|
|
| Line 1: |
Line 1: |
| I played World of Warcraft for many years; in that game I had characters in both factions; one of each class, with over 400,000 PVP kills among them. I left because I was bored. The first time I tried EVE, I mined some ore, made some money, bought a good ship, and set out to do stuff. But there didn't seem to be anything to do, and whenever I got into a fight, I died. I got frustrated and left. I played some more WoW, tried Guild Wars, and Elder Scrolls and a couple of others, but EVE had piqued my curiosity and I decided to come back to it.
| | EVE Online is just one of the many, many MMORPGs in existence. Though EVE is fairly well-known among the gaming community for being unique, EVE's differences can be very jarring for players who are coming from more "traditional" MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV, Rift, Everquest, and other fantasy games. |
|
| |
|
| This time I lucked into EVE University and found a group of players dedicated to explaining how the game works. So let's start there: ''if you have a question ask it.'' These people are smart and experienced and like most teachers, they love nothing better than to talk. Give them the chance and they will produce the little nitty gritty details that you need to get good at this game.
| | The following are some of the most common differences that may confuse new players coming to EVE from one of the aforementioned games: |
|
| |
|
| In my opinion EVE is difficult, not because anything it requires you to do is inherently hard, but because there are a ''LOT'' of different, interacting, things that affect your character – and, because the game is not organized like most online role playing games. So here is quick overview of some the ways that EVE differs from traditional RPGs. The summary comes first, and then because I, too, like to talk, there are more details at the bottom. In the middle is a "to do" list of useful stuff you might not have tried yet.
| | ==Characters in EVE do not level. There is no level cap.== |
| | You do not play to gain "experience" and "level up". Instead, without actually playing, you learn new [[Basic_Skills|skills]] – by putting the ones you want to learn into a training queue (which continues to run even when you are logged out) – and you play to improve your ability to use the skills you have already learned. (This is unusual, so to repeat: No amount of PVP or the killing of NPC pirates will help your character advance; you can only advance by clicking on the "[[Skills_Training_101#Skills.2C_categories.2C_and_skill_points|Training Queue]]" button on your character screen and putting some skills into the queue.) ([[#Characters_do_not_level_in_EVE._There_is_no_level_cap.|MORE]]) |
|
| |
|
| I've spent a year in EVE now ... and my brain is beginning to fill up with ship fits and strange asteroid names ... and soon I will forget how hard it was to make sense of it all in the beginning. So I'm writing this before the memory of my "new" player experience fades. This is ''not'' an Official Document ... you can find a nice set of links to the E-UNI rules, regulations and doctrines on the [[EVE_University_Consolidated_Information|Consolodated Information Page]] ... this is just my personal reflection on a beginner's time in EVE, hoping to give some insight into the things that seemed to need the most explanation.
| | You play to improve your ability to use your skills. And you gain new skills by "training" them. There are a LOT of skills, and you can only train one at a time. Each level of each skill takes a fixed amount of time to learn, and this means that all characters in EVE learn new skills at the same rate. This makes your choice of skills, and [[Skill#How_Many_Levels.3F|skill levels]], a key factor in developing your character. |
| | |
| | Just to give a taste of the breadth of the skill set: each of the four racial factions has [[Template:ShipsMatrix|six levels of ships]] (frigates, destroyers, cruisers, battle cruisers, battleships, and capital ships), and each level requires a basic "spaceship" skill. Since there are five levels to every skill, this means you need to acquire 4 factions x 6 ship types x 5 skill levels = 120 skill levels to maximize your skill at piloting all the basic faction ships. And that's just the racial factions ... the Pirate factions have their own ship categories, as do various other NPC groups. And within each faction there are special "advanced" ships that have their own required skills. |
|
| |
|
| ==Bullet List – Each Item Has More Details in Section 5, Below==
| | In addition there are numerous categories of equipment that also fit on the ships ... scanners, afterburners, drones, and the like. And there are four kinds of weapons systems (solid projectile, missile, charged projectile and ray beam). The weapons systems come in small, medium and large, and each has its own set of skills. Most combat ships can use more than one type. |
|
| |
|
| ====Characters in EVE do not level. There is no level cap.====
| | This makes the process of "[[Fitting_Modules_and_Rigs_Guide|fitting]]" a ship ... or choosing the weapons and other gear for a particular craft ... very complicated. You will spend more time getting your ships ready to fight than you ever did building a gear set in any other RPG. The results can be very satisfying, though, because with so many options, you get to design a ship that best fits your abilities and style of play. |
| You do not play to gain "experience" and "level up". Instead, without actually playing, you learn new [[Basic_Skills|skills]] – by putting the ones you want to learn into a training queue (which continues to run even when you are logged out) – and you play to improve your ability to use the skills you have already learned. (This is unusual, so to repeat: No amount of PVP or the killing of NPC pirates will help your character advance; you can only advance by clicking on the "[[Skills_Training_101#Skills.2C_categories.2C_and_skill_points|Training Queue]]" button on your character screen and putting some skills into the queue.) ([[#Characters_do_not_level_in_EVE._There_is_no_level_cap.|MORE]])
