Farmers and Fields

A week ago I did a blog post regarding the numbers of LP farmers in Faction War since the Caldari hit warzone control level 3. One Caldari Militia member even accused the piece of being propaganda! Fairly fitting with the current blog banter! I don't think it is propaganda it was a frustrating factual piece on the issues I'm having with PvP in Black Rise. That post is now over a week old, and over the course of the last week nothing has happened that has changed my mind. I'd just like to do this quick follow up....

Vulnerable systems are Still Vulnerable
There are currently 10 vulnerable Gallente systems at the time of writing this. Many of these have been vulnerable since the last post on this topic a week ago. In the last seven days the Caldari went from having 21 of our systems vulnerable a week ago down to 10 today. And they only took two of them in the week, the rest have been plexed down by the Gallente. The Caldari had 65 systems last Monday, they have 67 this Monday.

If the Caldari are an organised fighting force bent on dominating the warzone, why haven't they taken these systems? Why is nobody organising a bunker busting fleet to capture these vulnerable systems? The answer is the people who are doing most of the plexing don't want the systems captured. They want the Gallente to plex them back down so they can farm them a bit more.

The Farmers are Still Farming
Now before anyone gets their backs up, I'm not saying that everyone in the Caldari Militia is a farmer, I'm just saying there are a lot. Please see exhibit A below which was a kill from last night. When you leave out mid-slots on a Cormorant so that you can crowbar that cloaking device into your utility high-slot, then you are not looking for good PvP are you?

When you are flying kitey Condors that do as much DPS as a bald, blind hedgehog who has lost his teeth and claws and is trapped in a Hessian sack, then you are not looking for good PvP are you?

However, you can PvP with those two fits, technically. Better for farming, but they can PvP.... ish.... they have a point or scram after all.  Moving away from my KB and just a quick look on the corps kill-board's frontage shows these gems from today!

Ragers are Still Raging.

There is only one thing madder than a farmer who cannot farm. A farmer that cannot farm and gets his ship blown up. My CEO and head of the Quantum Cats Syndicate appears to have upset one such farmer and I repost a forum entry here. I've changed the name to protect the guilty rager. I'll call him "A Very Angry Boy"

Apparently, this guy knows me from a while ago... 

 

Your contact level has been modified

From: A Very Angry Boy

Sent: 2013.02.xx

 

A Very Angry Boy has changed your contact level to Terrible Standing

 

But Friday night:

KILL

chatgris > gf

A Very Angry Boy > Bitch .!.

From: A Very Angry Boy

Sent: 2013.03.xx

To: chatgris,  

 

ты ебаннная падла 

 

KILL

 

A Very Angry Boy > chatgris bitch

A Very Angry Boy > ебанный ублюдок

 

A Very Angry Boy > chatgris .!. bitch

A Very Angry Boy > chatgris whole

EVE System > Channel changed to Local : Nisuwa

A Very Angry Boy > chatgris .!.

 

KILL

 

Cromwell Savage > buh bye

chatgris > hi

A Very Angry Boy > Cromwell Savage Bitch

chatgris > see you soon?

Cromwell Savage > no farming for you!!!!

 

KILL

Pod's are getting Pod'd
Catching a pod is not that easy in low-sec. That's why many low-sec pilots have decent implant sets. Yes, lag, IT issues and simple mis-click/herpa-derping means you lose the odd one, but generally pod kills in low sec are relatively rare compared to the number of ships getting blown away.

Notwithstanding the above, I have caught a fair few pods this year in low-sec. Last month in February I caught 11 compared with my usual haul of 1 to 3 in a month. Why? Because most farmers are low SP/empty head clones and it is faster to lose your pod and die a cold hard death than pod back and get a new farming ship.

Given that the farmers only started really becoming an issue in late January and February, have a look at my pod kills for the last 6 months -

So a clear jump in February. Then again we are talking low numbers that are more susceptible to random fluctuation  I suppose I need a bigger sample size. The QCats monthly kills should do! How has our PvP corp been doing in smashing pods open during the last six months?

So am I getting better at catching pods? Are the QCats getting really good at it too? Are the Squids getting worse at "getting their pod out" suddenly? Or do we have a lot more farmers that don't care if their pod gets out or not?


Now I know there are Caldari Militia corporations out there who are giving me and my fellow Gallente Militia pilots good fights. There are pilots who want to capture systems and dominate us (oooo eeer!). My problem is that there are so many farmers out there and they are diluting the good fights currently.

And whilst I'm half gate camping/half writing this blog a stabbed Merlin escapes my clutches followed by me getting my second pod kill in 24 hours! Nuff said!