Tabula Rasa and EVE

[MiloP]

So, I finally gave in to the draconian pummelling of The Escapists advertising and am downloading the free trail of EVE Online. I was gonna partake in Tabula Rasa as well but I only just heard that its closing down in a month or two, so there's not much point in me starting now.

So, MMORPGers, will I be blown away by EVE Online? And have I missed anything special in Tabula Rasa?

 

[Abedeus]

TR ends in a month. Exactly a month, I think it's till February 28th.

If you want my opinion, watch ZP: Eve Online. It illustrates my point very well.

Although if you want to get rich, then make a run for it and still millions of virtual money, go ahead.

 

[MiloP]

Finished downloading, but could only create character before the servers shut down for daily maintainence.

Seriously, DAILY???? And I thought the WoW servers were bad. And the character customisation left a lot to be desired.

Ha, the critic side of me is already picking nits. I'm sure the gameplay will win me over.

 

[Abedeus]

TR ends in a month. Exactly a month, I think it's till February 28th.

If you want my opinion, watch ZP: Eve Online. It illustrates my point very well.

Although if you want to get rich, then make a run for it and still millions of virtual money, go ahead.

Yeah but Yahtzee bashes everything he reviews. As it is hilarious you cant really go on his opinion. Better to find out for yourself.

Psychonauts, Painkiller, Fallout 3, Saint's Row 2 and few other.

He's not bashing EVERYTHING.

 

[Theo Samaritan]

Finished downloading, but could only create character before the servers shut down for daily maintainence.

Seriously, DAILY???? And I thought the WoW servers were bad. And the character customisation left a lot to be desired.

Ha, the critic side of me is already picking nits. I'm sure the gameplay will win me over.

EVE's servers have over 100,000 individual IP's log in during any one day, with up to 48,000 (as is the current record) players logged in at any one time to one server. If we didn't get the daily one hour downtime then they'd have to take it down all weekend to defrag, repair and maintain the servers.

My suggestion for starting roll: Caldari > Achura > Monk > Military > Soldier. These guys get the best starting attributes (the low charisma isn't a worry as its barely needed), and after the first couple of weeks it is the attributes that matter more than any of the skills you start with.

Welcome to EVE, feel free to grab me if you need the help. Same name as forum.

 

[MiloP]

I played it, and I'm not overly keen. But everyone says it has a steep dificulty curve so I'll roll with it for a bit. Hey, its free after all.

 

[Abedeus]

I played it, and I'm not overly keen. But everyone says it has a steep dificulty curve so I'll roll with it for a bit. Hey, its free after all.

After trial is gone, it's not free. You have to buy the game and then pay $ to play.

 

[pantsoffdanceoff]

I played Eve and it could have easily been the most boring two hours of my life. I can't say its a bad game due tot the fact i guess a lot of people DO like it. I really liked Tabula Rasa and probably would have bought it if it had the free online play after you bought it (a la Guild Wars)... but it's not good enough to pay 15/mo for, my only problem was that it seemed a bit too easy.

 

[bodyklok]

Man... I wish this weren't a true story. OK I went on the 30 day free trial for EVE online much like you I saw the adverts for it on this very site. So I played for a bit getting in to it can be difficult, but that depends on the person playing I guess. Anyway around day or to into it I was flying through space minding my own business when I saw a cluster of derelict ships (there were quite a few) I looked at the system chat box and and there was these people and long story short they were having a funeral for their dead friend who's in game name was pro213441 or something like that (yes they were calling him by his in game name) and they started going on about all this shit about "we'll miss you pro" and "Pro was so reliable, he'd always be there is you needed to go raiding". This is what happens to people who play that game.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

After trial is gone, it's not free. You have to buy the game and then pay $ to play.

You're half right. You don't have to "buy" the game outright, but there is a monthly membership fee. The upside: All expansions are free.

EVE is not your typical MMO experience. You are going to spend a very long time either freelancing (and being in danger) or working as a cog in a corporate machine (and still being in danger, but having more folks backing you up). If you like working with a bunch of people towards a larger goal, then this might be the game for you. If you like the "marketplace" aspect of making stuff and selling it, this also might be the game for you (that's what I did for most of my time playing). However, if you think you're going to be getting into those "huge fleet battles" they advertise in the first couple of weeks, you can pretty well forget about it (unless you have someone with a LOT of money backing you up).

Probably the game's greatest draw is that your actions (and those of your friends/corpmates) really can change the game's universe. Everything's for keeps, and playing it smart and making the right connections can get you places.

 

[Abedeus]

Yeah, but a lot of MMOs give free expansions.

Every City of Heroes/Villains, Ragnarok Online, Lineage 2 and few other expansions were free. Only WoW and LotRO from what I know have expansions you have to buy.

Which is why I don't play them and won't. Pay additional $ for expansions? I've already paid for that...

