the question I‘m asking is more or less a little spin off on the old „what am I supposed to do in EVE?“ but I was thinking about it a little bit more in depth since I‘m aware of how content rich the game is, especially for people that are still in the early stage of the game.
So a bit about myself, my main toon has around 16m SP and I joined a Nullsec Alliance after a 3 year break to get my game a bit going. I did epic arcs and level 4‘s in my first Corp which were just hanging out in high-sec and that definitely was not really where I wanted to be so I made the change when I came back.
Since then I joined a couple of fleets, established an income that would allow me to fly around my ships without having to worry about money and got a deeper understanding of the general gameplay mechanics and I‘m having a blast.
The thing that I‘m having and issue with, is the fact that I am completely unsure how I can push from here. Through my alliance I have the access to some commonly used ratting doctrines etc. but the fact that I am not really sure why the fit and the skills are playing along so well is driving me nuts. It feels like I am walking on a paved way through the jungle but I want to leave the path here and there and experiment around with fittings and missions.
There are tons of guides on the internet that describe individual sites, their spawns and which ships and fitting is recommended but it feels like the paved path I described above and I think here lies already a factor which is responsible for the incredibly steep learning curve of the game. There are so many factors that influence the gameplay and at least for me it feels like only one out of a million fittings will actually give the desired result.
As I said with 16m SP on my main toon I‘m still far of understanding the complexity of the sandbox but if anybody knows a resource that could lift the fog here for me, that would be awesome. I think an implementation into the game in terms of adding more Information to the description of the single sites you find, that would help you to determine what gear to bring, could be helpful for newcomers and returners like me. (Besides just differentiating between mining belts, combat sites, etc.)
My alliance and the people I fly with are awesome and they helped me to understand many things, but a resource that could help me to make more decisions on my own would be of big help.
No really… import your character in some fitting assistant app (pyfa) and try out various fits for various purposes. Then just assemble those that you think will work in game and test them out to your heart’s content.
Dont be afraid of fails and darwin fit awards, just dont overbling ships…
The only way to know one’s capability is through training and experience.
I TOTALLY second this. What the “paved path”, as you put it, is teaching you is the “what”, the guides will give you the “how”, but using something like PYFA will let you learn a lot more about the “why”- what skill, module, and fitting tradeoffs exist and how to exploit and use those to your benefit.
Time spent tinkering in PYFA is some of the most educational since it will teach you a lot more about the interactions between all of the elements of EVE and how they will impact your gameplay.
On the Skills tab of your character sheet there is a drop down menu that shows your skills - one of the choices is certificates.
This will show your level of mastery in each skill group and what you need to train to reach the next level. The info sheet for each of the ships you fly will also have a mastery tab based on these certificates that shows your level of mastery for that ship.
It isn’t a perfect system but it can help you set goals and track progress. I haven’t spent much time with the new activity tracker- I assume it’s also intended to help you set goals and track progress toward them.
If you’re part of a Nullsec alliance, study your doctrines and use PYFA to figure out why that particular fit was chosen and how the ships in a particular doctrine are intended to work together. The doctrines are probably on http://fleet-up.com/ if you’re part of an active PVP alliance. I haven’t used Fleet-Up since ESI but it used to let you import your skills and see what you needed to train to fly each of your alliances doctrine fits.
You can always try things out on Sisi (Singularity) Test server. There are some rules to follow, but otherwise you can pretty much try out solo and PvE things without consequences. PvP can be tested in accordance with the rules too
Thank you all for your replies. I think I can start wrapping my head around this, but isn’t there any resource that for example tells you, with which types of ships it makes sense to engage with the vessel that you’re flying?
there are websites that have guides for PvE (that tell what type of damage to deal, to tank and approximate incoming DPS assuming ALL npcs will hit stationary you which is never the case)
for PvP there is only personal experience and skill - fly and lose some ships again and again and after some time you’ll be better at picking engagements and avoiding unfavorable.