Merry Christmas

Or Happy Holidays, if you'd prefer.

The frigid cold, sleet, and ice has relented, at least for a few days, which will make our holiday road trip a little more enjoyable.  As much as I like a White Christmas, it's really no fun to drive in the stuff.

So, be safe, don't eat too much candy, if you drink - don't drive.  Otherwise, fly it like you stole it and have a fabulous time.

While I'm typing, I'll add a few bullet points.  Bullet points are cool.

• The Kingdom Death campaign will wrap in 14 days.  The next week will be slow, but it managed to top $8.35M this week.  It looks like it may topple Exploding Kittens from the #1 board game slot.
• I have a few days off next week and hope to get some miniatures painted, some WoW played, and will hopefully bounce around EVE a bit killing Sanshas.
• The Man in the High Castle is on my list of streaming for the break.  Season2 was added to Amazon Prime, and we've made it to e4 so far.  I think it's moving better than S1 and I really liked S1.  My advice is to read the Wiki entry on the book so that you can better understand some of the backstory, and heck, taking a Wiki-dive into WW2 history isn't a bad idea either.
• The Expanse returns in February.  Read the books, watch the show. 'nuff said.

o7 all

Abavus

Back on Duty

Reposting this and editing lightly. Oddities from using the Blogger app shoved it to January 4th for some unknown reason.

----
Well, Evil isn't going to smite itself, so I have fired up the armada again, jumping back into the front lines against the Gurista, Sansha, and Angel menace.

Actually, I have been trying to get anomic agents to spawn as I haven't checked some of my fits in ages.  Considering the number of missions I got through this week, anomics were quite stingy. I did get World's Collide approximately 27,457 times, but very few burners. (And some of the ones that did get offered repeated.)

I will need to update my fit posts eventually, and ideally work out a more user friendly format.  I don't crave blog hits, but I see from my stats that many of you find this blog via google searching for burner strategies.  So even if I did update my fits and develop a better format, there's some significant web momentum behind the current set of blog posts.

Anyway, I digress.  I did determine that Blood Raider Cruor is still doable in my Jaguar and an off grid linker.  Guristas Worm is still fun in my Daredevil.  The Worm still holds its place as my favorite burner.  But the Team Enyo is no longer soloable in the kite fut Garmur. For that one I grab an alt in a mwd Kestrel to lend some dps.

On the Horizon

It's been a relatively relaxing Holiday season.  When it's July, I tell myself I'd rather take time off when everyone ELSE is working, and then get caught up while the office is quiet.  Then every year I get to the holiday season and wonder why I'm one of the few guys in the office when I desperately need some time to unwind. This year, I said screw it and I've managed to work 5 days in the past 2 weeks and as of this afternoon I'm off until 7am on Monday.

We've seen Star Wars 7 on the Imax 3D screen twice now.  I went in not expecting much and was happily surprised with the result.  The first showing we went to was at lunchtime on the day of release - the theater was sold out (at lunchtime!), and the audience was almost entirely people in their 30s and 40s (i.e. "my age").  This was such a fun setting; while waiting we chatted with those around us like old friends.  When the lights went down, all phones went away and the nerds got focused.  We cheered when the Falcon came on the screen, and again when Han and Chewie showed up.  At the end, we clapped politely, then all sat and watched the credits roll.

Perfect movie?  No, not at all.*  But I was a Star Wars kid of the 80s, and these are the friends/characters I've wanted back on the screen nearly the entirety of my life.   When the special edition (revamped original trilogy) returned to theaters in the late 90s, there was a huge buzz around the franchise and things finally looked good for Star Wars fans.  This was of course followed by a big kick in the nuts called Episode I.  So let's face it, it could have been a LOT worse.  Episode 7 is a fun ride if you let it be fun.

But -- on the Horizon for Dog's Breath.  I have my year end wrap up post that will hit on the 31st or 1st.  I am unhappy with it and will need to spend some time reworking it (unlike most posts, I've already been through it twice now).