| | |
| | But that only describes ships and their gear. There are more skill sets available in Mining, Scanning, Navigation, Industry, Science, Leadership and other non-combat activities. The time varies for different skills, but generally, the first level of a skill takes a few minutes to learn, the second level about an half an hour, and the third some number of hours. It can take from a few hours to a few weeks to learn the fourth and fifth levels of a skill. The good news is that training continues while you are logged off ... but even so, it takes years to learn everything the game has to offer. |
| | |
| | On the other hand, since there is no level cap, you will not run out of things to do. And, since there is no rush to level up, you can take your time to master one particular set of skills before moving on to the next. Or, you can train a variety of lower level skills and work your way up multiple paths. EVE is very flexible in that regard. (Many players train to Level III in skills they need, Level IV in skills they use a lot, and only go to Level V if there is a pressing need ... like a prerequisite to a higher skill, for example.) |
| | |
| | '''THE BOTTOM LINE:''' Don't run around chasing points or items. Decide what you want your character to DO (combat, exploration, mining, industry) and focus on learning the skills you need to continually improve your results. Choose your ships, gear, missions and so on to support your choice of "career". [[#Characters_in_EVE_do_not_level._There_is_no_level_cap.|(BACK)]] |
|
| |
|
| ====Improving your character's skills will change the power of your gear.==== | | ====Improving your character's skills will change the power of your gear.==== |
| Line 150: |
Line 158: |
|
| |
|
| ==The Details== | | ==The Details== |
| ====Characters do not level in EVE. There is no level cap.====
| |
| You play to improve your ability to use your skills. And you gain new skills by "training" them. There are a LOT of skills, and you can only train one at a time. Each level of each skill takes a fixed amount of time to learn, and this means that all characters in EVE learn new skills at the same rate. This makes your choice of skills, and [[Skill#How_Many_Levels.3F|skill levels]], a key factor in developing your character.
| |
|
| |
| Just to give a taste of the breadth of the skill set: each of the four racial factions has [[Template:ShipsMatrix|six levels of ships]] (frigates, destroyers, cruisers, battle cruisers, battleships, and capital ships), and each level requires a basic "spaceship" skill. Since there are five levels to every skill, this means you need to acquire 4 factions x 6 ship types x 5 skill levels = 120 skill levels to maximize your skill at piloting all the basic faction ships. And that's just the racial factions ... the Pirate factions have their own ship categories, as do various other NPC groups. And within each faction there are special "advanced" ships that have their own required skills.
| |
|
| |
| In addition there are numerous categories of equipment that also fit on the ships ... scanners, afterburners, drones, and the like. And there are four kinds of weapons systems (solid projectile, missile, charged projectile and ray beam). The weapons systems come in small, medium and large, and each has its own set of skills. Most combat ships can use more than one type.
| |
|
| |
| This makes the process of "[[Fitting_Modules_and_Rigs_Guide|fitting]]" a ship ... or choosing the weapons and other gear for a particular craft ... very complicated. You will spend more time getting your ships ready to fight than you ever did building a gear set in any other RPG. The results can be very satisfying, though, because with so many options, you get to design a ship that best fits your abilities and style of play.
| |
|
| |
| But that only describes ships and their gear. There are more skill sets available in Mining, Scanning, Navigation, Industry, Science, Leadership and other non-combat activities. The time varies for different skills, but generally, the first level of a skill takes a few minutes to learn, the second level about an half an hour, and the third some number of hours. It can take from a few hours to a few weeks to learn the fourth and fifth levels of a skill. The good news is that training continues while you are logged off ... but even so, it takes years to learn everything the game has to offer.
| |
|
| |
| On the other hand, since there is no level cap, you will not run out of things to do. And, since there is no rush to level up, you can take your time to master one particular set of skills before moving on to the next. Or, you can train a variety of lower level skills and work your way up multiple paths. EVE is very flexible in that regard. (Many players train to Level III in skills they need, Level IV in skills they use a lot, and only go to Level V if there is a pressing need ... like a prerequisite to a higher skill, for example.)
| |
|
| |
| '''THE BOTTOM LINE:''' Don't run around chasing points or items. Decide what you want your character to DO (combat, exploration, mining, industry) and focus on learning the skills you need to continually improve your results. Choose your ships, gear, missions and so on to support your choice of "career". [[#Characters_in_EVE_do_not_level._There_is_no_level_cap.|(BACK)]]
| |
|
| |
|
| ===Your character's skills will modify various attributes of your gear. === | | ===Your character's skills will modify various attributes of your gear. === |
