It's funny how a little patch can change your focus. Hasn't happened to me in a long, long while in EVE, so it's a good thing.
I'm talking about Skill Plan changes. I have 4 skilled characters across 2 accounts (the rest have essentially only starter skills, more or less). Least skilled character 'L' is just above the basic starter set and is set up for some lowsec scouting and shenanigans in frigates. A cheap clone for cheap ships. I always meant to do more with him, but never have.
Of the 3 heavy hitters, Character 'Z' is basically set up to knock out Incursions. Perfect large turret gunnery and battleships in 2 flavors, plus misc repping, fitting, damage mitigation, and other accessory skills. She runs a shield-fit Navy Mega and could step into a Vindi if I dumped the cash into the hull (alas, current time commitments don't let me grind Incursions).
Next most Character 'M' is my original alt and has skills shotgunned everywhere, from mining to hauling to salvage. Wherever I need a 2nd set of hands to pick up what falls on the floor, she is there. Combat skills are somewhat limited, and were focused around null ratting in BCs back in the day. Her one shining block of skills are her perfect Boosting skills, and she looks mean in her Gallente command ship cranking 5 links. She's almost as old as my main, but I resisted buying a 2nd set of implants for her until recent times (originally ... as in waaaay back ... she was my permanent resident in 0.0; she went for years training w/o any implants), and when my interest in EVE wanes, she's the one that I let lapse first.
And then there's Abavus. My main. A decade worth of training, not always in the most efficient manner (talent remapping, +4 implants instead of +5, lapsed accounts, etc.) but still a respectable number of skills at rank 5 (153). He can do anything I'd need (frigates to capships and much in between) and has perfect skills in many things I don't do any more (mining, refining, researching).
For the past many months, I've logged in, looked at the Mastery tab of whatever ship I was flying, and picked something of an appropriate length. In particular, I've been nibbling on Mastery 5 for the Golem, and working through some of the Armor tanked hull Masteries as well.
Burner missions made me revisit these habits. Suddenly I see gaps in my skill abilities that I didn't know I had. For example: altho he's been a missile shooter since before all the cool kids did it, Aba didn't have Rocket Specialization maxed out. Fixed that: I'll have rank 5 in 2d 2h. Character 'M' and 'Z' on the other hand, had both trained Assault Frigates but not maxed it, and likewise have some gaps in frigate-sized weaponry skills.
This made me make a choice (choices are good): if I were going to dual box AFs for Burner missions, which alt would I take? After weighing skill pools, the headnod goes to Character 'M.' Combat and fitting skills are close, perhaps even a little less than 'Z,' but the passive gang bonuses from all her Leadership training will help.
When you have nothing to train, the skillpoint game of EVE is tedious and boring. But when you need to min/max a training queue in order to get something Important, it's always been a fun aspect of EVE. I like looking in the nooks and crannies of a game to figure out little puzzles like this. It's just another side benefit of new content.
What's Playing: AC/DC: Back in Black
