Am I simply thick for not liking Eve Online?

[Singing Gremlin]

The main thing I love about EvE though, it that it really is a unique adventure for everyone involved. No two people will have had the same experience throughout their gaming period. Me, I was plucked out of the rookie channel after a couple weeks, handed a few mill and dragged headfirst into piracy - in an utterly hopeless corp. Proceeding from place to place, each time running away from our previous home because people want to kill us, slowly meeting new corps and people, till I ended up in a small corp consisting of myself, a mad, slightly perverted South African (who I've kept contact with to this day), an amazingly short-tempered lesbian who refused to use voice-chat, an overzealous book-store employee, and a megalomaniac Scottish leader, with whom I proceeded to make trouble and get my arse kicked across the universe. No game can match up to that.

 

[Grybeard]

I actually took notes to respond to some of this...

I have been playing EVE off and on for the last 4 years. When I first started I pretty much did everything solo. Big mistake. When I started I focused on the industry end of things. Got into a mining frig as soon as I could and began mining. I then purchased a Thorax (Cruiser class ship with 5 turret slots) BPC (Blue Print Copy) and began accumulating minerals to build that. I intended on setting up the Thor and continue mining. All the while I paid no attention to the community and worked alone. By the time I built the Thor I was so bored with mining I quit the game.

I then played WoW for the following year until I got bored to tears with that. I still cannot play it even after 2 years. It is just too repettitive.

I got back into Eve and joined a corp I happened to find on the Eve-O forums. This is an absolute must for anyone that wants to at least give the game a chance. The Community will bring you back to this game when the game itself won't. There have been more than 1 occasion that I had no desire to play but wanted to BS with my friends/corpmates. So if you want to give the game a chance, find a good corp with like minded people to you. It might take some trial and error tho so don't be afraid to keep looking until you find a group of ppl that fit you.

Low level characters kinda suck, its a fact of eve life. The best thing you can do is get togeather with a corp or a friend and get some extra isk to help you out. Gaining ISK in the beginning is very tedious. The one nice thing though is since a couple major patches ago you can specialize your character when you create it. If you do this right you can actually be flying a Hulk in about 6 or 7 weeks. (The Hulk is the largest Mining vessel) These things can fill 4 cans an hour with the right skills.

Eve is a very time consuming game. When you get into lvl 4 missions solo you could spend 3 hours on 1 mission. Its not something you can hop on for an hour and play unless you are researching or building. Most of the PVP ops I have been on take over an hour to organize.

I have seen 2 posts comparing Eve to a RTS.. Eve is not an RTS. Its a RT Everything. Everything in eve happens in real time. Skill training is in real time. Mining, combat... everything. Eve is not a "Shooter" in the classic sense. You cannot aim a gun and pull the trigger. You target what/whoever you are going to engage and activate the guns/mining lasers. That does not say that there is no strategy to the game. Being able to use a ship/mods and being able to pilot it well are 2 completly different things. (I am sure there are others that could elaborate on this better then I)

Someone spoke of an intelligent community. This could not be more accurate. The average IQ of ppl that play eve has to be above average. Just in my corp alone our CEO has just finished his thesis on buisness and is awaiting discussions. 2 other members have just finished "University". A couple others work in the IT field as developers/trouble shooters (I am not talking about your local computer company lame IT either). Another in our alliance is going into military special forces. These may be exceptions but the majority of the Eve community are a fairly smart bunch.

About "Grinding".. I do not know how many ppl I have heard complaining about how "Easy" it was to lvl their WoW character.. Getting to lvl 60 in a week or 2. This is deffinatly not the case in Eve. Everything takes time. It is virtually impossible to "Finish" training. We have someone else in our corp who has well over 70 mil SP and hes still training. (Can't fly a Titan yet either)

All in all Eve is a diverse community. You don't have to actually role play though some do. You can get bored of it from time to time but the people keep you comming back. You talk to any PVPer, even those that have been playing 5+ years, and they will tell you that EVERY time they get into combat, they get the adreneline rush. And THAT is something to be impressed with.

Sorry for the long winded post...

 

[Sarciss]

The thing i always suggest to anyone whos thinking of playing EVE is

1) If your not someone who likes immense immersion then EVE will seem boring
2) Don't expect to be off cruising in a Death Star as soon as you start
3) The game will take most of your time if you want to play serious

EVE was even the centre of a buisness project I did in college too
It was just about having to collect 30mil for a new ship, and wether spending money on things like drons, new mining lazers, cargo expanders would quicken it, or would just saving the money be better. Got me a B and all i did was mine..

