...The Abyss Stares Back
o7
If you haven't been living under a rock, you saw the ads for the Abyssal Deadspace event recently. If you're like me, you also saw the followup survey about it. Probably filled it out with conscientious falsehoods, and sent the reply merrily back. I know I did, which is why I'm here today to elaborate.
Yo, Dawg, heard you like followups!
Here's a followup to your followup so I can followup with my thoughts.
Follow?
I love Abyssal deadspace. It's dark, mysterious, and yet tantalizing. I like not knowing what I'm going off to fight, and it can give much the same feeling as jumping around lowsec when you activate a gate. You don't know who or what is on the other side. I like that the resources and ships coming from it are truly unique, and none of them can be made without a trip into the abyss. I even love the fact that the only thing in Eve which hasn't tried to kill you to date -space- is actually able to.
But it has its flaws.
First and foremost, the low tier rewards. I've run T1, T2, deadspace, probably 30-40 of them. T1 is a breeze, T2 is closer, with most runs leaving me with 3-5 minutes on the clock. My most profitable haul was ~80m isk. My average was about 6m. Not really worth it, when I can capture hostile plex in Factional Warfare for 120 million isk an hour with a destroyer costing 20m.
Silly Verdis, Trigs are for...
The only answer seems to be move up in tier. There's only one problem:
I'm Alpha.
So I either buy a Gila, which is apparently the solution to F***ing everything, or go omega and fly T2. Because there is nothing else available to an alpha which is able to run the site that has a tank bonus. Before you say Stratios, remember that alphas can't use T2 heavy drones, and get no damage bonus for weapons. They're anemic at best for us, compared to the Gila monster.
Alphas are essentially locked out of anything high tier, along with the real payouts. I use an Ashimmu, because dual webs at 18km are grand, and the whole fit is about 100m. But if I do buy a Gila, my kids could reset the router, and space would squish my half billion isk investment. Its one of the only places in game, other than Besieged facilities in lowsec, where alphas can't actually be effective. To me, that's sad, and frankly a bit deceptive. When the Abyssal event came along, I was stoked. Then, as the realization dawned that I really couldn't participate in it, I felt a bit cheated. My choice was to be able to participate in only 40% of the content, or spend $15 a month, and have a lot of risk for dubious rewards.
Last Thoughts
I like the Abyss. Its a wonderful concept. I would like to see rewards be tweaked a bit, and perhaps some ship tweaks to give us a bridge between active tanked frigates, and active tanked battlecruisers. Three hull classes are the closest they come for alpha clones. And neither of them are able to deal with the Abyssal sites. So, in short, its a mixed bag. It was a fun event to introduce a lot of people to the Abyss who otherwise wouldn' go thete, but I think it was a bit lackluster in capturing interest afterwards. Whatever happens, I hope development continues on it, the Triglavian story gets fleshed out, and people keep diving into the most hostile space in game.
19:59 and counting. Fly chaotically.
If you haven't been living under a rock, you saw the ads for the Abyssal Deadspace event recently. If you're like me, you also saw the followup survey about it. Probably filled it out with conscientious falsehoods, and sent the reply merrily back. I know I did, which is why I'm here today to elaborate.
Yo, Dawg, heard you like followups!
Here's a followup to your followup so I can followup with my thoughts.
Follow?
I love Abyssal deadspace. It's dark, mysterious, and yet tantalizing. I like not knowing what I'm going off to fight, and it can give much the same feeling as jumping around lowsec when you activate a gate. You don't know who or what is on the other side. I like that the resources and ships coming from it are truly unique, and none of them can be made without a trip into the abyss. I even love the fact that the only thing in Eve which hasn't tried to kill you to date -space- is actually able to.
But it has its flaws.
First and foremost, the low tier rewards. I've run T1, T2, deadspace, probably 30-40 of them. T1 is a breeze, T2 is closer, with most runs leaving me with 3-5 minutes on the clock. My most profitable haul was ~80m isk. My average was about 6m. Not really worth it, when I can capture hostile plex in Factional Warfare for 120 million isk an hour with a destroyer costing 20m.
Silly Verdis, Trigs are for...
The only answer seems to be move up in tier. There's only one problem:
I'm Alpha.
So I either buy a Gila, which is apparently the solution to F***ing everything, or go omega and fly T2. Because there is nothing else available to an alpha which is able to run the site that has a tank bonus. Before you say Stratios, remember that alphas can't use T2 heavy drones, and get no damage bonus for weapons. They're anemic at best for us, compared to the Gila monster.
Alphas are essentially locked out of anything high tier, along with the real payouts. I use an Ashimmu, because dual webs at 18km are grand, and the whole fit is about 100m. But if I do buy a Gila, my kids could reset the router, and space would squish my half billion isk investment. Its one of the only places in game, other than Besieged facilities in lowsec, where alphas can't actually be effective. To me, that's sad, and frankly a bit deceptive. When the Abyssal event came along, I was stoked. Then, as the realization dawned that I really couldn't participate in it, I felt a bit cheated. My choice was to be able to participate in only 40% of the content, or spend $15 a month, and have a lot of risk for dubious rewards.
Last Thoughts
I like the Abyss. Its a wonderful concept. I would like to see rewards be tweaked a bit, and perhaps some ship tweaks to give us a bridge between active tanked frigates, and active tanked battlecruisers. Three hull classes are the closest they come for alpha clones. And neither of them are able to deal with the Abyssal sites. So, in short, its a mixed bag. It was a fun event to introduce a lot of people to the Abyss who otherwise wouldn' go thete, but I think it was a bit lackluster in capturing interest afterwards. Whatever happens, I hope development continues on it, the Triglavian story gets fleshed out, and people keep diving into the most hostile space in game.
19:59 and counting. Fly chaotically.
Comments
Post a Comment