For me Eve is 100% a PvP game. There is almost nothing that you can do that is not driven by PvP. Traders compete on the market. Industrialists replace ships lost in combat. Miners supply those industrialists. Mission runners sell faction items to combat pilots… The list goes on. For me the most thrilling part is fighting other players. Whether its solo, in a small gang, or a large fleet, the adrenaline of a fight is why I log on again and again and again.
One of the things that I enjoy most about writing this blog and the Rifter PvP Guide is that it makes people who had never really considered PvP get up and give it a go. It seems that once people have had their first taste of the adrenaline surge that goes with a real fight, they rarely look back. Of course a lot of people are nervous about diving into PvP. Maybe they live in an industrialist, mining, or mission running corp. Perhaps their corporation just doesn’t have the experience to get them started. They might even just think that they lack the skills to give it a whirl.
Thankfully there’s a solution. Agony Unleashed runs an excellent selection of PvP courses including their PvP Basic class. All that you need to tag along is the ability to fly a frigate and the desire to learn. They will teach you the basics of ship fitting for combat, how to move around in a fleet, and of course fight. Once the main class is over there will be a roam that will take you out into nullsec space and hopefully get you some great fights. Just sign up when they announce a class, pay your course fee, and turn up to learn and have fun.
Wait… pay your course fee?! What if I can’t afford it?
Don’t worry. Thanks to a generous donation to get it started, the An’Har family are proud to announce the Rifter Drifter PvP Scholarship programme. We have the funds to sponsor ten students through Agony’s Basic class. If it’s a success then hopefully we’ll be able to find funds for more students.
All you have to do to qualify for the scholarship is to say that your course is being paid for by An’Har Family Industries (ANHAR). Agony will credit our account and you’re good to go! In exchange for this all I ask is that you write me an account of your time on the course, whether you enjoyed it, and – most importantly – if you’re going to go out and try more PvP. I’ll publish the reports here and hopefully it will encourage more people to give it a go. Oh, and I might drop you a message further down the line and find out how you’re getting on.
What are you waiting for? Give it a go!
February 18th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
I highly approve of this message.
If this turns out well, I’ll donate some money for this. The more PvP’ers, the better.
February 18th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
Oh wow. Thank you very much. Hopefully we’ll get a couple of people through the next Agony class and see how it turns out.
February 18th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
This is a great idea. My corp has been kicking around the idea of sending our current small crop of noobs on this course (we struggle with the timezone, because we’re in Oz, and telling people to get up at 4am is hard) but it (the course) has an excellent reputation, and anything which gets more people trying their hand at pvp is a good thing. Kudos.
February 18th, 2010 at 3:04 pm
Wensly,
Lonetrek Hosting would love to donate to this cause. Please email me at admin@lonetrekhosting.com so we can work out some details.
February 18th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
This is wonderful news. I have always wanted to try PvP but simply did not know what to do and could not afford these classes. I will be taking advantage of the scholarship myself soon. Thank you Wensley!
February 18th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
Great idea. I took Agony’s PvP Basics class after I’d been PvP’ing for a year and it was still very fun and I learned stuff I didn’t know. Well worth the time and fee! The only issue is how quickly the courses fill up–you really have to be on the ball and reg within an hour of them being announced most times to get in. Maybe Agony would do a special Rifter Drifter offering giving scholarship recipients first dibs?
February 18th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Wonderful idea. And it’s certainly true the Rifter guide has helped new people dip their toes into pvp, it was a great help to me.
Best of luck with the scheme, I’m looking forward to the stories. Newbie stories are awesome.
February 18th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
You could do with some PvP training. Noooooooooob!
February 18th, 2010 at 7:10 pm
Actually, the biggest challenge in getting through an Agony basic class is to managed to get signed up before they are full.
:p
February 18th, 2010 at 8:08 pm
So far I’ve been doing some Rifter PvP in a rifter fitted according to your rifter guide and I’m in IRC now so I’ll get plenty of PvP experience by that. Hope this will prove useful for a lot of people and that it will provide some more people to shoot at.
February 18th, 2010 at 10:43 pm
Well this is true. I just want to encourage people to try. And yes, I have shamelessly poached your idea.
February 19th, 2010 at 7:25 am
Don’t worry, I think I will survive
February 19th, 2010 at 7:26 am
Xeross, you should do yourself the favour of actually doing an Agony class. It is one of the cheapest way to get some of the basics of PVP into your system in a lasting way.
February 20th, 2010 at 5:06 am
And the winner is Wensley!
Good idea mate
March 1st, 2010 at 11:09 am
[...] those PvP Scholarships that I wrote about? Well this weekend sees the next Agony PvP-BASIC class and enrolment is currently open. Why not [...]