Wypowiedź jednego z instruktorow EVE university.
I recently took the Dec 6, 2008 PvP-Basic course (BASIC - 0612082100), and posted a review of it on my corp's website (I am a member of Eve University), and decided to post a copy of it here also, mostly unedited.
Usual disclaimer, I am not an officer in E-Uni, this is not an official statement or endorsement by them, simply my opinions. So here is a review of the course from a student's perspective:
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Well, I told someone I was going to review the AU PvP-Basic class, then forgot - wups. So here it is. Warning, incoming Wall of Text:
As background: Agony Unleashed is a pure PvP corporation:
http://www.agony-unleashed.com/news.php
They periodically offer classes to non-members (for a Fee):
PvP-Basic (30 students/8 hours)
PvP-Wolfpack (destroyer packs)
PvP-Covops (which I'm still waiting for
PvP-Advanced
The PvP-Basic is usually 7M isk, and also usually fills up within hours of being announced... I have missed several being a few hours late However, they did a Christmas special with 100 students for 3M Isk recently, which they described as ‘experimental’, and a test of CCP’s new Stackless IO
First, the downsides -The course started in the middle of nowhere, Berta this time, instead of the previous Nonni. Nonni is close to Jita, easier to get ships to than Berta. Ah well... Plus, it’s a fairly major time and cash commitment. Finally, they don't offer *enough* classes But they're working on it.
Before I discuss the (considerable) benefits of the course, I want to add a disclaimer that nothing in this review, should be considered a criticism of my corp, E-Uni's PvP classes . The Uni has good classes and teachers, and lots of good information in their forums. However, PvP is *all* that Agony Unleashed does, and they're very good at it - and teaching it.
After paying/being accepted into the course, a week before the class, they give students access to their PvP-Basic Wiki, which contains an extensive set of articles in one location, including:
Basic PvP Mechanics
Bubbles and Warping
Configuring the Eve client for PvP
Frigate Fleet Fitting: using the Hydra Principle
Getting Maximum PvP Value from your skill training
Introduction to Bookmarks in Eve
Overview Setup
PvP Comms 101
PvP-Basic Preparation Checklist
Recommended Modules for Basic
Your Clone and Your Pod
The articles have many pages of information, which, printed out, gave me plenty to read during the 30-jump alt-hauling of five frigates to Berta... And they make it clear that the student is expected to read and be familiar with all of it, *before* class starts. The class was intensive, and despite having nearly 100 students, generally moved at a good pace. Since it was 8+ hours, there were frequent docking bio breaks, fortunately.
The first half was roughly 3-3.5 hours of theory/practice in highsec, and the next 4+ hours was nullsec operations. We started with all the basics - fleet composition, why take all the specific modules in the recommendations, etc. As might be obvious from the name Hydra Principle, they use similar tactics to the Uni - large combined-arms fleets with a mix of EWar/tackling/dps. Their materials are copyrighted, but I don’t think they’d mind me quoting this paragraph as an example of their approach to fleets:
“A frigate fleet is not simply a blob of people in frigates. Blobs are disorganized, often poorly fitted mess of ships that rely on sheer numbers to win. The tech one frigate fleet, properly configured, would utterly destroy a frigate blob of the same size. Agony Unleashed has proven this to be the case a number of times in our classes (by students such as yourself. The key to learning how to build a fleet and not a blob is to study the configuration of a frigate fleet. This article will teach you how to take a blob of frigates and turn them into a lethal force that can absolutely crush much larger ships.”
Then on to forming a fleet, moving, aligning, voice comms, etc. Running exercises such as finding the optimal orbit size, with/without an AB active, and Spiral-approaching a larger ship. Basically, rather than running a frigate straight at a battleship, with zero traversal angle, you aim at a 45 degree angle, AB in, and continually spiral in. The designated target checked our angle in his overview, to give feedback on how close we were to the correct angle. That's how most lessons were, a mix of lecture covering the theory - how you do something, *why* you do it, then practicing it, with feedback from the instructors.
The second half, it was off to explore strange new star systems, meet new people - and shoot them... As they made clear, the fleet was going to keep moving until it found targets, even if we all cloned home And we did find many targets, I think the KB had 19 kills [updated, I was told many more]. Unfortunately most of them were 1-3 ships, we never found a large fleet, but a kill's a kill... After 4+ hours, they had circled back to Berta, and docked up. I think they setup an in-fleet combat after that, red versus blue, but I had to leave at that point – it was a long 8 hours.
Overall, the class was excellent. There was a lot of information to absorb, then put into practice, and it went extremely well, especially considering they had never had that many students before (a few glitches due to size/Ventrillo limitations, but they said it was experimental
The PvP-Basic course was intended to instill the core PvPs skills quickly, *and* form a framework for more advanced classes and training, and it accomplished that very well. I was happy with it at the Xmas price of 3M, but it would have been worth 7M easily - it was time well spent.
Three things I really liked about it - first, the Wiki format for articles. Everything related to the PvP-Basic class was in one spot.
Second, the fact that it *was* text articles. Many resources on the net are MP3s or video. Which is good, but personally, I simply prefer *text* - I read fast, and text is easier to scan through, back up, re-read, underline, make a checklist of required mods, etc... And the text went into a high level of detail, with several pages explaining things like Signature Radius and every factor that affects it.
Third, the class was focussed, and moved fast. Not that we didn't have the occasional screwup, (clicking 'warp to' when the instructor said 'align to', etc). But in general, the students took it seriously. Now, I'm not saying that students in my corp's class aren't serious - much I think part of it is that the Uni is a more relaxed atmosphere than AU. Plus the AU situation was very different. In the AU class, people have paid a lot of *money* for the class, and spent lots of time hauling ships a long way, and read a dozen articles of prep material. Basically, we put in a huge up-front commitment to the class, and wanted to get our money's worth So there is a different psychology on the part of the students, and different expectations in the AU class from both students and teachers.
The bottom line is, the AU instructors are obviously professional PvPers, they know the material, and have the skill to transmit it to a big bunch of newbies. If you have the time and cash, this course is highly recommended. I am definitely planning on taking their other courses, especially Covops (hint, hint...)
Sen Gyounen (E-Uni Freshman once again)
"For all your days, prepare, and meet them ever alike;
When you are the anvil, bear - when the hammer, strike."
Zródło : http://www.agony-unleashed.com/e107_plu ... php?104994
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