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Too late to start EVE?
Lann555
Member Posts: 12
in EVE Online
I recently quit my WoW-account, when it suddenly hit me how much the game sucked and how I actually didn't enjoy playing it. However, this leaves quite a few hours of free-time and Im looking for some new MMORPG action.
Now there are some good MMO's coming out next year, but I need something to fill the time till then.
I checked out EVE and it seems exetremely interesting. Love the freedom and player-driven economy. However, the game has been out for quite a while now and I wonder if it's gonne be a good idea to start so late. Will I be hopelessy behind the whole universe and always be a sitting duck? Will it be hard to find others to play with as a newbie? For me an MMO is mainly about playing with others and starting a game so late can sometimes make that diffucult. Either people don't care for newbies or you get stuck with the true idiots.
Well...hope anyone can give me some advice. I guess my only alternative is perhaps trying out Guildwars till the next wave of MMO hit the market.
Regards
Lann
Now there are some good MMO's coming out next year, but I need something to fill the time till then.
I checked out EVE and it seems exetremely interesting. Love the freedom and player-driven economy. However, the game has been out for quite a while now and I wonder if it's gonne be a good idea to start so late. Will I be hopelessy behind the whole universe and always be a sitting duck? Will it be hard to find others to play with as a newbie? For me an MMO is mainly about playing with others and starting a game so late can sometimes make that diffucult. Either people don't care for newbies or you get stuck with the true idiots.
Well...hope anyone can give me some advice. I guess my only alternative is perhaps trying out Guildwars till the next wave of MMO hit the market.
Regards
Lann
Comments
Never too late to start. For example there is a huge alliance in eve called GoonSwarm that consist of mainly newer players (but with experienced leadership) that are currently helping to swing the tide in one of the major wars in the south (Red Alliance vs Lotka Volterra and friends).
There is also Eve University that is a player made organization that is setup to help new players learn the ropes and many established pvp corps either recruit a limited number of noobs or have an academy sister corp which they use to teach newer players how to pvp so they might become good potential members later.
"Memories are meant to fade. They're designed that way for a reason."
You're going to be behind greatly in skill points, but don't let ppl tell you that skill points mean jack. Yeah, you need a decent amount (2-4mil SP) to become fairly good at combat, but as long as you specialize you are par with the best of them in just a couple months.
My suggestion: Research the game. Find something that will look interesting to you, get EVE Mon, plan out your skills, and don't deviate from that skill plan.
A good place to start is shooting for a Battleship.
Find what you need to fit on the Battleship.
Train those skills to use those items + the skills for the battleship and keep in that path. Along the way new ships and items will open up for you to have fun while you're building up to your battleship. (You might have to deviate from your plan and train for a Cruiser, but Cruiser 1-3 is a pretty short train)
EVE is based on strategy and teamwork. Think about it this way:
How many LvL 5s do you think it would take to bring down a lvl 60 in WoW? Hundreds? Thousands maybe?
In EVE a group of 5 or 6 people in well designed Frigates can take down a T2 Cruiser without a problem. A couple may die along the way, but the fact is that T2 Cruiser is going down. The T2 Cruiser itself is probably worth 5-10 times more than all the ships in the Frigate Fleet put together, not including the mods the T2 Cruiser has fitted.
I do quite well in EVE and I only have 4.5mil Skill Points which breaks down into about 4.5 months playing. But, not only that... alot of my skills are n00b'd out.... meaning they don't effect what I fly one bit. Because as a newbie I wasn't sure what I wanted to do.
108,000 Skill Points in Industry for example. I will NEVER use those skill points again. Those are there because at first I thought I enjoyed mining, but I really didn't.
I also have 1,370,963 Skill Points in Learning. Learning skills effect the time it takes to train new skills and are very important, but at my skill point level right now they aren't worth a whole lot. I trained those because I knew I would like the game in the long run.
