EVE New Citizens Q&A

Ok i´m looking to see what all the talk is about regarding EVE. I realize it has a steep learning curve so before jumping into it, i wanted to ask some questions:

1- I have limited time to play, from 0 to 3 hours on weekdays and that's it. Can i enjoy EVE in that timetable? I ask this since for example WOW requires like an hour to put a decent raid group together in order to truly enjoy endgame content. While LOL i can play a match in 20 mins and be done with it. Obviously, i am not looking to be the Darth Vader of EVE in a limited schedulle, just be competitive enough to play endgame, even if it takes me longer to progress, i'm not looking to win any prizes.

2- Can i jump into EVE without having read anything at all in wikis, forums and guides?. Part of what i enjoy is solving puzzles, and it seems learning EVE is quite the puzzle in and of itself. So i figured, what about if i go into it full-virgin? Will i be able to play with just the ingame tutorials or will i curl into a ball and cry myself to sleep for having tried?

3- I dabble in all types of gameplay but i enjoy PVP the most, especially of the "world PVP" flavor. Is this easily obtainable in EVE?

4- I'm 31, married with children, and a business owner. It seems to me the EVE community is more mature than your average WOW trade chat goon. Is this so? Obviosly, understanding that trolls gonna troll and stuff.

5- Based on all this, would you recommend a corporation or whatever they are called?

Thanks in advance for all the help!

1. there is no "endgame" per se. You make up whatever "endgame" you want. Training skills happens in real time, so as long as you always have something active, you're not going to be missing out on training (e.g. set a 10 day skill if you're going on a week long holiday to go skiing -- come home, and it's nearly done).

2. it's certainly possible ... but there's a LOT to take in. The wikis (and definitely the older players) will usually help explain things in better terms than the tutorials do.

3. yeah, with the exception of ~24 systems (the rookie systems) you're pretty much in "all PvP, all the time" as soon as you click "undock".

4. yes

5. yes, but not to start out with. Definitely don't start your own til you've been in at least one well-run corp. Corps here are in no way similar to guilds in that other game -- they have downsides, and sometimes they can be pretty brutal.

Thanks for the advice so far! from your input, two questions arise:

1- it seems my idea of playing without any external source of info is not really that bright. Therefore, what source of info would you suggest?

2- I don't understand the part where corps have downsides too . . . what do you guys mean?

3- Very nice graph, the one detailing what you can do in EVE. The part about piracy sounds fun! everything is better with pirates! can i go pirating around as a casual within my time constraints?

The limited time is not a problem but i would make it clear to recruits that you will not be able to be active every day at every point of the day. Some corps will requiere a high amount of activety,others are more laid back.
Skill wise and enjoyment you will actually have an advantage. It can be really frustrating to sit and stare at your skill that wont be done for another week with your brand new ship already sitting in your hangar
Thanks to the training que its also easy to make sure that you will always have a skill training. Just make sure that to begin with you train your short skills while your able to be online so that you have plenty of options on what skills to train during the night and next couple of days incase you can not get online.

You can jump into Eve without spending hours reading up on things. Just make sure you do the tutorial and get the basics down. But ofc it is an advantage to read up on things since it will give you a better idea on what you want to do in Eve long term. But in general just make sure you find a corp that is willing to answear your questions and is patient with you while your still learning. Especially if your looking for PVP you would want to find a corp that is willing to help you with fitting,ships and so on.

And yes there is plenty of PVP in Eve,even if you only have played for a week you can easely find people who will let you tag along in a frig and work as a tackler (again just make sure you dont look for the more hard core corps that requiere 20 mill sp and so on).

The average player in Eve is more mature then the classic WOW player. The forums will ofc have trolls as you stated your self,you will have people that like to smack talk and come with the classic mom jokes,but in general people are very polite and more then willing to help. If you are polite to them,they will be polite to you. Dosent matter if they are carebears or hardcore pirates

I do believe that to fully enjoy Eve you need a good corp to back you up. It opens up a lot of options that are harder to get/impossible without the support of your corp. Just remember to be open about your real life situation and potential recruits will know weather or not you will be a good fit for their corp,and you save both your self,and them some stress.

