As a first time writer here, I will be forward in saying I am not a writer, or an expert on any subject matter. However, as an active and long time player of EVE Online, I have seen many changes over the years, and Aegis sov lit my eyes with stars and sparkles.

Like all EVE players, I started my days in highsec, and was rather quickly recruited into a corp. Over time and making friends, a few of us decided against the carebear ways of the CEO and we left. Forming our own alliance, we had several great years of being highsec war deccers, who survived the “perma-war-dec” period before CCP finally fixed that particular issue. Not long after this, most of the corp decided it was time to migrate into null; we had made billions on our war deccing campaigns and it was the logical move for a corp of our size. Even then, in March 2014, I didn’t like sov space, and I left my friends in no more than six days. The main reason was that my corp mates had agreed to “rent” space, and this just didn’t sit well with me. Never will. Surely this was not the state of sov?

“…quite simply one of the greatest ISK making moves for these huge power bloc holders…”

Paying someone else your ISK for being in their space – quite simply one of the greatest ISK making moves for these huge power bloc holders – to me is not what sov in EVE is about. Retrospectively looking at it, taking and claiming sov then was out of the picture for a highly successful PvP group of 30 pilots. It would never be possible. These systems were long fought over, and huge established entities reside within. Power blocs. Then came the

update regarding Multiboxing and input automation

from CCP, effectively screwing a lot of the players in null blocs and beyond. No longer being able to ISBox their fleets or log-ins (some in the community argue they still use ISBox legit), thus crippling their ability to pay the “space-rent”. It’s a game for fuck sake. Sov shouldn’t need to have this kind of entry level.

Since Aegis sov was broadly announced, the EVE community has been up in arms, in support, or against the changes, but why? Perhaps now a small group of 30 can take and hold sov? Space rental programs were scrapped and abolished almost immediately, while some fools continued to pay ISK for sov that was being abandoned all around them. I joined friends flying with Quovis, Bastion Alliance (Imperium) in May this year. It was great when we had the PvP guys online, fearless and willing to go after a kill, they have my respect. We had some fun fleets and good roams. The rest of the time when I would be online, it would only be industry pilots, or five guys and their 24 alts. How many other sov alliances have corps that are just full of alts?

Perhaps it has something to do with being a corp director in the past, but almost every time I logged in I would be “told” to get somewhere, join some fleet, get on comms. Sounds exciting doesn’t it? So much content the minute I log in, I am being given options. No! It is content, but only in a loose interpretation of the word. These fleets are either entosis defence fleets, or being set up to hot-drop something “juicy”. When your 57 man fleet takes that jump bridge, and you land on six T3 destroyers, you are lucky if you can even lock a target, and even more lucky if you do more than 0.5% damage. These fleets are boring, lasting up to 3 hours with very little to show for that time. Oh, except for a PAP link.

PAP links are a means of measuring corp activity within the alliance, with FCs only making the link available to you if you stay the full 3 hours. You click the link and it saves your participation in whatever system you are currently occupying. Every now and then corp directors will moan about us needing more PAP links for the Imperium. These links add up, showing how active your corp is in the alliance and they have only been used by PvP pilots (in my experience). So it was hypocritical of them to ask me to get more PAP-links, when I know that of the 40 members online, 31 of them have never been in a PvP fleet with me. Ever.

“It’s safer than starting in an NPC corp in highsec.”

When you only log in for a few hours each day and your time is being demanded somewhere to do virtually nothing, it creates a drain. I was no longer enjoying logging into EVE, all because of what boring activity my alliance may want to be doing that day. When some of the EU PvP guys decided to go and play Elite Dangerous or other games for a while, it killed my enjoyment of being in the alliance anymore. The Imperium is surrounded by blues, it has secret deals with third parties not to entosis each other’s stuff locally, and has an extensive IT support system including various means of communicating with players outside of the game. A pretty solid place. It’s safer than starting in an NPC corp in highsec.

Aegis sov should be something great, now it’s a “hybrid”

release schedule

, this is our best hope to see these sov mechanic changes by CCP going through. Big releases generate media attention for the game, and perhaps something of this scale can’t be done on a six week rotation. Players are able to nitpick and decimate all planned changes in each patch-notes update every six weeks, and they will. The longer CCP are spending time with the disruptive children in the class, the more the rest of us suffer.

We don’t have a full Aegis sov yet, but players are leaving null. The smarter players are moving to lowsec. Aegis sov will be more combat focused, more small-fleet and FC dependant. Lowsec is the natural choice for that environment in game just now. You will

need

active PvPers who know what they are doing in every system you want to call your own. Sov is changing but what are the other power blocs doing about their playstyle? Citadels will see the repopulation of null sov, but how that sov map looks in three months time is anyone’s guess.