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How I have semi-solo carebear'ed Eve for over a year, and enjoy myself
Kelkyen
Member Posts: 45
Alot of love or hate posts here on the forums, not much substance. I want to share my experience in Eve with you. Maybe a noob will get some pointers. It's not typical. It's not glamorious. No epic fleet battles. For me Eve is just something to do instead of watching tv or going outside.
Background
I used to play SWG. Hardcore mode: main a squadleader/rifleman. Screw Jedi. I took over a city on Intrepid, rebuilt it from a dead hole to a thriving metropolis, I pushed the crafters to keep vendors stocked, I ran weekly events, monthly city meetings, we even had a space squadron. I all but controlled several niche markets, pvp'ed, adventured with my friends, and had a good time. Then the NGE hit.
My gaming group went to EQ2, but I had enough of SOE, and I like scifi. I did the Eve trial. I liked it and begged my group to join me. My gaming group just couldn't commit to Eve. They had to have grass under their feet. The only one who stuck with me regularly plays a few nights a week on a laptop while he plays EQ2 with everyone else on his main pc.
For the most part, I play solo. I learned the hard way. This is a brief story what I did, what I'm doing now, and some advice.
First months
When my friends ran the Eve trial I started a corp for us. It made it easier to share, and we could protect each other. First 15 of us, then 3, then really just me and my semi-comatose friend on a laptop who was also playing EQ2.
At the start, I realised you need isk to buy skills and ships, but I didn't have any isk. I worked on some low level missions, did some mining, and I bought what I could afford cheap then sold it elsewhere at a markup. Lost alot of ships in missions or lowsec runs. It always set me back a week.
I didn't specialise, I wanted to do everything. I could fly all the frigates, all the destroyers, use alot of the equipment modules, and use all the small guns.
Middle months
The transition from level 1 missions to level 2, again to level 3, then level 4 was a pain. Just because I could fly a crusier or a battleship didn't mean I could survive the hordes attacking me in a mission. Losing my cool new mission ship always set me back. I never got uber loot that you hear about.
Bought a mess of bpo's. Started with ammo I always used. Research time is crazy, almost stupid. Prolly my only complaint with the game mechanics.
I did some pvp from time to time. "Only use what you can afford to lose" is the mantra the vets spew, so I stuck to it. Needless to say, I learned solo pvp in a frigate or cruiser in lowsec results in 3-4 cruisers or battleships attacking me. I became expert in the art of running away or exploding quickly. Mythical 0.0 space was right out. I slipped past the gatecamps no problem. The rats were way to tough solo, the locals far to aggressive and numberless.
I did discover the fine art of stealing. Players often leave their loot laying around in multistage complexes, then come back for it. Miners would leave nice chunks of ore for me. Corps at war would find me scavaging their dead enemies, seconds after they exploded. Nothing gets the heart pumping like trying to slip away from a whole gang you just robbed.
While I mainly fly Gallante drone boats, I kept with not specialising. By this point I could use all the battleships or smaller, all the large guns, and much of the tech 2 equipment that didn't take months to train.
Last several months
Once I hit level 4 missions, and could solo them easily, I realised mining is just plain stupid. The mission loot and bounties makes me far more isk than anything I could mine in the same time. I made a list of the missions that were far to hard for the payoff and skip them. Why spend hours being bored mining when you can make 10 - 30 mil in an hour shooting stuff?
I finally got my Trade skills worked up enough. 100+ buy or sell orders, regional access, I can even buy or sell while in space. Hop to a different region and buy cheap skillbooks or tech 2 gear to resell for a huge markup. Buy orders set cheap, then resell or in many cases just reprocess crap and sell the minerals. If no one else has a buy order for that 5 mil module, someone will sell it to you for 100 isk. Not as fun as shooting stuff, but you can do it while waiting for your cap to recover during a mission or while trolling the forums.
