Coming Back :)

0dd1 · June 2010

Hey All,

OK, as the title suggests, after a very long break, I am looking at coming back to EvE Online.

Many years ago, a group of friends and myself started playing at the same time. There was no bonus for new characters, there was very little in the way of mission running, and it was pretty much Sink or Swim*

We set up a small corp, and set to mining. And mining. And mining... Yep, we mined, and we mined some more, and slowly we became stupidly rich and moved into the scarier low-sec space, and get richer and started using our money to get bigger ships.

So we could mine more! Woot!

Then, one of our merry band - me - made mention that, really, this was quite boring, logging on, digging holes in rocks, processing/selling it, then repeating it... How about a couple of us branch out and do something... Different?

But it wasn't to be, and very rapidly I lost my in mining rocks to get better ships to mine more rocks. I gave my account to the Corp, and said Bye Bye.

Before EvE, I was a Dark Age of Camelot player and loved it. My first MMO, and the one that always stuck with me. Then EvE really caught my attention, but the mining put me off - I didn't really get the "Sandbox" idea of it, so quit. Then came Shadowbane which was a really good game, and while harsh, it's just a game. Then IT came along, and brainwashed me. Closed beta testing, release day, right through almost to it's third expansion.

And like my original time with EvE, it occured to me that I was doing the same thing over and over, just to achieve the means to do the same thing in a different place.

However, all this time, I kept poking my nose in at EvE, reading the forums, the articles I could find on various sites, and over the last year or so (I know, it's taken me that long!) it's really got it's claws in me. And now (finally) I get the idea of Sandboxing, of doing what I want, how I want, when I want. No talents, no levelling grind, no "You're level X, so you need to be in place Y"...

For the last couple of days, I've been reading over the posts here at MMORPG.com (Hi by the way!) and realise that the forums here are a little more... civil... compared to the official forums. There's loads of really handy posts all over this forum, and I've been going over them, reading points, counter-arguements and advice. I've managed to get my hands on a 21-day trial key, but not going to start it off till AFTER the downtime tomorrow... Just in case

Now, aside from Eve University, which I understand is a really good source of information, I'm hoping to find a smallish Corp that, first and foremost, are willing to take on someone with only the most basic knowledge of the game (I'm going to do all the tutorials, don't worry!). I'm not asking for handouts or fancy gear, just a smallish friendly corp that won't mind stupid questions from the new member

A strange question from me now would be, how do I unwire my brain from the years of standard MMO thinking? Kill ten pigs, hunt down the elven ambusher, open the box retrieve the ring, XP XP XP level, rinse and repeat. I'm still trying to decide what I want to be in EvE... Which I KNOW is my brain telling me I need to decide, effectively, what class I should be. Hopefully I'll get my head sorted in a couple of days to know what I want to do. I know for a fact I won't be mining though

Any additional advice gratefully received (and I'll be ignoring the "No stay away!" posts that a couple of people seem to slap all over the "New Player" posts that are on here) and if any small friendly corps are recruiting, that info would be very handy too!

Thanks!

*And yes, I know that clause still exists

Malcanis · June 2010

Well one thing you should definitely avoid is mining.

Aesper · June 2010

Even though sandbox is a blessing, it can spin you in circles so you dont know what, exactly, to do.

Well at this point there are a few choices for you that branch out into several different sub-roles. One thing I always take a look at is the stage of these roles. Meaning location (0.0, lowsec, high-sec, wormhole).

Go to the official forums (and dont be afraid of some of those f*ckwits, they love to pretend they're somehow intellectually superior because their internet spaceship game is more complicated than farmville) and look at the Corp Recruitment thread. You can either lurk that forum and read who's offering what, or post one yourself. Keep in mind there are lots of "Im new, and would like a corp" threads, and people pounce on those to pad their numbers (especially for upstart corps).

Pick something that appeals to you in general. Combat? Ok, theres this this and that. Industry? Ok, well you can do this this and that. By the time you've gotten your basic Learning skills to 4 and your secondary learning skills to 4, you will figure it out.

