Also, correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t the current situation also caused by current null groups providing a safe environment to make isk in. Thus letting people Plex easier?
This is a proven path for getting some new players connected to other people.
But it won’t catch everyone. There doesn’t seem to be any data, but I suspect it will only work on a small minority. And that it’s the same minority that has always chosen to stay with EVE.
There doesn’t seem to be a lot of useful data on new player retention, but one of the serious posters in the other thread said that players who find their way into Corps are much more likely to stay.
And remember this takes into account Corp-based loss of new players, which seems to be quite high (e.g. members of Slaver Corps, and members of highSec new player Corps Wardeced by haters (hopefully mitigated by the recent Wardec changes)).
So two points, neither of which can be proven, but which I think should be considered:
- “Recruitment by shooting” might work from the Corp’s perspective, but may not make a difference in new player retention. IMO it doesn’t help.
- The general trust issues break the normal MMO path towards getting together with other players and joining Corps. It’s obviously necessary in EVE, but the process is boring, far too complicated, and too time consuming. And the usual “placeholder activities”, playing solo for a while and being patient about personal contacts, work exceptionally poorly in EVE.
The first point doesn’t really matter. I included it because I don’t think it makes a difference, and I’m fairly sure (80%) that it can’t be scaled up.
The second is a problem statement of sorts. Obviously there’s no “magic wand” to get new players into Corps. But equally obviously, there are many ways to make it “less bad”.
I already do.
Yes & no.
Yes, in that the Super-cap Cover makes it easier to get ISK in safely out in Null. No because ticks aren’t that big.
Now factor in the sheer amount of PvP that goes on, so your running costs out here are higher.
If you want to win you need Skill-points. Injectors.
Who plays to lose for 3-6 months? No-one.
EVE isn’t easy, but the PLEX factor is… Well, that’s the crux of my view. Ticks need to go up a little after the past Nerf of Null ‘Harvesters’ ( the VNI & Carrier. Rorq I’m not so worried about, as they were nuts to begin with ). Lose a carrir, & even with Insurance you still lose a bil. If the number of Caps out there drops then we have issues with safety as well as content. Caps are fun etc.
I’m also worried about grind. I have been known to do a few ( just finished one for example. T3C stuff ), but… If it’s just that wrong side of grindy then you will have issues with people not seeing the point.
As life gets harder in the UK for A LOT of people. Suddenly EVE is not leisure any more.
Which is heading into disaster.
Fleets hella yes, but how do you pay for that when you don’t have cash for PLEX? Or you can sit in basic ships with a mega-long train, and… Get bored & go elsewhere.
Injectors are important to speed up the train, but how do you pay for that?
Complex Interconnections. If EVE just becomes a game for Rich Kids then that’s A LOT of new customers that can’t keep up. The UK is a divided place these days, not one of ‘averages’.
Yup. I’d like to see more here. I know we’re a special type of kinky for taking the ‘hits’ we do, but in my experience ‘kinky’ is actually quite niche ( most are vanilla ).
Oh, & FYI I rate EVE Uni highly for what they have built. I’m more concerned about knackered workers & parents getting home & not having the spare go-go juice to then swat up on a couple of sites because times have changed since 2010.
On the “bad end” of the scale, in regards to getting new players into corps, you have corps that mass recruit new players, tell them to liquidate assets or just come right down to their pocket in null, and mine in a venture until they can fly a ratting ship.
I’m sure with an in-depth look at Vexor/VNI killboards and comparing them with eve-who, we’d get a good idea at how many are the unskilled new players that don’t know how to control range to rat properly. Those groups do this to try and cover their rent to the larger groups, and there’s also at times terrible communication between all involved which leads to said new players losing a lot and getting discouraged. One example is when I reimbursed a player an expedition frigate after their corp management would’t.
@Bloody_Larry
What PVP? We’ve had posts about the severe lack of it in null. Things aren’t getting blown up in any meaningful way.
What gets defined as “winning” in a game where you’re supposed to make your own content? Skill injectors aren’t a requirement for playing, just as how having alts isn’t required.
EVE is an easy game. The perception that EVE is hard or overly complex is as true as you want it to be - a lot of it can be simplified and made easy to understand.
