Why did I join FW?

Mara Abraham has a recent post on her blog asking pilots why they joined faction war. I am going to pretty much copy/paste and answer here in support of her blog, and to make a new blog post with at least some sort of meaning. 

 

Blue = Mara 

Orange = Me

Why did you join faction warfare (any faction, any branch)?  Why are you looking to join faction warfare?   What are you hoping to get out of faction warfare?

If you join faction warfare, and you are looking for a player run corporation to join, what are you looking to give to the corporation?  What are you hoping to receive from the corporation?  How closely do you want the corporation goals to follow your goals for joining (or looking to join) faction warfare?

I ponder these questions in my journal as I look at my own journey, the journey of a number of others I know and communicate with on a regular basis, and hope for positive changes in the factional warfare space.

As I ask these questions, for which if you are reading this journal entry, I do hope you take the time to comment, I ask them of myself:

• Why did you join (or look to join) faction warfare?

To become a better pvp pilot — both in practical terms as well as being able to self fund pvp activities from solo to fleeting with others sharing the same goals.

Constant PVP without looking hard ( or at least, supposedly ) 

• What are you hoping to get out of faction warfare?

I’m hoping to learn various pvp strategies and tactics, both solo and in fleet.  I’m hoping to learn how to be more efficient at earning ISK to pay for ships lost as well as ships to test out in pvp.

Less blobbing more PvPing. 

Explosions. (theirs, not mine)

• What are you looking to give a player run corporation?

My time, my experience, my ships that I’ve self supplied to be used in battles for which they fight.  To help members with ship fitting, learning combat, and learning to be self sufficient to earn their own ISK to pay for their pvp.

I came in with my own corp. NPC corps have too many newer pilots I wouldn't wanna deal with, plus I like to do a little wardeccing on the side if things get stale. 

• What are you hoping to receive from a player run corporation?

To find a group of hopefully like minded people who share similar goals — eradicate the enemy via pvp either by the freedom to run solo as well as corp run fleets or three to several members of the corporation being a part of a mixed (player and non player corporation) fleet.

A corporation that would not hinder, through high taxation or large government (so to write), the growth of individual freedom to earn one’s ISK to pay for PVP.   I.e. empower the player (not empower the corporation) to be self sufficient.

Peace and quiet? 5 man corp FTW 

its also nice to be in a smaller corpoiration because I don't (generally) have to deal with the drama of the bigger guys, or listen to what anyone has to say, or help scrubs with fitting advice. etc. I am jaded. I know.

Lastly, if you could help me by answering the following questions:

What are your thoughts of joining a faction warfare corporation whose practice is to pvp no more than six days a week (it could be less than six days, but not greater than six days)? Where one day a week, if you wanted to pvp, you would be by yourself with no corporation support?  Where that one day a week the corporation had a 75% tax rate (impacting rat bounties — which can easily run 10 million isk per hour — as well as TLF mission ISK — which can easily amount to 3 to 5 million isk per mission if you have high social skills and get the bonus ISK), and the expectation for that one day a week is that you would PvE in high security space turning in all loot and salvage to the corporation to fill the corporation coffers?  

Yes?  No?  Maybe?  Why?

Well, to be honest, I think that's a pretty decent idea. However, in EVE it would probably work out that none of the corp members would log in that day, or they would ALL just PVP. You may want to do it the other way for a primarily PVP corp. 6 days a week = 75% and 1 day a week nothing. They could bear til the cows come home for one day, while the remaining 6 days you pick up rat/mission isk (which really isn't worth it in FW, at least not as much as the loyalty points, I guess)

Would you join such a corporation or would you look for a corporation that had a seven day a week pvp plan, believed in empowering individual members, and had a more normalized tax rate seven days a week?

It wouldn't really matter to me either way TBH, I don't bear.  Guess it depends on the person. If I wanted to mission, I wouldn't be in FW, I'd be in Balginia.

QOTT # 4

"When your muffler falls off, stop the car, throw it in your trunk, turn your music up, and try to look as badass as possible."

Aznwithbeards Quote of the something #3

"If it ain't broke, why aren't you flying Minmatar?"

