Bit of a moment of realisation this weekend; I may not be Minmatar Tribal Liberation Army material. EVE Online's Factional Warfare expansion, the Empyrean Age, is getting on for a couple of months old now, and I've certainly given it a shot. I don't say my best shot mind you, and have been giving a go as effectively, a brand new player; a fresh out of creation newbie alt; 800,000SP, a 20 million isk bung from my main, and as it turned out, massively unrealistic expectations of starfighter glory!
Its certainly been an interesting month or so, and a glimpse of a whole other EVE, and many would say, the real EVE; large-scale strategic PvP. I've rambled about specific encounters previously, but from zoomed further out, it really is a remarkable spectacle; hundreds of players all suddenly pulling in the same direction, pitted against each other in the inky darkness between worlds. Battles are fought, ships explode, (mostly mine), and systems change hands. I'm not sure many folks are that fussed about the bunkers and control to be honest, and are largely in it for the shooting; a chance to sample a different kind of 0.0 game, but one without the politics, drama or Titanic Doomsday Instaboom!
A great many people seem to have given it a go, but how many have found it a game that suits their tastes is harder to say. Being a numbers obsessive, I was quite taken with this statistical exercise:
IC - Faction Warfare Statistics
(via CrazyKinux)
The graphs show various statistics, which can also be found in the Militia window in-game, and tell a bit of a story:
Kills (30D): Cry Havoc and Let Slip The Dogs of War! A rousing early start, with people blowing up left right and centre, but as the month continues, and perhaps, personal warchests dwindle, the pickings seem to fall off a bit, to perhaps half the early totals. Gallente and Minmatar seem to give a good account of themselves, with Caldari doing okay, but perhaps not as well as their numbers ought to dictate, and the somewhat undermanned Amarr coming in a consistent fourth place. I'm curious what happened on 28th June - seems the Gallente went a bit berserk! Vive Les Fous!
Victory Point Statistics (30D): Turns out there are other things to do there, than shoot people in the face! Points are the point, apparently, but here too, a month-long falloff, but also an interesting reversal, with the Black Rise front line being largely VP driven early in the month, but then the Myridian Strip conflict taking over as the bit where people are taking it all seriously and not just going out and shooting people in the face.
Population (30D): If you patch it, they will come. An interesting graph. No real surprise to note that Caldari outnumber the other teams nearly two to one; the mighty Metagame Empire has always been 'teh bestest', despite their shockingly asymmetrical ships. Gal and Min about the same each, and the Amarrians coming in as Most Unpopular. Make of that what you will, but what interests me, is the almost entirely flat nature of all four lines, showing that since FW started, almost no one has actually resigned from their militia. Somewhat contradictory to the above two graphs, and suggests not so much that FW is being abandoned, per se, but that many FW people are just not going out to fight as often, one month in. My guess is that rather than leave all together, many folks are just parking up the FW Alt, and going back to business to usual on their mains.
System Occupancy (30D): All Your Base Are Belong To Minmatar! I assume this means number of systems that belong to one empire, that have been occupied by another, two slightly different things, (and a point of popular disgruntlement - why occupy it if you can't own it?) Gallente seem not to appear on this graph at all, which I can only assume means that they don't hold any enemy systems. A very flat graph, showing just how much work, effort and time is needed to make any visible headway in the overall Faction Wars. It looks from this, as if the Minmatar are putting in the most of that effort, perhaps rather than going for straight kills; guerilla warfare maybe?
A strange story, all in all; one of great initial interest, a slowly fading honeymoon period, and a fair number of people deciding that it is at best a 'sometimes' game, and at worst, simply not for them. This all corresponds to my own FW experiences quite closely, and the other night, I sat there and thought 'Pfffft...' and set a skill training on my Main instead, effectively putting my FW Alt on hold for the time being. Its hard work, and I found, a game that can be played solo OR as a newbie, but not both. Its fair enough, and I can't complain; it would be a farce if week-old characters in starter ships could omfgBBQ three year veterans in the shiny top-end toys. One Ishtar may cost the same as 200 Rifters, but that logic only helps if you have 200 Rifter pilots attacking that Ishtar, at once. It all seems a case of 'X up or get ur Main', and perhaps both for real peace of mind and confidence.
I'm also not a terribly obsessive EVEer these days. My interests come and go, and this current EVE session has been one of casual dipping in, poking about with newer stuffs, and general dabbling, since just before Trinity went in. I still like the game, overall, and I expect that level of interest to continue for some months or even years, but it really isn't suitable for the PvP side of the game, where constant practice and regular gang sorties seem the best way to learn the thing and get any good at it. I'm a flake, without the required time, but that's okay, and oblivious to all the carnage, my L4 Agent Running Main has been quietly parked at my Agent 4 mission station, waiting for my admittedly rather fickle interest to throw them a glance once again. She's a patient woman and seems very pragmatic about my current dalliance with my routinely exploding FW Fancy Woman. She knows I'll be back sooner or later...
So not farewell, but au reviour to Factional Warfare from me. Perhaps next time, I'll man up enough to try it with my main, in something fierce, shiny and expensive of my own, but for now, its Combat Drone Operation V on the skill plan, and a somewhat quieter life grinding out standing for my long neglected Jump Clone...