EVE Online

Yes, we’re back to the Daily Blogroll. Another allergy attack has left me asleep by 9PM, which really shortens the nights for me. Is Aion too derivative to be successful? Tobold thinks so. In fact he wonders why people would pay full price (US$15/month) for a WoW-like like Aion when they can get the real thing for the same price, or a free WoW-like in Runes of Magic. He also doesn’t hold out much hope for Fallen Earth, calling it too much like failed MMO Tabula Rasa “just working less well, being less fun, and having less good graphics”. So that’s that. ...

Marissa Spiritcaller about five minutes before she became a smear on Lord Nightshade’s floor This was the weekend I didn’t do very much. My allergies had left me feeling drained, and I decided what I mostly needed to do was turn off the computer and go outside. To my balcony. I hauled out one of the wooden chairs I’d finished when the kids were little and read a book, guarded by the cat. I realized that this could be a better day if the old wooden chair was a lawn chair, and the book was a black raspberry ice cream cone from Friendly’s. A visit to Target and Friendly’s, and I was back in an hour, sitting on the lawn chair, eating some ice cream. ...

It took a really long time to get all the skills trained for this day – it always seemed to be just one more skill I needed, and I think Mining V was the last I needed to fit the Modulated Strip Miner II asteroid crushers I’d bought a couple weeks ago in anticipation. My target for my mining operation was 5m ISK/hour; if I could log in, spend a good hour mining, and come out 5m ISK richer, then I feel this side trip into mining on my way to my battle cruiser would be ultimately worth it. ...

Oh, speaking of Free Realms, the band that does the theme song “It’s Your World and Welcome To It”, the Dares, will be performing the song live at E3 AND on the Snowhill stage in game (on all servers, from what I understand) at 7PM EDT or 4 PM PDT. If you West Coasters are at work and can’t see it, we’ll let you know how it went because, like, we’re three hours ahead of you. In the FUTURE. ( not the actual song name) ...

Welcome to another Friday! Got plans for the weekend? I’m planning to take a short break from EVE Online and get caught up on a beta, Mabinogi, Wizard 101 and will reinstall EQ2 to see if that fixes the problems I’m having with it freezing on launch. Spinks starts us off with a long and detailed look at the power of story in MMOs, specifically, the plight of the Forsaken as they meet their maker in World of Warcraft’s Howling Fjord. Those Forsaken aren’t dead, they’re just pining for the fjords! ...

Click to make this larger Tracker Wolf has taken it upon himself to teach this noob the basics of PvP in EVE Online. The game is pretty complicated to begin with, but PvP is like lifting up the control panel for Boeing 747 and finding the controls for the space shuttle underneath. Hanging in a safe spot deep within lowsec, narrowing in on lone pilots using half intuitive, half trial and error pings from the system scanner? Done that. Bringing up information about the pilot and their ship, length of play, corporation and so forth to see how likely they are to put up a fight? Done that. ...

Had a fun weekend in New Hampshire! No gaming to speak of, but I didn’t really miss it. My stepmom and I took a hike in the back woods and saw the effects of the ice storm and the tornado they had last winter. Got bitten by deer flies, walked dogs, went to church, and what I mostly missed? Doing the blogroll? So… here ’tis :) ...

Long weekend for us in the US, Memorial Day weekend. Though meant to honor Americans who have died in wars, I remember it mainly as the beginning of school’s summer session – those last few weeks of school where the teachers pretty much relaxed and let you do whatever you liked. As a trumpet player in the school band, I always had the hope that I would be selected to be the lone trumpet that stood apart in the cemetery that also ended the Memorial Day parade and play taps as we all stood silent in prayer. ...

For being a hardcore, impact, PvP, NOT easy to play, sandbox kinda MMO, EVE Online has such a great community that the occasional pirate can’t break the mood. Here’s the thing. After delivering two loads of Kernite to Old Man Star, a 0.3 and hence open PvP system, without any trouble, I was kinda thinking that maybe all the PvPers were living even deeper in low security, in 0.0 space, and I wouldn’t really have to worry much about them. ...

So I just applied to a corp in EVE Online. I have so many questions they can help me answer! Like, what’s the command to hearth back to the inn? And, are there like space question marks so you know which stations have the quests? And, how do you switch between specs? And, can some high level space dude run me through a couple newbie space dungeons for phat lewts? Hey, did you know that Chuck Norris never uses warp? He just whistles and solar systems come to HIM! ...