As we step into 2024, a burning question for many computer gamers is: “Is Eve Online worth playing in 2024?” This MMO has constantly evolved, offering a unique experience in the gaming world. I’m going to dive into the current state of Eve Online, examining whether it remains a compelling choice for both new and veteran players in 2024.
What Were the Major Developments of 2023?
If you were playing in January 2023, you’ll remember that this was the roadmap CCP released. They decided to move away from the story arc and multiple events through the year and go back to twice a year expansions.
There was a lot of updates and features introduced. Faction Warfare got a lot of love. New ships, direct enlistment (not having to leave your corp) and insurgencies.
Corporations got brand new tools in the form of “corporation projects.” The CEO can set up different projects for corp members to perform which in turn earns them money. Things like creating ships or depositing certain ore and minerals.
With the partnership with Microsoft, Eve Online really did become Spreadsheets in Space. This really cool plugin allows people to pull info off of the ESI and into spread sheets. For those that love excel, buying and selling on the market has become a lot more fun.
Of course we celebrated 20 years of Eve Online at Fanfest 2023 in Iceland and had a few events that earned us some nice login rewards.
What Was Missing from 2023?
Unfortunately, there were a few things that were missing from 2023. Anyone who knows me will know I’m a D-Scan fanatic. I’m still upset CCP decided to remove The Hunt, which was an Easter event that had players DScan NPC pods for keys into event sites.
Every new player that started during this event learned how to DScan and we turned out new scouts and taught situational awareness.
One of the other things that CCP had mentioned at Fanfest 2022 was removing character attributes. This got us all excited and we hoped we’d have seen this released last year. However, it doesn’t seem to be on their radar currently.
Is Eve Online Worth Playing in 2024?
So now, the billion ISK question. Is Eve Online worth playing in 2024? I know that like the 2023 article, this is going to get downvoted to hell. Don’t worry, I’m a big girl I can take it. Leave your hate in the comments…
So with that being said, hell yea I think Eve Online is worth playing in 2024! Because of the Faction Warfare updates, player numbers have risen over the past year. Where at 19:00 Eve we’d have maybe 20,000 players online (this is the EU prime time) we’re now seeing 29,000+ at this time!
If you want to play, keep reading and I’ll give you a quick start guide!
Where Should I Start?
We all know that Eve Online is a huge game. There’s so much to do and all of the information can overwhelm a player. So where should you start?
Create a Free Eve Online Account
The very first step if you’re a brand new player is to create your free Eve Online account. When you get into the game, you’ll start as an Alpha character. While an Alpha account has limitations, it’ll take you some time before you start struggling with hitting those limits.
I strongly advise returning players to create a character on a new account as well. This will allow you to see all of the changes and get your 1 million skill points.
Creating a Character
Your journey in Eve Online begins with creating a character. While faction doesn’t matter, you will want to choose your name wisely. Eve Online isn’t a MMO that allows you to change your character name. So if you start with Seymore Butts, that’s who you’ll be immortalized as.
Play the New Player Experience
The NPE, or new player experience, was completely overhauled in 2022. Along with Aura, your AI co-pilot, you will learn the Eve Online basics such as aligning your ship or locking up an enemy so you can shoot them.
While you can immediately skip the tutorial (press escape and you’ll see the option at the bottom of the settings screen), you will lose out on some starting ISK. You’ll also miss out on a bit of the developing AIR Career story arc.
Complete all of the Career Missions
Career missions provide a deeper understanding of various game aspects, such as combat, mining, and industry. And, of course, the career agent missions also give you a lot of free stuff to start your life in New Eden out with.
You’ll get a couple of frigates, some ventures and your first destroyer. You’ll also receive modules to fit on your ship as well as free skill books to inject into your character for future skill training.
Check out the Public Fleets Eve Rookies Hosts Almost Daily
And, of course, make contact with other players! Eve Rookies is an open community that hosts public fleets! It doesn’t matter who you are, how new to Eve you are, or if you’ve tried the activity before. Everyone is welcome to our fleets!
In fact, we have ship handouts for all fleets as well as SRP (ship replacement program). Because we welcome everyone, we strive to keep our ship fits as new player and alpha friendly as possible!
Come fly with us!
So, is Eve Worth Playing in 2024?
In one simple word: yes.
Look, I know there’s a lot of players out there who hate Eve. This is a game that has developed a crowd who loves to hate Eve. In fact, they spend their spare time writing on forums, reddit posts and articles like this to warn people about starting Eve or just plain hate on it. That’s fine, you do you.
However, I’m quite glad that I managed to get Eve to click four years ago. I have personally had an amazing journey, made life long friends, and formed a community full of players who continuously make me a proud mama. Yes, yes Eve Online is still worth playing.
