As someone who's played Eve off and on (mostly on) since it released, I've got to chime in with some support for the game.
Like Koninbeor wrote, you really can't judge the game by local chat in Amarr. You also have to keep in mind what you're getting into with Eve - it's not a traditional MMO. Most MMOs have a safe PVE world with, perhaps, a tiny little area where you can do some sort of PVP. In Eve, you have a tiny little area (which is still vast, mind you) where you can safely do PVE, surrounded by areas of high risk.
While it is possible to simply log in and safely relax with friends - there's a nice level 4 Lai Dai Protection Services agent in Nourvokaiken which never, ever sends you into any dangerous space at all, for instance - the game literally is focused on PVP. Everything is PVP. Even the market. Especially the market. Everything you buy on it is being sold by a player. Some player built it from blueprints that players researched, using materials that players made, using ores that players mined.
Another thing to learn in a hurry: Unclaimed space is dangerous. It feels like a random danger, but it's not, really. People will kill you in wormholes because wormholes are extremely lucrative. People will kill you in nullsec chokepoints because nullsec is extremely lucrative. People will kill you in lowsec (space where CONCORD won't show up, and the only things that will defend you are weak sentry guns) because it can be pretty lucrative (four pirates in decent battleships camping a lowsec gate into a mission hub can easy make four times the cost of their ships and fittings with a single kill of a Machariel-equipped mission runner). Sure, they're also doing it because they want the kills, but there's an economic rationale that can't be ignored.
My advice to anyone who wants to play Eve is always the same: Train up to be able to fly a fast frigate - something like an Atron with a microwarp drive, which doesn't take that long to learn - and fly around. You'll lose your ship, and probably your clone, but you'll get to experience the place. A fast-flying fast-aligning ship gives you your best chance to get out of tight squeezes, while also being cheap enough to not bother you if you lose it. See what sort of places you like. Meet people you like (you will!). Join a corporation you like. Enjoyment of the game increases radically when you're playing with people you like.
And learn to enjoy the PVP. Back when I was playing seriously, I was considered one of the best interceptor pilots in the game. I loved frigate combat, and did a ton of it. I participated in the Great Northern War and ended up fighting a lot of the same people over and over again. Sometimes we'd talk about fights afterwards, and sometimes we ended up becoming friends. I made some extremely rewarding connections with people over the shared love of making each others ships explode (at one point I was considering learning Swedish simply so that I could join NSN, who were some of my most ferocious enemies during that war, because I liked them so much).
I guess what I'm saying is that Eve is different, and you can't really go into it with the same expectations as you would other MMOs. Go into it with a fresh mind, explore the place on your own, and make your own decisions.
And stay the hell away from Amarr (and Jita, and Dodixie, and Hek, and anywhere else that has more than 100 pilots in space).Â
Like Koninbeor wrote, you really can't judge the game by local chat in Amarr. You also have to keep in mind what you're getting into with Eve - it's not a traditional MMO. Most MMOs have a safe PVE world with, perhaps, a tiny little area where you can do some sort of PVP. In Eve, you have a tiny little area (which is still vast, mind you) where you can safely do PVE, surrounded by areas of high risk.
While it is possible to simply log in and safely relax with friends - there's a nice level 4 Lai Dai Protection Services agent in Nourvokaiken which never, ever sends you into any dangerous space at all, for instance - the game literally is focused on PVP. Everything is PVP. Even the market. Especially the market. Everything you buy on it is being sold by a player. Some player built it from blueprints that players researched, using materials that players made, using ores that players mined.
Another thing to learn in a hurry: Unclaimed space is dangerous. It feels like a random danger, but it's not, really. People will kill you in wormholes because wormholes are extremely lucrative. People will kill you in nullsec chokepoints because nullsec is extremely lucrative. People will kill you in lowsec (space where CONCORD won't show up, and the only things that will defend you are weak sentry guns) because it can be pretty lucrative (four pirates in decent battleships camping a lowsec gate into a mission hub can easy make four times the cost of their ships and fittings with a single kill of a Machariel-equipped mission runner). Sure, they're also doing it because they want the kills, but there's an economic rationale that can't be ignored.
My advice to anyone who wants to play Eve is always the same: Train up to be able to fly a fast frigate - something like an Atron with a microwarp drive, which doesn't take that long to learn - and fly around. You'll lose your ship, and probably your clone, but you'll get to experience the place. A fast-flying fast-aligning ship gives you your best chance to get out of tight squeezes, while also being cheap enough to not bother you if you lose it. See what sort of places you like. Meet people you like (you will!). Join a corporation you like. Enjoyment of the game increases radically when you're playing with people you like.
And learn to enjoy the PVP. Back when I was playing seriously, I was considered one of the best interceptor pilots in the game. I loved frigate combat, and did a ton of it. I participated in the Great Northern War and ended up fighting a lot of the same people over and over again. Sometimes we'd talk about fights afterwards, and sometimes we ended up becoming friends. I made some extremely rewarding connections with people over the shared love of making each others ships explode (at one point I was considering learning Swedish simply so that I could join NSN, who were some of my most ferocious enemies during that war, because I liked them so much).
I guess what I'm saying is that Eve is different, and you can't really go into it with the same expectations as you would other MMOs. Go into it with a fresh mind, explore the place on your own, and make your own decisions.
And stay the hell away from Amarr (and Jita, and Dodixie, and Hek, and anywhere else that has more than 100 pilots in space).Â
