Misconceptions about PvP

Read this and see if it applies to you:

"I'd like to get started in PvP, but I don't have the SP to do well. I'd just get slaughtered/murdered/whipped/annihilated/barbecued by the older, more experienced players" 


I've seen so many people, even in my corp, take this approach to PvP. Frankly I used to believe it myself. But here's the thing;

It's simply not true. Not even close

As a matter of fact I believe this 'myth' surrounding PvP is impacting heavily on the number of new players getting involved in EVE. Who wants to play a game in which the main focus (for a large number of people) is restricted to those with huge wallets and years of skill training? It's simply not fun, and I'm willing to bet a large number of potential subscribers gave up trying PvP (and by extension, their trial on EVE) after the first time they got crushed by some guy with hundreds of millions of skillpoints flying Tech 3 cruiser or suchlike.

While obviously taking your two month old character in a Rifter against a three year old character in a Zealot is not going to end well, it doesn't mean you can't do well in solo PvP, or stop you being an important part of a roaming gang. Hell one of my corp members was attacked by a week old character in a Rifter while he was ratting in his Drake a few days ago. While the Rifter never stood a chance, the new guy had some serious balls to go up against a battlecruiser solo, and that's the attitude you need in PvP. (And I'm fully aware there's no real tackle on that Rifter, but it's not as bad a fit as some that I've seen...)

Even T1 frigates can be dangerous in the right hands

Infact, you need very few things to get started in PvP. Here's a quick list:

 - A ship (I'd hope this was quite obvious)
 - Some kind of tackle
 - Something to beat the other guy over the head with (i.e GUNZ!!!ONE!!ELEVEN!!)
 - The skills needed to use the above tools at a basic level

That's it. Fancy faction modules, l33t PvP skills, ships worth hundreds of millions of ISK, all of it is superfluous (not important) for PvP at it's most basic level. At the end of the day, PvP is about beating the crap out of somebody else's ship before they can do the same to you. Obviously your skills play a part in this, but specialising is the key here. The pure number of PvP related skills in EVE means that only the oldest players will be able to do everything effectively. The rest have had to specialise, and while they might be highly skilled in certain areas, others will be less developed. This is where a new player has the same chances as anyone else, because you're technically on the same playing field, even though the older player "should" have an SP advantage.

And older players, while experienced, are hardly perfect. That corpmate I mentioned who was ratting? He should have warped the moment he saw a neutral appear in Local. Yes it was "only a Rifter" (his actual words), but what would have happened, say, if that Rifter was the fast tackle for a fifteen strong gang sitting on the other side of the gate? I bet that the Rifter could have survived the ten or fifteen seconds it would have taken for its gang to turn up and smash my buddy to a pulp. Infact, as he said himself later "I spent about a minute going, wtf are you doing?". That's easily enough time for friends to come along, and as a consequence, that Rifter would have been on a Drake killmail. Not bad for a newbie!

Ok, so flying as primary tackle (or "Hero Tackle" for their tendency of being killed first) for gangs is hardly glamorous. However it's teaching you essential skills for PvP, and by skills, I don't mean Hull Upgrades V or Small Hybrid Turret IV.

No, I mean actual skills like using the D-Scan effectively, situational awareness, predicting your opponent's actions, taking advantage of circumstances that occur at random, or capitalising on slip-ups by the other side. For example, this post here shows how I used a situation to my advantage (Not that I'm showing off :P). Normally that Retribution would have nailed me in a fair fight, even if it was PvE fit. But I took stock of the situation (Battleship rats = high DPS, aggroed against Retribution who is speed tanking) worked out how I could use this to my advantage (my web and scram will drop his speed to the point where rats can hit him for much more damage than I could apply on my own) then put this plan into action.

Tristans can get you kills, and they suck

Because of this blind luck and some logical thinking on my part, I turned what should have been an obvious loss into a surprising victory, despite my less expensive ship and low SP compared to my opponent. And things like this happen all the time. People mess up constantly, but if you're not out there in your "crappy" T1 frigate, you're never going to be able to take advantage of these weak moments. So stop worrying about what you could lose in PvP, and instead get out there and rack up some kills. So what if you lose twenty, thirty or even a hundred Rifters? Frigates are cheap and effective, and out of those hundred fights, you're going to be the victor in atleast some of them.

So get out there, lose some ships, and along the way you might even find yourself having fun. ;)