Winter break is over and Eve is having to take a back burner. I need to prioritize classes and school and when "one more mission" can take up a few hours and need to reserve general play to weekends. This is the prefect time for me to recap my experiences.
So I am now an established member of Eve University, a learner corp, and about to earn my sophomore status. I have attended half a dozen classes which have spanned the spectrum from introductory to heavily specialized and I can say that the teachers are great, even when they are amateur. The depth and breadth of information that they provide really helps to bridge the gap between the rookie and the noob and having others stumbling around me has certainly raised my spirits. I can not stress this enough: if you are new to Eve and listless then join a learner corp.
Because of my pending schedule shift I have set up a passive isk farming system, earning research points to buy datacores which I can sell at some point in the future. Joined with the passive skill queue this means that next time I have time I should be able to buy and fly ships that I have no idea what to do with.
Otherwise, despite having been part of two hunting fleets I have yet to earn a kill. Someday soon I hope to rectify this. Maybe this can happen when I join the low sec camp. I also want to explore wormholes and join an incursion. But these are dreams for a day with more free time.
09 February, 2012
04 January, 2012
Update
Any readers I may have are probably disappointed in my lack of updates. If those readers play Eve then they might understand why. So first let me apologize for my little hiatus and second let me say that it will probably happen again.
So, you maybe ask, what have you been up to since last we spoke? Much has happened.
First after coming under fire from real life sources in regard to my character name I have started a alt (slang for alternate character). In Eve you get three with each account. Intra-account only one alt can skill up at a time which takes away slightly from their usefulness. Regardless players do find ingenious ways to make use off these three different characters. The only way I have so far found is to use the alts to check market prices in different regions quickly, but as I am not heavily engaged in trade yet, mine sees no use.
Second, I have paid for an account. This was almost foregone conclusion with my main question being: "when?" Well CCP rolled out some sweet Christmas bonus items for members so the answer soon presented itself: "now!" I still get my 60 days of trail but I added 30 days of subscription bringing my total play time to 90.
Third, I have joined a corporation, Eve University. After completing the main, and dare I say biggest, story arch in Eve I found myself with nothing to do and too much unknown. Eve-U advertises itself as being the biggest and oldest learning corporations in Eve and despite their wartime status I applied for membership. While not as thorough as some real life employment applications Eve-U membership was none the less quite a process to achieve involving a questionnaire, a waiting queue and an interview.
But it was well worth it. From finding other rookie players like myself, experienced players willing to share, hours of recorded (and some in person) lectures on Eve subjects and skill book reimbursement I feel I have only scratched the surface of what the University has to offer me.
Anyway the next lecture Missilery 101 will be starting soon so I have to sign off for now. Hopefully my next update will be sooner in the writing but you are always welcome to contact me in game. My new name is Oscha Esservic and may fortune favour your sails.
So, you maybe ask, what have you been up to since last we spoke? Much has happened.
First after coming under fire from real life sources in regard to my character name I have started a alt (slang for alternate character). In Eve you get three with each account. Intra-account only one alt can skill up at a time which takes away slightly from their usefulness. Regardless players do find ingenious ways to make use off these three different characters. The only way I have so far found is to use the alts to check market prices in different regions quickly, but as I am not heavily engaged in trade yet, mine sees no use.
Second, I have paid for an account. This was almost foregone conclusion with my main question being: "when?" Well CCP rolled out some sweet Christmas bonus items for members so the answer soon presented itself: "now!" I still get my 60 days of trail but I added 30 days of subscription bringing my total play time to 90.
Third, I have joined a corporation, Eve University. After completing the main, and dare I say biggest, story arch in Eve I found myself with nothing to do and too much unknown. Eve-U advertises itself as being the biggest and oldest learning corporations in Eve and despite their wartime status I applied for membership. While not as thorough as some real life employment applications Eve-U membership was none the less quite a process to achieve involving a questionnaire, a waiting queue and an interview.
