Can I play Eve Online by myself?

C

Commander FAT

2[H]4U
Joined
Nov 23, 2000
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Or does it really cater to joining guilds and what not? I'm not a social gamer kinda guy but I'm dying to get into some sort of MMO. Most either look ugly as sin or boring as fuck.

I'm half tempted to get buy Diablo 2 and start that again. I know that's not really an MMO but it's about as close as I can find to what I like.

I'm downloading the demo now and will try it again for the third time. The first two times it was hard to play as my machine at the time was rather paltry.
 
You can, but theres a lot of differences to be had by joining a corp.

The more 'dangerous' a zone is, the more lucrative the profits are to be had there, and major corporations (guilds) own the most lucrative (and dangerous) zones. If you're caught there, and they don't know/like you, they'll kill you without thinking twice (and pvp deaths have serious penalties).

That said, the 'safe' zones where PVP is not allowed, can definitely make you money and can be fun. While there, you can make some good money.

Its definitely possible to solo though.
 
IMO, EVE isn't very fun solo. You "can" play solo--it's a matter of whether or not you'll enjoy it by yourself.
 
Commander FAT said:
Or does it really cater to joining guilds and what not? I'm not a social gamer kinda guy but I'm dying to get into some sort of MMO. Most either look ugly as sin or boring as fuck.

I'm half tempted to get buy Diablo 2 and start that again. I know that's not really an MMO but it's about as close as I can find to what I like.

I'm downloading the demo now and will try it again for the third time. The first two times it was hard to play as my machine at the time was rather paltry.
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You'll probably want to find a MMO that is more instance based in your case, and with more restrictions on open pvp.
 
I used to play EVE. I was in BOB then Atlas (Two of the former large superpowers). If you're like me, and you want to PVP...the game can be really really fun at times. Unfortunately for ever hour of fun there's 2-3 hours of tedious grind or waiting around. At least that's the way I saw it after years of playing.
 
If you solo you will be missing a huge chuck of what makes EVE great. You dont need to be social to be in a corp. You can just talk about game stuff like missions, ops, etc.
 
Commander FAT said:
Or does it really cater to joining guilds and what not? I'm not a social gamer kinda guy but I'm dying to get into some sort of MMO. Most either look ugly as sin or boring as fuck.

I'm downloading the demo now and will try it again for the third time. The first two times it was hard to play as my machine at the time was rather paltry.
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I would wait till after December 14th since they will remove the learning skill requirement then which will make getting started a lot easier.

There is lots and lots to do in EVE that you can do solo. In my experience lots of people start out solo and then eventually join a player organization to advance their game play beyond what you can do solo. However, if PvE and Industry (production, research, etc.) is all you are interested in then you can go for years in EVE and never "group" with another player ever.
 
Last year I took the plunge and tried EVE out and then bought it. I actually liked the game, but like others have said you will get the most out of it by playing with corporations, etc...

The problem I ran into was I originally looked for an MMO that I could jump right into and start having fun because I have limited gaming time, but like someone else stated it can take a while for group activities to materialize in game.

Also, I tend to learn better by "doing" stuff rather than reading guides, forums, etc... and I didn't find the corporations that I joined being receptive to explaining basic stuff to a new guy, therefore I eventually canceled my subscription.

It's funny you started this thread, because I had asked myself earlier today whether or not I should resubscribe to EVE, especially since I didn't do a whole lot of group activities.
 
As I wrote in one of the other EVE O threads on here, I'd gladly pay any [H]'ers fee to go and take the Basic PvP class from Agony Unleashed to learn that you don't need millions of skillpoints to be effective and have fun PvPing.
 
a lot. lol but depends on what your doing. i was primarily industry production and resource mining. hours and hours of pure boredom. but it was fun building ships and what not.
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
a lot. lol but depends on what your doing. i was primarily industry production and resource mining. hours and hours of pure boredom. but it was fun building ships and what not.
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If I wanted to play just a few hours at a time or less what do you think I should look into?
 
aciddrink said:
Unfortunately for ever hour of fun there's 2-3 hours of tedious grind or waiting around. At least that's the way I saw it after years of playing.
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That's actually a pretty impressive ratio for EVE.

