Getting started with EVE Online
July 29, 2013 8:53 AM   Subscribe

After reading yet another thread about EVE Online, I decided to sign up for a trial account. I don't know anyone else who plays. Do you have any advice for a first time player?

Links to starting guides and/or hook ups with current players would also be appreciated. I don't even know what faction/race to start out as!
posted by thecjm to Computers & Internet (11 answers total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
There's a Metafilter corporation, which might give you a good starting point.
posted by restless_nomad at 8:59 AM on July 29, 2013


I believe the Mefight club has a group that plays eve..
posted by k5.user at 9:00 AM on July 29, 2013


Eve has a GINORMUS learning curve. get in a good corporation and ask a billion questions.
posted by Jacen at 9:18 AM on July 29, 2013


I recommend watching the "How to Survive EVE Online" series, by a player in Eve University named Seamus Donohue. It's a complete video walkthrough of creating a new player and doing the initial tutorials and training missions, with explanatory comments as you go. It's many hours long but very educational.

First vid in the series is here. He re-records the series every time the EVE client is updated, which is nice. Later on, you might consider applying to the EVE University corporation and being a member there for a while; they sort of specialize in making these kind of tutorials and course materials for virtually every aspect of EVE.
posted by ceribus peribus at 9:41 AM on July 29, 2013


I think it's important to remember that while they've improved the learning times in EVE (by not requiring you to learn how to learn...heh) it's still a very slow game to start in order to become formidable in lowsec/nulsec. I would say, give or take 6 months, before I'd feel comfortable venturing outside of empire if not supported by a corporation or alliance.

I stopped playing years ago, but I think these common tools are likely still useful:
- EveMon
- EVE Fitting Tool

There are probably newer developments out there that you may find. Planning out your skills and your preferred ship type is the best way to stay focused and not lose time on lost training skills that stray in other directions. (for example, if you're interested in mission running/PVE it's best to get trained asap to fly battleships with the supporting weapon/shield/armor skills that compliment the racial origin of the battleship you chose....missles for caldari, lasers for amarr, etc)
posted by samsara at 10:12 AM on July 29, 2013


Woohoo! One of us! One of us!

All of the above is very good advice. I would add "be patient" -- EVE is not easy, nor was meant to be, but its rewards are vast, if you want them. Having at least a slightly obsessive nature is also helpful.

Contact me in-game and I'll be happy to answer your questions!
posted by gsh at 10:29 AM on July 29, 2013


When I used to play there was an organisation called the EVE University - if that is still active - go try to join them, they had a great reputation for teaching new players in a way that made the game extremely fun. The meat of eve is in nullsec space where a single wrong move can kill you.. I think you will have the most fun if you try to get out there asap


I would really think about playing for a month or two and then, depending on how you have developed seeing if you want to consider buying an older character if you are just starting today. I left several years ago with a 25 million+ skillpoint character and still couldn't access many of the most interesting parts of the metagame such as supercapitals - many T2 (and now i understand there are T3) ships.

Take my advice as a pinch of salt based on a few years outdated knowledge but:

People always say there is a large "learning curve" but that is not that accurate - because it is also a very slow (relative to other games) curve thanks to the passive skill system. You are going to be able to learn harder parts of the game faster than you get access to them in nearly all cases.
To summarise the main paths you can go down -

*mining/ trading - great if you love numbers but a serious time commitment
*PVE (missions/killing rats) - essential for making money but very casual
*PVP - amazing when it works but like a real war this is 98% boredom 1% terror 1% amazing
All of these take place within a very social group context. Finding a good corp to join with people you like is essential, because by far the place you'll spend the most time in eve is in corp chat (essentially an irc channel). The best part of the game is imo working in specialised roles or leadership roles for a corp or alliance but you can't do that without a huge degree of trust and experience.

Overall - eve is a great game if you are willing to invest several hours a day for atleast a year or two playing it.. and much of that time may not be immediately fun "in game" unless you find a good group of players to hang out and chat and play with. I spent my social life in eve for several years, I don't regret it but at a certain point it was time to move on. I think it is one of the hardest games ever to play without a significant time investment. Much of your playtime will be "casual" things like missions and trading where you can multitask and chat with friends while playing - but if you don't have the time to do that you won't be able to get to a place where you can engage in the intense alliance v alliance megabattles, intrigue and narrative that makes it such a great game.
posted by Another Fine Product From The Nonsense Factory at 10:33 AM on July 29, 2013


I'd also recommend investing the time in the in-game tutorials and the "career path agents." The tutorials reward capsuleers (players) with new ships, skills and equipment for relatively simple missions, and the career path agents do much the same, but are specialized in the particular activities, such as industry and military, that Another Fine Product From The Nonsense Factory just mentioned. Trying out the various career paths can help you decide which batch of skills you'd prefer to specialize in first.

Be patient, accept losses if they happen and have fun exploring the universe!
posted by Gelatin at 11:00 AM on July 29, 2013


Do the tutorial missions. Seriously, do them. You'll get many useful skills, a few useful ships and gear, and you'll have at least a clue as to what is happening.
posted by sotonohito at 1:38 PM on July 29, 2013 [1 favorite]


I just started playing a couple of weeks ago after the last EVE megabattle thread.

Please join PINTO (the Mefi corporation) so that I'm not the only noob there, and when you're online, look for Troispointe Amatin to say hello.

I did all of the career agent tutorials, and found them very helpful. Even after you are done with them, there is a lot to learn as well though. Check out the EVE University Wiki, it has been helpful for me. And I have heard tell of a PINTO wiki, but I don't have access to that yet.
posted by sparklemotion at 1:48 PM on July 29, 2013


"I don't even know what faction/race to start out as!"

It doesn't really matter in the long term. The character background you choose only affects your character's visual appearance, which free "rookie ship" you get, and which station you start at on your first day. Assuming you stay at that station and do the training missions there, you'll also be rewarded with some ships and skill books associated with that race. However, all characters are equally capable of traveling anywhere, doing training missions anywhere, and training the skills to fly any ship.

So if you know you especially want to fly, say, Minmatar ships (like some of the starter ones favored by Plate of Beans Incorporated), then choosing a Minmatar character will give you a slight head-start in your early days but won't matter later on.
posted by mbrubeck at 5:36 PM on July 29, 2013


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