But it was well worth it. From finding other rookie players like myself, experienced players willing to share, hours of recorded (and some in person) lectures on Eve subjects and skill book reimbursement I feel I have only scratched the surface of what the University has to offer me.
Anyway the next lecture Missilery 101 will be starting soon so I have to sign off for now. Hopefully my next update will be sooner in the writing but you are always welcome to contact me in game. My new name is Oscha Esservic and may fortune favour your sails.
17 December, 2011
My Window Eve
Just a short post for today.
Lately I have been playing Eve quite passively. As at certain time I will be making a long trip across the galaxy there is often little to do but jump and jump and jump again. You can do this manually or with an autopilot at the cost of time. Auto pilot though means that you can kick back and take a break, so long as you don't get ambushed in front of a gate. Me? I program, clean my house, wash dishes you know real life stuff. The fun part though is that I occasionally glance at the screen and am treated to spectacular vistas.
Who knew that today I would be cooking dinner while gazing at the rings of a gas giant?
It might take a handful of extra jumps but for now I'll go across a quadrant to save an Isk and always take the safest possible route.
Lately I have been playing Eve quite passively. As at certain time I will be making a long trip across the galaxy there is often little to do but jump and jump and jump again. You can do this manually or with an autopilot at the cost of time. Auto pilot though means that you can kick back and take a break, so long as you don't get ambushed in front of a gate. Me? I program, clean my house, wash dishes you know real life stuff. The fun part though is that I occasionally glance at the screen and am treated to spectacular vistas.
It might take a handful of extra jumps but for now I'll go across a quadrant to save an Isk and always take the safest possible route.
14 December, 2011
First Day
Eryk Towen is a young Achura pilot in the Caldari empire. He graduated from School of Applied Knowledge, and gained his capsuleer license soon thereafter learning the basics of combat, manufacturing and mining.
The good news is that I am now playing Eve and I have a lot of first thoughts, but first I want to shout out to my benefactor who shared with me a 60 day trial. Thank you! You made this possible and made my next two months a little brighter. Though much may happen between now and the end of the trial the probability of subscription is very strong and I hope that you get a kick back from it.
For anyone reading this during the winter holidays of 2011 who is looking for a trial, keep trying! There are lots of forums where people are sharing and while the 60 day trials might be getting scarce the 21 day trials are plentiful. If you a reading this after Feb 2012 jump ahead to see if I registered. If I did then drop me a line and I will share a 21 day trial (if the buddy program is still in effect and I have some left). Otherwise I found the sub Reddit Eve to be a particularly effective venue as well as the Steam Eve Forum. A warning about Steam: Registration requires moderator review. It took them a day before I could post.
But on to the game!
Once the 4gb Eve client had downloaded and installed I was off to the races. The process was relatively simple but I did note that there were three different ways to do so. The main way, found on their website, involved a quick installer download followed by a connection through that program to their server for the bulk. But were that to cause trouble there was also a fall back offline installer allowing you to download the full 7zip package through your personal download manager. Lastly there was the Eve delivered through steam, though associating that with my trial account was a little bit funky.
Finally I was playing Eve. The first few choices I made, as expected, were: Race, Bloodline, sex, and education. Those choices had minor effects on my status (so I have read) but major effects on the ascetics of my character, his starting ships, and starting location.
Those ascetics were customizable but due to a high latency in refreshing it became very hard to customize my profile exactly as I wanted. In the end I settled for what I had made and moved forward. I don't mean to underplay the importance of this step though, because post initially any changes I want to make cost real money. Having a face you might like better vs a $10 fee... I'll stick with it for now.
Before I knew it I was playing Eve. More accurately I was trying to figure out what the screen filled with buttons do while a tutorial attempted to point out the most immediately important controls. The Eve interface is complex and I still am not using it effectively but when you break it down it's only a mire and not a bog. So far here is what I understand:
There is a group of menu buttons for the most common functions, this tends to launch in separate windows with a navigation depth of about 3. There are a couple of displays, live and stylized maps, and the game will never pause while inside them. Most actions are preformed through right click sub menus and almost everything will float in it's own window with group-able tabbing. It is not unusual for me to suddenly realize that my screen is so cluttered with layered windows that I can no longer see the stunning Eve graphics!
