Back, Again.

Back yet again, after a long time of inactivity now.  New Eden seems to be a place I can't keep away from, it always feels like coming home when you log back in to space.

There's been more then a few changes since I was here last, I was rather confused about all the green and red squares in space first time I saw them, turns out they were part of the new scanning system.  I haven't quite made up my mind about the new scanning system and anomalies yet, seems like a pretty big plus in high sec, but it leaves you less time to bug out of sites in low sec.  Great stuff for people looking to kill folk, but since I'm usually the "getting killed folk" it could get ugly, adaptation required I suppose.

Speaking of low sec, Ventures are my new best friend.  Yes, I'm aware that ISK pr hour is horrible mining in low sec, I'm also aware that mining for your own production etc, is a terrible waste of money, but you can't beat the fun factor.  I've been taking Ventures into low sec for some ninja mining here and there since I came back, and it's fun as hell, it's nimble, fast and the warp strength helps a lot on the safety factor.  I'm looking to get me a prospector next, maybe take it into null sec or some wormholes, the Cov Op's cloak should be ideal for that kind of nosing around.

Evoran's been spending most of his time getting set up again, moved home system, picked the trading back up and been researching some BPO's.  I've been getting to know the market again and trading is currently netting some nice profits all around.  The new Crius industry system seems great so for, I've heard/read all the doomsday prophecies regarding it, but I've got few complaints so far.  EVE is about adapting after all.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see my RvB alt still in Red Federation, I was expecting her to have been removed due to inactivity, but I was able to jump straight in again.  Well, straight in after I'd researched new fittings and tactics.  There's seems to have been quite a few changes in the PvP front aswell.  Frigates, destroyers and cruisers have been reworked, not sure if it applies to more ships, those are the ones I fly, new roles, slot layouts and bonuses, great stuff.  I've mostly been tearing around in cheap frigs, as per usual, sneaking in on KM's and getting back into it. 
The relaxed RvB atmosphere is fantastic though and they do produce great fights, I encourage anyone to stick an alt in there just to try it out.  You can keep it as cheap as you like and still get great fights, there's always a fleet running so you never feel alone or abandoned and there's a lot of helpful people to answer all the stupid questions one might have.

Anyways, Fly safe.

Moving house and RvB.

It's been a while since the last post, summer of Rage and some other minor things ended in my accounts going inactive.  I've returned now, once again, brought in by the promise of the new patch and a longing for the open reaches of New Eden space lanes.  I'll be honest, Eve is a game that is hard to kick.  I can turn my back, but I still find myself drawn back to it given time.

Going to keep this one short and sweet.  I've moved, from my previous home around Villore, I've moved to the neighbouring region of Sinq Laison.  The lure of the trade hub (Dodixie) won out in the end, it's easier to conduct regular trades in large volumes from my new home.

I've also dived in feet first with PvP, I've placed an alt in Red V Blue.  RvB for those who don't know is two corporations in a perpetual state of war.  Sign up, undock and fight, it's sort of like an arena brawl thing without the politics and hassle of War.  I've joined Red myself, the character I have there isn't the best in terms of skill points, but I've trained her in between skills here to make her an acceptable cruiser pilot.  I do mostly fly frigates though, it's cheaper that way and they're always useful for tackling anyway.  I'm close to a hundred kills now and 12 Rifters lost.

I'll probably throw in quite a few RvB updates here in the future, it's damn good fun.

Fly safe all.

Overheating racks and new portraits.

And so, the Sansha have descended upon us.

They brought with them an amazing new character editor.  I know some people have lamented the fact that the new ones aren't as good as the old ones.  That they liked the cartoon style, that the new editor lacks diverse and unique characters.  I for one, like it.

The new pictures look great, the options are plentiful and the expressions many.  The few things I don't like, it's hard to see the small, tiny, little photo thumbnail.  Some more clothing options might be nice and some more normal haircuts all around, other then that I'm very happy.

I'm gonna be lazy though, since I've already misplaced the pictures I was gonna link twice, I'll settle for the banner art.  I have created a new banner, my skills at photo editing are somewhat lacking, but it's my own and I'm rather happy with it.  The new banner has the new pictures, it's Evoran by the Iteron and Evv by the Mega.  The old ones are in the right sidebar for now. 

I went for a civilized, office sorta look for Evoran, seeing as he's the official guy with the trading and the building.

For Evv I wanted a "rougher" look, ex Navy, don't want his picture taken sort of thing.

I'm pretty darn happy with how they both turned out.