I have a monster Shadows of Brimstone How-To post that's drafted but needs a ton of pictures imported and formatted.  Mrs. Durden and I have been playing SoB whenever possible (though I had to clean up the dining room table for Christmas dinners) and have been thoroughly enjoying it.

Ingame, I have been cleaning out old inventory (necessary evil) and running lvl4s.  I am trying to get some of the cruiser anomics to spawn so I can recheck my fits; this will result in hopefully some updated PVE guides.

I've been looking at the default templates and may ditch the red/gray star motif for something a little easier to read.  The red/black gets fuzzy on some of my devices.  Open to ideas.

No timetable for any of this (other than the year-end post) but hope that my weekends will remain free through January allowing for more online shenanigans.


*Note: There have been no perfect movies since the Goonies.

Ahead We Grind

This post meanders a bit, but bare with me...

I have said before that one of the virtues that keeps me in EVE is the design philosophy of horizontal expansion.  Most of the time, new systems are added in parallel with existing ones.  Unlike games where there's a set of loot to earn or a lvlcap bump up another arbitrary 10 levels, EVE's content remains (more or less) balanced around the same basic combat and content engine.

This results in a stable economy and stable content (the capship bpos I bought in 2007 are still worth something and still useful, unlike the corresponding equipment my wow characters had in the same era). 

We've been talking a lot lately about new PVE content, new lvl4s, and gutting of old systems (incursions in particular).  And I am very much on board with that.

But its also struck me recently that it could also mean a phenomenal amount of change to parts of the game that have been untouched since the beginning.  (In fact, the code being so old and insupportable is part of what's driving the sweeping changes).  And it will be a unique day in EVE when it happens... Very rarely do we see the outright scrapping of an entire system.

I struggle to imagine a day when Aba couldn't login to silence the informant in the way he's known since 2004 or so.  The mission system, for all its warts and evils has been so fundamental a force for me in EVE that its absence will be noticed and perhaps even missed.

There will be a system to replace it, no doubt. CCP has said as much, and the improvements are much needed. But to make an analogy, we live on 10 acres in a 3200 sqft home today that is better in every way to the 1000 sqft starter home we came from.  But that doesn't mean I don't look back fondly at the old place, or sometimes think enviously of the young couple living there now, enjoying its simplicity.

And so ahead we grind, seeking our loyalty points and standings and salvage from a system that is in dire need of replacement.  May that patch day come soon, and may we appreciate the new system for the opportunity it presents and the significance of its existence considering the horizontal expansion philosophy of EVE.

Why I Like Burners

I was asked recently why I liked Burners.  Simple question, and I think I gave a reasonably elegant answer, but I've been chewing on it during quiet moments since.

First things first, Burners were not what I originally thought of when I wanted "advanced" lvl4s.  But they are darn close.  This post goes through my concept of what small ship mission content could look like; at the time I had no idea that Burners were on the table with CCP.

I point this out because the content isn't what I'd secretly been longing for; CCP didn't fulfill all my hopes and dreams with this content, and I don't think of myself as a Burner Fanboy.  

Anyway - Why do I like Burners?  

1. The Mechanics.  I like to dissect the mechanics of the content and understand the encounter thoroughly.  I take a good bit of pride in not only knowing what to expect, but also vigilant enough to react properly when the game throws you a wrinkle.  I like to know the content well enough to come up with my own twist on the ship fits and not just use what's "accepted."  

While "the mechanics" are true for all lvl4 content, the time is long gone when vanilla lvl4s required much thinking about how to approach a specific encounter.  Most of us fly omni-tanked ships capable of doing any and all vanilla lvl4s that are offered, with full pocket aggro, and (at most) an ammo change between missions.  The margin of success with Burners are such that the Mechanics still matter.