So, just right there 1/3 of my skill points don't directly effect me in what I do now... what-so-ever. But I still do quite well in combat and take down players with ALOT more skill points than me all the time. Mainly because I'm in a combat savy corp who has taught me alot. That 1/3 also doesn't include misc. skills in other Genres that I don't need.
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Its never too late to start playing EVE. It is a VERY depthful and complex game so it may be challenging/confusing at first and the most fun aspects to most (PVP) are not shown to you at first. EVE isn't a game that will hold your hand telling you what you should do when and where. Rather, its more like a big sandbox for you to explore and make what you will of it. Those expecting a sandcastle to be built for them will quickly find EVE boring. But those willing to try to build that castle themselves (to entertain themselves) will find EVE very rewarding and satisfying especially in player corps. Not all player corps are good. Some are well organized, some aren't. Some have new player friendly people, some don't. Some focus their efforts on aspects that may or may not seem fun to you. However, if you join a player corp you don't like, you can always leave and look for another.
Some people have mentioned the corp EVE University and the Alliance Goonswarm. From what I've seen, a lot of people have recommended EVE University as a starting place for newbies so you might look into joining them as they teach new players the general aspects of EVE from game mechanics to minining, missioning, ect.
Goonswarm I would advise you NOT to join. The reason being is that Goonswarm does NOT train their pilots. They'll throw them a cruiser and maybe some money to start with and give you a designated chat channel where you may talk with a fraction of other goon members put in that channel as they are too large for one channel. In essence, you just become a number in their big alliance.
Getting back to the training part, I've killed many goons and 99% of them make the same stupid mistakes over and over again that no good pvper should make in 0.0. Its so bad to the extent that goon pilots on average seem like the middle grounds between npcs and players when it comes to fighting. What you have in goonswarm is an inner circle of good pvpers that know what they're doing who basically surround themselves with a wall of other players (most new) that don't really know what they're doing and that act both as cannon fodder and as a shield as they get gang warped from place to place just shooting anything that appears on overview without understanding the strategy and dynamics of pvp.
If you want to learn the ins and outs of pvp, the dynamics and tactics of pvp, then I'd recommend you take a look at www.agony-unleashed.com. They teach classes open to the public that do a VERY good job at introducing new players and new pvpers to pvp while explaining a wealth of knowledge, building confidence, and showing their students a fun time while their at it. I've taken all the classes they've offered and its always been a blast and the best use of my money.
Btw, Battleships are not the be all end all of pvp. No ship class is really. They all have their own roles. Some 3 year old players fly battleships while others fly frigates and others fly cruisers so it depends on which style of flying you prefer that you should focus your training towards. I would say though to train up your core skills:
Engineering
Electronics
Navigation
Mechanic
as they will help you no matter what ship you're flying. Once you've decided to focus on a ship type to fly, you'll know whether or not you need to focus your skill training in:
Gunnery
Missile Launcher Operation
Drones
and the related skills in Spaceship Command (Gallente Cruiser if you're flying a Thorax) (Caldari Battleship if you're flying a raven) ect.
I'd recommend though that you not spend too long deciding on a ship class to train towards. I went the more Jack of All Trades master of none just training to fly all the ships but I couldn't really fly any well and I wished that I had specialized in one ship class at a time.
Helpful reference threads:
Myths and Questions of Eve PvP
PVP University
I do want to PvP, if I can find a nice group of players to play with. In fact, that's gonne be the make or brake I think. So there is hope for new players in the community? Without joining some mega-alliance?
You NEED to join a GOOD Corp. Maybe not a mega alliance, but you need to join a good corp. Good corps start recruiting around 1mil SP. (about a month of play)
If you're majoring in Economics then EVE will be your godsend. lol. The market is about 95% Player Driven. I don't think you will be too good at making stuff for awhile, but trading is very profitable if you know how to do it (boring as well though
you may find joy in it). I don't, I suck at it... but there are people who make TONS at it. And you don't need hardly any SP to do it. You can also become a trader without actually doing ANYTHING. Just put out buy and sell orders at certain places and bam... you just made money.
