Fitting is one of the major constraints and problems new players run into in order to progress in the game. The Magic 14 is something new players all need, but takes an incredible amount of time to train, delaying their in-game experience.
On top of that, it makes it a lot harder for them to use pre-made fitting guides or ask other players for help as their skills can wildly vary.
A simple solution to make the intro into EvE easier I believe would be to change the wording of the skills (Primary focus: Weapons Upgrades, Adv Weapons Upgrades, electronics upgrades, energy grid upgrades and rigging skills). Make it so that these skills only effect T2/faction/officer/storyline modules while reducing t1/t1 meta mods by the required percent to bring the math in line.
CPU management and Power grid management it would be a little different solution (to avoid a lot of modules all costing 0.8 powergrid base): Raise all t1 ships powergrid and CPU by 25%. Make it so the skill only applies to faction/T2/capital ships stats.
Game balance mostly stays the same except fitting gets a LOT easier for newer players until their skills catch up.
So, spoon feed the new generations of players that are wanting instant gratification, even though this is the way it has worked for the past 18 yearsā¦
and EvE has such a good retention rate of new players. new player experience needs revamped. they still need the skills if they want to progress at all, but it makes the initial month a little easier.
Skilling is not the issueā¦ its the idiots who push that the magic 14 make or break your shipā¦ you can train and get in a ship and not utilize the entire 14 skills.
When I train newbroās I tell them the Magic 14 are skills you train when you have NOTHING to trainā¦ Basically if you have an empty Queue, throw a M14 skill up thereā¦
I didnāt even have them all maxed until my third year or later.
most of my alts still donāt have them all because they donāt do anything that needs them. Back when i did a lot of FW we had loads of fits built for players that were effective after only a few hours.
Those skills are important but not to the extent of not being able to do anything until they are trained.
Definitely get away from the mind set of āneedingā the magic 14. You donāt need them. They are just a collection of skills that improve your abilities in a wide range of ships.
In the short term you are probably better off focusing your skills in ships/equipment you are using now or that you are going to use soon.
When it comes to fits; the lack of adv weapons upgrade should not affect you until you start using T2 guns anyways. T2 guns use more than 10% more powergrid, so by using meta weapons you have more spare grid even without the skill trained.
The Magic 14 is just a recommended set of skills a new player can train if they donāt know what else to train.
The āMagic 14ā is not a list of ārequired skills to enjoy the gameā.
New players do not need to train the magic 14 to level 5. Yes, that means without some of the fitting skills at level 5 the player cannot easily fit T2 modules (which have higher powergrid and cpu requirements than the T1 and meta versions) on some ships and has to choose meta versions or compact meta versions to make it fit. Luckily, a new player cannot fit T2 modules yet so for new player fits the lack of fitting skills at level 5 is not a problem.