I’ve only started a couple years ago when F2P was recently added. I’ve started from zero and went up slowly. Ran L1 missions in my Atron and grinded my way up. You can check my EVE screenshots, guide and EVEblog to see my journey. Got killed just as anyone else, lost ships due to mishaps and pilot errors and whatnot and it was all fine despite they were step backs. I did adhering to not flying what I could not lose or replace and that’s it. Just keep going forward and you’ll be fine… or complain and act as a victim, the choice is yours.
First screenshot:
All EVE screenshots:
Guide:
Blog:
Oh and btw I am alpha on all my accounts and play solo yet have no issue with progressing despite only started some years ago and had no prior knowledge of the game. I did my learning and research using online sources and didn’t even used a reflink for the free 1 mil SP either. Yet had no issue starting from zero progressing in the game despite the occasional setbacks. If you check my threads here you can see I even organize giveaways and events from time to time.
So yeah it is all about the mindset and how you react to situations.