The Game Isn't Landing With Me For Some Reason

[Horace_Whimp]

Maybe I’m missing something here. Let me make sure.

I can mine forever in hi-sec and be bored to tears.

OR

I can jump to lo/nul-sec where the money and fun is at but every time I do that I’ve basically jumped into the wolfs den and it’s up to me to figure out a clever way to keep from getting destroyed just for walking through the door. If I can manage to not fat-finger something, I might accidentally stumble the right direction and make it through to spend my time in lo/nul looking over my shoulder. Living in dread of that moment when some killboard fanatic decloaks and my 6-second do-your-taxes-while-you-wait alignment time gets me pinned down and murdered. My hours and hours of mining and ship building destroyed in 6 seconds so that somebody’s kill count can go up by…wait for it…one.

I might be able to mitigate some of that by buying a cloak but…that will cost me $15 a month to leave the target on my back while marginally increasing my chances of surviving. I’m now a paying customer but I’m still just a bleating sheep to the wolves.

“It’s not a solo game, it’s a mmmommopmmrmm…rpg…massive game,” you say, “Join a corporation!” So…die on your own or join a corporation who will give you orders and basically tell you how you’re supposed to play.

So…it’s pokemon. Two players meet, throw down their cards. Whoever has a card with more advantages wins. That’s it. No chance for the underdog. A player with a superior ship found you so you die. I guess I’m supposed to aspire to that glorious day when I get the superior cards and can simply apply them to the lesser player? Oh, boy. Dare to dream.

Yet there are thousands of people playing this game around the clock. What am I missing here?

[Tipa_Riot]

… the patience to learn and peek behind the curtain of an super complex ecosystem which doesn’t look like it is. It took me 6 months to figure it out. And an Omega account is helpful.

[Shipwreck_Jones]

Well, I think the real issue here is that Eve won’t lead you by the hand towards success or fun. The game doesn’t do the best job of telling players what activities and play styles are available, and it does an even worse job of telling players how to get into them. So, this is a problem with the game, and one that CCP has been trying to address.

However, this flaw does not mean that this isn’t an amazing game, or that it doesn’t have anything for you. For one, it’s a sandbox that offers an incredible range of stuff, but it also offers things that you’d be hard pressed to find elsewhere.

It’s kind of like eating crab or something. It can be a pain in the ass to get to the good stuff, but the determined are in for quite a treat.

Anyway, you seem to have several misconceptions about the game, but I’m not looking to sit here arguing with you. So, instead I’m just going to throw some stuff at you. It’s up to you if you want to listen.

• Don’t fly what you can’t afford to lose.
• Your ability to survive and thrive in eve will be determined by your brains, attitude, and determination.
• Always get back up, no matter what.
• Eve is a skill based game. Things like ship cost, SP, and numbers offer advantages, but they won’t trump player skill.
• The game actually has several brilliant design decisions that help newbros to survive and thrive. If you want to know more, just ask, and I’ll give you my spiel.
• Don’t listen to the players that sound bitter and angry. Most will inadvertently lead you astray, but at least a few will intentionally try to sabotage you.
• There is isk and fun to be found in every area of space, including HS.
• Corporations can vary dramatically, and will all have different requirements, expectations, benefits, activities, and cultures. So, if you aren’t happy where you at, keep looking.
• There are various ways to learn, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Mix and match as you desire:
  • Yoloing: Yeeting yourself into fights and content is the most fun way to learn, but frequently the most expensive.
  • Formal Learning: Read guides, watch videos, attend lectures. Presentations and materials tend to be more dense, accurate, and complete than what you’d get from an informal learning environment, but this kind of learning bores many people to tears. Moreover, there is no substitute for experience.
  • Informal learning: Join a corp, and learn what you can by talking to and playing with more experienced players. You’ll learn more slowly than with structured learning methods, and there’s a much higher chance that what you’re being told will be based more on opinion than fact (guides and videos effectively get “peer reviewed” by the larger community).
  • Asking questions: The quality of answer can vary, but there is no shortage of people willing to share their knowledge and opinions on things.

Alright, I could go on, but I have to go.

Hope you stay. And, if not, can I have your stuff?

[Qia_Kare]

While Shipwreck gives good advice in terms of the game’s mechanics, I think where Eve shines the brightest is in giving players an opportunity to genuinely achieve something that is self defined. You can bring your ideals into the game and rally people to your banner, if you’re personable. You can defend yourself against impossible odds, and even if you lose gain respect from those surprised you had the guts.

If you’re just the type who wants a clear progression that’s defined by the game developers, to just coast along and relax, then Eve may not be for you. Success tends to require a person to come up with their own goals and have the will to see them realized, come hell or high water. That is, at least, if you don’t want to be the one taking orders from another person who has a goal and motivation.

Life is cheap. You come back from death for free as many times as you want to. Only by a person’s own choice does their character truly meet their end. Equipment is more expensive but can be replaced quickly if you don’t overspend on it. Just about every ship has its use, big or small, expensive or cheap. If you feel a ship is useless, then there’s a good chance you just don’t know how to use it yet.

If you just want to get out there and shoot stuff in a fleet without taking orders, then there are NPSI fleets (NPSI - Not Purple, Shoot It, so named because the default color for fleet mates is purple.) I’m not current on what still operates, but I imagine someone still runs them somewhere. It’s something you can ask around for.

I don’t think every corporation is super demanding, either, but you might have to shop around. If you want freedom, you might look to lowsec corporations where things tend to be more lawless. If you find a bunch with the same idea of ‘fun’ as you then there’d not be much reason to dictate your behavior or the way you play. Most everyone is going to expect some level of cooperation, though, and it’s poor form to leave your buddies high and dry if they need you as much as it is for your buddies to leave you when you need them.