I'd get an hour or two of actual real fun playing time a week, the rest of the time was prep or recovery. This hour or two was generally split up into short ten to fifteen minute bursts of PvP throughout the week.

It has a ton of potential... but wars turning into endless hours of gate camping, staring at stations full of your enemy camping inside, (or your FC forcing you to camp inside) and gangs that involve sitting at safe spots for a few hours... roaming PvP would be bouncing between dozens of systems looking for a target (any target) who just logs off/docks/jumps out when you hit the system anyway. It's just too 'realistic'.

Realistic is fun, but only when I didn't have a full time job. Playing EVE now involves too much 'work' to get to the 'fun'. I spend all day doing my work already so I can spend the rest of the time having fun. I don't want to spend my time working to earn the privilege of working some more to maybe have a little fun.

(This is coming from a former non-carebear - plenty of nullsec wars and a -10 lowsec/null pirate)
 
Commander FAT said:
If I wanted to play just a few hours at a time or less what do you think I should look into?
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Honestly, if you have no interest in the multiplayer aspect you'd be better off to just buy a bunch of good older $2.50 games on Steam and have fun with those.
 
Eve is definitely one of those games that gets your heart pumping. The death penalty sets you back a little so every time you die, you take a step back. Being that its time based to skill up and not grinding, it'll suck you in a black hole of account management. I made my way out twice before. The PVP is an absolute blast.
 
To answer your question from someone who is a very limited playtime player.

I get maybe 3-5 hours of gametime a week. But I've been playing for years. Because skilling/leveling is independent of what you've done in game (or nearly so) this is one of the more casual friendly MMO's out there. That said, as others have mentioned, PVP is a time sink, so you probably won't get much of it with limited playtimes.

You don't need to join a corp, but it's a very good idea. EvE is a game of building things (or destroying them!) and your abilities to build/destroy is greatly increased in a 0.0 corp/alliance. Even if you are in a corp, you don't need to group much if you don't want too. Personally, most of my game time is "Carebearing" (because I can logout mid-carebear if I need to) and I'm usually solo doing it. And I'm only a few months (and an inevitable nerf) from getting into a supercarrier (super-capital, 2nd most expensive shiptype in the game) that I'd mainly use in defensive warfare.
 
I have had to give up on EVE I have a 46mill SP character and a 26 mill SP character but I just don't have the time to justify the expense. If I had more time I could pay with ISK but its not an option for me anymore.

I find solo can be a grind with one character, even with 2 its not much fun alone. I liked 0.0 but you need a lot of time to sink into 0.0 and a good way to make decend ISK to pay for the losses.
 
See Jay, I disagree with that (the time commitment).

I only play 3-5 hours a week, and yet am able to keep 3 accounts running with GTC's* and still almost have enough saved up for an Aeon.

It's all about finding something you enjoy doing that makes decent money.


*GTC's = Game Time Cards, re player tradable via a sanctioned system in EvE. I.E. if you know how to make in game money, you can play for 'free'. A 60day GTC runs ~700-800 million isk, and runs one account for 2 months.
 
Eve is perfect if you like being bored while you are bored. Id go with Diablo 2.
 
I dunno I always thought Eve seems more complex than it really is, maybe skip the tutorial lol
 
It's a learning curve for sure--figure 2-3 weeks of cramming and practice just to get the basics down.

If I had to go back and do it all again I'd stick with a 2-3 person group. Corp life puts you at the whim of the leaders and tied to one area of space, usually reacting to whatever happens there when you're called to do so--and the 'when' can be a problem unless your free time coincides with the corp battles/raids. Soloing limits you a lot in certain ways (scouting, skills, hauling etc.) while a very small group can pretty much wreak havoc wherever they choose until someone gets a mob after them. Even in 0.0 owned space the raider teams (one traps, the other destroys) generally roamed around with impunity. Larger mobs would get a more organized response. In 'safe' space you simply declare war on someone and have yourself a time.
 
