Obsession

I am obsessed with a dark, unforgiving place called EVE Online. This obsession has been brewing for months, likely triggered by intriguing articles at Massively and Rock, Paper, Shotgun. LOTRO has worn on me with its grinding traits and grinding reputation and grinding money to support repair costs in PVMP and upkeep on player housing (storage). I am also a bit sick of pointy ears and tights, swords, dragons, magic gear, and 5 hour dungeon crawling (Thanks, Fornost, Helegrod, Rift, etc!). Munching on elves as a Warg helped with my aggression towards pointy ears for awhile, but PVMP in LOTRO is best served as a wonderfully spicy and entertaining side dish.

I have very mixed feelings about Mines of Moria. I am sure the space will be awe inspiring, and the exploration and PVE storyline excellent. Turbine knows how to make a good game. However, the innovative Legendary weapons and gear that have to be leveled seem awfully grindy to me. In addition, there will be new deeds and traits to be ground, as well as new faction that will have to be ground to access efficient travel options. (I miss Guild Wars, with the easy click and go travel!)

I will definitely check out Moria, and as a lifetime subscriber, I will always look to LOTRO to fulfill my fantasy MMO needs. I am just not sure I can stomach the grind necessary to make my Freep (Oblib Jaggins, Hobbit Burglar on Firefoot) a viable force in raids or a viable Freep in the Ettenmoors, where the PVMP happens. I think this brewing dissatisfaction contributed to my current obsession with EVE Online.

A few captivating articles in my RSS reader led me to check out EVE. The Empyrean Age videos looked amazing and my curiosity was piqued. I had heard of EVE a few times while engaged in other games, but it had mostly been negative commentary: clunky UI, laggy, and terribly unforgiving for Newbs. What I had not seen while engaged in other games was that EVE brought levels of depth, complexity, and massive interaction unrivaled in the field: A single shard sandbox MMO with a player driven economy, fleet warfare, subterfuge, political drama, player owned stations, player alliance controlled territory, and tons of PVP and pew pew pew!

I was hooked.

Massively led me to CrazyKinux and Winterblink. CrazyKinux turned me on to the EVE Blog Pack, which I started to devour like a raging junkie. After months of articles, blogs and observed EVE drama, I know about can-flippers, pirates, POS, low-sec, 0.0, mining, industrialism, ECM, mission running, gate camping, safe spots, corporations, frigates, cruisers, titans, and shuttles (which can be smart bombed to steal valuable industrial blueprints!).

While I will continue to enjoy the EVE blogosphere, I now have a grand plan to check out the actual world of New Eden and eventual leave my mark there. I shall soon engage in the 2 week EVE trial, and then buy the game outright along with a 6 month subscription (to save $) if the trial does not totally turn me off. I will then set my fledgling Gallantean training up on essential skills while I mainly play LOTRO and check out Mines of Moria. I can dip into L1 missions and explore the Newb High sec areas of EVE at my leisure during this time as interest leads me. I just found out an old friend is very into EVE, and his established industrialist has offered to front me some ISK for training to enable this grand plan. I hope to have this started within the next month, so watch out Ravens, Megathrons, and Stabbers! There will soon be a fresh newb flailing in the stars!!!