Returning to Azeroth

Leaving the US World of Warcraft server, I find myself with an opportunity to play in another static group on my old EU server. It's only two of us in total, myself and Melmoth, and will only be once a week, but it is the adventure that lies ahead which is appealing. We have the options of playing once-discarded 70th level characters through Northrend, breathing in the new content at a relaxed pace, and running a new class from 1st level to see the game from a different perspective.

Agreeing to play only once a week will keep our characters synchronised in levels, and for me it offers a refreshing change of scenery, particularly compared to the stark background of outer space, as well as a needed excuse not to have to log in regularly just to see if anything is happening.

Running around Northrend isn't going to be particularly different for me, as I will pick up Tiger, my warrior, when I have already taken my US warrior, Sapphire, through all of Northrend and its dungeons. But I like the warrior class, specficially the tanking aspects, and it is both comfortable for me and allows greater opportunties for group play and dungeon delving.

As much as high-level adventuring appeals for the greater options of class abilities, the announcement of an impending cataclysm rending the world unrecognisable instead sees us heading to Azeroth, to see the old world one last time. We get to see old regions and dungeons, revisit old quests, and have the bonus of having these memories much clearer in our minds when the inevitable changes hit.

I choose a mage—a Draenei, of course, for the tail—and she comes to life as Bijou. Melmoth becomes an animal-loving hunter, with a fondness for cats. Together, we hope to have enough DPS and crowd control to cope with almost anything the hordes of Azeroth can throw at us, and we plan to see if we can vanquish the foes in some of the dungeons before they are revamped for 85th level heroic adventurers.

Of course, we can only achieve our aim if we learn to play our classes and are not just the stereotypical aggro-stealing glass cannon and perennial noob hunter with an uncontrollable pet. Only time will tell.

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Tags: bijou, melmoth, mmorpg, sapphire, tiger, world of warcraft

A Crane fit for me

The top crane companies transport ship is gorgeous. Sleek and manoeuvrable, it powers through the void at 9 AU/second, aligning and and entering warp in the blink of an eye. Even though its base speed is slower than a shuttle the higher warp speed, far superior cargo hold, and ability to fit modules makes it ideal for zooming across regions. One of the modules I can fit is a cruiser-sized micro-warp drive (MWD) which with my skills can boost the Crane to almost four times the sub-warp speed of a shuttle.

With the MWD fitted it is almost preferable to fly most distances in high-sec space on autopilot (AP). Although the AP only flies a ship to within 15 km of a stargate, rather than manual navigation dropping the ship out of warp within jumping distance, the MWD-boosted Crane gets to the gate before it has a chance to accelerate to top speed, it is that quick. With the AP taking control of activating stargates to jump, selecting the next stargate and activating warp engines, the overhead of waiting for the new system to load, finding the highlighted stargate, warping to it and jumping is reduced to zero. All I need to do is occasionally tap the MWD button.

Not only does it feel quicker to fly on AP in a Crane, because of the lack of lag from manual selections, but there is something invigorating about hurtling to the stargate from 15 km out, particularly when others on AP are dawdling towards the same gate. All manner of ships are left in my wake of aether, wondering what that red-tinged shadow was that just passed them. I once not so much bounce but ricochet off a Charon, fully expecting a 'kapwing' sound to ring off its hull. What is even more impressive is occasionally seeing ships drop out of warp ahead of me, within jump distance of the gate, but I still reach the gate and jump before them. Truly, the Crane is awe-inspiring to pilot.

I zoom about New Eden picking up datacores from agents located so far apart that it's almost worth scanning down wormholes to see if the journey can be shortened by heading through w-space, but the distance doesn't really matter when flying a ship powered by awesome. Zoom zoom zoom. So injected by speed am I that I manage to babble when chatting to one of the agents, apparently requesting a mission instead of asking to buy datacores. Oh well, it matters not, it's likely to be a simple courier mission and I'll get another datacore's worth of research points by completing it.

Sure enough, I have to pick up a container from system A and deliver it to my agent, a two minute job. I select the pick-up system as my destination to feed in to the AP and check the star map. Wait, what are all these system names spilling down my display? Twenty two jumps to my destination?! This doesn't seem like a two-minute courier job, something is awry. I dig out my EVE Online Strategic Maps atlas to see what is going on and it is as I suspect. The agent's system is on the border of a low-sec 'island', three low-sec systems connecting to another section of high-sec in the region. To get to my destination whilst avoiding low-sec systems takes me all around the houses, but it is just a few hops through more dangerous territory.

