I'm nearing a goal I created for my third account. By the end of the month I should have two alts with skills that can supplement my main accounts. They'll be able to fly blockade runners, copy and research blueprints effectively, and even run planetary interaction colonies in low sec. Oh, and one of them has good refining skills if I ever work on the standings with that pilot. Once I get the skills the way I want I plan on transferring the characters to my main accounts.
Does that mean I'm scaling back? I probably should with all the new games coming out with a subscription model, but that means having sense. Besides, I just got rid of my satellite TV service so I actually have money in my budget for an extra game account or two. So what's a carebear do with what is basically a fresh account? Would you believe PvP?
That's right, once I finish up with the carebear pilots I'm going to create a PvP one. By creating a brand new character this risk-adverse player can fly around with a low cost clone in low cost ships. In the past I've concentrated in flying Minmatar ships. Now I'm thinking of creating a pilot specializing in cruisers and below. I'd like to first concentrate on frigates of all races, get those skills up to speed, then move on to destroyers and then finally cruisers. If my plans work out, I can easily afford to support this type of PvP character.
The next question is where do I go to PvP? I don't want to go out and start off doing solo PvP, especially with a character with less than 1 million skill points. But the problem with joining a corp is that I'll have less than 1 million skill points. I'm an obvious spy, right? Okay, I'd awox a corp full of botters in a second and I think everyone knows that. But this is EVE and I have options.
EVE University - I started playing EVE by joining EVE University under Morning Maniac and rejoining with a new character to look at all the changes is an intriguing possibility. The fact that they base out of Metropolis means I can easily resupply my character if needed. Also, they seem to base out of Dudreda in low sec and I could probably pick up some pointers on low sec living.
RvB - At one point joining the unending war between Red Federation and Blue Republic with an alt was something everyone wanted to experience. I hear they wage war in The Forge and don't attack each other elsewhere unless arranged. Definitely an option to consider.
Brave Newbies - I have to say Brave Newbies seems like the cure to a fear of death in EVE. They have a lot of fun and don't mind dying in the process. With a brand new pilot and barely any experience with PvP I'd probably fit right in.
Faction Warfare - I hear a new player can get rich fairly quickly. This is the most carebear of the options, but with actual goals in the form of capturing systems this may prove the best fit for me.
So I have options to consider, even as a "new" player. Of course, I may wind up finding something completely different as I have about 4 weeks before I start with my plan. But making a plan in EVE is usually a good thing so I'm going to start a little early.
Where you go really depends on what you are looking for.
ReplyDeleteI'd avoid Eve Uni. They are good for certain things but have a rep for being risk adverse in PvP.
RvB will get you PvP but in a very shallow sense. Its good, but not with a lot of depth. For me it ran out of interest quickly.
Brave Newbies will give you more depth but you will die a lot more as you are facing a lot of skill dangerous and unscrupulous people who like to pop them at home.
Faction warfare will give you the chance for more depth once you connect with the organized militia leading corps and integrate into the machine. Then you can get small scale action or join up with the larger fleets with more setpiece activities.
I would reccommend for you RvB to start and get used to the adrenaline rush :) But if you want to try FW, I know people in Gallente militia that can help you out :)
OK covering your options...
ReplyDelete1) Eve Uni. A couple of years ago, I would probably have said to completely skip them, but things have changed over there somewhat. They're good for the formal teaching, maybe not as good for the practical side. There's more restrictions on what you can do whilst in the Uni. There's nothing stopping you from starting out at the Uni and moving on once you feel you're getting nothing from them any more. Note that getting in Eve Uni with a history is probably harder than as a clean character.
2) RvB. We mainly wage war around The Forge, but you can be shot anywhere - people do get shot running missions in blingy ships. As we don't dock up during wars we're a popular target for decs especially with station campers. RvB (with a few minor exceptions) don't care about your history so you can join and leave at will. If you decide you want to go roam null-sec and shoot people whilst in RvB nobody will care. You can learn about PvP in RvB by paying attention and asking the right questions, remember though that RvB isn't officially a teaching organisation so you're not going to be sppon-fed.
3) BNI. I've not been involved with BNI, so a little harder for me to judge. Looking in from the outide, things seem to be even more jump-in-and-go than RvB. There's some support for people new to PvP and when I've ran into them to shoot them they have a good attitude. They operate in low-sec and do shoot anybody, so you will go flashy (not neccessarily a problem).
4) FW. The biggest problem with getting involved with FW seriously is that it can be quite hard to break into the core of a particular faction. The decent fleets tend to be closed to new/unknown players. In this aspect it's probably no different to trying to get into a nullsec alliance. So in the short-term you're not going to be taking part in the fights for terrority control etc unless you get a leg-up into one of the larger groups. This may also mean that you're more on your own as far as learning goes. FW has the big advantage that it's not purely an ISK sink - you can earn LP whilst in FW to help cover costs.
There's other options of course.
There are a few smaller groups in low-sec that will take on relatively new pilots - BRRC is the first that comes to mind.
Also, don't rule out nullsec. Most obviously you can join either Test or Goons if you're a member of their out-of-game communities. Both have a good reputation for looking after their noobs (even if they have bad reps otherwise.)
Black Rebel Rifter Club / Black Dragon Fighting Society is a recommendation I'll echo if you're looking for something slighty smaller then the HUGE organisations already mentioned. They are also extremely casual and have zero tolerance for killboard elitism which is rare in PvP corporations. ( http://evechatter.com/t/R1DER/ )
DeleteFW go for Noob Mercs [PHAIL] Long history, no min SP requirements, only a desire to learn. They maintain a corp fitting list of stupidly cheap and effective low sp ships, and have a JF service that will haul your stuff into their home station for 10m a load. They have veteran pilot support from the Monkeys with Guns. alliance of which they are a part. They're pretty accident prone, but that goes with the roles they play in gangs, usually with the up close snuggle duty. They call themselves Gallente Privateers, as they fly for Gal Mil but pirate just as much as they spin buttons.
ReplyDeleteStay Frosty. We know you're not a spai - and we've already got 2 or 3 of the EvE bloggers, so why not come and see? We're no stress, fly when you want, and have some great teachers. One mil SP? Pfft - we've got days old pilots who've joined.
ReplyDeleteWhaddya got ta lose? Your pod? =Þ
I'll recommend FW as well. Mainly because in lowsec gate guns can make it hard to get a fight in a frig/dessie, and FW gives you a long list of war targets. If you do FW definitely join a corp, people from the general militia aren't generally trusted, and most fleets aren't made public (at least in TLF, I can't speak for the other militias). Plenty of corps will be happy to take a low sp character though - just be straightforward. A character that's a few weeks old going straight into fw looks like a farming alt. The alt thing isn't a problem as much as the farmer part, so just say straight away that it's an alt you made to try pvp and you should be fine. We're not worried about spies. It's FW, everyone's doing the same thing in the same ships, there's not a whole lot to spy on.
ReplyDeleteGoing by the fights we have against e-uni, I wouldn't recommend them if you really want to learn how to fight in a frigate. Aside from the fact that we regularly clean their clocks, half of small scale pvp is creating a fight on your terms, and you don't learn that jumping gate to gate in a blob until you run into a pirate gang. RVB is probably a little better, but it seems to me that the whole "we're all really friends who just want gudfites" thing takes something out of it. If lowsec is knife fights in dark alleys, RvB is laser tag.
If you want to try E-UNI, or have any questions, send me an evemail.
ReplyDelete