Another funny one.....

Time flies....

Doesn't seem so long since my last update on the blog, time flies.

I'll have to write some updates and post tomorrow.

In the meantime I've found a new fondness for the people that do the Honest Trailers ( Screen Junkies  / Smosh Games ) series on youtube.

Have a look, they are very funny.

News links and upcoming changes to Eve Online....

There has been plenty of news in the last two weeks to keep interest alive in the future of Eve Online.

As part of the news-fest was the Anomalous Materials gathering and handin event. As I don't do anything with wormholes I've no interest in getting involved. Besides even if I gathered up some friends and started, those who already live there would be over the horizon on handin's. It would have been better to set a table of rewards for so many handin's.

News about the New Notifications looks to be good but I have to admit after using it I did tun it off. I'm sure with a bit of spit and polish it will be a better feature.

I'm really looking forward to the new Sensor Overlay 2.0. It should make the visuals in space a lot more informative intuitively. Not to mention making Eve less filled with grey, that's always a good thing.

The unlimited skill queue feature is a great well needed feature. There seems to be lots of pro/con debate about it, I'm very pro. I think it will open up the door for alts to be more active and with it multiple skill queue training.... now it there were only 2 more character slots per account ;-p

The new Multisell option is a well needed addition as well.

I like that there will be slight and subtle changes to the type of cloaking/decloaking visual effect depending on the type of module used. It's the little things that make a difference :)

The changes to the scanner window should also be good.
As well as the tweaks to the way mission objectives are "guided". More in game information is always great.

I'm also very keen to see the final changes made to the "new" trial account's, needless to say I'll be testing that out. I might do a before and after.....

Lots of nice little quality of life changes, nothing major yet but a good base work is a good start. I look forward to the coming future of Eve. I hope they keep taking everyone with them for the journey.

The full list of changes coming to Eve in the Phoebe release on November 4th are here.
 

I'm a keen watcher of the new 5 Minute EVE News Recap. It's well worth a browse.
It does a better job in a short clip than the longer CCP make version in their own show. The new o7 The EVE Online Show. Here is Episode 1 I'm sure with a bit more polish it will be "better".
Another good watch has been the Crossing Zebras new 101 video's Part 1 & Part 2. Even for a veteran of Eve it's worth a watch.

Back into WoW....

Yea it happened, I resubbed for 6 month's. This will let me see the pre expansion patch, the expansion launch and a few month's of the new content.

Myself and an RL friend can't see ourselves staying in wow for much longer than that. Unless the expansion blows our socks off, but we agreed that is unlikely. So my other half may inherit a lot of items from my account. My friend said the same. She will be lucky.
 
My wow time has been mainly filled with grinding heroics to get Justice points to buy pvp heirlooms to equip a level 19 Alt as a PVP twink. I've stopped any XP gain and will see how this plays out. so far the wait times in the pvp queue's are insanely long.

I've taken my characters though the Brewfest dungeon to see about getting the Kodo, which finally dropped. Not for one of my characters that I've been doing 6 times a day for the last week of the event but for my wife who got it and the ram on her second characters first run through this year! Freaking Random number generator!!!!

 

There is one more mount I want and that's off the Halloween dungeon against the headless horseman. My favourite seasonal event in game. With luck it will drop this year.

I also got about doing the quest chain for green fire on my warlock. 

I think I was too tired  to fully get behind the idea as one part had me in an invisible maze but luck was not with me and this caused frustrations on mob spawns that kicked my áss.
I was lucky the next day to get my way around the parts to the end boss fight but I'll have to get a day where I'm 100% ready to spend a few hours to finish it off. Guides are one thing, doing it is another. I'll be back for this.

Eve Update....

Not too much has been happening in my Eve gaming.

My mains and main alt are still skilling up, making some passive isk. The main alt will be done with his training in a few day's.

A RL f hasn't been on much so I've not been able to go missioning with my Minmatar Alt.

The Null alt has still been doing a lot of mining and production, seeding the market with ships and modules. It's amazing how much time can be sucked away by doing that.
A little ratting helped along the way as well. He was lucky to get a true sansha BS pop up.

