Cloaked inside the shields

Whilst people are out scanning, I keep myself amused by wondering if I have found a bug or a feature. Taking my Manticore stealth bomber out for a spin, in case there happened to be vulnerable miners to harry, I warp cloaked back in to the tower's shields.

Taking care not to drop out of warp too close to a structure, my cloak maintains integrity whilst within the shields. This seems like unintended behaviour to me, if not immediately exploitable, because I know that a cloak cannot be engaged from within a tower's shields, reporting that interference prevents cloaking. But several times I have been able to remain cloaked in my Manticore inside the shields.

As a quick check, I take a Buzzard out of the shields and warp back in cloaked, and it too remains invisible. But there's not much else I can do with the phenomenon except spy on colleagues.

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Tags: buzzard, eve online, manticore, mmorpg, penny ibramovic

Other people scanning

Other people scanning is the sort of activity I can get behind. I am at the tower as two other capsuleers are looking for sites of specific Sleeper interest, or an exit to New Eden. One chap is searching for a rich gravimetric site which he hopes to use to entice new recruits to the corporation, promises of mining exotic ores appealing to industrial types, but he can't find anything suitable. Maybe he doesn't know which end of a scanning probe to launch, as he wonders why he turns up in another black hole system after leaving one earlier. 'Maybe it's the same one', he's told, although he assures us it isn't. It's a reasonable point to make, as he has scanned his way back to the same system before.

Meanwhile, another capsuleer is being told quite firmly to get out of a system by a Raven pilot, but with rather more swearing. It's not much of a threat to the Buzzard pilot, and she takes her covert operations boat to a safe spot and scans the system whilst cloaked. That's not to say the insult is taken lightly. Keeping a close eye on the directional scanner, when she sees the local pilots disappear through a wormhole to run sites in a neighbouring system our pilot warps to all the sites in her current system, anomaly or otherwise, to activate each site's despawn timer. Their corporation may be upset when their local sites disappear unexpectedly. Courtesy costs nothing.

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Tags: buzzard, eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, raven, w-space

North then west in Dire Maul

I don't think I've mentioned recently how much I like Livya. My feelings are entirely independent of her giving me the rather shiny bracers of valour, of course. And what a coincidence that it happens during the Love is in the Air non-Valentine's festival of 99% cocoa bitterness. It's not just personal bitterness affecting me, the forced, achievement-based faux-love that is being sprayed any way I turn makes me feel I am in a massively multiplayer bukkake game. It is a good time to disappear in to the high wilderness of Feralas, where the Filesystem Checkwits are going back to Dire Maul. As we are returning to the north wing I can even pretend to be an ogre, like I need a suit to help me.

I travel south, to take the ship from Booty Bay across the sea again. I am quite hoping not to bump in to the same gnome as before, because as well as giving me some new bracers Livya also enchants my chest armour, at which point I discover it is still only mail armour. I really should learn to play and get some plate armour. But the vastly inflated auction house economy and my new-found apathy to running around mining ore means I am relying on drops for now. I can wait a little longer. Travelling to Feathermoon Stronghold and on to Dire Maul is simple, if quiet. And once at the inner courtyard I see Mushgog, an elemental boss, lurching around the arena. Just as we defeat the Razza last week, we drop down and grab the loot off Mushgog after a quick fight, pausing only to collect all the herbs sprouting from the arena floor before heading to the dungeon proper.

'Watch out for dogs', Livya warns us inside Dire Maul, remembering the old days of wandering patrols of pack animals causing problems when fighting the ogres of the north wing. It's not difficult to remember the 'old days' of last week, I suppose, but it remains good advice. Sadly, we pay too much attention to the dogs and get punched in to the grass by ogres instead. No one mentioned the ogres. Getting up and brushing ourselves off, we get past the ogres and near the entrance to the inner sanctum. The ogre guard is wandering off to the west, which allows me to grab the key in his chest simply again, but a different ogre has noticed Qattara running past and starts hitting on her. Thus follows this week's farce of the Filesystems Checkwits.

We don't manage to rescue Qattara in time to prevent her untimely demise, but we return the compliment to the ogres, Vulzerda picking up on the healing. With the ogres dead, I resurrect Qattara. Whilst casting the spell I notice that Livya has used lifetap to regain mana, dropping her health to almost nothing. When Qattara pops back to life I start casting a heal on Livya, which takes all of a couple of seconds. But the exact moment the spell is due to complete another ogre appears from behind and stomps one big foot on Livya's head, one-shotting her in to a greasy stain on the pavement. We're back in combat, missing our warlock this time, but the lone ogre doesn't pose any more problems.

Restoring Livya to life makes us a full party again, just in time for another ogre add to keep us on our toes. That looks like the end of the wandering ogres, thankfully. Well, except the boss, who joins in the next fight we pick, and down we go again. A full wipe this time. Qattara has an unfamiliar message appear, something about using a 'soulstone', whatever that is, and to her surprise she pops back to life where she fell. If she had more experience of these soulstones Qattara may not have used it right at the moment an ogre and his puppy pets were walking past. But she's a quick thinker and uses her elven shadowmeld ability to avoid detection! Except they have spotted her already, and although they try to pretend they hadn't their strong sense of morals leads them to continue the attack, killing the lone druid.

We're not quite dead yet. Vulzerda can reincarnate herself and then resurrect the rest of us, which she does. We take a rest to regain health and mana, and to buff, when naturally an ogre walks up a nearby ramp and pounds our shaman saviour in to a pulp. The rest of us enact our revenge on the ogre and resurrect Vulzerda. Livya surveys the area, 'I think the area is secured'. I'm not sure why I'm reminded of Riddick's 'looks clear' comment, but this has to be one of the Filesystem Checkwits' most defining moments. And we haven't even made it inside the main building yet, which was where we only started to encounter problems the last time we were here.

Getting inside the building, finally, we press on through the ogre warlocks and their doomguard chums. Guard Slip'kik is quickly despatched and we are at the goblin again, where I ask him to make me an ogre suit. I was prepared earlier and ensured we had the materials needed to make the suit before flying to Feralas, in case we wanted to make a tribute run. Before we get much further I get Livya's imp to make a few of the pulls. I don't think it helps us at all for the imp to pull mobs, but he has been so keen to show his combat prowess before, fighting trolls in Zul'Farrak and drakes in Sunken Temple solo, that I want to show his efforts have not gone unnoticed. The imp is only too keen to tackle elite mobs two levels above him, although we run in to help before too long.

