47 replies to this topic

[Zargyl]

Hi there! Thank you all for the nice evening yesterday! Especially to Tea who did a great job and nicely meshed the informative with the easy-going to build up a friendly environment. I had to go off a bit earlier and sadly missed the carrier/Avatar part of the roam but had quite an interesting first visit to 0.0 with you and felt quite safe thankx to the experienced Agony pilots helping. So thank you for that as well! Would like to see that fraps video glepp btw :shy: Kind regards! Zargyl

[Cauldron Marr]

My being in one of those classes was a long time coming, I have been trying to get time for close to a year, and I was not disappointed! Teadaze did a great job with the practical explaining all the mods, I learned several important things I had never even thought about. Caldak is an amazing FC and for the most part the class stayed together and followed orders =) I have seen a few titans but ending the roam by taking out a few goons was my high point of the roam .

[hackzor nstuff]

best fun i have had in EvE so far i will be signing up for more classes as soon the tournament is over :amazed:

[Scrivet]

Adding my 0.02 isk to all of the praise: the PvP Basic class was a fantastic experience! I had heard great things about it beforehand, so I had high expectations going in. The Agony team delivered on that and more. I will definitely come back as an alumnus for more Basic roams, and I eagerly await the Wolfpacks class. Things I liked: * Specific tactical tips: Between the pre-class assignments and other guides I had read, much of the general theory presented in the lecture (e.g. tracking mechanics) was review to me. A review is good, but not especially exciting. However, TeaDaze also gave us a lot of nuggets of wisdom about what to do (or not do) in specific situations (e.g. scanning for things at gates, typical FC orders). These were the things that really made the lecture nice for me. * The roam: What can I say? Eye-opening, pulse-pounding, informative. Caldak did an amazing job as FC and the rest of the Agony support team (recon/scouts, skirmishers, etc.) made this an unforgettable event. I didn't realize beforehand the depth of organization that goes into an operation like this, and I was glad to participate as a small cog in the machine. I've never done anything like that in Eve, and I can't wait to do it again. Things I didn't like (as much as the rest): * Getting separated/falling behind: This was all on me, so it's not a criticism of the class, just something for new students to be careful about. Once, I got distracted adjusting Vent settings and fell behind a system or so during the roam. It was hard to locate the fleet was and get myself to them (especially while worrying about getting blown up en route). Similarly, I warped away during an early battle because I was taking damage. The fleet moved on, and it was a little tricky catching up. On the bright side, I kept with the fleet much better after those initial missteps. (Nothing like a little panic to make you pay attention.) Some confusion is bound to happen when the FC is trying to herd 50+ complete strangers through null-sec, but students should do their best to minimize it. Try to stay focused so you don't get lost and, if you do, listen carefully for the destination and use fleet channel to figure out how to rejoin the gang. * Getting blown up: Of course, it's going to happen, and a big benefit of the class is simply getting PvP-novices past some of their anxiety about it. That said, I want to learn how to minimize my losses. I had two ship losses last night. First, going down to an Avatar's doomsday; not much anyone in a frigate can do about that. Second, losing a ship in the last battle against the Goons. The main thing I missed there was to warp out immediately once I start taking damage. Lesson learned (I hope), so that I'll do better next time. Again, I don't think of those as problems with the class, just the lessons I learned (which is the point of taking a class, I think). Many thanks to Agony for all the fun!

[Skrewed]

I'll take blame for the class not being in Nonni. I realized a day or two after teg posted it originally that it would probably change and set it to "TBA" and then updated it about a week before the class. Sorry for the confusion. You all were a great class and you can say that you have now lost a ship to a titan (we'll most of can). We will be doing a wolfpacks class around the first of October, you'll be absolutely amazed at what a destroyer fleet can do (think a fleet the same size with 3x the dps). To those of you that had issues keeping up, don't give up. In later classes we start talking about "situational awareness" and honestly, I think it starts in exactly this situation--trying to figure out what to do when it's not 100% clear. Caldak is actually good about giving people a chance to catch-up, repair etc, my first 0.0 fleet in a large alliance and I wound up in a fleet of over 400 in an interceptor that was just one of 50 in the fleet. It was kind of a harsh reality that the FC didn't give a crap about you as a pilot, even my wing commander over the interceptors didn't care, it's about executing and getting results. I'd also say that you all did a better job that most classes of realizing you were going to go down and warping to a planet or celestial. Believe it or not, that's an great first step, if you go down, you are of zero use to the fleet, learning how to protect yourself and get out gives you the opportunity to get back in, particularly in a fleet out size (even though I'd say this is even more critical in smaller fleets).

