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Showing posts from February, 2015

R.I.P Red Crosses

The latest User Interface development blog was released by CCP Arrow. I have an incredible amount fo respect for CCP Arrow and how he handles himself and his job. Back when the Unified Inventory  was changed I was still a new player and the change went over poorly. Being new made the change easy for me but hard for everyone else. It did not help that it came out in an incomplete state that lacked much of the basic, daily usage needs and support for the players. CCP Arrow took ownership of that. I had a lot of respect for him admitting that it was not what it should have been and that he kept working on it until the functionality started to return. I learned a lot about player reaction to change and incomplete design during that time. Later that year, I listened to him present at Eve Vegas 2012. He was ambitious with his hopes for the UI. That story is not the one that we are at now but it is interesting to be here almost three years later and at this phase of the UI changes. Not

TCS: Restocking

The ramp up to voting is a very hard time. Sitting down to work on my market took more energy then it should have. However, I had some motivators. I had received a request from someone to pull some information about my market. That motivated me to get the delisted items relisted for a better overview of what I have. The second was a request for help about how I use my market tools. That is what left me writing a loose, non technical guide to using Eve Mentat to keep stock of your market inventory. I need to clean it up and publish it I guess for those interested. Eve Mentat is a powerful tool but I use it almost exclusively to keep track of what items have sold. That is one huge thing missing from the current Eve market interface. Sold and expired orders. As it stands I can manually check what sold against what I have in my inventory. If I am technically proficient, I can write spreadsheets that pull and total information for me. We're in a stage of Eve's history where we are

CSMX Voting is Now Open

Vote Sugar Kyle for CSMX! Link to CSMX voting - Fill it in yourself! You don't need no recommendations! Link to selecting Sugar Kyle's Voting List - ( Endorsement list )  Link to selecting just Sugar Kyle - Add the others in as you will. Remember to redeem your diplomatic shuttle in game! They available to all  accounts. Hopefully all these links work. The list will autopopulate for you for each account that you log in after you build your first if the links don't work. Voting goes until March the tenth. See my endorsement list for links to more resources.

Guest Blog: Cosmic Travesty: Or why something that's been broken for a decade remains broken

Forward to a Gust Blog: Back in September I was on track for getting the COSMOS missions on Team Space Glitter's roadmap as part of my goal of getting broken things that frustrate people fixed. I was very excited about this. However, other things happened and the time needed to go through these missions and clean them up vanished. On the flip side we have had an amazing lore experience and new and exciting changes to the Eve landscape. The COSMOS mission system is old. That does not change that the COSMOS missions are broken. It does explain a bit of the reason why. It was added for the Eve Online: Cold War expansion back in 2005. Over the years they have started to break. Their items have become obsolete. Yet, they are full of lore and mystery. They should have been better then they are. But much of Eve's old content suffers the same problem. I haven't abandoned my goal to have them fixed. So when someone offered to write me a comprehensive 'this is broken' list

CSMX Lists

The easiest part about creating a voting list is placing myself first. Vote for me! When the voting goes live I'll have a direct link that does all the pretty filled in stuff. My attempts to make a 'Vote for Sugar' button are not going very prettily. Now for the more serious part for those interested in more.

A Moment for Exploration

I got interviewed over at Sagan Exploration . Katia Sae was kind enough to give me a bit of time to answer. However, I sat down and got it done. It was a super fun interview because I was able to sink into one of my favorite pastimes in Eve. In some ways I feel a bit wicked. Most of the other people profiled explore and seek Eve's lore and history. I'm a tomb raider. I plunder sites for their goods and run off to sell them to the higher bidder. I absolutely loved the comparison. Now I need a bullwhip or a double set of pistols. It does make me want to go and spend some time exploring for the sake of it. With the new expansion to the Lore I may take some time out this summer to just go and sink into Eve's world and catch myself up on everything.

CSM9 - Day 295

“Is CCP doing anything about the NPE?” That has been a common question and one that I have said yes in answer. I have pointed out CCP Rise’s talks at Fanfest 2014 and Eve Vegas 2014. I have noted that we have not only a NPE focused team but also a retention team known as Team Homegrown who is a new construction that the CSM met at the Winter Summit. Also Rhea had fixes to the Tutorials which contained a lot of information and problems as reported by Steve, Mike and I after the release of ‘This is Eve.’ What I’ve had to sit on (the opportunity system) has been released in the most recent dev blog written by CCP Rise for Team Pirate Unicorns.  I like this system. While it is partially an achievement-based system it is a bit more free form than that. The goal is to feed information to the player as they come upon new experiences instead of having them separated from the experience in a bunch of mission text. The old tutorial missions are still there and still accessible. They just wo

Rambling: Who decides the end?

[TL;DR: Random thoughts about growing old and staying the same.]

