User:Qwer Stoneghost/Old user page: Difference between revisions

I have played World of Warcraft for years. In that game I have characters in both factions; one of each class and 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.

In my opinion EVE is hard, not because anything it requires you to do is inherently difficult, but because there are a LOT of different, interacting, things that you need to do well. And, because the game is organized like nothing else you have ever seen.  

So here is quick overview of some the ways that EVE differs from traditional RPGs. The summary comes first, and because I, too, like to talk, there are details at the bottom. In the middle is a "to do" list of useful stuff you might not have tried yet. (I'm writing this after spending one year at E-UNI, while my "new" player experiences are still fresh.)

==Bullet List – Each Has a More Detailed Explanation Below==

You do not play to gain "experience" and "level up". Instead, you learn new skills ... by putting the ones you want to learn into a training queue ... and you play to improve your ability to use the skills you have already learned.  

Most of the time you cannot see the ships you meet. The display tells you where they are, how big they are, and if they are friend or foe. The E-UNI Overview Setup process takes about half an hour to complete, but when you're done, your display will tell you everything you need to know about your neighbors. (Seriously, do the setup ... seeing the flashing red indicator of a ship that wanted to kill me in time to flee has saved me more than once.)  

Most online role-playing games have a geography organized as a system of zones. Each zone includes non-player characters whose level lies in a small range, and quests in those zones focus on combat with those NPCs. As a player's character "levels up" it moves from one zone to the next and begins to meet stronger opponents. On the other hand, EVE solar systems are connected by "hyper-space jump gates" in a network that permits travel across the EVE galaxy. There are no restrictions on travel; you can go anywhere that you want to, and a solar systems will contain characters with a wide range of abilities.  

EVE Corporations have access to a tremendous range of resources. They can create offices at stations, declare war on other corporations, organize various kinds of fleets, and generally make life easier for their members. E-UNI will give you some of the gear you need to get started for free, and sell you other gear at cost. This is a good deal, and you should look into it.  

Fleets can be as large as the fleet commander can handle – hundreds of ships are not unusual. The leaders of a fleet pass some of their skills down to the fleet members. In this way fleets become more powerful as they gain more skilled leaders. Each E-UNI campus has its own "standing fleet" that members can join while they are flying in local space. This is a good way to meet fellow players and also to keep up on what's going on in the area.  

Ore is refined into minerals, which are combined with blueprints to manufacture gear, which is sold via contract to other players. This process requires as much skill as combat, takes as long to learn, and is just as much fun to play. While most players learn at least a few combat skills, a significant number of players do very little combat, preferring instead to explore, mine, manufacture, trade or administer.

This comes as a surprise to many experienced RPG players. You rez, not at a graveyard, but in your "medical clone", which you have stored at some station (possibly far from where you are). In the meantime, your ship was blown to pieces and the bad guys get to pick through the wreckage and take your stuff. Thus, the E-UNI Prime Directive: DO NOT FLY WHAT YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE.  

Most RPGs have a PVE track in which you battle Evil, and a PvP track in which you fight honorably against players of different factions. Both of these exist in EVE, but the game also includes PvP "criminal" activity. You can attack another player anywhere, anytime and attempt to kill them and make a living by stealing their stuff. In some systems this is illegal and consequences ensue, but in many systems the only consequences are those that might be dealt by the player you killed and his or her friends.

===Distance is Time.===  

It's not so much that the EVE galaxy is huge as that its systems are far apart. It can take over an hour just to fly from here to there – and that's just counting the distance, and not counting the PVP pirates who may get in your way. Although you can go anywhere in EVE, the game is easier to learn if you organize your activities to stay in one area of the map, at least at first.  

===Time Is Money.===  

In most RPGs, although crafting can contribute to your cash flow, the most valuable items are dropped as loot, and you sell these to make money. In EVE, however, the high value items are distributed among all of the "careers". How you use your time in game is important, but there is no easy "one size fits all" answer for how to get started. The details listed below give an overview and a few suggestions.  

There is a lot of stuff like this within the various displays. Not everyone uses all of it, but everyone uses some of it.

EVE's solar systems are connected by "hyper-space jump gates" in a network that permits travel across the EVE galaxy. In addition, there are some special portals, "wormholes", for example, that lead to locations not reachable by the jump gate network. There are no restrictions on travel; you can go anywhere that you want to.