This may not be a good a game for people with troubled vision because it will utilize ever pixel of screen real-estate you can give it. Then again there does seem to be a well developed system of hotkeys I am studying to save me from these digital forests. A nicely made collection of these can be found here and the pdf here.
The tutorials are passable but not particularly engaging and only the first few had audio components. Eve tries to walk the thin line between too many options too quickly and too little control and the err on the quick route to complete freedom. I have a high aptitude for user interface, a gaming mindset, and a strong perseverance to make this work for me but I can easily see how this can overwhelm. But maybe that is self selecting, weeding the less dedicated out... If you are just getting started keep with it! Many guides, better then this one, can be found and the community has been very supportive in my experience, so long as you are looking for help and not just a vent for complaining.
Anyways I have wrote enough for today. I have better things to do and further content requires further research.
The good news is that I am now playing Eve and I have a lot of first thoughts, but first I want to shout out to my benefactor who shared with me a 60 day trial. Thank you! You made this possible and made my next two months a little brighter. Though much may happen between now and the end of the trial the probability of subscription is very strong and I hope that you get a kick back from it.
For anyone reading this during the winter holidays of 2011 who is looking for a trial, keep trying! There are lots of forums where people are sharing and while the 60 day trials might be getting scarce the 21 day trials are plentiful. If you a reading this after Feb 2012 jump ahead to see if I registered. If I did then drop me a line and I will share a 21 day trial (if the buddy program is still in effect and I have some left). Otherwise I found the sub Reddit Eve to be a particularly effective venue as well as the Steam Eve Forum. A warning about Steam: Registration requires moderator review. It took them a day before I could post.
But on to the game!
Once the 4gb Eve client had downloaded and installed I was off to the races. The process was relatively simple but I did note that there were three different ways to do so. The main way, found on their website, involved a quick installer download followed by a connection through that program to their server for the bulk. But were that to cause trouble there was also a fall back offline installer allowing you to download the full 7zip package through your personal download manager. Lastly there was the Eve delivered through steam, though associating that with my trial account was a little bit funky.
Finally I was playing Eve. The first few choices I made, as expected, were: Race, Bloodline, sex, and education. Those choices had minor effects on my status (so I have read) but major effects on the ascetics of my character, his starting ships, and starting location.
Those ascetics were customizable but due to a high latency in refreshing it became very hard to customize my profile exactly as I wanted. In the end I settled for what I had made and moved forward. I don't mean to underplay the importance of this step though, because post initially any changes I want to make cost real money. Having a face you might like better vs a $10 fee... I'll stick with it for now.
Before I knew it I was playing Eve. More accurately I was trying to figure out what the screen filled with buttons do while a tutorial attempted to point out the most immediately important controls. The Eve interface is complex and I still am not using it effectively but when you break it down it's only a mire and not a bog. So far here is what I understand:
There is a group of menu buttons for the most common functions, this tends to launch in separate windows with a navigation depth of about 3. There are a couple of displays, live and stylized maps, and the game will never pause while inside them. Most actions are preformed through right click sub menus and almost everything will float in it's own window with group-able tabbing. It is not unusual for me to suddenly realize that my screen is so cluttered with layered windows that I can no longer see the stunning Eve graphics!
This may not be a good a game for people with troubled vision because it will utilize ever pixel of screen real-estate you can give it. Then again there does seem to be a well developed system of hotkeys I am studying to save me from these digital forests. A nicely made collection of these can be found here and the pdf here.
The tutorials are passable but not particularly engaging and only the first few had audio components. Eve tries to walk the thin line between too many options too quickly and too little control and the err on the quick route to complete freedom. I have a high aptitude for user interface, a gaming mindset, and a strong perseverance to make this work for me but I can easily see how this can overwhelm. But maybe that is self selecting, weeding the less dedicated out... If you are just getting started keep with it! Many guides, better then this one, can be found and the community has been very supportive in my experience, so long as you are looking for help and not just a vent for complaining.
