Van Hemlock: The distrust of recruits and the path of acceptance
Podcaster and PlanetSide-fragger extraordinaire Van Hemlock recently had a look at EVE Online'sEmpyrean Age expansion, and gave his take on what's needed to get the most from factional warfare. He tackled The Empyrean Age in two parts: The Distrust of Recruits... and The Path of Acceptance.
In The Distrust of Recruits, Van Hemlock was surprised that factional warfare isn't quite as accessible as he envisioned. He wasn't daunted though, and prepared to move his main character into the battlefield. Except, there were one or two issues. Perhaps the main one, which is a core mantra in EVE, is that you "don't fly what you can't afford to lose." By joining up with any of the militia, you become a war target for two other factions, who will attempt to kill you on sight -- no matter where they see you. No matter what you've done. That's the price you pay for access to this level of PvP, a first in the game, but for some that price tag is too steep.
Replacing ships, especially battleships, and their modules can get expensive over time. Clones must always be kept current so that skillpoints won't be lost if you're pod killed. Van Hemlock's solution was to make a brand new character solely for PvP and flying on the cheap. That way any losses, even in terms of skillpoints, would be negligible. All of that carnage the PvP alt would inflict, and what would in turn be visited upon him, would be funded or offset by his main character -- safely earning buckets of isk while blissfully ignoring the war. Or possibly profiting from it.
At least that was the plan. So hurling a newbie alt into a warzone is the safe route... but it's not the quickest, as he learned. A fresh character isn't born with the proper standings towards their race's faction. Van Hemlock looked at his options and, at first, believed it would take weeks of running hundreds of missions to qualify for membership in a militia. However, thanks to one of his readers, he was able to find a way to hit that 0.5 standing in only two or three play sessions, and with a normal frigate. He documented how this is done in The Path of Acceptance.
Admittedly, the whole arrangement of creating and prepping a new character solely for factional warfare is a bit complicated at first glance. But for some players it allows the perfect symbiosis between two characters. One for all-out combat, the other to generate 'isk without risk.' Have any other EVE players taken a similar route to entering factional warfare, or did you join a militia with your main?