As some mentioned,and you asked about in your next post,yes corps can have downsides. As an example you will find your self in a war dec against people who will kick your ass if you even think about leaving the station. Most corps will have some level of drama. Its impossible to put a bunch of people together and expect them all to agree on everything. You will find corps that requiere you to train certain skills,be online at certain times,have rules (ike no smack talking) or are in general badly run,or you can find your self in a situation where you join a corp and you feel completely left out.

To counter some of these issues i will add in a guide on how to find a corp. It will hopefully give you a better idea on what to look for,and what to avoid. https://
forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=16943&find=unread

For pirating. Like with everything in Eve it will take time and dedication to get good at it,and you also have to keep in mind that you have to to find some way to support your hobbies. I would be careful to jump straight into this since,if your sec status gets to low,you will have trouble entering high sec and you will have to find some way to maintain a steady income in low sec. Hold off on the pirating for a couple of months until you get an idea on what your income is. That way you can build up enough ISK to support some ship losses,and you will have a clearer idea on how much time you have to spend on ISK making to support your self.
But i will also be the first to say that i do not have any exsperiense with pirating my self,so this i can just judge on what people have told me.
There is also different kind of piracy,but to avoid stepping on someones toes (again since i dont know much about this) i will let someone else cover the aspects of piracy.

Good luck and i hope you will stick around

Regards,
NightCrawler

1. The forums, wiki, google, asking other people in your rookie corp ...

2. mainly people think of corps as "guilds" in other games -- i.e. "we're gonna sit and do nothing 90% of the time, and then raid on the weekends!"). It doesn't work like that here. You can (and will) get wardecs from other corporations (more if you smacktalk in local). Corps are set up as fronts for scams, and may look legit til the scam is sprung. Once you leave the (high-tax) "safety" of your NPC corporation, you're sort of painting a target on your back -- but that can be fun.

3. yep.

1. You can definitely enjoy EVE on that sort of timetable. You might be restricted to certain play styles, but there are dozens to choose from, so I'm sure one of them will fit you. Take note however, there is no true endgame in EVE. Flying the biggest ship is not like running the final raid in WoW. People in EVE have different measures of success, you just need to define yours.

2. You can jump into EVE without reading squat. If you do though, be prepared to be overwhelmed. EVE is a massive game and easily the most complex MMO on the market by a huge margin. However I think you'll find that the process of learning about EVE in its entirety is half the fun of being a newb

3. You can start PVPing day one. You will be restricted to very few roles but there are plenty of corporations and alliances that train new players in PVP. Look into Red vs. Blue (RvB) for an early introduction to PVP. It is an intentionally perpetual war between two alliances (or corporations, I forget which) that gives players new and old plenty of PVP action, and with no barrier to entry.

4. EVE is easily the most mature gaming community I have ever been a part of. However we do have our share of trolls, QQers, ragers, ect.

5. If PVP is your bag, look into RvB as I mentioned before. EVE University is also a dedicated newbie training corp that can help you out with a broader scope of in game activities. A lot of local corporations are willing to take on new players as well, if you show a good temperament and a willingness to learn.

5- Based on all this, would you recommend a corporation or whatever they are called?

This.

Do this an all of your other questions are resolved. With a decent group of mixed individuals you'll be able to enjoy EVE like no other game before. Not everybody has time all the time, but if you have a large +-12-30 active group you'll be able to jump into alot of activities that are discussed/planned by others and be a usefull part of the corperation and enjoy yourself.

If your not looking to become "darth vader" you could be a fun, usefull and good member of a corp that supplies you with what you need be it pvp, pve, chances for glory/succes/isk and most of all, fun.

Industrial Sized Knowledgebase touches on pretty much everything in EVE, so it is a good place to start.