Getting Started In New Eden - Getting Account(s)

So, you have decided to start your adventure in New Eden. This post will try to give you a head start to becoming a capsuleer in EVE Online.

First of all: Do not create an account before having read through this post, or you may potentially miss out on some benefits.

An important fact you should know is that a lot of players use more than one EVE account. This is okay within the Game Rules and accepted by CCP, even so far that they support it via "The Power of Two"- program. You can also run multiple instances of EVE Online at the same time, as long as they are not Trial accounts. Having more than one account makes a lot of tasks in EVE Online a lot easier. The author of this post himself is using 5 accounts, all of them which are paid via the In-game money they produce. So, my first advice for a beginner in EVE is: Get two accounts from the start. I'll describe how to save money and time setting this up later in this post.

Here are some reasons why two accounts are good for beginners, there are a lot more uses for multiple accounts once you get deeper into the game, and these will be covered in later posts. For now, the following ones are most prominent:

1) You can create a neutral "Trade Alt" in one of the In-game Trade Hubs. These are places where a lot of players gather to buy and sell their products. Having a permanent Character stationed there will make it easier for you to cheaply acquire the items you will need for your main characters. A lot of people create multiple of these when actively earning money by trading.

2) You can create a hauling character that moves your items while leaving your main characters in their home bases. This makes logistics easier and gives you a support line to and from your chosen home system.

3) You can focus training on your main (initial) character while off- shoring your support skills onto the other account.

For now, we will call one account our "main", and the other "support".

Step 1) Creating your first account (Main Account)

Okay, so how should you create your accounts? First, you will want to have a buddy referal account link like this one (Note, only use this for your first account!):

Referral Link for EVE Online

If you upgrade a referred account to a normal account the Referrer gets a 30 day game time reward, while you get an extended Trial of 21 days instead of 14. Feel free to use another referrer, it doesn't matter, the link is here for your convenience. I'm happy if you use mine, of course. ;)

After creating your account, installing the Client and successfully logging in, it's time to create a character. The type of character you generate is entirely up to you, as every character can learn to do anything in the game. Take care when choosing a name, as it can't be changed later on. I'll assume this is your main character, so take your time creating it.

(If you are unsure whether EVE is for you, you can do the following step later in your trial period. I do recommend doing it right away, though).

Step 2) Upgrading from Trial to normal account

This step can be done in a couple of different ways, I'll explain to you the one to do if you do not have a trustworthy In- Game friend or access to two computers:

It's time to buy two 30 day GTC to upgrade your account (Don't buy the 60 day version unless you have access to two computers or a friend helping). There are several places you can buy GTC for EVE Online, one of them is BattleClinic (Again, this is a Referral Link, thanks for using it):

What we want to do now is exchange the GTC you get into PLEX. You can do this in-game by pressing Escape and then using the Convert ETC button on the lower left:

After entering  your code a PLEX will be placed in your item hangar in the station you are in. You can then right click it to add it to your account. As an alternative you can also log in to the Account Management website and enter your key there. I prefer the PLEX method, though. One very, very, very important detail about PLEX: NEVER, EVER PLACE THEM IN A SHIP HANGAR. NEVER. There is absolutely no reason to do so. Plex can be traded with contracts and activated from anywhere using the Assets window. So there is no reason whatsoever to put them into the danger of a ship cargo hold.

Now that your account is upgraded and 30 days added, you have 51 days until you need to buy a GTC again for this account. This is usually enough time to get a basic income for the account running and having it pay for itself.

Step 3) Inviting yourself for a second account (Support Account)

It's time to invite yourself for a second account. Head to the EVE Account Management website and log in. On the top right you can find a button labelled "Buddy program".  Enter your Email address and send yourself an invite or simply use your Public Invite Link to create your second account. Make sure you logged out your main account before using the Link to avoid any issues.

Personally, I advise to first create a Trading Alt character. This is a character that will spend his entire life sitting in a Trade Hub Station and buying/selling stuff, so log in to your Support account, create a character and redeem your second GTC bought above. This will give your main account additional 30 days of game time, and upgrade your Support account to full. You can now log into both accounts from the same computer by simply starting a second instance of EVE Online.

You now have two accounts set up, your "Main" with 21(Trial) + 30(GTC) + 30(Reward) = 81 days, and "Support" with 51 days of game time. That's plenty of time to explore EVE Online and get yourself an income source to never have to pay for EVE again.

You have now successfully created two accounts in EVE Online. If you ever need more accounts, simply repeat Step 3 as often as needed.

Step 4) What next?

Depending on your plan, the coming steps might differ, but I strongly recommend playing through the Tutorial on your Main account. This will teach you the basics of the game and reward you with some initial skills.

