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I, New EVE Player
Kyleran
Member LegendaryPosts: 43,498
As a result of several threads in these forums, some folks asked if I would be willing to give the new player experience a try to see how it had changed since I first joined EVE back in 2007.
So I decided to give a whirl. Rather than activate one of my accounts I went out and found a 21 day key from the thread in these forums and started totally fresh, so that I wouldn't have an unfair edge.
Within a day or two of starting a GM contacted me to check and see how I was making out with the tutorials, and ask if I had any questions.
I found the tutorials to be most well done, but on occasion I even got a bit confused, mostly because of rushing through the text rather than reading carefully what was written, I think perhaps my previous experience was a hindrence because I thought I already knew something.
Though in reading through rookie chat, others seemed to be confused as well, far more often than I, but again, I'm not sure they were reading carefully. A few even went to so far as to complain that they were frustrated by the need to read so much (the end of every tutorial recommends you do extra reading in the EVE wikipedia, which I skipped in most cased because I actually do know most of what they would be sharing) as they just wanted to jump in and play.
This was frequently met by catcalls in the rookie chat, with player "helpers" berating the new player for whining or asking for assistance on something that was clearly in the tutorial.
This isn't the official volunteers (ISD?) that are in there from time to time, but just players who stay in the channel. For some reason, there's folks who are in there who don't really want to help, they just want to act all indignant and annoyed when a "stupid" question is asked and if I was CCP I'd slap those folks down a bit more aggressively.
In my first week I graduated from the tutorials completing most of the Level 1 Sisters Epic ARC with the exception of the final mission against Dagan. While I was trying to round out my Cruiser skills to take him on I ran into a player advertising in chat that he would help new players kill him.
Aha I thought, no one helps other random people in EVE, must be a scam to get them killed somehow, so I quickly took him up on his offer. And..... he killed Dagan for me while I sat back and collected the rewards. Only payment he asked was permission to salvage the wreck (I got to loot it) and after a nice chat (he also was somewhat new, with only a month experience) we went our separate ways. (he didn't even try to recruit me into a corp or anything)
After the EPIC arc was completed, I decided to take this character down the mining path as I had never done it, so started training mining skills and actually mining with the tutorial venture that I had several of.
I realized the more popular systems would be tough to mine in, but with little effort I found a .5 system not too far off the beaten path that had 15 belts and I am always able to find several of them full of far more rocks than I can ever mine by myself in a session.
Mining is still as boring as I always thought it would be, but the money is pretty nice and it's great for watching TV. Had a few close run ins with npc rats showing up that almost killed me, but I'd warp back with my Tristan and clean them up before returning with my Venture to continue mining.
In fact, while clearing a belt of some npc rats I got two faction drops, one a laser crystal so no big deal, but I got an armor mod that seems to sell for 65M in local markets so it was a nice surprise drop.
Now I didn't run into any players trying to extort me for ISK, but it was going on as I read other players in the rookie chat discussing how there were people in local noting that many people had not paid their permit fees and a couple folks reported getting their mining barges blown up, though one was in a .4 system so no real surprise there.
So at the 2 week mark now I am fleshing out mining and salvaging skills in order to increase my yields and try to move up to a larger mining ship, so for now I'm using my frigate.
I chose Gallente to start, so I'm additionally working to round out all of my drone skills as they go well with a mining career. My trust Tristan does a good job clearing out any rats I come across and I have a Vexor waiting in the wings when the time comes to fly a larger ship.
Overall all I found most players in Rookie chat to be providing useful, helpful advise, and only had a to block a few obnoxious people to keep things helpful.
I did see one person complain he was basically being stalked by some senior member and being ganked wherever he went but he wouldn't tell us what he did to piss that other person off so much that they were willing to suicide gank him repeatedly.
So some of the stories you read here are obviously true, but it is possible for a smart player to stay under the radar and avoid most of the trouble. I did see some rookies posting very obnoxiously, and I could see some of them perhaps rubbing people the wrong way enough for someone to decide to teach them a stern lesson.
I'm going to play out this 3rd week, and I might even decide to continue a sub on this account since I can train up the mining skills which I've never done and it will round out some of my combat skills the other characters have.
"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
Comments
I always loved starting new accounts...the experience was never the same.
"EVE is likely the best MMORPG that you've never really understood or played" - Kyleran
Thanks for taking the time to write this up, Kyleran. Going to pass this on (as I have done with some other posts here) to the team. This is great feedback!