WarriorX said:
If you solo you will be missing a huge chuck of what makes EVE great. You dont need to be social to be in a corp. You can just talk about game stuff like missions, ops, etc.
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This exactly. You can indeed solo missions for example till the cows come home, and amass a nice quantity of ISK...but... the game is really about the big picture, and I think you'd be missing out on a lot by soloing. If you start out with solo in mind though you may inadvertently find yourself interested in some of the other or more player interactive aspects of the game.
 
The thing with EvE is it has a heckuva learning curve. It's been softened a ton by the tutorial, you used to be thrown into space without anything. It is the only game that you really need to get through the tutorial that I've ever played.

That said, the new tutorial will actually get you in a decent ship, with some skills and a decent start of cash in just a few hours. You get a 14 day trial, I would suggest doing the full tutorial before giving up on it.

EvE is a sandbox game, that's why it's so complex. You can literally do almost anything in game.



An older graphical representative of the learning curve of EvE

LearningCurve.jpg
 
I'm about to re-activate my accounts after almost a year. You can do some stuff solo. i.e. mining in high sec, missions. But, if you ever want to go down to 0.0(null) you need to be in a corp/alliance.
One thing I like about Eve over WoW is that if you get board doing something, you just start training for something else. You don't need to go and create a new toon. But, it is a fun game once you get into it. At least I think so.
 
Commander FAT said:
Well I'll finish the tutorial when I get off work and try the actual game. I'll reinstall it and give it another go.

What is 0.0?
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Security rating. Each system has a rating between 0.0 and 1.0

0.5 to 1.0 High Sec - "secure" systems - if you attack another player (who is not in your PLAYER corporation or you are not at war with) a blob of NPC police (Concorde) will show up and pwn your face. You are not meant to survive. If you can gank your target before you die, that's allowed, but surviving Concorde is considered an exploit. This is carebear happy land. (But you're never 100% safe!)

0.1 to 0.4 is Low Sec. There are gate and station turrets, but these are easily tankable by a moderately seasoned player. Pirates a'plenty are here, but if you shoot somebody else (without having a flag to attack them legally) any turrets will attack you. (Attacking somebody here without being allowed to legally will earn you a negative security rating - do it enough and you'll be unable to enter high sec systems and be KoS to anybody, anywhere!) This is usually considered pirate land.

0.0 is null sec. There are NO game 'laws' regarding who you can shoot. The only laws are made by those who currently control that system. No sec standing hits anywhere. This is the wild west. Most people consider this to be the 'end game' of EVE. You don't want to head out there in your noob ship.


This is a very basic rundown... read the eve-online forums (punishment and security section I think) for full details.
 
actually I haven't log in for few months, I let a friend watch the account for me and he uses it as a spy/looter in his griefing/piracy antics lol. Most ppl I know would go through a on again off again cycle with Eve, not sure about the other MMO, most other mmo if I stop I'm done with it.
 
Commander FAT said:
Well I'll finish the tutorial when I get off work and try the actual game. I'll reinstall it and give it another go.
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what?

ignore please - still on learning curveif you still have it installed, don't reinstall. The tutorials are part of the game. You can turn them off and and just go exploring stuff. The training missions are just in a quieter area for new pilots. Please visit Jita planet 4 moon 4 Caldari navy station to have an idea what the rest of the universe is like :)

hmmm....DEMO? perhaps i'm wrong i never knew they did that
 
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Pretty interesting game. I managed to do the basic tutorial (doing the advanced military one now), and joined a CORP.

Very nice community. But the combat is pretty boring right now, and it takes forever to fly from one place to another.

Feel free to message me and give me some tips =) My name is "Picklesz" ingame.
 
Chuchunyin said:
Pretty interesting game. I managed to do the basic tutorial (doing the advanced military one now), and joined a CORP.

Very nice community. But the combat is pretty boring right now, and it takes forever to fly from one place to another.

Feel free to message me and give me some tips =) My name is "Picklesz" ingame.
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The combat engine is one of the best things about the game IMO. It's easily the best out of ANY space-related game I've ever played.
 
Yah actually. After getting more weapons and actually knowing how to position myself properly, it is pretty fun.
 
Is it easy to make enough money to pay for game time? I would like to give this another try. Didn't make it past the tutorial before lol,
 
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