Besides my laptop buddy who sometimes helps on tough level 4 missions every now and then, another friend joined our corp. He used to play years ago, really just shows up now to switch skills, but a couple times both of us went to pvp in 0.0. We ran from bigger groups, solo players ran from us. Yawn.
By this point I have a small fleet of ships scattered throughout Empire space. Always good to know I can recover in a few minutes should I lose a ship.
I'm planning to train tech 2 heavy drones or Gallante heavy assault ships soon, cant decide yet and either one is about 45 days to train, just finishing some minor skills for the next couple weeks anyway.
I have around a billion in assets scattered about empire space, 200 skills, 14.5 million skillpoints, and around 300 million isk in my wallet. The corp has small pile of tech 1 bpo's researched, and producing items for use or being copied for resale. Not as good as I could have done, but I'm happy and having fun.
Mistakes I made
Biggest mistake, I made a corp. I should have joined Eve University, a player run intro corp. EU would have taught me alot of the tricks I had to learn on my own over months. From there I should have joined an large lowsec or 0.0 corp who wanted noobs. My hangup is corps want you on voice comms when you play so you can help each other. I stayed away from them so I wouldn't lose touch with my old friends, and we have our own ventrilo server already. Listening to my friends talk about their elf in EQ2 doesn't help me in Eve.
I should have specialised. With my love of drones I should have just worked on getting into a Vexor drone cruiser, then either the Istar heavy assault ship or Dominix Battleship. From there, I should have just worked on their tech 2 guns, drones, and tank equipment. The trade skills are a good plus, but I really don't need or often use all the skills I have. I wasted time. Figure out what style you want to play and stick to it.
Suggestions
Complete the tutorial, don't skip it. After a week, redo the tutorial, you missed stuff the 1st time through.
Use evemon from day one. http://evemon.battleclinic.com/ If you don't, you're crazy. Even the devs use it.
Ignore mining. Unless you really love sitting there emptying your inventory every minute or three into another container. It's boring. More money in missions, belt rats, or loot. Refining skills are ok, as you can refine your loot if it doesn't sell for much. Once you know the market and have the skills its better to buyorder ore, refine it, then sell the minerals than to mine it yourself.
Salvage wrecks. Don't stick a salvager on your mission ship, just bookmark the wercks. After you complete the mission, use a destroyer or battlecruiser with a bunch of salvagers and tractor beams to clean up. It's much faster. If your a noob sell the bits, later buy the bpo's and make rigs and sell them.
Don't be a jerk. I try not to step on anyones toes too heavy on the market. I'm not verbaly abusive on local chat. If a pirate pops me I don't insult them. I don't try to ruin anyone. Steal jetcans or wreck loot if you can, but be nice while you do it. Those who are jerks always seem to get wardec'ed and constantly podded. You might get away with being a jerk in most mmo's, not in Eve.
Read the player made guides. The main website forums have a huge list of them stickied in almost every section. Player sites like eveinfo are great, if not always up to date. Some player made sites are made to work in the in-game browser.
Read the "EVE General Discussion" and "Crime and Punishment" sections of the main game forums. Don't post, just read. Alot of good info and tricks get mentioned there.
In conclusion
I don't suggest Eve purely solo. I couldn't do everything I have done without my semi-playing buddy helping to research bpo's and during some missions. If you are antisocial, you can play and enjoy the game though, just take your time.
The dev caught cheating makes no difference to me. I'm not a part of the alliance political system, and I doubt I'll ever be. IMHO, corp thieves have done more damage ruining the game for others.
One day, a hardcore scifi game will come out and have everything Eve has for space, and a ground game like SWG used to be. When that comes, I'm there. Until then, I may dabble in other mmo's, but I'll be in Eve.
Comments
Wow thats long, sorry
But it was an interesting post...and since I just started playing EVE I learned a few things from it so thanks for sharing..
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Well done imo.
It is funny how I lived the exact same story, replace semi comotose friend with a second account, and everything is the same. Of course my story continued past where you are at now.