[Vora]

What an EPIC roam again! After being starved for targets in the north Teonosude seems to be the right place now. CoW next door is a very fitting opponent who "brings it", a good change after hunting panicked ratters in Fade. The theory part was flawless and compelling. You wouldn't think that this was Tea's first time, he sounded more like a seasoned instructor IMO (as an alumnus I have attended, more or less, five BASIC classes). The speed, the amount of information, the interactions with the students... right on spot, IMHO. I'm eager to listen to Tea's reports during the tournament. The roam... oh, the roam! When Caldak is FC one thing is sure: you get around in New Eden... Wildlands, Etherium, Insmother, Scalding... this crazy Boer is unstoppable !lol The first part was the fight against CoW the highlight being the DD of the Avatar (I was actually delightet... my first DD lossmail :amazed: ). More important, those guys brought it.... fights on both sides of the gate, pursuit, attack, retreat, attack.... awesome... they're not afraid of our Cloud of FrigDoom. They are definitely a different breed than MH/IRON. Hopefully they're here to stay. And thanks a lot for the frig in N-D <3. The second part consisted of searching for other targets which then culminated in a 24 jump run-up to a Goon camp in D-I. Killing a Goon BS in T1 frigs kinda gave a warm and fuzzy belly feeling... why? !lol Even the Goons, obviously bored to death with camping Intrepid Crossing's home station, abstained from their infamous smack and put a lot of thanks in the local (can Goons actually mature??????). Anyway, a great fight, and the second attack run with only a fraction of the fleet showed that Caldak is the right stuff... The third and final part was the sneaking out of our decimated fleet, i.e. our pods. Suiciding the pod is no option for me, not because I'm cheap (I am!) but because of principle... I want to finish a roam where it started. So a big thank you to Darkwind, Dogfire and all the others... you saved me two days of hide and seek around downtime (ok,ok, I really AM cheap). The debriefing in the vent lounge was very informative, keep that up. I even promise to replace my broken mic for the next time (did I mentiion that I'm cheap?). Here some humble suggestions of an alumnus: 1. Especially during long roams you should reorganize the fleet from time to time. Many students get disconnected or have to log for Pillow Guard, so after a few hours you have 10 half filled squads in two wings. Fill up the squads of the first wing every two hours or so, so that the FC has always 4-5 complete battle-ready squads at his disposal. 2. It's a shame that a lot of missing killmails do not reflect how great the fight against CoW was. That's because the topic killboard came up late during the roam when a lot of students had already logged, some without even knowing of it's existence IMO. Add a short introduction of the killboard to the end of the BASIC curriculum. Let them post erroneous killmails to the feedback thread which you can delete later.... the easier it is for the students the more valid killmails you get In conclusion... Thanks to AGONY and all participants, I'm looking forward to the Advanced roam on the 25th and don't know how to survive two months of my EVE life without the weekly Agony roams.

[glepp]

Ok, i FRAPSed a little last night and compiled it today for your viewing pleasure.
The quality is half resolution as that's all my comp can manage while fighting, but it should be understandable what's going on.
Watching it again, i see so many mistakes on my part that it's embarrasing (forgetting afterburners for one, and including biomass on my overview wasn't too bright either), but in my defense, it was five in the morning for the last fights.
It's in reverse chronological order as i wanted the Titan last. You can't actually see the doomsday as i had effects off, but watch the overview to get an idea of what happens....

