Umm, Ok?

I got on Eve today after sleeping in late, talking to a friend on IM, getting sushi, and a very pleasant phone call. I relaxed and lounged and ate raw fish dipped is soy sauce and wasabi and I never once thought “fuck me we are down to one system!”. It just never crossed my mind. You see even though I FC for Amarr from time to time and I do feel a sense of pride and loyalty to my faction and the many friends I have made here I just can't be bothered to care about system sov.

Call it apathy if you want. It's just not something that I, or most of Amarr people I know care to much about. There was no huge cry when the Minmatar started taking all the systems. No Call to Arms to save them. If fact we used a few days after our cash out and the subsequent Minmatar plexing push to take a much needed break. I think many in the Minmatar Militia can sympathize with me here.

There was heated fights over Kamela then Kourm. After Amarr took Kourm most of the fights stayed there as the Minmatar pushed it to keep us out of Huola. This is the system occupancy fights that mattered. Once Fate and Moar Tears left FW we chose not to defend Kamela since we lived elsewhere. If you are keeping score at home there are 70 systems in the Amarr/Minmatar war zone and the fighting happened in two.

Many people have suggested that we should spread out. Put bases everywhere and plex for system control from them. It is a sound tactic. But why them were most the Amarr and the Minmatar in my timezone based in the same area? Because we wanted to fight not plex! I can not stress this enough. We live where we live for ease of access to fights. That applies to both the Amarr and the Minmatar.

After my sushi and pleasant phone call I looked at twitter to see Poetic felt the need to blog again. He seems very keen on getting a medal from CCP for controlling all the systems. Kudos to him and the Minmatar if they get a medal I'm sure many people will proudly wear it and many blogs will be written. What I don't understand is this.

“Last week I was of the mind that this medal (if we get one) will be a tad undervalued due to the remaining Amarr rolling over, giving up. But this week, I've come around to a different view of the situation. Fuck the Amarr. Even without Fweddit and Moar Tears and Lost Obsession, they still have more than enough pilots that they could have held one or two systems (nothing is a certainty, but they would have made it exceptionally difficult at the very least.) If the Amarr want to roll over like submissive dogs, then that is their choice. I'm sure there'll be the "we gave it to you" propaganda from the Amarr, but since they didn't prove they could keep total system dominance from us, their complaints are a moot and indefensible point.”

So by continuing to say what most of us have said for the last three months will be propaganda? Since when were we out to prove anything in the realm of system control? I just don't understand where this is coming from Poetic. Every Amarr I know has said for a very, very long time they can't be bothered to defensively plex. Why do you think Fate left? Why do you think so many Amarr moved to Egg? It's because we don't enjoy plexing! We want to use our time in Eve to do things we enjoy.

I think most have made it clear they consider the PVP aspect of Faction War to be the determining factor in winning or loosing. System control is mostly a PVE experience. Again two systems heavily fought over. If you see me or my fleets in Sathogas it won't be to help save it. It will be looking for a fight while the Minmatar try to take it.

 

Not PVE Blog

Is anyone else sick of the PVE talk? Forums, blogs, and local is filled with it. I'm all for the chest beating when you win a nice fight with internet spaceships. If LNA beats me down I may not enjoy the taunting and obligatory blogs that accompany it but I know the next time there is a good chance myself or my friends in Amarr can do the same. This is what should matter in Faction War. PVE should be a means to an end, a way to support the war effort. We are not miners, we are not incursion runners, we are combat pilots for fucks sake. Lets act like it!

After the recent loss of many of our friends I.Law took some time to relocate our dispersed assets back to our home base. We resumed formal corp fleets Tuesday night. They have been somewhat disappointing. I was expecting Minmatar everywhere. EM and their neutral support has been south of Dal for the first time in a long time. LNA members have been blogging about wanting to fight and in Poetics case being a down right jackass. In reality it has been rather slow.

For those of you that may read this but have not flown in my fleets I do have a few rules. I ask any links with nudity or vulgarities are labeled as such. I also ask that people lay off the sexual insults regarding our Minmatar friends. While I am no prude I want everyone to be able to enjoy themselves. Normal smack and is more than welcome of course and is even encouraged!

