ShahFluffers
Ice Fire Warriors
Snuffed Out
7432
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Posted - 2015.02.21 22:33:32 -
[1] - Quote
This topic comes up so often it is unreal. So I have finally decided to post it here in the hopes that it might clarify some things for newbies.
The Skillpoint system is daunting. Even for a veteran that has been playing since 2009 its design both annoys and pleases me. But if you look at the details of it and its implications, you have to admit to its genius... and how newbie friendly and comprehensive it is compared to other, more traditional, XP systems.
So how does the skillpoint system work?
- All skills cap at level 5. No matter how many years you have played the game, you cannot exceed that limit. And lower tier skills (ex. [Racial] Frigate) are very quick to train relative to more advanced skills.
- (*this is the important one*) Only a limited number of skills affect any one ship, module, weapon system, and specialty at any given time.
Ex1: You are a newbie facing someone with about 20 million SP... but how much of that overall SP is actually combat related? He/she could be a HUGE industrial player with limited combat skills.
Ex2: A veteran player has just trained up the skill Large Hybrid Turret to level 5. That skill in no way affects the skill Small Hybrid Turret and thus the veteran will be no better or worse than before at the frigate level.
- Getting a skill from level 4 to level 5 only adds on an extra 2% here, 5% there (exceptions apply). If you simply train up all the skills within a specialty to level 4 (which takes ~20% of the amount of time it takes to get those skills to level 5), you will find yourself flying at about **80 to 90%** of the effectiveness of a multi-year veteran with those same skills in that specific specialty at level 5.
- Getting a skill to level 5 is supposed to be a painful train. Many players (yes, even veteran ones) opt to avoid doing it and instead train up other skills to level 4 (again, because it's faster).
Example: I personally have the T2 weapon specializations at level 4. That puts me at a 2% disadvantage in damage against someone who has the same skill(s) at level 5 (assuming we are both using the same ship with the same fit)
- Ships and weapons have been balanced against one another.
Example: A battleship can potentially "one-shot" a frigate... but the frigate can fly very fast, making it difficult for the battleship's weapons to hit, especially at very close range... then again, the battleship can deploy drones to deal with the frigate... and the frigate can shoot the drones down... however the battleship might have a Large Energy Neutralizer fitted to nuke the frigate's capacitor power every 24 seconds... in which case the frigate could use a Small Nosferatu that sucks out capacitor from the battleship every 3 seconds... etc. etc.
- High tech equipment (ex. T2, Faction, Officer, etc) will not give a player "I WIN" abilities. It simply gives a player a linear edge at an exponentially higher cost.
Ex1: A basic T1 Armor Adaptive Plating gives ~10% omni-resistance to damage for only 100 thousand ISK... a T2 Armor Adaptive Plating gives ~15% omni resistance to damage for 1 million ISK... a "deadpsace" Armor Adaptive Plating gives ~19% omni resistance to damage for 15 to 20 million ISK.
Ex2: A group of three or four T1-fit frigates that cost about 500 thousand to 1 million ISK CAN kill a faction frigate worth about 50 to 100 million ISK... provided they are using the right mods in the right configuration and know what they are doing.
https://zkillboard.com/kill/39793460/ (Condors caught me and ground me down... I only had time to kill one of them)
https://zkillboard.com/kill/38239838/ (all the Breechers in this KM were T1 fit... I could only kill two of them before being nuked)
http://ifw.killmail.org/?a=kill_related&kll_id=27040341 (about ~20 Thrashers (T1 Destroyer) warped on top of my groups' 7-man Confessor (T3 Destroyer) gang... we eventually killed all the Thrashers, but not before losing 3 Confessors. While my group may have won, we lost WAY more ISK than the Thrasher gang did).
What does this all mean?
- Having more skillpoints is not the "end all, be all" point of the game and there is more to most activities than "get enough skillpoints, open window, click, press F1- F9."
There are a plethora of factors that can decide success or failure and many of them are purely abstract in nature (see: planning, having friends, making deals, appearing weaker/stronger than you really are, psychological warfare, gathering intel, etc).
- Part of the idea behind the current SP system is that you cannot "powergrind" to success. You MUST learn how to utilize what you have first... which requires you to use your head and be creative.
This helps you later on when you can finally use "better" ships/equipment... because you have hopefully familiarized yourself with the underlying mechanics that most Tech 1 ships/equipment share with Tech 2/3/Faction ships/equipment.
Example: you may not be able to pilot that sexy Interceptor right away... but that doesn't mean you can't slap together a super fast frigate that does something similar.
- Once you have your "universal" core and support skills near or at maximum (which takes about 2 or 3 months of semi-focused training) the gap between you and an older player begins to narrow quite significantly. You can find these skills in the "Engineering" section of your character skillsheet.
- Just because you are limited in what you can do (as a newbie) it does not mean that your contribution to a team is meaningless and/or without weight.
Being a "tackler" or cheapo Ewar-support in PvP might indeed be suicide if you have limited skills and knowledge... but even half-success can mean the difference between catching or losing a target... everyone escaping a bad situation or dying in a fire.
Change isn't bad, but it isn't always good. Sometimes, the oldest and most simple of things can be the most elegant and effective.
"How did you veterans start?"
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ShahFluffers
Ice Fire Warriors
Snuffed Out
7433
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Posted - 2015.02.21 22:39:37 -
[2] - Quote
Final point:
EVE is more of a "process game" where mentality counts FAR MORE the "results" of your activities.
The skillpoint system enforces this paradigm by requiring patience and "out-of-the-box" thinking to compensate for lacking skills. Teaming up with others is often the easiest way to do this... but there is always another way. You just have to find it.
This way of thinking also helps later on. Because, speaking as a veteran, there is always a "bigger fish" that will curbstomp you using the same tactics you used against someone else.
Change isn't bad, but it isn't always good. Sometimes, the oldest and most simple of things can be the most elegant and effective.
"How did you veterans start?"
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