Unfortunately it didn't drop any really valuable goodies.

After killing and salvaging the 2 BS's this was their haul.

I've also stocked and fitted a lot of cheap T1 ships with t1 modules as pvp starter ships for when I no longer ave to have him in a clone that matters. I'll start to get into the pvp around the end of December.
For now I've taken advantage of a lull in war decs to finally start the SOE standings grind. I'll see how far this goes but it should be done before the training ends and pvp kicks in.

Otherwise it's been a quiet one.
Maybe the winter month's will prompt people that I know will play more. I've stopped e-mail's and texts asking if they are gonna be online.

I can see myself doing the trial alt #3 sooner than expected. I wonder what angle I'll take with activities for #3.

Changes for me....

A little warning about this entry. I feel the need to blog about my recent RL changes, to vent a "little".
I'll be posting about Eve and Wow in a moment as well, but this one first.

I am a private person, I've got friends and family I trust and talk matters over with.  However I do feel the need to say this "out loud".

After 14 years in one organisation I finally handed in my notice just over 2 weeks ago.
This has meant I've spent the last 2 weeks in unemployment (many an asteroid has been mined and many a game of BF 4 has been played).

For most people the loss of a job is the loss of a wage and would be a shocking change to life. For me it is a loss of pay but one I've been planning for, for many years. I have saved for this day. It's been a career changing moment that’s long overdue.

Holding out for a redundancy package for 4 years showed that it wasn't going to happen.
Circumstances had forced action.

Long standing favouritism with one rule for some and none for others. Years of decisions against me have piled up.
Management using HR rules and guidelines as a bat to legitimise actions. Not just against me but many others that have come and gone over the years. 

One example, I was marginalised by being given a reprimand for lack of communication when a temp role to become supervisor was coming up. The only skill an applicant needed was “good” communications skills.  I should have left then.

I found myself blocked unable to be promoted even temporarily, and the person that did get the job was hugely under skilled. I mean seriously under skilled. I'm in IT support. When you’re asked by your section "leader" how she should install Access, a basic Microsoft product. That really sent me over the edge.
This role has come up again and only one candidate can go for it.

Meetings with dept management and HR all resulting in clearing my name but no action to further my career. Talk about a dead-end.

The worst of all being the dept. head showing an “open door” policy, using it as an information gathering exercise to hammer employees. I've seen a lot of people come and go in my time and all have experienced his "kindness" in this way at one time or another.  
I learned this first hand soon after he started. I went and talked to him and stated that I was unhappy in the current role and wanted to expand into other areas. The result of this was a formal reprimand from H.R. regarding my lack of enthusiasm for the job. 
Charming. 
A lesson well learnt.

Over the past number of years this has gotten worse for me, having to take stress leave on numerous occasions.

Looking back now I should have gotten out sooner. I had opportunities, interviewed and was offered roles. I kept saying to myself that a permanent and pensionable job was its own reward. I was very wrong.

The stress of being in situations on a daily basis was not worth it.

It was a spiralling never ending loop. This was the crunch time.

There are grievance procedures and actions that could have been taken but I'm not like that. I'd rather leave them to it than to spend the next 10 years dealing with it. Let them weave their own webs within webs.  I know what other department heads think of them, long term they will get what they deserve.

With such increased levels of frustration I felt that my resignation was justified.
I could talk about this for pages but enough is enough, it's done and over with.

I need to detox from that place, take only the friendships that matter and move on. For the first time in a long while I feel great about the future of my career. 

Change always comes; I wish I'd done it sooner.

So it begins pt2.... Update 10 - Finale

Both Trials were decommissioned last night. Isk was used to buy some ships and modules. All modules, ships and other items were handed over to my "main alt".

We didn't end up doing anything else with the trials. It's been a bad week to try gaming together. That's they way the cookie crumbles. I'll try another trial in a week or so with a true purpose. This time around wasn't enough to convince herself of the Eve experience, it was all too much to get her head around. She knows a lot more than she did before. It's like this for a lot of people. Maybe if the starter experience is updated soon I'll persuade her to try it again so "see what's changed". Good thing she doesn't read my blog ;-p

A general Eve update....

