Rat Farmer wrote:I still think it's funny how many people say to go back to WOW or (name random mmo here) because EVE is hardcore and blah, blah, blah.
As I stated earlier, I actually like EVE, I just think that the passive skill point grind is crazy and there will never be a level playing field per se. I paid for 6 months, so IGÇÖll see how I feel when itGÇÖs time for me to re-subscribe, until then IGÇÖll post my thoughts as I feel inclined. So, no, I wonGÇÖt go biomass myself, I wonGÇÖt give you stuff, I wonGÇÖt go hang myself in the closet next to your mother and I wonGÇÖt shut up or play another gameGǪ
Here's how to stop worrying about skills so much. Pick a short term goal (I suggest either a Frigate or a Cruiser[Cruiser's pushing it] and perfect it. I mean everything related to your fit (yes, one or a very small number of fits) to L5 (some stuff can probably slide at 4 [turret specs, the really long gun support skills, AWU, that sort]), and fly it every single day. And lose it. Lose it several times a day. In about 2 months (maybe less), you will have perfect skills for the frigate (and fantastic core and support skills) and you will still be learning things (more slowly now, since you've put all the giant mistakes behind you). While you learn to harness the power of this frigate, you train the next thing (or hop up to BSes for missions/ratting/whatever).
The ideal way to do this is to pick a frigate that's got relatively forgiving fitting requirements so that your first few dozen times around the block are in T1/Low Meta mods and your total fit is ~750k ISK. Then you get someone to sell you a buddy invite (gaining you ~400m) or sell a PLEX, and it's going to take you a LONG time to burn that nest egg.
If you mix up the locations in which you're fighting (one day NPC Null, next Lowsec, next Baiting in HS, etc) you'll get a good taste of the combat mechanics of each area of space as well (so you can decide where you want to live).
Seriously, it takes ~45min of training to have the SP to be a useful member of a small gang (or big fleet), less than a week to have the SP to be a competent soloist, and maybe 2 months to effectively max out a frigate hull.
Just about any subcap can be flown either excellently or perfectly in under a year. The Vet's advantage is a diversity of choices and effective income sources. Vets don't have all that much in direct combat advantage from SP (compared to a focused newbie).