Black Eve Down

So if you haven't wandered over to the Eve online site in the last few hours, you'll be met with a fun surprise:

While funny, it brings into light something very serious.

Who the hell is in charge of the web development team over there?

Ah Eve Online Web presence.  Let me count thy fails.  Oddly, they all seem to revolve around Eve Gate.  Wasn't Eve Gate going to be the be-all-end-all?

Chat with corp members in game while out of game... uh yeah, kinda, after several false starts
Eve Forums being moved to EG... oh wait they are back again.
Live Dev Blog... not so much?

To be fair, I wasn't at the live dev blog so I don't actually know if went off without a hitch and the back log of all the people there caused this little crash in the first place.  I found it ironic that they put out a nice Dev Blog about the changes to API that are available RIGHT NOW ON SINGULARITY... HURRY HURRY HURRY! then the web service and API go down for the count.

Anyone else feel like this?

I just feel confused really.  Does CCP think this is a race or something?  Guys, take your time.  Make sure the shit is right before you launch it.  In general, the gaming community (which oddly enough includes Eve Online) hates Hates HATES buggy launches.  We don't want emergency patches to fix emergency patches to fix the shit that should have been right the first time.

But for some reason, I get the nagging suspicion that CCP is just rushing to get this out.  Is the World of Darkness launch date pushing you guys along, and the beta testing in Eve isn't going as smoothly as you planned?  Is the Dust due date making the multitasking difficult to push both Eve and Dust at the same time?

Honestly guys, we want less of this:

And more of this:

Currently at the time of this posting the services are still down.  Thank the gods the game still plays.  If not we might have a riot.  Or at least a long worded bitching session on Failheap.  Whatever.

Patch Notes: Scanner's Delight

In the latest update, CCP has given those of us who play in wormholes a few helpful additions.  Sadly, still no swapping subs and putting together T3's at POS's.  We've been promised that for so long (and so long ago) its beginning to feel like it's CCP's version of Duke Nukem Forever.  And I just ran outta bubble gum.  Its like the WH version of the white unicorn - really pretty to talk about, but seeing not so much.

And we didn't get the bookmark thing.  Initially we were going to get the scanning improvements which consisted of a harder faster stronger on-board ship scanner, probe UI improvements, and the ability to see bookmarks on the overview (cue Hallelujah please).  However there seemed to be a problem with the bookmark thing, so it is promised for a later patch which could be the next one but like with the T3 thing, I'm not holding my breath.

So what did we get, and does it really work?

Basilisk: Dependable Like a Rock

For most wormhole corporations, shield tanking is the norm. What better way to abuse the dps and range of the Heavy Missile System which is easily the most unbalanced weapon system in the game? For some pvers, they don't even know what armor is, or even how to use it. This is usually reflected in the EVE Quarterly reports when they do race breakdown. Caldari is the most populous race every year, although I suspect its because everyone has a Caldari alt to watch the market at Jita.

But I digress.

Generally, shield tanking is performed by Caldari ships which for the most part are considered excellent for PVE. Proponents of shield tanking over armor besides gloating about the range and damage of the usual weapon systems also know that sleepers have no shields. This means when blowing them up in a system that penalizes armor but buffs shields (Pulsar) is a faster, safer way to that big payday. So it isn't hard to understand why it is the more popular way to Op in a wormhole.

Salvage Ships for Wormhole Operations

The majority of money to be made from sleeper sites is not in the actual blowing up sleepers. No money is made that way, as they don't have bounties. Anyone doing wormholes sites knows this already. The real money, therefore, is in the salvage. Thus, the most important job is the one of the salvager. Because without it being done, no one gets paid.

One would automatically think the Noctis would be the best ship to salvage. And they would be right! However, WH space isn't safe, ever. Remember the rules I went over last week? They doubly apply here, as the salvage guy is the most vital and often unprotected guy in your op.

The way most corps do business is warp off as a squad, clear site, warp to the next and start clearing while another guy warps to the first site in his Noctis/destroyer/whathaveyou and starts salvaging.

Houston, we have a problem.