 

[DEC_42]

I can't really add more to what's already been said. I've played for perhaps 3 years now, in no way comparable to the Beta-man up there, and it's been one hell of a ride.

I've had moments where I think: "What the hell am I doing? I should play Sins instead."

And other moments where: "Let's take this muthafucka down!"

It's just incredible. The Universe of EVE is one amazing place. It's like in the real world. You must train and learn to kick ass. Grinding doesn't and shouldn't do shit for you.

The learning curve is a phase wall. What the hell do I mean? There's a gargantuan learning curve for the gung-ho retards, but for those patient enough to go past the initial tutorial (the original one was a lOT better), and talk to people around them, the learning curve is nonexistant. The point of the game is to use your wits to create a empire of wealth for yourself. You can not do this without other people.

It goes without saying that sociopaths will not have a fun time here.

Here's what I call the Hitchhiker's Guide to EVE:

#1: Do the tutorial and the 10-mission chain following it called "Cash Flow for Capsuleers"

#2: Bring a towel

#3: Beg and thou shalt die

#4: If someone can make money at your expense somehow, he will.

#5: Don't EVER mix weapon ranges. If you keep to the same range, you will 'pwn at that one range, while if you mix ranges, you'll just suck everywhere.

#6: Dictate engagement range. This is half the battle

#7: Train salvaging III, science IV, and buy a destroyer. You will not regret it.

#8: Don't beg.

#9: If it seems to good to be true, there are probably pirates in between you and it.

#10: Never undock unless you are perfectly prepared for your ship to blow up the instant you do. You are never, ever perfectly safe.

#11: This especially goes for low-sec (security ratings 0.0-0.4).

Don't Panic

I remember how I met a good friend of mine in EVE. It was a gank. An impressive gank, at that. I was naive at the time, was using a Thorax, with small weapons, because my skills hadn't been trained up properly.

The man I was fighting was the CEO. He reimbursed me 3 times the cost of my cruiser and wanted me to join the corp. I knew from that moment that this was a trustworthy guy.

Missions for the belligerent types, mining for the hard workers, and skill training for everyone. I've got 32 mil SP, and I'm proud of them. Clones cost a bit, but I make tons of ISKies, anyways, doing L4s and salvaging them. Deadspace complexes and exploration, too, and the BS spawns dorp some nice faction modules.

So, it's all about exploiting your skills and making the most of what you have.

Although... I would imagine being a field Commander would be like playing an RTS.

And no, you're not thick. Just give it a little time, and talk to a lot of people. Hell, talk to me!

 

[vfaulkon]

I played EVE for a while, and honestly I don't think you're thick at all. Like everyone said, I'd recommend the free trial and muscling through the entire two weeks. But just in case you want my opinion...

I agree largely that this is a niche game - a sci-fi space shooter/industrial sim? - and not everyone's going to love it. There are certain expectations many people who play games have with their experiences in an MMO, and EVE doesn't really follow those at all, for better or worse.

My biggest complaint with the game is the lack of game-provided motivation to get your character to the higher echelons in gameplay. There's no bit of the story to interact with, aside from the occasional live event you're not meant to win, and your character skills develop with a system totally independent of what you do in-game. Basically, you just pick a skill to train, start the timer, then you can do whatever (even log out) and eventually the skill will be finished and you can pick a new one to train. Rinse and repeat ad infinitum.

This is great for casual gamers who don't have a lot of time to spend online to play, of course, but the downside is that, like I said, there's no motivation to play the game early on either aside from the occasional mining trip to earn money to buy new skills - which is dull as dirt, believe me. And since it can take days, even weeks of just waiting for some of the higher skills to level up, you'll essentially feel like you're paying to wait for your character to be good.

Now, having said that, the gameplay itself was fun for me, and if you can motivate yourself to the big time, you'll probably enjoy the fruits of your labor. But if you actually want to DO stuff for the first couple of months, I really can't recommend this game.

Also, CCP, the company that runs the game, isn't exactly in touch with their gamer community, as a fairly recent connection crisis showed me. This won't be a factor if your game runs fine, but I have problems with a game provider like that.

 

[Theo Samaritan]

Although... I would imagine being a field Commander would be like playing an RTS.

That is surprisingly accurate, down the the shitty decision making your units can do if they are not of a certain class

Also yes bring a towel. And make sure it can expand!

 

[Sir_Substance]

"#9: If it seems to good to be true, there are probably pirates in between you and it."

i lol'd.

also, id like to dispel a myth. i keep seeing people use worlds like "space sim" and "shooter".

