EVE On-Line Help.

As in, help me understand what the hell this game is about.

I bought it a couple of weeks ago, and so far I don’t really know what to make of it. It looks freaking fantastic and I’m pretty sure I grasp all the basics. I can get to where I want to go; I can usually successfully fight mercenary ships (if they aren’t too good and there aren’t too many of them); I can outfit my ships the way I need to; I can manage my training queue and certificates … but after that, I just don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to be doing.

I’ve talked to every agent I can find and I’ve done the missions I can do. There are a few missions that I think I’m just too weak, ship-wise, to accomplish. I did have a slight set back in that I had a couple of missions open but then spent a week in the hospital (like a real hospital, not some EVE hospital) so they expired and now the agents won’t even talk to me.

I’ve diddly-bopped though the market and checked out militia offices and some more of the esoterica of the game. And except for applying to one randomly chosen corporation (which I’ve not heard back from) …

… what the hell am I supposed to be doing.

I so want to love this game, but I don’t think I’m getting it.

Any pros out there that can offer a little help? Or a decent guide? Or something.

I hate being this incompetent at a really cool computer game.

I’ve played EVE for years and I’m still uncompentent!

I think that is the beauty of EVE Online: you aren’t supposed to be doing anything - it’s really wide open.

But I think the typical direction for directionless new players is to do some mining and make some ISK to improve your ship. Once you’ve skilled up and bought better equipment, it opens more practical doors for you.

Well that sound pretty boring, but I may have to go for it. I already lost my best ship (that one you get in the beginning that kind of looks like a spread eagled guy) by way of not figuring out how to warp out of a dangerous situation fast enough. Ooh, did that piss me off.

I have like a mil and half ISK. I get the feeling that in EVE, that’s pretty much chump change though.

Played for many years here and as mentioned above I am still learning.

EVE is different in that it really is a sandbox game. Unlike WOW which gives you a very linear path to progress EVE gives you practically none. It is all up to you to find your own way. A sandbox is boring too till you decide if you want to build a sand castle or bury your little brother or whatever. Once a goal is settled on then it is fun.

As such, to enjoy EVE, you really need to set some short, mid and long term goals for yourself. No right or wrong answer there, just whatever suits you. With those goals in your sights you will be better set to go about achieving them.

In games like WOW I tend to prefer the solo life but in EVE that is not advisable. You can of course but not the best route. Joining a player run corp can hugely affect your enjoyment of the game (bad one can ruin it, good one is golden). EVE has a remarkably cool player base. Average age I think is 28 so not a lot of kiddies mucking things up (and what younguns there are tend to be a cut above…game takes some brains). Of course there are asshats in every crowd but by and large EVE is a great bunch. Better still, it is a distinctly international bunch. Most everyone speaks English so not a problem there but cool chatting with people from all over the world.

There are corps to fit any style of play you want (read lots and lots of them out there) from HUGE alliance based corps to ma-and-pop operations and anything else you can think of. If you don’t join my corp or another Doper’s corp then hit the EVE Forums and advertise yourself in the Alliance and Corporation Recruitment Center. Feel free (indeed it behooves you) to state exactly what you are looking for. People will not trick you into some group that is not a match but guaranteed someone will be by to offer you a spot. Be truthful that you are a noob, tell them what you’d like to do and see where it goes. Definitely ask questions of them (ship replacement program, profit sharing, demands they make on their members and so on).

If it turns out you don’t like a given group you can always leave the corp and go find another.

EVE is an amazing game and beats the pants off anything else out there. Hope you learn to love it. The potential is certainly there.

ETA: Yeah, 1.5 mil is chump change to an older player (I can earn that in about 10 minutes now) but it is a good start for a new player. Sounds like you are off to a good start.

I opened this thread to say something similar. I bought the game as soon as it came out.

I haven’t played it a lot, but that’s because I feel out of my depth constantly while I’m in the game. I don’t understand what’s happening and I don’t know what to do. or… more importantly… how to have fun!

I feel like homer in 3d land “I’m somewhere where I don’t know where I am”.

I have a group of friends/colleagues who until a few months ago constantly pestered me to get back into the game. They gave up after it became obvious to them that I wasn’t biting.

It’s a shame really because it’s a visually beautiful game.

Yeah, it’s a sandbox. Your goal is not presupplied.

I happen to think PvE is boring. I did a lot of grinding of hte market but lost a bunch of money and it’s been tedious getting it back up to speed so I’m taking a break right now.

You can get into the big alliance wars for control of space if you want, or you can play solo. You can be a pirate or you can be a carebear miner, whatever floats your boat, and you can get into anything at any level. I know it seems like you have to do a lot to be useful but that’s not true. I can get you PVP ready during the trial period if that’s what you wanted. Then again you have to think of advancement in terms of longer time periods. If you still think training a skill for 10 or 20 days is forever well then you’re not really into the rhythm of the game. Eve has a serious time commitment, and that’s just the reality.

If you want to fly missions for an npc agent, you most likely can. Open your character info sheet, look at the standings tab, and sort by corporations that like you. Then open the info screen on a corporation with positive standings to you (most likely your faction’s navy will be at or near the top of the list, so you could just jump straight to their info screen). There will be an agents tab, and it will show you a list of that corporation’s agents, along with the agents’ levels, locations, and which ones are available to you.