Another module I can fit to the transport ship is a cloaking device. Even though my skills only allow for the basic model of cloaking device it still lets me evade electronic detection, and with high agility and warp speed I can be fairly safe flying through hostile regions, which is why the transport ships are known as blockade runners. I take the precaution of swapping out the nanofibre internal structure modules for inertia stabilisers, sacrificing a bit of speed for even more agility, and undock.

In the low-sec systems I perform the manoeuvre I've been practicing a bit in high-sec, where I align to my destination and simultaneously activate the MWD, then the cloak a moment later. This gets the ship pointing in the right direction, after which I can cancel the cloak and enter warp as efficiently as possible to evade any hostile action. It turns out that I have little to worry about, as most people apparently are wary of entering low-sec. There is no one in the first low-sec system, one in another, and four in the third system, only one of whom is sitting on a gate.

I blast through the systems, barely registering my presence, and complete the courier mission before picking up the datacores I came for. Damn, I love this ship.

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Tags: crane, eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic

Working on Lai Dai standings

I may not have been successful yet in inventing a Crane but I sense my fortune lies in that direction, whether it be gained in Tech II BPCs or lost by throwing hundreds of datacores in to failed invention jobs. Being back in k-space for a while means I probably ought to work with Lai Dai, to increase my standings in order to gain access to the corporation's level four R&D agents.

The Lai Dai Corporation appears to be entirely decoupled from Caldari State, as I effectively have no standings with them at all. It is only by the grace of the connections skill that I have access to a low quality level two agent and don't have to jump back in to a frigate for level one missions. The level two agent sits amidst a high concentration of Lai Dai agents in Lonetrek, which should let me hang around a single constellation for most of my efforts to gain standings, instead of having to move a handful of ships every so often.

The positive aspect of agent concentration is balanced by the relatively tedious nature of Lai Dai's work, there being precious few agents offering mostly encounter missions. Instead, I find myself acting as a courier most of the time, with only an occasional opportunity to explode rat ships. Thanks to a corporation friend, outside access to level four missions spices up the mission running every now and again, also granting greater standings increases, but I'm still mostly delivering package A to point B.

I think I can blame the mindlessly repetitive nature of courier missions for forgetting to bring the package with me sometimes. But eventually I gain access to higher quality Lai Dai R&D agents, and when one of them turns out to be fairly local I think it is worth the short trip to swap research from my current agent to the new one. It is particularly good timing, as the current research point tally can be exchanged for datacores to leave only a few points abandoned when the research is cancelled.

It is only after making several jumps and I am warping through the adjacent system to my current Lai Dai R&D agent when I remember the crucial information that not all agents research all engineering disciplines. I quickly pull up the information panel for the potential new R&D agent to find that he doesn't research Caldari starship engineering, which is what I require. I dock at my current R&D agent's station and call it a night.

Although I am a little disappointed that I don't have a higher grade of Caldari starship engineering research running, I am pleased that I don't end up cancelling the current research wastefully, even if I made what is essentially a pointless journey. Oh well, back to courier missions!

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Tags: eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic

Mining Badger

Running missions for production agents unsurprisingly turns up the occasional challenge to mine some rocks floating in space. I take my Retriever out to the deadspace complex, and my corporation colleague comes along in a, uh, okay.

A certain someone may be in denial about losing her Hulk. I think I'll save my ISKies to pay for a new one.

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Tags: badger, eve online, mining, mmorpg, penny ibramovic

Inglourious Basterds

There is a scene in Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino's Second World War survival flick, where a Nazi soldier is threatened with being beaten to death by a notorious Nazi killer wielding a baseball bat, unless he reveals the position of other soldiers. The tension of the soldier's fate is heightened by his would-be brutal executioner shrouded by ominous darkness of a nearby tunnel, the same tunnel also offering excellent acoustics for the baseball bat being struck against brick, echoes ringing out menacingly. Being a soldier of rank he doesn't give away any information. The camera moves to face the dark tunnel, the bat continuing to strike the tunnel sides, as we, along with the Nazi and the Basterds, wait with baited expectation for the killer to emerge.

And we wait, edging closer to the dark tunnel, baseball bat hits ringing out, background music swelling to heighten the tension. And we wait further, executioner still not revealing himself. And we wait, and we wait, to the point where we wonder why the man hasn't exited the tunnel yet. Surely this cannot be a simple man with a bat, because there is no reason why he wouldn't have come out much sooner. No, perhaps this really is a huge brute of a man, much as the German army believe from his reputation and earned nickname. We are waiting in proportion to the sheer scale of the monster to appear.