You will find this thread informative and it has a few very informative links for traders. Was posted a couple weeks ago.
Before playing EVE you need to understand 3 major things about it and all 3 are interwoven to eachother:
EVE is great because of it's Economy, Strategy, and PVP. All 3 directly effect one another.
Catching up in PVP is very possible. Don't think you will be able to fly a whole lot of different stuff, but you can become very proficient in what you do fly. A player can only fly 1 ship at a time. So what if a player has been around since beta and has 70mil SP and can fly half the ships in the game, he's only going to be in one of them at a time. He's probably going to wtfpwn you no matter what you fly for quite some time, simply because he's more knowledgable about the game and the way things work. But, knowing what to do, when to do it, and what to fly is soley dependant on you and how much time you put into learning the game. (notice I didn't say PLAYING the game)
Word of Advice: If you like PVP, don't put alot of time into Mining. You may think it's an easy way to make money at first, but there are better ways. (although, the uber miners make more than any Ratter, PVPer, or missioner... but they have put massive amounts of time into skills they enjoy using) You can work the market without mining or building stuff.
Although, I don't suggest putting any time into Industry Skills (making and mining stuff) if you like Economics, I do suggest putting some time into Trade skills after you get a feel for the game and have the time to put into them.
Skills used for working the market. Not a necessity to work the market (certainly not for trading) but they do make things easier.
I don't trade, but I do play around in the market. It's fun, because it's hard. It's hard because there are alot of ppl in EVE like you who know their shit. Unlike games like WoW, where I played the Auction House and walked away from the game at lvl 35 with 5,000g. lol.
Edit: Also, I would like to mention that even Industrial Corps need PVPers to protect their miners in 0.0 space from Pirates and NPCs alike. They will be able to teach you the ways of the Trade profession and maybe you will find that you actually like mining. I mean, all mining is is a contstant cash flow one you make it up there to get some good mining ships. That will take some time though. I have am training an Alt right now, he will be able to fly the lowest mining barge during his trial.
But they are quite carebear. Meaning they don't go looking for a fight, so if you're a big PVP buff, that may not be suitable for you. Although, again...... EVE is a very versitile game and there are many corps out there. Personally, when I joined my current corp, I was looking for a Mining/Pirate corp. I didn't find one, but I know they exist.
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start out in Eve. You will be behind in SP (skill points) and may
never catch up to those 3 year old players in SP but you can "catch up"
in every aspect of the game. If you like economy then you will
just like a 5 year old on Christmas morning, with Eve's economy.
Pvp is a bit harder to skill into then the industry side. If you
want to PvP AND do mining, trading, manufacturing etc.. then I suggest
skilling up to be a tackler then start skills for industry.
Tacklers are the easiest to skill for and they are essential to PvP.
Items you will need to be an effective tackler:
Small guns (stick with your race to start with)
MWD (microwarp drive)
Warp Disruptor
Stasis Webbifier
Small Shield Booster or Small Armor Repairer
Power Diagnostic Unit and Reaction Control Unit
These can all be achieved during your trial period. Once your
trial period is over and you decide to subscribe then its time to look
for a corp to join (some corps take in trial members but most do
not). During your 14 days you should have been doing some
research on the eve-online forums and in the in-game recruitment chat
to find a corp that you think best suits your needs. When you get
into a corp the fun really starts!
PS. You sound like someone my corp would be interested in.
We are a merc corp with a strong industrial side (we were once an
industrial corp). We pvp and mine and work the market. If
you decide to try Eve then contact me (Tekeran) in game and I will be
more then willing to help you to the best of my abilities.
1: Why are people so down on mining? It actually intrigues me in a way, then again maybe it takes an economist to truly appriciate the beauty of raw materials. Is it really that boring?
2: What would be a good way to join Corps? Do you just have to get lucky or is there a system of some sort?
