Get Paid While You Grief

Perhaps it's the carebear in me, but I've never liked griefing people.  I don't know what it is, but I don't find solace in the tears of others.  Or at least, that's what I thought until I started Leeching (aka Ninja Plexing), at which point I realized, I have no qualms about causing tears, it's the fact that I wasn't being paid that has kept me from griefing in the past.  Ninja Plexing (AKA Leeching), however, rewards you for griefing by taking 1/2 of your target's LP earned.  It's like a "Heavy LP Nosferatu II".

But, I know what you're thinking. Half of you are thinking "if you want to make the most isk, and plexing pays better, why not just plex?"  The other half is thinking "If you want to cause harm to the Matari plexer, why not just go in there with your Amarr main, and shoot him?"  I will answer both questions, starting with the latter.

If I want to prevent my opponents (the Matari) from plexing with an Amarr toon, I have to
A: Jump into local
B: Find the plex they are in
C: Warp to that plex
D: Enter the plex
E: Fly near the button to point/web them.
F: Watch them die

From the point that I jump into local (A), until I fly close enough to them to point/web them (E), my opponent can:
A: Notice me in local
B: Watch D-scan until I get to the outside of their plex
C: Align to a Safe Spot
D: Warp once I enter the plex

Due to the time it takes me to get from the stargate to the button, the plexer is in little to no risk of losing their ship, and with the current plexing system, if I want to prevent them from completing the current plex, I have to stay on the button long enough to cancel out their time on button + the initial time (ie: defensive plex), or I can leave, and they can pick up right where they began.  If I stay and d-plex, during the same time they can run an identical plex at a new location and have time left over (due to me not just having to run down the initial time, but the additional time they ran it up as well), in which case I have not accomplished anything.  If I leave, they can re-enter their plex and continue right where they left off, in which case I have accomplished nothing.

If I want to inhibit my opponents (The Matari) from plexing with a Matari toon, I have to
A: Jump into local
B: Find the plex they are in
C: Warp to that plex
D: Enter the plex
E: Fly near the button


You will notice, that not much has changed.  However, since I am a "blue" to them, they often do not run away.  Oh, sure, they might cry in local for me to leave, but honestly, they are left with only a few choices:

A: Accept their Fate- take half the LP, and let me take the other half.  This not only lowers their LP/hour by half, but also demoralizes them.
B: Shoot at me with their Matari toon to chase me off/kill me- Albeit, this of course, requires guns (which many do not have), skills to use weapons (which many do not have), a pvp fit (which many do not have), and even then, since 95% (my estimate) do not shoot the rats, all I would have to do, is point and web them, and the rats dps would add up pretty quickly.  And even, assuming all of this in their favor, they still take a standings hit toward the Minmatar Republic, which they need to keep positive standings with, to continue to plex.
C: Defend their plex with an alt that is not in the Minmatar Republic.  This is by far the most effective way to keep their plex to themselves, however, by already forcing them to have an alt, that will need to go pirate (or need to be in the Amarr/Caldari Militias) and need to have skills, I am forcing many of them to do something that they cannot.  On the off chance that they can, there are naturally, ways to counter them, which I will go into detail, in my next blog.

Stay Tuned.  My next blog will cover
A: How to maximize griefage while Leeching (aka Ninja Plexing)
B: What to do if they do drop an alt on you.
C: Why I Leech rather than plex.

In the meantime, you might find Hans' recent Blog a good read of things that might come in winter.

Evolve to Survive, Evolve to Thrive

Since the changes that came with Inferno, to many it became clear that strategies of the past (gaining LP on the amarr side only), would not be sufficient in keeping pilots' wallets sufficiently padded.  This was true of the Amarr for a few reasons:

1: The Amarr held less systems when Inferno hit.  This gave an incentive for anyone who wanted to gain LP that was more likely to be cashed out at high tiers sooner to join the Matari, further boosting both their numbers, and man hours of plexing.