There are also great tutorials that are profession specific now.

Malcanis · June 2010

Honestly, I never really had much of a plan other than "Ship x sounds cool, I'm going to skill up for that". I found good people to fly alongside, and the plans, such as they were, developed from my association with those people.

Wait, when I heard about Wormholes, I had a plan to change our corp to a pirate corp in a W-space system with 1-2 static wormholes, and pirate the universe from our W-space base. Since we were in a pretty shitty alliance at the time, I thought it was an awesome idea. But eh, the other guys didn't go for it. So much for my great plan. If you like it, you can have it.

Kyleran · June 2010

Originally posted by 0dd1

A strange question from me now would be, how do I unwire my brain from the years of standard MMO thinking? Kill ten pigs, hunt down the elven ambusher, open the box retrieve the ring, XP XP XP level, rinse and repeat. I'm still trying to decide what I want to be in EvE... Which I KNOW is my brain telling me I need to decide, effectively, what class I should be. Hopefully I'll get my head sorted in a couple of days to know what I want to do. I know for a fact I won't be mining though

Not a strange question at all, having a long term goal (outside of never mining again) can be helpful.

First, let's assume this time around you wish to do a bit of PVP for a change. So I recommend you start out doing some mission running and train some skills for it.

Now don't plan on making mission running a long term career, its just a nice place to start to get familar with some basic game mechanics while you train your skills.

Soon as you feel a little confident, get in a corp that can help show you the ropes. Look for one that caters to your current needs and join up at your soonest opportunity.

Plan on doing some PVP, either by joining in the faction wars or doing some Red vs Blue, just so you get a feel of it while its still cheap.

Remember this, you aren't on a single path in EVE, you can bounce between several or change at any time so don't be afraid to experiment a bit to try and find your fun.

0dd1 · June 2010

Hi guys

Thanks for the responses so far!

Malcanis:

Mining will be avoided, not to worry Interesting to see you didn't have a plan exactly... Years of linear MMOing has got me in the frame of mind that I can do wrong with my character, from generation, to spending points, to skills, talents - I know most of that doesn't really exist in EvE, but the thought of making myself a rubbish character and having to respec (or whatever the EvE equivilant is!) later down the line...

Thanks for the offer of the Very Cunning Plan - I shall keep it in mind for when I know what I'm doing

Aesper:

Thanks for the ideas. I shall brave the official forums and ignore that numptys that reside there I found a Corp Finder here on MMOrpg earlier too (even though it's called a guild finder!) and will have a poke around in there too.

Kyleran:

Very helpful, thank you I've been reading through... er... some wiki site or another, and am quite taken by the idea of Salvaging/Exploration/Wormholes and that sort of thing. From what I've read, Wormhole Space can be scary, so I'll build to that, but finding Deadspace places (or whatever they are called!) seems quite interesting and can be lucrative... At least, that's the impression I got.

Is there any truly viable "Solo" idea that exists without too much suffering? I'm fully expecting to die - a lot - and am not really worried about how, where, when and so on. Is it even a viable idea, being able to find hidden places, kill my way through them, then salvage the remains? Or is that more a two-ship sort of plan?

Many thanks your time!

free2play · June 2010

I wouldn't want you to come back with the midset of avoiding mining. It's easy to do. Dont train the skills for it. I'm not the best example at describing wealth in EvE either. If I had 500 billion ISK I'd think I was doing OK but could use more.

For stuff to do. EvE is best played with multitask in mind. PI isnt and activity. You can do it but think of it as extensive SP training. Like you log in at times to switch skills, you log in to flip PI scans and extractions. You could then advance that to activity but at the very least build base resources from it. PvE is your time available. Rat in a belt, do missions, do anomolies, take your pick.

