Can't buy me love.

Massively recapped the current forum drama about EVE and microtransactions. Apparently, this is a scary thing for many EVE players judging from some of the painful comments.

I really don't understand what the issue is. Currently, you can buy an account with ISK from PLEX which essentially allows you to pay to rapidly advance a pilot for something like a FOTM Supercarrier. You can also buy the supercap with ISK from selling PLEX.

I think CCP should cash in by selling a few million SP for a PLEX. They could use the extra money to fix lag or work on Duke Nukem Incarnate. Instead of being forced to buy some other player's ugly portrait, allow us to rapidly advance the toon we are connected with personally.

To all the whiners who complain about allowing people to use money to get ahead, please refer to the above paragraph explaining that you can currently buy an advanced account with ISK from PLEX and pimp said account out with ships and faction mods purchased with PLEX ISK. This is also very good for the game as it allows hardcore gamers with more time than money to finance their game play by buying PLEX with their hard earned ISK.

RMT is already a huge factor in EVE. Heads out of the sand! If you need to rage quit because I burst your "I earned it, don't let others buy their way in" bubble, please send me your stuff.

Riding the Drama Llama

EVE never fails to provide opportunity for intrigue and interpersonal chaos. Keeping pilots working together in an Alliance is a monumental task. I have never tried to run an Alliance, but I can only imagine how much work it would take to keep the ship on course. I have just experienced the pain that affects all pilots when an Alliance ship hits a reef or two on the way out to sea.

My now-ex alliance just lost 1/3 their membership as 4 corps left including the biggest industrial corp and the biggest PVP corp totalling hundreds of pilots. I logged in to find that my corp had dropped roles, and I was stuck in a 0.0 station without any blues as the corp was between alliances! Despite logging in daily, hanging on Vent and reading all corp forum posts and Eve mails, I was completely out of the loop of the coming major changes.

Through all the accusations and bad blood, I am still not sure what happened. I don't want to ride the drama llama but I also don't want to be trampled by a drama llama stampede. Having just contributed 9 figures in ISK to the Alliance fund to build an outpost, having the corp drop from the Alliance shortly after stings badly. If the leadership had indicated that things were shaky, I could have used that ISK for multiple other projects. If trust is the true currency in EVE, this account has been bankrupted by poor communication.

Hopefully things will work out well for all involved parties. I really enjoyed flying with pilots from both the alliance and my corp. It is hard to see things sour and have no clue what happened. I am taking this as a cue to strike out into a new chapter in my EVE saga. My goal is to establish a new foothold in 0.0. I now know much more about null-sec life, so I have ideas about the parameters and strategic situations that will work best for my style of interaction.

My quest to leap off the drama llama and seek out the Temple of Tranquility is about to begin!

How to cheat at EVE Online

EVE Online is probably the most challenging, deep, complex MMO game on earth. Developing a pilot in EVE takes careful consideration and years of planning and attention. Getting into true hardcore PVP can take months of skill training and establishing an ISK source is critical to cover the inevitable losses. This requires grinding up factions to access high paying mission agents or training skills for mining or industry to make ISK. All of these activities take significant time and attention.

However, there is a way to rapidly get access to the endgame content if you have deep pockets and don't mind jumping into the hidden markets of New Eden.


EVE Cheating 101:

Sign up for an EVE account, subscribe.

Start training up a scanning or cyno alt, which will be useful later.

Go to the EVE Online forums and browse through the available Pilots for sale. You should find a good selection of PVP specialists, Industrialists, Traders and Jacks-of-all-trades. Choose your poison and move on to the next step.

Buy PLEX to cover the ISK cost of your character and to purchase any ships or mods you like.

If you have trouble figuring out the ropes after the tutorials, join EVE University, take an Agony Unleashed class, or buy more PLEX and hire a mercenary corp to train you in PVP basics.

Please note, CCP officially sanctions this behavior. This procedure utilizes legal mechanics within the EVE Online TOS.

In fair warning, many pilots would be offended if they knew you achieved your power in EVE through such means. More importantly, having things in EVE does not equate to knowing how to use them. Should you get yourself blown up feel free to buy more ISK, and keep buying things from my market orders!

While you may be able to cheat your way to a Titan in EVE, keeping that ship alive will be a real challenge. In the meantime, by buying PLEX you are allowing established pilots to play EVE for free. Losing ships that you don't know how to fly benefits miners and industrialists who produce goods and work the markets. When you buy PLEX, CCP gets paid for making a great game. We all win!

The game you play even when you don't.

Eve is a great game for someone like me who is too busy to be a regular gamer at this phase in life. I can keep skills training, and feel like I am progressing even if I only get to play once a week or so.

The other awesome thing about Eve is the active online community that provides endless interesting entertainment. The sandbox is so deep it can actually provide a matrix for emergent drama. I can't wait to see where things head with the Sov changes and with Dust. The community provides education, insight, and opinions that make "out of game" time almost as good as in game time. Until CCP comes out with an iPhone EVE client, I will have to rely on the EVE community to stay connected to New Eden when I am working too hard!