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At the risk of being flamed for being n00b....
JMadisonIV
Member Posts: 282
in EVE Online
a couple of questions, while I am downloading the EVE client again(I downloaded it before, but I didn't really get far with it, just a few days(mostly because I just didn't get immersed in the game world flying around by myself).
1. Is Casual Play (as in about 2 hours a day, or 2-3 times a week for 5+ hours apiece) feasible? Or will I be feeling like I am way behind the curve? How difficult is it for a newbie starting from scratch to become competitive, and how many weeks (or months) would you say it will take before I can could expect to be able to run a competent ship?
2. How is the community towards Newbies? Is there an Organization that caters to new players, and can help me get immersed in the game?
3. Non-Combat, and Non-Mining...what options would I have for a playstyle? This is asked merely out of curiosity, my first inclination is to take up Bounty Hunting.
4. RP, how much of it really exists in this game?
5. I notice some really huge ships in this game, Storyline-wise, do we Get a Crew to go along with those Ships, or is it just us all by our lonesomes?
6. There any chance/plans of ever being able to leave the Ships and/or see the surface of a Planet?
thanks in advance!
Comments
1- Casual play is feesable, your character can develop while you are offline. You won't make as much ISK as somebody who is on more but apart from that you should do ok.
2-There is a newbie chat channel that you are part of for the first month, then after that there is a help channel you can join. In my experience people are good to newbies. The best thing to do is find a corp that suits your play style, join it and benefit from their expertise. (a corp is like a guild)
3-I will leave this to somebody who knows the game better, but there is trading and hauling.
4-There are corps who do a lot of roleplay, but in general, in local channels their isn't a lot really, though again I am not too experienced yet myself. There are racial chat channels that seem to have more rp in them.
5-I was told that if you read some of the fiction/backstory behind/around eve it is clear that in the larger ships you do have crews, but in terms of game mechanics it is just you piloting the ships.
6-don't know. If you like a bit of both ship and humanoid avatar/sprite/toon then maybe you want another game, maybe SWG? (shudders), though as far as I am concerned that game is dying a slow death.
1.) Because of the way how skill advancement works in EVE (skill training continues while you are offline) it's no problem to be online only rarely. Your character will still rise in competency. Your material assets will fall behind ofc, but a lot of corps offer reductions for ships and equipment members. I play roughly in the same timeframe as you mentioned.
2.) I guess it's like everywhere: from hostile to extremely helpful, though the helpful side is clearly in superior numbers in EVE. There are also several organizations who take and train new players. EVE-University (all-round), SniggWaffe (for pirates/pvplers), ISS Navy (pvp) are a few examples, though I am not 100% sure about the latter. Best is to check out the recruitment forum at the EVE-Online website.
3.) Manufacture/Research and Trade would be a big chunk.
4.) Actually there are quite a lot corps into RP. Again I'd like to refer you to the recruitment forum of the EVE-Online website. There is a sticky at the top listing all RP corps.
5.) You are a cyber-enhanced so called Capsule Pilot commandeering your ship by brainwave commands out of a goo-filled Capsule (also called Pod or Egg). Nearly all ships have crew, which do the everyday tasks needed to keep a ship in good shape. Note that in the backstory only the players are Capsule Pilots and most ships doing business in the galaxy (ie NPCs) are NOT piloted by a such a Pilot (those have regular crews or are unmanned drones). Ther are exeptions to this, but those are rare.
6.) Plans, yes, but don't ask for an ETA (estimated time of arrival).
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Originally posted by Mandolin
Designers need to move away from the old D&D level-based model which was never designed for player vs player combat in the first place.
1. I played for 5 months when I first opened my account, and as I was one to try every module I found, I was disheartened by the constant need to train new skills. The absolute worst part of EVE is the slow start, but the training system itself is top notch. If you make a plan for your character and follow it, you can get into your role rather quickly by focusing on only the skills you need to succeed at your chosen path.
2. New players are treated very well as far as I've seen. EVE is a very welcoming community overall, and because everyone plays on one server, there isn't much room for the elitism you find in other games.
3. Mining, trading, hauling, manufacturing, research and development, and a wealth of other opportunities are open in the EVE universe. Not to mention, if you dive into the RP, you could start inventing and selling services that aren't necessarily supported by the game mechanics, but are desired by your fellow roleplayers.
4. Over 20,000 people on one server... need I say more? RP is there. You've got to find the group that works well with you.
5. Some people really like to debate the crew issue, but if you read the EVE Prime Fiction stories, it is quite clear that crews do exist for your ships. You don't really interact with them as a matter of gameplay, but they are definitely there. As an example, my Dominix-class battleship has a listed crew complement of 6200.