There is just one guard left before the ogre king of Dire Maul, and I slip in to something much less comfortable. The ogre suit fits, but apparently chafes around the buttocks, a curious squeaking noise being heard whenever I start running. The final guard is fooled and he runs off like an embarrassed schoolgirl, leaving us to kill the king and take his place. His advisor is spared, so that we can be proclaimed the new kings of Dire Maul, and the tribute run is complete! Of course, anyone who actually remembers how the tribute run works, beyond doing it a single time in a group four years ago, will realise that killing the guards on the way in is a mistake. The tribute we gather is based on the number of guards left alive, and they can all be bypassed in some way if the group is careful enough. Instead, we have ploughed our way through them as normal, leaving us with a meagre reward. But it's okay, any loot will likely be replaced by Outlands gear soon enough, and the sole guard we leave alive offers us a quest for our troubles. We need to recover an item found in the west wing of Dire Maul. We still have time, we can do that.

I have run Dire Maul West more times than the east wing. Even though it has been years since I regularly came here, I can remember it like the back of my hand. Just heading in to the entrance brings back memories, even if the wandering trees seem smaller now. We dash between the patrols and clear the mana aberrations from the first tower, disrupting it. There are four more towers to disrupt before the shield around the penultimate boss is dropped, and we are already making good progress. In fact, this seems to be going quicker than it ever did, and we are still a couple of levels below the old cap. I know that the dungeons have been weakened a little, but I expected to have to clear more of the mobs to prevent unwanted body pulls. But it doesn't matter, as long as we experience the dungeon itself. And we have made it to Tendris Warpwood, a huge tree elemental boss and old target for the paladin epic mount quest, before chargers were handed out freely at 40th level.

The reason for clearing the trees in the courtyard becomes evident when we engage the first boss. Vulzerda gets caught from behind, believing a patrol has aggroed on her, but it turns out that Warpwood calls all the trees to his aid if attacked, and a horde of elementals storms from the courtyard down the ramp in a vivid reenactment of the destruction of Isengard. One corpse run later and we have a new plan: get the trees. 'There's a big one down there', says Vulzerda, pointing at Tendris Warpwood, 'let's get him'. We work our way around the courtyard first before attacking Warpwood again, but we still apparently miss a couple who then join in the main fray. The elementals are all defeated, with some help from Livya's controlling spells, and we are ready to press on. The door behind Warpwood leads further in to the instance, but first we must backtrack to find other pylons and another quest.

At the top of the ramp, my unerring accuracy in guiding us sends the party to the right. Then back left. But I certainly remember to ask the warlock to cast a spell on us so we can see the annoying invisible ghost patrols. In a way it's a shame that Dire Maul is almost designed for warlocks, as it highlights how rarely used their utility spells are almost everywhere else. As a paladin, I'm quite enjoying this undead-infested section too, with all of my spells being useful. It doesn't take long to destroy the undead on the way to a boss who apparently doesn't exist any more, his little corner of the room being vacant. Oh well, back around to the other side we go. After the little disorientation previously I am now firmly back on track, running the familiar route I did years ago.

The next pylon is disrupted easily enough. Moving up past some skeletons we get to an elf offering a quest to disrupt the pylons. Okay, we can do that. The next pylon is only a stone's throw away too. If only we could get past the next group of skeletons without some weird effect pulling all of the aberrations around the pylon at the same time, causing another guild moment. The fight against overwhelming odds goes badly, and isn't helped when I eagerly accept the druid's battle resurrection, failing to notice that everyone else is dead. Qattara herself does a backflip to the ground moments after finishing her spell. The obvious course of action is to accept my fate and let Vulzerda reincarnate herself and resurrect the party. So I naturally jump off the ledge to try to escape, somehow forgetting that mobs in dungeons never break away from combat until all targets are killed.

My bravado is in full gear, and I cast my buff spells and run back to see how many of just about all the remaining aberrations I can defeat solo, and get righteously ripped to shreds in seconds when the mobs meet me half-way. Dropping out of combat, Vulzerda reincarnates, pointing out that having to come and get me will take almost as long as a corpse run. But she also forgets that the mobs are now running back to their station, with Vulzerda in their path. Seeing them coming, she too jumps off the ledge, whilst perilously low on health, luckily surviving and not getting in to combat with the returning mobs. The good news is that now my corpse is on the way back to where the others are, but it doesn't change the fact that I made the situation much more convoluted than it needed to be. At least the pylon is cleared more smoothly once we are all again alive.

The hunter boss and pet are encountered and defeated, and our path takes us back to the door behind Warpwood, leading to the main chamber where Immol'thar awaits. The three-headed demon dog is still shielded, two more pylons needing to be disrupted, but that is easily achieved. The shield drops and Immol'thar now released chomps on his elven captors, such a good doggie. This time it isn't a problem when we bypass the patrols encircling the boss's chamber, as they don't join in the fight. Despite recalling Immol'thar having all kinds of challenging powers to overcome, he is taken down quickly and without fuss. As I do, Livya has her dreadsteed epic mount already, so doesn't need to set up a summoning ritual which would occur with Immol'thar out of the way. Instead, we can run in to the library where we face the prince, the final boss of the dungeon, even though we all get the achievement for clearing Dire Maul after vanquishing Immol'thar.

Prince Tortheldrin also had some devastating attacks, hitting very hard and pushing characters backwards with huge force. As with other bosses, he now seems quite simple to defeat and we are able to collect from a nearby chest the item the ogre guard in the north wing asks of us. We also get to backtrack through Dire Maul West to hand in the quest for defeating the prince, after which we run back to where the prince lies slain where we can now access the urn to collect our quest reward. Progress certainly was more torturous in the old days. We also realise that by exiting Dire Maul North to come to Dire Maul West, the north wing has now reset and we need to complete a second tribute run if we want to hand in the quest item to the ogre guard, ignoring the quest tracker's opinion that we should go to Silverpine Forest.

