Assembly Hall

Part of the lore of Eve is that we have all graduated from a University to become capsuleers. Maybe it can be our final exam.

Yes, more good ideas from other games plz. EVE shouldn't exist in a bubble.

We want to start off big because you get to showcase big ship combat, and when it does (as it should) you can showcase smaller ship combat.

Will it give people an expectation that battleships are what you should do? Probably, but most people have that expectation that bigger is better. This introduction does not have to teach a person about economics in Eve, just what a battle could look like.

So start them in a battleship, then tweak it down as the fight goes on.

As this is mostly a simulation, there is no real need to say "yes these are good but you should not touch them for a year, so were going to give you this ship and this is what you do", and have to ram it down their throat. As this suggestion is a method to hook players... lets hook the player.

Not precisely. Not all missions should have a big battle culminating on what skills you know, although (Light Bulb) a battle to show off your skills before you gradumate to the next level of missions would be an idea for the novice players to start looking into grouped missions, or how to correctly fit your ship....

I would like to endorse this suggestion. I still remember the first few minutes in EVE when I undocked and tried to shoot the gate guards. CONCORD Kill record +1 (stupid noob)

Actually you have an excellent method to introduce lore into the game.

Start off the capsuleer as a real person, full skills in their races ships and weapons (essentially make the person "uber" and capable of fielding excellent ships, weapons, etc). So skillwise, they would be an excellent battleship pilot, battlecruiser pilot, etc.

At the end of this tutorial, once they are podded or "Killed" in real life, the person becomes reanimated as a capsuleer, but due to the transition, they lost all their skill, so now they must begin to train up. This also bridges the whole concept of their damn immortality, how capsuleer's never die, how skillpoints can be lost, how pods work, etc.

There have been a few games that start off with the player being literally some supreme god (or in this case, an Excellent Pilot), who gets reduced to a scrub and must climb their way back up to being amazing.

Oddly enough this can be done... easily in Eve.

I like the concept, as it gives you a birthright, a beginning, a reason for being a capsuleer.

Same thing just giving a purpose to the player.

Well, I love the idea, but with. Being scripted, and removing everything after, is there a reason it needs to be the character you just made? Is there no reason it could be a small demo/stand alone teaser where you just fly a lore non capsuleer pilot that suggestively dies at the end or fades to black mid fight with the current expansion slogan.

Remember how homewolrds demo hooked you? If not, go to youtube.
I'm not saying it needs to be big, but a small download/demo that is designed entirely around the experience. While staying mostly true to eve and people are more likely to try something they dont have to sign up for 1st.

The biggest hook line is not allowing someone to finish something. Zeigarnik Effect is a theory that says the brain is better at remembering unfinished tasks. Why do you think people keep coming back to MMOs or that model you never finished. Basically by escalating the teaser fight (like a dread/cap fleet hot drop and the overview going mad with reds, then the fade to black. Something that shows you scale but leaving a cliff hangar. And using lore makes it easier on resources.

It's used very well in stories. , e.g. Bad guy got away. "finishing the fight" in Halo 2s ending.

But yes to anything that gets more new people in eve. And trains them to want to stick around.

Additional idea I just had:

If you put the player into Battlecruiser or Battleship for that intro - make sure somewhere during the battle there is a smaller ship (Frigate?) involved fullfilling a vital role, like getting tackle or such.
So the new player knows, while he is now 'forced' to wait til he can fly the big ship, the small ships are as essential in a good fleet.