This was why I was so disappointed in Poetic's recent blog and corresponding Eve Forums post. We are all just people who fly internet spaceships. Why can't he insult people without focusing on their sex? Why was that even necessary? Was it to piss I.Law off? Did he think that would make us undock in battleships and sit on the Huola gate waiting to get our revenge? Poetic's display of sexism was truly pointless. He should be ashamed of himself.

Since resuming fleeting activity we have seen two things. The first and most annoying to me is stabbed and even cloaky MWD trick frigs. Dozens of them. Very annoying to hear your inty pilot call point then watch as your prey warps away.

The second is over shipping. Last night I showed my fleet to the Minmatar. Let them get a real nice look and then hung around waiting for a response. I always try to mix things up. Some nights I will try to hide part of my force to get that upper hand. other times, like last night I just lay all my cards on the table and see what comes. As I watched the Minmatar form up and head out things looked good. We wanted a fight, they were undocking so I could only assume they were looking to brawl also! Happy times all around.

We were in Shield BC with fast tackle. The Minmatar were bringing the same. Then came the Battleship. Scorch Mega Pulse or maybe even beams were not something I was looking to fight. We were pretty evenly matched till that point. Unfortunately its tank and damage projection was more than I wanted to deal with. Instead of getting a nice brawl with the Minmatar I took my fleet elsewhere.

I can't really fault the Minmatar for bringing what they did. Everyone wants to win. But if you do want the fight, and you know what the enemy has, and you have no way of evading their eyes, bring a fight they will take. I am known as a fairly conservative FC. I don't “leeroy” my fleets all that often. I like to know what I'm fighting and I like to know we have a chance to win. Ships are expensive.

Thank F&@#ing God

Thank god that's over with. I can't tell you how much I wanted to just cash out and stop caring about plexing. To be honest with you I never really cared about what level we were at or what percent of the war zone we controlled. What I did care about was getting my Corp mates and people who I fly with some isk in their bank accounts. In my humble opinion CCP really fucked up FW with Inferno. They tried to introduce some grand occupancy plans where system ownership mattered. What they got was a massive influx of LP farming alts and still the same two or three systems being fought over.

I fully expect the Minmatar to take back most of the systems and hit T5 very quickly. Not because the Amarr Militia can't stop them. We could put up one hell of a fight. I expect this to happen because the Amarr combat pilots have better things to do than defensively plex a system 15 jumps away in Metro. There is just no incentive to do it. The Minmatar Militia have the easiest time getting to T5. They have an entire region of space, something around 40ish systems that are almost inaccessible or so inconvenient to get to its not worth the time or effort to go plex, offensively or defensively(except for AFK plexers as no one goes to these systems and its safe).

So I have to ask, why the hell are there so many systems? Why, when the two Militia's live mostly within four jumps of each other are we forced to try and control 70 systems? If that number was brought down to 30 systems total and the map was made remotely fair I think we would see a increase in fighting over systems and PVP in general. This would also deter AFK frigate alt plexing. Concentrate the people you have in FW. Make every system mean something. Honestly, when was the last time you were in Eytjangard?

I fully expect the troll blogs to start up about how Amarr failed to get T5 and fell from T4 so quickly. Things like "Even with a null sec blog Amarr suck" will be tossed around I'm sure. That's ok. The Amarr Pilots knew what they were up against. A astounding number of afk plexers, a map that's so messed up Patton himself wouldn't try to invade, and a hole so deep and dark light can't escape. Amarr created a strategy, implemented it, and accomplished their goal of a lucrative cash out. There was a lot of talk about waiting to hit T5 or just cash out at T4. I was in favor of T4. A man can only bash his head against his computer desk so many times while orbiting a button before brain damage becomes a real possibility.

Once this is all over, and Amarr pilots take a much needed break from plexing, we can get back to what FW is supposed to be about. Running Missions on our Minmatar Alt's and getting space rich!

