Goals - or how I learned to appreciate the idea of not running blindly...

I always like to set myself at least some sort of long term goal in a MMORPG, gives me something to focus towards, even if I get sidetracked, I always know where to head to next.

Because long term in Eve can mean literally years worth of training, its a bit unrealistic, so im setting myself some medium term (roughly 3-6 months aims)

Currently:

Level 4 Missions - Im quite confident on my ability to run these solo, though there are a few skills I can boost to assist (mainly achieving Tech 2 shield hardeners and Cruise missiles for my Raven) This is my main source of income.

Stealth Bombers / Covert Ops - One of my 'plaything' aims - I want to be able to pilot ships that can use cloaking devices well. My other aim before I left was to be able to pilot Interceptors and I managed that, though I didn't use them much because of their associated costs - now the prices for tech 2 equipment have dropped a bit, they are a bit more affordable to lose. Eventually I want to be able to take part in the exploration sub-game and the stealth ships seem to be the best suited for those.

Exhumers - One of my early aims was to be able to pilot a mining barge type ship well enough to be able to withstand belt rat damages, so the only real point of focus was the Exhumer (tech 2) class - The Mackinaw particularly seems to be very suited to this task with its bonus to Ice mining (only possible with a strip miner I believe) and also its bonus to shield resists, which compliment my Caldari focused shield training.

At the moment, its looking to be around 27 days for the Stealth Bomber training to level 4, and around 60-odd days for the Exhumer training to level 4, which is the minimum i'll be confident with.

The numbers when you look at them aren't too bad, but then you realise that theres 4 months of training there with next to no bonus to my combat effectiveness on my Raven, its a worry if anything gets any tougher than it currently is.