 

[Theo Samaritan]

Man... I wish this weren't a true story. OK I went on the 30 day free trial for EVE online much like you I saw the adverts for it on this very site. So I played for a bit getting in to it can be difficult, but that depends on the person playing I guess. Anyway around day or to into it I was flying through space minding my own business when I saw a cluster of derelict ships (there were quite a few) I looked at the system chat box and and there was these people and long story short they were having a funeral for their dead friend who's in game name was pro213441 or something like that (yes they were calling him by his in game name) and they started going on about all this shit about "we'll miss you pro" and "Pro was so reliable, he'd always be there is you needed to go raiding". This is what happens to people who play that game.

Roleplayers? In my Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Game!? Absurd!

I played it, and I'm not overly keen. But everyone says it has a steep dificulty curve so I'll roll with it for a bit. Hey, its free after all.

After trial is gone, it's not free. You have to buy the game and then pay $ to play.

Within 4 months you can start paying with isk - it takes about that long to get the income infrastructure up to a point where it wont make you too broke to doso.

 

[Virgil]

So, MMORPGers, will I be blown away by EVE Online? And have I missed anything special in Tabula Rasa?

Either you will love EVE, or hate it. Personally, it's a game I wish I could get into - it's well-designed, well-run, and I have a lot of respect for the developers. I've tried the game several times. But I just can't get into it - it's just not my thing.

Tabula Rasa... At this point it's really not worth the time. Many would say it never was.

 

[MiloP]

Right, so I'm beginning to have fun and see the good points of EVE. My only criticism thus far is the wall-like difficulty curve - hell, the first few missions outside of the tutorial are just too hard for a starting ship. Like WoW, the game should probably tell you whether a certain mission is gonna send tits skyward.

But I'm steadily mining, the money is steadily coming in. Is it weird that after purifying the ore I find I get something worth LESS?

 

[Singing Gremlin]

Right, so I'm beginning to have fun and see the good points of EVE. My only criticism thus far is the wall-like difficulty curve - hell, the first few missions outside of the tutorial are just too hard for a starting ship. Like WoW, the game should probably tell you whether a certain mission is gonna send tits skyward.

But I'm steadily mining, the money is steadily coming in. Is it weird that after purifying the ore I find I get something worth LESS?

Nah, often better to sell the ore until you have good refining skills. Plus, if you follow the missions the tutorial directs you to, you'll wind up with a couple new ships. It's a good system, it's just quite easy to miss that bit which throws a lot of people off.

 

[AngleWyrm]

Within 4 months you can start paying with isk - it takes about that long to get the income infrastructure up to a point where it wont make you too broke to doso.

Really? That's fascinating -- how do you translate virtual money into IRL money so they can pay upkeep on the server, employees and the like?

 

[Singing Gremlin]

Within 4 months you can start paying with isk - it takes about that long to get the income infrastructure up to a point where it wont make you too broke to doso.

Really? That's fascinating -- how do you translate virtual money into IRL money so they can pay upkeep on the server, employees and the like?

Basically, CCP sell ISK.

You can buy a gametime card off them for real money, at a higher price than your bog-standard subscription, and are allowed to sell the card for ISK. It is just selling ISK, but it's not at a level that can really unbalance the game and at least the cash goes to CCP.

 

[Theo Samaritan]

Right, so I'm beginning to have fun and see the good points of EVE. My only criticism thus far is the wall-like difficulty curve - hell, the first few missions outside of the tutorial are just too hard for a starting ship. Like WoW, the game should probably tell you whether a certain mission is gonna send tits skyward.

But I'm steadily mining, the money is steadily coming in. Is it weird that after purifying the ore I find I get something worth LESS?

People and Places > agents. There is an agent marked as "Event". Go and do his ten missions, which are scaled based on the rookie ship to begin with, and you get given two ships (both capable of level 1's) and other free goodies.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Right, so I'm beginning to have fun and see the good points of EVE. My only criticism thus far is the wall-like difficulty curve - hell, the first few missions outside of the tutorial are just too hard for a starting ship. Like WoW, the game should probably tell you whether a certain mission is gonna send tits skyward.

But I'm steadily mining, the money is steadily coming in. Is it weird that after purifying the ore I find I get something worth LESS?

People and Places > agents. There is an agent marked as "Event". Go and do his ten missions, which are scaled based on the rookie ship to begin with, and you get given two ships (both capable of level 1's) and other free goodies.

I remember when I started, the tutorial had given me just enough cash to outfit a Condor with civillian gear and a few T1 weapons. Then I was dumped into the universe without a CLUE as to what I should do next. Im honestly surprised I didn't quite soon after that, since my first month in game was one disaster followed by another. I got into a cruiser (a caracal) and assumed I could take down a frigate easily (it SEEMED to make sense), only to find that the Jaguar outgunned, out tanked and outmaneuvered me. After replacing THAT ship I wandered into lowsec to get some cash from the NPC pirates and after a few jumps got killed in a gateamp (before you could warp to the gate). That trend carried on for quite awhile.

Honestly, much of Eve is like getting kicked in the nuts by a particularly large and angry man. I still have an account but I haven't logged in except to change skills for a few months. What keeps me around is the notion that I have a character with 30m SP that can basically do anything (short of flying capital ships oddly enough).

 

[MiloP]

Found him, and found the last tutorial mission (in a place beginning with an H). Plus I upgraded my gun. So I can tear apart most things now.

THE FUN HAS BEGUN.