Skill Discussions

The list could be endless, which is part of the 'draw' of playing EVE.
I won't make a specific list, because part of your learning curve is to read them and understand what they do.

Basics though is :
Weaponry skills. You mentioned drones, but the chosen weapon systems will have support skills as well. Skills that enhance range, precision, rate of fire, impact, etc. These are the skills that really make the weapons shine.
Ship hulls. Most ships are noticeably better at each level. For instance, if you like flying Gallente Battle Cruisers, the BC skill to V is something you will feel in game.
Tank. Generally the repair skills for Shield and Armor are pretty important.
CPU and Powergrid. These skills will help you to fit ships to their maximum potential. Found in the engineering section, you should read all those skills and start to comprehend how they work.

Most of the above skills are PvP related.
If you were into industrial play, marketing, mining, etc, you would need t look into those skill categories and work through them as well.

The best approach for most paths, is to own a group of skills and train them to 3, then 4, then top them off as you prioritize them.
You could focus on ship hull size (Like frigates and cruisers) or weapons or whatever your attributes do best with. There's not really a bad way to do it.
With the exception of:
Try and make a clear choice and focus as early as possible. A well focused character is better than a multi scattered lost soul of a character. This is just my opinion.
Other players like diverse characters that have tried everything. I think this adds years of training, and the result is a lot of useless skills.

Each level of a skill gives the same bonus but takes 5 times as log to train - level 4 gives you 80% of the benefit for 20% of the cost. Look at getting the core skills http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Core_Skills that are relevant to your gameplay to level 4 before you invest too much effort in level 5.

Initially you should only train level 5 if it is prerequisite for another skill.

Every ship has an information sheet with a requirements and a mastery tab. Set a goal for yourself - pick a ship you would really like to fly and build a skill plan around achieving level 3 mastery for that ship.

As mentioned above, EVEMon is a superb tool and you should install it. https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=501711&find=unread

Not that hard to make a basic list:

* Fitting CPU
* Fitting power grid

* Armor amount
* Shield amount & recharge
* Structure amount
* Capacitor amount & recharge

* Armor Repair (duration) and / or Shield Compensation (cap reduction) [debatable]

* Velocity (1 skill + 1 skill for AB & MWD)
* Agility (2 sub-cap skills)

* Targeting speed

* Module overheating (Thermodynamics)

* Weapon-system support skills (2 range, 4 DPS) for turrets and / or missile

For more ideas, see old post (some of the skills have been renamed and / or their category changed):
Is there a consensus on what the core skills are?

time spent on the core fitting and navigation skills is never time wasted.

No training order is stated nor implied by my list. It is merely a guide of skills which are most likely to be trained to level 5.

I leave it to the pilot to determine what is best for their own personal play-style.

I purposely didn't name skills, in hopes the pilot would learn by doing some research reading the skill descriptions. Also to put in plain language what the benefits are.

Most skills can be trained to level 3 or level 4 for competency. Often one can train 2 or 3 or more skills to level 3/4 in the time it takes to train one skill to level 5; guess training which will help you more Hint: not the level 5 skill.

Example: I couldn't use T2 weapons for at least 2 years, as I was doing fine without them. I finally trained them when I had nothing of higher priority to train. Your experience may differ; isn't EvE great!

My personal recommendation is to train skills to level 2 to start, then level 3 or 4 if you find them more helpful to you than other skills. Avoid training level 5 skills, unless the skill is very important to YOU. Training level 5 is specializing = time sink.

P.S. If you've ever survived with only a hair-width of structure left, you come to appreciate training 1% or 2% skills. But, yes, I wouldn't make them a priority. I even marked the most controversial ones as "[debatable]" (i.e. maximizing tank vs. small benefit).

I totally agree, getting all of those skills to 3-4 is a great idea what I meant was lvl5s of those skills are a bit over kill for a new player (based on OP)



T2 Weapons really depend on the type, Pulse lasers are really only good with T2 ammo but most other are OK, That being said for 1 Lvl5 and a Lvl4 spec you get 13% more DPS (excluding the T2 ammo and better weapon). Much more than most other lvl5s. Or the scanning skills each gives 5% but you then get access to Mods that have 5-10% bonus as well making the Lvl5 worth 10-15 % more if you have multiple mods (Just an example but the scanning skills have a high Multiplier so they are not great for New players).



In the Long run you should aim to get everything to Lvl5 (that is applicable to you) but using you example, if you have 13% more DPS (T2 guns or whatever) you might have finished with way more structure.