Burn Amarr, the latest iteration of Goonswarm Federation’s annual celebratory orgy of high-sec destruction, has begun. Only a few hours in, the destruction is already hitting double-digit billions of ISK lost, and hundreds of ganking ships destroyed by CONCORD.
Run by the Imperium’s Ministry of Love Special Interest Group, aka Miniluv, Burn Amarr, like its predecessor Burn Jita, is a weekend-long bloodbath that targets traffic in one of the major trade hubs of the game. It is the culmination of a massive logistical effort that takes place well in advance of the actual event. Tens of thousands of gank-ships, usually destroyers and attack battlecruisers, are procured, moved into place, and fully fitted so they can be handed out during the event to any and all pilots taking part. Anti-gankers bring their own forces to bear as best they can, attempting to jam gank-ships once they aggress, provide remote repairs to stricken haulers, and otherwise disrupt the destructive efforts of the attackers as best they can. With the date and target system announced ahead of time, Miniluv can then claim that anyone who loses their ships/goods during the event has no-one to blame but themselves for not taking adequate precautions, or simply delaying their shipment a few days.
This year, confirmation of the event, as well as the date, was widespread across multiple platforms, but many people seemed to have been taken in by earlier stories that Burn Amarr had been cancelled.
Warr Lied…
At 06:58 EVE Time on June 5th, the following ping went out across the Imperium’s Jabber communications platform:
You, you Goon. come here, let an old man share a tragedy with you.
You have been with us many years. you have seen the rise and fall of Karttoon, you have seen Great Wars and MAXes and Fountain Wars and more Fountain Wars and ice interdictions.
You have seen Burn Jita. It is a brilliant flash of content in an otherwise-dull universe. It is what drives many courageous men, women, and otherly identified people to play this game. It lights up the eyes of each and every Goon at its very mention – I know, I can see it in yours right now.
But it is no more. Mourn with me, my son.
Sent by Warr Akini, the broadcast was quickly screencaptured and posted on reddit, where many readers speculated on financial troubles for Miniluv, perhaps stemming from the theft of a quarter-trillion ISK in assets. These speculations were in part fueled by a pastebin, leaked by the thief, soon after the ‘announcement’, and many prominent critics of of Miniluv and its parent organization were quick to seize upon it.
However, the announcement itself was, as other reddit commenters speculated, misdirection that covered the actual announcement for the Imperium of the event’s date. The forum post linked in the broadcast opened with the line, “Yo, I’m just kidding. We’re clearly blowing shit up.”
… Haulers Died
Now that the day of the event has come, the truth of the matter is blatantly obvious to all. Already, the combined total losses exceed 20b ISK in less than 4 hours of early ganking. As freight travel increases with players getting home for the weekend, the pace of destruction is only expected to grow. Whether Burn Amarr’s final total rival the 580b+ of Burn Jita 2014, or even the 518b ISK lost in the original Burn Jita remains to be seen.
What can be stated as unequivocal facts, however, are that this wall of destroyed catalysts will continue to grow by leaps and bounds, and that even ahead of the expected Drifter Invasion, Warr has come to Amarr.