2. The Rush.  The first several Burners I completed resulted in me sitting at the desk with shaking hands and a sweaty brow.  The new mechanics, new ships, and challenging content really got me.  With dozens and dozens of Burners now under my belt, this is no longer the case (tho I am FAR from complacent about Burners).  I still take a deep breath and cry TALLYHO when I drop into the pocket.

3. The Familiarity.  This is a more recent phenomenon.  There are now so many Burners that I don't see some of the variants all that often.  At this point, it's like seeing an old friend when some of them pop into queue.  I get to dust off a ship I haven't flown in weeks/months and knock the cobwebs off my knowledge about the encounter ... and hope that nothing drastic has been changed in the patches since I last ran it.

What's Playing:  Static-X, Wisconsin Death Trip, December

Best Laid Plans

So, I mentioned to Sugar in passing the other day that I haven't posted much because I've been running lvl4's and "hey, I've been running a lot of lvl4s" is a pretty short post.

She replied enthusiastically: "Well, you should post that!"

So I am.

Snort worthy comedy would end the post right there.  But in the spirit of producing something like actual content, I'll continue....

First things first, I've been running a lot of lvl4's lately.  Partially to try to get my arms around the Carnyx offer rates for burners (which still appear to be about 5:1) and partially to get more of the Burner BC offers.   Triple Talos is especially lucrative if done quickly.

But mostly, (mostly!) I'm doing it for the yummy LP and am looking forward to a large cash out in a week or two.

A few funny/random things:

• After weeks of drought, I've had the Blood BC offer twice in the past 2-3 days.  Almost lost my Gila on the first run.  I had full aggro from the main baddie throughout the fight and managed to pop him at 20% shields.  I'd probably lost the Gila w/o the link ship.  Second run was cleaner.  Still fiddling with the fit and still plan to post an update soon-ish.
• I've been offered the new Angel cruiser-sized burner once.  It hit me late at night and I didn't feel like stopping what I was doing to go fit a new ship, so I (gasp) declined it and kept rolling.  This of course means I'll never see it offered ever again.
• I lost my first MTU.  I don't use them every run but prided myself in not leaving one behind yet.  At the end of a long session and the end of an AE4, I got back to station and realized I'd left my MTU in the last pocket and turned in the mission.  I could have gone and probed it down, but just bought another one.
• A day later, I got a killmail report for the unlucky guy who found and popped my MTU.  Poor guy lost a Rupture to get a 10MN burner and 1x Metal Scrap.  Apparently I had looted it but not scooped it, and the stuff inside was from whatever wrecks I decided to leave behind.  I felt bad enough that I almost (almost!) sent him some isk as compensation.  
• EVE Vegas travel plans have been made, broken, changed, and made again.  It's a long ways out still, but having at least that laying flat is one less thing to worry about while summer continues to kick my butt.*

Other Dog's Breath news:  My "big corp theory" post is still in draft form.  No ETA; it's been back burnered by real life* and a desire to shoot stuff in game.  

That's it for now...

(*) Note:  I'll maybe do a 'real life' post in the near future.  Nothing dire, but by late June things are usually starting to settle back down while the heat outside rises.  Between work and the weather, I'm far, far behind where I wanted to be, and I'm burning more of my time to catch up instead of playing video games.

What's Playing:  Alice in Chains, Jar of Flies, No Excuses

How I Mission

This might be a repeat post, not sure.  But it's come up in conversation a few times over the past week, so here's the brain dump that I came up with this morning while I was out riding between corn fields on the bike.

Vanilla Level 4's

I use a mix of ships.  Typically this is the Golem, but I also keep a N-Apoc, Sacri, Drake, and Nighthawk handy.

Over the years, I have done various modes of lvl4's.  Blitzing, kill-all-no-loot, kill-all with an alt salvager trailing behind.  For a long while, I simply looted the large wrecks looking for large meta4 guns and left the rest.  (Not optimal, but I'd rather SHOOT STUFF than LOOT STUFF).

Battlecruiser Burner Tests, Round 0

Per previous post, Battlecruiser Burners are up on SISI.

