Player Interviews: EVE's Garr Earthbander

Garr Earthbender. EVE Pilot. Future Dust Merc. Known Plotter and schemer. Keep reading for his views on the future of EVE/DUST, Why he favors Total War and how to avoid "Fail Fitting."



1. What's the name/race of your EVE character, why did you choose the race you did?
-My character's name is Garr Earthbender, and I chose Amarr as my race. I mainly chose it because of 1 reason. Amarr had lasers. What better to go pew pew with than lasers?!?!

2. How long have you resided in New Eden?

-I've actually been in New Eden for a total of about a year. I've played on and off since early 2009, and I just can't stay away. Ever since DUST 514 was announced, I had to come back. Hopefully this time for good.

3. Do you plan on putting boots on the ground in DUST?

-Abso-friggin-loutly. My roots are old school Battlefield 2 and the Project Reality mod released for it, as well as Bad Company and Chromehounds on the Xbox 360. So I'm a FPS junkie.FPS + persistant 1 server universe of EVE? YES PLEASE!

4. What are some elements you would you love to see in Dust?

-I would love to see an even mix of vehicular combat, infantry combat, and base building. On top of that, a dynamic battlefield that changes according to what has happened to that area in past battles. CCP is known for giving players the option to really customize their ships in the EVE universe. Active tank or buffer tank? Range fit or close in fit? Do you want to fit ECM on your non ECM boat? Do you want to fit all smartbombs on your battleship for epic LOLs? I want that in DUST, but I want to see the differences on the vehicles much more than in EVE. If someone is holding a laser rifle, I want to know it's a laser rifle before he opens fire. I want to know if that tank he's bringing is going to shoot missiles or projectiles at a glance. Also, I want MTACs to be super customizable, like the Hounds were in Chromehounds (everything was modular in that game).

I want the ability to kick the enemy so hard while they're down, they would offer to pay us to stop attacking them. In the harsh wold of New Eden, surrender is all well and fine. I want to make sure that I can not accept the surrender and grief if I want to. That might sound harsh, but then again, so is holding a pod for ransom.

5. What's your opinion of the co-dependent nature of EVE and Dust?

-I think it's a great idea. Sure some people won't be happy because their way of playing will be changed dramatically, but I think that DUST 514 in conjunction with Incarna is going along with CCP making the EVE universe a 1 stop shop for everything Sci-Fi. Is it going to suck when my friendly fleet is destroyed and all of a sudden the enemy has orbital support? Yeah. But the fact that can happen is just AWESOME to me.

6. How do you root out spies/moles in EVE?

-No comment. :)

7. MAG players are a global community, do you think that gives them an advantage in Dust/EVE?

-I would imagine it does. I mean, if a MAG clan comes over that has players from across the globe, they can literally fight 24/7 to achieve their objectives. Also, these guys already know how to fight big battles and already have a chain of command set up because of MAG's leadership tree. I've played MAG a few times where the commander of our side literally knew when his abilities were going to refresh, notified his squad leaders of where to attack next and called in support PERFECTLY ahead of time. Heck, if some of those guys played EVE, I'd love to have em for Fleet Commanders.

8. How will you know if Dust is a success?

-Good question. Sales are 1 way of seeing success, but with a microtransation business model, I'm not sure. I would imagine that DUST will be a success in game if 0.0 corps are putting up contracts for mercs left and right. If it's a failure and not balanced properly, then I would think there would be a big push at first, then .trickle off because DUSTies just aren't worth it to them.

9. What's one piece of advice you would give to a new resident of New Eden?

-Not being the most experienced player myself and having made mistakes already, I would give them this piece of advice. Get good at 1 thing. Then, get good at another thing. Don't jet straight for the biggest and baddest piece of gear out there. Cause odds are it's expensive and you won't be able to use it right. Then you'll get that tank/battleship blown up and not done any good with it. Better to be badass with something small than fail fit something big.

10. What aspect of EVE keeps you coming back for more?

-The fact that you can fight/play how you want. For me, Faction Warfare is awesome. It's a free and persistent war, and allows me to make money on the side with Faction Warfare low sec missions. But other people like to Role Play their characters. So there's a place for them too. Even others like the industrial aspect of it and mine hi sec belts or run a production facility. Then there's the 0.0 corporations that literally do all of that in space that they own and defend. It's a sandbox. Do what you will.

11. Tell me one aspect that CCP would be wise to avoid in Dust.

-3 words. Call of Duty.

12. We recently did a top 10 list of reasons to be excited about EVE, which speaks to you most? http://tinyurl.com/3jdhpqm 6. Total War, Von Clausewitz Style. When I fight in DUST, I envision having my corperaton having a main fighting force on planet X. Then, the corp hires some mercs to fight on the other side of of the enemies space. But they're not just attacking a random planet, they're attacking a planet in a system that has a TON of resources in it. The enemy might ignore it to begin with, but then that system's sovereignty changes hands. Not they're out of some ISK. Sure it might not be the most tactical location, but it's a place that'll hurt their pocketbooks. Just think, a 2 front war, and all you had to do was pay for it.