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Eve online -- Is it worth it?

Eve online -- Is it worth it?

I recently tried a trail version of Eve online, and have been playing for a while. I'm now a bit interested in the game, but I'm not sure if its worth a monthly subscription. It has some features and complexity that I've been looking for in a single player, off-line game, but I've haven't been able to find such games.

Before I get off track, is there anyone here who has played Eve online? If so, is Eve worth it? Also are there any games that play like Eve, but is off-line.
54,942 views 47 replies
Reply #26 Top
It is possible to play EVE a bit on a casual basis and have fun that way for some months. OTOH, to start experiencing the full potential of the game, it's necessary to join a corp so you get buddies to work and exchange lore with, and also to invest much time so you stay in touch.

My last corp was active on several fronts, they did mining, manufacturing and POS'es, and pushed their envelope regarding what they could do and where in space they could go (and survive). This would be impossible without a core of active corp members spending a good part of their free time online.

Being in a corp like that was a thrill, and also the other players were generally very helpful and welcoming, e.g. if you lost your main ship chances were they'd help you replace it, generally if you had little money people would give you equipment etc, and also any damages suffered while doing wotk for the corp was reimbursed.

To be a good EVE player, you also need to keep up on developments in ships, equipment and new features in general. It has been said that it's a game for equipment geeks.

Also, if you get your act together (and that probably requires being in a well-functioning corp), EVE PvP is said to be awesome.

I believe EVE can be a marvelous game for the right kind of person. Personally my main problem with EVE was its demand on my time, as I prioritize RL.


Here is a hypothetical situation for everyone. Let's say right now the Eve administrators and dev's decided to have two full days where everyone could do whatever they wanted without any loss because they would effectiveley reset the game and take everyone back in time to the exact circumstances they are currently in. They would reset in two days. So for two days you could "just have fun". What would you do? What would everyone do? I would probably go with the fleet and attack neighboring alliances until all my ships were destroyed and i was completely out of money. I definitely would not mine ore or hunt rats. What would someone do in WOW if the game makers of WOW decided to have the same kind of reset-in-two-days event? Would they try dungeons or instances? Would they do battlefields? Would they do arena fights? Would they travel the land of azeroth and see the sights?

Also, if you get your act together (and that probably requires being in a well-functioning corp), EVE PvP is said to be awesome.
the key word here is "said". i know what the f*** people say.
Basically i would describe Eve pvp this way: "you look at a list of enemies in your overview, you set your ship to keep itself at xxx optimal distance from one of these enemies, and then you click the appropriate modules to activate on your ship against this enemy(usually these would include some kind of gun or energy vampire but would include other things as well). from there on you've done pretty much all you can do. there are no great visuals because the lag is probably really bad and you have all your effects turned off(sound, turret hardpoints, ect.). basically you are looking at a list." to be honest i would almost rather play checkers. almost.
Reply #27 Top
Dre-Dog: EVE is not for everyone, however some people enjoy it immensely. I was attempting to describe some pros & cons for people who wonder if the game is for them. As I said, I left the game (but am still in WoW), others feel differently.

Also if I was (hypothetically) on my way to becoming a major league EVE player I'd certainly be worried about thhe issues with EVE devs reputedly cheating in the game.


Here is a hypothetical situation for everyone. Let's say right now the Eve administrators and dev's decided to have two full days where everyone could do whatever they wanted without any loss because they would effectiveley reset the game and take everyone back in time to the exact circumstances they are currently in. They would reset in two days. So for two days you could "just have fun". What would you do? What would everyone do? I would probably go with the fleet and attack neighboring alliances until all my ships were destroyed and i was completely out of money. I definitely would not mine ore or hunt rats. What would someone do in WOW if the game makers of WOW decided to have the same kind of reset-in-two-days event? Would they try dungeons or instances? Would they do battlefields? Would they do arena fights? Would they travel the land of azeroth and see the sights?
Kudos for at very well put problem. My 2 cents: In EVE, I'd probably attempt to fight the authorities (forget what they are called). I agree there would be two days of utter chaosand mayhem. In WoW, such a time would be exploration time.

Reply #28 Top
Dre-Dog: EVE is not for everyone, however some people enjoy it immensely. I was attempting to describe some pros & cons for people who wonder if the game is for them. As I said, I left the game (but am still in WoW), others feel differently.

Also if I was (hypothetically) on my way to becoming a major league EVE player I'd certainly be worried about thhe issues with EVE devs reputedly cheating in the game.



