Meandering through MMORPG's...

Author: t0nyd

   My character is a caldari by the name of Alexander Creed. I did some research on ships and I chose my race by which set of ships I thought looked good. Obviously, this is kind of a mistake. My first lesson was, Caldari ships are not made to solo. I spend a good amount of my time solo. Also, for those that will look up my character in game, yes, I started playing in 2007. I played for 1 month then deployed to Iraq. So, my character does not have the skill points of a 2007. I just picked the game back up in december.

  I assume what I did is what everyone does at first and that is, run lots of missions. So I ran what felt like an endless amount of level 1 missions. Finally I got on the help channel and asked " how many level 1 missions does it take to get to level 2s". Someone directed me toward social skills. Noob mistake number 1. I raised my social skills up 2 levels, ran about 7 missions then bang, level 2 missions opened up. Shrug, Oh well, I am sure others will make the same mistake.

 By this time i have enough Isk to jump in a Caracal, which is my first attempt at piloting a cruiser. Things go well. Level 2 missions are cake. I run em for a rediculous amount of time. Finally I set my sights on the drake (battle cruiser). After running level 2 missions for about a week i become frustrated with my isk gain. I just dont see myself getting into a drake anytime soon. Luckily someone directs me towards the Salvaging skill. I wish I would have know about the skill from the begining. I would say my Isk gain quadrupled. Still my Isk gain just doesnt feel fast enough. I also get tired of running missions.

  By this time im so bored of running missions. I simply have no desire to play anymore. So I start playing warhammer again. Altho I am logging in to select skills to train while I play warhammer. This is like the only game ive played that rewards you for not playing. I log in one random day to check my skills when I notice people playing trivia on the noob corp chat. Im like, oh well, maybe I can throw a couple answers in there. Im not really paying that much attention. I get three of them correct. Im goofing around when I see out of the corner of my eye, my wallet icon is flashing. I click it and I have over 100 mil sitting in there. Im like, uhh. I didnt realize, the guy that was asking the questions was giving an isk reward for correct answers.

  So I finally buy a Drake. Obviously my interest in the game is a bit renewed. I run some missions for a couple hours then boredom sinks in again. At this point, im pondering canceling. I just dont see how people can play this game. Im chatting on the Caldari noob corp about it. Someone directs me towards PvP. Ive always wanted to PvP. I just didnt really know how. Eve is probably one of the worst MMO's for getting into PvP at the start.

  I joined the recruitment channel. After a few days I finally noticed a Corp recruiting that didnt require 5+ mil skill points. It is a Merc corp. So I figure, what do I have to lose. I join and it seems interesting enough at first. Im asking a ton of questions about fitting my drake. I also learn a ton of reasons as to why my drake isnt a solo ship and why Caldari seem to suck solo. Shrug, I figure what the hell, im going to solo this drake anway. Its what Im skilled for. At this time i am approaching 3 mil skill points and a majority of them are in missiles, shields, and drones.

  I chase war targets around for hours, days, weeks, now im getting bored. I begin to ponder my fitttings, trying to figure out how I am screwing up. I decide my passive shield tank just isnt working. I notice people will not stay to fight. I notice that the abaddon (battleship) that does cant hardly touch my shields, so he simply leaves. So after more questions, I learn about warp disruptors and webs. Warp disruptors keep people from warping and webs slow targets so my missiles actually do damage. Hmm, so I ponder my next load out test on this drake.

 At this point, I am going to recomment Battle Clinic, EFT, and Evemon to anyone even thinking of playing this game. Battle Clinic has load outs avaiable for you to browse. Evemon will help you plan your skills. I wish I knew of these when I started.

   I gang up and I get my first kill. This is before I change fittings. My interest is renewed. We had a good tackler, a battleship, and my drake, vs a battleship. He went down pretty fast. It was a rush. Finally I shot at someone, heh. Now I am back to the solo kick. I have 2x invuln fields for resistance boosting, a web, a disruptor, an after burner, and a large extender in my mids. I have 3xfield extenders for riggings. I pretty much get laughed at by my corp, but hey, I solo, so how am I to solo in a drake with out this kind of load out.

  The corp I am in is pretty small. So its not like I can gang all the time. I also play at odd hours. Im roaming around solo with no corp mates on. I notice a war target on. I have him on my buddy list of course :). I notice him in local space in amar and he vanishes. I warp to ashab gate and jump and luckily he is sitting there. I approach with my after burner on. He doesnt notice me. I wait to try and lock til I am with in 15km. I get there and try to lock. He tries to align for a jump, I bump him off it as I get my lock, disrupt, web, pop. My first solo kill. I was so pleased with myself that I jump away, docked, and forgot to loot the wreck, heh. Then it hit me. I just tackled a rifter in a drake, heh.

  So anyone that wants to play and learn from some of my  mystakes...

1. Mission running, train social skills.

2. Train salvaging for cash.

3. Dont choose caldari if you want to solo pvp.

4. Use Eve mon, eft, and battle clinic. This way you dont end up with the wrong skills and a retarded load out.

5.  If you notice trivia questions on the noob corp chat, ANSWER THEM!

 - tony d