Before I get into my reasoning properly, I would like to point something out. I am very much a lone wolf player, and not in the 'expert at solo PVP' lone wolf sense. No, I'm a lone wolf in the sense that I'm an ISK loving carebear. Even though I'm in a corp, most of them live in a different time zone, and I see them very little. This suits me fine, I very rarely get lonely missioning. But the problem that I found with Level 4 missions after a while was that I was getting very little ISK for the effort I put in, or so I thought. So obviously I looked around for a better paying job and found Incursions. Or more specifically, the posts on the EVE forums screaming "ZOMGWTFBBQ BILLION ISK AN HOUR FLEETS IN HIGH SEC, CCP Y U NO NERF" etc. Being the ISK-grabbing whore I am, this grabbed my attention. A billion isk an hour? Count me in!
Of course I would have to socialise and learn how to work in an experienced, professional fleet of hardened, battle-scarred veterans, but I reckoned I could muddle my way along. I soon realised that a simple Raven was not going to get me into an Incursion fleet. Judging by the shiny ships I saw flooding the gates towards Incursion areas, I would at the very least I would need a Navy Issue Raven, with some faction damage mods to wow the Fleet Commanders (I had decided based on my current skill set to stick with missiles, and that meant being a sniper). Gritting my teeth, I began to grind L4's. After a month, and massive training into shields and cruise missiles, I felt ready. I bought my CNR. I payed for faction ballistic control systems that cost more than a Battleship. I followed the fit posting etiquette in BTL Pub, headed towards the Incursion site and waited. And waited. And waited some more. My god was there alot of waiting. What people seem to conveniently forget about Incursion fleets is the amount of time you spend getting in one. You're not making ten million an hour, nevermind a billion, while sitting on a gate waiting for an FC to send you an invite. And even when you get an invite, people drop and join constantly, so chances are you'll do a site then wait five minutes to replace a logi, or a DPS guy. But anyway, I'm waiting on the gate...
Then suddenly it happened. An FC named A Archer suddenly spoke up, asking for sniper fits in the Amarr Incursion. I tentatively X'd up and posted my fit amongst the other hopefuls, but my faction mods made me stand out from the crowd. Instant fleet invite. My jaw dropped. I was in. I was one of those pilots lusted after by the new guys. I was one of the few, the proud, the brave. I was also about to become incredibly rich. I warped into fleet, was told what tags to shoot at and how to call for logis, a crash course in Incursion running so to speak. I tried not to screech with excitement down the comms as we lined up on the entrance to an Assault site. "AAA" in the fleet chat. We warped a few seconds after the anchor. The tagger gave us our targets. We were clean and professional. No other communication was needed, just the simple "Snipers switch to tag B" "Rayl needs cap" floating over the fleet comms. I had a huge grin on my face, it was exactly how I imagined. Then, the incredible happened. The FC called open comms, and then all hell broke loose. Arguments raged over My Little Pony, Songs You Shouldn't Like But Secretly Do and Are Gingers Hot or Not? Links to cat videos on Youtube were dropped in the fleet chat like some sort of relaxant, favorite porn sites were swapped and arguments broke out over how to properly fit a Battle Badger to surprise gankers.
I was appalled. This wasn't some fine-tuned machine. This was a group of mad people blindly smashing through a Sansha stronghold while mildly intoxicated and discussing ponies. And then I realised something even more insane. I was having the most fun on EVE I had ever had. Incursion fleets are so massively social and hilarious, you just have to get involved. The fact I was earning about 18 million every 15 minutes was just a huge bonus. The real draw for me to stay was the brilliant personalities behind those avatars, and the insanity that was formed when they were in a fleet together. I can't thank my first fleet enough for showing me the real joy behind EVE, the people in it.
And that's why I don't want Incursions to be hit so hard with the nerf bat they get hospitalised. Not because of the ISK not because of the LP, both of which flow like water, but because of the people that will leave Incursions if they don't feel like it's worth it. The mad people. The people who unashamedly discuss ponies. They won't bother doing Incursions, they'll go and do something else, like wormholes or trading. And that would be a hell of a shame, because the only people still doing the Incursions would be the cold professional killers, in it only for the ISK, not the social experience, intent on perfecting their completion times and treating newcomers with disdain at their lack of skill or knowledge. I don't want Incursions to be like this because I'm certain I'm not the only player who needs these nutters to show me the best part of EVE, the utter hilarity a group of strangers can enjoy. So please, when you're raging about how Incursions are ruining the economy, think about what they're doing for the player base instead.
Tl;dr Incursions are so much more than an uncontrollable ISK faucet. They're also an amazing place to have fun and socialise in a game where it can be easy to be the lone wolf.
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| Our Incursion fleet with my CNR near centre, just before we jumped. Sexy post-Crucible Nebula is visible too ;) |
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