This is my second time trying to get onboard, and I’m stalling as I did before. Tutorials are done, the game is beautiful and the backstory rich, but I am finding myself without direction. In spite of the system and channel populations, the world feels largely unresponsive. Avenues such as mining, manufacturing, and PI are behind the paywall, which is understandable, but the promise of gameplay that may or may not end up being unsatisfying is not persuading me to ante up. I mean, aside from the avatar clothing.
Perhaps there are players who have been in this position, who might recount their reasons for sticking with the game, their experience with gameplay beyond the paywall, or the community in general.
While I may not fit the exact mold of player you’re searching for answers from (as I am still Alpha) I can perhaps be of some assistance in getting the conversation going. I am curious, however, as to how far along into the game you went during your initial escapade into EVE Online. You mentioned you are on your second time “trying to get onboard.”
Personally, I am staying Alpha for as long as possible. The reason being is that I simply do not have the time or desire to pump out the effort to make subscribing worthwhile. That being said I’m training, and training, and training while banging out some missions here and there to keep a relatively consistent cash flow. I would say that once I have sufficiently trained up every (or nearly so) Alpha skill then, and only then, will I think about paying money to play. I did once before so I can see myself doing it again. Cheers to you.
I played when there was only trials. My first character grinded up to level two missions and then I quit.
It rolled around in my head for a year or two though at how much potential there was in the game and then I took my time and came back as Lulu Lunette. Again I was starting to hit the lame tutorial missions and the SoE Epic Arc based on what I was told to do on the old forums New Citizens Q&A.
I literally just killed Dagan and completed the SoE arc and I warped to a random Serpentis Hideaway so I just shot the rats with absolutely no idea where to go next. I seriously think this was the most critical time in my new player development because I had a lucky pop-up that this site led to a Serpentis 3/10.
I asked about it in local Arnon and I met someone who ended up helping me run the site and she ended up being one of my best friends to this day in the game. I owe her everything, she let me sort of ‘job shadow’ her as she ran sites and she also daytripped wormholes and she had some attainable Cruiser fits that were like my goals early to train for …
I was this close to letting my trial go again but I had some dominos fall just right and the story just kept getting more interesting from there.
Nowadays it’s the Twitter social media that keeps me most connected to Eve Online via the #tweetfleet hashtag.
I think if you can find what you like gameplay wise it leads to being worth the cost of subscription. Eve is a hell of a bargain btw if you compare it. I ended up loving PI too. Mining to me was always a mandate forced on me from my days in a sov holding alliance. I did get into booster manufacturing and I still do the gas thing from time to time.
My game tends to be the run sites that I can solo in a PvP ship and PI. And I’d have probably quit by now without the #tweetfleet community. It was huge to meet a player that was willing to share their wisdom and also to have a best possible drop on that 3/10
I was just like you posting on the forums and asking where to go at one point
As a muti repeat offender myself, all I can say is the biggest thing is finding people to play with that you click with. I hate mining myself, even more so in HS, but some of my best times in EVE was sitting in a mining fleet just BS’n with all the people. (On more than one occasion, and with different corps even) EVE is very much a PVP game, but it is also a massive social game. Finding the right people can be tough sometimes, but very worth it. It will make a HUGE difference.
I can attest to this, having been actively involved in a corp. myself at one point in time throughout my tenure with EVE. The majority of my time spent playing EVE over the years has been solo, however, and I can say that the time spent in a corp. was a very different, albeit more energizing and fun time. Definitely is not for everyone but, as it is with most things in life, activities tend to be more enjoyable when you are doing them with other people.
If the problem is “lack of direction”, there is only one solution: attach yourself to a group and use their goals and organized events as “direction” for your character.
Story-time: Long ago in this 5000-star section of a galaxy, there were only established alliances, with difficult recruitment restrictions, fighting it out in 0.0 space. Then one day a group formed, Brave Newbies, just to show they could take up space in 0.0 and fight the large alliances. And they really made a name for themselves; it was so outrageous and unexpected that all the news websites and Reddit cheered them on. The story isn’t a fairy tale; they ended up crashing against the capital ships and combat expertise of an established alliance, but they persevered and they survived to the present time, where they now have capitals of their own and are claiming space out there. And what’s important is that they demonstrated the worth of newbies, to the point that every single 0.0 alliance has an Alphas or newbies group, that they fund with free ships, free skills, and free ISK, from the vast coffers of the alliance itself, and all the newbie has to do is show up, be cute, and participate in the fun.
It’s a recruiting mechanism, and it’s also a mentor / training program, and every single alliance has it because it’s effective. So, look for these newbie corps; Pandemic Horde, Karma Fleet, Brave Collective are the big names that I remember off-hand, but there are others, perhaps associated with smaller corps, maybe lowsec or wormhole corps, that still cater to Alphas or newbie Omegas. Use the tools the game provides; search the Corp app in-game and use the filters to select newbie or alpha-friendly corps, search the recruitment forums here, as what you can do on Reddit, google it, etc.
You have an Alpha account; in a way it’s a throw-away. USE it, join one of these corps, see if you find the fun. It’ll be surprisingly awesome when you find it.
I think it was about as far as this. The Epic Arc was mentioned and I think I did at least part of that before the 14 days was up.
It sounds like you had a lot of experiences early on, so don’t mind if I am a bit envious. It sounds like the out-of-game activities are more of a reason to sub than the game, at least in your view.