I created a fresh SISI client this morning and logged in but was unable to draw one of the new missions.  I did a pretty good job of trashing my normal agent's standing via chain declining before trying Caldari Navy (and angering them too) and am a little afraid to press further fishing for a mission without some clarification.

I'm leaving for Easter Dinner with the inlaws anyway, so I won't be very productive today.

I thought about editing the previous entry but will just re-summarize here for clarity.  Here's what we know so far:

1. Battlecruisers and smaller past gate.
2. No tech3 battlecruisers.
3. NEW:  Faction/Navy BCs appear to count as "Attack Battlecruisers" and therefore SHOULD be allowed in, tho I intend to verify.
4. NEW:  I don't see Command Ship listed on the allowed ships list posted to reddit, meaning t2 battlecruisers are also verboten, and I'll verify.
5. NEW:  The BC burner appears to have a 5.5M isk bounty at this time.
6. NEW:  No word on LP payout, though anything on the test server now would not take into account adjustments from the dynamic payout system.

I've asked Sugar to try to get some guidance from CCP on what the test environment is like - which agents provide the missions or whether all factions are available at this time.  She says in her CSMX weekly post that she's asked.

In the mean time, if anyone draws a mission on SISI, please drop me a line and let me know a) how you got it and b) how the results came out. :)

Burner Edumacation

The last post got me on a tangential line of thought that I figured I'd explore more fully.

Burners have educated me.  They've forced me to tackle some concepts that I knew were part of the game but were never part of /my/ game.

Now, I could have and maybe should have known all of this.  But EVE is so big that even after 12 years of this, I still only keep current with the content directly in front of me.

Here are some things I learned due to killing Burners:

• Differences between faction webs and meta webs includes web range.
• How to use a cap booster; had never used one in anger before
• Effects of signature radius and target speed on missiles
• Nuances of faction ammo vs t2, especially missiles but also hybrid and projectile. Larger dps on show info window doesn't always mean larger /actual/ dps.
• That there was a version of SAR that used nanite paste as fuel. Had no idea.
• Nuances of rigs, rigging, and impacts of rigs from the same family (especially the missile rigs)
• Differences between links and optimizing link set for a given fight
• That there were implants that directly affected missile dps. I don't use them, but now I know they're there.
• The "optimal range" field in target painters really means "max range for any effect"
• How to manage overheat
• The overheat skills matter
• If you logoffski during a fight, your link benefits go away immediately even though your ship is still on grid (matters sometimes)
• How a passive-shield Jaguar handles in a fight; I now understand why Sugar loves them.

(I'm sure I'll think of a few more once I post this, but I think that's it for now.)

Ships that I have fit to face burners that I probably would never have flown:

• Garmur
• Daredevil
• Jaguar
• Wolf
• Retribution

Pundits say that Burners really aren't like PVP at all.  And I guess that's true.  They're still predictable, dissectable encounters, and and ultimately you're still playing against a machine that won't ever hotdrop on you, and there won't ever be friends that arrive just in time to sway the fight.  Once you figure out the encounter, the opponent never improves his skills and the content quickly becomes an exercise of push-button, get loot.  I get that, of course.  

But some of these skills/knowledge are transferable, and that's not a bad thing at all.

50th Burner Offer

After a few weeks away from mission content, I started knocking a few heads together this weekend.  Yesterday I completed my 50th Burner mission offer, a Team Hawk effort.

I haven't posted stats the past couple months, mostly because the overall numbers/rates haven't changed dramatically ... and because I've been lazy. :)

Of those 50 Burner offers, I've completed 43 - the others were 5 declines and 2 outright failures early on.

I yield about 14.2k LP per burner.  For the completed Burners alone (not including the 174 vanilla lvl4's I've done to yield all those Burners), I've yielded something like 610k LP.  If I can yield 1200 isk/lp (and sometimes I don't, but often I do MUCH better), that's 732M isk from Burner LP.  Add another ~430M for Burner bounties (about 10M for reward plus bounty where I live), and I am net positive by a healthy amount, despite my initial losses in ships.

