Quote Originally Posted by Melquiades View Post
Hi, guys.

I've always been interested in EVE Online because from what I hear, well... it looks amazing. The thing is at the same time I have always been kinda intimidated to get jumping on it. It seems really complex, and I don't know if I got the time to spend in it for it to be as rewarding as it probably can be. Do you think the game is welcoming to new players? Do I need a really powerful PC to play (or enjoy) it?



Edit: ****... been watching videos and this game... I'll definitely start playing it once I graduate and have a job.
I've been playing since 2006, so I'll give you some perspective.

Disclaimer: I am the epitome of what is called a "bittervet". But to some extent, I have a reason to be. My playstyle in EVE Online has been driven largely out of existence by the power creep and changes that are brought into EVE that continue to concentrate power in the hands of the larger entities.

Disclaimer the second: You are new to the game. Being new to the game is FUN. Exploring a new shiny world with awesome graphics is fun. It's far more fun with friends to play with, so find a good organization to play with and make friends. You will enjoy yourself. And you will need the help--the learning curve is awful for new players and most crash out in the first 6 months due to being entirely overwhelmed. Having a support structure to give you guidance will help with that.

I wholeheartedly encourage you to try EVE out and see what you think. Try everything out. Don't get sucked into only shooting NPCs or only mining. Try shooting players (at first, realisitically, try getting blown up by other players, and don't get too attached to anything--general rule of EVE: if you don't want it to explode, don't undock it). Be prepared to get "the shakes" the first few times. Everyone does. Combat with another player is intense.



Full disclosure: My primary focus in EVE is on PvP, and specifically in small-gang or solo PvP. I do not enjoy giant 200vs200 or 2000vs2000 fights. I have been a part of enough of them to know that I don't want to be a part of them again. EVE PvE makes my eyes bleed. If I want to mindlessly do some grindy MMO stuff, I'll boot up WoW. At least their PvE can be mildly entertaining.


The game has changed over the years, and lately I don't think it has changed for the better. Is it shiny? Absolutely. Is it beautiful? Absolutely. As a concept, is it unique, revolutionary, and mind-blowingly awesome? Absolutely. Are CCP constantly adding new shiny features? Definitely. I think that last point is the problem though.

Instead of a focus on keeping the environment in EVE the way it was--where everyone can have an impact--the focus on "Jesus features" has inadvertently steered the game in a direction that has taken away from that environment. There was a time in EVE when a 200 player alliance could make waves in a region. They could take over space, defend it, and carve out their future. That idea now is mostly laughable. Power creep has meant that as alliance after alliance and coalition after coalition fell, those that remained became more and more unstoppable. They absorbed many of the players who were part of the defeated organizations over time, and often simply annexed areas of space that they wanted through diplomacy (if parking the largest fleet in EVE Online next door and telling the small fish that they'll set the sharks loose in their pond if they don't declare loyalty and pay tribute can be considered dipolmacy). We are at a point where there are very few organizations in the game who can actually stand up and fight the CFC (the main coalition that dominates the vast majority of EVE), and that stagnates things quite a bit. Add to that developments over time in power projection (ie, a 2,000 man fleet being able to cross the EVE universe from one end to the other in an hour or two) means that nowhere is safe. There are no remote corners anywhere that a small group might be able to snatch while the masters are away. The masters are never far away.

There are some exceptions to this. Wormholes, if those are your thing, are still largely dominated by "small" or "medium" sized entities. But even the definitions of those have changed. In 2007, "small" meant 10 or less in a fleet. "Medium" meant 25 a side. "Large" rarely crested 300 a side. These days, the smallest fleets you're likely to encounter in the nullsec "wild west" of space are on the order of 25, stacked with so much self-defense that it is quite pointless to fight them unless you're bringing so much force to bear it's not even a fight anymore. Think of a D&D party with three frontline damage dealers and six healing-specced Clerics spamming healing spells all day long. That's the closest EVE equivalent to what people are doing in "small" gangs these days, bringing "logistics" ships (the healing ships of EVE) in greater numbers than the rest of their fleet combined and multiplied by two) to the extent that the only way to actually kill something in their fleet is to instantly vaporize it with a volley of so much damage to 100 to 0 it in one shot. Generally that means bringing a 40+ pilot fleet. Moreover, if you do manage to get your fleet large enough to roam safely, say 50 strong, looking for or baiting out a fight from a roughly equal entity, you pretty much guarantee one of two things. Either you will wind up having to call in for backup from someone larger (referred to as batphoning), or the other side will. I've been in fights that have seen a batphone, counter-batphone, and a counter-counter batphone--often planned that way in advance. As in, both sides contacted backup ahead of time and had them waiting on standby. Eventually, as word spreads about the fight going on and more and more groups jump in, the bigger and bigger fish get more and more interested and you're liable to find your 50 man fleet decimated watching another 400 ships in a rough free-for-all that eventually gets stomped on when the neighborhood shark drops 600 on their head and slaughters them all.

In and of itself, that may sound intriguing, but the real result is putting a chilling effect on fighting. Why would you get into a fight when you're certain the other side will just portal in a larger, nastier fleet on your head to wipe you out and you won't manage to take a single enemy with you? Anytime someone willingly takes an even fight these days, you know they have backup and either you're suicidal, or you have backup of your own. It creates a sad dynamic wherein it's less about the fights and individual and collective piloting skill and more about who has bigger friends.



As I said before though, I'm a bittervet. So I see things through bitter-colored-glasses, and I have forgotten the wonder and joy of discovering the EVE Universe. That alone can keep the game fun for a long time if you find it to be up your alley.