New player's guide

New player's guide: The transition from 3rd person MMO to EVE by Caltinor

The purpose of this guide is to explain the common differences between popular

MMORPGs on the market and the distictively different nature of EVE online.

      So you've just downloaded EVE and you made your account. you're ready to

start in the EVE universe. You see your starter ship and your Neocom(the crazy

talking face thing) is giving you a tutorial. starting a new game, you are gonna be 

a bit confused. EVE is notorious for having a learning curve that is above most all 

games. This is just the nature of the game, so this guide will help ease your pain.

If you clicked on this guide then i'm going to assume you've played some sort of

3rd person MMORPG and EVE is not your first online game. so here are some

major game structures that you are going to be confused about:

       -No Levels
       -No Classes/Archtypes
       -You can attack anyone of any race anytime.
       -No NPC sales
       -No Flying of your ship
       -EVE is complex

I'll explain in detail now what each of those means to you.

No Levels

       Unlike the standard RPG where you can walk outside of a town or city and 

find some small creature to kill. this creature will give you experience(XP) and with

enough you will gain a new level opening you up to better gear, new skills/spells,

and better areas. Such is not the case with EVE. Killing enemies in EVE does give

you some reward based on who they are or what your mission(quest) is. but it

doesn't advance your character to just grind out kills.

      Instead of experience and levels, EVE introduced skill training in the form of books. Every 

book has 5 possible training levels and each of those levels either makes new

content available or increases a statistic on your character. Here is an example,

with your new character you want to get the next tier of ship to fly. you've bought

the ship, but the game tells you that you don't have the skills to fly it. you look at

the info and prerequisites of the ship and find out that you lack a few things

neccessary. In order to fly this ship now, you will have to learn all those skills. if

you have the skill already, a "O" will be next to the skill name and you can start

training immediately. An "X" means that you need to buy the book from the

market so that you can add it to you skillbook list and begin learning. once you

have learned everything neccessary, you will be able to fly the ship. This same

method is used to gain access to ship equipment and certain game content such as

proccessing, manufacturing, clones, and more.

No Classes/Archtypes

      At the start of most MMORPGs, you chose a class or style for your character 

that determines his/her combat type. the most common ones being melee, magic,

and ranged. Once you pick your class however you cannot play other types on the

same character, or if the game allows some cross over you aren't as strong as

someone who chose that class. Sometimes this means that you can't even use

items or gear that are associated with a different class. EVE doesn't do that.

      In EVE, if you start your character off training in combat skills, and then one 

day decide that you don't like combat and wish to do mining instead, you can. You will

not even be penalized. In fact, you might even be better off than someone who

trained solely for mining. if, hypothetically, the best miner in the game has 7 level

5 skills in mining then all you need to do is train up the same skills to be just as

good as that character. You might even be better. Your combat skill training

probably gave you skills in shields or armor that will now carry over as part of

your character statistics and make your mining vessel stronger. EVE is only limited

by what you decide not to train in.

You Can Attack Anyone of Any Race Anytime

       Alot of games have either a character's race or alliance of sorts that give 

them natural allies. These players are automatically deemed as "on your side".

you cannot attack this player (no matter how bad they spam the chat channel).

And some games don't allow you to attack other players unless you are in a

specific PVP area.

       EVE has no set side, you are safe from no one. They can attack you 

anywhere, anytime, for any reason. Don't be frightened though, this is why we

have CONCORD. the above is true. No individual is off limits(except GMs) to you

because you both are Caldari. Also, you don't have to attack another player

because he is of another race. being as your have a new character you are

probably scared you will be getting ganked soon, but don't worry. EVE

has "high sec or high security space". This means that the center of the universe is protected by a

police service called CONCORD, and every solar system has a security level. the

higher the level, the faster CONCORD will arrive to break up the fight. so in the

1.0 security space that you start off in, you are pretty safe.

No NPC Sales

      You have the super epic intense great sword of aladin with maximum 

upgrades and enchants and you're broke. You have to sell the sword to make

some money so that you can pay the tollsman and get back to the regular playing

area. That's a huge loss and you're bummed about it. since you sold it to an NPC

vendor it is gone from the game forever. you now have to farm up the materials

or do the dungeon again to get it back and it will take you months. if only you

could buy it back just as it was.

      EVE has a 100% auction system in place so that this never happens to you. 

you did sell it for alot of money, but a few hours later you have the money you

sold it for. your log tells you who it was sold to and you are able to bargain it back

from them. It's your lucky day. Since EVE is a 100% auction game, everything

available for you to buy is player priced. if you were the only one to have that

sword in the game you could sell it for more money than anyone has ever seen

and there is nothing stopping you. where you get stopped is when you need

something from the game to advance further and no one in your area makes that

item. you are then forced to fly to another region and check there or be stuck

without it. EVE has people who's job is to keep the market balanced by selling NPC

priced items.

No Flying Your Ship

      Unfotunately you can't hook up a joystick and fly around like your favorite 

aircraft simulator. this will be different for alot of people who are used to the

minute movements of their little ground warrior. EVE doesn't just have you floating

in space during fights though. EVE has it's own means of controlling your ship, they

are just different and less involved. the in game tutorial will explain the different

control methods in full.

EVE is Complex

      This doesn't mean that you need a degree to play. This is just the warning so 

that you understand why EVE has such a steep learning curve. EVE is very

particular in it's every action. from mining to combat, everything has it's own

calculations. every little statistic has a huge effect on the outcome of the game.

The game takes a lot of time to become proficient and this is why EVE is better

than other games. Anyone can click a monster and have the character whack

away in a vibrant display of acrobatic moves and flashy lights until it is dead. it

takes a little more effort to play EVE and that is what you should expect coming

into this game. if this appeals to you then expect the same kind of players in the

EVE universe. if you live for the overly flashy and the simple then EVE may not be

the game for you.

For more info please read the forum tutorials and the in game tutorials.

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