EVE Online at Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMOG Gamers to the Next Level!

It can be argued that EVE Online has more depth and complexity than any MMOG on the market today. The game’s learning curve has at times been compared to an outwardly curving cliff face laced with deadly obstacles. At the bottom of that cliff rest the bones of the dead, representative of the scores of players that have attempted to learn the game and failed miserably.

Normally, I would attribute this to a newer generation of gamer that has neither the time nor inclination to bother trying to learn something new. That’s not the case with EVE though. In the past, the game has been both horrifically uncaring and unforgiving when it came to introducing itself to new players. As I talked about last week, that new player experience has definitely changed for the better.

Even so, the world of EVE is not for the faint of heart, the easily discouraged, or the unadventurous. To aid those hoping to conquer the challenges of EVE, here’s ten tips to aid you in your journey.

Do the crash course

It sounds like a stupid thing to have on the list, but you’d be amazed at how many players apparently don’t do so. The course is short and to the point, but without it, you’re going to spend an unenviable amount of time attempting to determine how to even move your ship around, let alone how to defend yourself with it.

Complete all career agent missions: Military, Business, and Industry

Aside from the fact that you should be doing any and all missions given or even mentioned during the tutorial of EVE, there are quite a few benefits of doing all three of these mission arcs. The first and foremost of which is you’ll receive a few new ships out of the process. Ships are an expensive commodity and there’s no reason not to have a few spares in your hangar.

Each of the three career agents will instruct you further in a different aspect of EVE. The skills you’ll learn from each will go a long way toward giving you a clue. None of these arcs should be looked at as the “end all, be all” of each subject. Though they won’t answer all your questions, they’ll give you the knowledge necessary to form more focused and intelligent questions when you go seeking further assistance.

Keep the Rookie channel open

I know a lot of people turn one or more of their chat channels off in any given game to get away from the spam of those selling gold (ISK) or spewing their own moronic opinions of everything from the latest deodorant to last week’s football game. EVE is one game where at least for a while, you really need to keep your channels open whether you want to or not.

The most important of these for any one new to the game is called the Rookie channel. To be sure, there is still plenty of general chatter and more asshats than you can shake a stick at in here, but the GM’s do a good job of keeping things on track when they’re on.

Whether they’re available to steer things in the right direction or not, there are plenty of people in the channel that are more than happy to answer what they can. No matter what the question, they realize the game is just as confusing to everyone else as it was to them, so they do their best to help out. If your question doesn’t get answered right away, don’t get discouraged. Just wait a few minutes and ask again. Just be sure not to spam the channel.

While getting an answer for a specific question is always good, there’s an even more important reason to keep the Rookie channel open. EVE is so complex and there is *so* much to learn about it, this is a great way to make new discoveries. I literally cannot count how many times I saw someone ask a question about something that I didn’t have a clue was in the game while I was out and about. The chatterboxes may get annoying in there at times, but don’t deny yourself the use of this great resource.