2: There is a perception that the Amarr are outnumberred.  Since inferno (when I joined FW), this has been true.  In my previous post I pointed out, that on the battlefield, prior to the Great Exodus, numbers were oftentimes even, however, the realm of pve is not the battlefield.  A PVE competition tends to trend to whoever has greater sheer numbers, which over the past 3 months, has been the Minmatar.

3: Boots on the Ground: Most Minmitar base out of the warzone, whereas most Amarr do not (the large exception being BlackWatch Guard, who base out of Sahtogas, which has been successfully defended thus far, for reasons about to be given).  There are pros and cons for each strategy, however, two of the pros for basing out of the warzone are a higher desire to defend the "home" system, as well as more troops in the warzone (home system), at any one time.

After the Great Exodus, the Amarr LP seem to really have little going for them.  The Minmitar hold more systems, have more numbers, and live in the warzone, all 3 of which lead to better value for Minmitar LP and lower value for Amarr LP.  The question then is, how do you adapt?  The initial answer is simple: plex for the Minmitar.  Yet, won't this lead to an even greater Minmitar advantage in the PVE war?  Not necessarily.

12 days prior to the Matari hitting tier 5, I had 2 alts join FW on the Matari side.  With the alts, I performed 3 actions, none of which hurt the Amarr in the PVE war.

1. Plexing systems that were already vulnerable and would be lost anyways.
2. Running FW Missions
3. Leeching LP (AKA Ninja Plexing).

Now, I happened to have two alts with some skills (one had 2M SP, the other about 10M) that were not in the war, yet had standings to apply for the Matari Militia, although performing actions # 1 and 3, only require an alt roughly 3 days old, and since they are new, they would meet minimum requirements for the Minnie Militia (ie: a standing of 0).

Over the following 12 days I proceeded to earn roughly 800K LP, which cashed me roughly 3B ISK (I don't think I played any more than normal, and I didn't spend all my playing time on earning LP, so this really shows how broken the system is).  Of the 800K, here is the rough break down:

Roughly 200K earned from running plexes
Roughly 200K earned from missioning
Roughly 400K earned from Leeching

Of the three, missioning is relatively the hardest (albeit not hard, just requires either coordination, standings (to do level 4s), oftentimes a stealth bomber, etc.), and requires the most skillpoints, although I believe it pays the most LP/hour.  Leeching, despite paying less LP/hour over the long run than either missioning or running plexes, has indeed been the most fun, and is why I earned the most LP doing it.

But, other than the fun involved, why should I leech (ninja plex)?  I believe the answer to that question, is so involved, that it deserves its own post, at a future date of course.  Stay tuned!

Rust Riders Hit Tier 5

Since I started FW a few days post Inferno, the Amarr have always been outnumbered.  I am speaking of course of total numbers in the militia.  Initially, it was quite noticeable in pvp as well, however, over time (peaking perhaps just before the Amarr tier 4 cashout) the numbers became much more even, at least in regards to pvp.  Sure, LNA (ie: fleets composed strongly by LNA at least) had our fleets outnumbered by a few ships on some nights, and at other times, we outnumbered them, but in general, it had a very "even" feel.  There were many good fights in the area of Kamela, Kourmonen, Huola.

A photo of Kourmonen, after the "Great Exodus"

With the departure from the war zone of Fweddit, Wolfsbrigade, Moar Tears, as well as Nulli (amongst others), coinciding with the Amarr Tier 4 cashout, the time was right for the Matari to strike.  In the weeks that have followed, Amarr militia chat (at least in my time zone) has yet to break triple digits; 70-90 is the norm (While Minnie militia is typically between 200-250 during this same period).  This is including, of course, the additional numbers provided by Agony Empire on behalf of the Amarrians.  This is why, it was  prime time for the Matari to strike.  And strike they did.  Over the following few weeks (was it only 2, or was it 3?), the Minmatar pushed the Amarr back to only 1 system (albeit, since the weekend the Amarr have recaptured 2 additional systems, ("Fortress" Kamela, as well as Lamaa)).  

