EVE Online

[Vance]

http://www.eveonline.com Well, some of you remember me ranting about my soon to be WoW addiction, and how I couldn't resist the temptation of installing and playing it. One day, about 2 months before WotLK was released, looking at a Warcraft website, I clicked on an ad for a game called EVE Online. The future of my gaming life was changed from that point on. I know my posts tend to be long, so I will try and keep this brief: EVE is an online game set in space. There are four races, all descendant of human colonists who were isolated from Earth when a natural wormhole leading back to Earth collapsed. Millenia after the event, memories of Earth transformed into legend and myth, the human race has rediscovered space flight. They may be in the same galaxy as Earth, in a different galaxy or in another universe. All hope of finding Earth again is lost. So life goes on for humans. This game has no limit. The market and economy is player run: Ore is mined from asteroids, refined at stations, manufactured into items through blueprints researched by scientists, sold on the market, resold by traders, flown by pilots, and destroyed again. There is not a single item that is not manufactured in EVE save for NPC space stations, and yes, all the steps I just mentioned have players behind them. There are no classes, you can do whatever you want, as long as you make money and advance in skills. Skills are abilities trained in real time, so you can turn off your computer and the skill trains while you sleep, work or eat, as well as play. These let you fly certain types of spacecraft, let you mine more efficiently or perhaps control drones a bit farther from your ship. This game is single server. You heard me right, the entire population of the game runs on one shard, Tranquility. This effectively means you can shape the future of the universe. Corporations (essentally guilds) dedicate themselves to mining, manufacturing, piracy, you name it. The largest corporations control vast areas of space, fight in fleet battles of hundereds of capital ships and build monolithic spacecraft only possible through the cooperation of hundereds and even thousands of players. And furthermore, the developers write the lore based on the actions of players ingame. So corps find themselves in novels sometimes. This game is also harsh. CCP (the developer of this game) stays out of boundary issues unless it interferes with gameplay. Pirates are simply PvPers who ambush, ransom and destroy other ships. There was no selection screen to be a pirate, no official designation ingame. Pirates are simply opportunists who take their PvP skills to the criminal side to make money. The gameplay is so in depth you need about a month to familiarize yourself with the game, but it is absolutely worth it. Once over the learning curve, horizons really open up, and you can do anything from scam a corporation out of it's money and make billions, join a powerful player Alliance and fight in massive fleets agains rival Alliances, mine quietly in a pocket of space, or make billions trading on the market. The death penalty is harsh: When your ship gets blown up, you don't get it back. Ships are expensive, in the money needed to buy the ship and the turrets, modules, targeting systems and the like, and time to buy all these items and reassemble your ship. In addition, if the player manages to catch your escape pod, you are killed, and lose some of those skills you trained (in real time, remember) And these skills can take up to months to train. You can't walk around as an avatar (yet, this feature, after 5 years of this game being out, is finally coming) The focus of this game is space. Fly a mining ship out to an asteroid belt with your mining corp, or fly a gigantic Mothership into the heart of a corporation war. And I've barely scratched the surface of the nuance this game holds. The graphics are absolutely spectacular. Download the Premium content and be rewarded. The following is a player-made video describing an ongoing war between two gigantic alliances with hundereds of thousands of players. WATCH IN HIGH QUALITY This is all ingame footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYEaPLCCIrY And one more to show off the graphics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B78GERrwnj8 (This would be considered a big ship, but about 1/3rd of the size of some monsters.) You really have to play the game to believe it. Download the trial at the official site. 2 weeks of free gameplay. Don't give up on the learning curve (or cliff) and be sensible in character creation, and you'll do fine. (To people creating a character, try to keep a balance of your attributes) And download premium by all accounts if your computer can handle it. The full game is installed with your trial, but you need to subscibe ($15.00 a month) to continue playing and have full accessibility to the game. Try it! (and tell me what you think of it)

[ExoByte]

Eve has always been a favourite of mine. I'm thinking of getting back into it, and would love to start a corporation (once the funds are established) with some fellow players.

[dylanshmai]

My friends love that game. Its hard to stay awake just watching them play it though. I have seen pics of the giant ships that people spend years making. I would play it if I had one of those.

