Hi new player (or prospective new player)
Are you tyring EVE? Considering to give it a try? Well, let me introduce myself. My main character (the oldest and more developed one) is Ishtanchuk Fazmarai. She was active between 2008 and 2016, along with a series of “alts” or seperate accounts. By all accounts, I am a bittervet, and I am here to tell you some things you should consider to not play EVE Online. They’re in no particular order.
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Stalled development. EVE is a massive game and will keep you busy for long while you figure out the basics. And then once you like the game and find your niche, chances are that you will see no progression for years. EVE is massive and complex, and CCP (the developers) can only develop so much in a given time. So chances are that you will randomly end in a place left untouched by CCP for years, and that usually is a bad thing due to reasons past. Old EVE content can be terribly old. Also, once CCP devotes time to developing old content, it often ends wiping out the niches associated to it. To many players, EVE development is a mix of “when will they sort this out” and “oh my don’t let them change this”.
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Random encounters. More specifically, your chances to enjoy EVE are depending on meeting the right strangers. Many new players meet the wrong stangers and that causes them trouble and to leave the game. EVE is a game that relies heavily on social activities, meeting people and playing together with them or against them. As in real life and MMO genre, most people will no be worth the bother and will make your game experience worse.
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No land for the solo man. Tied to #2, the parts of EVE that a solo player can enjoy are lacking compared to the multiplayer elements. This doesn’t means that you can’t have a blast as a solo player; but chances are you won’t because EVE Online is not incepted to be a solo game and being so massive, you might take the wrong turn at any time and end up in boredom land.
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Inflation. Playing as an Alpha clone, you will never become a Omega player. You better pay upfront with your wallet and invest real money in a subscription. This is specially true since there’s been inflation in the game economy for the last year and chances that this reverts are slim. There’s massive income from certain niche activities and top players are exploiting them actively, making things more expensive to everyone. Your only real chance is to spend money… and do it wisely. A Omega subcription is mandatory for a new palyer.
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No pay no win, but also no pay to win. If you don’t pay money, you will never progress at the top rate or access the top content. And even if you spend a lot of monet, you can’t buy yourself into being a top player. EVE requires a mix of time, practice and money to succeed, no matter what you do. It’s a complex game and social aspects jsut make it even more complex. It’s an awesome game, but playing it for free is not really an option unless you know what you’re doing (and as a new player, you don’t) and buying yourself into the top stuff will end up in a hilariously catastrophic loss. Other players will beat you because they know the game, not because they fly expensive toys (often that’s not even the case). The only way to learn is to play and get lucky with your random encounters.
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Uberplayers. Some dudes have ben doing this sh*t for 14 years. Many for 8, 9 or 10 years. They are your best friends and your worst enemies, and you will never know who are your ingame buddies until it’s too late, as per point #2. Uberplayers are so influential that they have a voice in what the developer CCP does, both directly and indirectly. And their needs and interests rarely align with new players like you. They want you to become one of their pawns and that is likely to happen if you follow some paths. But outside of those paths, you’ll be in trouble even if you meet the right strangers to play together with.
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Complexity. EVE now is the easiest, more accessible it ever has been. Unfortunately, is a massively complex game, with endless mechanics and rules and equipment, and there’s never been a single source of information for all that complexity. The developers CCP have a basic repository of essentials, but many of the complex stuff can only be found in player-owned resources, and even those may be lacking information. The good news is that even uberplayers learn new things each now and then, but the bad thing is that most of the times you’ll learn of your ignorance the hard way.
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Uniqueness. Probably you’ve heard that EVE is a tough game. Well, it IS. Permanent loss is a difficult thing to get used to. Looting means that your loss will make somebody else’s profit. At any time, a single mistake can drag you back for weeks or even months if you lose your stuff. And on top of that, EVE is not everybody’s cup of tea. You may find out soon or later. EVE Online haves the lowest chance that you like it as other games because it is not like other games. But conversely if you like it, well, you will like it like no other games. Veteran players say EVE is that awkward quiet redhead in the party: She may be your half orange or one of the craziest nutjobs ever. Don’t try it unless you’re up for a ride, for good or for bad.
TL;DR:
New and prospect players should consider not playing because:
- Old content is old and development of it is random and/or harmful
- Meeting the right people is difficult and chances are low, but the game requires meeting the right people
- Playing solo sucks unless the player is lucky and finds a niche
- Inflation has made inviable for new players to develop and compete without a paid subscription
- Paying is required but doesn’t grants victory, unlike many other games
- Veteran players rule the game and new players may suffer from it
- EVE is very complex and undocumented, learning is difficult and often comes from costly mistakes
- EVE is not everybody’s cup of tea. Should be the last choice for players just looking for a new MMO