RvB = Not for me

I hoped that starting slowly in a noob-friendly corporation would help me wrap my head around my brothers [stolen] memories and experience for a little while, until I figure out what I am actually doing. Turns out RvB is nothing more then blob-happy smack talking idiots with no actual thought process to want to learn how to PVP.

Yes they offer 1v1s, (if you're in a frigate only, from what I have seen. I tried to 1v1 my rupture vs an enemys cynabal who declined immediately, my drake vs a cane, who declined immediately, etc), yes they have fleets, but its all frigates and from the jacked experiences of AZN, I now hate flying frigates too.

I would almost never join the fleets, and just try to solo in a cruiser or battlecruiser, hell sometimes a battleship, and it always ended the same way, a bunch of cruisers, BCs, and possibly BS VS my lonely ship. I get in a rifter and they blob me. Rupture? same deal. Lucky for me they don't know how to tackle worth a damn and I usually made it out alive. Close call with the Maelstrom though, 16% hull on account of 6 BS landing on me after I engaged a drake (who engaged me). Hell half of the pilots in RvB have HG slave implants because no one pods in the damned war. Whats the danger of purchasing something you will not lose anyhow? Just makes for tougher 4 year old characters (who, seriously, should have probably left RvB long ago) who smack hard, bait harder, and blob even harder then your average pirate corporation.

They always thought I was with "the fleet" or "bait" or something, and would never engage me unless they had 10 ships and/or bigger ship classes.

It just wasn't for me. Put my app in to one of my brothers friends, lets see how that goes. Hope Azn won't be too mad. I promise to keep up with the PVP.


(Note - yea, I am a little butthurt, I was really looking foward to RvB, figured less faggotry, blobbing, whining, smacking. I was wrong. I figured I would be able to have some fun fights, my BC vs like 20 frigates, etc, nope, they just ship up to kill me etc etc. Every time I opened my mouth I got screamed at by someone. Fuck that. Its just dumb. Also market is HORRIBLE   I do not suggest you check out RvB at all.)

LEMME LEMME UPGRADE YA

Hey, just a quick statement. Upgraded my computer over the weekend, disabled the shitty internal graphics card. got a NVIDIA gt520 card and threw it in there. Threw in a 500w (or whatever) power supply and another 2mb stick of RAM ( up to four now, so probably bout 1/4 of what most of you play with) to round it off. Eve is much sexier now. I will be starting to make a PVP video as soon as I actually buy FRAPS and sony vegas movie maker thingy and figure out how to use it properly.

Not Starting Off Well

I decided I would start to test my merit by joining the Red Federation of RVB (Red vs. Blue), these pilots are mostly newer capsuleers and have a blood lust so fierce they fight only to fight, without reasoning. Seemed like a good place to start.

I set up a contract with Red Frog Freight (Azn told me they were quite quick generally and reliable)to move my Cyclone, 3 ruptures, a thrasher, and my flagship "Generational Transit" ( the maelstrom that was given to my by my brother for my graduation) and I flew my Typhoon out to the area where the fighting generally happens while I waited for my other ships to be delivered. A few hours later and the contract not arriving, I decided I would need something to poke aorund in, and the Typhoon just screams "KILL ME", so I built a Shield tanking long range Hurricane to pass the time and while waiting for my application to be accepted.

Shortly after I commenced my employment with the corporation, I undocked and warped to the Bereye gate at about 30km in Halle and landed on a sea of about 20 enemy frigates. Well, guess I'm not getting too much time to get my bearings and have been thrown into the fire of PVP. Thinking quickly and (at that moment) completely by myself I spun aorund and started locking the nearest frigates. One pop - two pop - three pop - four, Uh oh, I am tackled, but its okay, a friendly fleet just landed. I try neuting my way out, but its useless, I am tackled by 4 frigates and my corporation is not coming anywhere near me. Interesting. One of the guys I popped comes back in an Armageddon and rips me apart,  to which I come back in my typhoon to kill his ass, but he has disappeared. I wind up JUST BARELY killing more then I lost (about 11 ships total for the engagement).