I reached the point you are at after about a year of casual playing, then I wanted more, so I started looking for a Low Sec corp to join. A few suggestions, Corps are a dime a dozen, good people are not. Always find a corp where the majority of thier pilots play during the hours you play, it is very easy to join a giant corp, and still be the only one on. Do your research on the current state of 0.0 affairs, you can check the forums, and look at the soveriengty map to get an idea where people are fighting, and where things are more calm. The alliance you join is as important as the corp you join in low sec or 0.0, do your research.
Above all, go into the corp with a few ships that you are willing to lose, leave all your other assets where they are, build your assets up with the money you earn out in 0.0. This leaves you an option if things go south quick, with out losing 6 months or more of work.
If you are looking for honest wingman, give me a shout, Rage DeAmarr, my corp is kinda of inactive at the moment, and I find Eve to be a game best played with others.
Great post, for Eve to be fun you must follow the mantra, "Dont' Fly what you can't lose"
Rage - Head Honcho of the Revilers
"Ragemore and Whine Less"
I think there are thousands of players with this same story... it was mine for the first year or so as well. I have just come back after a year off EVE and am starting to look for 0.0 corps to get involved in. I enjoy the stories from the big BOB vs GF (and others) posts, but I am not interested in 300-ship lag fests. Hopefully I will be able to find a nice 50-100 member corp/alliance to experience the other side of the EVE universe.
I think this article is good for new players. One of the amazing things about the EVE community is that articles like this abound. You will find no shortage of well-written guides helping you do just about anything you want to do. EVE definitely attracts a more intelligent and patient user base than most MMOs.
You should put that post in the sticky at the top the sticky is there to help newbies in what is a hard game for newbies. So getting them to red this OP will be a great help to some of them.
Very nice story, thanks for sharing.
"A ship-of-war is the best ambassador." - Oliver Cromwell
Well written and information, particularly for someone like me, who is NOT numbers oriented but still wants to get the most out of EVE.
Many of the existing guides overwhelm with numbers and detail.
This sort of testimonial is exactly what I needed.
Posts of this nature, that are testimonial in nature, should be archived within their own topic. With no option to respond. Both here and at the official EVE website. Assuming they aren't of course. I haven't spent a large amount of time browsing those forums yet.
Thank you!
The Singularity is Near ...
very nice info! well written indeed. I'm planning on playing EVE Online again and i could use this post to my benefit! cheers mate!
Banzai!
Great post. Keep on honkin.
nice way of putting down the basic rules of EVE in a little story. pretty much everyone's story goes much like yours. Start out, learn lessons harshly, endure times of no-friends, etc.
I've been on all sides of the game from pvp to pve (currently in pve until the BoB war ends as it just pisses me off)
i'd advise that if you do plan on getting into a 0.0 alliance, dont join one of the idiotic alliance currently involved in the war. its just not worth it and will turn you off even further from pvp. (yes, node crashing, POS camping etc are that boring)
but very informative and i'd urge people to read this and sign up... (i need more cannon fodder..uhhh friends)
good post.
thank you for the information
.
hmm, Im where you were about a year ago. I was probably more SWG hardcore than you and still looking for something to hold my interest since I left it. I tried WoW but dropped that motnhs ago. I've tried some of the F2P, LoTR, Vanguard and some other multi-player non mmo stuff (like BF 2142). I ended up at Eve but also ended up in a crappy corp. The first few days were great but since, well........I now just log in to train. For some reason these guys WONT use a voice server at all
( I already have one set up and ready to go, still-they wont use it).
Im looking for more action in Eve. For me, so far, its been rather boring. Im sure I've missed something because people are always saying what a great game, how intense it is etc. If any of you who posted are looking for a few noobs to tag along drop me an in game e-mail (Dark Starnight). Or drop me an e-mail here.
Thanks for an excellent thread on a great game - can you post it again in the ratings section somehow? [Or can one of the powers that be somehow add it to the game info page?] You mention everything that a noob like myself would want to know before I joined the game!
