EVE Online

Firstly I don't want to denegrate the game that obviously many people enjoy. Certainly it's not a question of "good" or "bad", just "good or bad for me?"

That said, on a 14-day trial I have 12 days I don't think I'm gonna need. . . Right now, my review of the game would say "clicking nested menus with a hurry-up-and-wait attitude." I mean there are enough items in those nested menus that there must be strategy somewhere. I just don't foresee getting to it.

So I did the tutorial and did some shopping. Seemed like a lot of traveling. Destinations and Autopilots are nicely superior to holding down the "w" key for a half hour like in many games, but IMHO still inferior to being where the heck you want to be in the first place, you know? The vocal announcements were especially nice because if I was still in the room I would know to turn the monitor back on since it's my turn to do something.

Via said shopping, I bought a ship with a few more slots and a bigger cargo, and some items for those slots including a better mining laser. Then I had a nice chuckle as I looked up the cheapest projectile weapon I could find in the sector and estimated how many Scordite loads I would have to haul before I could afford it, let alone afford to risk it in combat.

Missions - they should be the bread and butter, right? Well I visited up a second contact whose name and location I knew as a result of the tutorial mission. (Several warps and bounces away, of course.) The target of the first mission? Good news, the enemy is in the same solar system. Bad news, there's no telling exactly where in the solar system - they're just somewhere in Eram. Just what this travel-hating S.O.B. wants out of a game, guessing where to go.

And then the combat. Here's the strategy I've come up with so far:

1. Turn on my shield.
2. Click the target
3. Select orbit
4. Select Lock Target
5. Click my gun
6. Drive to the supermarket and see if romaine lettuce is on sale this week
7. Come home, head over to the computer and see which of us died, or if I still have time to go check produce at the competitor supermarket across town.

I figure it's a decent strategy, since most of the buttons available to me are glowing or something.

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lowrads in the topic sticky said:
Ok - territory: 0.4 to 0.1 or lowsec - you're sec is gonna get bad! If this isn't fun at some point, you can just delete this stupid game

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(OK, yes, I'm being a little pissy. Sorry. I'm just trying to keep a sense of humor about an experience that was not fun, and hoping that if I toss a grumble here someone will bat it back with "well dope, if only you'd done this...")

The aspect you fail to mention is the chat in your starting corp.

Was it helpful? Annoying?

Did the Chat windows get in your way of enjoying the game?

As for travelling through systems faster - don't use autopilot.  By all means put the destination in just warp to zero on all gates manually.  IT does save a lot of time. and gives you the opportunity to communicate with people.

As for the agent missions, ask for assistance either in local channel or in your corp channel.  Give the mission title and agent level and someone will be able to tell you the best way of going about it.

Combat at first is quite boring, but eventually you'll be managing your capacitor (and then eventually after you won't need to :D ) .

Yeah there's a lot of clicking in Eve - but it's more tactical than other mmo's and less of a cookie cutter combat style too.

how many different uses does a T1 lvl 3 frigate have?  Effective or otherwise, solo or gang - suicide or not.

My best response to Amarsir?  Give it time, learn more about the game and see if there are not some aspects you like, or if some you already know about don't begin to grow on you.

My own early EVE experience:  I thought the game was pretty boring at first, but stuck it out through the trial.  I decided to upgrade to a paying account and played an additilnal month.  Then I hit a lull and put EVE aside for a few and let my account lapse.  I returned a few weeks ago to see if I could find anything more interesting, and wow, did I ever!  Somehow things seemed to click this time and I can't seem to get enough.  I love the battles and such, but even more, I love the planning!  I have two tools that came highly recommended, QuickFit and EveMon.  Using these tools and healthy doses of forum reading for advice and ideas, I find myself designing and testing new ship loadouts all the time as well as doing more intellegent training.

And, after wollowing around with different training ideas and getting basically nowhere, I have finally set a goal and am working toward it, Assault Frigate Pilot! 