What Was Paid Forward

I was telling Kaeda today how Lue has told me that he is proud of what I have become. I find it amazing because in my mind, I am still his newbie. I've been feeling a bit nostalgic for the days when I drifted about in space with him. I often talk about it because It was a very good time in the game for me and created the foundation for my love of low sec. Lue, Diz, and Ender are very much my idols in game. I spent a lot of time trying to become a pilot that they could be proud of. I look back on my time with them in an extreme sense of nostalgia. If there is anything I ever want to retain and wrap my game of Eve around it was the time I spent in Klingt learning how to play, living, and doing. I remember the times Lue abandoned me to go assist groups. I wasn't part of any of the local channels back then. Lue would just say that someone had called for help and vanish for a while, leaving me to clean up and occupy myself until he returned. I remember wanting to get to that pla

Change on the Solar Wind

Vadeim Rizen > I've killed 6,000 ships in my day, fought one against few, few against many, and many against... well many more. I've seen just about every tactic in eve used, seen prominent alliances, fc's, and figureheads come and go. But the Drifter BS, is finally what's going to keep me docked forever. Vadeim made me chuckle but he also gave me a beautiful entry for my thoughts about Tiamat's release and the subtle changes that it brings to Eve Online. Tiamat will probably be my favorite patch name and that is simply because every-time I see it I get a huge wave of nostalgia for my first MUD. Beyond that, I am interested in see how the growth of Eve's story is met. I also wonder if it will take NPCs of this strength and potential to get people to notice the video game side of Eve. I watched someone rage quit from Eve back in September because CCP refused to pay attention to Eve's world and story. They quit weeks before the Carolina's Star event

All The Things Said

There is a lot to learn from watching people argue and discuss things. There are often answers to more than is being discussed and questions about things not brought into the discussion. And so I found myself, yesterday, while watching a discussion and dropping in an occasional question to keep that discussion going, thinking that sometimes we do not realize that what we most need is change because we cling to what is familiar and comfortable. And that grip on what we love comes at a cost of us destroying it because it no longer satisfies us. It started with an argument that was made back when I first entered to game. Back then, in my first few months, the CSM was not something I knew or paid attention to. But for others far older it was a time of great change and directional focus. And now, three years later they are looking back at the changes and not satisfied with the direction things have gone. Not because it has not been productive or produced various results but because it was

CSM9 - Day 288

Tuesday is patch day. The release, Tiamat launches on Tuesday, February 17th. The patch notes are up. Please read them . Changed missile launchers to require the missile skill they use. Example: Cruise Missile Launcher I now requires the Cruise Missiles skill at level 1 Energy Neutralizers and Nosferatus are no longer affected by the power grid reduction bonus of the Guardian, Basilisk and Etana. With it being the week before release things have been puttering along. We had our normal meeting on Thursday which was just a quick brush up on what is coming in Tiamat as well as the progress over some things discussed during the summit. With the release around the corner everyone is head down and working. Last week we had new apparel for the mystery code holders released. This week, the second skin for Fanfest ticket holders has been released. If you are planning to buy a ticket you will receive all of the skins still. Fanfest is fast approaching. There are all sorts of little chan

When Comments Get Out of Control

I treasure my comment sections. However, the comments from my previous blog post took on a life of their own. And my imagination started to spiral out of control. I spent the day at work watching them come in and eventually, this is what I envisioned: Several pilots were scattered around the room. Round tables occupied one end. On the other, couches sat under a market screen that ticked with the current buy and sell orders for ore, minerals, and unrefined moon material. Atop a battered couch, her short cropped hair a pale blue halo about her head, a woman rested her cheek on a view port and watched a fleet of Tristan dock. The door slammed open. "Everyone wants a battleship post!" snarled a man. He shrugged out of a jacket and headed to the bar. "You offer them a mining barge and no, they are to good for it. I sat there and watched at least a two dozen turn down perfectly good barge listings one after another." Music drifted up from the old fashioned jukebox

If I Must Share...

A dangerous habit of randomly writing what comes to mind is the distraction that it also causes. I was looking for a song to encompass my feelings of lonesomeness and I discovered that there are not that many songs about being happy while being alone. One of the closest ones that I came up with was 'Home on the Range' but the lyrics, when I read them made me recoil a bit . I did a few searches, side stepped, and decided to write anyway. Cyrillian Voth did an impressive write up about the potential of ship crews in Eve where he builds up ideas laid out by others into a more coherent plan . This is a conversation that started (mostly) on twitter. It seems to me to be a side effect of the recent expansion of lore and the general interests that players have in expanding the fine detailed depth of their game. I 've read proposals for ship crews on and off over the years . I have one problem with the topic. I hate that Eve ships have crews. It was very devastated when I disco

What I Want From My CSMX Candidate

For anyone that has missed it, I am Sugar Kyle and I am running for CSMX, the tenth Council of Stellar Management in Eve Online. But this post isn't about that. This post is about my efforts to pick who I will vote for on February 25th, 2015. My number one choice will be myself. However, once the candidate list is released on the 23rd, I feel that it is a bit of a responsibility to write up a ballot this year. I won't cover everyone. I'll cover the top of my ballot and a few people that I find interesting and may or may not add to my own but I would recommend to people with other interests. I've said before that I worry that I will not be elected. I've received amazingly kind reviews from people ever since I announced my decision to run. However, I'm a creature of planning. That means I have to look at a future where I will not be on CSMX. That makes my voting a serious thing for me. I ran for CSM9 because I love low sec. I wanted it to be represented. I d

"It was good enough for me as a child!"