3: Can small corps actually achieve something? One of the reasons I left WoW is because end-game forced me to join a massive-guild to actually do anything. It killed my small guild and it made it all feel so..mechanic. I was just another healbot :P
Pvp is a bit harder to skill into then the industry side. If you want to PvP AND do mining, trading, manufacturing etc.. then I suggest skilling up to be a tackler then start skills for industry. Tacklers are the easiest to skill for and they are essential to PvP.
Items you will need to be an effective tackler:
Small guns (stick with your race to start with)
MWD (microwarp drive)
Warp Disruptor
Stasis Webbifier
Small Shield Booster or Small Armor Repairer
Power Diagnostic Unit and Reaction Control Unit
These can all be achieved during your trial period. Once your trial period is over and you decide to subscribe then its time to look for a corp to join (some corps take in trial members but most do not). During your 14 days you should have been doing some research on the eve-online forums and in the in-game recruitment chat to find a corp that you think best suits your needs. When you get into a corp the fun really starts!
PS. You sound like someone my corp would be interested in. We are a merc corp with a strong industrial side (we were once an industrial corp). We pvp and mine and work the market. If you decide to try Eve then contact me (Tekeran) in game and I will be more then willing to help you to the best of my abilities.
Wow, this forum rocks. I'm currently downloading the client. I will probably start playing on Monday after my mid-term exam. So far what intrigues me the most is playing a bit of a cross between PvP and some mining or manufacturing on the side. Trading sounds intriguing too, since from what I gathered you don't have to move an inch for it.
Ill note down your name and thanks for all the help. My first experience with the community is pretty good. Not hard coming from WoW I guess
It's just boring to most. Yeah, you're getting tons of raw materials you refine into their elements for manufacturing, but other than that mining consists of:
Locking and Asteriod, Clicking your mining laser, Wait for the cycle to finish, drop that ore in a can while someone else picks it up and takes it back to the port... then do that over and over and over for hours on end. It's just boring sitting there doing that.
Hey, you MAY like it, I'm not saying you wont. All I'm saying is that most people do not. There are some ppl who really enjoy it. There are little things in it though, like getting jumped by Pirates or NPCs in low sec or 0.0 space. But, you really don't have any defense besides a few drones.
Here or Alliance and Corporation Recruitment Center Forum @ eve-online.com.Stay away from the "Recruitment Channel" ingame though. It's mainly abunch of n00b corps who probably don't know a whole lot more than you. Oh definitally. Though, with small corps means that you probably won't have alot of people online at the same time... and if they are they may not be in the same area as you. (I don't know how Industrial Corps work though). EVE universe is HUGE. It's pretty empty, I mean it is space after all... but it's GIGANTIC. I think there is something like 5,000 systems to be in. I don't know if anyone has actually been to every single one, but I highly doubt it. They may have been a few odd balls that just went to every single one to say "I've been through every system in the game!"
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Good to see someone enjoying this game :-)
Well I can say that I have been playing this game for almost 3 years now, and I enjoy it most of the times, ofcourse is having a sort of new patch blues :-) hehe the wait for new patch always gets me like this but that is okey, is not having any plans on leaving the game yet anyway.
So what do I do in the game ? well very little pvp but that does not mean I don't take the fight if something goes against me.
I am mainly a miner/Producer/Missionrunner... I do enjoy a good mining operation, I love producing stuff and sell it and see it sells :-) (Made 180 million isk last month producing 70 ships, did not mine any of the minerals only from what I buy from market).
I would advice you as I do to all new members in my corp that get up your fightingskills, wait with your learningskills and consentrate on getting into atleast a cruiser so you can go out NPC (Rat) hunting... so if you go bored of one thing you can go on to another thing in the game, switch abit so you don't get so easy bored.
When I get tired of mining I switch to missionrunning or just NPC hunting in low sec or something ... and my trades and producing is not something I need to do every day.
Ofcourse I always browse for good deals in minerals so I can keep my prices down, and I produce mostly Tech 1 equipment so yes you can make good profit doing this if you do it right.
my ingame nick is Arcticblue2 if you want to discuss mining and production then just take contact if you see me ingame :-)
As all have mentioned, its not too late to join, but what do you expect us fans here to tell ya :P
Be prepared though, EvE does not start fast and takes alot of patience to learn. Starting off in mining is a good way to start IMO, even though it is one of the most boring parts of the game. "Boring" is relative though and when people in EvE say mining is "boring" what they are really saying is that many other things in Eve are alot more fun than mining
.
