Where to Start?

I’ve thought about this question in almost every detail several times now and I’m still a bit uncertain. It’s the first time I’m starting to blog about EVE Online after playing the game for about a year. Which is actually not 100% true. Back in 2003 (or 2004?) this internet spaceship game drew my attention for the first time – an almost instant buy, despite the rather complicated options to pay for the game without a credit card. Back in these days it wasn’t that convenient after all.

I still gave it a try and played the game for a few days but I didn’t really enjoy it and it just left me flat. Thrown into a universe without any real tutorial (I think they weren’t there or I just didn’t notice them)… I remember doing some trading and some mining, even one or two “mining ops”, but that was it. I still kept an eye on EVE but somehow didn’t feel the incentive to join back in paying at least 15 € for one month. Well, it’s not that much money, but still something to think about, if you’re playing another, more traditional MMORPG as well and you don’t want to stop doing so.

Then, almost 7 years later, Steam’s Summer Sale finally paved the way for me to return to New Eden. You can’t go wrong having 51 days to try the game (buddy trial combined with the 30 days applied by the purchased CD key) after paying only 5 € – something I haven’t regretted so far. I got a feeling for it, the tutorials made the start a lot easier and I really loved this “new” game – which I still do. The option to pay the subscription by ISK felt like another nice addition as well, although I haven’t used it yet. I always felt it’s a better idea to invest the virtual money in some more of those internet spaceships.

Having found new interest in the game I faced new challenges, some of which I still struggle with. I did some exploration, I did some mining and I did some fighting. But I’m somehow never sure on what to do next. During that year I learned to pilot many different ships but I never found the time to really specialize in any, except Orca and Loki. I know it’s not enough to just be able to sit in a ship – I’ve spent many weeks to be able to use almost all T2 modules as well – but I was never really happy with one particular ship. I like the possibility to specialize in a particular subset of skills by spending weeks or months of time training them, but it’s always rather hard for me to pass the time waiting for those skills taking that long. Finishing skills is very rewarding most of the time, but seeing the skill queue’s progress bar not moving for days or weeks isn’t that great at all. In fact I really hate it. But enough about skills, don’t want you falling asleep on my first post.

So, where is this going? I’m not really sure. There are different things I’m thinking about right now, including some thoughts about the whole “They’re going to rip us off our shirts to sell us new ones on the NeX store!” drama. I also thought about starting to write some short stories again. I’ve done it in the past, but so far they never took place in space or any science fiction environment. I guess I’ll have to try to replace dwarves with miners and elves with… I’m not really sure yet… NeX customers enjoying their pretty clothes? I’ll try to answer this later on…

Oh, and one more thing to note: This is the first time I’m blogging in English – not my native language – so bear with me in case there are any spelling errors or grammar mistakes. I keep trying. Feel free to leave me a comment in case you’re missing something important, you’re having a special request, you’d just like to show your opinion or you’re having some kind of issue. You can also contact me using EVE’s mail system (using either English or German) – CSPA charges are turned off, so you don’t have to worry about losing your loose cash.