[Grunkie7]

I played a few times in one month increments. I got up to a Gallente Myrmidon battlecruiser. There's some unexplainable attraction I have to the style and story of the game, but I just don't have the willpower to learn all the spreadsheets and details of combat, and I never bothered joining a corp so I never saw anything more exciting than rat missions. (Went into low sec and got my Vexor blown to hell within a minute ) In other words, Love the concept of the game but I just can't stand playing it over a long period of time. Can definitely understand why you love it though.

[Vance]

This is a statistically accurate graph to add:

[dylanshmai]

very accurate!

[ExoByte]

I'm back into the game with a 3-month subscription. I'm only on my 2nd day into my account and I'm almost Cruiser ready. I'm having it set up for as a PvP Pirate/Anti-Pirate vessel. For now I'm just doing NPC missions, but later I plan on doing some Bounty Hunting. Alone, or with a group. I want to get a group of dedicated individuals with well-built vessels going sometime soon. Have a small group of us form our a small gang for now, but hopefully form a corporation later. I'm a Caldari Civire Soldier build, and I'm flying a basic Merlin at the moment, but am pushing for a Small time PvP/Pirate load-out for it, outfitting it with a couple Knaves and a couple Rocket launchers, along with Warp Scramblers and Scattering Amplifiers. I also plan to have a Comorant destroyer built as a Non-combat Salvaging vessel. My longest term goal right now is to get my PvP Moa Cruiser set-up. That'll take me little more 2 weeks, that is if I can get the money I need to train those skills, buy the ships and the parts needed to outfit them. It'll be roughly 20 Million ISK to learn the skills and set up all the builds. It's two weeks of skill training, given I get the cash needed. It's 7 million ISK alone for all the Skills, plus whatever the cost of all the vessels and the parts needed to outfit them. So it could be a lot longer depending on how long it takes me to get the money needed. I want to get a small crew going of well-built ships to do some Bounty Hunting, Anti-Pirating or Pirating in low-sec space, or do some freelance hire work for player Corporations. Mining Corps will pay buttloads to have their ships protected in low-sec space. Vance, you interested in getting a group going? Whats your current ship build/goal? Add me to your address book, my character is under the name "ExAxis"

[[SomeGuy]]

Does it have a monthly fee? Because this looks good!

[ExoByte]

Yeah, it costs about $15/month. The start up fee is $20 for the first month, and then it charges $15 for every subsequent month. You can get a 14-day trial to try it out before you subscribe as well.

[ExoByte]

Any other players or people thinking of playing?

[[SomeGuy]]

I wish but my computer would die, and I don't want to spend money on it.

[dylanshmai]

have they made the update where you can now move around with you're own avatar? and are their any worlds that you can walk on now?

[ExoByte]

Not yet. Apparently it's coming soon. Personally, its a feature I'd rather not see. I think it'd take away from the game more than anything.

[tommo]

I played the 14-day trial of the Eve Trinity one sometimes last year but I got kinda bored of it. Is it any better now?? It used to just be repetitive. Although I did play it a lot. But not towards the end of the two weeks. Basically just fly around in spaceships, barely attack anyone until you're really strong. Then collect minerals and have space stations EVERYWHERE that take AGES to get to. So yeh is it better now? What has improved?

[Black_Eagle]

I've played the 14-day trial twice. I would really, really like to play this game....but it costs money!!! :'(

[Vance]

I am currently experimenting with mining. I have tried all the basic career choices to at least a few days in, and am still deciding on one. Currently, I am running a Caldari miner who is hours away from stepping into an Osprey for some Veldspar mining. I trained his skills in advance of the ship perfectly and I can train for a Retriever right after I finish Cruisers. I am very intrigued by the combat path. I like all the races and ships. I just don't see the accessibility of PvP apart from pirating or fleet warfare. I find mission running a little dry, also. The path is extremely broad. Industrial characters lead simple paths, but the choices for combat characters are overwhelming. Once I tack down my career it's just a matter of selecting my race and getting started. Easier said than done, I could see myself in any race/career combo. Whatever happens, I'm keeping my miner for security. For combat, I like Amarr but I'll have to see. To all you struggling with the hardware, just think of it as an excuse to upgrade your PC. It's not like you're not going to benefit outside EVE. And 15 dollars isn't that much. You could get the three month plan with one payment of forty dollars. Remember, the game itself is free. Also, the money only really adds up if you are running multiple accounts, because only one skill can be training on any account at any given time. Oh, and if you can upgrade to Premium without having to sell your liver, do it. Only half the game otherwise, at least for me. I'll consider your offer, Exo, I would enjoy exploring it a little more, but as you can see, I have my own obstacles at present...

