Been awhile, some thoughts on free to play

EVE Technology and Research Center Player Features & Ideas
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I haven’t played seriously in about ten years. Every now and then I stop back and see if I can see a reason to play. I tell you what isn’t a reason, plex and subscriptions.

Most of what my character can do and fly is locked behind the pay wall. So I get some T1 frigatte, put about a little and pretty soon I’d rather be flying Elite Dangerous where I have all my stuff, where the planets actually orbit and where I can get out of my space ship and do interesting things.

Most notably where I don’t have to drop a dime to play, but where I regularly spend money on cosmetics because they are awesome.

I left EVE when walking in stations died. Ten years later it’s still a forgotten dream.

So, you want to see old players back? Change your free to play system. Remove the locks on content, let me have all my skill points. Don’t let me train new ones. I don’t need them. If I do want to skill in some new kind of ship, if there are any, then I’ll slap some dollars on your barrel head, but I’m more likely to care about a cool skin for my Archon if I can fly my Archon. As is, there is no reason for me to purchase anything.

Give the people paying you a little something extra, a better loot table, or a boost to ISK or a discount on ISK fees for their citizenship status.

You aren’t going to get me to want to play locking my toys away, I’ve lived without them for ten years. You get me back by letting me have them and showing me there is something cool to do with them I can’t get anywhere else.

Heck even if I had to drop like $20, or $30, once, and once only, I’d probably call that a draw. I can eat McDonalds one less time. At $15 a month, or whatever you charge, you are competing with HBO and Netflix and their subscription offers more than yours does.

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Do you know what is odd? I play for free and yet I have found reason to play and have fun. I plan to purchase some plex shortly. Not that I need it or want it, I just believe in tipping the entertainers. The more I enjoy the game the more I give.

I am not here to say you should pay at all. However you shouldn’t complain about any game you claim not to be playing at all. You sound bitter about changes. Things will always change, when they do you need to make the decision to move ahead with those changes or drop out. When I arrived they replaced a relative decent UI with this transparent black garbage UI. I am still here. They have yet another change on the way. A new launcher is to be released and I am certain most of us will hate it or at least some aspect of it.

I really don’t see any reason they should give you free access and free stuff. My only issue is how this game has a schism up the middle between alpha and omega. Other games I played - where they were F2P - you can’t tell who is paid and who is free. You seem to be more about, intimidating CCP into changing the game to suit your needs. That will never happen.

Once I decide to leave a game due to vast unwelcome changes, I don’t come back years later to complain about it. What is done is done. Frankly, I would be shocked to see my account still active on any game after 10 years. If EVE online cleaned out their server database of these abandoned accounts, maybe searches would be quicker.

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Threatening them? What possible words did I write that could be construed as a threat?

I see you projecting a lot of your biases onto me, it’s the internet, that happens. I looked back at an old game I used to love and said, you know, I’d probably throw more money at it if…

Now CCP can decide if they want my money. If they don’t that’s literally no skin off my back. However in an era of Free to play and cosmetics it seems to me they would want someone like me, with a lot more disposable income than I had, having an interest in spending some of it here.

As is, I don’t.

You keep having fun gatekeeping who you think is and isn’t allowed to have an internet opinion though.

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Oh look another one. It’s almost as if someone is using alts to create an echo chamber.

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Quite right too. Why should those who are paying for the game subsidise you ?

No. Access to those skill points is an ongoing thing that subscribers pay for. Why should you get for free what others are paying for ?

CCP is not a charity. Someone has to pay for the game. It’s just tiresome listening to all the people who don’t want it to be them.

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Devs need to eat?

Ah I see you want EVE to turn into Elite Dangerous where they are literally depending on the microtransactions for the skins on like the 15 ships + the various ground gear in the game :laughing: :sweat_smile:

I will be blunt and clear. Please read what I will say in this section very carefully.

I have been putting good hours into Elite. After maybe… Hour 40? I got the hang of the loops and then I saw THE MASSIVE GRIND of the game. I will give you credit that you know how bad the grind is in ED and it is NOTHING compared to EVE online. As they say. Elite is a mile wide pond and only 1 inch deep. There are horrendous things in that game that make it a joke of an “MMO.” But I am currently sinking time in to explore the last bits I haven’t accomplished yet.

From what I gain from your post is that you are very uncommitted to the subscription model and prefer one time buys like Elite. I hope you know that people buy bulk omega for less than 15$ (USD). People buy years’ worth of omega time in one go because they like the game so much. (For a decent discount I may add.) These people are the regulars in EVE online and enjoy the game long enough to commit to it.

  • It really sounds like you just don’t want to commit to the most complex MMO currently on the market.
  • It also sounds like you tried the other space games and are still not happy with your gaming life. (Trust me I can relate on that front.)
  • So you are now here to ask CCP to turn EVE online into the structure Elite Dangerous has by funding the game off of skins!? :interrobang: :interrobang: :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

Did I get it right? This really sounds like a personal issue not a community issue.