Also, once you were taught how to navigate in space it's time to log into your Support account and fly him to a Trade Hub. I usually do not do the Tutorial on my Support characters. I suggest moving your first Trade Alt to Jita, which is the biggest Hub with most players active. Just fly him to "Jita IV - Moon 4 Caldari Navy Assembly Plant" and log out there. We will be using this character later on, but for now just get him there.

Before you start EVE Online: Starting with a plan

So you want to start out in EVE Online. One hint I can give you right away: Read through this post and wait until the follow up post to this one is online. It will give you a good head start to playing EVE as a beginner, and the content and links in this post will keep you reading for a while.

Let's talk about what people starting EVE should get into. First of all, here's a very extensive guide to download, featuring almost all aspects of New Eden. It's very large, and as a beginner you might not understand everything right away, but it's a an excellent reference guide for later reading.

ISK - THE GUIDE

Next, here is a a great video by Scott Manley  about 10 things to know before you start playing. It is a bit dated so some details are off, but covers the most basics. If you want to take up his offer on a buddy invite feel free to do so, but read the follow up post to this before you activate it to get ahead of others. I will also provide a link to get a buddy invite in that post.

Next, it's time to decide your fate in New Eden. Have a look at this:

(WARNING: HUGE PICTURE!)

This is a very broad picture of your possible career paths in EVE Online. They are only approximations, since you are not committed to any path per se. Because of EVEs Skill system, you can cross- train on any of these paths or go off them at any point. I've just linked this picture to show you how many possibilities there are for you to chose from. Sit back and browse through that picture again. How would you see yourself? A pirate? An industrialist? A miner?
Or maybe a Mining Pirate Corporation Leader of a huge Empire? For now, take your time thinking about this. Having a first idea of what you want to become sets the cornerstones of your future plans. Remember, you can always change your plan, but it's important to have one. We'll come back to this picture again and again over the course of the following posts.

If above picture looks complicated to you, don't worry. You can take on EVE in small steps, one at a time, and be perfectly fine. Once you understand the base mechanics, things get easier and a natural progression to more complex topics sets in.

Finally, there are some Tools you might want to download and look at:

AURA for Android

or 

iClone for IOS

AURA and iClone are character organization tool for Android and iOS respectively, allowing you to look at your EVE characters skills, items and status on your mobile device. I highly recommend using one of these if you have a smartphone. Detailed setup will be covered in a future post.

For your Desktop there is EVEMon for Windows/Mac and GTKEveMon for Linux distribution.

All these tools use an API Key to get access to In- game information of your characters. You can get one through your Account management. Be careful when creating and sharing these keys because they can reveal a lot of information about your accounts. A proper post of API Key management will follow.

For now, this post should cover you with all the basics to get you up to speed with theory in EVE. Tomorrows post will cover actually creating an account setup and getting into your first ship.

Future posts will then start with some basic starter professions: Missions, Mining, Trading, Hauling and becoming a Pirate.

EVE Manager - A Blog about EVE and Internet Space Pixel Adventures

Hello, and welcome to my new Blog, where I will cover beginner posts for new EVE Online players. Later on I will also cover more advanced topics to show you many of the options and features EVE Online can provide you with, but most of these will be covered on my partner Blog, Foo's Eve Musings .

For now, let's look at what EVE Online is, and some common perceptions of the game. First of all, EVE Online is a Space MMO, and it's history and setting are best portrayed by this trailer:

EVE Online, together with DUST 514, plays in one single Universe, aka "The

Sandbox". This makes EVE Online unique in that you play together with all other players. There are no "instances" or "servers" or "sides" to chose from, everyone is connected. EVE has become famous throughout the media for a couple of events, here are just a few examples:

The battle of Asaki

Top 10 Ganks, Scams, Heists and Events of EVE

Throughout it's life, a lot of people have heard quite a few "truths" about EVE, and while usually true at their core, some are heavily overrated and distorted. Let's clean up with some of them:

1) EVE Online is hard.

There is a wide spread picture about MMO learning curves:

The truth is this: EVE is a very broad and very complex game. That in no way means it's hard to learn. Actually, most aspects of the game are very, very simple to understand. What makes it seem hard is that there are countless options and decisions you can make. Yes, mastering all aspects of EVE is a long and hard road, but starting out and finding your place isn't at all. Future posts will try to give you an edge when walking this road, and you'll be perfectly fine if you stay focused.

