Last week, I had the opportunity to spend some time with two members of the CCP studio, Swift/Peter and Palligretar. Like perhaps some of you, I have always been intrigued by EVE Online, and a little intimidated too. The longevity of the game, but also the epic dimension of the space MMO are impressive. So, I never really dared to start, even if I didn't want to. A chance ! It is exactly for my profile that the studio worked on a tutorial to better integrate beginners!
To quickly locate the universe, know that we are in a distant future, in which the discovery of wormholes launched humanity into a new space era, resulting in the creation of different empires, whose history stretches already over hundreds of thousands of years.
The creation of the character goes through the selection of a race, among four available. Unless you plan on playing RP, this doesn't have much of an impact, other than how the ships look. Between Minmatar, Caldari, Amarr and Gallente, my guide chooses the last option. Then comes the choice of lineage, which this time impacts the appearance of the character. A random avatar is proposed, fortunately customizable because our first choice is a bit scary! We have at our disposal all the usual options of such a tool, at the height of recent games, from haircut to eye color, but also morphology, clothes, piercings, tattoos... ..
As nothing can happen calmly in EVE Online, the tutorial immediately puts you in the mood. After a big explosion, our character finds himself drifting in a capsule. Fortunately, an AI comes to our rescue. Aura is there to explain the basic mechanics, trying to lighten the situation up, albeit a little dramatic, with offbeat humor. Things will improve once aboard a ship worthy of the name, then soon after with the arrival of Commander Balin Ferrus.
One of the first objectives of this tutorial is to give the opportunity to use the basic commands of your ship, such as setting a course towards a target, before going into orbit, but also how to fire or fly in formation. This is also an opportunity to use the interface to become familiar with the game systems, such as installing modules to customize your ship, managing your inventory, buying skill books, learning new skills through career paths, injecting skill points to accelerate learning...
Death comes fast, inevitable. Fortunately, for a capsuleer like our character, this is not the end of the game. As soon as the deceased envelope, a new clone recovers the knowledge of its predecessor, to set out again in a new adventure. Indeed, during a death in EVE Online, players only lose what is in their ship, it has no impact on progression. And, at worst, a corvette is still available at the spaceport, if all was lost in space.
This revival marks the end of the tutorial, which nevertheless continues in the Agency, where career agents are present to give new instructions in the beginning of a career. Four main axes are proposed: entrepreneurship, industry, combat or exploration. With different careers for each and a set of recommended skills to get off to a good start in future activities. Of course, from there, it is up to each player to make their place in the universe. So yes, the game was released in 2003, and some have been playing it for 20 years, unsurprisingly possessing knowledge and possessions that a new player can only dream of. However, my guides insist on balancing in place, which gives room to all players, even for new versus old. And the community will do everything possible to welcome the new ones. The game being free-to-play, you no longer have any reason not to at least try, that's what I did anyway (even if I haven't gone far beyond the tutorial yet )! Go to the official website, or Steam, to install the game.
Finally, if you are a fan of Doctor Who, know that the game offers a cross-over with the famous series until Tuesday, February 1.
