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Attributes And Skills |
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This article provides a general overview of attributes and skills and was written for players new to the game. In case you would like to get a really good understanding of attributes and skills - please take a look at the EVE guide offered by Killer Guides.
When it comes to building your character on EVE, your in-game build means even more than your pre-game build. The most precious commodity in EVE is not ISK, it is time. All skills, including those which improve your attributes, are learned in real time.
That means that not only is it impossible to grind experience like other MMOs, but also that the person who can manage their time wisely and get their skills quicker than other people will always have an edge in the game. Consider your play style when choosing which skills to learn and when.
If you plan a fast start and a slower end game, then jump right into the skills for the profession of your choice. However, if you want to dominate the end game and are willing to give up some time in the beginning, consider the Learning and attribute skills first. Learning especially is a difficult skill to use well, and most players of EVE have misused it at some point. It allows you to have a significant negative time bonus while learning any skill, including the attribute skills.
Players generally either concentrate too much on this skill, therefore, or not enough. The trick is to know when you really need this. The player guide in EVE recommends starting with alternating Learning and the attribute skills which will accelerate Learning, after which you can move on to the attribute skills which will hasten your learning for the skills you actually need.
This approach is tested and true, however it is extremely slow starting out - you may not actually be able to play certain parts of EVE at all while training these skills, as you will be weak in both combat and mining. If you take this approach, consider the learning time to be almost pre-game, and realize that you will not be able to really play the character you want for quite a while.
On the other hand, new players (especially pirate hopefuls) tend to not touch Learning at all. Preferring to head out, guns blazing, they get through the early skills quickly enough that they tend to be ahead of other players who started at the same general time. The only problem is that this does not last long in terms of game play. About mid-game non-Learning players will start to notice the other players gaining on them, and may have to scramble or even stay docked for a few days before they can venture out again with a decent skill set.
If they have not changed their mind and started with Learning, end-game becomes very difficult as they must spend money on attribute enhancements for their character and waste both ISK and time. I recommend a middle ground. Consider taking Learning as a beginning skill for your character. That way you can train it to level 2 early on without wasting time and ISK having to go get it.
Don not train past level 2 yet, but move on to the skills you want to build your character with. You will still shave hours off your learning time without giving up a large chunk of time to begin with. Your money is better spent on a good ship and fittings at this point. When you get to a point where you are dominating your agent missions and fairly confidant about whatever professional activities your character has chosen, it is time to consider attribute skills.
If you are combat oriented and not planning on using the attributes which boost Learning for anything other than Learning, do not bother taking them. Yes, they will save you a little time, but your combat skills are more important. Put Learning at level 3 or 4 during the times you have to be offline for a while. Level 5 of Learning is never worth the time it takes to train, so ignore that and take a couple of levels in the attribute skills of your choice.
By this point you will be wanting to upgrade your ship and probably try some new levels of missions and other activities, so start back on your regular profession skills. Later in the game, you can either train more attribute skills or buy enhancements (or both, if you like) to finish out your character skill training speed.
If you follow this plan you will have very little down time and will be able to train skills at a decent, steady speed. Again, consider your play style before you decide which skills to learn when - there are no limits to how many skills you can have, just how fast you can learn them.
This article provides a general overview of attributes and skills and was written for players new to the game. In case you would like to get a really good understanding of attributes and skills - please take a look at the EVE guide offered by Killer Guides.
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