PvP can be high sec hounding, low sec hounding, militia or 0.0 sec PvP from raids to fleet depending on your skills and wants. I prefer 0.0 sec fleet and sov defence because everyone is on the same page. I'm not forcing PvP on to anyone. If they are there its a sign off sheet on willingness. At some point you will need to obtain ISK. It's essential to EvE but to make any kind of a specific suggestion is to rope you in EvE. There are plenty of things to do and if you did nothing but try them all it would take a year or more depending on how perfected you became in each task. I started 6 years ago and have tried most and am still far from an expert in any one. Its what keeps me going back.

Malcanis · June 2010

Respeccing skills is a null concept. Just train more, since there's no limit. Once you've got your support skills done, feel free to ride the FoTM wave. Let others sneer if they like. I like to use the best tool available to get the job done.

EDIT: Here is my character sheet. As you can see, I will cheerfully sacrifice that last few percent in order to be able to fly a wide range of ships. Being able to fly the best ship for the job is hugely more effective than having +2% damage from racial turret spec V. The best thing I ever did was train all 4 Cruiser skills to 5, since that opened up an amazing range of ships for me. (Get Battlecruiser 5 first though, because all the tier 2 BCs are excellent and it's a great way to cross-train, very SP-efficient.)

However I will freely confess that this method of skilling was made much easier by having a second account to do stuff like capital ships and so forth. Cap ships are a huge SP sink.

flydowntome · June 2010

If it helps, you are going to PvP. That's the only real goal in the game. It's not just mining: making money for moneys sake will always lead to quitting. So you make money to spend it blowing up ships.

From there, it's just learning about the roles and deciding which one you like. You want to be a fast tackler? Fleet Muscle? ECM? A "healer?" Fleet commander?

Don't think of EvE as a sandbox. Think of it as a PvP game with a lot of complex classes you can level up for. Learn about those classes and find one that works for you, then find a decent PvP corp . Starter corps involve Eve University, Agony University. Red Vs Blue. If you want a smaller one, join Factional Warfare: many small corps recruit from the unaffiliated players there.

0dd1 · June 2010

free2play:

Thank you

I'm hoping to mine as close to zero as possible, but reading various guides, I think that here and there I might have to get some zapping-asteroid-action under my belt. I'm hoping to play it by ear and just see what happens as and when

When it comes to wealth, when I played "other games" I liked to hoard money, so hopefully with EvE I'll set to collecting and save where I can.

The new PI stuff does sound quite interesting - but only as a side-note distraction. Not to knock those that do it, like those that love to mine, but I don't see me sitting using it constantly. But again, who knows!

PvP - which of course some would say is the bread and butter of EvE - I fully intend to get into. I won't be Pirating, holding ransoms or blowing up people for the sheer hell of it, but Hounding and Militia often catch my eye. I also quite like the idea of becoming some sort of Bounty Hunter - though that will be something to work towards and get the skills/gear to do it properly. I'm not expecting to finish the tutorial, rub my hands in glee and rush out to start catching naughty pirates (and succeed!).

As for mission running, while a lot of people consider it boring, I don't think I'll have issues running missions... After all, my track record of other MMOs has been "Level 1, kill 5 pigs, Level 5, kill 5 medium pigs, level 10, kill 5 large pigs..." and so on - so repetitive, if that's the case, I can do

Malcanis:

I had a feeling someone would tell me about what the respec stuff entailed - of course, I didn't think about it that way

Thanks for the link to your character sheet - if I am totally honest, it didn't really make a whole lot of sense to me. Not yet, anyway.

As for second accounts - I fell into that trap with DAoC, and had either a BuffBot or a Minstrel or a crafter or whatever... That was when I realised it had slipped out of the "Game" category for me, and into the "Oops what are you doing?" one

Flydowntome:

Definitely already have it in my head this is a PVP Game. Shadowbane was much the same - not as in depth, and still a linear MMO, but at any moment out of newbie lands, you could get someone much bigger put their much larger sword through your internal organs, alphabetically, if they so wished

I've read the "Don't fly what you can't afford to lose" mantra so many times, I may get it tattooed on my characters backside!

