DUST Closed Beta Weekend Code

Heya folks, long time no talk...err, type?  Anyway, still keeping my finger on the pulse of New Eden mostly through DUST at the moment (although more EVE in the near future is looking likely, more on that later) and the NDA is keeping me from blogging much about it.  One thing I think is safe to say is that the Closed Beta has been having Beta Events throughout the summer.  Which brings me to this week's Beta Event.

AFB: Away From Blog

Just wanted to give you all a quick update to let you know I'm still alive.  Two things have been keeping me away from EVE lately; the first being a project I'm working on in my spare time that is completely unrelated to video games and the second being the beta for [NDA].  Wait, what?  The E-Lawyers here at FNG & Associates inform me that I'm not allowed to talk about NDA Club.  The fact that it's taking up all my spare video gaming time should at least tell you something about whether or not I've been enjoying it.  Hopefully we'll be returning to a more regular posting schedule Soon™.

FNG

Frigate Changes: Tormentor

I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.
--Lewis Carroll

Last, but hopefully no longer least, is the Tormentor.  The ship will be receiving a more dramatic face lift than any other frigate in Inferno, so let's get to it.

Frigate Changes: Rifter

Alice had got so much into the way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way things to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on in the common way.
--Lewis Carroll

Part 4 of an ongoing series.  Stop by the thread to view all the proposed changes and feel free to get caught up on the previous posts in the series.  Today we'll be looking at the T1 Frigate by which all others are measured; the Rifter.

Frigate Changes: Punisher

'How doth the little crocodile
 Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
 On every golden scale!


How cheerfully he seems to grin,
 How neatly he spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in,
 With gently smiling jaws!'
--Lewis Carroll

The halfway mark in this series examines the upcoming changes to the Punisher.  If you're just joining us, go check out the thread for details and the previous posts to get caught up.

Frigate Changes: Merlin

As to temper the Jubjub's a desperate bird, 

    Since it lives in perpetual passion: 

Its taste in costume is entirely absurd — 

    It is ages ahead of the fashion.
--Lewis Carroll

Continuing where yesterday's post left off we'll be looking at the Merlin today.  No further introductions need be in order, go check out last week's post for an explanation if you need it.

Frigate Changes: Incursus

How puzzling all these changes are! I'm never sure what I'm going to be, from one minute to another.
--Lewis Carroll

As promised, I'll be providing a breakdown of the upcoming changes to the Incursus.  Having no better indication of the order to do these in, I'll be tackling all the frigates in alphabetical order.  After looking at the changes themselves, there will be possible fittings for the ship provided.  As with anything in EVE, the changes are not yet finalized, but hopefully they'll provide a decent enough starting point when the ship hits the Tranquility server and allow people to have a more intelligent discussion about the ship before they're able to fly it themselves.

The Times They Are a-Changin'

'The time has come,' the walrus said, 'to talk of many things: of shoes and ships - and sealing wax - of cabbages and kings.'
--Lewis Carroll

As mentioned in my last post, I'm taking a new direction in EVE and this blog.  To any of you out there that are worried, it's still going to be focused on PvP and the New Player.  I'm just taking the focus off of Piracy as the only form of PvP I'm doing and regaining my sec status is helping me accomplish that goal.  Today I'm going to talk a bit about what that goal is, and give an overview of what's coming next on the blog.

End of an Era

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish.
--Douglas Adams

When I had been playing EVE for three months, I created this blog.  When I first designed it, I had no idea what I was doing (both on the blog and in EVE) and thought the tagline "One Pirate's Epic Tale of Epic Fail" would be fitting the disaster that was sure to occur.  Today I fulfill that promise as I fail at Piracy forever by giving up my Outlaw Status.  Ah, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Even he, to whom most things that most people would think were pretty smart were pretty dumb, thought it was pretty smart.

--Douglas Adams

This weekend saw an increase in activity on the DUST 514 Beta front that got me thinking.  Now, I realize everyone reading this might not be all that interested in DUST, but I am.  To those of you who aren't, I would encourage you to start a blog of your very own where you have complete editorial control over the content.  Like I do here.

Bob Barker's Revenge

The white Krikkit warship was parked among the stark gray crags of the asteroid, alternately flaring under arc lights or disappearing in shadow. The black shadows cast by the hard rocks danced together in wild choreography as the arc lights swept around them.

