Is it worth getting into EVE online?

[Shemming]

So having some free time and such, and I hear alot about EVE I'm wondering is it worth putting the time into it? There seems a consensus that its a rather hard core game, but is it hard to get into? Especially if you could only put a few hours in a day.
Any tips for starting out? stuff like that?

 

[Smooth Operator]

If you enjoy doing Excell spread sheets in your spare time then this is game of the year... every year, plus there is some space background to liven things up.

But if economics aren't your favorite thing in the world then look elsewhere.

 

[Corven]

They have a 14 day free trial give that a bash and see if the game is something you'll like, the beginners tutorial gives you a good handle on how to operate your ship. From what I remember time commitment isn't a real problem since using advanced weaponry and ships isn't based on level gain but on skill research.

For example if you want to learn how to use an advanced weapon you buy a skill book, make sure you have requisite skills acquired, then you queue up the skill and while it is "researching" it will take X amount of time before you know how to use the weapon, a word of warning though the more advanced the skill you're researching the longer it will take to finish, I think at one point it would take 5 days real time before I would know a certain skill.

The only warning I would give is to stay within high sec areas, which is rated between 1.0 to 0.5, for a beginner don't even try going through low sec or null sec areas of space unless you like having your ship blown up(which in this game means that it is gone for good unless you bought some insurance).

 

[Karoshi]

Here's an article which is gonna give you a pretty accurate picture about EVE and how hard/easy it is to get into it. The writer gives a couple tips and his view on things, as well as a few reason why it's worth playing.

Also, here's a pretty educational infographic which most people agree with:

 

[Don Incognito]

I tried the trial several months back, and bailed as soon as it became apparent that you do not actually fly your ship. You just click a destination and it flies there. There are no actual dogfights or anything. I was... incredibly disappointed.

 

[Hagi]

It's very much worth trying the Trial.

Chances are pretty high it won't be the game for you. It's not directly demanding of time but it is demanding in organisation, knowledge and dedication. You can do perfectly fine with just a few hours a day as long as you're good at organizing things with your corp (guild) mates, know exactly what you want to achieve and how to achieve it as well as having a clear picture of what you are and aren't capable of.

It's definitely not the game for everyone but I don't think many will disagree, even those who don't like it, that it's something unique and special. So I'd say give the Trial a go, at worst you'll gain some more knowledge on all the different types of games out there and at best you'll find an amazing online world that's alive unlike any other.

 

[PrimitiveJudge]

Here's an article which is gonna give you a pretty accurate picture about EVE and how hard/easy it is to get into it. The writer gives a couple tips and his view on things, as well as a few reason why it's worth playing.

Also, here's a pretty educational infographic which most people agree with:

That is the single most greatest thing I have ever seen and it is right on the money.

OT: When you create a character make sure you have the highest INT possible, it reduces the time to learn new skills. I would suggest 0.7 to 1.0 sec areas, the NPC pirates in 0.6 and lower might be to tough. Stick to scavaging missions, bounty missions and mining. and you WILL be doing A LOT of mining.

 

[synobal]

If you enjoy doing Excell spread sheets in your spare time then this is game of the year... every year, plus there is some space background to liven things up.

But if economics aren't your favorite thing in the world then look elsewhere.

This just isn't true. You can play eve with out ever getting into the market or industry, or building anything or research anything. Now if you do get into eve and you like it at some point you might want to get into that but it is by no means Excel online, and that joke really is getting old.

It perhaps once applied to the game but Eve has become so much more than what it once was.

 

[Xyebane]

First off, yes Free-trial it up. Second, don't dump everything into INT. Each skill has a primary and secondary attribute which determine their training time, only some of which (the crappy ones to boot) depend on int. Go Perception and Willpower for combat skills. Thirdly, if you do like it, join a corporation right away, finding a good corporation is the key to enjoying EVE online as you won't stand a chance alone. Lastly, they keep trying to reduce the learning curve, but I have no idea if they have succeeded. You have to have some guts in EVE though. Don't start thinking of your ship as precious and enjoy the beginning when your ships are small and crappy and losing them is no big deal. Remember it is still a game and meant to be fun so get out there and shoot some people and damned be the consequences!

 

[Hagi]

OT: When you create a character make sure you have the highest INT possible, it reduces the time to learn new skills. I would suggest 0.7 to 1.0 sec areas, the NPC pirates in 0.6 and lower might be to tough. Stick to scavaging missions, bounty missions and mining. and you WILL be doing A LOT of mining.

Erm... That's not how learning skills works...

Each skill has it's own attributes, two in fact. A primary which gains 100% from that attribute and a secondary which only counts for 50%.

There's many good skills, especially at the start, which have Intelligence as their primary. But there's just as many that use other attributes.

Intelligence generally covers support skills that increase the defenses of your ship as well as bonuses to that make it easier to fit more stuff on your ship (more guns, more repair modules, more resistances etc.)
Memory generally covers industry related skills that make you better at mining, better at manufacturing, better at research etc.
Perception generally covers weaponry and ship related skills. Anything that makes you do more damage or fly new ships generally uses perception.
Willpower generally covers leadership related skills as well as advanced ship skills. It governs skills which allow you to give bonuses to your squad mates as well as fly more specialized versions of the various ships.
Charisma generally covers trade and corporation related skills. It allows you to put up more buy or sell orders, create bigger corporations etc.