[dylanshmai]

I have tried all the basic career choices to at least a few days in, and am still deciding on one. Currently, I am running a Caldari miner who is hours away from stepping into an Osprey for some Veldspar mining. hours?!

[ExoByte]

Skills train in real time. Some take 10 minutes, others hours, some months.

[tommo]

Yeah that's the gay thing. Takes WAY too long. BTW who the hell doesn't have a computer capable of playing EVE? The graphics are like 2002 level.

[Grunkie7]

For those of you who play it, how much action do you see in the game outside of NPC missions? I know you can do corporate contracts, bounty hunting, pirating, etc, but I never participated. Is it much more exciting, and does it take that long to get to that level? Is pvp competitive or is it just gank or be ganked? Tommo: Just wondering, did you install the premium graphics after you got the game? They're still not too intensive but they were a fair kick-in-the-pants better than the older graphics

[Vance]

For those of you who play it, how much action do you see in the game outside of NPC missions? I know you can do corporate contracts, bounty hunting, pirating, etc, but I never participated. Is it much more exciting, and does it take that long to get to that level? Is pvp competitive or is it just gank or be ganked? Well, I can pretty much answer that quickly. PvP in EVE is like no other PvP. You have to put everything on the line. Just from my minor pirating experiences I personally had about 3 syringes of adrenaline coursing through my veins. When I eventually lost my ship, it hits hard even for small ships. I had to not only buy the ship again, but all the parts, ammunition, turrets, modules and the like, and travel from station to station picking them up and bringing them to my base to rebuild, taking anywhere from about half an hour to a day in the worst cases, and that's assuming you have the money. Oh, and don't forget you can get pod-killed, which can be many times more expensive than losing your ship. If you want to be serious about PvP, you'll need a good six months in the game to get you to a Battleship. From there, you are pretty much looking to be hired. Honestly though, many corps take in week-old players to educate. Agony Unleashed in particular has the best PvP school in the game, and publicly provides the service of structured PvP classes for new players, when upon completion, you can return to mining, an old corp or apply directly for a full membership. If you are looking for solid and consistent PvP you'll have to wait a while.

[Taosaur]

I ran a trial of EVE last year and found it more engrossing than any MMORPG I've tried, but ran into the same problem (on a larger scale) as with any of these games: if I devote enough time to be any good at the game, it ceases to be any fun. There just isn't any room for the casual player (i.e. anyone who devotes less than four hours per day on a regular basis). Like other MMOs, to be in a player group worth anything, you have to be willing to take it on as a second (or third, or first) job. Even running the basic graphics on my old rig, I loved the look and feel of the game, but it takes considerable research and weeks of grinding to get into anything interesting.

[Grunkie7]

I ran a trial of EVE last year and found it more engrossing than any MMORPG I've tried, but ran into the same problem (on a larger scale) as with any of these games: if I devote enough time to be any good at the game, it ceases to be any fun. There just isn't any room for the casual player (i.e. anyone who devotes less than four hours per day on a regular basis). Like other MMOs, to be in a player group worth anything, you have to be willing to take it on as a second (or third, or first) job. Even running the basic graphics on my old rig, I loved the look and feel of the game, but it takes considerable research and weeks of grinding to get into anything interesting. Although I don't consider myself casual (spend way too much time gaming), it's a similar problem with me. I don't like having to spend so much time to get to essentially get to the actual game. I learned my lesson from WoW; My friend kept pushing me level after level, claiming that it'd be fun after I reached 70, ...and got good gear, ...and essentially learned all the complexities of the game by heart. However I frankly found mining copper ore more exciting than any of the above and quit at level 50. As much as I'd like to get back into eve, I know that part is inevitable. Thanks for the response Vance, but the part 'you'll need a good six months in the game' kinda reminded me of this problem. Bah, I guess I'll have to stick to repeatedly ogling at the intro movie on a trial account.

[Volcon]

I just checked out the site, you can't sign up unless you buy the CD?

[ExoByte]

Wrong, you can download the client there and register an account there as well. Go here to register an account (on the left) and here to get the client.