EVE Evolved: A year of EVE Evolved - 5 most popular articles, part 2

Top 5 posts – #4 – Making the most of your free trial:
Written as part of an ongoing drive to help draw new players into EVE Online, this popular article was linked on a few high profile weblogs. The timing for such an article seemed apt, with the Apocrypha expansion on the horizon it was a good time for new players to get into EVE. This and other articles in that new player drive were collaborated in "Massively's EVE Online new player guide" shortly after, which is one of my favourite contributions to EVE Online so far. Unfortunately, the new player experience and epic tutorial mission arcs have made most of this particular article obsolete.

Top 5 posts – #3 – PvP Masterclass:
Alright so I'm cheating, this isn't a single post but an entire series of articles I wrote on the broad topic of PvP in EVE. The series of four articles was summarised in a single wrap-up post once they'd been posted. The first post was written as an introduction to EVE's PvP style and was used to explain the different types of PvP you can expect to experience in EVE. The second part delved into the world of small gang warfare, showing what it's all about and explaining the best ways to get into it. The third in this four-part series moved into the massive world of large fleet PvP, including tips on what to do when in a fleet and tips on commanding your own fleet. In the final fourth part of the series, I looked at Piracy and corporate infiltration.

Top 5 posts – #2 – EVE PVP vs Age of Conan PvP:
This was the seventh article I'd written and the first to be linked on Slashdot. After trying the Age of Conan beta, I bought the game at release and had a lot of fun on one of the game's PvP servers. Shortly after writing this article, I left Tortage and found that the rest of the game was unfinished and nothing like the first area. Coming from EVE's hardcore PvP background, I believe I had a unique perspective on Age of Conan that helped me evaluate the game's PvP gameplay. To date, this is probably my most discussed article, with forum posts and blogs analysing it heavily.

Top 5 posts – #1 – EVE Online's Server Model:
When talking to people about EVE Online, I began to notice the same few topics coming up constantly, the most significant being its server model. It struck me that while I'd posted about the server model as part of existing articles, I hadn't actually written an article exclusively on that topic. Most players assume that the server model an MMO uses doesn't affect gameplay at all. In this article, I think I thoroughly disproved that notion by showing the importance of EVE's server structure to its gameplay. This article was linked on Slashdot, GameSpy Daily and a few other places.

Summary:
The EVE Evolved column has come a long way in the past year. It's been a lot of work but I hope you get as much enjoyment reading my weekly article as I get from writing it. In next week's article, I announce the winner of the anniversary competition and look at my personal favourite articles from the past year of the EVE Evolved column.