EVE General Discussion

I think some of the OP's advice is quite good to be honest.

I did the opposite - jumped into a variety of corps, highsec carebears, wormhole industrialists, nullsec alliances, nullsec rental corps. And the OP pretty much sums up my experience with all of them.

- Highsec corp promised tuition and fun fleets - but really all they wanted was ore through a buyback programme, I was essentially an ore slave

- wormhole corp - seemed to spend all my time mapping wormholes/hardly ever anyone online/nobody spoke or seemed to do anything

- Nullsec alliance - those "fun fleets" which comprised ship spinning until some Yahoo began shouting on comms to fleet up "because there was something to shoot", but really all we did was fly around aimlessly for an hour before returning to base to ship spin some more. Whilst waiting for another imaginary "bad" to shoot I experienced the overwhelming joys of belt ratting.

- Rental corp - confined to one system which ended my exploration career and we couldn't really do anything anyway because we had an afk cloaker. People used to log on, see the camper, sigh and log their highsec alts.

Many other paltry experiences, too many to list.

Of course I'm not saying all corps are like this, I just never managed to find a decent one that suits my needs/personality or one I felt I could contribute too.

I've flown solo (mainly with my alt- this is my indy char) for some time now and it's the best thing I've done. I've learned more through trial and error (and reading forums) than I ever did with a corp.

So I agree to an extent that - for some - it may be a good thing to quietly plod around, get to know the game, before leaping into a corp. Many come to Eve from games like WoW (as did I) and think corps are like guilds. But they are very different and can greatly influence your game and whether you commit. The corps I joined actually did influence me negatively and I've quit several times.

And I think he's right in saying there's little point joining a nullsec corp until you have decent sp- there is absolutely nothing to do in null with low sp and you can't expect a corp to provide entertainment for you.

So, despite the detractors, I think the OP has raised some valid points.

I find some of the advice given by some "vets" here as some really bad advice TBH.

I think what is best for new players depends on how much time they can put into the game.
Some options might be good for one but would be completely wrong for someone else.

The sad fact is some of the best casual playing aspects of this game are so hated by many where they try to grief anyone who tries to take part, therefore less subs to help pay for the development of this game.
It seems the effects of their efforts are only now coming to light, but many are still in denial.

As somebody who never joined a corp yet has a killboard similar to Remiel Pollard's (ironically who is much more of a solo PVP player than I am) here's my socialization advice to starting players:

• No matter what, you'll be interacting in this game with other people, even if you play solo as much as possible. If you attempt to avoid interacting with other players - for example, by exclusively solo PVEing via mining or missioning - then your only experiences with other players will be negative ones, and these experiences will happen so your overall experience in EVE will be negative. Don't avoid interacting with other players. Embrace it. (And even if you succeed in avoid all interactions with other people, you'll still have a boring time playing the game.)
• This interaction happens in many different ways. You don't have to be part of a group to do this. You can be a solo PVPer hunting wormhole explorers, you can be an industrialist manipulating a market, you can be a FW 1v1 specialist. In all these instances you are interacting with other humans, and it's human ingenuity and creativity that make this game interesting and challenging.
• But you can also of course be a part of a group. And you don't have to be in a corp to do this. You don't even have to leave your starter corp. (Which is the path I took.) There are several NPSI groups out there that form fleets out of whomever is available and take on all the rest of EVE. You can fly with Redemption Road today, Bomber's Bar tomorrow, and Spectre Fleet the day after.
• If you have the sort of personality that is cool with committing to a group you know only little of despite the risk of it turning out to be a **** group, go for it. But if finding yourself in a **** group would be traumatic for you, spend some time with the NPSI groups and your starter/NPC corp chat so that you can get a feel for who is out there and who you would enjoy hanging out with every time you log on.

Those were CODE. High-sec suicide gankers.

No, it's bad advice because it makes a new casual player think they are trapped in HS, which is far from the truth.

hmmm... this isn't sitting comfortably with me...

For simply belonging to a player corp I was immediately surrounded by WT's in HiSec, who are apparently highly skilled and equipped. So if I wanted to move around, earn some ISK while getting acquainted with things, I absolutely could not. If my corp wanted to protect me, they could not (Without a very good fleet op at least). So I simply evaded the WT's with a shuttle and some intel and got to my corp base in nullsec. But now all my assets that I've accumulated (For what they're worth) are still back at HiSec - now abandoned - so that kinda sucks.

