Victoria Aut Mors

Welcome to the sixteenth installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by none other than me, CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

The third Blog Banter of 2010 comes to us from ChainTrap of the Into the unknown with gun and camera EVE Blog. He asks us: “Eve University turns six years old on March 15th; six years spent helping the new pilots of New Eden gain experience and understanding in a supportive environment. EVE is clearly a complicated game, with a ton to learn, so much that you never stop learning. So, the question is; What do you wish that someone had taken the time to tell you when you were first starting out? Or what have you learned in the interim that you’d like to share with the wider Eve community?

                My how things have changed since I started playing this game back in 2006. Despite the changes there are still several items I wish I had been told early on. First, learn how to set up the overview. I only recently got familiar with how the various settings on the overview actually work and that has dramatically improved my game play. For PVP it is absolutely crucial that you have the settings for the overview right.

                Second, Train the learning skills early on. Get yourself well set up to run level 1 missions or mine and then get those learning skills knocked out.  They aren’t as sexy as learning new ships and weapons but once you have them all set up an average skill will go from 0 to 4 in about 4 days. This makes ALL the difference.

                Third, take your time in finding a Corp. Search the Eve Online Forums, monitor the recruitment channel, and talk with other people in your Noob Corp as well as those in system.  Eve is a social game. This is not WoW where you don’t need to make friends until max level the PVE stuff in Eve is ALRIGHT but, if you don’t have people to hang out with you will not last long. As you discover and learn about the various organizations out there wait for the one that is perfect. Make sure there are active players when you are online, the Corp play style matches your own, and the members seem friendly and willing to help.

                Fourth, Bigger does not always mean better. This piece of advice goes for both ships and Corps. Just because that BS is the biggest ship you can fathom right now does not mean it’s the best ship for what you want to do. Most ships in Eve have specific uses and using them for something else is very much like trying to fit a round peg in a square hole.

                Fifth, figure out a soon as possible what you want to do in game and train towards that goal. Download Evemon and EFT to make this easier. If you want to be a pirate running around low sec and ganking fools then you don’t likely need to worry about training for battleships. If you don’t want to PVP you probably don’t need tackling skills, and if all you want to do is mine then training weapons is going to be a waste of your time. If you don’t know exactly what you want to do in game then feel free to dip your toes in the water for a bunch of things. But, the sooner you figure out what you want to do the sooner you can skill train to do it well.

                Sixth, you will get blown up. You will lose ships. You will get podded. Don’t get upset about it. Feel free to plot your revenge but, don’t take the gankings personally.

                Seventh, don’t fly what you can’t afford to lose…….EVER

                Eighth, don’t rush into things you aren’t ready for. Just because you have access to the level 3 agent does not mean you should go start taking missions from them. Just because your friends are having a blast in low or nullsec doesn’t mean you need to rush down there. Attempting to rush headlong into all that Eve has to offer is a recipe for frustration.

                Ninth, just because they are all read and flashy in your overview DOES NOT mean you can attack them in High Sec. Make sure you understand who you can or cannot shoot at before hitting F1-F4.

                Tenth, READ stuff. Read as much as you can find about the game. The VAST majority of the documentation for Eve online is player generated and scattered throughout the internet. Follow blogs, read web pages. Bother Corp mates about where the best resources are. Eve is a DIFFICULT game. It takes time to understand. Don’t worry we were all noobs at one point and most people (even in local) will be willing to answer a question or two.

My .02 ISKs. Thanks for Stopping by. Off you go!