"Training Ogre demands tribute!" the email said. Uh-oh. Seems I'd forgotten to start another skill training within five seconds of the previous level having been completed. Ooops.
"The skill points you have invested in all these half-trained levels are being wasted. Finish some of those frickin' levels already before starting new ones!" Sigh. There is no gallivanting off on new training paths on a whim when the Rev has access to your private skill training data stream.
"Take a look at my God Plan. It contains every skill in New Eden trained to Level 5. I'm 26.42% of the way..." My eyes glazed right the hell over. A skill plan that was some ridiculous amount of YEARS long? A spreadsheet that went well beyond EVEMon, providing baseball-like stats sliced approximately 423 different ways and a mind-boggling analytical breakdown of every detail one could imagine about one's current and planned skills? Umm. Right. Back away verrrrry slowly and make no sound....
I love the Rev, don't get me wrong. We've been friends in New Eden for nearly two years. We (along with a couple of other long-time friends) have been through two corp implosions together. We have mined, missioned, and explored together. We--along with our trusted friend Morikuro Kinzaki--formed a successful small industrial corp with a no-drama philosophy and policies geared toward enriching members (not the corp). I have not yet succeeded in luring him to taste the sweet honey of life as an outlaw, but I'm working on that! We are friends in real life. I expect to attend his wedding, collude with his ladylove to plot devious schemes for our mutual amusement at his expense, and mercilessly spoil his children when they finally come along. However, I have been sorely tempted to change my API keys so that my skill-training-obsessed friend can no longer spy on my choices and make comments about my errr....occasional air-headed approach and lack of anything resembling a plan. That said, as time goes on, I am starting to see the wisdom of his ways. It's a little like that old saying: The older you get, the smarter your parents become. Or, to paraphrase contextually: The more skill points I get, the smarter Rev's suggestions appear to be.
Because of his excellent advice, my support skills are solid--one result of which is that I can typically fit T2 projectile weapons and armor tanking mods without grid or CPU issues. My PvP skills are highly focused, with Science skills related to probing being the main deviation from that. Moving up to T2 ships has been a breeze. And even more importantly, Rev's constant tutoring in maximizing benefits from skill training has given me a lot of confidence in planning short and long term training goals for myself and my "business associates" (aka alts).
So here's to you, Reverend Book...thank you for your patience, time, and wisdom when it come to my training plans. Thanks also for being an amusingly sarcastic, scarily intelligent, wonderfully caring, and just downright enjoyable friend both in and out of game. Merry Christmas to you, congrats again on your recent engagement, and heartfelt best wishes for all the good things I know are coming for you and your ladylove in the New Year!
Honorable Mentions. I could not let this opportunity go by without mentioning a few other individuals, so here they are.
- Austinus for his excellent guidance and support when I initially embraced the yarr.
- Morikuro Kinzaki for his friendship and particularly excellent wisdom regarding corp leadership and management.
- CrazyKinux for his efforts on behalf of the blogging community.
- Shae Tiann for her ideas, support, and assistance with the Hellcats concept and corp identity.
- The Bastards, every single one of whom I adore and love flying with.
- Roc Wieler for inspiring my Muse, both in this blog and in other creative pursuits.
Links to other bantering EVE bloggers (this list will be updated as I notice or am pointed to new Blog Banter posts):
