My first pvp related adrenaline rush happened back in 2004 on my first character; a caldari toon. I had finished running enough l2s in my cormorant to buy a moa. Damn I was excited to fly that slow, asymmetrically ugly hunk of tritanium. I made may way to low-sec. No gate camp, hooray!
I start to warp around to belts, find some npc rats @ 60 km. Burning toward them with my AB; I don’t have the required skills for a MWD yet. I’ve burned about 15km, a typhoon shows up on grid, about 40 km off of me. 4 seconds later, he is 20 km away, disrupting me, shooting torpedoes at me… all while orbiting at around 5,000 m/sec (stacking penalties on modules had yet to be implemented). Seeing as I was toast, I picked my out-gate and started spamming warp once I hit structure. Didn’t get a “gf” (I don’t think the sentiment existed in eve yet); just what I assumed to be smack talk, since I don’t speak russian. Made it back to my home station. Got back into my cormorant…
Fast forward to 2006; I’ve had Nikea Tiber cooking skills for about 8 months (RIP learning skills). I’m flying battlecruisers- though I’ve got the capital for a BS I’m not buying one yet. I’ve got my harbinger fitted; I’m tired of running L3s. I’ve ratted in provi using a retribution (which only had one mid at the time), and realized how much more isk I could make ratting in null. At the time, Stain was practically uninhabited. Sanshas rats die quickly to lasers, so I decided that I’d go there and just stay undocked for a few months since running out of ammo is impossible when you use tech 1 crystals. I’ve got my harbinger fit as well as my skills allow; 6 meta 4 heavy pulse (one unfit turret slot left), 2 medium NOS (at the time, would drain regardless of cap amount; like the blood raider nos hull bonus), an AB, web, five slot active tank, heatsinks. As I recall, rigs didn’t exist yet.
On my jump from lowsec to null, I hit a gate camp. There is some jubilation in local, apparently they have been waiting here for a while. There are scattered jetcans, luckily I don’t get decloaked. I check my overview. There is a flycatcher (which launches his bubble within a few seconds of gate activation), a stiletto, ares, enyo, jaguar, two rifters, an an incursus. The flycatcher is burning vaguely towards me; I target a celestial it seems to be headed towards, align, and activate my hardeners, prime my web and high slots, and start to target hostiles. I’m webbed and pointed almost immediately; though it is academic as we are all pretty well encapsulated by the warp disruption probe.
The stiletto and flycatcher finish locking first; the stiletto was burning directly towards me, takes a few volleys, explodes. I turn my attention to the flycatcher (worth about 4x the isk of my harby at the time), web it, kill it… I’m elated. My shields are just about gone; activate my rep. I’m worried about this enyo that is just about on top of me- web it, nos it… shoot it. I can tell my nos is working to cap these frigates out; once they lose velocity it is over for them. My reps are catching (only T2 module on my ship), though they are very slowly being overwhelmed. The enyo explodes and my reps seem to be outpacing the incoming damage. The incursus and a rifter explode; the jag has exited the bubble and warped off, I blow the ares up just before it gets out of the bubble. The last rifter successfully makes its escape. I finish cruising out of the bubble; my armor is almost back to 100% I’ve got the post combat shakes so bad I can barely type to reply to “holy ■■■■… gf” and "dude. that tank, though"
I tell them that I haven’t got a warp disruptor, and that their 'dictor pilot is the real MVP.
I continue out into Stain, and stay out there belt ratting, dodging roaming gangs, and making a nice network of safe spots. I finally get killed by two vagabonds and a huginn. I let them pod me since I don’t know about self destruct yet. It is the first time I’ve been in a station in over 6 months. I’m ready to buy my first BS; but as it turns out, I don’t have to. That’s a story for another time, though.