Anyways, I don’t know what you want to do, and it sounds to me like you don’t know, either, so until you decide what it is you want to achieve (other than not dying while you fly about aimlessly trying to make ISK), it’ll be hard to give you any pointed advice to help you get there.

I played Eve a long time and I never killed anybody, yet found good enough reason to be there. There’s much more to the game than the mechanics of just shooting people who happen to be in front of you. The freedom to set your own goals appeals to some of us. The ability to go off the rails and explore whatever and to do things that other people hadn’t thought of or believed impossible. The achievements in Eve are not given, they are earned, and that’s what makes us able to be genuinely proud of ourselves for our ingenuity and hard work.

If you’re asking why people play, it’s because while in other games the entire story is written for you, in Eve you are responsible for writing your own story. The game’s setting your paper, and the game’s rules your pen. Outside of Eve it’s hard to find that kind of freedom, and I’d bet freedom is the true identity of that mysterious itch that people keep coming back to Eve to scratch time and time again because it’s hard to find it elsewhere.

[FORCY_FUNTIMES_MEATWATER]

I wouldn’t try to play solo in null, join a big bloc and move to their space (Pandemic Horde, Goonswarm, Brave, etc). You don’t have to take orders from them. Just watch for spies who may try to kill you, but you’ll be relatively safer than on your own.

@Horace_Whimp

join a corporation who will give you orders and basically tell you how you’re supposed to play

Expanding on this, you don’t have to join corps that act this way. There’s many groups in Eve that will help you learn and not be heavy-handed about it.

For me, hunting and being hunted is my favorite part of the game, and trolling my victims when they start spewing salt. It’s great fun flying in a fleet, and I haven’t found comradery like this anywhere else.

What are you flying with a 6-second align time, and what content are you running for ISK?

[Pierre_de_Bricassart]

First of all congrats to a well chosen name, I always appreciate traces of Jeff Lynne in New Eden

Well, you see, there’s wolves in LowSec (some vultures in HighSec, too ). The Art of having fun is not to be a lonesome sheep in this environment. There’s many other animals you may aim for: Become a wolf yourself, or an egg hunting weasel, a big buffalo, an agile gazelle, perhaps a versatile boar. You don’t even have to kill, but you have to learn to cope with attacks and traps.

Your pokemon card example is not really matching: There’s a large variety of cards you have to play simultaneously, so having the card (i.e. ships, modules and skills) is one thing, but knowing how and when to play them is the more important part. It doesn’t matter if the warp scrambler is worth several millions or just 2k ISK - if it got you, you tend to become toast, if you don’t know how to counter and keep calm.

EVE is hard to learn, but it’s rewarding. But if you don’t have fun, don’t play - because it’s just a game!

[Carmanah]

@Horace_Whimp

…or join a corporation who will give you orders and basically tell you how you’re supposed to play.

I know that feeling, I used to feel that way too. Honestly though, as has been said by others, I believe you really would be amazed at what kind of corps exist out there if you give a few a try, and when you find the right one the game really does ‘click’

There are corporations with all kinds of requirements and expectations, and many with just as little. Don’t let the (generally false) stereotype of the F1 button mashing zombie in the mega-bloc alliances dissuade you - there are thousands of corps of all sizes with cultures all of their own.

[Gerard_Amatin]

Welcome!

And good to hear you tried mining outside high sec and ask how to do so without getting killed!

The trick to doing things in space (more so outside space where CONCORD kills those that attack you, but even in high sec it’s useful) is to pay attention to your surroundings.

High, low and null sec show all the names of people with you in system in local chat. If that list contains no names but you (and friends or corporation members) you are relatively safe for now.

If you see other names there, they are potential danger and often out to find and kill you.

Find a nice empty system, make a safe bookmark or two (press ctrl b in the middle of space while in warp between two locations), then warp to an ore anomaly or belt, burn far away from the warp-in point, zoom your camera out so you see the entire grid, make sure your overview is set up to show (hostile) players and start mining.

Keep an eye on local chat: if some hostile player enters system, align to a safe bookmark that you made earlier. Use your dscan to see if the hostile player is warping to your location.

If they arrive at your belt, they will likely land at the warp-in spot of the belt (which is why you aren’t mining there!) and you have a couple of seconds to warp away to your ‘safe’ bookmark.

It’s also possible they use combat probes to land right on top of you (but you see the probes on dscan as warning) or use a covert cloak to sneak up on you, in which case you have less time to react, but still enough time if you are aligned and paying attention.

If you played well, you are now at a safe bookmark. The hostile player either gives up, comes back later or tries to combat probe your safe down, in which case you may have to warp between a few of those safes until they give up.

@Horace_Whimp

“It’s not a solo game, it’s a mmmommopmmrmm…rpg…massive game,” you say, “Join a corporation!” So…die on your own or join a corporation who will give you orders and basically tell you how you’re supposed to play.

There are all sorts of corporations out there, you can find one that doesn’t order you around. I never get any orders in mine, unless I willingly join a fleet where the fleet commander (fc) gives the orders as it is impossible to fight with dozens or hundreds of people effectively otherwise.

[Xuxe_Xu]

@Horace_Whimp

Maybe I’m missing something here.

@Horace_Whimp

“It’s not a solo game, it’s a mmmommopmmrmm…

What you mock is what you’re missing.
Many people have played this game solo, but few have without any interaction with others such as with various chat channels, discord servers, etc. Most things here are better together.

There is a whole lot more, but frankly with the attitude displayed I would be surprised if you stuck around in EvE.

I hope you do surprise me and discover for yourself why people play this game.