Anyway I then landed up in Nullsec with my shuttle, and so the whole picture I painted in this thread earlier begins anew. I'm now at Nullsec with low SP and ISK so there's no joy to be had (Except if I'm given free handouts). I accept there are ways around this it's just not a very enjoyable situation for me personally and likely not for other newbies also. It could be way more enjoyable if I was prepared and skilled and could pick myself up when needed, but not now while I'm low ISK and SP.

At the same time I evaded the WT's earlier another newbie also tried to evade the same guys but failed and lost his/her nice ship. It was the only asset he had worth bringing so he took a chance and lost. There was a third newbie who had been given a ship and was ratting all evening like a zombie - and I thought to myself you poor bugger you. Oh you poor sod. I've been there :)

So my point is, no you're not trapped in HiSec agree - But you're trapped out of it now. Which is not good for new pilots. Again I know you can argue this and that and say well if a good corp... or if you'd consider... bla bla... but in the eyes of a newbie it doesn't matter!

So after all the above I realized I'd made the same mistake I'd made many times before. I then immediately quit the corp - joined an NPC corp - and got back to HiSec for some unfinished business and now I'm happy as a pig in mud. Now I can actually play a fking game at my own pace while I'm still a low SP pilot.

There's still risk all around me (See post above on screenshot of suicide gankers). But that is fine! It is fair and I have no quarrel if they get me as they're at least risking something themselves.

I'd LOVE to get into sov battles and stuff later on. But see that's the trick here... "Later On" is key.

You know I played World of Warcraft a bit and a well seasoned vet in the game tried to help by fast leveling me up. I just sat there while he killed everything around me and I got the EXP. Good intentions but it totally killed my experience of the game. I got to Lvl 90 or 100, and then kinda just stood there and wondered WTF I must do now. I've missed out on all the story/lore and aspects of the game/experience.

I'm sorry, I'm not a fking arcade game player who wants immediate rewards. I want to work at this ****. That's my pleasure in games like these.

The best things I've ever done in EVE are:

* Joined a player corp that was in my timezone

* Joined a player corp that had some sense of what they're about (leads to like minded people looking for the same kind of fun)

* Joined a player corp that does regular T1 cruiser/frigate roams just for fun - on a fixed weekly schedule so you know when to turn up, what to fit, and you don't care if you lose it. This should be in addition to larger corp objectives.

* Joined a player corp that has mumble/teamspeak

* Joined a player corp with good FCs

* Joined a player corp with good leadership

* Joined a player corp that was in an active nullsec alliance

* Participated in corp/alliance CTAs, even when I had no hope of contributing. The learning experience is valuable for when you can contribute. No point fielding a useful ship if you don't understand how fleets work. So get in early, be useless, be known to be useless, and learn.

* Got a license for Fraps (doing your own AARs will help you learn). Hit that record hotkey as soon as you know you're in a fight.

* Specialized in a specific PVP role and trained all relevant skills to IV as well as getting good enough at it to succeed more often than I failed. Then trained to V.


The worst things I've ever done in EVE are:

* Joined a player corp that wasn't in my timezone.

* Chased spaceship command skills and bigger ships instead of fitting skills and learning how to fly them.

* Hidden myself in a one-man corp (generally I do this when I'm having downtime from EVE but every attempt I've made a solo PVP has been boring and uneventful - my KB illustrates this. Masses of red = solo, masses of green = player corp participation).

* Stay in a corp that was no fun.

* Took it all too seriously.

See my edits, might give more context. Sorry I edit posts a lot, bad habit.

Anyway yes, you're missing the experience part new players might miss if rushing to nullsec.

You're also missing my logic here. There are NO benefits to STAYING with a hisec NPC corp INDEFINITELY and one must absolutely try experience the 0.0 aspect of the game. Just do not rush into it on day 1.

You might be straw manning my point and thus missing the crucial part of it, even if unintentionally :)

How is avoiding 6 systems and going about your daily business however you want to do so "walking on egg-shells"?

edit:
The trade hubs aren't even good places for new players to buy things - the prices are all inflated due to people trying to make a profit on selling them. The best deals tend to be in the back-alley systems where people can't be ****ed to drag it to a market hub.

Then you joined the wrong group for your playstyle. I can think of a dozen corps in null and WHs off the top of my head that are wardecced maybe twice/year. Did you ask how often they are at war when joining?

Or did you think about going as a smaller casual corp in a place like provi, where you can PvE your heart out without being shot by residents? You wouldn't be part of the larger group, so you wouldn't be as much at risk of wars.

In spite of that, it's trivial to find an empty pocket of null or LS to PvE in for a week while at war. Don't give them kills and they won't extend the war.

In spite of all that, you talk about being at war as if it's a bad thing. There are a LOT of people in null who exclusively do PvE. It's not as intimidating to do as you make it out to be.