Hi, Welcome to my Blog. My
name is Sudharsan RaviKumar. I'm going
start off with this blog by reviewing and at the same time covering important
aspects of one of my all time favorite MMO named EVE ONLINE by CCP game studios. This is
not a biased review, just a common viewpoint preview from a casual
gamer. The motive of this Blog is to make new people try the game and also
understand about the various things you can do in the game. The goal of this blog is to help new people try the game. I hope you enjoy my preview.
Have you ever played a game that gave you a certain scintillating experience? Like everything you see on the screen is awesome and will be brilliant? The
answer is “Yes” for me as I’ve played two games like that. One is Fallout 3 (SOLO
RPG game for pc and consoles developed by Bethesda game studios) and the other
is EVE ONLINE. Fallout 3 is my all time favorite solo RPG because of its flabbergasting
post-apocalyptic atmosphere and various solo RPG elements. Similarly, EVE
ONLINE is a massive multiplayer online role playing game developed by CCP games
in 2003, where everything happens in an open and persistent Universe. There are
plenty of activities in the game which players can engage themselves into and find it very rewarding. The
bright universe and its subordinate contents totally take your breath away, keeping you allured to the game for longer periods of time in your life.
There are more than 5,000 solar
systems connected to each other in the form of star gates, which the player is
free to explore. To travel around these systems, the player must use the “Star gates”.
The systems are classified into High security space, Low sec and Null sec space.
There are certain limitations in each of these levels of space. Certain systems
can contain a single or multiple stations where players can dock up with their
ship and use services.Stations already exist in NPC systems, but can also be built by players themselves in sovereign space. We will talk more about that later.
As a new player creates an
account and starts off with the game, he/she is born in a Rookie High sec system, at
a station depending on the race he/she chooses in the character creation screen.
There are four major races named Amarr, Gallente, Caldari and Minmatar. Each race's ships give specific bonuses. For instance, Amarr ships use laser turrets,
Gallente are specialized in drones and Hybrid turrets , Caldari favor missiles
and Minmatar uses projectile turrets. The player can start the game by doing
career agent missions where he/she is offered some pocket change and free skill
books to start the game with. Skill points are the most important aspect of the
game. We will talk about that in a bit
The game offers you lofty
amount of ships to fly. Each ship from different race serves an exemplary
purpose. For instance, there are ships used to commence combat , ships to carry
goods around different solar systems (They are referred to as Industrials), ships to observe your target in an invisible manner (covert- ops), ships to
mine asteroid belts and finally capital ships that are used for combat,
Freighting and support. To be more precise, the level of ships starts from
Rookie ships, frigates, Destroyers, Cruisers, Battle Cruisers, Battleships,
Carriers, Dreadnoughts,Super carriers and finally the Titan ship. There are also
ships for industrial purposes like Industrials, mining frigate,mining barges,
Exhumers, Industrial command ships, Freighters and Capital industrial ship. As
told already, Each level of these ships serves a particular purpose in the
game. As you start flying higher levels of ships, you will experience a
decrease in agility and maneuvering but that would be compensated by their
abilities.
Ships are built from minerals that are extracted from the ores mined by mining ships in asteroid belts. Players can sell the ores/minerals to make ISK or simply build their own ships. We can buy modules from the market that are constructed from moon mining minerals and other stuff which can be fitted to these ships. A ship has high slots, medium slots, low slots and then rig slots. Different types of modules can be fitted onto these slots. The market in the game is player controlled. This means that prices for buying and selling of ships, modules and other items are on the hands of the players. Remember, Each and every station has a market and items can be sold and bought in any of the stations. There are 5 major systems in the game with stations that serves as common trade hub. A system named “Jita” being the most important trade hub. . A piece of advice for newbies “Don’t get scammed. If you see something for cheap or a deal (a contract) in a trade hub system that seems profitable, then it’s definitely a scam”.
