Free to play not so much?

So I guess it’s not a free to play model, but a limited version of that? I actually paid for some game time as a subscriber in the past, but it appears I can’t use the ship and upgrades on it because the skills I trained are locked behind a pay wall. So I can’t continue to retain the benefit of what I’d paid for previously?

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Could you continue to retain the benefit of what you’d paid for previously when you stopped subscribing during the days when a subscription was required to play the game?

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Was it called a free to play game back when a subscription was required?

Are you not able to play for free right now?

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Nope, I can log in, look at my ship and marvel at the days when the skills I have trained up to fly and operate it were working, but unless I pay for the Omega status I can’t actually undock and utilize the ship.

Now, there is the possibility of purchasing a lesser ship with lowered requirements for the drones, subcomponents, weapons, etc… then I could actually play EVE online. Which is the reason I posted in the first line of the op to confirm that it is a limited version of free to play, since it has been so long I very well could have been missing a key element in there somewhere that still lets me utilize those skills I’d trained up when I was paying for the Omega status. I’ve been watching updated YouTube videos, reading some reddit posts and doing a few google searches, but haven’t found anything that suggests I can use those skills again without actually paying. And if that’s the case, and it is not a truly free to play framework and is a limited version, I’m fine with that. For someone brand new to get to try out the game, that’s probably sufficient.

Why should people like myself who DO ( continuously ) pay for Omega subsidise those who don’t ? If you want Omega functionality…pay for it.

Basically what you are asking for is to continue to fly ships only available for Omega, without paying for Omega. I think I’d rage quit if that sort of thing was allowed.

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So I guess you’ll be rage quitting now? There are hundreds, if not thousands of players on right now playing without spending a single dime. Or is your gripe that you don’t want those of us that have paid, to continue to get the benefits of what we have already paid for? Either way YOU aren’t subsidizing anyone, in any way actually. Omega players that use skills they paid for already, literally already paid, so your monthly payment isn’t necessary, we’ve already covered it with our own money. And free to play players that have never spent a dime on the game are playing on a system that was here before you, and will be here after you should you keep your word and rage quit the game, so you’re money wasn’t necessary before and won’t keep the game going if you stay.

You only continue to get full Omega benefits if you continue to pay for Omega. It is an ongoing thing. You keep your SP…but may well be unable to make use of ships that require those skills. As Eve University says…

“If an Omega clone is downgraded to an Alpha clone (because the account’s subscription has run out), any skills that character has trained which are not part of the Alpha skill set are locked and become inactive, i.e. they cannot be used, but the invested skill points will not be lost. Any items or ships which require the locked skill become inactive and cannot be used”

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Much appreciated. That’s exactly what I was wondering when I originally posted. No sarcasm there (sometimes not easy to convey that by text), I do actually appreciate the quote. I was just coming back for a short bit to see how things were looking after a time away, I wasn’t sure if the old skills were unavailable by design or I had just missed something in my settings somewhere.

There is actually an unfairness in the system, but it is more the other way round. Alphas can get to 5m SP just by existing…but alt toons within an Omega account can’t as you can only train one at a time ( unless you pay for multiple training ). So an Alpha can potentially reach 5m SP before any of the alt toons in an Omega account. Which is crazy.

Everytime they say “free to play” it isn’t. It’s just a catch to get people to download. Number of downloads is one metric used in game popularity.
F2P is a case where “when it’s too good to be true it usually isn’t” sort of thing.
Alpha pilots play a dumbed-down and meaningless version of EVE. Alpha is for space tourists.
Omega is the real game and it ain’t free to play, EVE has never been free to play.

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It’s an unlimited time trial, originally it was only two weeks long.

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Yea its a free to play trail and if you are really good you can make enough ingame money with a alpha account to buy omega with ingame currency.

And then you will realise that real life time is worth more than the hundreds of hours of grinding and just subscribe.

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Good luck grinding the metric ton of cash you’ll need to get 500 plex as an alpha, even as an omega it’s a chore. And it aint getting easier with the +33% price increase.

Technically if you stay within what is available to ALPHAS it is free to play.

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You haven’t lost the skills you have, they have just been switched off. If you were to resub again, the skills will return.

You could try to earn ISK to buy PLEX but under an Alpha model.

Why try to reason with unreasonable people?

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@Reverand_Jim , depending on what skills you had, as an alpha you can have up to 20 mil SP. While you cant train any skill, you can use injectors to inject SP for any remaining alpha skills.

Rolls eyes.

as many people have said before it can be free to play if u grind out enough isk. i can tell you its possible but to be its hard and it does limit how much u can do if every month you are hit with a 1.6trillion bill (i think is the price right now roughly) i need to be null sec ratting while having an alt minning and another alt in jita doing economy and hypernet relays to be able to afford it and continue to progress further with my ships and bp collection. so free to play yes is it easy not really but its not meant to be easy since ccp likes there money