First of all, I would like to clarify that this blog is intended for those who have acquired at least some knowledge of the game. Technical terms will be used throughout this blog, though I will to highlight and define each at the first time used. Okay, now the technical stuff is out of the way. Let's get on with it, shall we?
Two years, god, I don't even know where to start. As the saying go, let's start at the very beginning. We will recount the steps I have taken to become the pilot I am today from the moment I first logged in.
Day One - Some years ago.
Without any knowledge at all, I started EVE without spending a minute researching it at all. I saw the ad on a web site with two pretty Naglfars on it, which was the symbol of Red Moon Rising Expansion at the moment, all I wanted to do was to jump right into a ship and engage the first target I see.
The game took half an hour to download to my hard drive. Another half an hour went by while I rushed through the technical issues, the EULA, naming my account, and creating my character like a surfer riding the waves.
And so I woke up in a system in the Caldari State as a graduated pilot from the State War Academy. It has been too long for me to even remember precisely which system it was. My idea of the game changed from a fast-paced space combat game into a more mellow, yet tedious game with one of the steepest learning curve during the first several minutes I spent on the tutorial. Due to my own stupidity, I spent the next hour and a half flying through 52 jumps of lowsec, abbveriation of low security space, to pick up one charge of Iron Charge S I bought from the market as instructed by the tutorial. The round of ammunition I bought turned up less than 2 jumps from where I woke up. Lesson one learnt: double check everything.
I spent the next fifteen minutes multitasking between finishing up the tutorial and familiarizing myself with the UI and most importantly, the market, looking through ship after ship. Every player starts out with five thousands ISK. Everything available on the market, ranging from commodities to the most advanced equipment money can buy, is far from my reach. "Don't be so discouraged. You have just started the damn game." I told myself. And I pressed on. At this precise moment, I found what I had called the ship for me, the Merlin. It was merely a Frigate. "Start small, but dream big" the saying goes, and that was what I did. Keeping the goal small and reachable is the key for starting players like myself, I set out on a conquest. A Merlin might have been seem small enough a goal for me to be able to compete within hours. Oh boy, was I wrong. Along with the ship came the technical stuff that I had to spend time researching and carefully calculate. "Do I have to skill to fly the Merlin?" "What is an Afterburner?" "What is the difference between hybrid turret and laser turret?" "What are a good 'setup' for a Merlin?" The questioning continued as I rushed through the belt of a 0.6 system in my Ibis fitted with a Civilian Afterburner, a Civilian shield booster, and two Civilian Gatling Railguns, killing Guritas pirates for the bounty on their ships.
Some hours later, I rushed to Kisogo. A Merlin is on sale there for three hundreds thousands ISK. I couldn't wait to get into that Merlin. It was my first trophy in EVE. You know that moment where you stand in front of your peers and parents holding up the diploma? It resembled that feeling in a smaller, more subtle way. And so, after hours of getting that last rat, short term for NPC pirate, in the belt just to get to the next while carefully planning out skill training, comparing one setup to the next, I was in my Merlin fitted with two 125mm Railgun Is, two 'Malkuth' Standard Launcher Is, a Civilian Shield booster, a small and two micro shield extenders, one 100mm and one 50mm reinforced steel plates, I set out for my first adventure in the New Eden.
In the meanwhile, I talked with the people in the State War Academy and the Newbies Help Channel to gather as much information as humanly possible without overloading my brain. EVE, as per my understanding at the time, is a world of struggle where Darwinism thrives. Knowledge will forever remain the key to success. I was not far from being right, and even further from being wrong. The Eden is filled with opportunists, scammers, and ruthless players that I had to, and still do, stack my odds against. The general consensus was to join a player-controlled Corporation as soon as possible. I came into contact with my very first mentor, to whom I owe much respect and much greater debt for walking me through the first rough stage of the game. Because EVE is world for survival, new players are always preys for the more experienced. The number one rule is never trust anybody. This rule, of course, should be both absolute and relative. You have to trust somebody to earn theirs. On the other hand, trusting the wrong person only means your end is in sight.
After a lengthy talk with my mentor, I logged off for the night holding pride in my Merlin. It was able to crush the biggest rat on the block in a 0.5 system with ease. I intended to venture into lowsec for more challenge the day after.
And so my first entry recounting my first day of EVE is over. It was a February night, the year of 2006. Stay tuned.
User Comments
I was looking to do a 14 day trial day-by-day of EVE for my blog. Sadly, I got bored after like day 5 and didn't log in again.
I love the idea of EVE - as I'm an old UOer - I liked so many of the ideas, plus I'm a sci-fi fan. I just couldn't find the game enjoyable, especially combat. Once I got my cruiser (day 3 or so) I found just getting to stuff to kill it so mind numblingly dull that I wanted to bash my head against the screen.