Not much has been happening with my general Eve gaming.
The usual maintenance of my characters goes on, updating P.I. / Skills... etc.

I did get to spend some isk on a Navy Raven for my second main. I've wanted to have one on that character for some time. Not that it will be used much but it was at a good price and worth getting.

As always my null alt received more attention. I got to move in a lot more modules to fit out a lot more ships for my own use as well as a lot more bpc's to make ships for the local market to consume. Some sell like hot-cakes, others are stagnant. Over-all its a good earner.

I really like being able to mine and make the items and ships then sell them. Particularly as it all takes place within a few systems. Despite the number of people into industry and mining there is room for this little guy to butt in and make some profit.

To be handy and quick I used a t1 frig to bookmark the new ore spots for mining. Then on getting my retriever I did a warp to one at 10km forgetting the direction I was coming from. The angle of entry to the asteroids put me smack in the middle of 2. Yep I was being bounced around like table tennis ball. I was trying to angle and get out of their way unsuccessfully when fate intervened in the shape of 2 BS and 4 cruiser rats. They warped in at their optimal as the opening salvo took 2 thirds of my shields off. Panic and resignation kicked in, realising I was gonna loose this ship, a few salvo's and some frantic mouse clicking later I was exploded. I warped my pod to the station, hopped into a drake and headed back to kill the rats and get the salvage.
Warping back in there were no rats but I got my fit, everything dropped bar one module. A little justice in that at least.

So it begins pt2.... Update 9

What has happened are a few more missions in the epic arc. Unfortunately when doing a mission solo she lost her Catalyst in a combination of too much incoming fire, slight panic, attempts to react and attempts to recover. It ended in her exploding. her first lose. I traded over my Catalyst so she could go on while I went 10 jumps back to collect the Atron frig I had setup. Isk was tight so no new Cata for me just yet. We went on and cleared a few more missions.

The Eve trials have been the same since, very much on the back burner.
They only have about 4 day's left but I can't see them being used as RL circumstances wont' allow.

It's been RL circumstances that have curbed my gaming and is going to continue until the weekend.
So for these alts its the end of the road unless we get some game time together in the next two day's.

On an up note the ships and gear we have will be passed onto the next iteration of my trial alt.

8 years in wow....

About this time 8 years ago I took my first steps in wow as a level 1 Night Elf Druid. A friend I worked with at the time had been in wow for a while and had always spoken of it. As we were both gamers it was a natural subject as he would insist I join in on it.
Broadband was my problem in starting and as soon as I had upgraded to a "proper" line I got into wow.
Chatting about the games, viewing Thottbot to show me what was what... Fun times.
There may have been some stretches where I wasn't logging in yet had time paid and vise verse but overall it's been a long term "commitment". More than any other game I've played. Eve is getting to be a close second longevity wise.
Pity I'm no longer subscribed to celebrate the occasion in game. I'll be a month or two without it, then get back into it for the expansion, time will tell if it hooks me back in for the long haul.

Wow temporary halt....

I think I'm nearing the end of the road for my time in wow.

I've not been playing it for real in a long time. When I have been on I've found myself helping the missus level character’s but I've had no real goals to attain. Even getting the book for my warlock to get green fire wasn't a motivation! 

My wow account goes inactive tonight. I'll leave it that way until the expansion is out.

I don’t' think I'll get to see anything in the lead up to the expansion that will warrant me being on....

In the past I've wanted to be subscribed and when I did I didn't play, now I can play but don't want too... it's a viscous circle....
If the expansion is a grinding waste of time I'll say goodbye to wow altogether. The end of the year will see.

So it begins pt2.... Update 6, 7 & 8

We did some skill updates on both our trial's but did not undock. I went to my mains rather than do anything in the ninja loot arena.... Some nights are like that... That's two in a row.... now three....

Competition on the internet spaceship scene....