<p align=center><a target=_blank href=http://www.nodiatis.com/personality.htm><img border=0 src=http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/20.jpg></a></p>;
A good read, thanks for posting
Sounds lonely for an MMORPG.
Good review - a personal and informative account.
However, many experienced players don't view mission-running a means to an end as you do. A lot of people treat missions as practice for PvP when you're new and as a source of ISK for PvP territory battles etc. later on.
In addition, it sounds as if the unfortunate legacy of SWG spoiled the fun of Eve for you. You spent too much time on your old SWG buddies. A sentimentality that was not reciprocated. You sound more 'loyal' than your team mates. So much so that it prevented you from trying different corps in Eve - even though you probably knew this was the best approach for a long time from reading the forums.
My advice would be to join an enourmous corp in your timezone involved in the Great War - either for or against BoB. Get involved in the big battles and use teamspeak etc
This might give you a better perspective of Eve Online that you have not yet really experienced first-hand.
After all, THIS is what Eve is really famous for!!
Thanks for the positive replies everyone. I'm glad my story helped a few people, and maybe a few who didn't reply as well. If I can get off my rear I'll try to do a few more over the next few weeks or months, maybe with links to some of those useful websites I talked about.
As for requests asking me to repost this elsewhere, I'll leave that up to the mmorpg.com staff if they feel it deserves it.
Those who gave suggestions on where I go from here, thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, joining another corp isn't good for me at the moment. I am currently a gentleman of leisure (i.e. unemployed) and until I know where I will be working and at what hours, I don't think it would be fair to join a new corp and end up with an incompatible schedule with them. The last thing I want to be is a wet blanket.
If you want to catch up with me in game, or any game really, I'm Kelkyen. Benefits of a unique name.
That was a long post, but reading it was worth every second of my time.
I see some.. perhaps even a lot... of myself in that post.
The major exception being that I keep getting burned out (I call it "The Space Blues") after a month or two. This always results in me canceling my subscription. But X number of months later, I suddenly get this craving to fly into deep space again and reactivate my accounts. Why, I'm not sure. I think it's a combination of soloing, the repetitive nature of the game and being locked inside a ship all the time. Maybe joining a good corp could help me get over that, but I'm not 100% sure, and I'm just not the type to join corps/guilds if I'm not sure whether I'll be there tomorrow or not. So, yeah... sorta in a limbo here when it comes to EVE.
I'm a big ol' fluffy carewolf. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
To the op nice post ...and like others have said your story is a common one ....Faelan I to suffer from the blues at times but I also have several accounts (5) I know sick ......and what I end up doing is canceling all but 1 set the others on some mad 45 day skill train while I go tryout another mmo ..
for some reason I just cant completely quit EVE ...and if they ever add a ground game like swg I would be in heaven .....esp if they gave you lp for kills instead of xp and set up exploration & mission running in a way were there wouldn't be spawn camping & such ...maby do it like in DDO were the missions are instanced ...
Pretty much the same experience and feelings as has been expressed by several people and the OP. For me the EVE experience has been an up and down cycle, I have cxld my account several times during the last year yet always, always end up coming right back.
I am currently doing wht the OP has done, trying different things and doing a little bit of everything. I know I may be wasting time but as EVE is so damn open-ended its hard trying to decide what to do! I think thats why in the past I have left EVE. Other games give you a set path, and for a while its comforting. But sooner or later it becomes a double edged sword of absolute boredom and I find myself returning to EVE with my tail between my legs. Well I am sticking to it this time, and as they will be adding features due early next year that will allow us to walk around stations, that will be an added bonus. And tho I will be trying out Tabula Rasa when that releases I am not ever giving up my EVE account again. I will play TR when I doing a long training session in EVE.
Thanks to the OP for a great story that mirrors much of my own.
Current Games: WOW, EVE Online
Some peoples like you solo EQ.
They play PvP in WoW.
They do whatever is not rewarded properly in a setting, and then they say it is good.