And we wait more. Perhaps he isn't a brute and his nickname is exaggerated out of fear more than being deserved, and he is really a diminutive fellow, offering some moment of dark humour when he appears only to be swallowed by the sheer scale of brutality that will counterbalance his comedic size. There must be something extraordinary about what is going to emerge from this tunnel, the wait can't be in vain. This will be momentous. But, eventually, the man that steps in to the light of day is just what we first expect: a man with a bat, who then beats the Nazi soldier to death.

The scene is a good analogy for Inglourious Basterds as a whole. There are some great scenes that make you sit up and pay attention, which have thrilling and visceral conclusions, but take so long to develop in to the climax that you'll often get bored waiting and make up your own ending, only to be disappointed that it was just what you expected it to be ten minutes earlier. The problem isn't that the scene is predictable, in the sense that you have a good idea of what's going to happen, it's precisely because it isn't until after the audience has double-guessed itself in to apathy that they get what they wanted to see realised on the screen in the first place. With tighter editing it would be possible to bring each scene to its foregone conclusion sooner, and it wouldn't mean sacrificing story or character. Rather, it would be distilling the story and character in to concentrated brilliance, offering a thrilling blast through a Nazi-killing hurricane packed with glorious dialogue. Instead, our espresso of a cinema trip is diluted with a pint of skimmed milk, cooling our senses and dampening the buzz.

It's not just the pacing where the film suffers. Tarantino provides helpful chapter headings and titles for the film, letting us know when and where the scene takes place. Occasional important characters with no more than cameos are highlighted with film-scratched nameplates. All of this breaks suspension of disbelief and reminds you that you are watching a film. It is difficult to become immersed in the characters and the drama unfolding when an unavoidably obvious device is used to draw attention to a person or event, suggesting the filmmaker was too lazy to find a better way to achieve the same effect. The subtitles used throughout the film suffer in the same way, where every word is translated. The comprehensive subtitles wouldn't be quite so awkward if it weren't for the occasional instance where foreign words are not translated but still presented as subtitles, such as when a spoken instance of 'wunderbar' gets inserted in to the subtitles as 'wunderbar', which has the effect of breaking immersion again as it changes the act of watching a film in to a read-along with the characters.

It could be argued that Tarantino is merely paying homage to the genre of film he is copying, that the styles he employs were used by the filmmakers of the time and he is only being loyal to his sources and inspiration. However, I don't think that is a good argument. It may be true that films once used such devices, but cinema has moved on considerably since those times, both technically and as an art. And just as cinema has progressed to become more sophisticated, perhaps just as importantly so too has the audience. Not only are people more world-aware but we have a greater understanding of the art of cinema, such that we no longer need to be told where and when a certain scene is filmed, as we can deduce it by the actions, clothes and dialogue of the characters. Nor do we need to be told about the scene's position immediately, quite content instead for the relevant information to be revealed over the course of the scene, often to greater effect. Show, don't tell. If the filmmakers of yesteryear were to make films today they would probably eschew the primitive and condescending techniques once used, seeing them as amateur, where more artistic methods of guiding audiences are known and employed to much greater effect. There is no reason why an homage cannot remain faithful yet also be contemporary.

There is plenty to enjoy in Inglourious Basterds. The characters are well-developed and played, with some marvellous acting and dialogue that carries some of them through sweeping arcs of time and space. The suspense and tension of the dreadful period and killings is allowed to build and we are given time to experience dread and fear with those on screen. And the conclusions, when they come, are gratifying and exhilarating. It is just a shame that they take too long to arrive, allowing tension to dissipate needlessly and messages to be lost. Inglourious Basterds is a good film, and worth watching, but there is a fantastic film almost crying to be freed from the pretentious shackles Tarantino sadly burdened it with.

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Tags: film, inglorious basterds

On the path to Damnation

I am convinced that I need Damnation. Well, a Damnation, the Amarr command ship, for wormhole engineers fleet operations. Apparently, the bonuses it gives would be quite suited to our current fleet options, but I am swayed when I see its crow-like black-on-black hull. The Damnation is a Tech II fleet command ship, which will require a fair amount of skill training to fly, it being recommended to me because I have given myself a headstart after training to fit the warfare link modules to my Drake battlecruiser.