6. It always seems to be in the works. Hopefully it will be along soon.
2) When you originally begin you are instated within two channels that you cannot close, yes you can minimise and forget about them, but you cannot 'leave' them. They are the 'question and answers' or 'newbie help' chat and the race NPC corp 'chat' that everyone is in until they go into a player corp, well everyone of your specific race and 'school' The newbie help chat is extreamly helpful, only new players and Vets with specific permission are allowed in that certain chat. So you will always get help if you ask for it.
3 ) Well combat and mining are 2 of the biggest sinks in the game, closely followed if not led by production, as in some one gives you minerals, you get a BPO or BPC (blue print originals/copies) and build a certain thing out of them. Only problem is that a lot of production requires a lot of mining. (and in some cases minerals that are only from 0.0 - Zidrine[sp?] and Megacite, so they cost a lot) then theres hauling/trading where you buy low sell high. You find an item for cheap, and an area where their are buy orders, but nothing for sale. Pick up and drag the stuff there. Sometimes this can take a while. but it almost always ends in a profit since not many people will fill this criteria. After this there is 'exploration' it isn't all to hard to do at the moment, but in kali they are releasing a entire new system for the scanner where objects that will never appear in the over view can be discovered by ships with fittings for 'scanning' and 'exploration' where they can find ruined stations etc, and so forth find relics of the past, and jovan's goods (a 5th race that is unplayable but are technologically advanced to everything else, look up the LORE for more information) there are a few other fields again.
4) There are entire corporations built around role play, the races have all got basic aggressions against one another, all of the LORE describes little stories. Most vets, after they get out of their gank or money grub mind have a role playing side. I know the 2 years in my corp/alliance have entire back stories to their characters, they have wants and needs, families, grudges, likes, etc. Beyond this subtlety there are entire 'events' by the dev's that allow players to partake in new Lore, as they give you control of special role play characters etc. But this is only for the role play crowd which achieves a lot of attention. (A certain 2 or three ships that were one offs were released under control of these role play characters, who then went and sold them. They are now the super rare ships that cost you a dreadnought to aquire (3-6 Billion isk). There is a lot for a role player, as long as they like space, ships and a knack for complete domination in their chosn field .
- example of a character Bio for role play -
After many years working as a spot killer for the Caldari Navy, [character] found himself tireing of the disputes between his nation and that of their old neighbours, the Gallante. He had been sent assassinate too many of them in recent times to warrant a reason. The other Pirate corporations of low sec, non empire. Had almost ceased to be noticed by his government. [Character] tired of this. Tired of the way his government secretly destroyed the chances of a truthful peace between the races, and a unity that would easily follow.
[character] sat in his interceptor class frigate on the verge of Gallante territory, awaiting the go for his hite mission. As usual during the down time between arrival at the set point and the go signal [character] played with a second radio he had installed into his craft. He crossed waved from the first time he had used it, searching the badwidths. Static blarred at him from the earpiece, then suddenly he crossed a line. it wasn't Naval, or coded. [Character] listened to his future.
- end -
5) Yeah the ship is well, HUGE and yes the ship is 'manned' a BC -350 crew- a BS -3000 crew- a mothership/dreadnaught -5000/10000- and titans, I think the stats said 30000 crew. but in reality with who is in the ship with you,. no body is in the ship with you. Just you and your little pod
6) Ownership of planets, yes, mining of planets, yes, 'settlements' on planets, yes. Human avatar, No. Dev's have no plans for them in the near future, let alone a long while off. They say they may implament them after they stop comming up with other idea's. But then there would be so much other stuff do do in the first place, let alone have the limitations of walking around in the extreamly restricted avatar. I doubt any combat will be legit with them for a long while. And then there will be more and more arguments about how combat would work etc. So not much comming from the dev's for it
Thats my answer. Long, maybe too long. But I hope it helps, GL ingame, hope to see you. Names Rowan Chiquar. Give us a yell if you want any info ingame. I'm always 20 minutes from Jita (biggest hub in game, best market) Unless corp needs fleet support somewhere off. So yeah I am always up to help. ^_^
"Just because there are other colours to use in chat does not mean you have to use them..." - Please follow
1. You can play for how long or little you feel like. Eve doesn't have you grinding up your skills as they train over time.
2. There are newbie chat channels and even corps like Eve university who will take you on and put you through a training program. Or RP alliances who have training corps.
3. You can build a business empire if you want without shooting anything. There are many different types of corporations due to Eve being a sandbox with a free style of play.
4. The RP alliances I know have 1000's of players but in Eve you are kinda forced into some form of roleplaying due to its nature. Take an alliance defending it's space for instance. Even though they don't call themselves roleplayers they are still roleplaying with inter-alliance politics and all.