It turns out that a proper tribute run and consequent quest completion is even more complex. The guide found suggests completing the first tribute run, then heading through the library from Dire Maul North in to Dire Maul West, which are connected in this way, running the west wing backwards before returning to kill the prince and getting the quest item, at which point Dire Maul North can be re-entered and the quest item returned. But I don't think that works, as heading through the library to Dire Maul West would approach Tendris Warpwood from behind, and we already found out that attacking him without clearing the courtyard results in a certain wipe from all the adds. I think Dire Maul West needs to be cleared first, but leaving the prince when entering the library and heading off to the north wing to complete a tribute run, after which the prince can be defeated and the quest item retrieved. Either way, bollocks to that.

There are four more regular dungeons to complete in Azeroth, with the undead-overrun Stratholme and Scholomance in the plaguelands, and the upper and lower dungeons of Blackrock Spire. As we are now 58th level, it looks like we will be able to blast through the remaining classic content before heading to the Outlands. With the wealth of dungeons at appropriate levels that Outlands provides, I imagine we will have little need to spend any time outside of group content for quite a while. We have exciting times ahead of us.

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Tags: azeroth, filesystem checkwits, kiska, mmorpg, world of warcraft

Getting to grips with logistics

The fleet assembles for some straightforward Sleeper anomaly combat. Three capacitor-hungry and tank-compromised DPS battleships are complemented by twin Guardians, and we're all looking for profitable action. My two recent outings in the Guardian have seen me paired with inexperienced but competent pilots, and now Fin is back in the second Guardian I am feeling much more comfortable. In fact, I can now see that the sorties with the other pilots have trained me as much as them, as I got to see the Guardian's systems from fresh perspectives. As a result, with Fin's practiced confidence inspiring me again, the Guardians put in their best performance yet. I believe we are getting to grips with logistics.

With our skills and set-up, two remote repair modules can be run continuously with only one energy transfer array active between the two Guardians. A third repper can be run for an awfully long time, and a fourth for a couple of minutes before the second transfer array needs to be kicked in. But other habits can be modified to increase the efficiency of our ship capacitors. We have tended to keep a 'safety' repper on the other Guardian, as our smaller hulls won't take as much damage as the battleships. Needing to switch a repper from one ship to a Guardian can be a concern if the repper has just started a cycle. Our Scorpion ECM boat also has a safety repper energised on it, because of the threat of peak damage should an ECM cycle fail. Running these two safety reppers still gives two floating repair modules, but it also creates a constant energy drain. The capacitor usage can be reduced without compromising on the safety.

I keep a repper reserved for the other Guardian, but I keep it inactive. If the Guardian starts taking damage I will need to notice this¹, switch my target focus over and energise the repper quickly, but as this is all part of my primary function as logistics pilot it is not an additional burden. Otherwise, the repper can remain inactive and reduce the drain on my capacitor. The safety repper remains active on the Scorpion, because I don't want to deal with the histrionic whining of the pilot the moment Sleeper fire starts hitting his ship, but the Scorpion tends to get most of the attention from the Sleepers. The two floating reppers are used as normal, repairing damage where it is taken, but more actively activated and disactivated according to the effectiveness of our ECM. When all the Sleeper ships are jammed there is no damage to repair and no need to run reppers.

The more reserved use of reppers reduces the capacitor drain such that only one energy transfer array is needed between the Guardians, except at the peak of incoming Sleeper fire. Indeed, the more adaptive use of reppers allows each Guardian to use its second transfer array to replenish separate drained battleship capacitors. Even though one of the transfer arrays is not mutually benefitting the Guardian, the capacitor remains stable thanks to the reduced number of hungry reppers running. And when a new wave of Sleepers arrives, or an ECM jam fails, the inactive reppers can be activated on the appropriate target as normal and, if required, the second energy transfer array switched back to the Guardian to power all the remote repair modules. Indeed, greater agility with repairs is achieved with this configuration, as the inactive but reserved repper for the other Guardian can be activated on a hot target in emergencies without needing a module cycle to finish.

Maybe I was the one learning during the recent sorties with new Guardian pilots, gaining a better understanding of the intricacies of remote fleet repairs and active capacitor management. Becoming more intimate with the capabilities of the Guardian and its systems only adds to my confidence in knowing how to be most effective, as well as gaining greater intuition as to how my twin ship's systems are likely holding up. It certainly helps to have the trust of a solid wingman, too.

1. It is worth noting that keeping an eye on the fleet 'watch list' is a better indication of who is taking damage, because ships under fire flash in red. This can be rather more obvious than trying to monitor several armour bars that may or may not be changing, although the individual bars are worth watching to gauge the magnitude of incoming damage.
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Tags: eve online, guardian, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scorpion, sleepers, w-space

Chasing crokite

It's a quiet evening in w-space that doesn't require any scanning for a change. But a lack of scanning and combat can only mean it's time for a mining operation. I prepare my still-not-quite-destroyed Retriever and head out with a couple of other pilots to find some bistot. Naturally, pesky Sleeper frigates turn up, a strange devotion to protecting rocks causing their demise when I swap in to my now rarely-used Drake. The Sleeper wrecks are then swept up in a Catalyst. A cautious eye is kept on the direction scanner as we settle in for the equivalent of fishing in space.

The bistot rock gets chewed up surprisingly quickly. I am not entirely sure how much ore we mine, as I don't make use of the survey scanner beforehand. With only one bistot rock to shoot it is unnecessary to find the richest deposit first. And I don't count the jet-cans spewed all over the place in case I don't feel I am contributing enough to them with my puny twin beams. It still takes many cycles to effect the asteroid's disappearance in to oblivion, though. The rock appearing quite whole mere moments before leads me to suppose mining lasers work from the inside of the rock outwards. With no more bistot, we race towards the crokite rock, which in mining barges and exhumers means we may as well get out and push our starships to help them along.

The crokite ore is chipped away and jetted, but before too long one of the exhumers' lasers deactivate. The ship's hold must be full, causing the mining lasers to stop, but it only takes the ore to be jettisoned for mining to continue. A little while later, when there is still no activity, I begin to worry. It looks like we have lost the pilot, but I am not sure to what. I also don't know how to recover the situation. Not being the squad commander I cannot warp everyone back to the tower, but I really don't want to leave anyone vulnerable in deep w-space. It seems I have no choice, though. What I can do is recover as much as possible. I call a halt to the operation and return to the tower, planning to haul the mined ore back. If we are to lose any resources, it is best to minimise those losses.

