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EVE New Citizens Q&A

 
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How long should I play every week? How long do you play every week?
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Laertes Ansari
Perkone
Caldari State
#1 - 2014-06-09 20:47:42 UTC
I haven't actually played "Eve" in about 6 months (of the 9 that I've been paying for it). I've kept my subscription going because I really want to stick with it, though; I've never played anything like it.

Just now getting back into the swings of things, it feels like a different game with not only the Rubicon and Kronos expansions, but the news that updates are now on a 6-week cycle instead of the usual 6-month one. As it is, I already have to go back and reread almost every tutorial and forum thread just to catch up to where I was.

Essentially, I don't want to ever have to do this again. I'm not looking to play for 20+ hours a week (mm...), but I would like to get a sense of how often you guys and gals play to the point where you only have to occasionally read up on a topic again. As of this moment, I'm trying to dedicate 7-14 hours/week (1-2 hours/day) to video games. Among other things, I plan to compose and perform scores for video games as a career so it's not like this is just a "if I have time" situation.


To clarify, I'm not coming back completely screwed. I have 224 trained skills, I still have several hundred million ISK from the two P.L.E.X. I sold, I'm rocking a full set of Standard implants, about 15 million skill points, and I'm chugging along the EVEMon Skill Plan Express at a lovely pace.

All helpful answers, sarcasm, and witty banter are welcome. It's good to be back. Thanks, all! Smile

If I ever saw CCP Falcon's character in real life I think I'd politely ask him to kick my ass just so I could brag about it.
Samuel Triptee
13th Revelation
GunFam
#2 - 2014-06-09 20:58:16 UTC
7 to 10 hours is plenty to keep up with CCP and the game in general.

However, if you are in a leadership role in a corporation or an alliance I think it would take somewhere on the higher end of your scale... or more.

Have You Hugged Your Frigate Today?
Vimsy Vortis
Shoulda Checked Local
Break-A-Wish Foundation
#3 - 2014-06-09 21:36:28 UTC  |  Edited by: Vimsy Vortis
The amount of time you pla for isn't directly related to how capable you are of keeping up with mechanic changes. Moreover you don't need to maintain a precise knowledge of every facet of the game. For example faction warfare has no affect on my game play whatsoever so I don't pay attention to what is going on with it unless I know a substantial change is in the works.

Eve is a game, not a job, you only have to play as much or as little as you want.
Jur Tissant
Garoun Investment Bank
Gallente Federation
#4 - 2014-06-09 21:40:47 UTC
As much as you want.

EVE is a game. As long as it isn't seriously impacting your personal life, you should play it as much or as little as entertains you. There's nothing wrong with spending several hours a week online but I wouldn't go so far as to plan it out and schedule it.
Gully Alex Foyle
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#5 - 2014-06-09 21:55:12 UTC
Welcome back!

The beauty of this crazy game is that it's playable in many different ways.

I know good EVE players that play 10 hours+ a day (and I was crazy enough to be one of them for a brief period) and other equally good players that log in just once or twice a week.

If you play solo, you can pretty much do as you please.

If you're in a corp, just make sure your playtime is compatible with the corp's culture and objectives. Again, there are several good corps that don't require you to be online every day. Everybody has a RL, look for people that have roughly the same gametime as yourself.

Good luck!

Make space glamorous! Is EVE dying or not? Ask the EVE-O Death-o-meter!
Laertes Ansari
Perkone
Caldari State
#6 - 2014-06-09 21:58:01 UTC
Thank you for the replies, thus far. It appears some things need ironing out, though.

I don't aim to have in-depth understanding of every aspect of "Eve". At the very least, I'd like a rudimentary understand of, say, Factional Warfare, but if I don't participate, then I really don't have reason to understand it further.

I would, however, like to look at the patch notes and be able to go, "Oh, OK. They're doing [this], [this], and [this]" and understand the impact of the changes CCP makes instead of, "Um... Y-yeah... Cool. New stuff." P



I also don't mean to make it sound like I'm trying to follow some strict regiment. I understand it's just a game, but, as you know, it's far from average. Picking up an FPS after not having played for a while is considerably easier than trying to pick up "Eve" after, for example, an almost 6 month hiatus.

If more clarification is required, just let me know!

If I ever saw CCP Falcon's character in real life I think I'd politely ask him to kick my ass just so I could brag about it.
Praxis Ginimic
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#7 - 2014-06-09 22:14:23 UTC
I don't even log in every week.

My skills are now at the point that most of them are long trains so that stops me from feeling like I need to log on to update the q. I also don't feel terrible if I let the q die for a day here and there. I do tend to spend a few minutes each day or so, whenever I get bored, on the forums and checking dev blogs but only for stuff that directly interests me.