--Douglas Adams

Ripard Teg recently put up a post on Jester's Trek called The price is right discussing the recent increase of the price of ships in EVE.  If you haven't read that yet, go do so now.  Not only is it a good read, but the rest of this post isn't likely to make much sense without that context.  What the rest of this post is likely to do is respond to a question he posed there and include some arm-chair game designing on my part.

I CAN HAS BLOGPACKZ?

Writing is easy. You only need to stare at a piece of blank paper until your forehead bleeds.
--Douglas Adams

Another post concerning things outside of the EVE Client (I swear I have an article about spaceships that I'm writing, it's just not done yet!).  Today we're going to take a look at some of the history of the EVE Blogosphere because I'm So Meta, Even This Article.

I'll Hate Myself Come Morning

'Why can't people just learn to live together in peace and harmony?' said Arthur.  

Ford gave a loud, very hollow laugh. 'Forty-two!' he said with a malicious grin, 

'No, doesn't work. Never mind.'

--Douglas Adams

I really didn't want to do this.  I've never used this blog to discuss EVE politics or further any sort of political agenda as I firmly believe it compromises the integrity of the information presented on the rest of the blog.  However, with that said, the EVE community seems to be interested in talking about nothing else today except The Mittani's behavior at the Fanfest Alliance Panel.  Fine then, if that's all we're going to talk about today, then that's all we're going to talk about today.

Reflections of a Gamer

Let the past hold on to itself and let the present move forward into the future.

--Douglas Adams

Fanfest 2012 has drawn to a close. While I was not attending, I did try to watch as much of the livestream broadcast as I was able and am grateful to CCP for broadcasting to those of us unable to attend.  The focus of this year's Fanfest was clearly the upcoming launch of DUST514 and in watching CCP discuss their non-EVE projects I began thinking more about them.  How these projects might effect the future of my gaming choices got me thinking about some of my past gaming experience and led to this post.  To those of you who read this blog for its guides; this post isn't for you.  To those who read it for discussion of EVE; this post isn't for you either.  Now that I've alienated 99% of my audience, the rest of you can read on for a post that is equal parts narcissistic look at my past and love letter to CCP Games.

Catch-22

She passed the time quietly in a world of her own in which she was surrounded as far as the eye could see with old cabin trunks full of past memories in which she rummaged with great curiosity, and sometimes bewilderment. Or, at least, about a tenth of the cabin trunks were full of vivid, and often painful or uncomfortable memories of her past life; the other nine-tenths were full of penguins, which surprised her.
--Douglas Adams

I've been experiencing a bit of Déjà vu this past month.  I didn't really know what to say about it though, until the recent Dev Blog put it out there in the open.  "I've experienced this feeling before," I thought.  "But what is it?"  Oh yes, the feeling that CCP Hates Me.

Caldari Ship Progression

They wouldn’t even lift a finger to save their own grandmothers from the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal without orders signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters.
--Douglas Adams

For those that read the last post, you can probably already guess what this one is going to contain.  Today we'll be examining the Caldari race as a whole and how their various combat ships fit together.  I'll again be pointing you to The Altruist for discussion of the ships themselves as I try to focus more on the the order which the ships are likely to fall on a new pilots training path.

Amarr Ship Progression

Writers should not be in the business of propping up stereotypes.
--Douglas Adams

There are a lot of choices when it comes to what ship to fly in EVE Online.  In fact, a very common question I see from new players is "What ship should I train for after X?"  This series will attempt to answer that question by providing an overview of the combat ships available for each race and a general guide to how they all fit together.

The More Things Change

"Since we decided a few weeks ago to adopt the leaf as legal tender, we have, of course, all become immensely rich. But we have also," continued the Management Consultant, "run into a small inflation problem on account of the high level of leaf availability, which means that, I gather, the current going rate has something like three deciduous forests buying one ship's peanut. So in order to obviate this problem," he continued, "and effectively revaluate the leaf, we are about to embark on a massive defoliation campaign, and ... er, burn down all the forests. I think you'll all agree that's a sensible move under the circumstances."
--Douglas Adams

Today's post is admittedly a bit ranty and meta, but it provides a nice contrast to my crunchier post earlier this week.  More crunchy is planned for some posts soon, so consider this a nice distraction for the time being.  With everyone else jumping on the retrospective year-in-review bandwagon, I just couldn't help myself.