Ships are built from minerals that are extracted from the ores mined by mining ships in asteroid belts. Players can sell the ores/minerals to make ISK or simply build their own ships. We can buy modules from the market that are constructed from moon mining minerals and other stuff which can be fitted to these ships. A ship has high slots, medium slots, low slots and then rig slots. Different types of modules can be fitted onto these slots. The market in the game is player controlled. This means that prices for buying and selling of ships, modules and other items are on the hands of the players. Remember, Each and every station has a market and items can be sold and bought in any of the stations. There are 5 major systems in the game with stations that serves as common trade hub. A system named “Jita” being the most important trade hub. . A piece of advice for newbies “Don’t get scammed. If you see something for cheap or a deal (a contract) in a trade hub system that seems profitable, then it’s definitely a scam”.
Do not come up with the wrong
assumption that as a new player you can get your hands into all of these ships.
I’m sorry but yes, your ability to fly ships of different type from each race
depends on your fulfillment of the required skills to pilot it. If you do not
have the required skills for a ship, Then you cannot fly that. For instance to
fly an amarr cruiser, you would require amarr Frigate skill to level 3, and
amarr destroyer skill to level 3 and then amarr cruiser to level 1. Skill books can be purchased off from the market from NPC’s
and then injected onto the player to commence training.
Skill points are the most important aspect of the game. The new player starts off with 5000 skill points. Skills take a set amount of time to train to each level. There are 5 levels in a skill where each level offers a bonus to a common parameter that affects a trait. However, there are implants available in the market that the player can "plug in" to reduce the training time of skills. EVE ONLINE is all about having skills and an old player can fly ships that he had already trained for. I regret to say this, if you’re a new player then you will limited to what you can do in the universe. As you commence on training more skills further, the limitation decreases. Certain skills takes weeks or even months to train. The new player must be focused on the list of ships he prefers to train for within due amount of time. So patience is the key to success in EVE. Those who wait shall earn the right bread.
Skill points are the most important aspect of the game. The new player starts off with 5000 skill points. Skills take a set amount of time to train to each level. There are 5 levels in a skill where each level offers a bonus to a common parameter that affects a trait. However, there are implants available in the market that the player can "plug in" to reduce the training time of skills. EVE ONLINE is all about having skills and an old player can fly ships that he had already trained for. I regret to say this, if you’re a new player then you will limited to what you can do in the universe. As you commence on training more skills further, the limitation decreases. Certain skills takes weeks or even months to train. The new player must be focused on the list of ships he prefers to train for within due amount of time. So patience is the key to success in EVE. Those who wait shall earn the right bread.
‘ISK’ short form of
Interstellar Credits is the in game currency in EVE. With ISK you can buy ships
,modules, and other commodities or services in the game. There are different ways to make ISK from the
game depending on how far you are prepared to take risk. The game strictly
adheres to the rule, RISK=REWARD. New players can make considerable amount of ISK
in high sec systems. They can visit or live in low/Null space to make a lot of
money which comes with a risk from other player trying to disrupt what you’re
doing by attacking your ship. But, other players cannot attack your ship in
high space as it is protected by a set of NPC’s named CONCORD. Any players
aggressing others in highsec will be immediately terminated by CONCORD Force.
There are different set of
activities to make ISK. With the common PVE aspects of the game, a player can run missions, mine, haul goods, manipulate the market,run
incursions, explore signatures in space, moon mine , indulge in planetary
interaction and run DED sites to make isk. The profitability of these
activities depends on the system security level. Even one can profit from PVP ,
that is by looting your opponents wreck and salvaging it to recover modules
that survived during the destruction of that vessel. The player gets lucky if any
expensive module that is fitted drops.
PVP is the heart of EVE. PVP can
be 1 vs 1 (or) 1 VS many (or) Many VS Many depending upon the size of the
corporations/Alliance involved in the battles. A player can join a corporation
and the key to win most PVP battles is effective communication between your
friends and reliable intel about the surrounding space. With the right amount
of ships and effective modules fitted on those ships, a group can win a PVP
battle efficiently. It all breaks down from the experience. One cannot always
indulge in PVE activities and restrain from PVPing as it will take away the
original feel of the game and sadly it starts wearing away.