Now, this is spread over many months since burners were introduced.  But my point is this:  if you're looking at return-on-investment for buying up some faction ships and shiny modules, Burners do pay off.  If your reason for not doing Burners is based out of the idea that the costs are too high, check your math.

They aren't risk-free.  You'll likely lose some ships.  But you'll learn some things about ship fitting (I did) and combat mechanics like affects of sig radius and speed (I did).  But you'll make some isk, and probably have some fun too.

Now quit declining those Burner offers and go crack some skulls.  :)

Stop the Thief, Now With More Orthruses

Or is that Orthrusi?

Anyway, was running Stop the Thief tonight, lvl4, and noticed that there are now Mordus Headhunters ships where previously there were Merc Moas (or perhaps Caracals).  See screenshot.

Nice little discovery in the new patch.  Pretty cool to get some of the newer sleeker hulls in action.

The Merc Lieutenants were still in the Moa hulls, btw.

Flashbacks

As we get close to the CSMX election results announcement (and FanFest), I thought I'd put some text down about what kinds of things I'd like to see in the PVE-realm over the next many months.

When I got started, there were really 2 posts that I wanted to get written and published.

While sitting on the airport this week, I started thinking about what I'd change in PVE if I could just change ONE thing. This led in a few tangential ideas, which I'll hopefully be posting over the next few days.

But as a stepping stone, I wanted to rehash a couple ideas from these original posts.  Burners are very VERY similar to my Expert Missions proposal, but don't line up in a couple of important ways.

1. Manifesto
2. Expert Missions

I'd had these sentiments bottled up in my head for awhile, and I began this blog with full intent of working the ideas out into something presentable.  So I wrote, put them out there, and felt better.

And then a funny thing happened:  Burners.  At the point I started this blog to ramble about PVE, our friends at CCP were already well on their way to implement some frigate PVE, and a few short weeks after I set up shop here the content was being released.  Timing, as they say, is everything.

So queue up the flashback sequence....

From Blue to Blue Sky

My old Caldari Navy security agent is in a 0.8.  I returned there after a lengthy (months and years) absence as a sort of homecoming.  I wanted to see if I could get the elusive Enyo burner to spawn, and managed to pull him in the first burner offer.

But something wasn't right.  Something was amiss.  I kept checking my loyalty point accumulation and it seemed so dismal.

I knew that higher security means fewer LP, and I assumed that there was some math behind it that I was too lazy to look up.  I didn't realize how MUCH lower the payout was until the burner spawned.  It's hard to compare mission for mission because the amounts vary so much and the mission list I was getting from CN, while very familiar, was a lot different than my normal SOE fare.

But burners I knew.  I got about 9500 LP for killing him.  I was used to 14k+ from SOE.  About 30% less.  Ouch.

I have a nice looking 0.6 picked out and I'll go there and sniff around.  It's in an area of Caldari-ness that I'm not overly familiar with, so it won't have the same level of nostalgia.  And I guess I'm going to have to move again, though right now I'm hopeful that it will be from Blue Sky to Blue Sky.

But the SOE LP is so very lucrative.  I fear that my future skies may be Red, not Blue.

Lose focus in this game for one second...

... and somebody gets hurt.

(Title quote courtesy of Ocean's 11).

Remember how I posted about how I liked having a challenge?  Sometimes that leads to dumb behavior and an embarrassing loss.

I'm down one Eagle.  Poor little thing, I barely knew her.

The Eagle fit was great for blapping anoms, but like the Zealot has some trouble killing fast moving frigates at very close range.  There's a "donut of death" around the Eagle - beyond 3km and out to about 16km, everything dies.  Inside 3km there's relative safety as the blasters can't track fast enough.