Starting out I'd recommend maxing out Intelligence and Perception, putting Charisma as low as possible and dividing the remaining points evenly between willpower and memory.

On top of that you won't ever have to do any mining at all if you don't want to. Nor anything else. Most activities in EVE either earn you isk (money) directly to buy the stuff you need or are valuable to corporations so they'll provide you the stuff you need if you do them for the corporation.

If you want to mine, go mine. If you want to fight NPCs, go do missions. If you want to PvP, join a big corp with a good ship program and go do PvP.

 

[iblis666]

dont know about others but i like eve, movement maybe a bit different than some would like but it works well in eve. Now it is true that the shining glory of this game is the economy and to give an example I play the economy and have not paid in real money to play in years. But even if you dont want to do that you dont have to since there are so many missions and fighting options you will not get bored.

 

[iblis666]

double post damn captcha

 

[J Tyran]

I tried the trial several months back, and bailed as soon as it became apparent that you do not actually fly your ship. You just click a destination and it flies there. There are no actual dogfights or anything. I was... incredibly disappointed.

It can seem like that but its not true, I mean for mission running maybe but for pvp you have to fly your ship. You need to learn how to maneuver, get in the best position to do damage but take none. Avoid ECM and tackle the target. Then you have all the tactics behind the fighting.

This is a quick tutorial made by a player, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfovPbZQhBk] it shows a larger slower ship can tackle a smaller faster one by clever maneuvering. Thats just one example in one scenario.

Remember you are not just controlling the ship, you have to be aware of everything around and use tactics. You are also Managing the ships weapons and equipment, making mistakes here can cost you your ship. Its not like a single seat space fighter game, you are commanding a large ship. They are big, even frigates are 75-100m. Cruisers are 300-400m long.

You dog fight as such but you have to control and manage your ship and adapt to situations on the fly.

 

[TrevHead]

Yeah it might seem that Eve is really hampered by m&k but it really isn't as while the game isn't twitch there's alot to process in a good fight especially if you are coardinating with a fleet and a fleet commander. The fact that you lose your ship for good makes it high stakes play that ppl will either hate or love to death.

tips for noobs, don't train skills to be a jack of all trades, aim to do one specific thing like salvaging get decent at it then move on to another, Im not sure if this changed from when I played the game, but your starting race is important at the beginning, if you choose Caldari whose ships are mostly missile based you will be at a serious disadvange for big fleet, and fleet commanders don't want them due to it taking time for the missiles to reach their target. Caldari pwn for EDIT PVE though.

Learn the rules of engagement, when and not others can attack you, don't enter low sec unless you are expecting to lose your ship. Fights are usually 3 types, opportunistic, camping at gates at choke points (high sec to low sec gates have alot of campers, and fleet fights. Master the art of running away and setting your HUD up so you know whats going on in system and you will lose alot less ships.

Setting up a 2nd account and running an alt is highly recommended if you are serious about the game, you can train for different ships and professions twice as fast, (have 1 PVP character and 1 PVE Caldari character). Just running a trial account alt pays for scouting ahead in lowsec/ 0.0.

Don't fly what you can't afford to lose, always have atleast 1 or 2 Isk making ships so you can replace loses.

When learning PVP don't fly alone it will just get you dead fast, fly with a fleet, Eve University is a good place to start. Remember alot of good corps wont take trial accounts, and getting into a good corp should be your top priority, just make sure their goals meet yours.

The game is a sandbox you need to be proactive in setting you own goals and finding your own fun, a good corp should facilitate this.

Get used to using voice chat, all the good corps use them.

 

[cerebreturns]

I prefer eve offline, aka x3

 

[BrotherRool]

If you like getting involved socially, that's practically what EVE is about, find a corp to hook up with as soon as possible, apart from anything they can really help break the learning curve into something a lot easier. All the best stuff in EVE always comes from the people on people interaction anyway

 

[J Tyran]

if you choose Caldari whose ships are mostly missile based you will be at a serious disadvange for big fleet, and fleet commanders don't want them due to it taking time for the missiles to reach their target. Caldari pwn for PVP though..

Missiles have been used in fleets and gangs, large and small since 2007-2008. Longish range, no cap use and less management and and general lag resistance in really big fights. It even got to the stage when you would see gangs of several hundred missile focused battlecruisers, nerfs have calmed that down and the meta has moved on but missiles are still used. Back in the days of sniper battleships your comment was true but they died a long time ago.

 

[piinyouri]

Kind of off-topic, but can anyone really "get into" a game like EVE?
I figure it's something you're either going to play once and say "I love this!" or "This is crap!"

Anywho, as others have said it's very VERY involving. Get with a good corp, keep your nose clean (or not) and your ears and eyes open.

 

[TrevHead]

if you choose Caldari whose ships are mostly missile based you will be at a serious disadvange for big fleet, and fleet commanders don't want them due to it taking time for the missiles to reach their target. Caldari pwn for PVP though..

Missiles have been used in fleets and gangs, large and small since 2007-2008. Longish range, no cap use and less management and and general lag resistance in really big fights. It even got to the stage when you would see gangs of several hundred missile focused battlecruisers, nerfs have calmed that down and the meta has moved on but missiles are still used. Back in the days of sniper battleships your comment was true but they died a long time ago.

Do you mean the 0.0 big fleet battles too? I would have thought the high number of ships would make missiles wasteful.