I already have warfare link specialist trained to level IV, from my own initiative to get optimal use of the Drake in w-space fleet operations. The only other secondary skills required are long range targeting V and signature analysis V, both of which I currently have trained to level IV. With those two skills trained I will open up the logistics class of ship, which I will need to train to level IV. But even with the secondary skills complete I have a fairly long path ahead of me, mostly owing to the need to push some starship skills up to level V.

The longest of the required starship skills is battlecruisers V, which will then let me train in command ships, followed by Amarr cruisers V for the Damnation itself. I feel a little dirty training so thoroughly in Amarr cruisers before the Caldari equivalent, but finding out that Caldari fleet command ships are based on the Ferox hull is enough to persuade me to fly the much sleeker Amarr option. The Damnation even has missile launcher capabilities, so I shouldn't need to cross-train my combat skills to suit gunnery instead.

Training for the Damnation isn't really a problem in itself—apart from the horrid Amarr cruisers—as I will bolster current skills and ship attributes, by pushing them to the maximum skill level, whilst opening up new piloting opportunities. What is concerning me is that a tentative plan puts the skill training time at around seventy days before I can plop my pod in a Damnation, assuming I don't get distracted by other, more shiny skills.

Seventy days of skill training seems like a long time. I generally shy away from long-term plans, partly because I am rarely sure of being able to maintain a steady focus for so long, but mostly because I like the illusion of progress, the hope of improvement in situation, and dedicating myself to a three-month plan seems more like a resignation to my current status. Of course, history shows that I am likely to be then where I am now. I'm simply not keen on admitting so much.

Even so, there are few short-term gains that I can achieve at the moment in EVE Online and if I am able to stick to the training plan for the Damnation I will be able to fly a really nifty ship. The time will also likely pass happily quicker than I imagine, and I already have a name picked out for the future ship. I will be calling my Damnation Bad Badtz-Maru, named after the crow from Hello Kitty. Training begins now, so let's see if I can stick to the plan.

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Tags: damnation, drake, eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, skills, tech ii

Kicking out the jams

It is inevitable that I will be a rock god one day, even if it means slumming it on the drums instead of playing a proper instrument. You will still all end up bowing before me, as my progress at hard difficulty drumming in Guitar Hero: World Tour continues, albeit at a pace that is reduced in proportion to the increasing difficulty. Although I still return to familiar gigs I do so mostly for practice, to retain what I have already learnt and managed to achieve, and not because I am unable or unwilling to move to greater challenges. Indeed, returning to the earlier gigs in the game reveals the progress I have made, patterns and fills falling in to place instead of having my fumbling limbs flail at random pads and plastic. It is quite rewarding to see what I have accomplished from continued practice.

Although I continue to work my way through the gigs they certainly get more difficult, causing me to stumble. In consecutive gigs, the live tracks Kick Out the Jams and Demolition Man are two of the most difficult so far, I am assuming because they are live and not studio recordings. Some parts seem like a bucket of sticks has been turned upside down on to the kit, the apparently random nature of the pattern rather difficult to emulate. I have to admit that I never fully got the hang of either of these two songs on medium difficulty so it is little surprise to find them more challenging on the harder difficulty setting, and I am happy not to strive for perfection on them before moving on.

The next gig is not terribly interesting, though. Whilst Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast is fun enough to play, making it good for a practice session, Monsoon is really quite dull. It's not bad to play, and again I manage to score 100% quite soon, as I do for the more upbeat Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast, but I find the rock ballad style to be uninspiring, promising much but delivering little. The other songs in the gig don't encourage me to return to trudge through Monsoon, so I progress to the next gig, which begins with the far more interesting American Woman, which has some challenging patterns requiring good limb independence for most of the track.

The tricky patterns of kick and ride in American Woman causes me quite a few problems, scoring only 80% on my first attempt. It is time to return to the practice studio to play the song slowly quite a few times, getting the basics of the song in place before attempting it again at full speed. On practice, at one level slower than full speed, I can get around 97% notes hit, and when I decide it is time to play the song at full speed my practice pays off, as I get 90% and continue to improve. The practice mode of Guitar Hero is a nifty feature and really can help with coordination, giving more time to recognise notes and patterns as well as allowing more conscious thought to be given to movements as personal skill level catches up to the ability required from the songs.

