So I cleared the VK3002DB and the Pershing off my schedule, and shelved the Su-100 for the time being. So I barged back into EVE. And I spent the first night in the game doing…nothing. Just trying to get my bearings. At a distance, EVE seems simple enough, but once you get in, there are a lot of moving parts. And I often get distracted jumping from one thing to another. “Oooh shiny!” is not a bad reference in this case.
There were a few things that I hadn’t quite remembered right – I seem to have sold off my Purifier and my Anathema. The former I can deal with, I can’t for the life of me figure out why I sold off the latter though. I do still have my Prophecy, mission fitted and ready to rock. I am not ready for blockade runners, I still need another three weeks to get into one. I’ve never done the “Incarna” or “sculpting” thing before, so that took awhile.
After that it was a matter of remembering how to fly. I took out the shuttle and surveyed the planets in my current solar system, did a jump or two in my recon ship trying to remember what does and does not drop cloak and all that jazz. Then I pulled out some guns and tried to find some hi-sec rats to practice on – but the only place I found one some guy with far less skill points than me was beating up on them, so I decided not to butt in.
If all that sounds stupid, maybe it is. But I’ve always approached with something akin to awe. It continues to be the only MMO that seems like its larger than life – larger even than a game. Part of me would love to get over that and the shackles that come with it. But part of me would not be entirely unhappy if that sense of wonder stayed with me forever.
So for the time being, I stuck with some familiar faces.
But one thing I do know is that, sense of wonder or not, EVE is certainly a game that is more fun when played with others. So it wasn’t long before I popped open my contacts list. But as it turned out, nobody was home. My old corp did a purge of the roster just over a year ago, and so I was in an NPC corp. And while the member count is still listed as 13 there, I haven’t seen any of them online the last two nights. Not just them, but all the other contacts and friends I made over the years…nobody was blinking.
So for the time being, I am contenting myself with exploring planetary command and getting some R&D going. And trying to figure out what to do with my skill list. I’m sitting at 21.5 million skill points, and I have around 850k still undistributed from the Great Skill Book Recall of 2010. So I made a list of all the skills I still wanted. It clocks in at about 14 million. So I guess I have some paring down to do.
And I have to decide if I’m moving or not. Really the only reason I am where I am is because that is where the old corp was. If I find a new corp home, of course I will be wherever they are, but until then, I have to decide of I’m okay where I’m at or if I want to back everything up and find a place to settle in at. Gallente space is just fine with me, but most of my currently accumulated LP and standings are Minmatar based, and most of my ship skills are Amarr based, so it might be worth it too look around and see what options there might be.
Harbinger Zero 
I’m still here! I’ll shoot you a mail in game with a few things.
The spousal unit has been playing too in the last few weeks, though he restarted from scratch and tends to like to do things his way (and on his own) and isn’t exactly great about checking chat. Also, I don’t know his char names. I’ll suss those out and pass them on on the sly.
So yeah, 100% useful comment there!
I couldn’t bring myself to restart from scratch in EVE ::shudder:: There are too many foundational skills that I take for granted even after two years absense. Still, please pass on my pilot name (Acer Tinkari). He may play solo, but its never a bad thing to have a friendly name in case you need a favor or a hand with something.