My first choice of hauler is naturally the sleek Crane, but even with an expanded cargohold it would take far too many trips to bring back the jet-cans of ore remaining after the last Orca trip. There is another option, as a Bustard is in the hangar, the sister transport ship to the Crane and somewhat more of a hauler than stealth-runner. Planting my pod in to a Bustard for the first time is an experience. The cargo hold feels massive, but so does the whole ship in relation to what I normally fly. Based on the standard Badger Mark II industrial hull, it may be built like a bistro but it handles like a steakhouse. The extra 10 m/s of boost the reheat grants is hardly worth the capacitor. But being able to haul more than a jet-can's worth of ore in one trip makes the Bustard a thoroughly useful ship. The twenty-odd trips I would have had to make in the Crane are reduced to a handful, so I end up not caring about the turning circle being measured in parsecs.

As I am bringing back the last load of ore, the missing capsuleer returns and decides that perhaps it is wise to park inside the shields for now. Luckily, our system remains deserted of other capsuleers during this time, allowing all our safe returns and the profitable ore to be brought back to our hangars. I also realise that it would be a good idea if I were to be squad leader, keeping our mining director as squad booster, in case I need to warp accidentally AFK members in the future.

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Tags: bustard, catalyst, crane, drake, eve online, mining, mmorpg, orca, penny ibramovic, retriever, sleepers, w-space

The hunter conundrum

I enter the Halls of Lightning for my daily dose of heroism, only to find I have the archetypal idiot of a hunter in my randomly selected group. He starts attacking mobs too early, creates huge amounts of threat, and blames the tank when pulls go awry and loose mobs run everywhere. What elevates this hunter to the realms of classic archetype is that his solution to a self-created problem is switching specs to reduce his DPS, only because it allows him to boast of the huge DPS he gets in either spec as well as the amazing end-game gear he has accumulated, as if the rest of us mortals should be in awe. After spending so long as a tank myself, now that I am taking a back-seat to be a DPS fury warrior I see the hunter problem from a different perspective.

It's true that hunters in World of Warcraft have been mocked as annoyances since almost the beginning. Whether it's because levelling solo is made much easier with a pet, the failure to understand differences between solo and group dynamics that are exaggerated with a pet class, or being able to use almost all weapons and armour causes class-desirable loot being snatched away repeatedly. Hunters continue to be a class that is easy to play but hard to master. And hard not to end up being a prick too. But I notice another factor that contributes to the perception of hunter incompetence, one that hardly makes them blameless but sheds light on why it is the hunter class specifically that ends up looking worst.

In the Halls of Lightning, we have a paladin for a tank. He seems quite competent, yet the hunter still pulls mobs from him. From my position, I can clearly see why. The paladin makes the pull and before he even gets a swing in with his weapon the hunter has let loose a volley of shots from his bow, including an attack that hits multiple targets. The paladin works to keep the aggro of the mobs, but the primary target has dashed off to attack the hunter. Trying to get a stray mob back attacking you as a tank is not difficult in itself, but doing so whilst maintaining threat on the other mobs attacking can be. Initial problems are caused when the paladin tries to be the best tank he can, and are only resolved a few pulls later when he finally gives up on the mob attacking the hunter, which results in the hunter's DPS boasts and change of specs to accommodate our 'rubbish' tank. But it's clear to me that the hunter is attacking too soon and causing all the troubles unnecessarily. Why it is always a hunter causing this kind of problem intrigues me, and the tiny graphics of the hunter's shots is what causes me to ponder the question further.

When a tank starts a pull, there are a few ways it can be done. The tank can charge in to combat, use a ranged attack, or simply body-pull. Body-pulling is getting close enough to the mobs to provoke their attack, and charging in to combat is a minor modification to this. In a body-pull, all the party members need to be behind the tank, or end up pulling the mob themselves. Rogues and kitty druids are an exception, as they can move stealthily behind the mobs without being detected, but they won't attack before the tank. More importantly, it will be entirely obvious who causes the bad pull if someone body-pulls or a rogue or druid attacks before the tank, because the mobs will clearly be aiming for the character who causes the pull. Players don't want to be blamed for mistakes, so glaringly obvious mistakes tend to be avoided.

Using a ranged attack has the tank targeting one or more of the mobs with a direct attack, prompting their retaliation. A ranged attack is generally used to avoid additional and unwanted body-pulls. Instead of charging in to a busy area the tank pulls the mobs back to a safer place to fight. Again, no one should be in front of the tank, with the same exception as above, as accidental pulls are unwanted and obvious. Additionally, no one should attack the mobs before they reach the tank, or they risk gaining aggro and causing the pull to go awry. Melee classes can avoid this easily by remaining behind the tank until the mobs are in range, but ranged DPS classes need to show more awareness. And most of the ranged DPS classes do indeed show this awareness, but probably not solely because of a sense of group discipline.

Mages, warlocks, priests, druids, shaman, and hunters are the ranged DPS classes. Mages and warlocks have some powerful 'bolt' spells, but they have a casting time. Whilst it is possible to time a spellcast so that it, and the flight time of the spell, will only hit once the mob reaches the tank, doing so is completely obvious. A huge bolt of fire, ice, or shadow hitting the mob early makes blame easy to apportion for a bad pull. Warlocks and priests have some instant-cast spells to use, and although they are more subtle they add a still-obvious debuff to the target, and nominally the target the tank is concentrating on. Even the lower damage and threat caused by these spells may not prevent the tank from asking for it not to be cast quite so early, and he'll know which class is the culprit. Druids and shaman have similar issues with cast times and obvious spell effects. But hunters do not.

When hunters begin their automatic and repeating attack, the first arrow or bullet shoots from their weapon immediately, the weapon speed applying only to subsequent shots. Even then, the weapon speed applies only to auto-attacks, special attacks are on the global cool-down, one of which can be fired immediately and is normally an ability that hits multiple targets in order to preserve the hunter's inflated DPS. So as a ranged DPS class the hunter can remain behind the tank yet still attack with effectively no delay. Not only this, but the use of tiny projectiles as agents of damage, instead of large and colourful spell animations or obvious debuffs, gives the hunter's attacks significantly less visibility. In charging in to battle, with various of her own effects proccing, it can be easy to miss the odd pixel here and there as the hunter ruins yet another pull by shooting too early.