Anyways I have wrote enough for today. I have better things to do and further content requires further research.
12 December, 2011
My Future Me
As of this post I have not yet been given the 60 day trail I wish for, though I have been hitting all the threads I can find. I am still hopeful but may need to settle for 21.
Character creation is the backbone of any good rpg and I assume the same is true of mmorpg. The previously mentioned Space Trek does little in this regard other the providing us with a text box for ships, planets, and profile.
Eve on the other hand does not disappoint, so far as I have learned via the Eve wiki. While it seems that there is very little in-game mechanic to differ one combination of Race, Bloodline, Gender or Ancestry form another combination, yet each has a little bit of roll play characteristics history and maybe if some in-game plot! Unless my math is wrong then that is 72 different paths with no wrong answers.
I currently like the look of the Achura bloodline of the Caldari race. Maybe I'll be a Stargazer...
Character creation is the backbone of any good rpg and I assume the same is true of mmorpg. The previously mentioned Space Trek does little in this regard other the providing us with a text box for ships, planets, and profile.
Eve on the other hand does not disappoint, so far as I have learned via the Eve wiki. While it seems that there is very little in-game mechanic to differ one combination of Race, Bloodline, Gender or Ancestry form another combination, yet each has a little bit of roll play characteristics history and maybe if some in-game plot! Unless my math is wrong then that is 72 different paths with no wrong answers.
I currently like the look of the Achura bloodline of the Caldari race. Maybe I'll be a Stargazer...
Pre Eve
As I browse the internet one advertisement is always catching my eye. The primary colours are black, brown, orange and/or red. Grey and black shapes flash past followed by blue white streaks and a lens flare or two. You have doubtlessly seen these ads too, they are for the mmorpg Eve Online, and I have finally decided to give it a chance. Following in the footsteps of others like Eve Online Review I am going to try to bring my unique perspective of my experiences in game. I am also going to try to review my learning curve and experiences here.
But first a little about me. I am a huge science fiction fan. From Asmov to Firefly, Star Trek to Heinlein, Battlestar Galactica to Nievin. Even stuff you might never have heard of like Solar Clipper. Therefor it is not hard to assume I should like a space simulator and I do! I sunk whole days worth of hours into the FreeSpace franchise and consider them well spent but I haven't played anything good since.
By comparison my experience in mmorpg is not extensive. While I played 1 and 2 I have never joined the World of Warcraft and likewise anything else where I pay to keep playing. The exception of course was a brief sojourn in xBox Live with the Halo franchise but that is beyond the scope of this blog. I have been a member of an off-Trek German free to play creation known as Space Trek The New Empire and while that has been satisfactory I await something better.
So now I will finally give it a go. Build a ship and cast myself into the void. The graphics have never been better and with several 60 day trials floating around the time to start has never been better!
Next post depends on a stranger's generosity. If it takes some time to pickup a trial then I'll just speak of my plans.
But first a little about me. I am a huge science fiction fan. From Asmov to Firefly, Star Trek to Heinlein, Battlestar Galactica to Nievin. Even stuff you might never have heard of like Solar Clipper. Therefor it is not hard to assume I should like a space simulator and I do! I sunk whole days worth of hours into the FreeSpace franchise and consider them well spent but I haven't played anything good since.
By comparison my experience in mmorpg is not extensive. While I played 1 and 2 I have never joined the World of Warcraft and likewise anything else where I pay to keep playing. The exception of course was a brief sojourn in xBox Live with the Halo franchise but that is beyond the scope of this blog. I have been a member of an off-Trek German free to play creation known as Space Trek The New Empire and while that has been satisfactory I await something better.
So now I will finally give it a go. Build a ship and cast myself into the void. The graphics have never been better and with several 60 day trials floating around the time to start has never been better!
Next post depends on a stranger's generosity. If it takes some time to pickup a trial then I'll just speak of my plans.
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