"Notice: Your special edition issuance is available to you. The 'Impact' jacket features pitch black nanofiber-laced harness locks in seamless connections on the front. Any capsuleer wearing this jacket is ready for a fight." Wilhelm reread the notice again. The instructions showed a man, neatly dressed out in a rich orange jacket with white gloves. On the couch of his captains quarters there was a tangle of black plates with mottled green fabric. He picked up the mess and again tried to slide one of his arms into it. The buckles caught and green fabric wrinkles around his wrist. Determined, he pulled it over his head and gagged as a plate pressed into his nose. The pants were no better. He assumed they were pants. He had managed to get both knee pads on but the rest was a tangle of cloth and codpiece. How the belt attached he didn't know. it was currently decorating the other side of the room where he had thrown it in frustration. It had been a while since he h

My Virtual Garden

Every now and then one writes a blog about writing a blog. I often write these for milestones. I normally do a yearly notice as the blog ages. This is a primary Eve blog. I have another one that I drop occasional topics in but I spend most of that time putting energy into Eve. But I hit a blog milestone that I've been sitting on for a bit while I addressed some personal doubts about something that is irrelevant.

The Underside of the Circle

Back in December I had a bit of a rawr moment after I moved TCS to Sujarento. The war zone was hot and heavy and someone kept trying to buy me out . I believe in smothering fire. They would purchased my entire stack of cheap modules and hulls.. I'd relist it. They did it again. I shrugged and replaced it. It kept me on my toes for a few weeks. The player was in a NPC corp and I speculated wildly that it was about the market and such things. And then, today, I got this eve-mail. Formal Apology, Sujarento Market Manipulation From: M----- Sent: 2015.02.08 18:32 To: Sugar Kyle,   Hello ! I would like to apologize for the market shenanigans of December. I joined faction warfare on my combat character in September last year. Due to school and work I was inactive for awhile. After Thanksgiving I had the time to start moving assets from my previous home and try and eek a living mining, manufacturing, exploring and trading to support my combat alt. Fast forward a few weeks,  I

Molding Actuality

"Eve advertises be the villian." I've heard it a lot as I discuss Eve the game and Eve's future. I pulled the pieces for the be the villian advert that I see when I occasionaly am on a machine without add blocking. It also happens to say: But it focused on Be the Villain. It fades out and stays there. And I understand why. It catches the attention. It is more flashy. Marketing is about selling things. But... ahh that eternal word to state disagreement after a compliment or moment of agreement... but! But! marketing brings people into the game and a side effect of marketing strategy is perception. Perception will dictate who decides to press the play the free trial button and what they expect to happen and enter the game planning in the depths of their conscious mind. It is a problem on the other side of the trial. Once we catch them how do we keep them? How do we keep the people after them? My latest musing came because I saw an add on twitter. It was from

CSM9 - Day 281

We are a week outside of the Tiamat release. If you have not caught up on the features check out CCP Seagull's development blog over the plans for this release. Also remember to check the patch notes. They are normally released by the Friday before the launch, giving you the weekend to go over the features. Last week CCP Darwin whispered in my ear that they were developing some added functionality to Eve Probe to let players who are more video inclined make their own scenes. It is the first step towards Jessica type access that has been sought for so long. We sat down with Jessica itself at the Winter Summit and saw that it is not a packaged system to hand out. However, now we have a first step. I do not have personal skill in this area but getting that door cracked open has been a hugely exciting accomplishment. If this is what you have been looking for I advise you to go read and look into the thread about it . CCP Foxfour put up a challenge to build a static web application

Blog Banter #62 - Generations after Icarus

Blog Banter #62  What is and/or should be the future for walking in stations? -Kirith Kodachi Last year I was debating the perception of Eve and CCP by the player base. I had interacted with more vetran players then every before and I was puzzled why my sense and view of Eve was so different from theirs. I wound up writing one of my favorite posts at that time . I have referenced it more than any other post I've ever written. Not because my post was incredible but because I had managed to write down something about Eve that I think is a very important factor about the game. Eve has generations of players. The easiest way to look at these generations is by expansion. But, that would not be the best way to look at it because developmental styles and the directional changes of the company have also come into play. As I've worked on my history of Eve's expansions over the last year I have reinforced that belief. With current changes and events since I have started th

After Ripples

Changes to the game are expected. They are anticipated. I've talked about adaptation. But, I was restocking my market today and realized that it has been a while since I stocked Cynos. In fact, I've only stocked cynos once since November. I took a moment to make sure Eve Mentat had not missed the cynos delisting or selling out. They were still sitting there and I sighed and put a check mark beside another item hit by the other side of the nerf bat. It is becoming a bit of a list. I started playing Eve for Crucible which was the November 2011 release. I started as a salvager and I made my first billions off of salvage. I had a Noctis and I used it to salvage level five missions. A lot of my early blog posts are about the time I spent in space gathering loot and learning how to pay attention. One reason the Noctis was preferable to a destroyer was because of its cargohold. Fully expanded, my Noctis could empty an entire level V mission without having to warp to the station. H