Kamela, after many days of plexing

In the process, the Minmatar have reached tier 5, and held it for a substantial amount of hours (perhaps a total of about 8-10 hours sunday), and have had a cashout of their own.  Susan Black writes on her blog "Without the help of Iron Oxide., Late Night, or other larger Minmatar alliances, general militia pushed the warzone to over 85% control".  Irregardless of whether, the large Minmatar alliances did not participate because they wanted to maximize profit (let the general militia pay for the gravy train, and then capitalize on it), or because they wanted the victory to "belong" to the general militia, they were all able to profit because of it.  (For those of you who don't know, it costs 8M-12M LP to be spent on upgrading systems, depending on how many systems you control, to attain tier 5.  More, if you want to pay for a buffer.  This could easily cost those donating the LP a combined 30-50 Billion ISK in opportunity cost).

So how are the Amarr adapting to all this Minmatar success?  You'll have to stay tuned for the next post to find out.

Goldilocks and the Three Carebears

In my last blog, I spoke about FW plexing, and how profitable it is, and how I believed that this is all intentional, yet will be "fixed" in the future.  For starters, you have to keep in mind that CCP is a business, and they need to keep players interested in the game.  The game is quite intricate, and has many "moving parts", yet just about everything that keeps players playing falls into at least one of three categories: making isk, pvp, and social player interaction (ie: RP, forum warfare, blogging, etc.).  The social interaction is mostly done outside the game (oh sure, there are chat channels in the game, and the forums are moderated by CCP employees, but for the most part, these are aspects that are outside the scope of the game), so CCP can't do much more than set the initial conditions for interaction, and hope they happen.  PvP while important, isn't the main driver of this article, and I will discuss the brilliance that CCP has set up in the skill and pvp system at a later date.  What we are left with, and what FW plexing is all about, is making ISK, after all, ISK makes the universe go around (I'm pretty sure I read that in a physics book somewhere).

When CCP adds a new way for players to make ISK, they have many options:
How well will it pay?
How difficult should it be to complete once started?
How much ISK risk is involved?
How long should it take?  (How much of a time investment is it?)
Is there an initial investment necessary?
Is it be noob friendly, or skill intensive?
Do you need to hold sov to have access?

Let's answer these questions, and give a bit of a potential 'why' in regards to FW plexing.

How well will it pay: A theoretical maximum of roughly 630M ISK per hour*.  A rather conservative number, however, is 126M ISK per hour**.

How difficult should it be to complete once started: From an NPC standpoint, should be fairly easy (after all, a 2 day old alt can run majors).  Since it is in Low sec, however, and since you are at war (faction war), you may have to not complete your plex due to these other factors (albeit driven out, and kept out, is not all that common, but it does happen), so overall I would give it a "moderately easy".

How much ISK risk is involved: At any one time, perhaps 5M if you farm with an alt.  (Albeit there is a fair amount of risk that you wont reach a high tier, and therefore, cash out in a major way).

How much of a time investment is it: From as little as 10, to as much as 20 minutes (assuming you are not forced to leave the plex).

Is there an initial investment necessary: Minimal ISK and Skillpoint Investment.  No prior grinding needed.

Is it be noob friendly, or skill intensive: Noob Friendly

Do you need to hold sov to have access: No

All of these factors point to a low barrier to entry, good pay, easy to do, low time investment, etc.  So why is this?  Well, essentially, it's because CCP has created a new way for players to make money, and what better way to get players to do it, than by making it easy to join, easy to do, pay well, and not take much time.  Having a fair number of these qualities, incentivizes players to try it. (Look at the prior two new ways to make isk: incursions and wormhole space, they have many of these qualities as well).  After all, the worst thing that can happen is that CCP will invent a new way to make ISK, and nobody will do it, because either it's too hard, takes too long, is too risky, pays too poorly, etc., as compared to what players were already doing before.  In much the same way, that a new shop, might have a grand opening sale and sell items at a loss, or give away free items to get customers interested and knowledgeable about their store, CCP is incentivizing players to try new FW plexing, even if the reward to risk ratio is (favorably) out of whack temporarily.

