One thing that I really love about Eve is that there are very few things that you can't do. You have so many options for things to do. In fact, there are so many options that it can paralyze you as a new player, and I think this is part of the difficulty of getting started in this game.
Eve is different that many (most?) MMOs in that you start as a blank slate and there is nothing keeping you from going into any play style no matter how you begin. In WOW, if you start as a warrior, you will be a DPSer or tank, period. If you're a mage, you pew pew from a distance, period. There is no changing your role after this initial decision.
In Eve, your initial decision of race, etc., only really impacts the type of ship you will be flying at the beginning of the game. Beyond that, you can decide what you will do, i.e., you have options. You can mine, PvP, be a pirate, be a builder, explore worm holes, etc. There's nothing you can't choose to do because of your initial character decision.
Right now, I am trying to figure out what I want to focus on, and I have a bit of analysis paralysis myself. There are so many choices, it really is difficult to decide what to focus on. Up to this point I have focused on mining, but I would also like to consider some other roles, including:
- Exploration - finding worm holes, etc.
- PvP - getting qualified to fly a battleship and then a dreadnought
- Production - get qualified to build stuff to be sold on the market
The cool thing is that in the end, I will eventually be able to do all these things, but the question is which to do first. And having this choice is one of things I love about Eve.
I'm very much in the same boat, except one thing I'm finding more and more with EVE is that, though there are so many options, almost all of them should be pursued with serious patience. The question is not only what do I want to do in EVE, but also, what will I do in the meantime while it takes weeks/months to train for what I really want to do.
ReplyDeleteIt, honestly, is truly discouraging for me as a semi-new character (though I've already put hours leaps and bounds beyond any average video game length). My latest venture is Exploration, too. And after weeks of training to get my probing skills and stealth skills ready, I begin exploration only to find that I'll need many weeks more training in order to DO anything with it: hacking, archaeology, or PVE ships strong enough to solo areas. As far as I know, it isn't very plausible to solo a wormhole, so those too take much preparation.
But you may be at somewhat an advantage since you have mining skills.. once you train exploration, you can take advantage of some of the decent mining spots you can find... so long as your trained enough to venture into lowsec for the good stuff.
Excuse the rant here. It's only that I've been playing the game for 4 months, and still feel like I'm preparing to get started. As someone that refuses to do missions or mining (since getting away from "grinding" is the very reason I joined EVE) I'm finding my options are actually very limited until the time to train for other professions has passed.
Glad to see you posting again, btw. This blog was great for helping me get started.
First off, thanks for the positive comment. Second, I know exactly what you mean. However, I think this is where the social aspect of the game really needs to come in. Yes, you can't go in and do everything yourself when you find a new worm hole or hidden belt. However, if you have a good corporation, they can exploit the things you find. This is exactly how it works in PPL: one person finds the hidden belt, and the whole corp (or at least the miners) get out there and mine it.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is one of the best aspects of the game: find your niche and leverage your corporation for the rest. In the end, I don't think it is possible to do it any other way, especially as a new player.
Thanks for the tip. I am learning the value of a good corp more all the time, and it took me a long while to find mine. But I'm in good hands now, and learning more by the day.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear it!
ReplyDelete