Do not think for 1 moment, that the average carebear soloer will be happy in a game like EvE, he won't. He will hate it. When devs listen to peoples like you, they understand everything wrong and do critical design mistakes. Stop ruining it for the average soloer by saying it is fine, no it isn't. Yes you can entertain yourself to some extand, but the game is not sufficiently developp in this aspect to be considered acceptable for the average soloer...not even remotedly close.
So please, oh please, stop confusing the devs. They have limited intellect and if they start thinking it is fine to screw the majority because a minority enjoy it, well, they do crappy games and then they don't understand why it didn't work out as planned. Basic fact, a normal soloer carebear won't love a game like EvE. Yeah, a minority of them may, but it is a minority. The game, to please carebear soloers, would need soooo many changes it is not even worth trying to start to list them.
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
You might have a point. However, when I bump across a sentence saying that "the devs have limited intellect", I immediately think "gee, what an idiot" and everything else written by the poster, however valid it may be, just goes out the window.
I'm a big ol' fluffy carewolf. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
I will agree that players like me do not do what is expected, and properly rewarded, in a given mmo. In SWG I fell into the jedi holocron grab, then felt bad at not following my own vision and skipped it. When the village hit, I really wanted the second toon on my account, but realised I would ruin my character and stripped out my force sensitive skills prior to the last battle to return to my own vision. I wanted to be the Imperial Commander, the honorable bad guy, who the heroes defeat at the end of the day. You're right, SWG was not made for me, the NGE proved that and I left.
Group players who want to be one of the numberless followers of old vet leaders will love Eve. They will have the massive fleet battles I have never seen. They can call up hordes to pull them out of a tough spot, or to recover instantly from a loss from vast alliance holdings.
I agree that solo players who expect to be spoon feed will be bored. Solo players from another mmo that expect epic directed quests will not like Eve. Solo players who fear losing their hard work on a bad move will not like Eve. Eve will not hold your hand, they will cry and return to their elf.
My enjoyment in Eve is running the markets, amassing wealth, learning for myself how things work, making mistakes and recovering on my own merits. I'm not a follower, I'm a leader who burned out in another mmo universe, and I don't want to put the effort in to shaking the foundations of heaven at this time. Solo players who want a real challenge will love Eve.
Claiming that the devs are wasting time on players like me is an insult. What more do the epic alliances need? More ship types? Another couple thousand modules? Something bigger than the Titan class ships? More systems to place POS's or gatecamp noobs? What Eve needs is more content. When someone comes out with a game like Eve, and has a ground game like old SWG, or comes out with ideas unknown of in mmo's today, Eve will lose players and never grow. Limiting the direction of the game to the 0.0 alliances is a poor game design and a poor business model, and the devs know it. CCP didn't buy White Wolf to just make card games, they got them so they could have writers who know the art of storytelling, something White Wolf excels in. The devs are building a dynamic universe.
Otherwise, CCP should just remove the skill system, remove crafting, delete empire space, put everyone in one of 2 npc alliances, give us all free ships of any type we want, and we can blast/camp each other 24/7 for dots on a map.
Kelkyen you are right ccp has gotten its self in way too deep with trying to push everybody into 00 space to cater to a few major alliances who want somebody to pod ..
if you are a thinker and a self motivated type who like to see a actual return on your time invested in a mmo then eve is your game you can actually trade your hard earned isk into ccp sanctioned game time cards name another mmo that will reward you that way...
I currently have chars in 2 different corps/alliances ..my oo space alliance is in Sparta ...if pvp is your passion Sparta is as bloodthirsty as any....
If general gaming and having fun with cool even tempered people then I would suggest the old timers guild ...actually if your a grownup gamer then I would highly suggest OTG no mater what game you play ..
EvE wont hold your hand it doesn't force you to put your talent points in a useless skill to get to the skill you want ....there is freedom of choice in eve ..and if they ever do get the added content & the land game going EvE will be a major player in the mmo market ...
And those of us who have stuck around will be GODS ......lol