On the subject of learning curve, don't let it put you off. It's really not as bad as it is made out to be. The only thing is, you actually have to think before outfitting your ship in Eve. It's not like WoW, where you only have to decide whether you want to equip the boots of +1 health or +1 defense. :P You need to take into consideration which loadouts you want, make comprises etc.

For example, taking the most powerful gun you can find might pull too much from your power grid or CPU, forcing you to leave out something like a shield booster or armor repairer. Or you can add a piece of equipment that increases CPU, capacitor or powergrid, but due to a limited number of slots on your particular ship, it means you cannot add another piece of important hardware. :P

Really, the hardest part I've found so far is simply outfitting my ship, and for that I sit and work the whole thing out with a notepad next to my PC. :P You don't need to, though, there's an entire website dedicated to letting players upload loadouts, and you can often find efficient ones there.