So here I was in Rogue Drone Harassment, lvl4, which is chock full of webbing and scramming frigate sized enemy.  I decided to take the Eagle as I'd done this mission in the Sacrilege several times, and I haven't moved the Sacri to my Caldari mission hub yet.

But I didn't stop to think that the Sacri has no donut of death; missiles are much more forgiving.  The eagle has no dronebay and I didn't think to fit a web.  Things went well at the start, but then eroded when the first webs landed.  Without the ability to pull enough distance to hit again, I was done.  It was the kind of death you could feel coming, and had no choice but to ride it in.

I only post it because it's ... full disclosure.  Part of doing dumb (but fun) things is having a few dumb (and embarrassing)  losses.  The Eagle will be replaced, and I'll be a little smarter next time I push the limits of lvl4s in small ships.

Some Days, I Want To Be a Star Destroyer

The past few nights I've been zipping around The Citadel and Lonetrek, seemingly at random.  Haven't been in the mood to crank lvl4's, so have been playing with a couple of cruiser fits - a Rook and an Eagle.  I'm clearing highsec anoms as quickly as possible and have managed to get a few escalations.  Loot has been bad, I guess, and I'd file these sessions under "really not all that productive" ... but I'm getting to see a lot of my old stomping grounds.  System names pop up and I smile as I remember an old corp op stumble through one of our old headquarters.

But why a Rook and an Eagle?

I wanted to fly the new Moa-family hulls but didn't feel like getting a Gila.  Yes, the Gila is a monster, but the Eagle is a HAC that I've always wanted to like.  It's been overshadowed by HACs that are better at what HACs do.  I've never owned one because there are always "better" hulls.  So I bought one, fit blasters and some other bits out of my hanger, and expected it to be mediocre.

It wasn't mediocre. I'm having a blast.  Sure, I'm just clearing highsec combat anoms, but things die silly fast; I probably ought to fit a sensor booster (the lock times are what is slowing me down).  The hull looks cool, and I'm happy surprised that it works as well as it does.


I've had the Rook for years but had never fit it.  She went with me to our final deployment in Syndicate and sat in the hanger there until last year when I had a freight company bring all my old hulls out.  I sold off enough hulls to pay for the freight and make a tidy profit, but kept the Rook.  With the new Blackbird model and the pending Recon changes, I thought I'd dust her off.  I found that with my skills and a really questionable fit, I could clear a 4/10 escalation.

Is it efficient?  No.
Is it fun?  Plenty.

The alternative is to roll through that same 4/10 in a Drake acting like I'm a star destroyer shooting asteroids.  Splat, thwok, splat.  The Drake fit is really horrible, but it doesn't matter. Ignoring everything, not thinking, just trying to target everything as fast as I can and keep the launchers running.

With the Rook, I need to manage cap, not aggro the entire room, and play a little more cautiously.  It's well outside its comfort zone, but it's do-able.

Some days, I want to be a Star Destroyer.  Some days I want to play with some finesse.  Some days I want to fly a hull that I've never flown before, even if it's the "wrong" hull for the job.

It's nice having options. :)

New Skies, Old Skies

I cashed out the stockpile of LP I had with the Sisters of EVE tonight.

That's 5x Stratios cruiser BPCs.  I'm currently in my Industry system and will fire up the factories, hopefully netting a nice fat yield.

And I thought, "what's next after that?"

I think it's time for a different colored sky.  Maybe an old sky.  I've been humping SOE for quite awhile now (the isk/lp is quite yummy), but there's one Burner I need to hunt down for my collection.  I think I'll go back to my Caldari agent and enjoy the light blue.  I still think of the Caldari sky as 'home' no matter how many regions I've lived in.

And I miss shooting Guristas.


What's Playing:  No music tonight, just Castle reruns on TNT (posting from the laptop)

PVE Discussion Questions

CSM9 Sugar Kyle is hosting a PVE discussion next weekend.  I'll have inlaws in town for a holiday shindig and won't be able to attend.  I thought I'd write out a few questions and point Sugar at them; if she has time, maybe she can work a few of them in.

