While EVE is 10 today – the 6th May 2013 – Sunday the 5th May saw the highest Peak Concurrent User count in 2 years occur.  65,303 pilots logged into the game to mine, rat, ship spin, trade, scam, and most of all pvp.  I myself like to think I encouraged some 250 of them to log in and attend the 67th Ganked.  This was a frigate & destroyer hull themed roam that as well as rampaging all on its own, would be shooting a Nyx piloted by Marlona Sky. 

As the system for the Nyx event was to be announced on the day, I had the roam form up in Rens, which turned out to be very fortuitous in that it was 8 jumps or so from the event system, so we changed plans slightly and moved a few hulls over to Floseswin to allow us to be better prepared for any losses suffered while helping take the Nyx down later. While moving ships we scored a few kills in the low sec systems along the way, and even back in Rens.

Following this, we roamed into null sec, not really getting any fun out of it at all.  A few bombers that got some dudes, and in turn got killed as well but pretty much all we found was dead space.  We then got word from CCP Foxfour that the Devs would be roaming and so we bounced back to Empire and waited.  

CCP FoxFour > How big is your fleet and where is it?

CCP FoxFour > LETS DO THIS!

We did not have to wait for long.  The Dev’s appeared in Brin, and so we moved out that way, tidi-ing every system we passed through severely, 180-200+ pilots will do that it seems in low sec. Watching the Devs stream we saw them bounce into Todifraun and so in we went, to find them already engaged by a MUCH smaller group of frigates. And so we joined the battle.

I called all our favourite Devs and one by one they were caught and they died. Then I did my usual and burned out of range, so House then Mirror and others stepped to the plate and called more of them too. Eventually CCP were overwhelmed by both us and the never ending “others” streaming into the system. I think we did damn well! Yes it shows kills only, and I think some randoms are missing, but thats how Ganked rolls. Also even evekill shows no losses!

Then it was time to head to Floseswin for the main event. 

I can only really say “OH BOY”.  

The system was crammed with over 2000 pilots. Most of whom wanted to shoot the Nyx, and others who wanted to shoot everyone else or even rep the Nyx. All rather interesting under 10% tidi. Eventually the frigate dps could not break the remote reps hitting the Nyx and Marlona set it to self destruct. 20 minutes later, we had two killmails.  Here are some images from the system by RvB member Zibbal:

Brave Newbies had been inviting all of Floseswin local to theirs for an afterparty, so around 80 of the Ganked fleet ran over and played around with them for a while until the day caught up with us and we needed sleep.  All in all yet another awesome day, made even more spectacular by the fight with CCP, the excellent Nyx event and of course EVE being on the cusp of its 10th birthday.

And setting another Ganked kill record too, 300+ kills over the course of the roam!

It was a day I am proud to say “I was there”

While all this was happening, over in “robe & wizard hat” territory, a SOCT representative was addressing CONCORD in Yulai about the past 10 years:

And so, with the strike of ten, it begins.

Children of New Eden. Welcome.

Ten years ago, a sudden advance in technological capabilty heralded a new dawn for the people of New Eden. It brought about a new age for the human race.

The result, was all of you.

Capsuleers. The Empyreans. The first generation of post-humans.

The Society of Conscious Thought has watched your development over the course of the last ten years.

We have watched you, the Empyreans, develop from a small group of promising individuals who sucessfully made the transition into posthumanism a decade ago, into a faction of your own.

A faction strong enough to create your own empires. A faction strong enough to govern and manage yourselves, albeit via methods through which the Society of Conscious Thought has not always approved.

However, in the same respect, the cluster has been witness to how the perception of life and death, and the value of such concepts, can become twisted by those whom become alienated from their grasp.

We have watched you create, build, and nurture, while at the same time we have watched you burn, crush and destroy the dreams of trillions.

The very existance of the capsuleer is a paradox.

You are those who no longer know the meaning of death, defeated in battle only to rise again, reborn.

For ten years, the Society of Conscious Thought has monitored your progress since the flood gates opened at the dawn of the Empyrean Age.

We watched as the immortal children of New Eden took their first steps into the void. We watched as you first spread your wings, and reached for the heavens.

We have watched you colonize, create, and grow, and at the same time we have watched you shatter entire worlds, tear down empires and crush those whom would oppose you.

The Society of Conscious Thought comes to you today with a message, and a gift.

Tomorrow, we will gift every capsuleer in New Eden a Gnosis-class Society of Conscious Thought designed battlecruiser, and with it, we relay the following message:

Our message to you is simple.

Tomorrow, the Second Decade of the Empyrean Age dawns.

Tomorrow, we embark on the next stage of our journey.

Children of New Eden, Empyreans… accept our gift, and realise your true potential.

Before I go into the many & varied prizes, I think you should all watch this video by delonewolf, it really is amazing and expresses so well how many of us feel about this game that has kept us engaged for so long:

And now, prizes.

First off we have the prizes provided by our regular sponsors – SomerBlink:

Scouting Distinction – Inty Pack (1 of each interceptor) x3 (Sarkis Udoka, William Hazard, Jamie Banks)

Most Pods – Purifier x2 (Val ona)

Spot Prizes – Worm x5 – 1 each (Thecla Elarik, Calbary, Zibbal, Cloudwolfe, Little George)

Combat Distinction – Gila x3 – 1 each (tgl3, alphastarpilot, Andre27)  – Generally doing good things like stepping up or scramming CCP Rise!

Combat Excellence – Navy Megathron x1 (Macgyver 3rd) – highest of our fleet on the Nyx & Marlonas Pod!

These will be forthcoming from a representative of Somerblink this week.

Secondly we have the prizes donated by the Angeli Mortis alliance:

2 Navy Comets – 1 each (Fork Off, a1tra Ural) – Fork for being Persistant & a1tra for this image
2 Navy Vexors – 1 each (Calintor, Azula Kishtar) – Calintor for public contracts & Azula for top damage on Fozzie.
1 Navy Dominix (SaintCav) – Final Blow on Marlona’s pod

Finally, Ganked attendee Carathas donated 2 billion isk for prizes related to podding & being the MVP of the roam, here are my chosen winners roughly following Carathas’ conditions:

Quinten Sarn – 1 billion isk for getting the final blow on CCP Fozzie

Andrew Butcher – 750 million isk for the most kills during the roam

MirrorGod – 250 million isk for being pretty damn useful during the day!

FC’s Note:

We had over the course of yesterday some 350 people cycle in and out of the fleet, with maybe 150 of them being people new to RvB Ganked or even PVP in general, and I feel that they all enjoyed the time they spent with us. This is down to all of you who come to ganked regularly and make it what it is. Thanks.

Bigger thanks from me for making the past (nearly) 2 years of my EVE life something really special.

Mangala