So with a lot of people burnt out from Dust right now, I've picked up EVE again as my primary game of choice. I came to love EVE PvP last year after spending about 6 months in the Gallente militia. So with Dust on the back burner and EVE side orbital support being pretty much worthless, I moved my main back to Galmil.
I started by going to cash out the LP I had when I left to join GIANT, which went poorly after flying a regular Megathron into a high sec gate camp. It really hit home how overconfident I was compared to when I had left. This probably came from leaving when Gallente owned every system and the Caldari had dropped players like flies. Since then, the warzone is much more eqaul. Drunk and Disorderly are now pirates, the Caldari have grown in numbers and some of Villore Accords have split off.
But no matter, I bought a couple of Brutix instead and with my new found ISK, went to go get some more ISK. At first, this was easy, Gallente are sitting at tier 2 and I have time in the morning to play. The burst-like gameplay of PvP plexing makes for a good way to get writing and some other work done between fights.
At first it went OK, but my cap stable AB Incursus ran into problems quickly. I wasn't able to get on top of anyone and began to get kited by Condors repeatedly. This resulted in calling for help on multiple occasions. The first time this happened, the Condor had me pointed for 20 minutes while we both waited for friends to arrive. I messaged those passing by for help but only finding a ship-less friendly who promised to send word for help. Minutes passed as myself and the Condor continued to fly from the plex warp in. At what must have been around 500km, a hostile finally showed up, but more pirates and Gallente did too. As wrecks started to appear on d-scan, the hostile left the Condor and I to our strange tug of war.
Eventually a pirate Slasher appeared and started to burn towards us. As I awaited my slow death however, a Maulus also appeared. I hadn't played too much after Retribution, so was unfamiliar with what a Maulus was capable of. As the Maulus burned after the Slasher at over 6km/s however, I soon realized I was saved. As the Maulus caught the Slasher, slowly devouring it with drones, the Condor pulled off and I was free. My friend had also arrived but to no matter, I was safe for now and more plexing awaited.
This respite was to be short lived though. As another Condor caught me on an acceleration gate, a repeat of the last half hour dawned on me. Luckily my friend was still nearby and we actually got a chance to catch him. Sadly my friend burned out his web and we let him escape, but it was a good fight while it lasted and my taste for PvP left me wanting. A few more plexes and another Brutix sale later, I decided to step up my game and fly a Harpy instead.
Now this is where my time playing Dust had come in handy. A long break from EVE meant I wasn't logging in much, so I had decided to queue long skills such as Assault Frigate V. A small amount of playing in EVE fitting tool later and I had a Harpy build I was happy with. For those interested in the exact build, here's the loss mail. The Harpy was good for plexing. It could take on most other gun based destroyers and frigates while also being able to kill missile frigates. It's main issue was ships being able to escape with webs, but as I was able to stay on the plex while my enemies fled, it didn't matter too much.
I think I made around 400 million ISK from this Harpy while actively PvP'ing. The issue was having to run from other missile based platforms, but it did it's job well while it was alive. I decided to switch things up with it's successor however. The rocket launcher wasn't doing as much as I'd hoped, so I switched in a small neutraliser. This allowed me to do well in cap wars against the wave of repairing ships I was encountering. Like it's predecessor, it earned me a large chunk of change and I only lost it through attacking into an obvious trap. I'll likely fly more Harpies in the future, it's a great ship and I've got more ideas for how I want to fly it.
After all this, I'd plexed my account and had a big chunk of money left over to play with. Feeling the need to have a frigate that used a web, I did what anyone with more money than sense would do: I spent a quarter of a billion ISK on a Daredevil. The thing was a really beauty; multiple A-type modules, a faction web, a tight fit with a logical purpose and around 300 damage per second. I went to sleep last night happy with my purchase and after some early more Dust, decided to take it for a spin.
After a quick novice plex done, I moved on to the next system to do another. With 3 minutes left on the timer, I noticed a Merlin and a Tristan on short scan. I decided to stand and fight, not knowing whether I would win or lose against such a force. I felt confident in my chances though and it wasn't completely unfounded. The Tristan landed first and fearing ECM drones, I quickly jumped on top of it and overheated my guns to bring him down quickly. He was tougher than expected, but I was basically touching him, so my little Ion Blasters powered through and brought him down.
I rejoiced for about half a second before realizing I had been heavily by the Merlin and was in half armour. In my tunnel visioned blood-lust, I had forgotten to target the Merlin. With barely any capacitor left, I tried to drain some cap and started repairing again. I panicked and wasn't sure what to do. At first I fought back, but realized I should have run. I could have escaped him if I had wanted to, but I was too used to standing my ground. I died with barely any capacitor left, desperately trying to repair when I should have been webbing him. I flew my pod to the sun and with a "gf" in local, left to go find a new (cheaper) ship to start earning my way back up again.
Fare thee well Daredevil.
At the end of the day though, I'm having a blast. Solo PvP is insanely enjoyable and I'll be sure to fly more expensive ships to their doom. I have no idea what the future holds for my Dust corp and I may well get dragged into fighting for another militia. What I will say is I missed you Galmil and I hope we get to spend more time together.
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