Getting started

So, on the patch day I already had the character created and the unpatched EVE installed. Out of curiosity I tried to login to EVE some hours before the downtime was due to be over. I was offered to download and install the Apocrypha so I did. It was a huge download, well over a gigabyte. While downloading I took a look at the EVE website. There were lots of event news coming in all the time. Having already read a couple of the recent chronicles which had foreshadowed what was on the news it felt like something big was happening in New Eden at the very moment. I enjoyed the immersion this unraveling story gave.

Then the downtime ended. There was another patch to download, but it was small. Finally, the game! Logged in and went through the Aura tutorials that popped up. After wondering a bit what to put in the skill queue I did the tutorial missions in the starter system and received more popups from Aura. Next I was given a choice about my character path: industry, trade or combat. Mission agents were referred for each of them.

I chose combat and contacted Fykalia Adaferid at Republic Military School in Hadaugago. I was given a 10 mission arc 'Cash flow for Capsuleers'. Many of these involved dealing with Angel Cartel pirates. After shooting my way through the missions I had gained only little loot from the wrecks, the real rewards were important skillbooks to inject and even implants for which I didn't have the skills to use yet. Since implants speed up skill learning I made it top priority to learn the skills required to use implants. Realizing that learning skills would be useful for the same reason I put a bit of them on the queue too. In the end of the combat arc I got a rifter - nice combat frigate.

I was suggested by an agent to sometime go see Sister Alitura at Sisters Of EVE Bureau in Arnon. It is the start for the epic mission arc, one of the new things in Apocrypha. Before heading there I decided to continue going through these tutorial mission arcs so I would be ready for any epic challenges ahead.

Next was the 10 mission trade arc 'Balancing the books'. This was given to me by Latorfani Aldimund, also residing at Republic Military School in Hadaugago. The few enemies that appeared were nothing more than target practice for my rifter, the autocannons teared through them like they were made of hot air wrapped in tinfoil. However, as easy as this was for someone from the military school, the trade arc was obviously more profitable than the combat arc. Rewards were similar to the combat arc, but more valuable - I was given implants and skillbooks, including the skillbooks for salvaging and hacking, worth 900000 ISK a piece. I also got to try out the mini-professions (salvaging, archaeology and hacking) and tried a little manufacturing by making some ammo with a single run blueprint copy. The final ship reward for this arc was a wreathe - small industrial ship with a cargo capacity of 3300m³.

At this point I was getting tired of missioning and didn't go for the industry arc. Apparently it is called 'Making Mountains of Molehills' and looks like an introduction into mining, manufacturing and invention jobs. Maybe some day... or then again, maybe not.

All in all going through at least one or two of these mission arcs seem like a very good primer to the game. The missions aren't hard and the lessons learned are useful. Some of the rewards are substantial, at least for a newbie. I have to say the time bonuses on missions I've ran after these arcs are regularly a joke. In most cases, spending a couple of minutes salvaging the wrecks from the mission considerably increases the profits even if the time bonus is lost. As the missions start to get more difficult the usefulness of salvaging profession gets more pronounced too.