I played for over a year and a half. I fully understand the dynamics of how the game works, at all levels, both below and above my own.

I have participated in 300+ ship blob battles, built outposts, managed deep 0.0 mining operations, done everything exploration has to offer, participated in research pre and post nerfage.

I've teched up to fully tech 2 ships, played the markets, manufactured tech 1 and 2 items from researched BPOs, run COSMOS missions and done quite a bit of other stuff within the game.

That being said, I was where you are when I'd played for only 6 months. I was all about it. "Woohoo this is the best thing ever!!!" ... well... move on out to 0.0, buddy, and come back and tell me what you think, then.

It isn't even so much a matter of being a noob, it's just how the game "works". You can't bring your friends into the fold after a year of play. Victory in battle becomes very unpredictable, as blobs take turns yelling out targets over ventrilo and insta-popping individual ships (yours, maybe?). It's just not a mature, fun combat experience, at any level beyond 4-6 ships per side, and actually the most fun I've had in the system is being an individual pirate, fighting 1-2 other ships at most... but that's just being a bully.

It becomes evident that survival in EVE is directly linked to how deep you roll. It gets old, very fast, once you realize this...

Gatecamps, also, by nature of the way the game works, are almost impossible to break without bringing OVERWHELMING odds against the campers (unless they are inexperienced).

Anyway, I'm just saying, I played for 18 months. I loved a lot of the game, but, CCP panders WAY, WAAAAAY too much to people who have played for 3-5+ years. T2 BPOs literally impossible to obtain after they changed research, but the people who already had them could keep them? Whaaaaat? As if catching up via skill-points wasn't already 100% impossible, this change made it so that even new industrialists are doomed to mediocrity.

Don't get me wrong, if you have $500 to waste over the course of the next couple of years, and you don't mind a black screen and giant chat room, play EVE online... but if you're looking for a reasonably balanced and fun MMO gaming experience, definitely stay away. You've got Jumpgate and a few others coming out soon that I predict will seriously injure EVE, anyway, so, I predict the golden age of the game has already passed.

http://www.judgex.com/

Hold on a sec and think about the reason why they'd allow the guys who already had the BPOs keep them, just as there will be guys who are going to have to be cannon fodder, there are guys are going to be the cannons. What I mean is, those BPOs needed some sort of starting point in order to bring about T2 circulation much earlier, and for CCP, letting the players that had them keep them was the best option to start up that circulation.

@ those that believe they need to catch up with older players;

Catching up with old players is a dream you really need to stop fussing yourself about because there's really no point. If all you want to do in a game is catch up to old players then your goals are misplaced, beating an old player takes skill yes but you don't need the same level of skill he/she has to beat him/her, all you need is enough skill to keep you alive or have a tactical advantage. You have to remember that EVE is not all about how many points you have in stamina, it is also about; "what distance can I start shooting at?", "what is my orbit range?", "how much can I tank before I switch on the boosters?"
There's nothing better than making an opponent go; "WTF?!" and their char is 3 years older than yours.

Judgex, thanks for the reply, some very valid points and I'm glad you didnt see me as "having a go" at you. I have hit 0.0 once or twice and it was purely out of curiousity, needless to say I went pop pretty damn quick. I completely understand your point about the fact that it is hard to bring friends in after 12 months of playing and expect them to play on the same level.

I guess my love is that there is so much to learn in EVE and I enjoy that learning process in itself. Understandbly you will eventually learn everything (Game mechanics, not skills) but I feel that is a long way away for me.

A point I think I forgot to mention but was mentioned by Darame is that the one thing that EVE can hold is that a person playing for 6 months can (Maybe not easily) take out a 3 year old player if they have the knowledge. Whereas most other games (Generally gear based) this is damn near impossible, and I think would isolate a new player even further. I don't really play EVE as a full time game, a few hours every couple of nights so I think the game will last a lot longer for me (Now that ARMA 2 is released! I'm a sucker for detail!)

The money side is not really an issue, I spend waaaay too much on games as it is with 5 MMO subscriptions, not to mention the constant purchases on Steam. Damn that easy to use credit card!!

Not sure if this post made a point or not, but thought I'd share it anyway. :)