Later in a freshly built rupture I get tackled by a Crow whos gang of about 8 jumps in and engages my solo self. Good times. I pop one of the T2 frigs, a Rifter, and a thrasher before they take me out, again just barely scraping by efficiency wise.

I build a (mostly) T1 fit rifter and get blobbed by the same gang while attempting to take out the bastard in the Crow ( but not before I got tackled by him 150 off the gate, at which point he had his gang warp on me, at which point I MWD and armor repped the full 150km while under fire from enemy destroyers and frigates, jumping out in 50% hull, repping up, and going back for seconds [yes I realize only three got on the KM, but there were eight, TRUST ME!!!]).

A little while later I build a myrmidon for the sole purpose of smashing the frig/cruiser fleet, and wind up playing bait for a friendly gang, which works, and I wind up tackling an enemy Myrm ( our fleet is 2 BCs, including myself, and 3-4 cruisers) and calling in the back up, while he calls in his backup ( a Dominix, and about 8 cruisers). Both Myrmidons die, as well as two of the enemies in ruptures, while we take no further losses. The Dominix jumps in low armor, and the Myrmidon reships to a Megathron,  but the entire gang misses tackle on BOTH battleships, and they get out safely.

Report (includes two frigates I killed later in a rifter).



I also killed a WT rifter in Halle, and lost my rifter to another rifter in Halle shortly after.



At the moment I am only at 60% efficiency despite killing 17 ships last night and losing only 5. It seems I have a lot to learn.


PS. It seems my corporation does not like giving people back loot after they lose ships. Which is fecking annoying.

A new Pilot

Having Graduated from the Republic Military School (my grades and lack of an attention span did not get me into the more prestigious Republic University like my brother, Azn)  approximately one year ago, I took some time off to see the sites, meet some women, and try to figure out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

Azn has been messaging me a lot lately, telling me it was time to make a plan for my life and stop screwing around. He's a pain in the ass, always talking about "Free Matar" and all that type of shit. He has been good to me though, to be honest. He graduated a few months before I did, and after taking time off from his (then) responsibilities with Ushra'Khan he actually made it on time to my graduation, which was a nice surprise. Our parents have been dead a while now, and he is the one who put me through school.

He pulled me aside after the ceremony and handed me a sheet of paper with the start  up codes to his Maelstrom class battleship and said it was mine provided the next time I saw him I would show him Tech Two 800mm Repeating Artillery  mounted on it. He never took the time to study and train things properly, and was kind of forcing the issue on me.


The next time we met I did in fact have those mounted on my Maelstrom, and my brother gave me a hug, told me not to lose it, told me to insure it, and reminded me of its various "character flaws" (don't boost shields while loading ammo, for some reason it forces the guns to lock up, top wingy bit needs to be rewelded, etc.) He has been very cool about me going my own way, every once in a while he'll send me on an errand to Jita (He hates Jita with a passion, even before he was in the militia) to pick up modules, or a ship, or move some crap around for him. He gives me a ship every once in a while as payment, which has been nice. Currently I own the aforementioned Maelstrom, a Typhoon class battleship, a Drake class battle-cruiser, and a Stabber class cruiser.


One one of my Jita runs for Azn, I ran into a shady character in a backroom of Jitas 4-4 station while chasing after a fine piece of Gallente ass. I was looking around for her when suddenly I was cracked in the head by some humongous Civire. When I came to the Caldari asshole was sitting there, laughing at me. Seems he had a device that can monitor and copy what his target has learned and trained for, and send it to the impants in his own head, remapping them, and having him learn it instantly. The reason he was laughing was because I apparently "didn't know shit" and he just wasted 20 minutes of his (worthless) life waiting for me to wake up because he apparently hit me far harder then he should have.

Needless to say I hit him with the nearest heavy object (born and bread Minmatar Dueling), which stunned him just long enough to grab his device and run like a wild Slaverhound back to my hanger.

Needless to say when I delivered the modules to Azn, I got him extremely drunk to the point at which he passed out, and used the device on him. Knowing what he knows has fueled the fires in my heart (and taught me how to fight a lot better) and has pushed me to stop the station trading, the missioning for unknown faces in a random corporation, the tail-chasing, the lethargy, etc.


But where to start?