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
This have been a good conversation
See, my issue is that I can't ever seem to go BACK to my old characters. Maybe that's my issue with Eve. I have some good battleships and whatnot sitting there but when I go back, I'm afraid to fly in them because I don't remember how. And then I have to "somehow" get back to the tutorial area. I dunno.
Seems a bit of a waste to not play a character you have time invested in but at the same time, sounds refreshing.
I've been looking for a new space sim to play, perhaps I should just go back to Eve.
I have this same problem/thing with every mmorpg. If I'm away from the game for more than 6 months, it's extremely hard for me to get back to that character. It usually isn't even about how to play, but more like this huge feeling of disconnect towards the old characters. It's almost the same feeling when you try out some game on someone else's character, it does not feel comfortable (first world mmo problems, I know *rolleyes*).
Well in most games all you loose are your K/D ratio or some DKP when you are rusty...
In Eve it can very well be millions or even billions worth of scrapmetal that used to be your ship... That is a very bad feeling =P
Then again i have to admit, it is what give a otherwise rather dull game a very keen edge...
This have been a good conversation
It all depends on your play and resource management...there is no need to fly anything expensive.
One of the challenges with Eve is the sheer size of it. True sandbox and massive in size and content. I can't think of a game as complex that continues to grow after 10+ years.
It is challenging to be a casual player in Eve. You can spend 2-3 hours and feel like you haven't really accomplished anything. Mining ops are done better in groups, so, keep that in mind if you want to make a better return.
Full credit to CCP for added PvE content and if I remember correct, another 9 content updates in less than a year. The game keeps getting better.
Add in Dust 514 and Valkyrie integrated with Eve, can you name a cross platform integration among 3 games by any other developers?
The big picture of the Eve Universe is looking better and better. for the $10/month I pay for Eve...Excellent return on investment.
Same here. I've solved that by rerolling a character like the one I already have there and playing the first 10-20 levels with it. Once I have a feel for the character again, I go back to playing my main.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Never thought about making a clone of the old main, and start over with it for a while before going back to the high level one, I'll have to try that, sounds like something that might actually work.
It was always a good excuse to see if grass is greener on some other classes when going back to a game, but it quickly turns into the alt-army-madness and then you cant decide anymore which class/char you even want to invest in.
Great to hear some feedback on the ever-evolving New Player Experience.
Such a good writeup. It's nice to see direct and candid feedback like this. So much so that I decided to register a new account as a CCPer rather than as my old player identity.
I've sent you a PM with regards to getting in touch to talk more about your experiences, since we're in the process of working on the NPE.
Cheers!
Community Manager || CCP Games
I personally think the problem mostly appears after the NPX... Once you go out in the world and start to explore it very quickly becomes a very harsh place. I guess it is pretty much ok as long as you stay in the secure areas and don´t mouth back at some of the less sane elements... But raise your voice to the wrong people and you will have a very unpleasant evening. Also most new people find it difficult to submit a ticket regarding harrasment.
Maybe something you could build in to the tutorial somehow...? What counts as "bad" behaviour and how to properly report it... Because the EULA and ToS are fairly meaty documents and remembering everything in there at the drop of a hat is kind of difficult.
But as i said the current NPX seems to be miles ahead of when i started back in -05... I still have a slightfeeling that i came out of it feeling more confused then when i went in, and then had to learn as i went... It was to say the least... Costly...
I also think that was why i did mostly hauling to begin with. Buying cheap and selling expensive. After all a Itty is a fairly cheap ship to start with. 
This have been a good conversation
Great point, when I ran into it my years of EVE experience helped me into quickly deciding to buy the ores on the market rather than try to mine them, but people new to the game aren't going to think that way, and those questions are repeatedly asked.
So my pirate faction module that I got as a drop last week sold over in Dodixie today, netting me 60 million and enough to buy my new mining barge (thinking of getting a procurer for the defense) when I get the skills trained, (one day next week) and I flip this account to a paid sub.
So far no major issues in my new player experience, I think perhaps I've done too good of a job taking myself off the beaten path to a place where little danger is to be found.
Perhaps I should head to an ice field once I get some skills trained to see how things go there.
Oh wait, there was one issue, during the patching things went wrong, not sure if it was because I was on a trial build, but the patcher was failing saying there was no patch available for my build.
