Alpha > BRAVO > Omega

[h3rOk_Gaterau]

Hello to all

I am a new player, and I am here to present an idea that has crossed my mind about Alpha and Omega. I would like this post to be respected as it is my point of view. I’m not saying I’m smart or have the idea of the century, I just love that we all talk about it together in a good mood and in a constructive way.

I think I’m like many new players, I’m hooked right from the start because of its very advanced capacity and the pleasure we take playing it, but the problem is that I want to play mining, that’s what I like. But we are limited to the base ships, which made me cold. It’s obvious that you have to pay the employees. But I propose this, which will not impact the players who subscribe , I think it would be a good balance.

The BRAVO status :

Would reward players who invest in the game but do not wish to subscribe, with rules that would oblige players to keep this status for 1 month and renewable every month, if the rules are respected.

• a daily connection of at least 3 hours
• a system of 10 compulsory quests that would include the advanced basics of the game (hence the fact of investing in knowledge)
• A system of compulsory insurance for BRAVO status depending on the vessel purchased, which would inevitably cost more to insure
• Participate at least at one event during the month.

This would give access to all the ships where these characteristics would be reduced by 30%: ship’s hold, cargo hold, hangar, number of modules installed, PV, shielding, structures, to avoid being able to compete with the subscribed players.

Alpha players who invest very little time in the game are not rewarded because it’s their choice. The BRAVO will be rewarded because they proves that they likes the game by investing themselves. Omega would not feel prejudiced by the BRAVO, there would be balance.

PS: I’m not an English speaker, I use DeepL for translation, so please bear with me.

Thank you for reading, and for your future opinion.

[Ramona_McCandless]

I dont understand how CCP would make money out of this.

[Mortlake]

@h3rOk_Gaterau

I would like this post to be respected as it is my point of view.

This should end well.

[0Lona_0ltor]

We don’t need a middle ground & I would trend to favouring the removal of alpha status or at least time limiting it to 1 month intervals at the lapse of omega.

CCP allready offers alpha players the ability to obtain omega status for free if you play the game.

I have never had a game subscription & plex my account. I think in the 15 years I have played eve I’ve spent < $50 on plex, instead making ISK in game to plex. I went to a fan fest and got some in game goodies and I think the ticket was $40 well anyway sub $100 for 15 years of content.

I have in this time also donated $1000’s of plex to plex 4 good.

Eve is free if you bring blue sky thinking to the game. If you bring in sub revenue via affilate links CCP will give you free game time & plex.

You can also do brain dead lame stuff to obtain omega status & wealth for free, mainly multiboxing & botting a.k.a space aids. It is super lame & killing the game though.

[Gerard_Amatin]

So the Bravo* status is somewhere in between Alpha and Omega, where you gain some Omega benefits at the cost of grinding a lot (daily playing, event participation, mandatory missions)?

Have you considered grinding a lot of ISK each month to buy plex for Omega? Sounds like that is what you’re looking for.

*I think the name Beta would fit better than Bravo if we want to be consistent in the naming scheme

[Mkikaden_Tiragen]

@h3rOk_Gaterau

The BRAVO status :

Would reward players who invest in the game but do not wish to subscribe, with rules that would oblige players to keep this status for 1 month and renewable every month, if the rules are respected.

Everything here actually means ‘force players to do content they have no interest in, so that they can get more benefits than players who do what they find fun’. That’s a lose/lose proposition: CCP makes less money than if the ‘Bravo’ players were subscribing, and the ‘Bravo’ players are stuck doing a lot of activity they hate without the benefit of a full Omega state for their efforts.

It’s far more effective to buy PLEX from other players for ISK to go Omega - CCP still gets income from the PLEX sales, and the PLEXing pilots choose what activities they want to use for making ISK rather than being forced into a specific list of actions every month.

[h3rOk_Gaterau]

I’ve looked at it, but with the basic ships, you need 13 billion ISK to get 500 Flex, with a venture you can make according to a recent video on youtube 5 million /hours, if you play it for 3 hours, it would take 866 days to get 500 Plex for just 1 month. … I talked to a GM about the game, he told me that it was not very feasible by this method, that I would have to invest in OMEGA sooner or later if I want to enjoy the game in the best possible way.

[Gerard_Amatin]

Those numbers are off. I haven’t looked at the plex price lately but I guess it’s a factor 10 lower: 1.3 billion for a month Omega

5 million per hour is really low, don’t do Venture mining if you want to grind for plex, or mine the better stuff.

I’m not good at making ISK, but if I go exploring for a couple hours I have a couple hundred million ISK. Do that a few times a month and you can pay for Omega.

[h3rOk_Gaterau]

Sorry, I was wrong, but it would take 86 days to have 500 Plexes and enjoy them for a month, then rebuild 86 days, we could only enjoy them 4 months out of a year with a huge investment.

[Gerard_Amatin]

This is why I don’t recommend to grind for Omega as a newbie, you have no idea yet how, nor the skills to make enough ISK.

