EVE New Citizens Q&A

My prior experience with EVE: I've had one previous trial account that I played for 14 days back in February.

I picked up this trial because a beta I've been playing in ended and Skyrim doesn't come out until 11.11.11. This toon is currently 4 days old (157,181 skill points).

First day: Play through half the tutorial missions. Get punisher I can't use.
Second day: Play through the other half, finish training Amarr frigate to get punisher. Get destroyer.
Third day: Play through about a dozen L1 missions and get bored out of my mind. Look up the Sisters of Eve story arc, jump 10 systems to get it, and play through more incredibly easy gameplay to the end of the first chapter.

I know there are a couple of decent fights near the end of the Sisters of Eve story, but after that, it's back to grinding L1s until I can raise my standing. By the end of my previous trial, I'd started on L2s in a Punisher, and found they had an enjoyable amount of challenge.

But L1s are easy. Far, far too easy in my minimally outfitted Punisher.* I haven't died once. I usually never even make it to armor damage. By the end of last night, I just put 'autolock' on 4, and click approach and fire until everything was dead.

Now, you're going to tell me that EVE is so much more than mission running. I'm not arguing with that, but...

Many new players are going to start with mission running. Even if they plan to PvP or explore or get into trading/industrial, missions provide good cash flow and rep gain with factions. And the L1 missions feel like nothing but a grind because they're so easy.

I have some suggestions! I'm not a game developer, so I'm not sure how useful this will be, but I hate it when someone points out a problem, but can't provide solutions.

1. Cut down the rewards in the tutorial missions: At the end of two days, I had 5 million ISK, over a dozen skillbooks, and six different ships. I think I bought about eight more skillbooks at the rookie station, all of which ranged from 18-36k. Obviously, that's nothing to a more experience player, but it means that I've never had to work to get my Punisher or the destroyer.

2. Add a few harder mobs: Mix in a few 'elite' or 'boss' mobs with the regular rats. That way I have to pay attention to what's going on instead of simply zoning out.

3. Give out group missions: Missions designed for you and a friend, or you and a stranger who you'll rely on with your life and ship. Teaming up with at least one other player to solve a problem is fun, but people can be very reluctant unless you hold out that carrot of more reward.

Again, I know that there is more to EVE than PvE and that L2s and up provide more challenge. I am saying that L1s will be many player's introduction to gameplay, and it's a rather boring, unengaging introduction. I see people checking out before they get to L2s or start exploring other parts of the game.

*Three Dual Beam 1s with microfrequency crystals, an afterburner, a cap recharger, a small armor repair, and a heat sink.

I agree that L1s should be *somewhat* easy. The problem is that they are far too easy. I'm not saying that they need to be hard, but throwing in the occasional curveball would make them more engaging.

If they reduced the rewards of the tutorial, then you wouldn't see as large a gap in those who skipped them and those who jumped in. Besides, you choose to skip the tutorials. Why base difficulty for an entire level of missions off people who are new but don't bother with beginning quests?


You're admitting the content is bad. The solution to bad content shouldn't be 'power through it.'

Besides, how is a new player going to know to power through it? And even if they know that, they're not engaged in the game *now.* As someone who's only played for a few days, I have no attachment to the game. If my experience with the game is that it's boring, why would I spend hours or days attempting to get to a theoretical good part later on?


I'd rather they be interesting and quick to get through. There's no reason it can't be both.


I have no idea what you're referring to. Given that I did a significant amount of reading prior to starting the game, I'm going to guess 'run static 2/10 complexes' would be a meaningless statement to many new pilots.



Here's the thing: I firmly believe that EVE is a very rich, compelling game based on what I've read from long-time players, but as a new player, I don't experience that. I experience really boring space combat missions that I'm expected to grind through. I think the L1s could use a bit of polish.

If you make friends, you'll find people who will drag you through L4 missions with your destroyer: note that destroyers are getting a major buff in the Winter (is coming) expansion!

IMHO, making friends is the most important thing to do in EVE Online. Focus on that as a means of escaping the boredom of mission-running, is my advice.

You, sir, are wonderful.

l1's are meant to be doable in a rookie ship in case some noobs lose all their stuff and need to start over

They're Level 1 missions. What in space did you expect? Some real entertainment? If that's the case, you should probably go look for a few Anomalies. The ones called [insert Pirates here] Den are fun to do in frigates, but that's about it. Or go to low-sec for some ratting. The NPCs there give better bounties than most enemies in the SOE epic arc.

Level 1 missions aren't meant to be hard. Level 4 or 5 missions are meant to be a challenge. Level 1 just gives you a way to raise standings with any corp up to 1.0

Way back in 2007, I got my ass handed to me repeatedly by one level 1 mission. Worlds Collide or something. They're not all trivially easy.

L1s too easy, are you kidding? Some missions are pretty tough, especially when you use close range weapons and are low on SP. I lost 3 ships in L1s!!

After killing my zillionth rat/cow/boar in those other games, I fail to see how level 1 missions are any more tedious.

Grind is Grind.

Fortunately, EVE has gobs of stuff to do that isn't mission running and doesn't take long to skill into.

This discussion reminds me of my first level 2 mission, which was Recon. L2 Recon is a *suprise* mission as it is as hard as some L3 missions. I lost 25 M isk in ships completing it . Took me 15 minutes to kill the last cruiser, inch by inch. Ah, good times.

Another good one was a L3 mission which had energy neut towers. Bye bye Myrmidon

Then there are the many times I accidentally triggered everything in a L4 mission at once