Let me start by saying that I’m new and the game is pretty fun.
I was surprised to see that even the corvette proving grounds actually require magic 14 + a lot of shields, armor, navigation, and gunning skills to be on even footing. I won twice by luck but that arena isn’t really new-player friendly. I tried to copy fits of ships that killed me and I can’t even fit the things, not to mention my DPS and rep is way worse.
I get that I shouldn’t be able to use capitals one month in. I need like 6+ months of skill training to use an Astero (a T1 faction frigate) well. Ridiculous, but okay, sure. But I still need months to use the most basic ships at a competitive level.
I get that the EVE community is obsessed with the whole “I suffered so you must suffer too” mentality, which is fine. But is there really nothing you can do until you get skills? That’s not a good way to get many new players, and it seems completely unnecessary too. Will the game implode if it helps new players a bit?
Would it kill to have lower SP requirements for essential frigate skills (like magic 14), or at least ranking or SP-aware matchmaking on the proving grounds?
I wish this game/community would stop confusing pilot skills with real skills. I’m a competitive player, so I started playing this game because I kept hearing the game is hard but feels more like a pay-to-win grindfest, to be honest.
I’m sure there’s a lot to learn (and I’ve already been learning tough lessons), but when your stats are 30% below what they should you don’t really know what you’re supposed to be able to do or not.
So, is there anything I can do? Should I queu up 150 skills and come back next year?
Are you sure that you are a new player and not just some alt trying to gaslight with stupid stuff? Because that stuff is exactly what an old alt would say and not a clueless new player.
And who told you that? Here, check some of these videos. There are lots of T1 ships that you can use just fine with limited skills and still be able to kill people: https://www.youtube.com/c/eveiseasy/
You won’t be able to compete with everyone and you would be a fool to think that you should be able to. However, you will be able to do enough and kill enough people to learn the ways of PVP in practice (after learning them in theory from these videos and other videous/sources) so that you can eventually kill more people.
Obviously, you have to invest some days of training, but those days should be used to earn some ISK so that you can afford these cheap tools without going bankrupt after the first lost Thrasher or Merlin. You can also use these days to figure out where PVP happens, read and watch more info material about PVP and other aspects of EVE and then start your “I can do something” journey more well informed.
I’m a high level in a similar game called Oldschool Runescape, where people are also obsessed with the whole “I suffered so you must suffer too” mentality. I can basically afford the equivalent of 2-3 titans (black market USD equivalent) in that game. So I can see both sides.
At least that game has combat brackets, so you can PvP after one day of grinding skills and only face people with similar SP-equivalent and not people with accounts that take a year to build. That’s why it has 4-5x the active players.
Did you miss the part where I am talking about the corvette proving grounds, which according to the game description, is the most “basic”? Not sure what I should get from this YouTube channel, but I can kill explorers as much as the next guy as well, and you can see that I’ve done that in my zkill. I’ll keep looking through it.
Well this channel is not about killing explorers but actual combat ships in combat situations. And it’s also about to tell you that you don’t need all the skills in the world to fly different ships and engage different targets. You need to know how to use what you have and this is what this channel tries to tell you.
If you expect that in EVE, you will be sorely disappointed. This is nothing EVE needs and what EVE is about. Nor is it necessary. Things like the following can happen all the time:
It doesn’t always matter if you can’t fly the best and blingiest ship. All that matters is that you know what you are doing or that the other guy underestimates you and pays the price.
I was referring to skills not ISK cost of ship (that part is in a great place I’d say). I’m currently grinding isk to buy skill injectors to try to close the gap.
Eve is a game for the patient, personally I like it that after 7 years of playing there are still things for me to train and learn.
That said, the barrier for getting into pvp is quite low. I started at 2 weeks old in faction warfare, of course this was years ago but the game hasn’t changed that much since then, and a two week old can start now just as well.
Yeah, you won’t immediately be the top #1 killer in the area but occasionally you get a fight with a similarly skilled player and win. In time (as you gain experience and skill points) you’ll win more and learn to avoid the certain losses.
Don’t forget to make friends along the way, a group of 2 week old players can take down far more than you’d think.
Don’t go into arenas, if you are not maxed skills and use the optimal fit. These instances have little to do with PvP in the game, it only comes down who has the best skills, imps, fits and most alts queued. You know in a 5vs5 for example, you can expect fighting against 3-4 others colluding against you.
The most important part of EvE is missing in the instanced arenas … target selection and choosing where you want to fight, which in EvE is 95% of what decides whether you lose or win, concrete fit quality and ingame skills are secondary. This only requires knowledge and real life skills, which everybody can learn also with little budget.
you welcome.
i did grow lot of pilots in to PVP … and i m not connected any aliance or any corp . which means I don’t direct people in PvP for corporations needs doctrines
Whoever you get help.
