I love speedrunning. The Games Done Quick broadcasts are some of my favorite things to watch. There’s something satisfying about seeing a game get surmounted at a blindingly fast pace, and while EVE Online’s own little speedrun contest isn’t quite like those GDQ events, it still will be all about getting things done as fast as possible. Specifically, a variety of NPC hunt challenges.
The Skilling Spree race is now underway, offering up three stages worth of challenges for EVE pilots to complete as fast as possible for a chance to win a massive amount of Skill Points. The first week’s challenge: Undock, find, and kill one NPC in the fastest time possible while flying any Tech I, non-faction frigate.
All three stages of the contest will have some basic rules. Timing begins when the black session change screen ends and the player’s ship is in view, and timing ends when the NPC is destroyed. There are four tiers of winners for each race, with first place raking in a hefty 1.5 million Skill Points and honorable mention netting 250,000 Skill Points, so even if you lose, it’s still some pretty substantial prizes all the way down. To enter, you must submit a video starting from within a dock. Better still, players can submit multiple entries, so if you manage to score a faster run and capture the footage you can add it to the hat. You’re going to want to be fast though; according to the official EVE Online Twitter, the average clear time for this week’s challenge is just under 39 seconds.
The contest is just one part of the ongoing Season of Skills happening in EVE, which still has a bonus weekend that’s dishing out free Skill Points for those who login daily between August 23rd and 26th.