5. Yes, you get a crew but its only a attribute of your ship.
6. The devs have been talking about this for some time but it will be a few years before we see anything like that imo.
1. I've been playing about 2-3 hours a week although my time ingame is gradually increasing to previous levels of 10-20 hours a week. When playing 3 hours a week I only felt like I was not totally in touch with current events. Of course time not spent playing only impacts your economical growth, or lack thereof. 2-3 days should be enough time to fit a "compitent" ship although it's not going to be comparible to a 2 year vet with tech 2 fitted modules on a battleship.
2. The community is pretty solid. One of the best out there and that's saying a lot! The new player corporations are generally very helpfull and there's even a noob chat. Many corporations are also actively recruiting new pilots and will take you under their wings if you have what it takes.
3. Not sure I understand this question; Bountyhunting can be lucrative although it's not easy.
4. As much as you want. Rollplay is a gray area. Even though there's ppl who will state "i hate rp'n with u f'n nubes!!1" just about EVERY single player is rollplaying to a certain extent. Are you meaning players who actually exist in character during their entire online process?
5. You cannot walk around inside your ships; maybe in 2 years. At one time each ship would show the number of its crew although it had no purpose other then to assist with immersion. I think it's been cast asside for the most part until better things get implemented; I would LOVE to stand on the bridge while watching a plethora of cruise missles raining down on the enimies Carrier!
6. Yes! No date is schedualed though. There's been some alpha scripts of a ground game and atmospherical flight that the DEV's said were extremely poor thus never expanded on it it's previous state. They _are_ intending to allow players to have their character move about in some fassion. The talk about planets appears that they would move towards an RTS stylized gaming engine where your actuall personal, corp and alliance's assets come into play while controling the planets would provide for a nice perk in your goal of total domination!
And roll play you ask? Yarr !!
Remember in the old star trek episodes when they were in combat and someones control panel always went up in sparks and smoke? now that would be cool hehe
On a serious note though, I do hope if the human avatar thing is done it is well thought out etc, because it would change the game so much it could really bork the whole EVE experience. Being an ex-SWG player
I generally fear change in mmorpgs, the larger the change the more I fear it.
Remember in the old star trek episodes when they were in combat and someones control panel always went up in sparks and smoke? now that would be cool hehe
On a serious note though, I do hope if the human avatar thing is done it is well thought out etc, because it would change the game so much it could really bork the whole EVE experience. Being an ex-SWG player
I generally fear change in mmorpgs, the larger the change the more I fear it.
Well since all EVE pilots are pod-pilots, there is no bridge for you to stand on. Essentially the pod is a detachable bridge. If CCP does implement avatars, it will likely only allow you to walk around stations or similar locations on planets and it will only be fluff, it will not add anything to the game besides that, which is fine.
First they have to get kali out though and then work on planetary interaction.
In #3 of the EVE Online magazine there's an intresting bit of fiction that details a return visit aboard an Amarr battleship. It went into detail how the ship was designed prior to the use of "pods" with a few flash backs of recalling controls and cables previously existing in the gutted enterior of the bs's bridge - with a reconstructed containment on the bridge for the pod pilot that now controled all the functions. It was a good read on the bus while being stuck in traffic.
I agree, changes like this to a game as impressive as EVE Online are concerning. Thankfully the developers are completely in touch with the game, it's genre and the players that make its community. I have little to no fear in decisions made by CCP.
If I wanted to be a Ship/Weapon Maker...is there a particular manner in which I need to build my starting character to start off on that path? I think my character is going to be Gallente (Jin-Mei), if it means anything.
is it possible to screw up character creation and make a "gimped" character in this game, at all? or will I still be good if I pick a few of the wrong things unknowingly?
No partiicular manner as there are no classes as you can lear any races skills so its impossable to gimp a charecter.
One thing tho make sure your atributes are more or less equell to garantee consistant training times.
Oh one thing ANY skill is available on npc markets to buy so you can be anything you want over time.
No partiicular manner as there are no classes as you can lear any races skills so its impossable to gimp a charecter.
One thing tho make sure your atributes are more or less equell to garantee consistant training times.
Oh one thing ANY skill is available on npc markets to buy so you can be anything you want over time.
Complitely agree with that statmanet. Make sure that all your stats are distributed evenly, that way you will have ability to learn skills from all areas at consistant rate.
Another thing is make sure that you will start with gallente frigate at lvl 4. You can do it though going custom buiild and playing around with options (I dont remember exact order) but that will give you a really good start early on since you will be able to fly best frigate right off the only issue is to earn the money.
I personally disagree here i think you would rather select industry based sklls instead considering you want to be a wepons manufacturer.