Please be aware and distinguish that if they direct you for suitable to serve … or encourage you to find your own style suitable to your personality and skills…
Like i said… when it comes to PVP hive mind gets on the way.
Corps and aliances needs man power to defend them or expand … so depends on where they live and what kind of doctrines they need… they want to shape you to that direction so you can be usefull … out of that… It can be hard to find some groups who prioritize your needs, taste and skills…And help you to discover
ah also answer of your question : yes there is … also do not go to TAMA please as prior poster said… And do not fly faction frigs before you learn how to fly t1 lines- You will do same mistakes. no matter what… just it will cost you more to learn. Do not trust anyone who tell you use faction ships go to tama.There is no fair fight in EVE… DO not use that word even.
Magic 14 is base… but definatelly not "something for new PVP pilot… Leraning exploring your taste and most sutable fly style and ships … and focused skill traning pays off better…
I have trained so many pilots who didnt have some of these skills trained up to 5 but they have been focused and deadly and hit hundreds of killmails and lots of solo kills under a month ( in their first month of gameplay)
As newbie in a cheap combat ship you should be able to kill people who are flying ships that are less suited to fight you. Think rock paper scissors.
If you fight on equal footing, scissors vs scissors, you will probably lose due to your lack of ingame skills but importantly also due to lack of player skill.
Instead, if you’re flying scissors, find some paper! Find a Venture killing rocks, see if you can keep him down long enough to kill him. Or group up with a bunch of others to take down combat ships you couldn’t take alone. Just don’t try to fight ‘fair’.
Arenas are not representative for the PvP in this game - it lacks the ability to select your own targets and lacks the ability to warp away if things go wrong. If you want to win, don’t do arenas if your skills are lower than that of other players. Or you can do it anyway to get some experience in part of the EVE combat mechanics, just don’t expect to win.
My first solo kill was an explorer. I explored a lot for ISK and this guy was cherry picking sites in our space, so I set up a trap to catch him when he came by. Was it an equal fight? No, but it felt good.
Learning engagement profile pass through the number 1. If you dont understand your hull its strength and weaknesses and how did your fit work how modules interact … thats blind fly
I’d stay out of the proving grounds like someone else said for the moment. Go and join faction warfare and play around in low sec with some tech 1 frigs for a while. Then, when you’re ready you can go and have a poke around nullsec.
Solo PvP is tough especially for new bros. As like you said you don’t have the SP, Isk, nor experience to start off with. Things do improve over time though. So yeah Tech 1 frigates, lowsec, faction warfare that’s your answer.
I ended up getting destroyed in the proving grounds but somehow won 3 times and learned a good bit there. I have previously solo killed explorers but hard to call that “combat experience” since they don’t shoot back lol
EVE is a giant game of rock/paper/scissors. Your skill levels are secondary to your game knowledge. If you know how to recognize how your opponent is fit you will improve your odds way more than skill injecting.
Pilot skills develop along side trained skills and remarkably enough they seem to complement each other.
The skills in Eve are actually one of its best mechanics, they teach you how and why you need them as you train for them. As it is right now Eve is not pay to win, if you or I bought a titan right now and the skills and skill injectors to actually be able to fly one we would die, it’s that simple.
I made the mistake of dedicating my skill queue to be able to fly a Loki in the misguided belief that I would be able to do more with what I was sure was a better ship. I was completely wrong. I can fly battleships, but the Loki was beyond my actual piloting skill and still is. I can do more damage and survive more chaos in a Sunesis than I can in my Loki because I’m good at that particular ship, add to that that I have the skills trained that are needed to make a good Sunesis and it starts to make sense.
Right now I’m training a lot of things that I won’t be ready (as a pilot) to fly untill long after the skills are trained, in fact I’m still getting them up to snuff for the Loki, but I’m not in any rush to fly it anymore. It will be good when I’m ready, and I’m really glad that I know I’m not ready it it would have exploded by now.
Eve is not a game that you play from start to finish, it’s a game you kind of have to live in to do well, you can dive right into anything you want any time you want and you might learn all sorts of stuff doing so, but it’s also a place where in order to thrive you have to think, make mistakes, and hope that you learn from them. Skill training takes time, but so does the experience you need.
I am good at some pretty large and powerful ships, but there are people (lots of them) out there who can take me down in my battleship while flying their frigate, it’s not the skills I have or haven’t got, it’s their experience vs mine.
One last thing, if you are really into learning this game fast, do PvP first. It’s at the root of everything else. If you get good at PvP, even half way decent, you will be able to take on a lot, if not most of the people who have years or even a decade on you time wise. A good pilot knows what they can and can’t do and knows at least to some extent what their opponent is likely able to do. And that is why someone much newer than me who knows what they are doing can kill me when my ship is far more powerful than theirs.
That’s skill. The training skills just open up more stuff.