Went to the family reunion this weekend, came home to find the computer with a BSOD. So, no gaming till I figure out what is going on. I can't even get it to start So, I guess my free trial will end before I can even begin.

Actually got off work early (err..on-time, actually. Sad when leaving 'ontime' translates to 'early'. Anyway) I decided to mess around with fitting out my little ship, but I couldn't do anything because I didn't have enough money or space.

I tried to figure out how to get back to the place where I had left off, as far as missions go, but couldn't. The names were too unfamiliar, and there's no straightline path to the next 'place'. I wandered around, and tried to figure out how to steer my ship to go do some mining or something. No dice. Apparently the arrow keys don't control your ship's movement. The mouse just controls your camera view, which always rotates around your ship. Ugh. That kind of thing makes me motionsick, especially if I'm looking one way and moving another - which this game does a lot of. If you tell the autopilot to go to the nearest stargate, it will, even if it means rotating the ship on you. That's not fun for me. I never did figure out how to move the ship, nor how to mine an asteroid to get some raw materials to sell or something. I set up some more training stuff, then decided to create a new character.

Here's another thing I don't like about EVE - only one character per account can train at a time. That's very different from every other MMO I've played, where each is independent of the other. So my new noob has to sit till the old noob finishes training. Blech.

On top of that, the sound was stuttering all night, and when I tried to log off, the game locked up - in mid sound. That was irritating.

These aren't really show stoppers, but they definitely aren't endearing me to this game. Plus the UI is not intiuitive, and I feel like I'm going to have to read a 500 page manual to know what the heck I'm doing or even how to do it.

Maybe if I had more time on my hands, it might be different.

Didn't have much time to spend in the game tonight - 14 hour days are not the norm for this pencil pusher!

I did log on, and I noticed I had mail! Apparently someone from the training academy was impressed with me, and wanted to talk to me.

So, after I set my next set of training rules (10 hours this time!), I undocked, warped to the nearest gate, and...umm. Now what? Ok, this isn't the right system, so I better warp to the next gate.

Umm. No dice. I did finally figure out how to access the ingame help, and found where to search for a location. I did a search for the station, set it as my destination, and engaged the auto-pilot. Wow, was I lost 6 jumps later, I arrive at the station, dock, talk to the guy who had sent me the mail...and he doesn't have any missions? Huh?

Oh. Apparently I got this email during the tutorial, and I'd already talked to him, and done his missions. Well, at least I got a chance to figure out help, and setting locations!

I can tell this is not going to be a game that I can learn in 14 days! I went through the tutorial, and while it gave a lot of information, it skipped a few things...

like chat.
how to join a guild/corporation/whatever they're called.
how to exit the game.

That last one I had to fumble around through every menu option I could find, till I hit the escape key - oi! Another menu!

I'm going to stick with it, although I can see how it can be a timesink. 9 hours to train my first skill.

We'll see how well I survive

We can't play DDO as often as I'd like, and I've hit a 'wall' with AC. I've always been into Sci-Fi, and a space game like EVE sounds just interesting enough.

I'm downloading the free trial. I don't know if 14 days will be enough to get a good taste for what EVE can do for me, and I am rather nervous about the PVP aspects, but I really would like to try something different.

Wish me luck! I'll be blogging my experiences and progress from day one, so you'll get to see what it's like for an experienced MMO'er to be a true noob

Today was all about the lowbies. I brought out my level 3 wizard, and my guildies brought out their melees.

We did all of the quests we could out of the Wayward Lobster - Information is Key, Bringing the Light, Stealthy Repossession, A Man Named Baudry Cartamon. We also did the quest that Guard Jung gives, but I forget the name of it.

I learned quickly today to stay in the back, behind the meatsheilds, and to use wands if I have them, to conserve on spellpoints. I must have used up 3 wands of Magic Missile. I also swapped in "Knock", since no one in the party could pick locks. That's a handy little spell.

One of the quest rewards was a robe of Power, adding more spellpoints to my pool. I think it's a pretty nifty robe (it's the one pictured above.

After those, we started the Catacombs - the one with the Archbishop's daughter. Didn't get to finish it, as RL intruded. We'll finish it next round, though!

Come back from vacation, and first thing I know, Turbine is announcing that they're going Free to Play.

Well, kinda. They're actually doing a hybrid thing, where you can get a free account, and have limited access to things, or you can have a subscription, and have a VIP account, which gives full access. That part's not too bad, and a bit innovative.

The other half of the announcement - they're adding an in-game store. This...leaves me kind of lukewarm. I've always been wary of microtransactions. My biggest concern is the fact that in a 'normal' mmo, if you have the time, you can accomplish anything, gain whatever equipment/favor/etc you want, if you invest the time. With a store, as long as you have the money, you can get what you want, without 'earning' it. I'm going to be watching this development closely....

My Conqueror has just a few quests, high in the mountains of Atzel's Approach. It only takes her half an hour or so to fight her way through troglodytes and worms to get to the nesting grounds.

Lag the way it is, I haven't been too motivated to attempt the climb.