How Long Has It Been

It has, it's safe to say, been too long since my last confession. A combination of activities both in game and out has left me with little time to blog over the past few weeks, and a number of work in progress articles have been sitting in my drafts folder for some time. That's something I hope to fix soon.

First, an update on what I've been doing outside of New Eden. I've been hosting family for the last week or so, and with my brother being a fairly keen gamer too that's been a great opportunity to put some diablo 3 co-op through its paces. Suffice to say the third installment of the series is a lot of fun, and as you might expect from Blizzard it's a very polished product. The plot felt a little predictable, however the gameplay itself is much improved over its predecessor and both the visuals and atmosphere are fantastic. In addition to that I've been spending some time on Crusader Kings 2, a game which could hardly be more different to blizzard's offering. Best described as a mash up of the civilisation series, dwarf fortress, and game of thrones, CK2 is a dynasty builder whereby you attempt to extend the influence of your house and bloodline throughout middle age Europe, complete with all the intrigue and backstabbing which that entails. The gameplay is largely hands-off, but the depth of the game can drag you in for hours and I can definitely recommend it to fans of any of the three series mentioned above.

In game, I've been equally busy. I delivered a Q&A lecture for Eve University which was very enjoyable, you can find that in their class library. I also dropped into RvB to participate in the Great E-Uni vs Purple War, although out of game commitments meant that I only managed to join in the climactic fight for the E-Uni POS on Sunday night. Aldrat local was up to somewhere between 600 and 700 for the duration, with a single battle raging non-stop for hours on the Aldrat/Eygfe gate. I had a great time zipping around in my taranis taking down hostile snipers and ewar, however the significant lag definitely made manual piloting a challenge. Following that I guest FCed an RvB Ganked roam (see here for my writeup of a previous such roam), which was a resounding success. It was nice to get into the hot seat again, and while I did manage to suicide the fleet at the end (which I feel a little bad for), the 5 billion isk worth of damage which we inflicted during the night definitely makes me feel better about it!

I'm now beginning to ask myself the question of 'what next?'. While I've really enjoyed the freedom of being completely solo (and still being able to join gangs from time to time via outlets such as RvB Ganked and my old friends back in Agony), eve isn't a game to play by yourself. There are a number of things I'd like to try, but with the current climate the obvious opportunity in the short term is Faction Warfare. Inferno hasn't even officially hit yet, and its promised changes have already been the catalyst for an explosion of activity among the FW community, as each side rushes to capture systems before the new mechanics come into effect.

Of course, there's a conundrum associated with joining FW. I've always been a Minmatar guy (and indeed, Minmatar is the only faction which I actually have sufficient standing to join as an individual if I wanted to do so). However, having observed the FW situation quite closely for the last few weeks it's pretty clear that the last thing FW needs is for more people to join Minmatar - of all the factions, they currently have the most overwhelming advantage over their opponent and to tip the balance further probably wouldn't be in the best interests of either side. Joining the Amarr would be a more sensible choice, however I neither have the standing to do so myself, nor know much about the more fractured collection of corps which make up their militia - hence my dilemma!

So what do you think, readers? Do you have any experience in FW? Can you suggest a course for this intrepid blogger?