Here is a hypothetical situation for everyone. Let's say right now the Eve administrators and dev's decided to have two full days where everyone could do whatever they wanted without any loss because they would effectiveley reset the game and take everyone back in time to the exact circumstances they are currently in. They would reset in two days. So for two days you could "just have fun". What would you do? What would everyone do? I would probably go with the fleet and attack neighboring alliances until all my ships were destroyed and i was completely out of money. I definitely would not mine ore or hunt rats. What would someone do in WOW if the game makers of WOW decided to have the same kind of reset-in-two-days event? Would they try dungeons or instances? Would they do battlefields? Would they do arena fights? Would they travel the land of azeroth and see the sights?
Kudos for at very well put problem. My 2 cents: In EVE, I'd probably attempt to fight the authorities (forget what they are called). I agree there would be two days of utter chaosand mayhem. In WoW, such a time would be exploration time.



ok, fair enough. It's just that many people come into eve knowing they won't be able to competetively pvp for several months. and i think that there is some misleading things going on surrounding eve' pvp. i rarely see any good critiques or even descriptions of eve's actual pvp. all i hear is that it is really good. but i do not believe that it is very good. most of the things you must learn to pvp well are kind of boring. like learning to align your ship for warp outs when you become the primary target in a fleet battle. or having a whole plethora of bookmarks that allow you escape well. and it's getting harder and harder to find small gang fights because nothing can really be accomplished unless you have large numbers.

and as for the hypothetical, i want to make my point clearer. the point i was trying to make was that in WOW people would be doing the exact same stuff they always do because that is the fun stuff(battlegrounds, arena's, dungeons, exploring, etc.) and there is no real loss involved. but it is only when given the chance and some impetus that people in eve will do what they really want. I actually believe that eve is more about real money than anything else(especially actual gameplay/pvp). it's kind of like gambling. that's why people like it.
Reply #29 Top
In the end, I found Eve was almost too realistic, it started feeling like a job, I started feeling like I needed to advance when I just wanted to kick back and relax.


Mining is the only real job thats a chore At least thats my opinion

CCP is corrupt and their too many scammers besides CCP


Those people are really motivated money, not people

And what did they do to the person that found out about it and exposed it? Banned him.


A ton of people quit after that happened

It is possible to play EVE a bit on a casual basis and have fun that way for some months.


Thats how I played

Tha
however some people enjoy it immensely


I liked EVE for a time, but I quit after after people started getting powerful, as well as the fees costing me too much. So it appears many people here are EVE haters. CCP should improve their game, or there is going to be an empty galaxy.

Maybe Stardock should create GALCIV 2: the RPG. It should be free with the purchase of GCII but 4.95 a month if you don't. You should have around 25 stars, with Drengin and Arceans holding a lot. Just a thought.

Power to Galciv!  

Etrius



Reply #30 Top
So it appears many people here are EVE haters. CCP should improve their game, or there is going to be an empty galaxy.

thank you for stating the obvious my friend, but i don't think many of the people here are eve haters and i don't think that people will quit WOW because they still have high hopes for it. I myself spent several months trying to convince myself that eve was a great game because the idea of it is just so appealing. But now i am trying to understand why so many more people play WOW. I thought that because more older people play eve(average age is 27.5), than WOW(ave. age is 14) that eve would be a much more stimulating, deep and complicated game. And i was right about the whole complicated and deep part but there is another thing to consider: old people are pretty boring and what they consider stimulation, young people consider homework. Most 27 year olds grew up on video games that were far inferior to the ones 14 year olds grew up on. Old people like boring shit. I cannot emphasize this enough. you don't work in an office for eight hours a day and become an exciting person.

i would like to see a good comparison/contrast between eve online's pvp and WOW's pvp. that would provide some answers.
Reply #31 Top
i don't think that people will quit WOW


We aren't talking about world of warcraft here. But at least Blizzard cares about its customers.

eve(average age is 27.5),


Many people in their 20's like EVE, but that is starting to change. Kids that like future stuff have taken an interest in EVE.

you don't work in an office for eight hours a day and become an exciting person.


I don't think thats true

Old people like boring shit.


WATCH YOUR MOUTH!!!!!!!      Kryo has probably seen that word by now  

Etrius
Reply #32 Top
I played Eve for 1 year and 4 months, than I quited, than I played again for 8 months than I quited.

