EVE Online worth jumping into at this point?

kathos

So EVE online is $4.99 on Steam right now. I'm very tempted.

I know it's an MMO (I'm thinking about $15 a month?).

Now I'm more of a casual player with a few hours to put in a week into an MMO, is EVE online worth putting the time/money investment?

I'm also concerned about the players on there, will I get completely raped by the more experienced player but will I have a chance to do anything with a few hours a week?

I know it's just $5USD but it's better spent one a few copies of Lucidity for gifts or the Guild Wars Trilogy pack or something.

Thoughts/advice?

Corehealer

EVE takes a buttload of time to even train up the necessary skillsets to even think of getting in a ship that can crack another hull open, or mine an asteroid field well, or even get a nice sensor setup for ninja salvaging. It took me a month to really even begin to understand how vast it's sandbox is, how complex it's economy is, how crazy it's ship customization is, how long the skills you really need take to learn.
These days I don't even log on for fun, merely to update my skill tab with more stuff on my list for five minutes or so and then go about my day elsewhere.

EVE is an excellent, beautiful, expansive MMO of epic proportion. It's drawbacks at this point are that it's been out, what, 6 years or so now, and is quite far along in "expansion" packs/patches. It's huge, with a stream of star systems that almost all look alike and blend together after a while. Add onto this that the intelligent few who have been in this game since the beginning and who have the experience and skill to survive anywhere and have the years + skill training needed to pwn in the most gigantic vessels imaginable are always waiting to jump on new players, even the ones who also have skills. This game is basically a game that almost forces you to have a university education in starship command, engineering, navigation, learning, mechanics, physics, sensors, weapons, shields, etc, and above all, patience.

I'm probably not going to be able to really play this game in a decent ship without months of skills trained, and after that, i'll need to sink more time in game into ninja salvage and mining to gather the resources to create and buy what I need for said good vessel. After all that, the stars still all look the same, and you still need to hope that when you get to low-sec you don't get ransomed or blown to bits within seconds of warp in by a gate camp. It's a brutal game.

I still reccomend it though, for those in need of a hobby. =D
And actual fleet battles are truly a sight to see after endless hours in a starbase hanger watching a blue bar inch ever onward into eternity.

Perfectly Cromulent

That depends. What do you want out of an MMO? If you are looking for interesting PvE, I'd say no. EvE is a brutal, dog-eat-dog PvP world. As someone who plays, I'd say go for it. From the looks of your account, you could probably join Merch Industrial, the PA corp that is a member of GoonSwarm, right off the bat. Floundering in high-security space as a noob is an easy way to get bored with the game.

The MERCHI recruitment thread has a lot of good info in it.

You should ask your EvE-related questions here: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=101329

Avynte

While you will get better responses if this was posted within the Eve thread, I feel the need to clarify some points.

Eve's skill system is based purely off of time, so you continue to advance whether online or offline. There are few measurements of 'progress' aside from what goals you place for yourself.

Yes the game has been out for a long time and there are numerous rich and skilled players, but that doesn't mean that within 10 hours you can't destroy ships worth hundreds of millions of isk that have been labored over for weeks on end to be constructed. Eve rewards clever thinking and creative use of all your resources.

The same can be said when it comes to making money. Using traditional methods, yes it will take months of training for an effective setup, but through scamming, luck, or other methods I've run into many new players that have exponentially more cash than many vets. Many other players simply don't even log in very often, except for ops, and sell timecards to finance their gameplay. There's lots of options out there depending on how you want to play.

Core is very right though about Eve requiring patience. It's definitely more of a hobby than simply an mmo with plans that scale into the years for investment returns and future goals.

If you do decide to take the plunge, make sure you look over the eve thread and get in touch with the players. PA has a very strong and experienced presence that's willing to help new players immediately jump into the heart of what makes eve so great, and keeps us bitter vets still spinning their ships in stations.

GothicLargo

Patience takes more then one form with this game, btw. There are times where the best thing you can do is to set a long skill train, and go do something else for a month. Best thing is, you're not hurting yourself. You won't make any money and you won't rack up any kills but if you keep watching evemon every few days you'll recover your sanity, get all the stuff done you've been putting off, and come back a week or a month later with a shiny new level V skill and certificates.

Like me. I've got a lot of stuff going on and really can't commit much time to the game right now, so I'm training up my leadership to freakishly maxed levels.

HavokBlue

I think the fact that you can probably get right into MerchI means being an EVE nub will be infinitely more interesting than for the average newcomer. The Merch Industrial corporation (like a guild in other games) is part of the alliance known as Goonswarm. Goonswarm controls the 'best' space in the game and have been around for quite some time. Also, I don't know from personal experience but it sounds like MerchI takes care of their new guys.