Priority #1 for a new player should be to get into a non-npc corp. These corps are filled with folks who like to solo and although helpful in many cases, they just wont get you into the fun parts of EvE. Surf the recruiting forums at EvE-O and find you a home ASAP. As mentioned before, EvE University is a great place to start for this.
Above all, welcome to EvE and don't fly what you can't afford to lose...
You'll be behind everyone. dont listen to those who tell you that you can fight fairly with 4mil SP. That is simply not true. It is a great game but because the ownage is too much and too many weak players just die out like flyes
A little more on EVE University, since we've been mentioned a couple of times already. E-UNI is really rather unique in EVE; it's basically a training ground for new players, getting them ready to head out into the rest of the game. When we're not engaged in a war, we have classes on various aspects of the game (tackling, general pvp, mining, bookmarking, etcetera). Many of those classes are recorded and made available to members on our forums. The UNI even has scholarships available for demonstrating the knowledge you've gained from those classes (1 million ISK per scholarship, which can be a real boon when you're just getting your feet under you). All in all, it's a great place to start if you don't have anywhere else to go. It's been very helpful to me in the time I've spent there, and the people have been so great that I'm having trouble finding a reason to leave.
As far as being able to compete in pvp? Since I've been in EVE University (2 months now), a number of corporations have declared war on us because they deem us to be easy targets. Our fleets have taken down command ships, battleships, intercepters, assault frigates, and pretty much every other sort of ship that can be piloted in Empire space. Typically, we have one or two veterans leading the squads, and everyone else is a newbie in a frigate or destroyer supplied by the university. The turrets, missile launchers, and electronic warfare devices on those
little ships add up to be quite effective, especially when coordinated.
The truth about skillpoints is that you won't ever be as well-rounded as an older player, but you can specialize and be just as good at piloting individual ships. Furthermore, if you enjoy working with groups, you can be contributing to killboards within a couple weeks of starting.
I'm currently reading up a bit on the game. It seems a bit overwhelming, but hey, something that challenges my brain can't be bad. Seems there is so much to do. Currently reading a piece on research, but I'm not quite sure how you can make money on that. You have to do missions for more advanced blueprints?
EDIT- Here's the university's forum, if you think it's something you'd be interested in: EVE University Forums
You'll find office locations and other such things listed there. If you decide to go another direction, I wish you the best.
Why spread bullshit like this ? I can state that a 8 million sp character did beat the crap out of my 30 million sp character... sure, he can't reach my skillpoints but that did not stop him from beating my ship.
Furthermore, my corp have had several frigatefights... now you would belive I would win them all right ? .. wrong I have not won any yet... sure I have killed a few frigs but still.. in the end I lost.
I can state that I am a 4.5mil SP Char and I beat the living shit out of 30mil SP chars ALL-THE-TIME.
But Uruleyevil actually tells the truth. Weak players do die out like flies. Because they simply don't know how to use their skill points effectivly. Weak is a relative term.
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To join, go to the left pane and click "Channels & Mailing Lists." Next, click the "Create/Join" button at the top of the window. Type in "EVE University" without the quotation marks, hit "Okay," and you're all set.
As long as they'll take your money, it is never too late.
Whether or not you want to start in on EVE now, that's up to you. Make no mistake though, nobody playing EVE, or providing EVE to you really cares whether you have fun, or not.
All you are is cash at this point.
That's all you'll ever be to anyone at this point, CCP included. There are two types of players to CCP: friends, and cash. You'll never be considered as good of a friend to them as the old/powerful/vocal players, you and I are just cash to them, a headache, and always will be. Nothing that is dissimilar to how SOE treats its players, except at least they treat all their players equally in terms of everyone just being statistics.
