EVE New Citizens Q&A

So, I've been doing nullbear isk farming for quite a while solo, while reading a lot and learning about PvP. Obviously, doing is better than reading, so I'm itching to get my feet wet within the next 1-2 weeks. I'd like to get a PvP char off the character bazaar with all of my nullbear isk, the budget will be pretty big.

So, from my experience in other MMO's, there are traditionally roles that the group/guild/corp is looking for more of, traditionally things like healers, or buffers, or CC, or any other form of support, even tanks. DPS always seems to be overwhelming available.

Is it the same situation in this game? I'll admit, I've traditionally played CC/support type roles in MMO's just because there have always been less of them, and even less that take the time to learn to play them well. I feel like I've narrowed it down to logistics or ECM (a falcon pilot? perhaps I'd learn in a kitsune first? ).

I only ask because I know the traditional answer is "play what you like", but I've played these games long enough that I look at all of the roles and I feel pretty indifferent about all of them, and my priority rather defaults to what is more useful to groups and more in demand. I'm rather indifferent to whether I'm sending out drones to DPS, or tackling, or warping around with ECM in a Falcon. And I'm not really worried about picking a character that can also generate ISK since I can obviously do that on the character I already have.

I'll also admit that, as a person who traditionally played the CC/support type roles, I enjoy being the guy that everyone hates and wants to kill (who is this a-hole locking me in place, snaring me, healing his team, etc), which is leading me toward getting a falcon pilot. But I could be completely wrong on this, I hear that they're actually frowned upon and people will avoid fights (that sucks!), maybe I should get a logistics pilot? I read someone say logi is fun because you get to choose who lives.

Any advice/tips are welcome :) Solo nullbearing is fun, and my ISK is piling up, but when the server population is hitting around 40k, I can't help but feel I should be out there with some corp/gang on a voice server having laughs in PvP on an alt.

From what i have heard logistics pilots are always in high demand, but someone who actually PVP's would have to confirm/deny that

Yeah Carrier pilots in general fly logistics very well just by virtue of the prerequisites for racial carriers including Logistics 5. All you really need to crosstrain a slowcat pilot into logistics cruisers is Racial Cruiser 5.

Just keep in mind that slowcats are widely considered overpowered atm and may well get nerfed soon.

Are there any tangible benefits to picking a particular race's ships for logistics, or is it just pick whichever one you think looks coolest? I read that Amarr or Caldari is preferable for groups if you're flying logistics, but maybe that was bad info? My preference will be to group PvP so I'd hate to pick the wrong one.

The big difference in racial logistics is caldari/minmitar are shield and gallante/Amarr are armor, the caldari and Amarr bonuses help with shield/armor and capacitor which lends them to need to be run in 2 or more as well as being able to use more rep modules and over all rep more. The oneros and scimitar are able to be fit cap stable and not be forced to run with what is commonly known as a cap buddy. Situation is dependent on thier uses.

Details may vary but to my knowledge a fleet can be broken down in (suicide) Tacklers to catch and hold the enemy for the DPS.

Logistics and ECM (the dreaded Blackbird squad , possibly Sensor Dampeners? I understand that in comination with ECM they can be devastating) will support the fleet.

Scouts can be considered a separate PvP role as well.

Finally Stealth Bombers, I guess.
No personal experience here but I understand they can be used quite efficiently, especially in Null-Sec.

Alright first off forget the slocats. They're flavour of the month, soon to be countered by other fleets. Screw this mindless F1 monkey stuff. You don't learn pvp that way, you learn how to approach your anchor and get volleyed to death. Alright now if you want to learn to pew pew start with small - it doesn't matter how rich you are you'll end up in poverty if you start by losing recons every other day.
Good sabre pilots are dime a dozen. The divtor role is wide and varied, from hard tackle targets in small gangs to station bubbling and finally fleet bubbling. Important things for a dictor pilot to remember - 1. Stay alive as long as possible. You're not gonna win much respect burning straight into and enemy fleet and bubbling yourself. 2. Bubble the enemy fleet as much as possible, your own as little as possible. 3. Sometimes you're gonna suicide bubble - try and do the bvest job of it you can.
Also train interceptors, get used to scouting and target finding. Ceptors have never been more fun.
Once you have experience I found one of the most in demand ships in a fleet of more than about 50 people is a utility recon. Cyno, covert cyno, probes, cloak. Things that are uusually lacking in fleets.
Oh and train for a combat covert-ops. You wouldn't believe how many good kills you can get in a covert ops frigate if it's fitted right :)

Logistics ships and recons seem to always be in demand.

Thanks for the tips. The mixed answers in this thread have been interesting. I'm more than likely still going to get a second dedicated PvP char with a bigger (and PvP focused) skill pool than my current exploration carebear. What else to do with my carebear ISK?

As an aside though, since it seems like I'm not too far off, I've thought of adding the needed skills to my current explorer to convert her to a stealth bomber. This is her char sheet: http://eveboard.com/pilot/Airmid_Abellio

For example, this loadout: http://eve.battleclinic.com/loadout/68458-Purifier-766dps-OH-kill-a-drake-jpg.html

EVE-Mon tells me I'm 32 days off from flying this, all due to getting these skills:
- Missile Launcher Op IV
- Light Missiles III
- Heavy Missiles III
- Torpedoes V
- Weapon Upgrades IV

The fit seems to make sense considering I already have solid shield skills; and looking at this http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Stealth_Bomber#The_Different_roles_of_Stealth_Bombers it seems I would have a few options for PvP'ing with this. They don't seem like terribly expensive ships, or I should say they seem like something I could afford to lose (regularly) learning the ropes since I can pull at least a few hundred mil a night doing null exploration.

Start of being fast tackle if you plan on doing null alliance pvp. This will give you a chance to learn how fleets work. You will also be working with a small group of other people locking down targets or fighting enemy fasttackle. So even if in a 200 man fleet, you will be fighting under different conditions than the main dps part of fleet.

You could also work your way into a fw or lowsec pvp corp but again start off with frigs and corps that do frig and cruiser roams. T1/T2 frigs and t1 cruisers aren't too expensive for you to replace since you have an established character to make you isk. You will probably die a lot to little mistakes so losing t2 cruisers constantly is gonna cost you. Luckily null alliances have ship replacement programs as do some other corps if you do fly t2 cruisers. If you make a ton of expensive mistakes though it may cause you problems.

Is there a reason you dont want to use your main for pvp? Unless he is a highsec indy/missioner then no reason to not use him for pvp.