Anyway, some good memories. ;)
Daedren,
I, personally, found the first 14days of the trial to be very tedious and, as you said, "mind numbingly dull" as well. The best part lies awaits pass that threshold.
Every game has its downside. EVE's is the tedious and painful process of starting out. I hope to see you in space once more, if that's even remotely possible.
Hi Rhamsy,
If AoC doesn't work out to my liking, I might give EVE another shot this summer if I have the time. ;)
I did enjoy the PVP tournament videos. I loved the amount of strategy and tactics involved.
It seemed like a really long way and a lot of "mission grinding" to get there, however.
The PvP tournament is very crude, and potentially boring, in my opinion. Because it is planned and limited. The real PvP is completely spontaneous with a different, and vastly bigger set of variable changes you have to consider. I can go on for days about this topic, but let's save bandwidth.
Mission running does indeed suck. Fortunately, PvP is made affordable with basic skills and equipment. I don't consider running mission or ratting a grind anymore. I used to, till I realize it only takes less than 5 percent total of my playtime to keep myself above water to afford my PvP habit.
It's just so slow. I played for about 3 hours, never logged in again. Maybe the PvP is fun, but they really need to work on an experience that grabs the player the beginning part of the game is torturous.
I would willing replay a launch day AO session over that game again.
How fast paced is the PVP? If you're mano-y-mano how long does a fight take?
Bingo eve combat is lame. However, everything else is genious.
Yeah I hagve found the combat to be boring. The thing is EVE went for true persistance and it makes you question why you are there. But then you get used to it and learn to appreciate how autonomous everything is
I'm not saying I dont look forward to Jumpgate Evolution because I do love twitch
But I appreciate the depth in this game. Everything is so awesome and immersive. When you join an Alliance in 0.0 you realize this is what PVP is. You work together with your brothers. You rat together, build together, cry together when you lose your POS, drink together in victory when you win a battle, mine togehter, etc
It's the ultimate TEAM MMO at ALL TIMES. You are always together with your brothers and sisters. you live together and you contribute resources to your Corp. Everything you do is for your Corp and Alliance
It's the most indepth mmorpg I have ever played. I might not like the combat I agree it is tedious at first. I quit at first. But then I came back a few months down the road cause I couldnt find anything else out there remotely like it
It's real PVP. Very spontoneous. Very brutal. Very real.
Just realize death and corpses and wrecks are everywhere. you never tru;ly safe anywhere. You have to 'think' about every action you take
Good blog I am happy to see a fellow EVE brother. Salute and I hope you not in enemy alliance haha so I wont ask
I agree with your last comment vajuras. I saw the genius of EVE before I even played it by reading the forums. The community that the game built is legendary.
When it came down to it for me, though, the game just wasn't enjoyable at a long term level. Missions were repetitive, even after you've only done 5. That wouldn't be bad, if the combat itself wasn't so slow and boring. I looked into other non-combat ways of making cash: mining, spec ops, etc etc. It all came down to doing something boring. You're either playing delivery boy, mindlessly zapping rocks for Ore, or waiting for your shields to recharge before you engage another group of X bandits. Oh, and the jumping back and for out of a fight was horrific. You have a choice: die, and spend an hour or so trying to replace your ship, or spend 10 minutes jumping out, recharging, and back in to fight. ZZZ.
Anyway, I was really hoping to stick with EVE because I saw the brilliance behind the game. I love the Sandbox idea behind MMO's. I love open PVP. I love sci-fi. It's a shame it didn't work out. ;)
Yeah EVE is a bit slow at first I always suggest few things to my friends to get them going right:
1) Invest $15 outright for the ETC (eve timecode) and trade it for 160mil ISK. This way you can get implants and a great little t1 frig at the outset
2) NEVER EVER stay in the NPC corporation. That is boring, this is not a content driven MMO. Its player driven. Get into a player corp ASAP.
3) Always insure your ship. Losing a t1 starter ship is fully insured and totally expendable even for beginers.
4) roll a Caldari Achura for the awesome stats and you will be in a t2 Interceptor or t2 covert ops (recon) ship in no time and contributing to a fleet in a meaningful way
As long as you pursue an optimal path to get into your desired ship you'll be fine.
Btw another thing- Agent missions have sucky loot at first. For real loot and salvage people belt. Agent missions dont really start getting interesting til you get to Level 3 at least and can use tech 2 equipment. Also you need Connections 3
This isnt a game you can just jump into a trial and have fun in 14 days. The trial sucks for that. I hated the trial myself I just took chance and subbed then once a corp took me in I acquired a mentor
Login or Register to post a comment