EVE-Mag.com

I am fed up with all this whining!

Published on 18. Nov, 2008 ... written by Ecaf Ersa, Tags: Articles

For the thousandth time I cry “I am fed up with all this whining!”

The opinions contained in this article are solely those of the author and are not intentionally intended to reflect the opinions of my corp, CCP, EVE-Mag, their affiliates or anyone else I may be connected with. Although it is possible that they may do so by coincidence!

Yes, the irony in the title is intentional but the message is sincere. I tire of the fact that there are soooooo many forum threads making a big deal about something that is “grossly unfair” in this world of EVE.

No I am sorry, grossly unfair is getting sacked from your job because of someone else’s mistake or a selfless salt-of-the-earth close friend or family member contracting a nasty illness. These are the events you can rightfully bemoan all you like and be sure that I’ll join right in with you.

So why are there so many of these threads? I certainly don’t encounter the same proportion of whiners in my day-to-day real life encounters. People will sometimes mention that things are not going all their way but are for the most part still reasonably up-beat even when it is something significant. Well there seems to me to be a couple of reasons. Firstly there is an absence of proximity and practically complete anonymity especially if posting with an alt. This gives the feeling of immunity from any repercussions that your comments might provoke resulting in a greater willingness to speak out. This article ironically also benefits from this but I have supplied not only my main toon’s name but my real name and an e-mail address as well! By the way, if you are a seasoned whiner and am offended by what I write the please feel free to send me hate-mail – if it’s reasoned argument I will even respond!

The second factor is I believe down to the make-up of the forum community. It is a reasonable assumption, supported by observational evidence, that the majority of forum posts are from PvPers and since any little edge can make all the difference in PvP the efforts of CCP to balance the game can easily take these edges away. So maybe this is a good reason for all the moaning that proliferates in the forums. Well maybe, but for me it comes down to a question of scale and perspective.

Take a look at the huge number of whine threads about the “nano-nerf” in the forums. “Oh my god! It’s so appalling that that my opponent might be allowed to actually hit my ship! I can’t carry on with this game anymore – MY LIFE IS RUINED!”. Despite the fact that I previously mentioned edges in PvP this still basically means that a loop-hole or imbalance in the system that you used to your advantage is now closed. Can’t you just be thankful that you could benefit from it up till now?

There does seem to be the impression from what is generally written that the poster was the only one utilising this imbalance and that the change will now put them on the back-foot compared to everyone else. No not true! Obviously, everything in EVE affects everyone in one way or another, for example if one race’s ships gets a boost then demand for them will increase and prices will rise increasing costs for the users of those ships. Take a look at the price history of Blockade Runners in the run-up to and since the release of the Quantum Rise expansion.

If a change reduces the comparative awesomeness of your ship and makes your opponent effectively more powerful, change ships or use a different tactic. In any case it is somewhat narrow-minded to continually do exactly the same thing using the same tactic in a game that has such enormous potential for doing things differently yet still competently.

Get some perspective please – this is a game! Yes you can take it seriously without any need to start bawling when CCP change something that affects your favourite ship or current style of play. Either live with the change and carry on regardless in a more levelled playing field or adjust what you do. In either case – move on!

On a counter-note I admit that there have been some rather drastic adjustments made in the past and there may well be more to come. Take the ‘Aoede’ Mining Laser Upgrade which used to fetch up to a billion ISK a piece. I clearly recall a corp mate one day announcing triumphantly that he had obtained two of these at a bargain price. His elation was rapidly turned into despair when he learned from another corp mate, who had been on the test server, what the reason for the reduced price tag was – the 25% mining yield bonus they gave was being reduced to 9% and the CPU penalty was to rise from 6% to 7.5%. He managed to offload them onto someone else similarly in the dark about the upcoming change and maybe this person also passed them on but ultimately somebody will have ended up with two items suddenly worth considerably less than they had paid for them. They remain better than the T2 MLU by merit of the CPU penalty still being lower but not worth a billion ISK anymore! I’ll concede that maybe a change of this magnitude is worth a moan or two.

So while I am on the subject of pointless forum posts and in a mood to speak out about them here is another one for you.

When I first considered the idea of building capital ships, which in my case was solely for the benefit of my fellow corp members, I searched around on the internet for some information on how it all worked. I started with the forums until I realised that practically everything in there on the subject went along these lines: “Hi, I’m thinking of building capital ships. Can anyone give me any advice please?” Answer: “Don’t bother. You can only make 100-200 million ISK a month at it. I earn eleventy billion a week standing on my head and I only have one finger to type with and sleep 23 hours a day.”

Cue 20 more responses along the same lines. I can only assume that these posters spend all their time trawling through the markets trading, which personally, and I suspect 90% of the EVE community, find the most mind-numbingly boring thing there is to do in EVE even if it is the most lucrative. If that is what you want to do then fine, I have no problem with that, although I expect that after an hour the brain begins to stutter to a halt and the eyes glaze over so they then spend the next hour telling everyone on the forums that they all should be doing it as well – maybe on the basis that a sufferance shared is a sufferance halved or, at least, so it is said.

But really, is your sole purpose in EVE to have a thirteen digit bank balance? Surely ISK is a means to an end rather the end itself? Whatever happened to having fun whatever you are doing regardless of the profit involved?

But I digress – my aim here is not to have a pop at the ISK obsessed. My point is ANSWER THE BLOODY QUESTION!!!! The original poster didn’t ask how you make your ISK, they wanted advice on making capital ships! If you don’t have any constructive advice to give then don’t post a response – if you do then by all means also mention that they should not expect phenomenal profits – just don’t simply knock them down because it doesn’t make your pants wet every 15 seconds when your wallet button flashes!

OK, so now I have that off my chest I shall get back to making my capital ships.

Whiners can do what they do best by commenting to this article in the space provided below or eMail me.

Tags: forum, nerf, pointless, thread, whine