So, there are actually two important points here. First, is that you are not forever disadvantaged against the vets. Second, there is a big difference between direct selling of SP and injectors, and I assert that this is not a good deal for newbros.
- Player Churn- Players are constantly coming and going in all MMO’s. As vets leave, newbros come in. And, over time, they rise in power and skill, and become the next generation of vets. It’s not unlike “churn” in real world militaries.
- Specialization- You can actually max out a ship relatively fast if you focus your training on it. Of course, many newbros don’t know exactly what they want to do or what they want to fly, so they seem to spread SP all over the place. However, (and this is casual observation) it does seem like most figure things out well within their first year, and start becoming badasses in their favorite ships, roles, and activities.
- Logarithmic Growth- The amount of SP required to train each level of a skill increases exponentially. Players have noted that out of the total training time required to train a skill, only about 20% is required to reach rank 4.
- Tools For Growth- Well, everyone has access to cerebral accelerators, neural remaps, implants, and skill injectors. Unfortunately, newbros are unlikely to know how to best use these tools and/or be able to afford things like skill injectors. However, they eventually start making enough money to be able to afford them in bulk (I think I bought about 7 in my first year, but started eating them like candy in my second), and use them to pack on a tremendous amount of SP in a short amount of time. Vets, however, cannot do the same because of injector penalties. Yes, technically, they can keep injecting (I remember an article about one guy using them to become the highest SP character in the game). However, it is stupid expensive for them to do so, and often just better for them to be patient as they passively train. Thus, injectors are more a tool to help newbros to catch up, than it is for vets to pull ahead.
- Ship Balance- Ships are brilliantly balanced so that bigger, more expensive, and more skill intensive is not always better. Even newbros in cheap ships can be competitive and make meaningful contributions to fleets.
- Vet Power?- Azual Skoll has a blog post about being risk adverse in PvP, that talks about how he has a tendency to overestimate his opponent. Yes, there are dangerous and powerful vets flying around wrecking everyone’s ■■■■. But most vets don’t fit that category. You have care bears, industrialists, F1 monkeys, casuals, and a bunch of people who, for whatever reason, just aren’t that good. Hell, even the good players sometimes make mistakes or have bad days. Lord knows I start making mistakes when I get tired.
- Player Skill- Player skill is the single biggest factor in determining outcomes. This is important because there is nothing limiting how quickly you grow as a player. Yes, you will start off as an incompetent turd, but you will gain power at an extraordinary rate (both in terms of player and character power). It’s like going from peewee to varsity ball in your first year, playing college ball in your second, and turning pro in your third. Yeah, you’ll “have to pay your dues” -we all did. But newbros are not forever disadvantaged; nor will it take them 5-10 years to become competitive.
I’ve said this in like 3 posts already, but -Eve was already 12 years old by the time I started playing. It already had a storied history. Empires had risen, held the galaxy by the throat, and crumbled to ashes, and entire generations of players had come and gone by the time I got pooped out into space in a rookie ship. I’m by no means a badass, and would likely get destroyed in “fair” fights, but I now have a character that is the top 1% of all characters in terms of SP, and 3 more in the top 4%, I multibox [redacted] accounts (which I mostly pay for through plex, and not real world money), and I prey on other players for fun and profit. I am the danger lurking in the skies of new eden for many players. I am what goes bump in the night. It took time and effort to get here, but I got here. And so can you.
SP Packs Circumvent Injector Penalties
So, remember how I said that injectors were more a tool to help new players catch up than help vets pull ahead? Yeah, well, selling SP directly to players allows vets to circumvent injector penalties. Moreover, there is the fact that CCP is (thank god) limiting the packs to one purchase per account, but are periodically releasing new packs. This means that, vets, by virtue of being around longer, essentially get to buy more SP.
This is not something that helps newbros catch up, as it disproportionately advantages older players. Honestly, I think newbros should be angry about this.