It is hopefully clear that hunters aren't entirely to blame for their antics. Melee classes make it blindingly obvious when they progress or attack before the tank, and spellcasters have bright animations to point the blame of early fire directly at them. And all of these classes have this early-warning system ingrained in to their character from the first levels. If you act early it will be obvious, and if something goes wrong you will thus be blamed. But hunters do not. Even when hunters are blamed, the lack of visual feedback in relation to other classes perhaps causes some cognitive dissonance, where the hunter sees all ranged classes 'acting' at the same time but not realising that only his attacks occur instantly. It seems credible to me that many of the issues of hunters causing bad pulls can be attributed to this schism between hunters and all other classes. Even so, hunters are far from being blameless.

Everyone has to learn their class, its strengths and weaknesses, how certain spells and abilities work by themselves and in combination with others. And although hunters may not have quite the same mechanics as melee characters or spellcasters, they should be able to work out how to be effective without being disruptive. After all, if spellcasters are able to time the casting and flight time of a spell so that it hits the mobs a split-second after reaching the tank, that level of class mechanic sophistication strongly suggests that hunters should also be able to time their attacks more appropriately.

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Wreck on a wormhole

Alone at the w-space tower, it must be time for more scanning. I find the wormhole leading out of our system quickly, looking for the 'most likely percentage' result. I have my doubts about that method in general, but it seems to work well for our home system in particular. Jumping through the wormhole finds me in an unoccupied system, but one without too many signatures to resolve. I'm getting a little ahead of myself, though. The system looks unoccupied from an initial pulse of the directional scanner, but I don't know if I'm seeing everything. D-scan only operates to approximately 14 AU, so depending on my location and the size of the system there could be plenty hidden from the scanner.

Opening the system map shows me that d-scan cannot cover the entire system in one sweep, and that a couple of planets are currently out of range. Whether the system is occupied by capsuleers or not won't stop my looking for an exit wormhole, so I remain in the system map moving probes around and scanning as I warp cloaked from planet to planet to get fuller coverage from d-scan. I quickly get confused. The system map shows distances relative to your position, so it is easy to see if planet X is within the 14 AU range of d-scan. At least, that's the idea. When a planet I am orbiting is still 20 AU from my position but the star in the centre of the system is only 4 AU distant, I suspect the readings have gone awry.

A bit more warping around shows the only distance to dynamically update in the system map is that of the star. Other cosmic bodies keep their relative distances to your ship from its position when the map is opened, despite the map accurately reflecting ship movement across the system. Closing and re-opening the map resets the ship's relative distance information. Regardless, d-scan always gives updated and accurate information. But the system map distance bug needs to be taken in to account, otherwise systems may appear to be much vaster or more compact than they are. It is curious that the star's distance is updated, though. What I find as the result of my warping around, apart from the bug, is that the system is indeed unoccupied.

My scanning finds a wormhole leading to a lower-class of w-space system, which holds the possibility of then leading back to New Eden. Jumping in to the new system, d-scan reveals the wreck of a Minmatar cruiser and a drone, the system map that the system is big. A bit of warping around shows the system to be unoccupied and, despite almost two dozen anomalies, relatively few signatures to resolve. It appears that someone has cleared the interesting sites, although it means the next wormhole is soon found. Although the wormhole leads to low-sec New Eden it is reaching the end of its life, so I am not keen to rely on it as an exit. I continue to scan, and find a further wormhole. Warping to this wormhole finds me the cruiser wreck that was visible on d-scan, and the drone floating inertly nearby.

The wormhole leads to dangerous w-space, unlikely to give a convenient exit, and the presence of the wreck sitting on the wormhole suggests that it is indeed dangerous space beyond. I don't think I'll venture inside. But the wreck is there, and the systems to reach it are empty. Although it has been looted, the wreck can still be salvaged. It is the kind of decision that really bears no scrutiny, as the salvage will certainly not be worth the cost of any salvaging boat, but the idea of salvaging from a wreck the is 'owned' by another corporation is oddly alluring. As my scanning expedition has ended, I find myself flying an uncloaked Catalyst through w-space towards a wormhole with a wreck sitting on it.

I am feeling pretty reckless right now, flying a flimsy destroyer towards the site where a larger hull than mine has recently been popped. I think the freedom appeals to me, being able to salvage the wreck with no added repercussions except all those normally assumed. I need to assert this freedom. Sadly, the wreck is gone by the time I make the short, two-system jump back. Or maybe it's lucky, as it means the assailants are two hours less interested in this location. Either way, I only loiter long enough to recover the lonely drone before heading back home to the tower. For a simple flight, it certainly got my pulse racing with the possibilities.

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Tags: catalyst, eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

A year with DGSE

Time flies when you're being shot at. It was a year ago that I joined Dark Star Galactic Engineers after Kename Fin recruited me from reading my journal. I could review my posts from a year ago, but it seems like more fun to rely on my memory instead. If I get any details right, I'll add links.

In an attempt to explore more of what New Eden has to offer I join a small PvP corporation and briefly roam around Molden Heath. I get no kills, or even any shots in, turning up late to the only roam that sees combat, and before I know it the corporation is accepted in to a null-sec Alliance. I don't think I am ready for that jump, still mightily inexperienced at any activity beyond mission running, and graciously leave the corporation. Rather than return to straight mission running and risking growing bored, I turn my attention to manufacturing and invention. I get some good advice on how to get started and Kirith Kodachi is generous enough to send a researched BPO my way, which allows me to start manufacturing whilst I wait for the month before my own research can even start in a public laboratory. Details on how to invent are kindly offered by the knowledgeable Karox Lominax, and I steer my skill training in the right direction. I still don't start mining seriously. It is about this time that Fin takes note of my industrious behaviour and offers a home in DGSE.

A player-run corporation must be better than any NPC corporation, I tell myself. I had started my own, one-capsuleer corporation before just to get out of the default corporation. NPC corporations are full of capsuleers who have no more in common than not being in a different corporation, and the spread of opinions, systems, and ideologies is little better than local chat in Jita. I am happy to join a new corporation, one that can guide me along my new path of manufacturing and invention. I find the small corporation is friendly and welcoming, and I am even given the opportunity to use but not abuse the corporation's private tower for any research I would like to carry out. The tower may be thirteen jumps away from the base I establish prior to joining the corporation, which at the time is a huge distance to cover relative to my New Eden travelling experience, but being able to queue research jobs with no month-long wait is joyous, even with the caveat of installing only short jobs to ensure equal availability of research slots for all corporation members. I am quickly able to get more BPOs researched and explore the market for standard modules.