There will be people who will want you to work with them, but not because they like you. They only care about you at this point because they can use you. It isn't like you are anyone important in EVE today as a new subscriber, and when push comes to shove, nobody is really going to care if you quit, and chalk it up as a waste of time.
Entering EVE today is like the final round of casting a motion picture. If you feel good being some extra, or playing some bit role, they'll take you, but the chance to play a meaningful role is past.
So then, I really can't say whether or not you'd be wasting your money getting in now, or if it is worth it. If you have humble expectations, then you might not see it as all that bad. If you have any sort of ambition though to be more than a cash cow, then you should go somewhere else.
__________________________
"Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it."
--Arcken
"...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints."
--Hellmar, CEO of CCP.
"It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls."
--Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE
He's actually pretty right for the most part. You're even more right.
But he makes it sound like the game is dying or almost over or something, when it's quite the contrary. EVE has grown more in the last year, then it has in the previous 2yrs it was out. If EVE was dying or something, I don't think they would have added yet another 28 servers to their cluster yesterday, when their server cluster is already the single most powerful privatly owned computer in the world. The cluster actually made top 500 supercomputers in the world, the other 499 on the list were used by militaries or nuclear reactors.
The fact that CCP does care about the game as a whole and how fun it is keeps it going. EVE actually releases FREE expansions every so often and every one adds alot to the game, keeping it new and fresh even for the vets.
There is a new, highly anticipated expansion coming out very soon. If you look a few threads down you will find people discussing it's release.
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That's an interesting take on it. Guess this can be said for any MMO in the end. Any player can be replaced because there will be other willing to take his spot. The only value it has it what you make of it for yourself. Or something. Right?
He's actually pretty right for the most part. You're even more right.
But he makes it sound like the game is dying or almost over or something, when it's quite the contrary. EVE has grown more in the last year, then it has in the previous 2yrs it was out. If EVE was dying or something, I don't think they would have added yet another 28 servers to their cluster yesterday, when their server cluster is already the single most powerful privatly owned computer in the world. The cluster actually made top 500 supercomputers in the world, the other 499 on the list were used by militaries or nuclear reactors.
The fact that CCP does care about the game as a whole and how fun it is keeps it going. EVE actually releases FREE expansions every so often and every one adds alot to the game, keeping it new and fresh even for the vets.
There is a new, highly anticipated expansion coming out very soon. If you look a few threads down you will find people discussing it's release.
Hehe, good to know it's not dying. Still, it's always good to keep things in perspective and remember that it's very rare to really mean something in a game in a positive way. Getting disliked, hated or envied is possible. Getting truly liked or respected is quite a bit harder
But either way, I'm going to give the game a shot. The community can't be too bad since it's more of a braingame. I just hope I can make some friends early on and I'm set. WoW was fun, despite sucking as a game, because I had some cool people to play with. Once they left the game became meaningless pretty fast. I am still friends with some of them though outside the game, making all the hours of grinding and paying money worth it.
Im just out to meet some new people from all over the world and play a fun game with them and shoot down spaceships and have a good laugh when we all get blown to pieces. If this forum is in any way representative for the community my odds are pretty good
That's good. If you decide to stay I suggest checking EBay for a KEY Code. Not a TIME Code. To activate your account. The activation fee is $19.95(+30 days free) and after that it's $14.95/mo (multi month options available for cheaper).
But, I accidenly bought a KEY Code on EBay for $7.68 thinking "Wow, what a great deal for a 30 day time code!" but it turned out I didn't read the seller's description very well and the Key code was actually only to be used to activate accounts + 30 days free. I am not sure if the key code will work after a trial however, but I do have a trial with 8 days left. Although, you may be able to tell me before hand
I am leaving it inactive for 25days after the trial ends to train a Astrology to lvl 5 for free. Hehe. (It's a mining skill)
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The download is nearly finished and I'm going to create my account after my exam on monday. I hope the Ebay key will work after the trial, because it's a nice way to basically get a free month worth of play.