Boukharine
Minmatar
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Posted - 2006.10.18 16:50:00 -
[1]
As a first time player , I landed in an already shaped virtual world - battleships and cargo haulers were flying around just outside of the school station I undocked from. I tried to explore the universe step by step , first the immediate surrounding systems (like the crowded hub of Rens) , then another region to meet friends from the starter corporation I was to be part of. Then I grew more daring and wandered in low sec , to see what was so terrible about it. I witnessed gatecamps , and went through them unscathed thanks to battleship-totting pirates not being interested in downing small frigates (not an absolute rule as I found out later)
I explored the very edge of empire space with my friends , and we decided it still wasn't dangerous enough - so we set our course for true lawless 0.0 space. There , we had our first hostile encounter - a veteran pirate in an elite interceptor split us apart as we were warping to each other , and took us out one by one. He claimed we had a chance had we attacked him together. I was the last to be podkilled after a brief explanation of why a 10 million ransom wasn't worth paying or even affordable at all for a week old newbie 
Still , it didn't prevent me from exploring wild lands further (at the cost of a few more podkills at the hands of gatekeepers , mostly) and I even managed to dock to the ISS Tycho station , far away from home.
My point ? Newbies can adapt , the game isn't too hard for them. Mining in high sec is boring , but a newbie has nothing to lose mining in low sec (only problem is when moving the ore to sell it higher somewhere else) even though pirates will kill any kind of ship thinking they can get lucky with ransoms
High sec belt ratting is random with the sheer amount of players passing by , but rats are plenty in low sec. I was surprised by the ease a gang of frigates can down "deadly" NPCs (mostly a matter of tracking speed) , although it is not a safe job by any means.
The NBSI policy most alliances have in use in claimed territory makes it harder to explore the world , but not impossible. I suppose newbie explorers have to learn evasion techniques from alt spies.
A big advantage newbies have now is player charity - not just items trade anymore , one can have millions (or billions ?) without even asking (because begging is not correct ) so it makes the start even easier. One can lose dozens of frigates without worrying about his balance.
The one thing I would like to see changed with starting skills is how they are distributed - level II's have little to no influence on the player's path. It would be better in my opinion to have just 1 or 2 level V skills , and the very basic (gunnery , mining , frigate) skills at level I. Such a specialization would allow trialers to have a glimpse of advanced Eve gameplay by having access to cloaking , cruisers or blueprint research before the end.
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