Over time, however, if a way of making isk (in this case FW plexing, previously Incursions) has a risk-reward ration that is too out of whack, it will need to be dealt with, lest it marginalizes and cripples other ways of making ISK (See drone region nerf and mining).  This is why incursions were nerfed, and this is why FW plexing WILL be nerfed.  We may not know the means, as of yet.  CCP may make the plexes harder to complete, take longer, change the LP store prices, require more skills, make it harder to afk, or a dozen of other changes, but FW plexing WILL be nerfed at some point (My assumption, sooner rather than later)

In much the same way that Goldilocks found some porridge that was too hot, and some porridge that was too cold, before finding some porridge that was just right, CCP has FW currently as "too far" on the happy end of the reward to risk ratio scale.  They will therefore eventually nerf it lest everyone else gives up their other ways of making ISK for plexing.  When they nerf it, they might make it "too hard" (or in other ways reduce the reward to risk ratio too far the other way) or they might find the perfect, "just right" level.  Their eventual goal (after the "grand opening sale") with FW plexing, much like with incursions, or any other form of making ISK, is to eventually find that "just right" level of reward to risk ratio.

That being said, make your ISK now, before the CCP Nerf bat of doom, turns FW plexing into a bloody mess.

*Ok, this may not be the highest theoretical maximum, as prices do change, but the numbers I used were 3 major plexes an hour (I've found 3 in a system before, although it is rare), disregarding warp time between them, and time to reach the button is disregarded as well.  Obviously a tier 5 cashout is assumed, and I used 7,000 ISK per LP as my maximum ratio (It is the best I've found thus far, not necessarily the theoretical best).

**I used one minor, one medium, and one major plex completed per hour, with the LP exchanged for SFI BPCs, using the conservative value of 27M ISK per SFI BPC from my last post.

Those Three Little Letters- I S K

I've made more isk in the past 3 months in FW (97% of the LP came from fw plexing rather than fw missions, although as I am starting to find out, those might be as rewarding if not more rewarding) than I have in any prior YEAR of my eve career.  Heck, if I keep this up, I might make more ISK this year, than I have up until now in my 6+ year eve career.  With the current payout system, if your faction can attain tier 4 or 5 (Matari had reached tier 5, and look likely to do it again soon, and the Amarr had pushed to tier 4 for a cashout) you are set to cash out a fair amount of easily earned LP for some major prizes.

As an example, at tier 5, you can cashout 11,250 LP + a tag worth roughly 1M isk for an SFI (Stabber Fleet Issue) 1 run blueprint copy.  Taking into account the cost to build it (I am estimating here, I have not run the exact numbers) of say roughly 10-12 million, that still leaves you with an SFI, at a cost of lets say 13M ISK + 11.25K LP.  You can earn 25K LP doing one major plex (20 minutes) in a 2 day old alt, in a ship worth practically nothing (in case it gets popped).  The barrier to entry is low, and the benefit is high.  So in our example above, that major plex, which took me 20 minutes to run, has given me 2 SFI's worth of LP + a little extra.  Assuming SFI's fall in price a bit from where they are now, to say, 40M (a conservative estimate), I have still earned 54M ISK in 20 minutes.  Assuming I do nothing else except for one major plex every day, I come out to 19.7B ISK profit at the end of one year.  Yeah, the isk is that good from ONE major plex a day...

Yes, there are a lot of variables (for example, this assumes you cash out ALL your LP at tier 5), but I believe I have selected an item that is popular, but not necessarily the highest ISK/LP (in this case an SFI bpc).

I am sure this (the system) will be changed (patched) at some point in the future.  The risk-reward ratio is way off, and I can't think of many better ways to make isk in the game at the moment (c6 wormholes perhaps, playing the market, owning a tech moon, anything else?)  (Note the first and 2nd can be quite risky and require either large startup capital, skills, time, or some combination thereof.  Owning tech moons simply requires you to be a large nullsec alliance, no biggee there...)

Curious Note: ISK in eve stands for Inter-Stellar Kredits, but in the real world, is also the 3 digit code for Icelandic Krona (where CCP is based) for FOREX exchange.

There is a reason, however, for the system being how it currently is (ie: way too easy and too profitable) which I will explain in my next blog.  Stay tuned for that.  Until then, go plex, and make that wallet fatter!