Let me give you an example, although this is not how a miner should go about, but these are the minimum steps for a miner to earn money in EVE:

a) Get a Mining ship and fit it with Miners

b) Undock and Warp to an Asteroid Belt

c) Lock an Asteroid and start mining

d) Wait until cargo hold is full and return to station.

e) Sell the Ore on the market

But a miners life can be more complex if he wants to, here are just a few options miners have:

a) Carefully optimize his skills to get more ore per minute, meaning more money by being able to equip better Miners, get better Mining ships, etc.

b) Expand on the business of Refining the Ore he mined, getting skills and thereby increasing his profits.

c) Not selling Ore/Minerals directly but setting up Buy orders for more profit.

d) Expand on the business of Trading by hauling the Ore/Minerals he got and selling them in a Trade Hub for more money.

e) Join or found a Mining Corp and take part in Mining Operations in Teams to profit from Fleet boosters by support ships.

There is a lot more a Miner can do to improve his income and as he progresses more complex topics and methods will come into play. The same "progression" holds true for almost all play styles in EVE Online, from Miner to Manufacturer, Trader, Pirate or Explorer.

2) EVE Online is a dark, harsh place full of scams and everyone is out to get you.

Yes, scamming is allowed in EVE Online within the game mechanics, and there are some very elaborate scams out there. But again, with a few simple steps and tips it's very hard to fall for a scam. It is also true that EVE Online has a culture of gankers and griefers, those that "feed on the tears of others". What is often neglected is that it is very easy to avoid these people. Although there is no perfectly safe place, there is a lot you can do to avoid being the target of gankers. Getting blown up is part of EVE, and if you play smart and follow a few simple rules, it won't really matter to you when it happens.

3) You can only do stuff in EVE when you belong to a major Alliance in game.

First, EVE is a multiplayer game. This means banding together in a "guild" (called Corporations, Alliances and Coalitions) in EVE can bring you a big set of benefits. On the other hand it is perfectly fine and doable to play alone. I actually recommend playing alone for the first couple of weeks and experience all the facets of EVE before considering joining a Player corporation.

4) EVE takes a lot of time to play.

Again, this is partially true. Within EVE Online "skills" are acquired only over real time passing. Some of the most advanced skills can take over 45 days to train to perfection. This doesn't mean you have to be online, though. As long as your account is active and a skill is being learned, your character is progressing. That doesn't mean you can't start doing what you want right away, most skills are initially learned within minutes, but getting perfect can take a long time. All in all, EVE takes as much time to play as you want to invest into it. It can be only a couple of minutes a week or an hour every day. The choice is yours.

5) EVE is expensive.

EVE Online costs about as much as any other MMO, so no, it's not. Actually, you can play EVE Online for free after an initial investment if you play smart. This is because you can buy Game Time from other players with In-game currency called ISK. You do this by buying an item called PLEX from the market and applying it to your account. If you play smart, you can, with very little effort, play EVE Online for free after your first month or two.

6) EVE players are unfriendly

Once again, yes, some are. But along my time playing EVE I've come along so many more nice and helpful people than rude and unfriendly ones. Every game has people that insult and try to ridicule you, and EVE is not different in that aspect. And as in every other game, there is a simple solution: Ignore them. In EVE you even have another option: Kill them. Again. And Again. And Again.

7) It takes a long time to get good in EVE

As I said, EVE is a complex game, so mastering all of it will take time. But you don't have to master everything. EVE can be enjoyed step by step. Experienced and skilled players do have an advantage over beginners, but this dwindles quickly. As an example, a perfect manufacturing character will have more parallel production slots available and will waste less resources than an absolute beginner, but you can quickly get a couple of skills and get up to par very fast. As before, perfection takes time, but you don't need perfect skills in EVE Online to be competitive. Essentially, you can do something useful within a few days of starting to play the game.

8) EVE is more a hobby than a game

This one is perfectly true if your want it to be. Not only can EVE be very complex, depending on how far you want to go, it can be very time consuming, with you even "playing" without having the game running. In this state, you'll probably be "meta- gaming" aand plannig new projects. This doesn't mean you have to do this, though. You can still keep your accounts paid and running with minimal effort and make enough money to experience just about everything in the game. Just on a lower level.

9) Getting an EVE Online Titan equals "I win"

No, it doesn't. Although getting one of these ships can be a goal, it's not as rewarding as you think. They are expensive, take over a year to train just to sit in one, and another one to really be able to use it. They have very limited use, you can not dock them to stations and are very vulnerable alone. So just for now, forget about Titans. There's a lot more and rewarding things to do, and if in a year or so, you decide to go for one you'll have a lot of the basic skills trained anyways.

In conclusion and closing, let me leave you with a personal comment and three more videos about EVE Online to show you some options you have. EVE Online can be a very satisfying game to play and master, but it requires patience and quite a bit of effort to make full use of all the game mechanics. But once you get there a lot of steps you've master will reward you with a good feeling and the game being fun. And what more should you expect from game? And who knows, maybe you are be the next "big bang" in the Sandbox, writing part of history in New Eden!

I hope to see you for my next post: "Getting started in EVE Online: Basic setup and Information."