Character generation is a lot easier now in EVE Online. Before you had to pick one of four races, Amarr, Caldari, Gallete and Minmatar. Then choose your ancestry, bloodline and gender. Then one of 3 professions, Business, Military or Industrial. And those has 2 subdivisions, Standard and Elite. Along the way you had 5 “Attribute” points to place in Intelligence, Will power, Charisma, Memory, and Perception. Each of these changes had different skill sets and different bonuses, so you had to play around and try and find the right set of things to give you what you wanted. That of course was if you knew what you wanted. As a new player to EVE Online you did not know what to do. Which race should I pick? What skills do I need to do what? What did that skill do? These where the common questions every new play would ask. Of course you got to play with your appearance a bit and change the background and enter you characters name.
Now the new character generation is simpler. You still have to pick a race, ancestry, bloodline, and gender. You still get to play with your features and background. But the professions and extra attribute points are no more, at least not in the generation process. Now you get the chance to try each profession at the same solar system. You have 2 free attribute re-mappings to move points around. You also learn skills at an accelerated rate, up to a certain point. All these give you the chance to experiment and see where you want to go and what does everything do. You get the chance to play the game before really determining who you are.
As for any advice i can give you about the first few chooses (Race, Ancestry, Bloodline and gender), no one is better than another. Each race has their own version of each ship. They use their own type of weapons. They have their own history. And gender does not effect how well your ship performs or how much damage your weapons do (as you can see your attributes do not have things like dexterity or strength). So which every you choose will work. Granted once you get in you will run into other players who have their own biases and opinions, but there is no one better race.
As for profession, well you will get a chance to dabble into each one. I would say do each of the career based tutorial missions. You will get ships, weapons, ammo, equipment and skill books along the way. There will be a chance to do a Mission Arc at the end which will give you a good test of what you have learned and a chance to travel around. Maybe along the way you will find friends or a place you want to call home. Granted this last mission arc is a tough one and you will most likely need to ask for help, don’t be afraid to. EVE is loaded with both good and bad guys. You need to be alert but don’t be paranoid either. More often than not you will find good people who just want to help and have fun.
Ask others for help, either in doing a mission or about a piece of equipment or even how to do something. There are alot of people out there and I am sure you will find someone who will give you a hand. Remember we where all newbies at one point. And again this is why I am writing these articles too. I Have been playing EVE for almost 2 years now, and I am still learning stuff, but I also enjoy helping others. If you have any questions go ahead and make a comment, I will do my best to get an answer to you (and others) ASAP.
Until next time, Fly Safe
Reggi Mental
