Sorry for the novel, but I would like to clarify my position since you brought it up.
Quite possibly. It’s one of the reasons I called him emotional. His responses to those arguments were based on how he felt, and how he felt I felt, not about the actual facts of the matter.
My support for the adjustments for alphas (mentioned in both this thread and the other thread -specifically about alpha players) is entirely based on what I believe would be healthy for the game. (Measures to reduce the number of p2w accusations and allow alphas to feel good about the time they spend in game, while still allowing Omega to look attractive.)
I define “healthy” in terms of net income, that’s subscriber numbers (both plexed accounts and direct subs) + micro transactions, as well as overall server player numbers, both pcu and monthly. The higher those numbers, the better.
As near as I can tell, there are two main theories about p2w.
The more restrictive, which I disagree with, is any out of game influence that can be leveraged for in game benefit. This definition means any in game markets will inherently foster p2w as even without a PLEX style economy, players can buy and sell gold through RMT black market sites. As I find free markets a fundamental part of an enjoyable MMO experience, I entirely reject this philosophy.
Also, I don’t really have too much against selling xp or resource boosters, especially in long running games or if the level limit isn’t a huge grind and the resource boost isn’t abusive. I’m probably a bit more liberal on this front than many others that would have issues with these items in mmos.
The other primary definition for p2w, which I do subscribe to, is any benefit that can only be purchased with real world money but not earned through in game activity. Gold ammo fits into this category.
Strictly speaking, because PLEX can be bought on the market, and then used to PLEX an account to Omega status, EVE doesn’t exactly fill this definition. The problem comes from the amount of grind required to earn the sub. So while not technically p2w, it will feel like that to the average Alpha player (that has any interest in interacting with other players) that has Omega out of reach.
Players coming to EVE after seeing the marketing around it, or from watching gameplay on various forms of social media, will likely come in as Alphas, as that’s what they’re pushed toward. So what are they greeted with?
Unless they specifically desire the double training speed, the early experience of Omega isn’t much different from Alpha, so they’ll likely stay as Alpha until there’s a reason to change. But after a bit of play, the players will start to notice certain things are locked away, and start to feel bad about their position.
This will either encourage them to upgrade to Omega, or be disillusioned about playing the game at all. The latter seems to have happened in this case.
What happened? The person in question voiced a concern (legitimate or not) on the forum, and the first response that came back was to call the player a freeloader. This is not an isolated instance.
Fast forward several months, and the player seems to have deleted the character, potentially never setting foot back into New Eden again. Not only does this deprive EVE with an extra notch on the pcu counter, it’s also lost potential sales from PLEX micro transactions, even if the player never upgraded to Omega.
Furthermore, what is this player likely to tell friends about the game? Pay to win. Unfriendly community. And their impressions of the game itself will likely be impacted as well: bad points will be remembered more clearly, and good points will be suppressed in the player’s mind.
So, how would my adjustments have influenced this situation?
The objective is to make the player feel good about investing time into his or her account, so even if the state of the clone doesn’t get upgraded to Omega, there’s more time for potential PLEX transactions to take place.
As such, every skill trained should be a stepping stone toward the end goal of making the role they play more effective. And If they can be as effective as possible in the roles they play, as limited in number as they are, less focus will be on the lack of roles.
There will no doubt be complaints, but a response like, “you can be as effective in the roles you have access to as an Omega can, but if you would like to have access to more roles, you’ll have to upgrade to Omega,” is more likely to keep them around than unhelpfully referring to the player as a “freeloader.”
The reason why I chose t1 frigates, destroyers, and cruisers, is because both Homefronts (pve) and fw complexes (pvp) have gated content for those ships where they can’t be impacted by someone with a better ship. It’s also why I have no qualms about removing pirate ships, because those ships are not allowed in that content.
While this is an extremely limited set of roles, it’s enough to allow the Alpha player a taste of the game without feeling like their equipment is gimped. This helps to remove negative feelings toward their time in game, while also making sure not to overshadow Omega for the primary reasons people are willing to pay for the sub.
And also, since I really enjoy Faction Warfare, it might encourage a lot more people to participate. I’d love it if instead of a thousand concurrent users in empire fw, if we’d have 10k instead.