Did you watch the presentation linked further up?
I just finished… it’s worth the time.
I’ll even link it here so you don’t hafta go scrolling up too far (I know this tends to… upset… some in our community) 
< Sigh > well linking it didn’t seem to work, so I will quote instead, that should allow you to get to the video link.
Regards,
Cypr3ss.
1 Like
What?
TL;DR - I want EVE to cost less money for me to spend on so I can get PLEX/Injectors easier.
Thank you. I don’t speak his language apparently.
I’m only specifically saying that because they continue to bring up the cost of PLEX and the grind by ratting to acquire the ISK to afford buying the PLEX. They want to stay subscribed to the game without paying, but it takes too long to get ISK through mining/ratting/[insert isk grind here] at their current skill level.
To improve their skill level they feel that they need to buy injectors to speed up the process (something that could be fixed easily enough like Blizzard and the “rest xp” system in WoW), but due to the cost they need to do more grinding. So they feel as though EVE is an expensive game to play because working in a group or understanding certain mechanics are perceived as “hard” when they could simply lack an understanding of them which could be explained. Which is why those that dislike the grind feel the need to manage multiple accounts in order to feel like they’re making any progress.
Edit: Since this is posted not long after this
Ignore Nicolai Serkanner, he likes to do one line insult trolling and has the brain power of a gnat.
In terms of your question, I was a bit concerned about the increase in skill book prices and the impact on hisec casual players. People are calling for more ISK sinks to deal with excessive multi-boxing min max grinding in nullsec, but if you make it tougher for more casual players you have an issue.
There is always combat in Catch. Sorry if I woke you up.
Yeah, you want people logging in for a few hours a week. They need to be able to rustle up some ISK, and do a bit of pew-pew too.
The VNI farms ( and Rorq farms ) are because people feel squeezed. So they do more. Which then leaves us dangerously low on sites.
I say dangerously because if Cap numbers drop too low then content goes.
There’s really no way for it to not affect new players since it’s something that would be applied to players regardless of their age. The best that could probably be done is work with existing mechanics, like insurance, taxes, fees like offices and such.
@Bloody_Larry Don’t think I’ve personally been to Catch. But that’s one region, where meaningful fighting is probably restricted to certain systems in important constellations.
Think Thunderdome. But a bit colder. No type of atmosphere.
Browsing through the systems’ zkillboard now actually.
I was VNI ratting in Catch with my two main characters, it was the most efficient in terms of risk / reward and running two characters at the same time in different sites when it was quiet and then running them together in a site when it got more busy was very effective for me.
I had some alliance mates who were multi-boxing AFK VNI ratters which was a bit annoying at times. Even before the latest nerf on carriers I found using carriers too much of a bind. I also set up a Rattlesnake which worked rather well too.
My alliance at the time (Tactical Supremacy) was dropping caps on anything that came in after a while and in the end in our prime time no one dared roam into us, but I have a Vagabond with 18 killmarks from those that did.
I don’t understand your point because I think it was an error to do that, in that people demanded bigger sinks to get rid of excessive ISK generation in null, and it screws newer more casual players outside of nullsec. But your right on the other aspects, they should have been looked at first or made Carriers, dreads and Titans even more stupidly expensive.
PLEX 6 months ago was 3.1m. I did a big inject back then ( an upgrade to get me into carriers ).
It’s now 4m. Useful to me this weekend for a small inject-a-thon, but…
For the price to go up like that suggests 2 things:
- Serious market manipulation. And we’re talking all of the sellers/buyers working together in game to get that price so high.
&/or
- A shortage. As in, less PLEX being brought with real-world currency.
.
Do we know which one it is?
Unless you’re looking to take the system security into account as a way of increasing isk sinks (like a multiplier of sorts), how are you going to specifically increase a sink on something in one region of space not affect that same something in other regions?
@Bloody_Larry
Quick question -
Let’s say CCP made the decision to change the queue system. Instead of waiting for the timer to count down towards skill completion you would be rewarded for your play time and your skill points would increase as you played. They’d still increase when you weren’t playing too, just like how the timer counts down when you aren’t in the game.
Do you think that would be a good change?
Edit: To others, yes I know what I just asked. It was done that way for a reason.