I've been playing eve for years now with no sign of stopping, maybe some slowing... but no stopping. Before that there were a lot of single player spaceship sims/games that I've played over the years such as the wing commander series, privateer 2 and Freespace games.
Once I start in on a game that I like or a series of games it's hard for me to unlike it. So for me it will take a lot to stop me from playing Eve.
Competition between game makers and their creations is a good thing, it makes them strive harder to do better in both releasing a more polished game and trying to keep that game up to date once it is released so they can stay competitive.

Although my main internet spaceship game is Eve Online I am tempted by the promise of Star Citizen, it's creator has defined the space game, having it go online keeping his ideals as a kickstarter is a great thing. The game itself has so much potential it's crazy. It's got a hardcore following already that will see it keep it's head and become a great game. It might be the Eve killer for me or even worse I may end up with both!

In my usual browsing of the interwebs there are three links well worth a read regarding these games.

Star Citizen from an Eve perspective:
http://sandciderandspaceships.blogspot.ie/2014/09/star-citizen-threat.html

Star Citizen perspective from an longtime Eve player:
http://mabricksmumblings.com/2014/09/15/arena-commander-v0-9-yowzah/

And a good general overview of the current compeditors in the realm of internet spaceships:
http://freebooted.blogspot.ie/2014/09/begun-clone-wars-have-eves-niche-is.html


Besides Star Citizen I've been keeping an eye on No Man's Sky and  Limit Theory.
After reading Freebooted I'll have to keep an eye on Seldon Crisis, Transverse and Dual Universe.

Exciting times ahead.

Wow raid entries...... funny from the net......

So it begins pt2.... Update 5

Day's 6 to 9


There isn't much that has changed. At this time my other half has finished her career agents. She has purchased the rest of the skill books that she needs and is busy skilling them up.
With about 2 weeks of trial time left the epic arc for the Sisters of Eve is now in the crosshairs.

While helping her out with the aspects of the game as we go it does show how quickly I can get through the "starting area" and career agents. It's the same in every game, until you know how to get around and understand the game you will be slower, it takes time.
Eve's tutorials and career agents do not lend themselves well to it.
She's asked me to "look at this", "how do I do this" and "where do I go now" a lot, naturally. Even I have been caught out a few times with how the game works trying to explain things. That type of thing doesn't give a good impression of Eve to the new, really genuine starters to Eve. Like the agent conversation not updating properly to recognise that you have item X in station Y. I've found that I open a new convo with an agent to see this without even thinking about it, subconscious workaround.

My idea of equating wow practises to something similar in Eve has unsurprisingly failed, mining asteroids does not in any way shape of form seem to compete with a female goblin mining an ore node all the while delicately holding a pick axe between her index and thumb with her little finger in the air.
What was I thinking!

I've recently updated Star Trek Online and logged into it for a moment, in that moment it showed me a conversation that was better than any current tutorial in Eve. It opened a com link to my character showing the mission giver, having him talk through what needed to be done. Even leaving out the moving head, voice acting is not to be under-rated. The older Eve Aura voice tutorials should be brought back, and edited to be more like an engaging conversation. They are one thing I really missed between my original starting trials when I was first getting into the game.

I've said before that it took three tries to get into the game myself. I'm sure my other half considers Eve to be my game alone. She can't see herself continuing after the trial.
She is getting some insight into what I've been doing (or obsessing?!? about) for years.
I think I've exploited her curiosity. Good timing!
The future may hold another trial. She has some insight and can be quicker off the bat to get into it in another trial. Maybe her second or third time will be the one, only time will tell.


Otherwise I've been doing things on my null alt with mining and production....

Ready.... Steady.... Mine!!!!

A replacement in the making..... No I didn't lose one.... Just being prepared....

So it begins pt2.... Update 3 & 4

Day 4
The night started with the usual rounds of PI/skill updates for me before moving onto the trial alt #2. This worked out as my other half had logged onto her trial at about the same time.
We finished off the rest of her military agent missions, visited the main trade hub and picked up some modules, chatting about fittings a little as we went.
Besides a bit of skill book buying and learning there wasn't that much else done. It was a light enough night.