Enjoy

Filefront Download

[Leandro Bola]

Some ppl pointed out that maybe teadaze spoke a bit fast =P I thought that too (mainly because english isnt the language I speak most). But that was manageable =] One thing I had problem during the roaming was when we went fight CoW and they didnt show up on my overview nor in my screen. And it was strange after changing something here and there (I marked overview to show every kind of things =P) I saw one of them as blue to me, the other red or grey o0. As it was in the middle of the fight I wasnt able to ask for help, but I managed that the best I could. If later someone can explain why did that happened I'd like a lot =]

[Ripard Teg]

I've got the Vent recordings (all 11 and a quarter hours of them.) I'll get someone to snip it down and then see about adding it to the FRAPS video.

[glepp]

I've got the Vent recordings (all 11 and a quarter hours of them.) I'll get someone to snip it down and then see about adding it to the FRAPS video.

Or you can just upload the relevant parts to a server and PM me a link.

[Pesets]

Some ppl pointed out that maybe teadaze spoke a bit fast =P I thought that too (mainly because english isnt the language I speak most). But that was manageable =]
One thing I had problem during the roaming was when we went fight CoW and they didnt show up on my overview nor in my screen. And it was strange after changing something here and there (I marked overview to show every kind of things =P) I saw one of them as blue to me, the other red or grey o0.
As it was in the middle of the fight I wasnt able to ask for help, but I managed that the best I could. If later someone can explain why did that happened I'd like a lot =]

Most likely you messed with your overview settings and set it to filter out neutrals. During the fight, you can try loading the default overview settings if you discover that your current settings are fubar...

[Ma Ch'ao]

Probably the best thing I have ever done was sign up for an Agony Unleashed PvP Basic course. What is probably even better is that they allow you to come back for free, as an alumnus! At first I would like to thank TeaDaze, and wish I could have stayed for the whole theory part of the course. However, I got off work late due to a mechanical in the airline industry, and only caught the last two hours before the roam. What I did hear was definately worth listening to again, and I thought he touched a few points better than previous instructors that I heard. Thank you TeaDaze for your time and patience with us, and I would love to take more of your classes. The titan interaction was absolutely noteworthy, especially the amount of destruction they caused their own ships in order to destroy us. My first PvP Basic Class someone had mention that Caldak was FCing once again, and has been quickly becoming known for his 'epic roams'. He does not disappoint, nor has he ever. I would especially like to point out that Caldak has 'balls of solid rock' to take a group of around fifty frigates against CoW who were sporting capital ships that cost 10-100x more than the fleet we were running. It was especially refreshing that he was preparing tactics to actually take down a Titan, instead of retreating which most corporations I have dealt with would have done. Thank you so much for yet another enjoyable experience. It was worth my 200k-300k I paid for my ship to see the doomsday device, a first for me. Caldak for President!

[Pesets]

I had two ship losses last night. First, going down to an Avatar's doomsday; not much anyone in a frigate can do about that...

Frigates are in fact best suited to escaping doomsdays. It takes some time for the doomsday to "warm up" before it actually strikes (about 15 seconds i heard), so a frigate might have a chance to escape if you start to gtfo as soon as you see a Titan on grid (there are only four of them, Avatar, Erebus, Leviathan and Ragnarok). Ironically, i escaped the doomsday but died to the smarbombing Typhoon earlier in the roam because i forgot to reset my orbiting range above 20k (i was in a Griffin and had absolutely no reason to die to a smartbomb, also was the only one who died to it. So embarrasing... :shy:). In retrospect, it might've been worth it staying there just to see what a doomsday actually looks like... well, i might have a second chance at that on the next class

[Sar Hasarin]

Agony Guys let me just say thanks for a great effort and a great adventure. You guys are the definition of a professional organization. One of the best lessons from last night was "The Return of the Pod Fleet". For those that missed it, it was one of the best examples of teamwork and skill I have seen - anywhere, any situation. Thanks guys I learned a lot just listening to you guys solve the problem. Next time!! Regards Sar Hasarin

[Leandro Bola]