In Love and War

I had thought to write this before the recent flurry of blogs and forums post but Susan's most recent tirade finally got me to put pen to paper(or fingers to keys as it where). Susan Black recently wrote "While I never, ever intend or strive to single out people for personal attacks that go outside the bounds of game-play, some of what I say is taken very personally.". What Susan may fail to understand is that we invest large amounts of time into Eve and singling people out in game is almost the same as a personal attack against them. Most people don't respond too well when you write a poem implying that they are a witch.

If you were to take a little time and go though her old blog posts you would see she spends a lot of time and effort singling people and corporations out. She repetitively insulted Individuals,

"If you want something different --something less, where GMs try to make things a little less hard, and a little more fair, then I suggest you go back to playing WOW.".

"In the midst of all this cowardice, the Amarr have attemted to paint a picture to the rest of EVE of an elite, underdog Amarrian force, overpowered by the tyrranical regime of Minmatar bullies. In a post truely made up of "lies and tears" on Sovereignty Wars, Amarr pilot Almity attempts to portray his corporation as an elite small group depending on the advanced tactics of 'guerrilla' warfare."

Corporations,

"This was seen this weekend when the Amarr (specifically Smurfsbrigade) abandoned their ships in a station and ran home in pods ",

"Some of the arguments they gave were uncannily close to what I’ve heard I.LAW members say in the past"

"As far as his Fwedditer Interviewees go, someone's been drinking the Amarrian Bitter-Vet Kool Aid. I'm kinda disappointed."

"Even though many considered this a surrender by Wolfsbrigade"

And the entire Amarr Militia,

"Amarrian ‘vet’s’ are whining about “why I hate Faction War”

"Honestly, I used to feel kind of embarrassed by the Amarr, and the picture of incompetence they were painting to the rest of the EVE community."

"The Last few months have been very eye opening, as Amarr Militia veterens who were once thought to be hardened warriors have been reduced to the ranks of whining, sniveling juveniles. In an uprecedented show of tears--rivaling even those of the ongoing Hulkageddon--the Amarr have literally bathed the streets of their abandoned home systems with a salty flood of incompetence."


She continues on by saying "I sometimes wonder if these people—these Amarr, (I realize that often a very few tend to loudly contribute to the overall perception of their Faction) will ever realize that their personal attacks, their local spamming and threats have little effect. I wonder when people will realize that entire blog posts ranting about how I am a liar and should ‘suck it’ just makes the writer thereof look petty and immature, and doesn’t really inspire remorse on my part, or even much of a thought beyond what I write here.".

If someone looks petty and immature it is you Ms. Back. Almost every blog or forum post is in response to a specific attack from you. People have every right, and will exercise that right, to respond to the vile and insulting things you say.  I for one will not turn another cheek when you insult my friends as you so frequently do. I will blog and post and rebut what you say. This is how things are done.

I do find it funny how any response to Susan is labeled as "crying", when any Amarr pilot posts on the forums they are "cry babies". Susan spends the vast majority of her time blogging about how the Amarr suck. Should she be surprised when she get a negative response to that?

"I grow incessantly frustrated and disgusted with the growing argumentum ad hominem stance of people like Shalee Lianne, and others"

Shalee's recent blog post was in defense of her friends and her Militia. She did not say, or call Susan anything that Susan did not say first. Shalee and her blog were attacked by Hans(CSM) for doing so. When did it become ok to lob insults but not to rebut them? Does Susan expect a free pass? Should the entire Amarr FW community let her spout her hate speech and toss insults at anyone who dares to speak up? Fuck no. It infuriates me that Susan is playing some sort of victim here. Being the aggressor the vast majority of the time she should expect a healthy dose hate filled back lash.

"Contrary to what anyone in Faction War might tell you, it’s not just about getting good fights. There are extreme elements of camaraderie and loyalty that you will not find anywhere else in this game."

Susan and I agree on this point. While I do enjoy the good fights I'm here in FW because of the friends I've made. I don't like it when my friends are insulted and demeaned. I can only assume Susan Black feels the same way. I hope Shalee will use her extremely popular blog to keep countering Susan Black's hate filled rants. She has every right to post op-ed's in defense of her friends and Amarr, it is her blog after all(looking at you Hans).

Almity