I really enjoy playing American Woman because of its challenge and the sense of achievement I feel being able to play it competently, even if it is still a little simplified from the full drum track. I would play the song as part of its gig more if the last track in the gig, Purple Haze (Live), weren't bugged. The audience track crescendoes but doesn't dissipate once the song ends, requiring the game to be restarted for the audience's applause to clear, which is otherwise distracting in other gigs. But at least I can choose to create my own playlist, to which I can add American Woman along with other favourite tracks if I so desire.

However, as the self-created playlist is temporary I find I don't make full use of the feature, preferring to play the gigs instead. It would be useful if there were a way to store a handful of user-created gigs, so that I could play some favourites quickly and easily each time I loaded the game, rather than having to pluck them all from a long list each time. Even so, I continue to have a lot of fun with Guitar Hero drumming, and will practice further to develop my improving drumming skills.

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Tags: console, drumming, guitar hero, xbox 360

Jumping ship for DUST 514?

I have seen the video trailer for DUST 514, the forthcoming first-person shooter (FPS) based on the EVE Online MMORPG. I'm not terribly impressed. My first impression is that it is, indeed, a first-person shooter. But, oh my, look at those huge spaceships shooting powerful weapons at each other! I want to fly one of them! And I am, in EVE Online. I'm not entirely sure why I'd want to leave my fantastic spaceship, my main motivation for playing EVE Online, to run around a landscape with a handgun instead. Unless I could do so as a badger, I suppose.

There is going to be a link between the planetary battles and null-sec sovereignty, I believe. The question is: why should I care? I don't go to null-sec space, nor am I likely to, so it matters not to me who controls it. Of course, if even singular efforts in ground assault could make it worthwhile for anyone to venture deep in to lawless and dangerous space then the synergistic game mechanics will pose considerable problems for EVE Online, so it will be interesting to see how much effect games of DUST 514 will have on null-sec sovereignty. If there is too much influence from the FPS then capsuleers in null-sec may feel there is little point fighting in ships that can't win the battle on their own, and maybe even retire. If there is too little effect then the connection to EVE Online will be little more than a gimmick.

But even if the battles of DUST 514 have some effect on null-sec sovereignty, if it is enough to influence control over contended regions it may require alliances in those regions to be relying on members owning consoles and enjoying a different genre of game, or having to strike up a completely new alliance with a group of console FPS gamers. Does an EVE Online alliance want or need the extra complication of keeping a disparate group happy enough to participate in continuing battles simply as a means to retain control of a region, particularly when needing to use entirely new channels of communication separate to those currently used by the alliance?

Even if there are gains for the FPS characters associated with controlling a region—which may make it less of an FPS but give players the incentive to fight for sovereignty—who would be in command, and thus control? Do the console gamers decide where to fight, or do they get told on what planet, or 'map', they are going to do battle, and against what opponent? Although there is some verisimilitude in being a front-line fighter given orders by a commanding officer, I personally would prefer some control over my gaming time. Likewise, I wouldn't relish being in a null-sec alliance if I had to rely on the notorious whim of FPS gamers preferring to play a certain map in order to retain sovereignty.

A solution may be to have EVE Online commanders set-up or schedule the ground assault battles they want fought and then the game allows players to join whatever battles are currently 'open' at the time they log-in. This would offer some control for both groups, with capsuleers dictating the holistic strategy for planetary occupation and console gamers having opportunities to play on a variety of 'open' maps and conflicts, for whichever side they choose to fight if otherwise unaffiliated, whilst still allowing for co-ordinated groups to fight for a specific side to tip the balance towards victory for an alliance. It could work, but probably only if the amount of influence awarded towards sovereignty is carefully balanced.

My lack of presence in null-sec isn't to say I'll have no reason to play DUST 514 as such, but as there are no compelling reasons for my playing the game as a link to EVE Online it will need to be a notable FPS for me to play it, particularly as it will be only available on consoles and thus be limited without keyboard and mouse controls. And, of course, this is mostly speculation. But I can't really see how alluring it can be to spend time out of your chosen game to play a completely different genre, on a different platform, to help retain control of a system in the original game. If DUST 514 is good enough to hook players, perhaps there is no need to include anything but a cosmetic link to EVE Online in the first place.

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Tags: dust 514, eve online, fps, mmorpg

The Crane is mine!

All is ready! Caldari starship engineering skill training reaches level IV and the other engineering disciplines are also at level IV. My Lai Dai R&D agent has accumulated quite a few datacores for me, whilst I have spent a few weeks in w-space, which I happily collect on my way to the research facility. I don't have time to scan for archaeological sites, so instead buy a couple of user manuals from the market. The Badger BPCs are sitting in my hangar, ready to be turned in to Crane BPCs. There is an esoteric ship interface in the hangar next door, which I can borrow. And luck is in my favour, thanks to Varakkys for draining some of the failure from the system. It's time to invent my Crane transport ship.