That seems to be the trick, if there is a theme here. I have no idea if or when that will happen, but as the alpha scheme works, at least I won’t have to pay to do it. Plus I get to train either way.
I must admit, this is an insight that had escaped me. While I am loath to throwaway the time spent training, it’s true that it has cost me nothing so far. I will look into the tools you mentioned, cheers.
If you’d like to drop me a mail i’d be up for showing you a few different things you can be doing, either with or without an Omega account. EvE is huge so it’s ok that you can’t immediately see what you could be experiencing.
Played alpha for 3 weeks, liked the game and had a quick equation how long it would take for an omega with 150k SP skill injector and 500 Plex (via Buddy program) to catch up. Actually my alpha and my omega skilled “Drone V” within the same day
I invested an amount I’m used to pay for computer games I really like, we’ll see how I feel when time’s over. There are no restrictions in the skilling tree and it’s much faster and easier to skill (no 24h restriction).
BTW: I’ve still got 490 Plex, it feels wrong just to obtain ISK from the “savings” when the going gets tough.
I subscribed almost straight away as had read about the game and had been meaning to try it for a while. I remember undocking from Duripant in Essense in my Velator and thinking “OK…what next?” and it was a memorable moment.
Never looked back, even if have come to some crossroads in the game and reflect that should have done some things differently.
Never too late to correct your path though. Great game imo.
Thanks for the responses, everyone. Getting on with a group seems to be the key. I’ve been trying the in-game Recruitment tool and looking at the forum, and I guess it will take some time. Lots of places that match new-player friendly actually don’t take alphas or pilots with less than a few million SP, but that is not the tool’s fault. It’s kind of a lot to expect others to give you much when you’re not sure what you want anyway. I will keep searching and keep training. Cheers.
Don’t necessarily be put off by requirements you might not meet, they’re largely in place to fend off slackers.
What a corp, and the game itself, really favours is players who are willing to go outside their comfort zone, put in effort to learn and get ahead while doing well in a group. You can’t buy that with plex nor is this somehow affected by your skill points or wealth.
Be active, be inquisitive, put in effort to help yourself rather than just relying on others to spoon feed you and you’ll find that finding a decent corp isn’t that difficult.
But you do have to advertise yourself, this is another part of the “put in active effort” bit.
I think Dagan is designed to do what the 3/10 escalation did for you. Quite a few newbies fail to kill Dagan at first, and I think they are not supposed to beat him on their own and ask for help in local, so they can get involved with other players. Doesn’t seem to be working that well, though. I wonder if he’s still too easy (or if new players get into a half-decent cruiser too quickly), or if people are simply too hesitant to ask for help.
When I first fought Dagan I had only been playing a couple weeks and didn’t have the DPS to overcome his regen with my Algos (best ship I could fly at the time). I was very hesitant to ask for help because I’ve heard of people offer to fleet up with a newbie simply so that they can gank them without concord interference. I eventually did ask for help and someone kindly obliterated Dagan for me. It’s been quite a few months since then and I’m thinking about going through that arc again in another Algos just so I can get an idea of how much my skills have changed. I’m pretty certain I can solo him now, even if I have to pull out a cruiser to do it.
But to say something that’s actually on topic: What made me ultimately stick with Eve was a canflipper in a Merlin who stole my ore, and then rapidly disassembled my mining cruiser when I tried to kill him. Turned out he was a nice guy when he told me that I should perhaps not try to get into combat if I do not even have the semblence of a tank fitted and then proceded to show me the ropes. This was before Alpha/Omega, though.
Sounds like a tough, albeit gracious learning experience afforded you by that player. He could have easily not given you the time of day beyond your death.
The latter one, I suspect. About the first things you hear in rookie help is to be wary of false calls for help or generally any sort of scam geared to rob you of your ISK and/or ship. Not sure if the mission description says something about “get help if needed”, and if not, people would be more inclined to try it solo.
Another reason is that many players might see that particular fight as a “graduation test” for solo mission running. Meaning, if he succeeds in this, he’d have a good chance to get along with the entry level missions, too. Failing the fight (not making any damage or even getting popped) could be seen as “train up more, get a better fit, try again”.
I was able to complete the Bloodstained Stars alone. Dagan took some warping out until I figured out how to reduce his damage. Still lasted about a half-hour and I don’t know how many hybrid charges. The mission beforehand, against the Amarr agent, was more difficult/tedious. Ultimately I don’t care much for missions, but it did double my wallet. I can afford a Procurer now, but can’t yet fly one.
I watched a YouTube stream earlier in the week and the streamer made a good point about Alpha vs Omega, so I decided to throw in for a month. Training speed alone is much better.
Started talking to recruiters too. Plenty of friendly and helpful people, but I fear my timezone will be a problem, as channels are often empty when I’m online.
I haven’t subscribed yet, but I intend to. There’s so much to learn and so much you can do as alpha that I haven’t seen the urgency to switch to omega yet, but I do enjoy the game and I’m sure I will do so eventually. What appeals to me in Eve is the massive freedom and endless possibilities of everything that you can do here, and the sandbox nature of the game. Games that spoon-feed pre-designed content are a massive bore to me. I have only done the tutorial missions and I don’t intend to do any others, unless I find a good reason to do them. The key here is other players, whether you want to work with them or against them, or usually a combination of both. You need to figure out what you want to do first, and then how to get there. And you get to change your mind if you later want to do something else. The game rewards imagination and initiative.
