EVE Evolved: Massively Mob Mission Mash
In last week's EVE Evolved, I released details of the brand-new Massively Mob corporation in EVE Online. Although the Massively Mob corp is a great place for readers to congregate, chat and play together, its primary purpose is to provide a financial safety net for new players. Anyone can join the corp and gain access to a stockpile of modules, skillbooks, implants and pre-insured ships that can be used to explore everything the game has to offer. The idea is to take the harsh fear of death and learning curve out of EVE for new players and so encourage them to try new things. To help with that, the Mob will be running regular themed event nights during which we explore different aspects of EVE's gameplay.
Over the coming months, we plan to run events on mission-running, skirmish PvP, exploration and more. Once January hits and the Incursion expansion's final feature is released, we'll begin actively taking part in battling the Sansha menace. Each event will be geared toward showing newer players what they can expect from the game if they continue to play, and having a bit of a laugh while doing it. There will be prizes, medals and special mentions on Massively for older players who help organise these events or younger players who perform well in them. To take part, you don't even need to be a part of the Massively Mob corporation!
With just over a hundred pilots signed up to the corp and more sure to come, there's no time like the present to kick off the first big event night. Skip past the cut to find out how you can get involved in the Massively Mission Mash, and leave us a comment if you have an idea for a future event.
Massively Mission Mash
The first Massively Mob event will be a mission-running extravaganza designed to show newer players what to expect from level 3 and 4 missions. Although level 1 and 2 missions show the general format a player can expect to encounter, they are worlds apart from their level 3 and 4 counterparts. Unfortunately, many players don't stick with missions long enough to gain the standings required to access the higher-level content. Level 3 and 4 missions give significantly better rewards, and when run solo, they can really challenge a newer player's ability to design a good ship setup. In the Mission Mash event, we'll be running these missions in small groups of no more than 10 pilots, making the content easily accessible to newer players and speeding up the entire mission process significantly.
When in a group, all rewards for the mission can be split between everyone taking part in the mission. This includes mission payouts, NPC ship bounties, loyalty points and standings increases. The event should help generate ISK for newer players to help them afford some skills and ships while also boosting their standings and showing them what level 3 and 4 missions are like. Groups will be led by older players with access to level 3 and 4 missions, and newer players can join up with whatever ships they can fly. Corp members are advised not to fly anything too expensive, and of course free frigates and cruisers will be available for any corp members who can't afford to risk their own ship.
When and where
To maximise participation, the event is scheduled for 18:00 to 23:00 EVE time on both Friday the 10th and Saturday the 11th of December. To take part, just show up at any point during these times and ask in the Massively channel about joining a mission group. Although these are the official event times, I'd like to encourage people to try to keep the mission-running groups going outside of those times as they benefit corp members significantly.
Because we have players aiming to run missions for several different factions, including sizable Caldari and Amarr contingents, we'll be running the event in three separate mission centres 1-2 jumps from several level 3 and 4 agents. Each of these is a new corp office and will act as a meet-up point for the event:
Amarr missions -- Meet up at Kehour VIII - Moon 1 - Emperor Family Bureau.
Gallente missions -- Meet up at Cat VII - Moon 4 - Material Acquisition Mineral Reserve.
Caldari missions -- Meet up at Tintoh VII - Moon 10 - Spacelane Patrol Logistic Support.
How can you help?
As missions are designed to be run by one person, we're probably going to be blitzing through them hilariously quickly once groups form up. We're sure to have plenty of people, and so we'll need as many level 3 and 4 mission-runners as possible to help run the groups. If you're confident in your ability to tank an entire level 3 or 4 mission solo, you can help out by turning up for the event and starting your own mission fleet. Information on exactly how to start and run a mission fleet will be posted to all corp members as a corp mail, and Massively staff will be on-hand during the event to help iron out any problems that arise or advise pilots who aren't in the corp of how to start a group.
Another way you may be able to help out is to join a group and salvage the missions while they're in progress. For efficiency's sake, each group should really have at most one dedicated salvager, who should stay behind the main group and clean up all the wrecks left behind. If you're taking on this role, try not to use a shiny new Noctis as there is always a small risk of attack when salvaging in popular mission hubs. Destroyers make excellent salvaging ships with a very small price tag, so they're highly recommended for this. Prizes and medals will be available for the pilots who help out the most, whether it's through organising groups, salvaging missions and donating the salvage to the corp, or just turning up to run a lot of missions. To ensure casual players aren't left out, we'll be giving away several prizes in a free raffle for everyone who attends.
Summary
The Massively Mob corporation is off to a good start, with over a hundred members signed up and three shiny new offices waiting to be used. These first few weeks are guaranteed to be rocky as we stock the corp hangars, sort out a safe way for members to access the ship and module stockpiles, and organise our first event. I hope to see many of you on Friday the 10th and Saturday the 11th of December to take part in the event and be in for a chance to win prizes. Over the coming week, more information about the Massively Mission Mash will be posted in the in-game Massively channel and the Massively Mob corp mail.
Brendan "Nyphur" Drain is an early veteran of EVE Online and writer of the weekly EVE Evolved column here at Massively. The column covers anything and everything relating to EVE Online, from in-depth guides to speculative opinion pieces. If you have an idea for a column or guide, or you just want to message him, send an email to brendan@massively.com.