Hehe was checking the class killboard, if u see all cult of war losses, taking the isk damage the killboard shows they lost 1 bil to our frig + the scouting gang ^^ bad for them =p

[NewbiWan Kenobi]

After playing EVE on and off for a year of so, I still learnt a few new things during the tutorial. Hats off to TeaDaze for provide clear instructions and practical advice. The roam was truly an Epic – my first time in null sec (always a low sec fighter up to now) and was impressed at the fleet organisation and control. Caldak was awesome – cool, calm and in control of the fleet. It was impressive to watch 70 ships jump/warp and attack in an organise manner. A special thanks for the recons (I know how hard that skill can be – and much under appreciated). Attacking the Titan fleet and the attack, re-attack of the Goon fleet taught me valuable lessons regarding the co-ordination and superior ships does not always mean the outcome is certain. Truly a great night/morning out. My only comment would be – it would be great to have some European friendly roam times, I didn’t get to bed until gone 04:00 local – and missed the great pod migration home (I managed to lose my pod on Sunday to a bubbled gate camp!). That said these courses are going to become mandatory for our corp, and I caught while to sign up for the next Wolfpacks course (post tournament). Have fun – and I do want to join one of roams in the future. (P.S. Sorry for posting this orginally as a new thread - hit the wrong button!)

[Sanpaku Deska]

Another superb job by AU!

Tea -- great job on the classroom! Caldak excelelnt work on the roam. So sorry I had to quit early (level IV wife alert!). Bravo zulu!

Sanpaku - Sanpaku Deska (SAMX)

BASIC - 1403091800
WOLFPACKS-2103091800
ADVANCED-0404091800
COV-OPS 1804090001

[Tea]

Thanks for all the comments, I will try to keep an eye on how fast I talk in future. Believe it or not I am even worse normally

[TokageChan]

Many thanks to Tea and Caldak for an excellent course. Well thought out, lucid and informative. It was very enlightening to see how experts plan and conduct a roam. The skilled work of the recons and skirmishers was amazing, as was how quickly the FC was able to pull it all together and get our noob fleet dancing to his tune. I look forward to the next wolfpacks course. I'll definitely be back for more.

[Zargyl]

Thank you Glepp for that cool video of yours!! :amazed:

Now I also have a blog post about the course btw :shy:

[Silas]

Thank you Glepp for that cool video of yours!! :amazed:

Now I also have a blog post about the course btw :shy:

Nice little blog post right there...

[Zargyl]

Nice little blog post right there...

Thank you Silas! 8)
I am only sorry I haven't gotten any better screenshots off. I guess I was too excited to do them this time around though (first time that happend to curious and normally happily screenshooting me) :shy:

[Talr Shiar]

I'll take blame for the class not being in Nonni. I realized a day or two after teg posted it originally that it would probably change and set it to "TBA" and then updated it about a week before the class. Sorry for the confusion.

You all were a great class and you can say that you have now lost a ship to a titan (we'll most of can). We will be doing a wolfpacks class around the first of October, you'll be absolutely amazed at what a destroyer fleet can do (think a fleet the same size with 3x the dps).

To those of you that had issues keeping up, don't give up. In later classes we start talking about "situational awareness" and honestly, I think it starts in exactly this situation--trying to figure out what to do when it's not 100% clear. Caldak is actually good about giving people a chance to catch-up, repair etc, my first 0.0 fleet in a large alliance and I wound up in a fleet of over 400 in an interceptor that was just one of 50 in the fleet. It was kind of a harsh reality that the FC didn't give a crap about you as a pilot, even my wing commander over the interceptors didn't care, it's about executing and getting results.

I'd also say that you all did a better job that most classes of realizing you were going to go down and warping to a planet or celestial. Believe it or not, that's an great first step, if you go down, you are of zero use to the fleet, learning how to protect yourself and get out gives you the opportunity to get back in, particularly in a fleet out size (even though I'd say this is even more critical in smaller fleets).

I can't wait there Boss, already have everything trained for the class just waiting for it to be posted