I seem to have found the first answer. PLEX was made in 2008 but only obtained in game from ETCs until 2009 where CCP store begun selling PLEX, and 2014 where ETC was completely removed 3rd party sellers sold PLEX too.
I found a post stating it was available from the CCP store since 2009. But also that you could convert it already in 2008. The link I found to what seems to be the release message for PLEX just gives a server error. But I did find https://www.eveonline.com/news/view/the-etc-is-dead-long-live-the-plex-activation-code which explains a bit about ETC and the original partner sold PLEX packages.
I found ETC is Eve Time Code, but how did you get these? And how did they come into the game to be converted?
There was also this stuff called Aur, Aurum or something that was all converted into PLEX at one point, as far as I understood this was originally used for the clothes store. Very hard to search for Aur which it is commonly called in posts though, thanks to Arch Linux …
For historical information about Aurum, see the EVE Uni Wiki page.
Regarding ETC’s they were 16 character codes that could be redeemed in game for a 30-day Pilot’s License EXtension (PLEX)*, an in-game object that could be sold for ISK or activated. ETCs were available through third-party partners (and I think direct from CCP, though not really sure). ETCs replaced the old GTCs (Game Time Cards) which were physical cards with a code under scratch-off foil.
* At the time, PLEX was only used for game time, not for any other in-game purchases. When microtransactions were introduced with WiS/CQ, the conversion rate was one PLEX to 3500 Aurum. Aurum was the currency for buying apparel and augmentations until PLEX was re-factored 1:500 and Aurum was removed from the game.
Thanks for that Hatch. I’ve come back from last playing in 2014 and boy have things changed. It seems the only way to pay for an account now is through the Omega system? It seems quite expensive for a casual player - is that now the only way to advance past 4.5m SP?
I did the mistake of leaving a ship and now not being able to go back in because I’m not Omega :-/ .
All the others are gone yes, there is only PLEX and RL$. This thread was for historical info.
The in game store was also renamed somewhere a long the way, forgot old name just stumbled over that when trying to figure out ETCs, so you may know it under a different name, NES New Eden Store is what there is in game now and where you use PLEX.
You can have up to 20 mil SP, buying injectors. The alpha injectors can only be used one per day, but unlike other injectors they dont have diminished returns.
Take the large skill injector(LSI). It gives 500k SP until you reach 5 mil SP. If you have 4.9 mil sp it will give you 500k.
After 5 mil sp then a LSI gives you 400k SP, until you hit another threshold then it gives even less. After 80m SP a LSI only gives 150k SP.
Alpha injectors will only give out 50k irregardless how many SP, but if you go from omega to alpha, any omega skills stop working/training and the injectors will only work on alpha skills only.
Technically you still get redeemable codes if you buy stuff from official EVE resellers. Also for completeness: some resellers have different items and packages available than in the EVE store. Sometimes they still have batches of old version packages available in parallel to new or they have packages longer available than CCP does.
Also they have more options for some items. For example you can get 2 months of playtime which is not offered for me in the EVE store at least. (it was in the store at some point but vanished…unsure if this is general or just a problem for me)