I must say that in various ways, I really liked some aspects of the game. Offline training, player based economy, great PvP, awesome metagame with politics and so on. Those things are nice but they all have some bad side. You will never be able to compete on a skill base with most of the players since they started playing before you (years before). It's an hyper capitalist economy where a few selected ones make most of the profit. It's highly hostile in <= 0.4 regions and getting killed often means losing big time. I often lost 50% of all I had acquired in a single kill. The games is ruled by some big gangs that nearly control the whole game. It would be quite hard to start from 0 nowadays and rule that galaxy. The meta game went crazy recently with people hacking forums, teamspeak server, cross-checking logged ip, betraying, exploting, spying, god knows what else to get the upper hand by all means. Some game developpers that plays the game were found cheating and using their special powers to create in-game items that gave a huge boost to their corporation/allied. Some of those situations were kept hidden from the players. When the last one was exposed, I choose to quit and play something else.

My recommendation, try something else that is more fun and cheaper.
Reply #33 Top

So it appears many people here are EVE haters. CCP should improve their game, or there is going to be an empty galaxy.

thank you for stating the obvious my friend, but i don't think many of the people here are eve haters and i don't think that people will quit WOW because they still have high hopes for it.


sorry, i meant to say that i don't think many people will quit eve(not WOW, my mistake) because they still have high hopes for it.

and as for my gross generalizations, the point i was trying to make was that older people aren't the deciders when it comes to video game quality. WOW is not a childish game like many people say. most younger people grew up with video games and have pretty good tastes in that arena.
Reply #34 Top
I see that some people were talking about EVE since I was away.

Anyhow, I do have some questions now:

1) Game Cards:
I heard about that you could buy game cards using in-game money, and would be ok with CCP. Does it actually work? If so, how would one go about taking advantage of it?

2) Invention:
The trial account I played didn't provide me with enough time to experiment with invention. Also, any information relating to invention is hard to come by. How does invention works.

Thanks in advance.
Reply #35 Top
Quite frankly, I have yet to find a game that is worth $200/yr. This includes WoW, CoH, SWG, EVE, and various other MMO's I've played. As for Eve specifically, I downloaded it for the free trial recently. I was greatly put off by the fact that after 3 hours, I still wasnt through the tutorial. I mean seriously, if I wanted to do that much work and learning, I'd just stay at school and study my quantum physics book some more. By the end of the 3 space section, I began to ask myself, "is it worth all this trouble to play a space game that doesnt have direct piloting control?" The easy answer was 'No'. If I'm gonna play a space based game, its gotta be direct control piloting. I want to be in the thick of dog fights. I want to get out of my ship on the ground and exit my ship like GTA3/VC/SA. I want to do trade as a person on a planet, not as a window in my HUD. Most of all, I want a few simple controls and not have to read a tech manual in order to play the game. LMB for lasers, RMB for torpedos, MMB to look behind. WASD for throttle and strafing ability. Mouse pointer aiming for direction. EQ for rolling. Thats easy controlling. Maybe hold Alt for pointer control. Cycle targets using MB4, MB5, Tab. Boosters with space or shift. This list goes on. I basically want for a space game what the later GTA games were to racing. I havent found a game even close to that as of yet. Hopefully there will be one soon. Anyway, thats my view on things.
Reply #36 Top
As for Eve specifically, I downloaded it for the free trial recently. I was greatly put off by the fact that after 3 hours, I still wasnt through the tutorial.


Yeah... a lot of players who have tried the tutorial say "You know, **** this!" before quiting the game, and never touch it again.

After I played the tutorial, I thought "Wow this game has depth and complexity.". What put me off was the fees, players who act like jerks, and supposed cheating developers. Its a shame that the game wasn't released as a single player game.
Reply #38 Top
I have been playing for over two years . . . been in a burned out mode for a while . . . in fact there have been a few of those during the time online . . . GalCiv2 is looking good, a break from the same old crap . . . and yes I am sure I will get burned out eventually on this too . . . but then maybe it will be time to load another game that has been sitting here . . . there are many . . . but Eve-Online has its moments, but lately it has not been as fun as before . . .
Reply #39 Top

old people are pretty boring and what they consider stimulation, young people consider homework. Most 27 year olds grew up on video games that were far inferior to the ones 14 year olds grew up on. Old people like boring shit.


OK, 1) Seriously, 27 is not old, geez. 2)Um I think you'll find that most 27 year olds that grew up playing video games are still playing video games today and that there isn't some magical cut off point where these people stop getting the new games. 3) Also it'd be the 27 year olds that were the first one's that actually played the games 14 year olds grew up on because, you know, they had the money to actually go out and buy that latest console/PC/game/whatever. 4) I'm not 27 myself, but almost, and I'm certainly not boring, now where did I put my slippers & pipe? Countdown will be starting on the Television Unit soon......



