Interview with Heartstone

So, how long have you been playing?

I've been playing seriously for just under 3 years now. Before then I was a casual gamer who played the occasional bit of Eve alongside other offline games. In that time I learned about the PVE and Industrial side of Eve but didn't immerse myself in the mechanics beyond that which was immediately needed for what I was doing. Since the end of November 2006 however I started to get more and more into Eve and looking more in depth at how things work.

What have you done in Eve during that time?

Small Scale PVP, PVE (all types), Production from T1 ammo to T2 ships to Capital ships, POS management (my alt currently runs a network of 13 POSes), Solo Belt Pirating, Corp Management, Politics and , of course, Roleplaying. The areas I really haven't covered is management of Sovereignty mechanics (although I know how it works I haven't done it) and large scale trade operations as I have a friend who lives on that stuff and does it all for me in a way I can only look at in bemusement.


What real life experiences do you have that will aid you in your elected position?

As a Humanities academic I spend much of my time looking at complex issues and trying to solve issues without allowing my own personal views to get in the way of the research. I feel that this experience will help me greatly when I am dealing with issues in Eve on the CSM. Additionally to that I have served on a number of committees before in a variety of roles from chairperson to Equal Opportunities representative to Special Needs coordinator. This experience will allow me to work alongside my fellow CSM members effectively.

What's your favorite thing to do in Eve?

Succeed in whatever my focus is. Working in a group to achieve a goal fulfills a deep need in me whether it is online or in real life.

What changes do you believe could be made to make it easier to do that?

Nonthing. Eve is a sandbox and is what you make of it. Yes there are a number of "tools" CCP could implement to make this easier, such as War Dec contracts with win conditions being set, but really it would take half the fun out of achievement if it were easy.

What do you think of the recent Bob/Goonswarm fiasco?

Which one? If you mean the "defeat" of BoB by the closing of the Alliance then I think it's an example of bad mechanics in action rather than anything else. Having said that I am sure that this mechanic wasn't unknown by the BoB leadership and maybe it is more of a case of the failure of BoB to keep it's internal politics from self destructing the alliance than is a win for anyone. It seems, historically, that very few major powers are ever defeated by the enemy in Eve but rather they are defeated by themselves. Give me a corp filled with enthusiasm than a corp hanger full of Dysprosium.

Do you have an opinion on the Renaming of KenZoku to Bob Reloaded?

It was an idiotic thing CCP did and attempting to justify it made it all the worse. Putting thier collective hands up and saying "whoops we made a mistake" would have been better than what they did.

What do you think of the re balancing of ECM?

A buff for Falcons? Yeah that was needed. ;) In all seriousness as a Falcon pilot I like the changes it makes it somewhat more exciting to fly the Falcon as there is a bit more risk involved in doing so. Really though changing certain ships isn't, in my opinion, the way forward but rather a complete reworking of the way in which EWar works in Eve.

What do you think of the re balancing of Stealth Bombers?

I love it. I think that Stealth Bombers have more of a role now and that is long overdue.

Does it bother you that Veldspar is more profitable than any low sec minerals?

The issue surrounding this is the imbalance in the amount of tritanium needed to produce most items. Simple supply and demand ensures that tritanium created partly through the reprocessing of Veldspar will be at a premium most of the time. For instance I produce, on one of my accounts 12 Dreadnaughts a month in that month I am using roughly 1.3 billion units of Tritanium which is 3 times the number of units of all the other minerals combined. Combined with the fact that a large part of the mining that occurs is concentrated in certain areas the supply of Tritanium is going to be somewhat lower than would be wished for by producers such as me. If one was going to try to change this I think it is more of a case of changing the refining rates of Veldspar or changing the amounts required in production of items than it is changing the other roids.

What is the single largest imbalance in game, and how would you fix it?

Previous the the BlackOps changing I would have said the defensive advantage given by soverignity. Now I am not so sure. In the end it's up to the players to tell me what THEY think the biggest issue is and for me to progress it through to CCP.