I've done the University. What now?

Question

I'm quite new to EvE; I played the trial about month ago and just yesterday decided to have another go, so I bought a month.

I've finished all the intro-y missions at the University I was part of and now I'm kinda at a loss for what to do... I've just been floating around mining near the uni and storing it all up.

I thought about joinning a corp, but I'm not sure I'm commited enough to it yet.

Any suggestions on what I should try to break me in?

Answer 1

The Sisters of Eve Epic Arc: Blood-Stained Stars

After you have completed the Tutorial and Career missions, you will have an opportunity to continue your missioning career. The career agents will recommend starting the Epic Arc mission series with Sister Alitura in the Arnon system at the Sisters of Eve station. We recommend doing all of the career agent tutorials before heading off to the Epic Arc.

Some of these missions are difficult for rookie pilots. Many new players will lose ships while learning effective tactics to defeat NPC opponents. I recommend you fly cheaply fitted ships and insure with platinum insurance. The final bosses in the Epic Arc, Kristan Parthus and Dagan, can be very challenging for rookie pilots. Many pilots will get help by asking in local, although you risk having your mission objective stolen and ransomed by fleeting with strangers. Information and tips on how to run some of the missions can be found on Eve Survival: Blood-Stained Stars

Further Missioning

The Evelopedia has a Missions Guide which can help you decide which corp and department you want to run missions for. Pilots who wish to mission close to the Eve University HQ in Aldrat often run missions for the Minmatar Mining Corporation in nearby systems. Other corps to mission for in nearby systems are listed in the Mission Guide to Aldrat.

I recommend declining kill missions against the four main empire factions (Amarr, Caldari, Gallente, and Minmatar) to avoid losing access to empire space. Having -5 or below standings with an empire faction can cause problems during war fleets, lowsec patrols, wormhole ops, and many other circumstances. This can also cause problems if you later join a corp that has their HQ in a faction's empire space that is denied to you, or if you join a nullsec alliance whose nearest empire space is denied to you. When you have -2 or below standing with a faction, only the Level 1 Quality 0 agents and below will be available to grind standings, which could be a lengthy process.

You can check mission information before accepting or declining on Eve Survival. If you want to find agents close to a particular system, you can use the Agent Rangefinder web application. There is a database of agents available on the Eve Agents website. Some of the entries are outdated and you should always check in-game to confirm the existence and location of the agent. You can also use the map to see systems where you have agents available to you. Open the map (F10), go to the Star Map tab, go to the Stars sub-tab, go to the My Information section and select My Available Agents. Flattening the map can make it easier to navigate. Hovering your cursor over these star systems will list the available agents along with their respective corporation, level, quality, and division.

Career Choices

Although most players start making ISK in EVE by running missions, there are plenty of other ways to make a fortune. The Tutorial Agents give brief insight into some of the many careers in EVE. You are not restricted to the list below, but here are some popular choices:

• Ratting - Killing NPC pirates("rats") for bounty rewards and loot.
• Exploration - Archaeology, salvaging,
• hacking, as well as running deadspace complexes and wormholes.
• Mining
• Industry and Production
• Trading and Hauling
• Piracy

Answer 2

There are several options offered to you :

• Find a level 1 agent in a corporation related to your faction and start doing missions for this corporation. You will eventually move to level 2, 3 and 4 misions later on, giving you enough ISKs to buy new ships.
• Keep on mining and refining your minerals, sell the minerals or produce some goods that you will sell on the market.
• Engage in Factional Warfare, this will give you missions taking part in the war between your faction and the opposing ones.
• Start a career as a trader : find some goods from which you can make some profit. Buy low and sell high in another system, or play with the margins between buy and sell orders to make profit.
• Join a beginner friendly corporation : there are several corporations aimed to helping new players in EvE Online. They will teach you the basics of missions, PvP, mining and such
• Get some drones and an agile frigate, start exploring the systems to find some complexes, gas clouds, wormholes.

Answer 3

A good starter corp would be to apply to EVE University. It's always been filled with people that love to show new players the ropes and explain the various portions of EVE Online.

http://www.eveuniversity.org/

If nothing else, visit their Wiki which explains many things such as Planetary Interaction, etc.

Answer 4

Whichever career path you choose, (and you don't have to make one choice, nor are you stuck with that choice forever) I would definitely recommend joining a corp. Some will be a bad fit and some will be good, so try out a few until you find one that fits for you. You might find this this wiki guide useful, but basically, check out the eve online forums, they have a section just for corp recruitment. There are many corps who will take someone fresh out of the blocks.

Another handy guide to keep as a reference (I wish I had had this when I first started) : http://www.isktheguide.com/

Also, another handy link for choosing careers in EVE : http://swiftandbitter.com/eve/wtd/