Now on a different note.  The patch brought with it some nice shortcuts, and in doing so it overwrote all the old shortcuts.  I undocked my Abaddon, warped into a mission, The Assault, yes, the same one that cost me my Apoc a while back.  I'm sitting there shooting away at the serpentis ships waiting for aggro from the last bunch to unleash my drones.  Aggro gained, drones out, ctrl-1 to sent drones to attack.  I hear this "plink" sound and think "hmmmmm".  Then the lower rack overheats.  I quickly turn the heat off and and head for the options, while getting shot at in the mission.  I go to drones, find the shortcut and assign ctrl-1 to attack.  I'm told it's already taken so I go to the appropriate page and turn it off, then back to drones to turn it on again.  Thing is, every time you click it, doesn't matter that you're in a menu apparently, it activates.  Sooooooo, by the time I'm done, I esc out of the menu and intend to finish the mission.  I was just in time to see my hardeners burn out, I check overview and see there's a warp scrambling frig on me, then my armor rep'erapparently activating things through menus. gives out.  I was fortunate enough to get out in low armor this time, repaired in station and finished the mission.  Thank you for overwriting my old shortcuts CCP and thank you for

All said and done though, good patch, I like it so far and now, all that's left is to rally some corp mates and try the Sansha for real.  I still have fresh memories of how that went on SiSi.

Fly safe.

2011, still going!

Happy new year to all and may 2011 rain isk or KM's on you, depending on preference.  Myself, I'll take the isk.
2010 ended quietly for me, bogged down in work and family stuff to attend for the holliday I got precious little EVE time in, such is life.  I've mostly been managing trade orders once a day, neglecting everything else and anxiously been waiting for the next Incursions installement to be deployed.  I'm actually looking forward to the new character creator specifically, and I'm not quite sure why I do it.  It's going to be very wierd to change portraits, I've been running around SiSi for a little bit and seeing that new picture in local is downright unerving.  When I get used to it though, the new creator is amazing and I'm really looking forward to recreating faces that have been with me for years now, I suspect I'll spend a few hours tweaking when the creator drops.

There's another couple of things about the patch, the shortcuts and the new NeoCom.  I love the shortcuts, absolutely love them, they're intuitive, they're quick and they reduce clicking by an awsome amount, BUT, I will not get over the fact that I have to click in the chatwindow to type now.  For that reason alone I will probably not use the shortcuts at all, I'm way to used to just start typing when I need instead of clicking somewhere.
The new NeoCom is also great, it has to be enabled in the menus as some BETA option, the problem though is that I will now have to start playing EVE in fullscreen mode.  Previously, EVEMON centered my windowed EVE for me, now I have to use some "Fixed" window option, the downside of this is that the windows start bar has priority at the bottom of my screen, the new NeoCom is also at the bottom of the screen.  Everytime I go for the new NeoCom the windows start bar pop's up.  Small complaints, I know, but still.  I'll have to find a way to get around it, preferably without going back to fullscreen.

Still, Incursions pt. 2 is looking great, can't say how much I appreciate CCP for holding back, staggering deployment and making it all nice and polished before release.

Fly safe all.

Incursions, part one.

Not had a chance to log in much these last days, been a little to busy with things, so today I was welcomed by a new and shiny log in screen.
Incursions has dropped it seems, or at least the first part of it.  I have to say again, I really like the fact that CCP decided to release it in stages with more of a "when it's done" philosophy rather then on time.
Seems there aren't too many drastic changes as of yet, the things I welcome from this first part is the ability to show probes on the overview, that's a long time coming in my opinion.  I never use the "unofficial" way to get them on the overview in the past, I wasn't sure if it was "safe" or not, but this new ability has great potential.

I'm also welcoming in the changes to various T2 ammo, and the rockets among them, or I will appreciate the rocket boost at least when I train up for them on Evv.
The Noctis is looking really sweet, but a little expensive as of yet, I'll either opt to grab a BPO or wait for the price to drop before I grab one.
Either way I'm gonna wait a little bit, I'm sort of asuming that the Outer Ring area is swarming with people right now, I'm also asuming they don't have my welfare in mind.

The addition of a Meta column on items also makes hangar/loot sorting a little easier, it's a nice touch.
Seems the "nice touch" thing is the thing of this first patch, several small things that are not revolutionary, but nice additions.  I will eagerly await the changes to PI, the actuall Sansha content and I'm really looking forward to having my SP from learning skills reimbursed.

Fly safe all.