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Saturday, March 21, 2009

Box

Well I got the box. I must say the price compared to other games is quite excellent, especially with the time cards included. The bummer of course is that to get the shuttle you need to start a new account (sneaky CCP, sneaky). I predict this will lead to a slight bump in population that will settle over time in about 1-3 months and the normal growth rate will resume.

On the flip side I decided that since I created a new character I would see what the new player experience is like. Seems to be the in thing at the moment.

Ok, so it starts you in with a quick tutorial that is designed to get you moving. So far not so bad. Then it directs you to a station with 3 agents who each give you a 10 part mission that loads you down with lootz and the missing skills they didn't give you this time round.

I decided for a change of pace to try out the Amarr side of the pond. After rolling myself up a Khanid character, I set out upon my jaded odyssey through the new player experience of EVE. My god the rookie chat! Toxic soup.

I just about immediately retreated to corp chat. That at least was survivable. After that numbing experience, I went thru the initial tutorial missions (that use the noob ship). So far not a big difference. Then onto the station indicated with the 3 agents and their career opportunities.

Holy cow! Newbies have no idea what they missed. By the end of the 10 mission combat path I owned 2 ships and had gotten rid of my noob ship and was a 1mil is up and with plenty of lootz. By the end of the 2nd I had a hauler, 1.6mil and the remains of a bpc good for 4 more mining vessels as well as my previous ships...

At one point I took the opportunity to get a close up shot of a Punisher and the intricate scroll work on it's outer hull. Something I was not usually used to seeing up close (trying to shred with autocannons from 1km away, yes, but not admire up close). It realy is quite a pretty little ship.
Punisher up close

I still have the 3rd path to do before I head on to the epic mission arc. But so far it's been worth doing if only for the isk you get. Looks like I'll be getting out of the tutorial with plenty in the way of ships, skillbooks and iskies.

Of course I try to "help" my fellow newbies. Directing those who want imediate action to the nearest low sec system (must find out how the pirates like the flood of newbies the box set has brought). And I have observed the following classic statement:

"This game is too complex, I'm heading back to WoW, k, tks, bai"

o.O

You'd think word would have gotten around by now, but it seems not. On one hand, I realize that we need more newbies to grow, on the other hand... there is such a thing as newbies we don't need.

I'll be getting into the epic mission arc tomorrow. I'll let you know how it all turns out.

4 comments:

Benoit CozmikR5 Gauthier said...

The typical WoW "gamer" (sorry, in my book you're not one) probably got the game because he saw the add somewhere on the weeb and said "oh cool, a space MMO!" thinking he can get in there and rat and quest and level up just like in every other average-joe MMO. Shoulda done some research.

Maybe I should get into low-sec and help with the "screening" process :))

Anonymous said...

I too just started an Amarr alt. It's quite different from just last June when I first started playing and made my main. Seems much more...accessable. I didn't really know what I was doing creating my orginal char and ended up with leadership V and Corp mangement V when all I wanted to shoot stuff...

I have to say, the detailed scrolls on the punisher and executioner are things I have never really noticed before I actually got in one. Very pretty. Now I have yet another reason to cross train my main for Amarr ships, despite him being a missile using, sheild tanking, Caldari

. said...

Haven't really looked myself at this new player experience bit but how useful do you think this speed training thing could be? For instance, finally being able to utilize the 2 often empty slots many players have on each of their accounts, say a hauler alt or a cyno alt.

Letrange said...

Not a horrible idea since it stings less till you hit 1.6mil but it's still time taken away from your main. You'll really want to plan out those 1.6mil SP carefully to get the most bang for your buck (literally since you're effectively paying cash for training time).