I got to take my alt and scan out a BS in a mission, warp in with my salvage ship and looted and salvaged a few mill worth. That replenished the coffers.

 

Day 5

Day 5 only saw minor game time for her, skill updates and general station spinning for a little bit.
I was similar, taking the opportunity to mine on my null rather then use the trial alt#2.

By the time the system became "unsafe" to mine in I relogged as trial alt #2 and tried to scan down a mission again. No so much luck. I think I'm running into the same problem as the first alt had. Better scan skills = not being able to scan people down any better. In fact it seems to be a lot worse. I tried it for a bit but tiredness at 2 a.m. won out.

Shiny Ship collection....

I'd not consider myself wealthy, in Eve terms that varies from person to person and each individuals situation, but that is skewed when you read some blogs and try to compare yourself.
I have isk, I've worked for some of it, I've plexed some of it and more I've gotten from other in game activities. I'm not a cheapskate but I don't throw away isk either.
I do spend it on ships and like most enthusiasts that can afford a garage or display with a row of nice shiny items I have a lot of nice shiny ships.
Some are bought specifically for my display, others were purchased for intended space going but were never used (such as some faction ships). Others are there purely for the reason they are expensive and rare.
Most people in Eve would scoff at this as a waste of perfectly good combat ships and bemoan the waste of their explosive potential.
Although you don't see a lot of it in Eve I'm reminded of Wow where you see people sitting on their rare mounts outside the banks and auction houses or other busy area's so they can show off to others at how great they are.
I've no ego to sooth or bruise regarding this, the ships are there for me to eye. My own personal display. Anyway if you were in a nice shiny ship and sat at the Jita undock you'd be very likely exploded in short order to grace your rare ship on another persons killmail.

Some ships I keep on some characters if they receive them, CCP gifts etc but my first character has THE collection. I've recently spent some Aur and Isk to update this boxed fleet. It's not all the special or rare ships I have but it's the bulk of them.
I have this blog, out of interest and something to put on it I can show off these ships through screenshots. I dont' get any feedback on my blog so it's not about Ego, or maybe it is, either way it's anonymous self promotion to an interest group, people still read some entries.....

Here are the ships:

Realistic Mario....

My Eve character overview....

Both my mains are still busy training up, my primary alt has about a month of training time left, all three are progressing and are the essence of super fluffy hi-sec carebearishness. They also form the core of what I would call "my game". Happy to potter along as they are, the future holds faction epic arcs when time allows or my better judgement kicks in and stops me from ruining other faction standings.

My Minmatar alt has finished training, and is preped for some more hi-sec missions in the new T3, I will wait for a mate to get back into the game to mission and generate some isk with. If that's not likely to happen then I'll move on to doing exploration.

My null alt has 3 months now extended to 4 month's of skills to do (I reworked that skill list in EveHQ), he will progress and finish off the training, continuing to mine, produce and do PI for isk generation. All the while building up ships and gear so once his training is done I'll jump his "good" clone back to hi-sec and start to do a lot of pvp in a clean clone.

The trial alt #2 is in full swing as my other posts have said. With luck I'll see how that goes and maybe do another after it or start in on the 60 day trial. Time will tell.

So it begins pt2.... Update 2

Day 3 turned out to be a log in and update the skill queue kind of night.
There was a quick new skills check, a brief look at what the next mission was. General checking out of some settings, ships and module/fittings.
I did a small intro to show her info on ships and modules, and the dont' mix gun types as well as the don't duel tank unwritten rule.
There was some checking on market "things" and I talked about the main trade hub for the faction. She got a GM convo who was asking how things were going, it's a nice touch for a game.
She was also lucky to get a random 1 Mill isk donation. I dont' know if the GM and the random isk donation are related but they happened around the same time and she was very happy. All in all a good night.

Plans are for her to finish off the career agents and then both of us to move onto the Epic arc. I might slip in some ninja salvaging while I wait.