with actual power in the game could profit from them. That came to pass – although with a last-minute change of owners from Pandemic Legion (who had taken them from CVA) to a TEST based coalition. I hope at least a handful were kept by CVA aligned groups.

As a solo player I don’t expect to have any influence on anything or anyone in the game. I also don’t begrudge the success of those who through skill and effort lead the groups that are at the pinnacle of EVE. However – this reinforced what I have said before – my sense that there is a level of impotence, even futility to what most people might try to do in Null, unless it is at the bidding or permission of one of the few Elite player groups.

The “Into the Abyss” expansion is now live (just in case you were living under a rock):

https://www.eveonline.com/article/p9hn2k/eve-online-into-the-abyss-is-now-live

I read earlier (a reference I now can’t find, maybe on Facebook) that the player losses within the Abyss Dead spaces were already into the Trillions of ISK. So much so that we might see the impact on the EVE Monthly Economic reports.

I didn’t have much interest in these sites as I had initially read when you exited them you would have a suspect flag, making you attack-able by other players. CCP changed that a little – so that the Suspect Flag only occurs on harder levels of the sites (4 and 5 – if I remember correctly). This change however was offset by learning there was a hard 20-minute time limit on which to run and exit the sites via the final gate, else the site, your ship and pod, would all be destroyed. (Unsalvageable I assume.)

Not ideal for this little Hermit, who likes to take their time and enjoy the scenery, making a point of doing and exploring everything. I’ll run some lower level sites down the track, when things quieten down. It will be interesting to see in the long run what percentage of the player base use them regularly. Is this going to be yet another niche addition to the game?

My lackluster reaction is not a dummy spit in CCP’s direction. They have done what they said they would, with a mindset that has stayed consistent. I have not been enamored by where they were going but appreciate they have delivered.