Just a few questions ... I'll try not to go overboard. :)

Burners

• How well have Burners been Received?  CCP Fozzie gave some initial stats back in an September dev blog; any chance at an update?
• Are there still plans to expand Burners?  Destroyer burners?  Cruiser burners? Battleship burners?
• I run a blog that's basically been focused on burner strats and fits.  I get contacted from time to time from folks wanting to try burners but are put off by the apparent jump in difficulty from vanilla lvl4's to burners.  This results in me seeing a lot of folks say "I'll run burners in 6 months when I have the skills."  I happen to like that burners are hard, but are there plans to add another tier?  Frigate fighting is fun and new player retention is good.
• For example:  any chance at a lvl3 burner equivalent, maybe tuned for tech1 frigs and meta4 fittings?
  

PVE

• Any update on the PVE tools redo?
• People seemed to like the lowsec random spawns (tags-4-sec rats, Mordu's bpc drops); how is this going? Are there still a lot of people hunting these spawns down?
• It seemed like CCP felt the need to apologize for adding PVE content the past few months; how has the response from the playerbase been?  Better than expected? Worse?   (And if it's been positive response ... does that mean that the strategy was effective or does it mean that people were more hungry for PVE than CCP anticipated? Or both?)

I could delve into questions about Incursions and Exploration but that's really out of my knowledge zone, so I'll have to trust someone else will broach those topics.

Thanks to Sugar for arranging this time.  Hopefully I can be available if there's another session.

Chasing the Excitement

Was talking with Mrs. Durden recently about why I'm grinding so many missions.  This quote basically sums it up:

"... I got that 'excited/scared' feeling. Like 98% excited, 2% scared. Or maybe it's more - It could be two - it could be 98% scared, 2% excited but that's what makes it so intense, it's so - confused. I can't really figure it out."  - Oscar, Armageddon

 There's something addictive about running missions. Every time I hit the 'request mission' button there's that moment of excitement/panic while the screen reloads.  What will it be? Another Damsel to save or will it be an Anomic?

And then there's the inevitable result.  It's either a feeling of disappointment/relief if it's another vanilla lvl4.  Or it's a feeling of 'oh crap' when it's an Anomic, ... a mix of panic and excitement and a little apprehension.

I've been reminded a few times lately that in the early days, EVERY lvl4 had this mix of feelings.  Many missions could be solo'd in a meta4 Raven.  Many couldn't.  Some missions needed a few buddies.  Some missions just straight got declined.  Thanks to perfect skills, gang bonuses, and min/max fits, today we chase lvl4's in HACs, Tech3s, and BCs.

Some people complain that Burners are too hard.  While I don't like losing ships, I'll say that for me they're tuned about right.  Any harder, and I'd punt most.  Any easier, and you wouldn't get the semi-addictive emotional rollercoaster that comes with clicking buttons.

Anomic Agent #5 - Tie Broken

*** FITS VERIFIED PROTEUS JANUARY 2015 ***

Another Anomic Agent mission complete.  Mr. Gurista died on first attempt this time, making the overall score 3 success and 2 punts.

The Daredevil survived his first trial, so now I'll name it.  Lately it's been bad luck to name a ship before its first combat.

Burner Blog Math

I promised a few days ago that I'd dig a little deeper into the dev blog by CCP Fozzie.

Let's focus on this graph:

Two main points I'd like to make:
1. Only 15 out of 100 Burner missions are actually accepted.  The rest are declined.  Fewer succeed.

I was initially shocked that the accept rate was so low.  I figured there would be a lot of declines, but I hadn't really thought about what I considered 'a lot' to mean.  I guess 85% to me is a metric buttload, which is approximately double 'a lot.'

This spawns a concern:  Are too few people partaking in the new content to warrant CCP to continue to deploy burner updates?  What is their threshold of pain for investing dev $$ into content that relatively few players are apparently participating in?