Later on it is a good option, but for now enjoy the possibilities of Alpha, or pay for a subscription.

But since you’re looking for a way to obtain Omega ships by grinding, buying PLEX with ISK is the way to go. And stop Venture mining, or combine it with something like Project Discovery.

[Mkikaden_Tiragen]

Venture mining high-sec ores is basically the lowest possible income stream. You should not base ‘time to PLEX’ on that income option - it’s unrealistic. If you plan to be a miner, talk with a mining group about how to effectively make ISK as an Alpha to get your first sub, and where to make ongoing ISK from there as an Omega miner.

[h3rOk_Gaterau]

thank you for reading me, apparently I understand that I’m wrong to have proposed this, but I hope CCP will take this into account and opt for something that will reward alpha players a bit more because farming PLEX is not necessarily enjoying the game.

[Captain_Creampie]

No. Remove Alpha clones.

[0Lona_0ltor]

See my post I do not sub yet afford omega, at last count I had 53 years of plex time alone, I have 2 accounts.

I also have given $1000’s to plex to good probably around 2000 dollars worth I forget. Obtaining omega status for free is easy peasy and you can even make so much isk you will give it away for free.

Blue sky thinking will net you mega isk in eve. Try to push through the frame work that the game sets, ie if the logic path is a-b-c… x-y-z, then skip as many letters as you can.

Ie, when you start as player A look to player K and rob him or assist him. In either option he will provide more isk than player g h i or j makes phr.

[0Lona_0ltor]

Then flip burgers or mow grass for $ and buy a sub its like $20 pcm do 3 hrs work. If you can’t make $20’s stop playing games & correct you irl existance before playing anymore.

[Xanthellus]

I’m not really seeing any advantages for CCP here, business wise this seems lik a bad move.

I also get the distinct feeling that the requirements as you listed them are the exact things you’re already doing or would be willing to do, making this a “please give me free omega-light”.

As others said: you can already earn omega through in game means, if you don’t want to pay you have that option already.

[Oskar_Milde]

To be fair chief, there’s plenty of countries in the world where $20 is worth a lot more than a few hours of work - this is a little US-centric to be completely fair for our non-Western friends.

For the OP, I would definitely recommend looking into exploration and other potential ISK-making activities however. Explo can make you a great amount of money if you are careful, and watchful - get out of The Forge region, and go diving into some wormholes! A Heron with scanning modules will net you a massive amount of money if you read up well on what to look for (hint: Pirate hacking sites, not Sleepers!).

Another good one may be to go to an area where you don’t mine, and try some suspect baiting on folks using Augmented mining drones. Look it up, and have a go to see if you can grab some free, expensive drones. Even bumping out of control range and find a friend with a catalyst or something…

The other really valid option is to join a corp that offers to help new players (and again, read up on who to trust, and who not to!). The better ones will often have an Alpha to Omega program where they will help guide you to how to earn your first Plex. Once you’ve got that first monthly subscription, everything becomes a lot easier…

[Gerard_Amatin]

@h3rOk_Gaterau

opt for something that will reward alpha players a bit more because farming PLEX is not necessarily enjoying the game.

I agree that farming PLEX is not necessarily enjoying the game. I recommend not doing that.

Have you considered enjoying the game as Alpha? There’s lots of things you can do as Alpha!

[Kezrai_Charzai]

I agree with Ramona. CCP is a business, they’re not here to reward people with little to do besides play EVE.

I don’t have the link right now, but a previous post suggested a scaled progression of clone states with various levels of privileges based on how much you had paid. How much you play is irrelevant if you’re not sending cash.

If I find the earlier link I’ll post it here, however the idea was Alpha accounts are free unlimited trial, like they are now. Buy your first $4.99 package and you go to Alpha Plus, which has a few small benefits or account unlocks. Buy your first monthly sub, you go to Delta status. 3 months of sub, Delta Plus. Once you’ve subbed for a year you go to Gamma clone state.

Of course while you’re subbed you have full Omega status, but any time you’re not subbed, you’ve unlocked the various little Plus, Delta, and Gamma bonuses. The point of a progression like that is to get people over the first “pay barrier” of deciding to even pay anything at all (that’s the entry point that’s hard to get F2P games past). Then further small purchases unlock further bonuses to encourage people to say “Hey I spent $5 and set up my payment method, I might as well spend $10 and unlock some more stuff”.

That’s the sort of process that makes business and gaming sense. I appreciate that you took the time to write up your idea sensibly and present it, but think that it focuses too much on what the player gets and not on what CCP needs in order to keep developing the game.

[h3rOk_Gaterau]

I said to myself when giving the opportunity to new players to discover the true nature of the game, to be able to really test their own investment in order to know if they like the game and at that moment to progress towards OMEGA by taking out the credit card, in alpha in reality we only see the top of the iceberg, alpha is really limiting in terms of deep gameplay.