Then Apocrypha arrives. There is a lot of excitement about wormholes and w-space, but like previous additions I assume that these are changes for other capsuleers, those who are organised, daring, or simply social enough. I happily plod on with my manufacturing and working with Core Complexion, Inc. agents, gaining standings to get datacores needed for invention. My own goals still seem quite exciting. Some members of DGSE have other plans, and within a couple of months are looking to push in to w-space to investigate the possibilities available. Their intentions are made known to the corporation as a whole, and I find myself with a difficult choice. I certainly would like to explore w-space, if only to go somewhere I never thought would be accessible to me, but the unknown time commitment and skills required makes me nervous, as does my often crippling shyness that needs to be overcome to believe that I would be accepted on the expedition. In a rare display, I refuse to conjure up excuses why I shouldn't participate and manage to offer my services, only worrying about my decision afterwards.

It turns out that some of my uncertainty is shared amongst all of the wormhole engineers, a name adopted by the division of DGSE heading to w-space. None of us know what we are to encounter, whether it is the logistic issues of setting up and maintaining a presence in w-space, the increased challenge of Sleeper ships, or the incredible danger hostile capsuleers can pose in frontier space. But we head out to w-space and begin our grand adventure. We experience all of the harshness of space in time, some more than others. Setting up a tower and keeping it running is not straightforward, needing occasional trips back to New Eden for fuel. But we grow accustomed to this with time, to the point where we tear down the tower to install it deeper in w-space, further removed from known space. Sleeper ships certainly cause more troubles than silly mission rats, but we only lose the odd ship here and there. Hostile capsuleers cause the real problems.

A trap is laid whilst we are running a Sleeper site in an adjacent system, one I escape only thanks to some luck. Another capsuleer has the bizarre urge to infiltrate our small operation, hijacking ships from our shared hangar in w-space back to New Eden as his own, costing us hundreds of million in ISK and a great more in confidence and trust. And there are plenty of other times when pirates ambush us, where we mostly end up in the red where ISK is concerned. But our spirit prevails, every time. We plan for counter-attacks with cheap Tech I cruisers, and mostly dust ourselves off and get back to our adventures. Our recoveries are not all quick, and sometimes we retreat to New Eden for a short stay, but the outlaw allure of w-space always brings us back.

Over the nine months or so of moving in to w-space I spend more and more of my time away from civilisation. In the early months, I probably divide my time in favour of being in New Eden, concerned about being stuck out in w-space and keen to get some Tech II invention running. As time moves on, my returns to New Eden become increasinly perfunctory, ignoring mission agents and, eventually, serious industrial and marketing efforts. Now my visits to New Eden are to buy shiny new starships and to keep a skeleton manufacturing process running for comfort. My skill training reflects the change of where I call home. Initially concentrating on invention and manufacturing skills, I am encouraged to hunker down to train for the Damnation command ship for Sleeper operations, after which it is interesting to note that my focus flits between core skills and PvP skills. The shiny ships I bring back to the w-space tower are either for the good of the fleet, or overtly hostile. I have yet to use my PvP ships in anger much, although I have fired a few shots from my stealth bomber, and it will probably do me good to lose something expensive in a fight, from the point-of-view of personal growth.

Now w-space is as much my home as DGSE is. I don't think I can go back to my old life in New Eden, not now that I have experienced the more dynamic and threateningly interesting life through a wormhole. And I doubt I could find a more amusing and friendly group of people than I have come to know in the corporation. It's been a hell of a year, I can't wait to see where I am taken next.

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Tags: eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic

Slow Club at Highbury and Islington Garage

The Garage in Highbury and Islington is a fairly small venue. I would have thought the Union Chapel, just down the road and where Slow Club played a Christmas gig, would hold more people, but perhaps the Garage's lack of pews gets more people crammed in. 'So many of you', says Slow Club's Rebecca, looking out over the mass of bodies, 'it's horrible'. She seems quite nervous about the attention the band is getting, even though they are headlining a 'Next Big Thing' event. But Slow Club are ever charming and appear as confident as always, starting the set with I Was Unconscious, it Was a Dream before jumping straight in to new track Wild Blue Milk.

Charles is ready for the next song and almost begins, but Rebecca had other ideas. 'Oh, I was going to have a chit-chat'. She acqueisces to Charles, though, pointing out that 'No, it's better this way' if they play a song. Trophy Room stutters in the first bar but quickly gets going again, and the song is clearly a fan favourite with many of the audience singing along. The venue warms up quickly, Charles taking off his jumper to reveal a Hot Club de Paris t-shirt, the band apparently playing the Lexington at the same time tonight. To deflect attention away from Charles's fashion faux-pas that threatens to send people to a different venue, Rebecca points out her 'John Terry necklace', a delightfully home-made paper cut-out piece of jewellery. But Charles thinks that it is actually Gareth from Los Campesinos, which makes Rebecca blush quite badly and want to get back to playing songs.

It Doesn't Have to be Beautiful is played, as is the bitter-sweet Sorry About the Doom, before Charles asks 'does anyone know the song No Good Way?' Rebecca wants to dive off-stage for a wee and hopes to make it back in time before her vocal part enters. She makes a dash, as Charles happily points out that 'it is my turn to shine' solo on stage. Rebecca does indeed make it back in time, giving herself a little cheer and pointing out that she washed her hands and everything, which maybe upsets the sombre nature of There is No Good Way to Say I'm Leaving, but Slow Club are so utterly adorable that they can do no wrong. Even when the set goes awry, it is handled with such off-handed grace that we are drawn further in to Slow Club's wonderful world.

The guitar introduction to the next song sounds like Dance 'Til the Morning Light, which Charles starts singing, but Rebecca begins When I'm Gone and they both realise they're mixed up and stop. The next song should indeed be When I'm Gone and they restart at the first verse, but it goes awry again by the second, getting confused between the ages in the lyrics and their own ages, different from when they wrote the song. 'There's a way to salvage this car wreck', says Charles, 'but I don't know what it is'. Apparently, the answer is to to be prompted by the audience. Finding out that the next verse deals with being twenty-four and knee-pads on the floor helps the band get through the rest of the song beautifully. 'That was the longest song ever.'