Large alliances consist of a lot of corporations within them. These corporations work as allies and engage their members into common activities towards PVP and PVE. In EVE, there are several systems without stations that can be claimed as sovereign space by players. These alliances can construct stations and claim ownership of that system. Though building a station can be costly and painful, as it takes more than 24 hours to erect them and put it online for use, it can be worth it for the sense of a home and point of commerce. The rest of the systems are controlled by racial NPCs. This is just an example of how one of the many different stations looks.
Wormholes are a totally new
world within EVE. In wormholes, players can find a common NPC named sleepers. A
wormhole’s security status is similar to null sec. Wormhole are dynamic space
which means that the exit of WH changes everytime from 24-30 hrs.That is, a
wormhole can be spawned in a normal
solar system for a temporary period of time (24-30hrs) and players are free to
scan down the wormhole and access it. Wormholes may spawn in any level of solar
system and also in other wormholes too. So, a player must be very careful in a
wormhole as the Ddetails about players in the Local is not visible. A player
must chat in local initially to reveal that he is existing in the space. Often, wormhole entrances and exits are camped by players to kill passing vessels.
Wormholes are classified from class 1 to class 6. Where each class inflicts
some limitations and determines the difficulty amount of sleeper sites from
where valuable items can be recovered from the sleeper wreck. Even certain
wormholes have major effects that affect the attributes of the ship. A player or a corporation can live in a
Wormhole by anchoring a POS (Player owned structure) as there are no stations
in a Wormhole and they cannot be constructed as sovereignty cannot be claimed
in wormhole space. Players can colonize on planets to recover minerals that can
be sold in market to make ISK or use them as a fuel for their POS. This feature
is called Planetary Interaction. It can be done in other levels of space too.
A deviation from the
characteristic of a normal Wormhole is the new “thera” space that is
introduced by CCP in the 2015 patch. In thera space, players can find stations
constructed by NPCs to dock at and a lot of signatures to scan down comprising
lot of exits/entrances.
Certain battles can be
costly in eve as they can be equated to Real life currency. This is possible
with the introduction of an item called as “PLEX”. A Plex can be used
to add 30 days game time to an account or activate multiple character training
(An account can have 3 characters in it) or to resculpt your character’s
appearance or It can be simply sold in the market to make ISK. CCP prices a
plex for 20$ currently and the present value of a plex is around 800 millions.
There are battles in eve that results in a great loss of ISK. However instead
of buying a plex for $ or ISK, players can choose to subscribe to EVE ONLINE
for a specific period of time from EVE online website.
There are particular losses
in the game that affect people more emotionally and makes them to RAGE QUIT!.
Yes, for instance a Titan costs around 100-110 billion ISK. A player owning a
titan without any insurance from his corp/alliance becomes vulnerable to fact
that recovering himself from the loss of the titan can be very tedious. Getting
ganked constantly by pirates also contribute to that fact. But one can avoid
that by flying carefully and proper fitted in dangerous parts of the space.
Also a corporation is vulnerable to thefts and heists if they entrust important
responsibilities and assign roles to a notorious pilot. As, the pilot has
access to an expensive content worth stealing. So corporations can avoid these
anomalies by giving roles to the right person.
The game is very consistent
and constantly updated by CCP during every patches. The game manages to adhere
to the present generation graphics. As mentioned already, it is improved upon
every patch. This keeps all the players very much engaged with the game and
still manages to attract new players. The game is completely coded in brilliant
python/MySQL and C++ is used in some parts. I do not prefer to give a rating
for the game. I hope you enjoy your
first experience. Thanks for reading my preview.
Click on the below link for
free 21 day trial, if you wish to try eve.
https://secure.eveonline.com/trial/?invc=a40b98ac-a5fa-4e02-9fa8-c569d3e645b6&action=buddy
If you wish to contact me in
game, My in game name is “Sudharsan” and my email id is supersudh@gmail.com