I grab some mechanical engineering datacores that I have stored and put them with the Caldari starship engineering datacores I picked up, transfer the Badger BPCs to the same hangar, and dump the user manuals and esoteric interface along with them. Calling up the science and industry interface I start the invention process on the Badger blueprints, the output being a Crane BPC. If I'm lucky, that is. And I'm feeling lucky. I may only have enough datacores to start two invention processes but I think that two Crane BPCs should be plenty, particularly with the user manuals allowing extra production runs. The only problem is that the waiting is becoming untenable, the invention process per job taking a day to complete. But I'll soon be rolling in sexy transport ships!

Unfortunately, I haven't accounted for jealous corporation colleagues. I'm still brimming with positivity a day later when I come to deliver my new Tech II BPCs to my hangar only to discover that both jobs are failures. 'Yeah, that was me', he says. What? 'I stole your datacores from the laboratory after you'd left the system, to guarantee your failure.' But why? You know I really want a Crane! 'Um, because it would be funny.' Damn him. I am not entirely sure I believe him, as I didn't think it was possible to take datacores from an initiated invention job, but there is no denying that both jobs were failures. He is only envious of superior Caldari technology, which is only natural when stuck flying Gallente ships.

But apparently my whining and his gloating is too much to bear for some corporation members, as a little while in to our exchange my wallet starts blinking at me. I open it to find an ISK donation from another colleague, enough to buy myself a Crane from the market. As much as I feel cannot accept such a generous offer I don't want to be rude and decline, so I hit the market and buy my long-desired Crane. Oh yes! Maybe I need to whine less. Or more. I don't really understand how it works. I'll consider it as I whizz across the void in my pod to pick up Tigress, my new transport ship.

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Tags: crane, eve online, invention, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, tech ii

Temporary withdrawal

There is no denying that w-space is dangerous. If it's not pirates snaring us in warp bubbles, it's Sleepers scrambling our warp drives. And if it's not Sleepers scrambling our warp drives it's pirates ambushing our mining operation. And if it's not pirates ambushing our mining operation, it's cowards abusing trust to effect corporation theft. A snivelling weasel manages to steal a few battleships and a command ship from our w-space hangar during a quiet period, causing us hundreds of millions of ISK in losses.

For capsuleers more used to high-sec mining, industrial operations, and mission running it can all be a bit overwhelming to be introduced to so many adversarial forces in such a short space of time. Adittedly, the null-sec equivalence of w-space is like jumping in to the deep end, but the lack of permanent gateways in to the system, as well as the mass- and time-based instabilities associated with wormhole travel, makes it potentially safer than trying to set up in null-sec proper. However, there isn't really a middle ground between being protected by Concord and being fair game to anyone, so there are precious few opportunities to become acquainted with the PvP of New Eden at your own pace.

It would be interesting to see introduced a more gradual progression from safety to pirate paradise in the systems of New Eden and the effects it would have. Would more capsuleers perhaps wander outside their comfort zones and venture in to unknown and riskier ventures if it weren't all-or-nothing? Being able to push the boundaries of your abilities based of levels of risk may eventually get more pilots in to low-sec systems, or at least confirm that low- and null-sec adventures aren't for everyone.

The immediate effect of the latest set-back to w-space operations is a slight withdrawal to the safety of the familiar, running missions for standing gains and maintaining industrial jobs, although some capsuleers continue as normal with w-space operations. I take the opportunity of the uncertainty to return to known-space and set-up a mission base with Lai Dai, hoping to boost my standings with the corporation so that I can gain access to better quality R&D agents for Tech II research. It also coincides with pushing my Caldari starship engineering skill training to a level where I am more confident about achieving an invention success to get a Crane BPC.

There are not many Lai Dai agents who consistently offer encounter missions, so I find myself jumping backwards and forwards delivering items for courier missions. Sometimes I'll be jumping backwards more than I should. My standings with Lai Dai creep upwards, but it is a slow process. I doubt I'll get many new R&D agents to work with before my engineering skill completes training and I install an invention job or two, crossing my fingers for success. And the courier missions are helping both with increasing my standing as well as encouraging me to return to w-space. It may be dangerous in the frontier systems, but it's never dull.

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