As far as actual game play goes I don't really put in more than a few hours each week. If there is a fleet up I join it... or I don't. If I want to look for some solo targets I do... or I don't. If I want to do some pve...I slap myself and go something intersting.
Lord Battlestar
CALIMA COLLABORATIVE
Atrox Urbanis Respublique Abundatia
#8 - 2014-06-09 22:16:25 UTC
I generally play an hour or two a night, depending on what I am doing. Most of the things I do are either pvp, or isk making, but rl has kept me pretty busy.

Mostly keeping up can be done by skimming the patch notes and dev blogs every few weeks or so. You don't have to read a dozen tutorials unless you find something you actively want to do.

It helps though I have played for 6 years straight, so there isn't much that I have forgotten Cool

I once podded myself by blowing a huge fart.
Brink Albosa
Republic Military School
Minmatar Republic
#9 - 2014-06-09 22:40:12 UTC
In the winter months I don't always work so I can play.. 40+ hours a week Ugh

Last weekend was my first weekend off in a while so I had to binge lol

I guess on average.. 5-10 hours a week? Sometimes I jump clone to my secret Jita clone vat if I know I can't play a long while. So like a break entirely from the game aside from some long term skills training
Sabriz Adoudel
Move along there is nothing here
#10 - 2014-06-10 01:28:30 UTC
Alliance logistics and Market PVP both require you to know a lot about nearly every facet of the game so you can assess the impact of minor changes. (For instance, an alliance logistician needs to be able to assess the impact of the Crius reprocessing changes to assess if they will change how they are acquiring minerals in nullsec).

Other ways of playing EVE do not require that level of knowledge. You might suffer the odd loss because of some error (say you might underestimate a ship that was buffed and lose to it in PVP), but it will seldom be overwhelming.

I support the New Order and CODE. alliance. www.minerbumping.com
Yang Aurilen
State Protectorate
Caldari State
#11 - 2014-06-10 06:36:42 UTC
It depends. The beauty of EVE is that EVE will fit with your schedule not the other way around. If you're in the mood to play EVE you can just log in and do EVE related stuff until you feel fulfilled. I can sometimes play for just one hour a week and be content with it because I know I'll just be behind ISK-wise from the next guy grinding 23/7. Other times I play for 40 hours a week just because I can. Really it depends. This week I just played for 5ish hours and killed my first carrier. Now for the past 2 days I haven't logged into EVE due to RL reasons.

Post with your NPC alt main and not your main main alt!
De'Veldrin
Republic University
Minmatar Republic
#12 - 2014-06-10 15:57:01 UTC
I work 60 hours a week.
Then, for 40 hours a week, I leave the house and go to this place that pays me so I can pay CCP to let me keep working for them.

De'Veldrin's Corollary (to Malcanis' Law): Any idea that seeks to limit the ability of a large nullsec bloc to do something in the name of allowing more small groups into sov null will inevitably make it that much harder for small groups to enter sov null.
Toriessian
Helion Production Labs
Independent Operators Consortium
#13 - 2014-06-10 16:32:42 UTC
Laertes Ansari wrote:
Essentially, I don't want to ever have to do this again. I'm not looking to play for 20+ hours a week (mm...), but I would like to get a sense of how often you guys and gals play to the point where you only have to occasionally read up on a topic again. As of this moment, I'm trying to dedicate 7-14 hours/week (1-2 hours/day) to video games. Among other things, I plan to compose and perform scores for video games as a career so it's not like this is just a "if I have time" situation.


Find the things you enjoy doing in the game and focus on those. 10 hours a week (4 for "other games") is plenty and you can make a couple hundred million ISK and get into fight or two in that timespan easily...

You can do some solid exploration work and sites....

Day trip into WHs...

Do what you enjoy in the time you have. When you get bored of something move on and you'll see a good portion of New Eden. Its not about hours played per week. You could still be learning new mechanics years from now. What you do in those years *IS* the game :)



Every day I'm wafflin!
Winter Archipelago
Autumn Industrial Enterprises
#14 - 2014-06-10 17:32:47 UTC
Other than occasional skill updates, I'm usually only playing for a few hours a week. I'm often online a bit more often, but tend to just be sitting in a station and chatting in the far-too-many tabs I have open, but actually undocked and playing? Not too much.

For the Newbies: The 8 Golden Rules - The Magic 14 Skills - Finding the Right Corp - EVE University Wiki
Kitty Bear
Deep Core Mining Inc.
Caldari State
#15 - 2014-06-11 12:09:16 UTC
there's no right or wrong answer to this

eve is a game
you play a game to have fun

when you've been online long enough to get bored, stop playing
and go and enjoy life instead

it's the win/win solution