EVE is neither of these things. you are not flying a fighter, you are the captain of a battleship. you control the ship by double clicking a direction and set a speed, and the computers down in engineering go "yessir, right sir!" and set you on that course.

when you want to attack someone, you tell your ship to target them and a computer down somewhere you cant see keeps them on the targeting screen. you tell the guns to fire and they do all the tracking and shooting.

its not like X3, its not like freespace. if thats what your after, you wont find it in eve.

 

[Tranka Verrane]

OK, a few points, felt I had to register just to make them. Firstly, as has already been said Eve is very different from the other online games out there. As it is the only one I play (now) perhaps the easiest way to sum up the differences is to explain what drew me to it.

1) I am a serious science fiction fan. I watch mainly SF TV, go to see mainly SF movies and read mainly SF fiction. I like the sprawling, complicated backstory and political scope of SF. Eve has this in abundance, and as a player you can influence things on a galaxy-wide scale.

2) I don't like games like Quake and Half-life online (though I do play HL single player for the plot). I don't own a console. I don't have the fastest reaction times in the universe and twitch games just irritate the crap out of me.

3) I do like RTS games that require some prethought before setting out. The games I've played most other than Eve were probably Sim City and the Sims, though they eventually both frustrated in that they were basically grind without an ultimate goal.

4) I am not the kind of person who dives headlong into the game. I've read posts on here about never reading the instructions. I always read the instructions, and often search around for additional information as well. I am prepared to put in time learning something new, and I enjoy doing so.

5) I am very sociable online. I send lots of emails, post on forums, run a blog (for Eve) and chat on irc when I'm not playing Eve. I also listen to internet radio and have in the past been a DJ myself (but not online, except in the sense that the station broadcast on the net too). I like chatting to people around the world with new opinions and knowledge.

6) I have quite a bit of free time at the moment, working only part-time, so I can afford to dedicate quite a bit of time to a game.

7) I have management experience, and know how to delegate, to lead, and be diplomatic when necessary.

8) I have decent math and computer understanding. I've also worked in internet support.

9) I like giving advice, and will spend time helping people for no other reward than their success, but I'm also prepared to accept advice from new and old.

10) I try not to offend or harm people in my day to day life but I'm also prepared to accept that sometimes people will offend me and it isn't the end of the world.

Read those points and think about yourself in comparison. If you consider yourself the opposite to the majority of them then yes; you will hate Eve-Online. And that doesn't necessarily mean you are an idiot, just it isn't the game for you.

 

[Ultrajoe]

To me, its like this:

"hello" says the EVE saleswoman, "Im here to give you a tour!"
"Alright!" says ultrajoe
"Now heres you ship, click to move"
"Click and hold?"
"No... just click then sit back and twiddle your thumbs"
"Ok..."
"Now to mine!"
"sweet!"
"just click!"
"oh..."
"your being attacked! CLICK"
"I just sit here and click whatever i want my ship to interact with, and i basically does everything?"
"... yes, but you can level in skills!"
"Sweet!, how do i do that! do i grind pirates? or do quests?"
"we... you pay, click... then wait"
"wait?"
"You can click other things in the meantime!"
"well... there's no danger of becoming addicted i guess..."

I know it goes deeper than that, but when the premise is clicking... well... i feel a little betrayed.

I thought the combat would be cool to have naval-style position wars... but it hurt me again.

Once more, my applause to the heros who can succeed, i will never know the joys.

 

[Grybeard]

And since it can take days, even weeks of just waiting for some of the higher skills to level up, you'll essentially feel like you're paying to wait for your character to be good.

Or even months. Keep in mind that the higher the skill level (Multiplier) the longer it takes to train the skill. Battleship 5 can take 30+ days to train from level 4 to level 5 depending on learning skills and implants. So remember, if you join eve with the intent of flying a Titan (As I did) it is going to take close to a year to train for it. And that is just training the titan specific skills for 1 race. On the up side it takes almost as long to build one, so if you start both at the same time you are good..

In the mean time while training, you need to make some ISK. Take the Anshar Jump freighter for example.. Not even a Titan, just a capital ship. You will need the Jump Freighter skill on top of the Freighter skill. I believe thats about 160 Mil Isk in those 2 skills alone. You will also need the Jump Drive skill and the supporting skills to increase range and reduce fuel costs. Somewhere around another 50-60 mil. Then look for an Anshar... I think they are going for about 4.5 to 5 BILLION isk atm.. I could be wrong on that one tho.

So in all Eve is a involved game. It is very worth while if you are into it. If you are looking for something to pop into, kill a couple players and pop out, not so much.