You can find EveMon and QuickFit here:

http://myeve.eve-online.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=380765

http://myeve.eve-online.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=256672

Well EVE is not for everyone, and  if you really feel it's so fun in combat that you leave to check lettuce price? perhaps the industry side of EVE will attract you over the brutal combat. Where in players duel in market manipulation, and price wars...

Seriously with simple and quick training of a few skills you can be up to killing the starter mission ships faster than you can lock them.

As for travel, well I guess you should be happy in that you weren't arround when the jump dropped you 15km from your destination, and you then had to slow boat it over. Now with the warp to 0km option travel is simple, quick, and easy.

Yet EVE isn't for everyone, the game nor the community will not hold your hand. Protecting the younglings to drink in safety at the water hole. No it's the violent predator that stalks the waterhole, and kills the slowest one to run. Starting out the Rookie help channel is overcrowded, and not of much assistance. better help can be found in the nublet corp you drop out into game in, and even that is not much. Ideally you'll find players who assist ( the folks at EVE-U come to mind ) or ask arround in local chat ( course if your in Jita, that's almost as bad as the rookie help)

The tutorial is a bore fest, but it will help you a great deal, as for the mindless clicking through menus... I dunno after the tutorial it aint too bad

Take a deep breath, and if you honestly want to give it a go. I'll offer you some assistance, although i'm not close to Minnie space ( guessing as you mentioned projectle weaponry )

I've been playing EVE for over a year now.  I "didn't" get it at first either and took a break for a few months due to bordom.  When I came back I decided to join a corp and haven't looked back.  EVE is a communal game and the beginner corp just doesn't cut it.  If you find yourself bored or lost find some people that are fun and join their corp.  That is where the game really starts.  With my corp I have mined, missioned, ratted, pvp'ed (solo and fleet), manufactured and gone to 0.0 sec.  It's always fun and there is plenty of help and advice whenever it's needed.

EVE is what you make of it.  It doesn't hold your hand and lead you through like other games.  Make the best of it. 

You can't play Eve alone - not as a newbie anyway.  There is just too much to learn and not enough comprehensive information on the web (that I could find) to learn how to do things "properly" if there is such a thing in Eve.  I by no means consider myself "dumb" but I have to admit to doing the tutorial at least 3 times all the way through AND take notes.  So, just because you couldn't remember to use your people and places tab to find out where to go to do your mission, don't blame the game!  The reason I did the tutorial 3 times is because I couldn't remember half of the instructions in it.

The community is usually wonderful to new players, EXCEPT when it becomes very obvious that the player hasn't done the tutorial.  At that point, you can either go back and do it or continue to annoy players who'd rather be helping folks who did do the tutorial. 

Eve can be very frustrating for a new player.  I know you've heard that there is a high learning curve in Eve.  The problem is, the learning curve isn't where you expect it to be!  The interface itself is fairly simplistic and battle seems overly so.  Point and click simplistic in every way.  When you are invited into higher level missions and situations, usually after joining a player corporation, you'll find that the point , click and walk-away simplicity no longer applies.  

All this still doesn't mean that Eve is going to be the game for you.  Advancement in Eve is not dependent on how much time you spend in game.  There are no levels to gain by hunting, only money and items, and no skills to be advanced through usage.  Skills are gained by study and study can be done online or offline.  Study takes discrete amounts of time and time passes in real time whether you are online or offline.  One of the basic reasons that people stay in-game (leveling) is gone.  So, why be in-game?  You have to engage in activities to make money, for one thing, and you will need money.  You have to buy and maintain your ship(s), which can be expensive and they can also be easy to lose. 

When you are in-game, Eve can be as exciting or as calming as you want it to be, depending on which activities you choose to engage in.

Hey, thanks for the responses all!

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Originally posted by Urza123
EVE is not about PvE however, it is about PvP. You have to out think the other pilots setup and be ready for everything.

The thing about EVE is that most battles are won or lo