Ok so it’s the 11th, when can we expect to be able to make referral codes? I have a friend wanting to start today
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Looking at the current rewards seems like the program got halved.
Yeah - bookmarking this and going to fetch popcorn 
250 PLEX and other random crap no one cares for is not a reward - spin it however you like, but the program just got worse.
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These two reddit comments sum it up perfectly.
Well, you did 
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The nerf to SP farming (also people who pay for their recruits’ accounts, or recruits who upgrade via PLEX) was probably expected by many. SP farming is a problem for the game, but nobody sensible really expects you to throw away that multi-million dollar income source. However, this isn’t really a nerf to SP farming, but a nerf to people starting new accounts and paying with PLEX. I think it’s completely reasonable, although I already have all the accounts I’ll likely ever need 
. Maybe you can bring back PLEX for Power of 2? 
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Here’s a table of the rewards (in ISK value) for each recruit. I’ve included a column for the old system, and two for the new system. The “New Total” column is if you upgrade to omega and buy PLEX from the store. The “New Reward 2” column is for the 1-40 recruit bonuses. I assume that a single purchase of 110 PLEX ($4.99) is enough to satisfy the both the “any purchase” and “buys PLEX” requirements. I valued the 24 hour accelerators at 20m ISK each which is typical at the beginning of events for the basic kind. Everything else is valued at the Jita sell price. The cells highlighted in purple are for recruit levels that reward apparel or SKINs which can’t be valued yet, though they likely won’t be worth that much after a while as we’ve seen with similar continued rewards.
As you can see this new system provides a lower ISK reward at most levels, and most importantly less at the end of the new 40 recruit bonus. Every recruit after the fortieth will favour the old system even more.
Fun graph:-
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I’m pretty sure an almost 50% reduction, plus the fact that you no longer recieve ANYTHING if your friend upgrades with plex, not even gametime… Counts as a nerf.
This recruitment system is not good.
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This sticks out more than anything for me about all this. So we have a hand full of people personally responsible for recruiting a SIGNIFICANT portion of people that go omega and CCP mentality is to basically ignore what they need to keep doing it? What the hell are we doing???
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Are we really surprised? This new program was only announced like a day before the old one was phased out and full details were only released today. Classic bait and switch, baby.
I wonder what the CSM thinks? Probably no comment because they weren’t privy to any discussion, which means they don’t have to weigh-in one way or the other.
I have to agree… I was really hopeful when @CCP_Falcon Stated that their intention was not to nerf the system… Yet, When I look at it (And granted I’m no genius) It looks like a 50% nerf. I struggle to see how skins that anyone who recruits can get will be a viable source of ISK via this system.
I gotta say, I’m pretty disappointed.
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This is another cost-cutting measure intended to shore up the finances of CCP’s sinking ship. If the sole purpose of this new program was to impact SP farms then someone should point out that players forewarned CCP of this very possibility when they introduced skill injectors, extractors and buffed Alphas.
The dismal 15th anniversary FanFest this year and the fact that there is no official FanFest in Iceland next year should raise alarm bells (sure, the building “needs repairs”). Every new feature over the past 6-9 months has been form over function despite players telling CCP specifcally this is not what they want. This new recruitment program is just the latest example.
Not that it matters - the decision was made weeks or months ago. CCP only posts announcements here and seldom reads or follows up on these threads. If they want to gauge player reaction or solicit player input they post on r/Eve.
Soooooooooooooooo I’m not going to get into the rewards yet but the UX of the new recruiter page is terrible.
The old page split recruits into pages of 20 or so at a time. The new page is an infinite scrolling page where every recruit has their own line. So if you have, say, 2,100+ recruits, it’s pretty much an unusably long list.
EDIT: @CCP_Falcon will I still get game time for all the previously PLEX’d referrals left un-claimed in my queue?
You know, halving the rewards for recruiters would make sense if CCP wasn’t getting enough of the deal. All in all, with the old program, CCP was getting 1 month and giving it to the recruiter… which would suck if too many recruits didn’t paid a second, third and subsequent months to give CCP a profit.
All in all, let’s say you’re Alpha and don’t know sure whether you like the game or not… so you buy a small Omega package (1 month) to try whether it feels any better with “full powers”… it doesn’t feels better… so you quit. If CCP was handing out that month to the guy who recruited you, well, they’re just losing money in the deal as they asumed your Alpha time costs, and then delivered 2 months of Omega time costs for the price of 1. Tuning the reward system so it gives them some edge in actual conditions of a recruit’s tenure would make sense.
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Do you know what it looks like when someone has paid? I had a buddy sign up, but nothing new has appeared yet.
Also, it looks like Buddy/Recruit a Friend Connect is gone.
We’re definitely not trying to nerf the current system
Thanks @CCP_Falcon for this lovely non-nerf to the program. Really appreciate your being open and straight up with us.
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He said they weren’t trying to nerf it. They just somewhat miscalculated the value of 250 PLEX vs 500 PLEX. 
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Really not liking this change. I’ve brought in few friends trough the program too and even subbed few alts, and can say that a free month as a reward for that was definitely a good carrot for adding another account into my roster.
Truely an awful change. And for what? Ships that don’t have much mainstream appeal? Some skins? These sound like “Rewards” in the sense that “The intent is to provide recruiters with a sense of pride and accomplishment” instead of just giving them better rewards. How about instead of this. The ship/skin rewards are scrapped and instead the could choose from 30 days worth of PLEX in game time. 30 Days worth of injected Free SP to a character etc. And for every account that gets added… They get say 20% More in benefits (Obviously capped at some point but its just a what if of a better reward than the now previous one)
This, is a massive nerf, nothing more. And the fact that there was no warning of this is a massive lack of transparency in the eyes of the playerbase. Shame.
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CCP doesn’t want anyone to monetize any aspect of EVE (even if they’re working their a** off for it). The irony is that they’re doing little to crack down on the massive botting/RMT empires some players (and corporations) are running because these inflate the concurrent active player count. They know exactly who’s doing what - but you can’t have half your player base disappear overnight for botting/macro abuse. As long as the big null-sec wars keep drawing headlines they keep turning a blind eye.
The reality is that CCP is doing a sh*t job of both attracting and retaining new players. If the nerf to the recruitment program underscores how much it’s being abused by some players then it also serves as a reminder that it’s not that effective anyway (aside from those that are actually dedicating their time to recruit players or players that casually refer their friends).
The fact that some players are turning a huge profit SP farming underscores just how broken the system is (there’s one guy making a living just cloaky camping dozens and dozens of alts). I honestly can’tsee how Alphas have benefited EVE at all.
Arthur there are definitely folks who abuse but there are also many content creators who’ve brought in thousands of new players that are also getting targeted by this.
ITs pretty easy to tell the difference. One is a cancer one is a massive benefit to eve.
You want thousands of new players coming to eve, this change has hurt those doing that as well as the farmers.
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@TDKTrader I agree with you - which is why I think it’s literally suicide from a company standpoint to eliminate a potential stream of new players. If Alphas, SP farming and fleets of botting/macro/ratting alts are the issue - then it seems clear where the focus needs to be,
CCP is too scared to reign this in, though - which is why we’re only seeing selective bans. They’re not attracting enough new players (the irony is not lost here) to offset the potential backlash from null-sec and the ensuing PR nightmare from r/Eve. The thought that they might actually have to start paying for the game is not something most null-sec players can even begin to wrap their head around.
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