 

[blase]

People who are fanatical WoW players (and by this I mean generic, easy to play rpg's) are not going to hang around on EvE, or find it enjoyable.

I enjoy both games. I'm an avid WoW player with endgame experience since WoW Beta back in the days and I also have an 18-months old combat-focused character in EvE.

From this perspective, EvE is much, much more advanced. Just better overall because it's so much more believeable, flexible and so on. This does not prevent me from enjoying World of Warcraft because Crysis or Ace Combat 6 just can't invalidate the concept of Arkanoid .

 

[Tibike77]

I've heard about EVE almost 5 years ago, but my connection was lousy (think dial-up speed), machine even lousier (barely met minimum specs) and couldn't be bothered even try it. But I watched the stories and the forums every now and then.

First I played it about 3 and a half years ago, but I didn't have time to play it properly (but I did stick around longer than a couple of hours). Back then, you got basically nothing (it would have taken you maybe one whole month to get to the point where you now START with), and the tutorials were long but hardly enlightening. Yes, they DON'T touch much of what you can do now, but in comparison, they're awesome nowadays.
I started several trial accounts as time passed every now and then (one to two months in between, other times new one right after previous was over) until eventually I got enough free time.

I only started playing it "for good" about 2 years ago, but I've been hooked ever since.
Yes, the start CAN be pretty damn boring, but it's a lot less boring than it used to be, and it gets better a lot faster.
Yes, it can be slow-paced, but then again it can also be so fast-paced that you blink and you missed it all (your ship, your pod, all your belongings that you were caryying, and if you were careless, that was all you had too). Just depends on what you do and where you do it.


A word of advice : BEFORE you even create an account, read the forums.
In particular, the "New players" forum, near the top.
Especially the stickies and their contents.
It can be a whoopload of reading material, but trust me, THAT is also barely skimming the surface too.

I consider myself quite the all-round EVE vet right now, but after 2+ years of active gameplay and even longer time reading stuff about it, I *STILL* get to learn something new, or see something I didn't yet think of every now and then.
In the end, it's all about taste. Not everybody likes EVE, and EVE doesn't like everybody back either. Actually, it can be pretty damn unforgiving at times.
But for me, that's actually the main draw : the fact that IF you screw up AND didn't take all the reasonable precautions beforehand, you can get hurt pretty damn badly.

 

[TIMESWORDSMAN]

I deeply apologize if I insulted anyone back there. Maybe I'm just not cut out for the MMO scene.

 

[Tibike77]

You can always start a new trial, start as Minmatar Special Forces, and ask around for a PVP corporation that actually takes newbies in.
You will die as a tackler, a lot, but at least you'll have some fun while doing it.
If you still don't like it, well, who cares, you only lost a bit of time.

 

[Tranka Verrane]

I deeply apologize if I insulted anyone back there. Maybe I'm just not cut out for the MMO scene.

o/ I, for one, would like to go on record as saying not offended. Eve isn't for everyone. I suspect deliberately so, as the server starts to groan and falls over at 40k players online.

 

[Eogris]

In my experience.. all the Eve players have this high and mighty attitude because they don't play the "easy" rpgs. I played through the tutorial and i just didn't feel like doing anything so i stopped.

 

[Tranka Verrane]

A troll over on the eve forums (where I have also posted to try and check that I wasn't totally wide of the mark) replied:

"You then proceed to dictate to somebody how they should set about modifying their own personality to a perfect and holy visage such that they might enjoy Eve after they've done.

Anybody on Escapist forum who was in any doubt about Eve players, should, after that, be in no doubt of the usual level of helpfulness around here."

Whilst I am 90% certain this was a pure troll can I just clarify and check understanding here as well that people weren't under the impression I was saying you have to exactly tick all of those boxes to want to play?

 

[Tibike77]

I love a quote I just noticed in somebody's signature:

"Originally by: Reem Fairchild
The fact that people who post stupid things get instant and honest feedback letting them know how stupid they are, is one of the best qualities of the Eve forums"

 

[manbubes]

I've been playing Eve for 5 years, having graduated from Freelancer. After this length of time it becomes more than a game - its like having another job. Success in Eve is immensely rewarding rather than "fun", and failure can cost you dearly.

Eve is not really about shooting other ships and stuff. Its a test of real life leadership skills, cunning, diplomacy, resource management and strategic planning. Its like an RTS where you use real people instead of units.

I play Guild Wars when I want some quick, fun combat.
I play Eve when I want to change the universe.

 

[Tibike77]

Whoops, bad timing on post without reading latest replies in here... sorry, Tranka Verrane, this was NOT directed towards you.