I can’t tell by your description which ship you lost, so I’m not sure which race you chose, but with a bit of information we could probably give you a recommendation on a frigate setup that will deal with any level 1 missions, and will likely cost no more than 1.5M isk.

What faction are you running missions for? You could run one level 4 mission with any of us and you’ll be able to get up to L2 agents with the standing accrued from just one. It’s an easy shortcut that doesn’t require much effort from us. Also, having a noob in a frigate or destroyer popping frigates makes missions much easier.

Appreciate all the comments and advice.

I’ll have to more fully respond once I get home, because I honestly can’t remember my faction. Gallentie or something like that.

I’ve been a little off my feet too lately, so I haven’t been able to sink a lot of time into it, but I’m hoping to get into a little after-work-for-a-few-hours kind of dealio if I can get things in the swing.

I’ll check back after work today and see if I can’t get with the program.

I run missions for Federation Navy which is the Gallente military. I could very easily take you along on a single level 4 mission. Your cut on it will give you the standing you need to be able to use agents easily, some buffer so that if you fuck up a few missions you won’t lose your agents, and more money than you’ve gotten previously.

One of the big problems with missions is that there is definitely a right way to fit your ship and very little room for deviation. I got to Level 3 Missions and fit a permatanked Armor Repping Myrmidon and could get through any L3 with minimal effort long before I could ever do an L4. Now I do the same thing with a permarepped Hyperion.

ooooooo
/me looks interested in an l4 mission … but I promised Chaka we would mine tomorrow

im still having medication issues, and have not been playing [sort of hard when I seem to be randomly falling asleep on my keyboard, not safe to play in a group where I may get someone else killed]

EVE is, by far, the best PvP MMO out of any game out there. By a country mile.
If you’re looking for fun, your best bet will be to find a bunch of people and go do that. While you’re starting off, PvE makes you money. If you can get into a 0.0 alliance, killing NPC’s will give you cash pretty fast. There’s also wormhole space, but I’ve never even been there.

Best bet is most likely to find a bunch of people who like to kill folks, join their gangs, and go out and kill dudes. You’ll want to get a headset/mic (I can recommend one if you want) so you can use voice coms, because during combat it fucking sucks to have to type things out.

One thing to keep in mind, too, is that the winter expansion (Dominion) will radically alter virtually everything about 0.0 politics. We can’t tell right now how it’ll shake out, but however it’ll be, it’ll be massive. There will, most likely, be room for small 0.0 alliances to grab space as the larger groups contract to more defensible turf.

So far, I went back to mining for a few hours. Then I slashed my wrists from the boredom of it. Once I ressurected myself from the dead, I headed out to various stations and ran a few more missions, which got me some ISK and some experience. But, still, I’ve been doing that and that’s grating on me too. So I applied to two more random corporations. I didn’t put in some crazy ass CV as an application, just something along the lines of, “I’m a noob, can I play too?” Nothing. Not accepting new applications.

So I did the smart thing. I went to Steam and bought Silent Hunter 4: Wolves of the Pacific, and that took up most of my free time (which there wasn’t much of anyway) this weekend.

Idunno. I’d like to get into some PvP, but I’m not Joe World-of-Warcraft. I don’t have a roving band of fellow-geeks to join up with.

When I’m not sinking Japanese ocean vessels, I’ll get back in there and try to hook up with something fun … but so far, I’m just not feeling the joy.

Come out to Nakugard and apply to Action Inc, there are a couple dopers in the corp. We are tiny, and mainly into mining, but we have a few mission runners and people who also PVP. Join Bam’s Spot chat area to see if I am in game [aruvqan or margali] mswas is Teras.

Randomly applying to corps will likely not work. I certainly would not accept a random application. Best thing to do is to post your CV to the forums I linked above. You’ll get a hit.

Mining is exceptionally dull. When I do it I just use the pop out screen on Hulu and watch a movie while I mine. Or I read a book. Or I do some other work. Point is to do it when you’d be watching a movie/reading/working anyway and you can generate some cash in EVE at the same time. Another option is with a group you like chatting with and it becomes a mindless task while you sort of hang out.

Missioning is just a means to an end. By increasing your status with a Faction other stuff opens up to you (such as lower costs refining and so on). So, it can be useful.

True, mining can be incredibly boring, I read on my PDA, run one account with my mining boss and a second account with my miner character. Yesterday I was driving my orca [mining command ship] and playing my miner, with Chaka playing 2 miners and mrAru running his character, all mining ice in Nakugard. I think we mined 741 blocks or thereabouts. Before anybody else got in game, I mined 92 blocks for my miner alt to sell for ISKies.

Eh, I can solo an L4 so it doesn’t concern me. If you want to just let me know.

Jack Batty, you can join a corp in my alliance. You can’t join my corp because my corp is for me and my alts alone. No one but me is in my corp.

Mail Teras Menac if you’re interested. IF you REALLY want to get into PVP you can join my PVP corp which has mainly frigate pilots and get in on Minmatar militia fleets all you want.

sounds good, i need to do faction work… Rob has been running missions with me grouped while mining and sharing LPs <slacker mode>

Though right now my brain is dead, in the past 3 days I mined enough ice to fuel the POS for a month and a half.

Cool. I’ll look it up next time I’m on. Maybe sometime time this week.