GothicLargo

HavokBlue wrote: »

Goonswarm controls the 'best' space in the game

Delve may be the golden goose of regions, but its true value is in the fact that it once belonged to BoB, who swore Goon would have to pry it from their cold dead hands; and so they did.

In the words of Jayne... "It has *extreme* sentimental value."

HavokBlue

Didn't IT and friends just take down two Goon titans? =(

I don't know 0.0 well but when I saw the map of all the attacks against Goons and their allies it looked pretty messy too.

P.S. OP needs to join EVE and not be intimidated by the first reply.

Brian

I dunno, he couldn't even find the other 2 EVE threads and therefore is an EXTREME AAD risk. So let him in, maybe we get an alliance mail out of it too.

Mostly Harmless

HavokBlue wrote:

Didn't IT and friends just take down two Goon titans? =(

At least one of them was purely due to the pilot/FCs own stupidity, mind.

For the OP - it's $5, or £3. You cannot go wrong at that price. Buy a copy, join MRCHI, ask lots of questions, get given free ISK and ships, die, repeat. It's all good.

Anomme

does the $5 still give you the 30 days game time? or just an acount?

Mostly Harmless

Anomme wrote: »

does the $5 still give you the 30 days game time? or just an acount?

It includes the first 30 days, AFAIK. From memory it says something about extra payment being required beyond the first 30 days.

GothicLargo

HavokBlue wrote: »

Didn't IT and friends just take down two Goon titans? =(

Just one last chance to use them as giant flying stick grenades before zomg mah golden umbrellamace shoots lazorz.

Teslan26

Avynte wrote: »

While you will get better responses if this was posted within the Eve thread, I feel the need to clarify some points.

Eve's skill system is based purely off of time, so you continue to advance whether online or offline. There are few measurements of 'progress' aside from what goals you place for yourself.

Yes the game has been out for a long time and there are numerous rich and skilled players, but that doesn't mean that within 10 hours you can't destroy ships worth hundreds of millions of isk that have been labored over for weeks on end to be constructed. Eve rewards clever thinking and creative use of all your resources.

The same can be said when it comes to making money. Using traditional methods, yes it will take months of training for an effective setup, but through scamming, luck, or other methods I've run into many new players that have exponentially more cash than many vets. Many other players simply don't even log in very often, except for ops, and sell timecards to finance their gameplay. There's lots of options out there depending on how you want to play.

Core is very right though about Eve requiring patience. It's definitely more of a hobby than simply an mmo with plans that scale into the years for investment returns and future goals.

If you do decide to take the plunge, make sure you look over the eve thread and get in touch with the players. PA has a very strong and experienced presence that's willing to help new players immediately jump into the heart of what makes eve so great, and keeps us bitter vets still spinning their ships in stations.

In no other MMO can a new player be such a massively effective part of a PvP fight on almost any scale. There are plenty of great propaganda posters on this, and it is emminently true.

For £3.74, that is 51 days worth of game time if you set it up right.

As for casual - logging in to set your skill queue takes a few minutes a day. Then when you have time - go play the game with all the stuff you can newly achieve.

Just_Bri_Thanks

Selecta

Jesus this guy is laboring over the $5 purchase price? YES IT IS WORTH IT. Fuck, I bought Vanguard off eBay for five bucks and that was worth it, and Vanguard sucks. EVE may not be right for you, you might hate it and rage quit like hundreds of thousands before you, but shit man...$5. I don't know what else to tell you. This is, in fact, a pretty rad game. Just don't approach it like you would with normal MMOs and you'll be fine.

GnomeTank

This idea that you need to play for months to be effective is patently false. We can give you a skill plan that will have you flying tackling frigates in days, especially with the new character 100% training bonus. Once you can fly a tackling frigate you can be an integral part of the battle. Imagine being the frigate, that gets the tackle, that allows us to kill a carrier or a dreadnought. You can do that within a week or two of starting to play.

Just_Bri_Thanks

It was a Merch Industrial player in a frigate that was responsible for a Titan death back in the day. I mean, it was Shrike and all but still...

GothicLargo

Just_Bri_Thanks wrote: »

It was a Merch Industrial player in a frigate that was responsible for a Titan death back in the day. I mean, it was Shrike and all but still...

How? I mean? How? How does this happen? Seriously? He's lost more titans then some alliances have even built.

At what point do you think to yourself... "You know, maybe I'm not cut out for this... maybe if I'm gonna be a huge dick on the forums I shouldn't bring my giant golden phallus out on the field so much."