After 7 years I have called it quits

In case any one is still keeping tabs on this blog I regret to inform you that I have let my subs laps into oblivion and have no plans to return. It was one of the best rides of my online life and I have made many friends but I no longer have the fire to continue and will move on to other things.

You may find me in EQN: Landmark, Guild Wars 2 (Rarely), The Secret World (Rarely), DayZ (Various servers) or League of Legends from time to time all under some variation of the name Iczer-One or IczerX01.

Farewell.

Soloing v2 - My 2nd Video

I've been bad at posting much lately, I have had a lot going on outside of EVE and not been very diligent at posting anything. So I bring you the fruits of my labor for a second time

I lost so many ships in-between the first video and this one and with each one I hoped I was learning something. I feel I have, the fights seem to move a lot slower when I'm in the think of it and watching back some of the clips I feel really good. There will be more.

My first PVP video

I've been soloing a while now and really loving it. FRAPsing my fights so I can watch them back has shown me that I make a ton of errors in awareness and piloting when I am dealing with multiple targets. I expected this to happen so its why I decided to record what I could so I can improve. I finally got so much video that my HDD was getting short on space so I compiled it all together and added some wording like the pro's do and then some music. I had a lot of fun creating the video and plan to do more of it.

I know the editing could be a lot better, lots of the fights are not that exciting and I didn't showcase only my wins because its not realistic and quite frankly I need a lot of work so no need to make me look better than I really am. Anyway, check it out and I hope you like it. I promise there will be more exciting fights in the future.

Soloing ... its a learning process

I've been playing EVE since 2006 and for most of that time I have been part of 0.0 alliances,  big fleet battles, territory take over (read shooting POS, Stations, SBU's, ect...) and everything that goes along with that. But about 3 months ago when I was in NC. I started to get very bored with it. Sure NC. had lots of fleets, attempted fights, LOTS of getting blue balled but it just wasn't giving me the fun factor that I wanted anymore. So I left NC. and headed back to empire to do some war deccing with friends and see where it took me. The warring is fun, lots of station camping but enough emo and tears to keep me entertained. In between fighting war targets I have found soloing to be really enjoyable. I had started re-watching the Kil2 / Kovorix and Prometheus Exenthal videos ... seeing what was possible and being inspired so I fitted out some ships and headed out to see if I could do even a fraction of what they were doing. Seeing those guys and with my new found freedom to loose as many ships as I damn well please and not give a shit made for some fun times ahead.

At first it was very rough going, as expected I had a lot of losses as I got to know these different fits and how these ships performed on the field. I finally got in a few efficiency victories which inspired me more because now I saw that it was possible for me as well. All the podcasts and videos in the world are great info but when the shit hits the fan you don't remember 90% of that stuff ... but you do remember it from experience. So I kept going out and recording my fights to watch back after and see things that I missed while in the thick of it. I am now just getting to the point where I am confident enough to pull off some pretty fun, yet risky engagements and not feel like its all loosing. My main goal now for any engagement is to blow up more ISK worth than my ship loss will be.

Here are some of the fights I have had so far:

HAM Drake vs Gate Camp
Armageddon vs Phobos and Hyperion
HAM Drake vs Vagabond
HAM Drake vs Choke Point Gang
Tornado vs Deimos & Hurricane
Tornado vs Random 0.0 Alliance

Dumb Luck

I was out in Molden Heath flying around earlier and ran into a Choke Point gang which lost me a geddon so I was making my way back to Teon to reship. As I warped to the station I saw a flashing ship in space ... I had hit dock already so I quick scrolled down a few lines on the overview to reveal that it was one half of the dynamic duo Protector X in a Legion at what appeared to be 30k from the station!! I quick jumped into the mighty abaddon and undocked. I was immediately filled with glee and joy and other feelings a man should probably reserve for his wife or girlfriend but mr. X was indeed off the station. I locked, pointed, webbed and began to lay waste to his legion. It was taking a while, he was slowly motoring closer and closer, not returning the favor so I quick yelled out to my alter ego "Yo bro, come smack this ho!" Tallon jumped into his abaddon, undocked and locked just in time to to fire off one volley before this evil doer's ship was melted into a pile of nothingness.