However, I will think about gang or fleet roles as I progress the character. I will look into the Uni corps, and failing those the Re vs Blue

Thanks again for your advice guys, it's all being taken on board

free2play · June 2010

PI can be done docked in Jita. Thats why I encourage people to do it if only for the base mats.

You log in, click the Indudtry button on the left and bring up your planets. You can set extractions and or productions. The only time you need to be at the planet is to drop the command center. Then you return to the planet to get your stuff. A Prorat or Viator, a blockade runner is best for 0.0 sec. 0.0 sec amounts are 500% of what they are in high sec so its best to set up extraction planets in faction null sec, then make items with the base mats in high sec where its safer and you can get the final products to your BPOs.

I mine. I have an account dedicated to it. More for sanity than the need to mine. When the whole 0.0 sec political game gets to be too much I dont log those accounts in. I log in my miner and relax.

For your bounty hunting dream I cant offer much help. The problem there will be the huge amount of multiple accounts people. Most bounties get taken off by an alt. There are merc corps and merc alliances. Lots of em and they seem to have fun at what they do. I never got in to that but it's there. Theyare PvP intensive and if you end up in a merc alliance PvP will overtake your game. Thats true of alot of EvE though. You just need to know where to draw the social lines and say no, I am playing on my own tonight.

Atanatari165 · June 2010

Odd1,

It sounds like you may have a bit of an addictive personality. I don't mean this as an insult, it probably applies to most MMO players. I just think you should be aware of this and try to avoid repetitive tasks that might lead to "compulsive mining" rather than fun. This means you should really try hard to focus on PVP this time around. Don't let yourself get hooked into mining or missioning. Follow this guide http://www.rifterdrifter.com/rifter-pvp-guide/ and immediately start solo pvp. Don't fall into the trap of "oh I should really wait until I've trained skill X, can use module Y, can fly ship B, have amount of ISK Z" That is never ending. Yes you can always improve, but what are you improving upon if you didn't go out and see what you can do NOW? Starting out at a low point makes the climb more rewarding, and isn't as disappointing as getting defeated in a fancy ship. You will also have some surprising wins, and you'll learn a lot that will help guide your character development.

Granted this is a recipe for many smashed pods. To make things a little easier, you need gangs and some free ships. Thus you need a decent corp. I would recommend a small 0.0 corp in a smallish alliance. The Northern Coalition is full of these, and they could really use your help right now! 0.0 is vastly more interesting than high sec. High sec isn't really much of a sandbox, except economically. High sec is run by NPCs, 0.0 is run by players.

0dd1 · June 2010

Originally posted by Atanatari165

It sounds like you may have a bit of an addictive personality. I don't mean this as an insult, it probably applies to most MMO players. I just think you should be aware of this and try to avoid repetitive tasks that might lead to "compulsive mining" rather than fun. This means you should really try hard to focus on PVP this time around. Don't let yourself get hooked into mining or missioning. Follow this guide http://www.rifterdrifter.com/rifter-pvp-guide/ and immediately start solo pvp. Don't fall into the trap of "oh I should really wait until I've trained skill X, can use module Y, can fly ship B, have amount of ISK Z" That is never ending. Yes you can always improve, but what are you improving upon if you didn't go out and see what you can do NOW? Starting out at a low point makes the climb more rewarding, and isn't as disappointing as getting defeated in a fancy ship. You will also have some surprising wins, and you'll learn a lot that will help guide your character development.
Granted this is a recipe for many smashed pods. To make things a little easier, you need gangs and some free ships. Thus you need a decent corp. I would recommend a small 0.0 corp in a smallish alliance. The Northern Coalition is full of these, and they could really use your help right now! 0.0 is vastly more interesting than high sec. High sec isn't really much of a sandbox, except economically. High sec is run by NPCs, 0.0 is run by players.

No insult taken, don't worry I wouldn't be surprised, as I can sit down and grind in some MMOs - I did it with DAoC and WoW, even skipping questing in the latter... I'd find somewhere quiet out the way, make sure I was stocked on stuff I needed (in game) and just push through everything over and over. Not to the point of neglecting me or my kids of course, but I could log off, do stuff, then log back on in the same place and carry on.

