Hello and welcome to Eve Online Survivor Guy. I am taking on the wilds of New Eden, once I'm out there I will have to initiate survival and it won't be easy. I don't have any experience of this game and the learning curve for me will come swift and steady. I don't want to over dramatize this but a mistake out here could prove fatal...
Week Two: Bewilderment and Cash Flow
It is my second week and already I am starting to feel like the uneducated and savage newcomer that I am. Having made frequent enquiries of various matters in the Rookie Channel it has now become apparent that Eve Online is difficult beyond comprehension. Veterans of the game tell me in mechanical terms which way I should progress, such is the benefit of hindsight, while others reply in mystical tones of "the game is how you make it". My second week in New Eden wasn't going to be easy and to survive I needed to be proactive and intelligent in my methods.
A certain sense of bewilderment had stricken me during my second week of play, Eve Online seems so vast and complicated and yet guideless and emancipated from any kind of preordained progress. Everything in the game is of the players' making and this is very hard to grapple with. To survive further I needed to plot and plan for my future and guide myself through the freedom of New Eden. The greatest challenge I faced to my further survival was the almost existential doubt and despair I was feeling towards the point of a limitless and free space faring life. It is the feeling that almost all newcomers must experience when playing the first stages Eve Online. The games non-linearity becomes almost a threat to the traditional MMORPG player, to survive I needed to cast aside my days of goblins, enormous swords and colorful landscapes.
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I felt it essential at this point to plan any future progress and set objectives for myself, survival wasn't going to come easy and preparation was the operative word. During my first week of play I made miniscule steps toward a career of combat but also making sure that I paid sufficient dues to the industry of mining. It was now that I would need to pursue coin and wealth if I wished to proceed. While I wasn't going to be engaging in epic player versus player just yet, I would still build the necessary foundations required to do so at a later junction. For this I would need a source of income to enable myself to buy certain extra skills not available to your character from creation.
I knew at this point that my first handful of weeks in Eve Online would not be filled with Han Solo antics and neither would I be discovering new alien worlds in the name of good and righteousness. I had to build a focused foundation from which I could advance from and grow as a player. In the meantime in the place of exciting battles I would pursue wealth so that I could further my survival through this rugged terrain.
I had a choice to make, I could stick the relative safety but slow going mining or I could embark and operation of almost clean up, finishing off all the tutorial quests that were available to me in an attempt to gather easy ISK. I decided on the latter and set about finding various tutorial agents after equipping my ship with more offensive capabilities; I knew that while these missions wouldn't be too challenging I would have to keep my wits about me as one careless mistake could set me back hours of progress.
Completing your missions quickly and efficiently is something you should always attempt; extra credit and equipment at times can be bestowed and while we are focusing all efforts on these goals, these bonus rewards become essential in terms of cutting the time of your work load. The money made in these missions may be minor in the grand scheme of things but for now it is a great starting point which enables the purchase of skills and necessary equipment.
So after completing dozens of tutorial missions I was in a position to focus my attentions on obtaining skills from the market place and most importantly the learning skills of Analytical Mind, Learning and Instant Recall. These skills allow you to more quickly and efficiently advance through your skills as well as boosting your attributes. It is important to advance these to level three or four before moving on to skills of your choice as well as a further set of learning skills.
It is important to note that when purchasing items in the marketplace that certain stations differ in their prices and inventory, it may be necessary to travel to another to obtain your desired item be it simply for its availability or your station is asking for too much. While it may take time to travel to obtain your item, always shop for lower prices and preserve as much ISK as you can at this stage as it can be invaluable in terms of time consumption.
So for now I had a stable foundation from which to progress and while it had been rather time consuming I was at a point in which I could start slowly edging toward the more exciting elements of the game. Skill progression is key to Eve Online and while you are slowly ticking away advancing to the next level of whatever desired path it is best to busy yourself in some sort of wealth pursuit. After the tutorial stages, combat missions for example get invariably more difficult and therefore dangerous and while I was slowly incubating my budding skills I did not have the necessary means in which to partake in high octane battles surrounding ruined space stations, therefore the pursuit of mining ore is a safer and comfortable prospect. Mining is not exactly exciting but you will find it necessary as you orbit an asteroid, filling up your jettisoned can and siphoning it back to your base of operations making a thrilling amount of money as you sell it. This is the basis of a sound cash flow and sticking with it is essential at this point.
It is important to state that the second week of Eve Online will not be the most exciting but it will be necessary if you wish to proceed in a more stable and foundation building manner. The infinite quest of mounting wealth is an on-going feature of the game and it is here where you will find yourself first indulging into consumerist ways. Eve Online is ultimately a game of patience and perseverance; if you wish to survive then progress must be planned and accounted for, if you not you will find yourself in a bewildering universe bereft of idea of advancement. Join me next week as I further chronicle my adventures...