Along with Broken Mouth we've heard two new songs so far, but Rebecca wants to know if we can handle one more new song, with only two songs in total left in the set. We think so, but Rebecca's not sure, asking if we really want to hear it 'or are just being nice'. A bit more teasing follows, and then they play Golden Mountain, leaving just one song left in the set. For the final song, Slow Club bring out the support act, Swedish duo First Aid Kit, for a purely acoustic number. All four stand at the very front of the small stage, Charles with an acoustic guitar and the others without microphones, and we are serenaded with a beautiful rendition of Dance 'Til the Morning Light. Only a few months ago Charles considered the song to be little more than album filler, surprised at the reception it got at the earlier gig, and now Slow Club are closing their set with it, clearly responding to audience feedback. And they get more feedback tonight, as the acoustic version allows the audience to sing along, if not to every word then at least enthusiastically to the chorus.

There is only a short delay before Slow Club return for a one-song encore, a big version of Giving up on Love. There have been a few hiccups during the performance, but it's all been brilliant. Coming to see Slow Club is not like most gigs, it is more like spending an evening with a bunch of friends. The band are able to project a warm, comfortable presence throughout the venue, making anyone feel welcome. The audience is not just there to be entertained, but almost to be a part of the band. It's impossible not to love Slow Club and this has been another fabulous evening with them.

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Tags: garage, gig, slow club

East then north in Dire Maul

I admit that I am one of those RP weirdos who keeps a change of clothes for when I am in Stormwind and Dalaran. I feel much better walking around in a pretty dress and hat than stuck in heavy armour all the time, particularly when draenei are naturally so fabulous to begin with. I often won't change out of the RP clothes until I am in the wilderness, facing dangerous enemies. So it is that I am on the ship out of Booty Bay when I am told that I really ought to get some plate armour, what with being a tank and all. You would think that after gaining fifty-five levels and being specced in the protection tree I would have worked this out for myself, but I am a bit simple.

The ship from Booty Bay takes me to Ratchet, then a long flight sends me to Feathermoon Stronghold in Feralas, where a swim and short ride on my pony gets me outside Dire Maul, the target of the Filesystem Checkwits this week. I have arrived early, hoping to save a bit of time for us all by collecting relevant quests and being available to help at the Dire Maul summoning stone. It's a good plan, but thwarted somewhat by not being able to find the summoning stone. I am sure it was somewhere along the lengthy path towards Dire Maul, but even after a few rides up and down, and even in to the arena section of Dire Maul, the stone remains elusive. Someone else still needs to turn up before the stone can be activated, so I sit like a lemon hoping that the next Filesystem Checkwit can succeed where I fail at finding a sodding great chunk of rock, with a glowing rune, standing in the ground. And find it she does.

Qattara uses her keen elven senses to locate the summoning stone, although it's not where she remembers it either. We're just in time to summon Vulzerda, but not quick enough to stop Livya taking her 'secret Horde route' to Dire Maul, which apparently involves swimming in to an unnegotiable cliff before taking a more conventional path. Together again, Livya refuses to accept any apology for going to Blackrock Depths without her, and for us all making her feel short again by not having our nameplates within her tiny reach. But all is forgotten when she sees Vulzerda's fire totem. 'I shall hug him and squeeze him and call him George!' Livya squeals. It's quite difficult to tell the two of the fire-squirting midgets apart, and when Livya moves off to enter Dire Maul I get momentarily confused as to how a totem can run. It's not the only confusion, either.

Uncovered late in the original Azerothian adventures, Dire Maul is split in to three wings, much like Scarlet Monastery. In order to access two of the wings a key is needed from the first, Dire Maul East. Just inside the entrance, a mischievous imp, surely a tautology, waits to taunt us before running off through the various mobs that block our path. Our warlock gets disorientated briefly, thinking that it was her imp that rushed off ahead. Given Livya's imp's propensity to tackle mobs alone in both Zul'Farrak and the Sunken Temple it would not come as much of a surprise, Vulzerda imagining the imp shouting behind it 'noobs, I'm off to solo the place'. And if that weren't enough, we appear to be slaughtering much of Qattara's extended family, many of the elemental trees wandering the broken corridors bearing an uncanny resemblance to her own tree form. Vulzerda also nearly smacks Qattara in the face, worried that we had a runner but it only turning out to be our druid trying to loot a mob.

The entrance courtyard is passed through, the rogue imp chased a couple of times, and then Livya perks up. We get past the fantastic phase lashers, elemental plants that cycle through spell immunities brazenly to annoy Livya and her fire-based immolate or shadow damage spells. And her attempts to banish some of the elementals go awry, perhaps understandably when she is casting 'enslave demon' instead of 'banish'. But when a stealthy demon tries to ambush us Livya's spell becomes effective. Having Livya enslave demons is quite useful, for low values of 'useful'. Not happy with a demon rogue she enslaves a second one, unleashing the first from its chains of bondage and understandably causing it to start attacking us from within our midst. It is good that my paladin tanking focusses on AoE threat, allowing me to cope with Livya's fickle changes in demon choice. But when it isn't being churlish towards its captor, having a big demon fight alongside us is generally more useful and quiet than an imp.

By this point I am settling in to a comfortable rhythm. You have no idea how many times I've run this dungeon. 'Fourty-seven', replies Vulzerda. Okay, you have a really good idea how many times I've run it. Because of a couple of trinkets that were considered best for certain classes, I ran both the east and west wings of Dire Maul until I knew them like the back of my hand. It helped that I used to be a warlock, making my elemental- and demon-controlling spells useful for once, and the 'see invisibility' spell is only useful in one other place I know outside of Dire Maul West. With all of the runs through the dungeon a specific route was found that is most efficient in reaching all the bosses whilst fighting the least amount of mobs. I naturally settle in to the same route, making seemingly awkward diagonal runs through rooms and half-assuming, half-hoping my companions do the same. Of course, we are not quite at the old cap of 60th level, so it is inevitable that we draw more attention than if we were, but I am sure we still pass more mobs than we battle.