I think that's the other reason EvE is so appealing - for starters, the mining really really doesn't appeal to me - even if I can make money from it, I want to do other stuff in the universe. I intend to train as I go, get the ships I want when I can afford a couple of them (for, you know, "mishaps")

I'm going to get through the tutorial (assuming EvE Online comes back to life!), get to grips with everything in High Sec space, then move down through the numbers into scarier places

Thanks for the heads up

0dd1 · June 2010

Originally posted by free2play
PI can be done docked in Jita. Thats why I encourage people to do it if only for the base mats.

You log in, click the Indudtry button on the left and bring up your planets. You can set extractions and or productions. The only time you need to be at the planet is to drop the command center. Then you return to the planet to get your stuff. A Prorat or Viator, a blockade runner is best for 0.0 sec. 0.0 sec amounts are 500% of what they are in high sec so its best to set up extraction planets in faction null sec, then make items with the base mats in high sec where its safer and you can get the final products to your BPOs.

I mine. I have an account dedicated to it. More for sanity than the need to mine. When the whole 0.0 sec political game gets to be too much I dont log those accounts in. I log in my miner and relax.

For your bounty hunting dream I cant offer much help. The problem there will be the huge amount of multiple accounts people. Most bounties get taken off by an alt. There are merc corps and merc alliances. Lots of em and they seem to have fun at what they do. I never got in to that but it's there. Theyare PvP intensive and if you end up in a merc alliance PvP will overtake your game. Thats true of alot of EvE though. You just need to know where to draw the social lines and say no, I am playing on my own tonight.

Ah didn't realise that about PI... Thought... well, I don't know what I thought - assumed you flew to the planet and either went down to it (and landed) or sat in orbit while doing stuff.

Ta for the Bounty Hunting heads up - maybe that's something I can look at later in the coming months. I'm quite happy to play by myself for a while, but it gets mind numbing after a while. A friendly guild/corp to chat to always makes a difference.

Thank you

0dd1 · June 2010

Thanks to everyone that has replied here and sent me PMs... With the extended downtime, followed by One of Those Days yesterday, today is the day. House is clean, kids are sorted... Bring it on!

I hereby solemly swear, I will not come back and whine if I suck

Hmmm, maybe they should add that to the Terms & Conditions... Would save a lot of hassle on the forums!

pepsi1028 · June 2010

Originally posted by 0dd1
Thanks to everyone that has replied here and sent me PMs... With the extended downtime, followed by One of Those Days yesterday, today is the day. House is clean, kids are sorted... Bring it on!

I hereby solemly swear, I will not come back and whine if I suck

Hmmm, maybe they should add that to the Terms & Conditions... Would save a lot of hassle on the forums!

I too am looking to come back. I have been saying I am going to do it for a while now, but never actually did it. I want to download the trial again and start fresh (:

I had a really good account back in the day. So, do you wanna be.....

EVE buddies?? :O

0dd1 · June 2010

Originally posted by pepsi1028

I too am looking to come back. I have been saying I am going to do it for a while now, but never actually did it. I want to download the trial again and start fresh (:

I had a really good account back in the day. So, do you wanna be.....

EVE buddies?? :O

hehe well, I would certainly recommend it - I've only been playing ~90mins or so, then had to log off thanks to the daily downtime, but am engrossed like I never was with it!

If you do start and want to find me, my character name is Jaria Lorus, a Caldari/Achura/Inventor

And I'll be your buddy - drinks are on you, and you have to respect me afterwards

pepsi1028 · June 2010

Yeah, but my luck always sucks. As soon as the game downloaded and had the account all good, downtime comes

0dd1 · June 2010

hehe your luck sucks? I got my buddy invite, then eight hours later, the Extended Downtime hit...

pepsi1028 · June 2010

Nice. Well hey I sent you mail in-game. I created Caldari and I'm doing the tutorial right now....

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Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV