I have been spending quite a bit of my game time playing World of Warcraft, mostly due to Cataclysm releasing and the majority of my friends heading out that way. On Thursday I received an email that was tempting me back into EVE Online – and by Friday I was hooked again. To start things off CCP removed the learning skills that players could obtain in game. These skills were a bit redundant they explained, spending time learning skills so that you could learn other skills. I never gave it too much thought but in the end it made sense. They reimbursed players for all of the skill points spent which in my case was 400,000 or so. Not exactly a huge amount compared to some long time players but still enough for me to get a little giddy over.
In that email it was also mentioned that I could activate my account for free for five days. Everyone loves free stuff, so why not. On top of that offer came a new ship, the Echelon which is also equipped with a Sansha Codebreaker, specifically for Incursion. Tempting me first with the return of skill points, then free days, and a free ship was concluded by offering me 60 days at $20, and by that point my will was broken.
Pictured above is my brand new Noctis. This ship is a bulk salvager and I spent some time yesterday fitting it and training the skill required to fly it. Then I took it out for a spin and I have to admit, I am LOVING this ship. It runs smooth, quickly, and it does its job incredibly well. I headed out to asteroid belts which are typically filled with trash from hulks passing through killing rats on their mining runs and made quick work of all the materials floating around in space. While some players may not care too much about salvaging I tend to pick up every piece that I can because they’re incredibly handy for making rigs.
My ship collection is growing by leaps and bounds and I couldn’t be happier. I am now 9 days away from flying an Orca, that’s what those skill points went towards. I’m still 100,000 ISK away from purchasing one of these enormous ships, but I’ll get there eventually, not to mention actually fitting one. This ship has been my ‘dream ship’ for a while now, and I get giddy thinking about how close I finally am.
The Dominix is my ship of choice for PvE encounters, and with the completion of some drone skills I’m ready to take on harder missions. I just need to find the time (and a mission giver some place close to me). With my ship collection so far including the Hulk (mining), Helios (scouting), Noctis (salvaging), and Dominix (PvE) I’m feeling pretty happy. There are always more skills to learn and that’s the point of a never-ending MMO cycle, but I feel as though over the last few months that I’ve played I’ve finally come to a ‘comfortable’ point in game. I enjoy crafting and invention as much as ever, and I think I’ve finally gotten a grasp on a little more than the game basics. Of course I say that and then read a “real” EVE post and get as confused as I did on day one, but it’s all in good fun.
Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!
I noticed the other night that Xfire said you were in EVE instead of WOW and I was pretty surprised. I almost popped in to say hi, but went off to my EQ2 instead :-P