After almost two years in EVE, I joined a Player Corporation last summer. Aurora Security (A.SEC) was (at the time) in Faction War on the side of Gallente. Within days of joining they left FW, with frustration of the blobs and problems with FW that have been well documented elsewhere. For a short period we were just a LoSec based corp, doing some wormholes, L4/L5 missions as a corp, a variety of industry, and some plexing. We lived under NBSI in our world, which meant we had targets all the time. A.SEC was my first real introduction to what EVE is meant to be. A group of players across the world working together and for them the game was all about fun. I learned how to fly safely in losec and 0.0 courtesy of Mr. Teu (retired). I learned about scouting roams, fitting long-range versus short-range, gank vs. tank, how to escape a gate camp (or at least have a chance). I moved to 0.0 with A.SEC, was introduced to bubbles, POS bashing (which I still can't do well), hot drops and bomber squads.
A.SEC fluctuated between 6-10 active members in my timezone in the early days. We fielded our own gangs for roams, we had groups to hassle invaders in our space (pre-Dominion), players who were new and old. An unfortunate turn of events led us to a rapid move from our first 0.0 home, which left several players with their entire hangar stranded in enemy territory. This happened to coincide with a few very active folks getting burnout and we went from having a steady 6-10 players online anytime to 4-5. We settled into our new alliance quickly though, and were able to contribute effectively and were recognized as a good addition. Life with Art of Defiance (-FFS-) was more interesting for A.SEC - this was a true PvP alliance, on roams, camps, ops daily, if not daily for each major TZ. FFS was made up (mostly) of experienced players - folks who had been playing for 2+ years. This was good and bad - lots of experience but lots of folks on the edge of burnout. During a particularly difficult stretch we had a new neighbor arrive in the form of Dead Terrorists (IKILU). After some preliminary shooting at each other, FFS and DT formed a NAP with the intent to drive Vanguard. out of their current residence. That worked well, with Vanguard departing within a couple months. However, FFS was seeing lower and lower participation, with the onset of holidays, new games, and just general burnout, and recruiting was not easy. A.SEC was suffering the same path of the alliance, but with optimism we moved forward, and FFS corps merged into DT.
A.SEC continued to struggle with recruiting and activity, and since DT is an aggressive PvP alliance, there were concerns all around about losing our access to 0.0 and the fun combat we love due to inactivity. It was decided to merge our PvP toons into a sister-corp from FFS that was also part of DT - Royal Enterprise (RENT). So, with much chagrin, I logged into EVE and dropped roles from A.SEC. First note: when you drop roles you lose access to everything - corp hangars, POS hangars, everything. Fortunately I was clear of assets in corp hangars, but if I'd realized that I would have waited a couple of days to help move assets about. The other part of this is that you can apply to a new corp as soon as you drop roles - and after the 24-hour cool down you can be accepted and just move from one corp to the other directly.
I will miss my time with A.SEC - although many of the other PvP pilots are joining me in RENT - it was my first true home in EVE, and the players I worked with impressed me with their willingness to educate and their great attitudes. With regret, I say goodbye to the house I grew up in - Aurora Security may you survive, thrive and grow through this tough time.
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