1) Game Cards:
I heard about that you could buy game cards using in-game money, and would be ok with CCP. Does it actually work? If so, how would one go about taking advantage of it?


Yes you can, I have been doing just that for the last 3 months (only been playing EvE for 4 months), and yes CCP is OK with it as there is an officially supported method of doing it, which is:
1) Find someone selling one either in-game or on the forums and make contact with them.
2) They'll then tell you how much ISK (in-game money) they want for it and send you an offer using CCP's secure method, which also then checks to make sure the code is real.
3) You then go to your account page at the EvE Online website and accept the offer.
4) The game time is then added straight to your account.


2) Invention:
The trial account I played didn't provide me with enough time to experiment with invention. Also, any information relating to invention is hard to come by. How does invention works.


Don't ask, just don't....
but as you did:
Invention Guide
Reply #40 Top

It's just that many people come into eve knowing they won't be able to competetively pvp for several months. and i think that there is some misleading things going on surrounding eve' pvp. i rarely see any good critiques or even descriptions of eve's actual pvp. all i hear is that it is really good. but i do not believe that it is very good.


I hear a lot of that too ... Anyone who has seen my other posts knows I think it's a waste of time and money, and for a lot of reasons.

It's only good if you are one of the veteran players that has played for at least 3 years (and coughed up 3 years of monthly fees) because the ships/items/skills are trained in REAL TIME. Some of the basic skills take months to train. You can't even come close to having any items/ships that will last more than 3 seconds against even 1 veteran ship, much less the 10-15 that gang you before you even see them ...
Eve is more like the old sucker game you see in the advertisements 'Learn how to become a millionaire, just send $19.95 to ...' You don't get the honest answer - which is ... put an ad in the newspaper claiming you can tell people how to become millionaires and laugh your tail off when the rubes send you money, making you a millionaire while they go nowhere.

Or you can spend $1500 to buy an account on eBay, one that is several years old and is still not worth dookie. Thats where the real rip off starts. Many of the people who love eve so much and push it so hard are the ones who are trying to eventually con you into spending real cash in some way or another, and they are very slick.

Another thing I don't see being revealed about eve in these discussions is that each serious player has at least 3 accounts, many have more. It is easily possible to be talked into going into a dangerous area by one 'buddy-buddy' player who promises to protect you, and get blown up by another ship, and have your good items picked up by still another player ship, and then be talked into going back to base and 're-fitting' another ship by another player who offers to help, and then going out and getting blown up again by a different bad guy, losing your second best items, and so on and etc. ... and in some cases they are all one and the same person, laughing uproariously at you the whole time. If you call that fun, then I have some 'bottom land near the coast' I'll sell you ...

Reply #41 Top

It's only good if you are one of the veteran players that has played for at least 3 years (and coughed up 3 years of monthly fees) because the ships/items/skills are trained in REAL TIME. Some of the basic skills take months to train. You can't even come close to having any items/ships that will last more than 3 seconds against even 1 veteran ship, much less the 10-15 that gang you before you even see them ...


Not entirely true. Yes as a solo new player you don't really stand much of a chance, even against someone who's character is only a few months older then yours, but then again EVE Online isn't meant to be a single player game now is it? Also if you want to see what a bunch of new players, all flying basic small ships, can do in PvP then you should check out these guy's PvPU Class Killboard:

Agony Unleashed
Reply #42 Top


My recommendation, try something else that is more fun and cheaper.


It still holds even more now:

* http://goonfleet.com/open_letter_to_CCP.html
* http://myeve.eve-online.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=526462
* http://www.kugutsumen.com/showthread.php?t=832



That was all proven to be bullshit its amazeing how you people never post ccps replys to this stuff http://myeve.eve-online.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=472 goonfleet are a bunch of crybabys who tryed to destroy ccp's rep with these attacks because they cant play the damn game.

As for the lotto rigging that was 1 dev NOT ccp as a whole people are people after all Iv played eve non stop for 2 years and have no intention of stoping because of some lier's trying to wreck the game for every one else

ccp/eve ftw
Reply #43 Top
I have been playing eve online for about six months now, since december. And personally, I think it is a great game. I understand about how some people can find it to be too complex or to much like work, I myself frequently don't feel like played sometimes. Though I consider the fact that it is not addictive to me to be a plus. I have a friend who recently cut down on his eve playing time because he was addictive for several months and (being a miner, which is a boring job), he began to feel like the game was work, though he is still playing.

