EVE Online at Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMOG Gamers to the Next Level!

#7: Fit A Combat Ship

Better yet, fit a few of them. Learning to PvP will involve you getting your ship blown up. It will. You cannot climb the mountaintop without sliding back down a few time. Once you have some fundamental skills out of the way and can at least passably fly your ship class of choice, it is probably best to fit out a few of them, finances permitting. When you die (not if) you will not want to waste time fitting out another, whether because there is a prolonged fight occurring that you still might make a difference in, or ennui over your ship loss. It is best if you have them set up with fittings and ready to roll, so you can just insure them and undock.

Depending on how flexible your ship is, you may want to have a spare hull fit with an alternative fitting. If your ship can either gank or tank, have one of each so that you can react to changing situations in a hurry.

Ideally, you should purchase your ships at a market hub (like Jita) for a cheap price, then move them to whatever area your friends are basing out of, hopefully somewhere near low-sec or null-sec.

#6: Group PvP

Getting your first real killmail is a special moment. Take a few moments to savor the occasion.

You've done the time. It's time to actually try killing some people. But doing so by yourself would be a surefire disaster. Instead, grab some of those people that you have been hanging out with. Come up with a plan, even if it is a terrible one. Something along the lines of "Okay, guys, we are going to take the following route through lowsec and hope that we run into something juicy. Bill has e-war covered."

Coordinate your ships a bit, share fittings advice with each other, and be sure not to spend too much, since your first few attempts will very probably result in your inglorious demise.

After a number of attempts, as you and your team get better at cooperating while under fire, and your ship types and fittings get a little more refined, you will find that combat is not such a forgone conclusion, after all.

#5: Post A Killmail

Sooner or later, something is going to die, and you are going to be listed as one of the people that killed it. Congratulations! You lost your carebear V-wings! You are already heads and shoulders over the vast majority of the people that play EVE Online, whom are never on a killmail except on the receiving end.

This is a major landmark for any EVE player. Savor the moment. You may still be a carebear at heart, though. Especially if you spend the majority of your time on non-PvP activities. There are a few more things to do before your carebear ways are completely cured.

#4: Suicide Run

You have enjoyed success, but now you must learn to tolerate defeat. In order to prepare yourself for trying solo PvP, you should fit a cheapish ship (perhaps a cruiser) and roll out into low-sec or null-sec by yourself. The idea here is that you will hone your personal reactions and combat skill-set without the distractions of fleet-mates. Your goal is not especially to kill anything, but rather to see how far you can go on your own, learn to deal with difficult situations, and to give yourself the combat jitters acid test.

When you eventually hit an enemy and die, review what you did wrong, how you might have survived, and what you could have done differently to make it go your way or at least allowed you to survive.

That thought process right there is what you should be doing after every fight, including the ones that you win. There are always things that you could have done a bit better or differently, and learning to consider them in an abstract manner will allow you to better improve your PvP skills over time.

#3: Solo PvP

By now, you surely have a favorite ship. Devise a scenario in which your ship would be able to catch and kill another ship, and make it happen. Make it happen again and again. Refine your technique, your ship fitting, and your plan. Hone yourself like a knife until you have a diamond edge.

Some ships are not fantastic for PvP, or at least seem so at first. These ships can still often excel in PvP if you can get the right enemy to engage you. If your ship can't find or chase other ships, get them to come to you by pretending to be mining or by running a low-level mission in a vulnerable spot. Fitting a mining laser or a small flight of mining drones is a pretty good way to broadcast "Hey, you jerk, attack me!" Your only limit here is your imagination.

Learning what you can and cannot engage with a given ship is probably the single more important skill that you as a player can train, within the field of solo ganking. Work on smelling a trap, and learning when and how to run away. Sooner or later, you will get it right.

#2: Solo Kill

Congratulations. Seriously. Although I don't have CCP-endorsed figures in front of me, it would surprise me if more than 5% of EVE Online players have ever gotten a bona fide solo kill from a real combat. Even most dedicated PvPers generally operate with more than one EVE client open.

A solo kill, even a really crappy one, is something special, even when it isn't amazing. It's something that carebears by definition do not accrue. Hopefully, yours was something reasonably decent like a battlecruiser or interceptor, though anything more dangerous than a shuttle is a good start.

#1: Only PvE To Support PvP

The final step is the big one. The defining attribute of being a carebear is that you spend more of your time earning ISK than trying to blow ships up. If you have found in yourself a taste for combat, and a love of PvP that eclipses your love for PvE, then stop PvEing. Just stop.

When you run out of ISK for new ships, then you can go back to PvEing, and still not really be a carebear. A wise man once said that PvP is the best way to exchange ISK for fun. Don't waste any more time working at missions or mining than you need to, in order to support your habit.

Learn to be thrifty. It is not a good idea to buy a single great ship and fit it with expensive faction modules, if you do not have enough ISK to buy five of them. You want middle of the road ships, like tech one cruisers fit with tech two guns, or ever so survivable stealth bombers. Loot and salvage ship wrecks as you go, dropping them off into stations for sale if the opportunity presents itself.

And moreover, once you are completely cured of being a carebear, go to your friends and try to coax them out of their safe high-sec missions and asteroid fields. Get them to at least try exposing themselves to the thrill and danger of PvP. Hold their hand if they need you to, but get them out there. The more players try PvP, the richer the game will be for all of us.

If you made it this far through these steps, in good faith and with good skills, I pronounce you cured entirely of being a carebear.