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moved to Player Features & Ideas - EVE Online Forums

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I don’t understand these people. EVE has been pay only for most of its history. Now you have the option to play for free albeit at a limited capacity (debatable) and now people complain about a “paywall” . Sounds like mental diff.

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Sorry but I don’t play head games with ALT accounts, if you are accusing me. I would think it would be simple enough for a forum moderator to step in and see my IP address. I am not using VPN to hide my location since I started playing here.

Back on topic, @Galan_Amarias in your 5th paragraph you tell them what you demand in order for them to get paid. It is a form of coercion, like telling the bar manager you will boycott his place until they bring back the topless dancers. You have a right to your opinion, while your opinion sucks, you don’t play the game and complain about a paywall. I have played several games where you can’t do something because you don’t own a battlepass, VIP key, or value kit. Yet the game is playable for free and/or they allow you to grind those items. This is such a game. If you grind enough ISK, you can get your plex for the work and pay for the omega and nobody knows any different. I on the other hand don’t desire omega, it is not alluring to me, and those who want it can have it. However you will either buy it for cash or grind it with ISK. All free to play online games will have some method to make money. I played Star Trek Online for years and never once bought VIP (monthly sub). What did I pay for? I bought some pretty fancy ships for $35 US each. In the end, I left that game in 2019, mostly because it fell flat in many areas, and they removed too much good content. It was too much change for me. However I never went back and told them to put the content back or else I won’t spend more money on ships.

Welcome back to the forums, I hope you reconsider giving the game another shot.

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Play Elite Dangerous then. By the sound of it, you don’t want play this game for its niche - harsh world where you can be killed or kill without consent - anyway, but as some theme park simulator. So even there wasn’t paywall, you would still quit and rant on forum the moment you got ganked afk mining in “safe zone” anyway.

I am also not a huge fan of monthy subs, but servers aren’t running for free, they need to be paid and the EVE’s monetization strategy - freemium where you can play for free and buy the omega for ingame money is really great for players who thinks it is perhaps not worth the 20€ it costs each month.

Well, if this was posed differently I could give you some tips on what meaningful can you do as alpha. But it is just a rant, so bye.

BTW, CCP doesn’t give a ■■■■ about you and your demands, threats and suggestions. And now when this thread ended up in trash bin category, nobody will read it anymore either.

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Aisha was talking about the OP most likely and not you

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I really believe OP is not happy with the current state of space games/MMOs. I can honestly relate tbh.

There are some really promising space titles being released. (I will not list due to nature of the topic)

Alphas can do ALOT in New Eden. They can PVP, Do t1 logi, Fly Incursions, Do limited Abyssals, Explore, and do PVE anoms. (Sadly, CCP took away lv 4 missions for alphas :cry:)

Literally the only things alphas can’t do is industrial stuff/PI.

I want to file this under ignorance of the larger systems at play rather than just trolling. CCP is not going to change the Alpha model and I will bet my reputation on it.

Go and try out EVE again OP. Alot has changed.

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Maybe the 2005 graphics also :stuck_out_tongue: I do get what you mean.

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Ah hahahaha,

I see the forum folks are as toxic as ever, surprised none of you asked for my stuff.

@John_Rochard Offering money for a service isn’t threatening anyone. Go learn English.

To the people who thing they’d be “subsidizing” my game, learn economics. I’m offering to buy things, but only if other things are included with the deal. The current offer isn’t worth the money.

To the folks who think they can read my mind, or detect emotion, thanks for the laugh.

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In that case, I do apologize Aisha Katalen. I was often accused of being my neighbor in STO forums because we both talked about the same things and often used the same vernacular cliche phrases.
@Anthony_FatTony_Amico it started with the poor space simulator where no ship can fly straight up or down. There was the simplistic AI, my friend could out gun in any ship by flying in reverse and they would line up on his bow. Most of all was the content, in 2019 they pulled the user created content editor making you play the same stale missions created by Cryptic developers only. Players had better imaginations on content creation. The only reason they gave for removal was they couldn’t afford the database maintenance. I think they were concerned the players were doing a better job.

To prawda, angielski to tylko jeden język, który znam tylko dzięki moim ograniczeniom. o/

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Have you ever considered you are the echo chamber?

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It’s not even $20 a month if you go for the 3 monthly option ( which I do ). It works out at $15.99 a month…which works out at £12.50 a month for me.

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Maybe it is you who needs to learn economics. You aren’t ‘offering’ anything. You are expecting some mix and match deal where you get just the bits you want…at a reduced price. Economically that means those who are paying the full price ( even for bits they don’t personally use ) most definitely are subsidizing you and your special deal.