The imp is uncovered as actually being taller than Livya, for which we kill him and take the Crescent Key that opens the other wings of Dire Maul. Back up the corridor and around a corner, another imp is a humanoid in an imp suit, and his companion Lethtendris is defeated for her web, an item needed to complete a quest from Feathermoon Stronghold. A dash down a ramp and a couple of brief fights gets us to a water elemental boss, a vestige of the old mage class quest to attain what was once the highest level of water conjuring. Running across to the edge of the room and along a ledge avoids the rest of the mobs, and we encounter an actual demonic boss. This boss sacrifices a random party member, paralysing her and draining health quickly. That Qattara is sacrificed should not be a problem, as two more of us can heal, but sadly we are a bit rubbish and she doesn't survive the sacrifice. Vulzerda revivifies our druid, and Livya casts an 'ironic soulstone' on her.

Back up, along the ledge and across to the pool where the water elemental boss was, and a bit more sidling along a wall gets us to the main courtyard. Here we talk to a massive tree who agrees to smash open a door that bars progress at the other side of the courtyard. Many a time I have been in a group that has tried to dash along this path hoping to avoid the fast-moving trees, and as each time it has failed I instead take care to pull each group in turn. I can't be feeling myself. As for the others, they certainly are feeling themselves, Vulzerda suggesting a shout of 'I got wood' on getting tree aggro, and Qattara moaning about 'reaching for my wild growth'. It's a wonder I can stay focussed. But stay focussed we do, clearing the few last giant trees on the way to final boss Alzzin the Wildshaper. Livya's enslaved demon plays the part of the imp a little too well, aggressively running up to and nearly pulling the boss after clearing the surrounding mobs, but is recalled in time. The Wildshaper poses no problems, and we pause on our way out only to pick up a Felvine Shard, which probably can be used somewhere. The east wing of Dire Maul is clear, now what to do.

Ignoring a plea to head back to Blackrock Depths, it makes sense to continue our way through Dire Maul and head to the northern wing, Crescent Key in hand. Despite having been in the east and west wings dozens of times, the north wing of Dire Maul is a blurry memory for me. The most I can remember is perfecting a tricky set of jumps along walls to get to the library entrance, just inside the wing, without pulling any mobs. But I certainly have cleared this wing in the past. It all starts to come back to us as a group when a pack of dogs pounces on us whilst we are fighting only the second cluster of ogres, causing a wipe. Running back from the graveyard, which perhaps could be closer to Dire Maul than merely being somewhere in Feralas, we take care of the wandering dogs before enacting revenge on the ogres, and then take the opportunity to enter the Dire Maul library. The Athenaeum gives us the chance to sell superfluous items from our inventory as well as complete the quest to find Kariel Winthalus for an elf in Feathermoon Stronghold. 'He's not really 'lost', is he?' points out Livya. 'Either that, or these are the worst librarians in the world.' She's not wrong, as the skeleton is only four feet away from one of the librarians, who informs us of Winthalus's demise with criminal nonchalance. They could at least sweep the bones in to a corner if they aren't going to bury him.

It's back in to Dire Maul North, and there are ogres aplenty to kill. We manage to get the key to the main doors and let ourselves in, where a goblin wants to be set free. There is an opportunity here to disguise one of us as an ogre and clear the instance in a secondary way, for different rewards, but it requires having some ogre tannin and I don't know how to get that. It turns out that releasing the goblin gets us the tannin, meaning two visits to the instance are required. Although a little frustrating, it isn't as bad as some quests that require multiple visits, because at least the return visit will involve seeing the instance in an entirely different way. And, as luck would have it, it looks like we're coming back anyway. The ogres get powerful quickly, all being 59th or 60th level elite mobs, with similar level demon minions, and as our average character level is 55 we struggle to make every hit count. One unfortunate over-pull goes a bit awry with spellcasters and demons flying everywhere, causing many deaths. Even though Qattara revives me mid-combat, and uses Livya's soulstone herself, the ogre warlocks' use of a banish spell unfortunately removes either tank, healer or DPS from the fight at different times. Ultimately, I am the last Filesystem Checkwit standing, banished and surrounded by angry-looking ogres. It doesn't end well. But we are not vanquished yet.

We run back to Dire Maul for another attempt, enjoying the real challenge of being under-level for the instance, when the arena master yells that The Razza is taking on any challengers. The arena in Dire Maul is one of the few open areas where anyone can attack anyone else. It is like PvP but where Horde vs. Horde and Alliance vs. Alliance can occur. It is also where a rare boss spawns every so often, offering some good quality loot for the added risk. And it is where, years ago, my party got ambushed by a supposedly friendly guild when we were close to defeating one of the rare mobs, so they could take some stupid loot for themselves. Not that I'm bitter. These days, Dire Maul is as good as deserted, and taking on The Razza seems like a good idea. We jump in to the arena and defeat the rare boss, picking up a couple of nice items as a reward, before heading back in to the north wing of Dire Maul. But the dungeon appears to have reset. The ogres at the entrance are not simply respawns, as the first boss has reappeared, which is peculiar. The dungeon shouldn't reset simply because we left it, as there is a specific option to reset instances in the user interface, so I am not quite sure what has happened. But it is getting late, so we go out to Feathermoon Stronghold in Feralas to turn in our quests and decide a plan for the following week.

It makes sense to continue our journey through Dire Maul, going back to the north wing at the start of next week. There is even the chance of making the ogre suit, now that we have the tannin, although it will take some research to see how to do this. I consider resting at Feathermoon Stronghold for a week, but remember that I am now 56th level and could use some training, so use my hearthstone to return to Stormwind like the other Filesystem Checkwits. It seems to be naked draenei day in Stormwind, with more than tails exposed in every quarter of the city. I consider joining in, but of course I need to wear plate, being a tank. Oh well. Vulzerda takes time to clear out the guild bank, as useless gems, leather and herbs are getting in the way of a few hundred snowballs. And I try really hard not to smite the paladin trainer when he only offers two incremental improvements to useless auras as the entirety of my training. I'm glad I came back now, as I can look forwards to repeating the long return journey to Feralas next week with no discernible class improvements. The ogres will pay for this.

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Tags: azeroth, filesystem checkwits, kiska, mmorpg, paladin, world of warcraft