“…It can’t be carried by two people and someone is going to have to assume full responsibility… I truly believe that the organization can survive and flourish again, but it will require a lot more people to contribute.” -ShenanigansBus in his interview with TMC
RVB AWAKENS
On October 28, news came of the imminent shutdown of formal operations for Red vs Blue. RvB is a coalition that formed in 2009 for the love of player-versus-player combat. The two alliances, who permanently wardec each other, set up pre-made PvP encounters for their players and have very strict rules that govern their fights. I personally had one of my characters in RvB a few years back, and much like many of their members, enjoyed the non-stop PvP action. In RvB, you don’t always have to be in a fleet to fight, as both sides harass each other constantly in neighboring systems. The best part about the coalition is that any veteran or new player can participate in the fights, providing a great opportunity to learn how to participate in fleet PvP, and follow fleet commanders effectively.
With the sad news just behind us, it seems that a few members of RvB took ShenanigansBus’ words to heart and surprisingly, activity from the alliances appears to be on the increase. The drums of war beat in the background, and capsuleers are slipping back into their pods and arming their ships. A number of RvB veterans have taken charge, and are reclaiming the glory of the warring alliances. Lady Ayeipsia (RvB VP), Vision Thing Achasse (RED CEO) and Jasper Sinclair (BLUE CEO) were given credit for the reformation of the coalition.
Lady Ayeipsia, the VP of RED Federation stated, “A few of us remaining souls are still trying to hold it together and see what we can pick up/keep. We are hoping to keep RvB going in a lean format focused on quick, simple, fun PvP.”
STATISTICS: ITS ALL RELATIVE
Although the coalition looks like it is on the rise again, the PVP statistics are still not holding up. This may be due to a general decrease in EVE Online subscribers, but so far, RvB is far from what it used to be in terms of kills. The chart below shows this year’s activity from RED Federation compared to 2012-2014. So far, this years activity is less than half of the three year average. Also note that this year’s kills ranged from 3,600-8,800 each month up until the shutdown announcement was made. Since then, the number of kills has dropped significantly compared to this year’s average.
LOOKING FORWARD
Although, the current activity rate of RvB is low compared to the three-year average, the new and revived leadership have promised to press on with war and provide the pilots of EVE with a controlled and unique PvP experience.
EVE subscriptions and activity tend to increase in the winter as folks come home for the holidays on leave, vacation, or winter breaks from school. Will RvB get back to killing over 10,000 ships a month? Probably not. However, with the light at the end of the tunnel becoming more bright, we may just see this shining community be reborn into something greater. RvB are back at recruiting pilots at all levels of ability, and will be happy to accept any applications.
TMC has reached out to the three individuals mentioned above, and will update the article as information becomes available.
This article originally appeared on TheMittani.com, written by Lemba.