His pod warps off instantly and returned a few minutes later to leave these parting words. Tallon scoops the loot and we both dock to call an end to a successful day.

Sweet Tears

It's been an uneventful last couple of days as Tallon and myself have been lying low. After a long day at work Tallon decides to log on for a few mins and hit up the belts in Teon and flip a few cans to see what turns up. Nothin .. he flips a few cans but no one seems to care so back to station to log and go start beer thirty. HOLD UP! Some cyclone belonging to a corp Tallon looted a wreck from is on the undock ... maybe this guy will grow balls. Tallon undocks a drake and sits waiting, sure enough Yenrab Hastmena's pubes sprout and balls drop and he opens fire. A quick dock & switch to the mighty abaddon and Yenrab is apparently blinded by the beautiful lasers melting his face off. His reaction finally comes by launching a flight of EC-300's and just as they reach the abaddon his cyclone melts into a pile of worthlessness and his pod warps off.

Minutes later, after Tallon has scooped the drones and looted the wreck, Yenrab makes one final donation.

United Society of Xziles ... fail to impress

Our current war is vs the United Society of Xziles who apparently also run around Teonusude doing missions and who knows what. The command came down from the supreme leader of Dead Bears that they were our next target. Luckily we had ourselves planted in Teo from the last dec. so there was no moving involved. A couple of days went by with no contact and then suddenly without warning local chat lit up with the propaganda from Protector X filling the local chat channels with his begging for people to join his corp.

"To Action!" I called ... I undocked my cane again and shortly after Protector undocked in his tristan. I started to lock and though for sure he would get away even if by sheer stupidity ... WRONG ... lock and pop. Then some local banter ensued and a couple more members of their organization appeared. Tallon in his mighty abaddon undocks,  locks a rupture and begins the assault ... easily in dock range the rupture hesitates a second too long and vanishes in a fiery explosion. The pilot, clearly high on the fumes of his smoking pod, switches to a rifter and decides sitting at zero speed 15k from the abaddon will stave off any further attacks ... WRONG. Trying to save face he yells out in local "Thanks! I need the insurance!." Further proving that sniffing burning pod fumes and flying internet spaceships don't mix.

Now Protector X reveals his true strength ... he brings out the mighty Astarte. "Oh no ... that thing owns ... were doomed." I cry over chat channels as Tallon and I play docking games with the Protector X and his pal and best buddy Protector Xzotika in a Tempest. Realizing that we are no match for the dynamic duo we end the night in a stalemate of docking games.

The next night ... both Protector X and his best bud are docked and while snooping around neighboring systems Fizgig Beldrulf is spotted one jump over doing a mission in a cyclone. I quickly grab the prober and find Fizgig ... land a point and proceed to lay the torps into his face. Unfortunately, as later FRAPS showed, at a meer 20k from my overheated point the coward made alignment and was able to warp off due to his obvious WCS! So back to Teon I went to see if the dynamic duo had more plans to play. Some time passed and finally Protector X undocked his Astarte and warped to a ping 200k away from station. Tallon undocked the abaddon and waited ..... as expected Protector warps in to 30k and proceeds to approach and shoot, drones out, Tallon's mighty abaddon. Tallon obliges back replaying the scene from the night before and watching for the appearance of Protectors better half. As protector dipped to 25% armor I decide this has to end ... I undock my even mightier abaddon and proceed to lay waste to the Astarte. The Tempest undocks in a futile attempt to save the day but the power of the even more dynamic duo leave Protector X with a bad taste his mouth. A short time later he and his girly man friend log off, obviously to go contemplate their wrong doings in the world.

Who knows what the days to come will bring.

-Icz