Eventually decided to run the repair tool and it resolved whatever was wrong. That could have been a bit off putting to a new player, and there really wasn't anything online about a current issue, but perhaps it was just me having a problem.
Once I flip to paid sub I'm going to try to find a corp, going in as a noob with no other history, see how well that works out for me.
"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
OK, been a couple of weeks since my last update, but my journey as an EVE Noob continues forward.
When my 3 month trial ran out, I went to buy a couple of PLEX to pay for my first month, and give me some working cash.
Curse those marketing devils at CCP, they redirected my purchase attempt to a link that offered me a 6 month sub for $49.95, vs paying $34.95 for 2 PLEX.
Couldn't resist a great deal, so I bought the 6 month deal. Wait, I still need a PLEX, and they go for $19.99 individually. (too much IMO). Oh well, I bought one and ended up giving CCP twice what I had planned to, but still, I'm well set for the next 6 months.
So with that in hand, I finally wrapped up the pre-req training for a mining barge, and started to run mining missions (because I didn't need the cash) because I wanted to be able to establish a jump clone with a npc corporation.
For my new barge, I decided to go with a Procurer, and shield tank it up as much as possible as I had several chats with Retriever pilots who were killed by CODE in high sec with apparently little more than a destroyer or two.
Of course, with low level skills I might be relying more on appearing a tough nut to crack rather than actual fact, but I'm told with all level 5 skills the Procurer can sport near an 80K tank, which is quite a bit of damage to take before going boom. Never the less, I named my new ship the "Burial Urn" because I'm told it's only a matter of time before someone kills me in it.
So beside getting my Quafe Corporation rating up to 4, I did spend some time trying to locate a corporation to join up with.
Was a bit more challenging than I would have thought. Most of the corps advertising in the Recruiting Channels willing to take new players were all fairly new and small (less than 20 people) and I was looking for one a bit larger. I considered looking up Brave Newbies, but they show like over 7000 members, making them about as large as Goons I think and I suspected I would just be one of the masses there.
After a few aborted attempts speaking with corps in the 50 member range, (just didn't mesh well with the folks in the recruiting channel), I finally came across a good group, decently large (130 or so) which was actually a new player training corp for a much larger alliance.
Their recruiters were friendly and informative, had a good chat with them over their TS, and the opportunities there included a bit of everything from High Sec to Null sec, so it seemed like a good group for a new player to start out with.
So now my journey continues forward, but I'm no longer alone. We'll see how the experience here in month two goes with a "team" at my back, and maybe I'll get a chance to see how well my Procurer holds up against the inevitable gank squad once they appear. (I am not paying CODE 10M ISK as someone mentioned, it's the principal of the thing)
"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
Time for an update. Just my luck, the day after I joined my new corp, they got wardec'd, and I'm sure I became one of the top candidates to be the "spy." I wasn't of course, but I knew they were thinking it. (confirmed with my recruiter just the other night)
So these guys knew exactly how to handle a war dec with a corp full of lower level players, they withdrew all of us out to their well protected 0.0 space where we could join corporation mining and rating fleets and be fully insulated from the war.
Made some good isk, lived in 0.0 for almost two weeks, despite having a 5 week old character, never got attacked and was able to participate in several PVP roams looking for war targets.
Once the war was over, we were escorted back to high sec unless we were eligible to earn our "null sec" badge which is training necessary to stay out in 0.0.
So no unnecessary ship losses for anyone and though I've lived in 0.0 before, I could tell several of my corpmates were totally new to the experience and really enjoyed being there.
Was having so much fun, decided not only to keep this miner going, but resubscribe 2 of my older EVE accounts, mostly so they could run level 4 security missions to speed along the process of getting my new character level 8 with npc corp so I can set jump clones in high sec. (and I already have a jump clone in 0.0 thanks to my stay there)
Guys have been great at explaining anything I've asked, especially about mining which I know little about.
Will be continuing my new player experience, eventually I'll be mining in high sec and 0.0 with my newbie miner and tempting fate on a regular basis. (no ganks on my procurer, but then I'm pretty good at avoiding trouble.)
One of my corp mates is great fun. A totally new player, somewhat clueless, but also wonderfully reckless, so the stories being told about stealing from wrecks and their attempts to get away, or not are extremely entertaining and funny. Kind of nice not having nothing but "expert" players around who only do the "right" thing all the time.
"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