EvE is not for everyone, that is for sure, and although the average player age is higher than most MMO's (though I am in my mid-teens), The complexity that the player generate makes the game very interesting and fun. As for alliances, the alliance that I believe people are referring too, though no one has mentioned its name, which is Band of Brothers, or BOB for short, is in my opinion disrupting game balance.

Though I am in a corporation which is in an alliance that is protected by BOB I myself am against them. I have heard about how ccp has helped them, but for all I know those where made up (I could believe either way), but the main reason that they are a problem is that they recruit only very experiance players, creating an almost unbeatable force. Recently I was on the other side, in a corporation protected by Goonfleet, an enemy of BOB, and residing in their space, in the outer systems where alliances control the systems, living peacefully until BOB showed up doing raids almost non-stop (at least while I was on), though I safely hid in the station (which they later took), it ruined the benefits of being in an outer system. But I find the politics of the game makes it more interesting.

Well, long story short, if you are impatient, eve is not for you, if you only like fast paced action, eve is not for you, but if you have the patience and the ability to grasp the game's complex mechanics, then eve is for you.

On a final note, I have been in two major fleet operations, with a group of fifty or more people, and I have gone pvping, although large battles cause alot of lag (so much so that I didnt even get to participate the first time), pvp in eve, whether its one on one or twenty on twenty, is exhilarating, and gets your heart rate up with every second as your battleships missiles penetrate your prey's shield, as you block him from warping. And is probably the best thing in the game, though the most dangerous.
Reply #44 Top

It's only good if you are one of the veteran players that has played for at least 3 years (and coughed up 3 years of monthly fees) because the ships/items/skills are trained in REAL TIME. Some of the basic skills take months to train. You can't even come close to having any items/ships that will last more than 3 seconds against even 1 veteran ship, much less the 10-15 that gang you before you even see them ...


Not entirely true. Yes as a solo new player you don't really stand much of a chance, even against someone who's character is only a few months older then yours, but then again EVE Online isn't meant to be a single player game now is it? [*deleted link*]


Yes, I suppose you are right, it isn't meant for single-player.

I suppose after reflection, what I was trying to get at is, it really makes me uncomfortable to not-know who is really who and who is really doing what to whom. An example might be that, even in B.O.B. or GoonFleet, the very player you assume is your bosom-buddy during a "fleet-battle" could be, and often is, talking to and giving updates to the other side on a different channel (you did mention lag, or someone did) ... even while talking to you on another. I would also allow for the not-so-remote possibility that "your buddy" is actually flying one of the opposing ships(using one of his(or her) many different accounts on another pc/multitasking) and aiming to blow you away by surprise when you least expect it.

The same is true of many of the Corporations, and many Corporations are just false fronts to engage new players in mining or other basic activities in order to exploit their efforts by funneling the profits from several "slave corps" into the coffers of another, older, more well-established corp run by a bunch who have figured all this out even before a noob hears of the game.

I won't go into the details of the real-cash rip-off market that has been created, perhaps inadvertently, where ISK/accounts/items are sold on eBay (and by in-game solicitation of the ignorant), with the tendency to target noobs for this also, any more.

Sorry, I just don't think that's fun, and if that's what I wanted for a game environment, I'd play "back-stabbing bitches from hell with nothing better to do than screw their buddies and laugh at them" - or, I might get involved in real politics instead, but again, that's not what I do for fun.

As a more general response to the bulk of the posts here, I don't mean to try and dissuade anyone from trying it, and certainly not from enjoying it! If you're gonna get raped, you might as well! I wish everyone the best of luck, and have a good time!

Reply #45 Top
Thanks for the continued source of information, even though I might not be checking this post on a daily basis.

Also, thanks Swift Nick for the information on game time cards and invention. Based upon the research I've done, invention only provides you with tech level 2 BPCs which isn't as good as having a tech level 2 BPO for the same item.
Reply #46 Top
So, looks like the opinions have changed, if you know what I mean

Dre Dog: I'm sorry about being a snot about your cussing  

Etrius
Reply #47 Top
Eve online is a great game, Currently the Proud Owner of a Rokh, Scorpian, Drake and countless smaller ships... About that whole developer scandal, BoB won the war long before that stupid scandal, they won when they Destroyed CYVOK's Titan.

Its a worthy game, though alot seem to put more importance on PvP when Mining is very important to the game and Missioning is a good way to make a few bucks... anyways


FOR THE STATE!