Micro Subscription ? -> Alpha Specialization!

Not sure if this is a good or a bad idea, and how the details of it would make it viable. Obviously these are things we can discuss below.

The idea is (now that Alpha/Omega code has been programmed) to have certain aspect of the game put under a Micro Subscription Model. This Micro Subscription would let an Alpha Clone ‘subscribe’ and thus extend the capabilities to the theme of the Micro Subscription.

So f/e:

  • Captain of Industry (Micro Subscription $ ?,- ). Alpha Clone status is extended with Industry Type skills and Skill levels for as long as the Subscription gets paid. Certain Type ships will be unlocked too (miners/haulers).

  • Mission Runner (Micro Subscription $ ?,- ). Alpha Clone status is extended with Mission Runner Type Skills and Skill levels (fighting/connections) for as long as the Subscription gets paid. Certain Type ships will be unlocked too (haven’t really dived into mission running to suggest ships).

  • State Military Service (Micro Subscription) $ ?,- ). Alpha Clone status is extended with Combat Type Skills and Skill levels (fighting) for as long as the Subscription gets paid. Certain Type ships will be unlocked too (CHOOSE FACTION ! Unlocks more Military ships of said faction).

  • Secret Service (Micro Subscription) $ ?,- ). Alpha Clone status is extended with Exploration type Skills and Skill levels (Exploration/Scanning) for as long as the Subscription gets paid. Certain Type ships will be unlocked too (Covert Ops).

  • Etc ?!?

*DO NOTE, this would be an intermediate unlock of the game in that area of gameplay, and might not give the player FULL potential in that area (as it pertains to Omega Clone Status). But it would give Alpha players that have found their niche in the game (what they like to do most), and unlock progression in that type of gameplay for a small fee, without going full on Omega.

It’s $15 a month… Just subscribe. Forsake getting 1x McDonald’s Cheeseburger a month, and just subscribe.

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If you can’t afford a $15 subscription for a video game, then there are probably other things you should be doing with your life than playing video games…

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A cheese burger is like $2,50 ?

There may well be people that can’t afford (or have subscription anxiety) $15,- /m but have little else to do (or are unable to do) in their life but play video games.

More in general reply to the two above here… You guys are the same people i see ‘whine’ about alpha’s being able to do to much and how ppl need to pay to keep the servers up, and what not…

So i give an alternative where budget gamers fond of this video game get an opportunity to expand their gameplay in a certain direction they like playing this game, and contribute to expenses. And yet again there is a play ‘nay just pay all of it’, are you the resident ‘nay sayers’ of the Idea section ?

So, i were to say that if you would open up a part of the game with Micro Subscriptions, you’d be able to tone down actual Alpha Play, and put the top end of it into the Micro Subscription and extend that upwards a bit. Solves various things in one go…

They’ll introduce it as clone state beta gamma etc but for now they probably have a healthy enough omega pool and plex hasn’t reached 5bil/monthly sub like serenity was just be patient

@Dark, sure something like that would be great…. with roughly the 4 categories above each could be $5,- so that all 4 would be $20,- meaning Omega would be the clear choice. But once you max out your alpha or have found a nice you like you can get an extension of the capabilities for $5,- … Pick 2 and go for $10,- … then full game.

Only thing i wonder about is whether or not it would make players ditch Omega and go for the 2 things they are into most and have $10,- subscription. Especially if they haven’t been playing for long and have not maxed out their skills…

You know what would make this idea of getting your account out of Alpha state would be really awesome to have? A way to get Omega without actually using any money. It’s like a magical thing that you can earn the ability to play the game while playing the game.

Most of the rest of us call it Plex.

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A potential pitfall could be if these mini-subscriptions can be plexed at a discounted rate. Alt characters are typically specialized for their role, and lowering the cost for a specialization lowers the bar to multiboxing. I could not say where the market might stabilize, but in the short term I would expect an alt account explosion, a glut of almost botted resources flooding the market, and crashing plex prices.

If you require the payment of hard currency, then you have the problem of people complaining they can’t plex that type of account.

Personally, though, I think Alpha accounts are pretty nice as is, and $15 a month for a game is fairly inexpensive. I think that most players do tend to focus on certain aspects of Eve over doing everything at once, and if it is subscription price that holds people back from going omega, it might be better to just lower the subscription price for everyone.

That I can tell, though, CCP has a lot to do and not a lot to do it with. Counting inflation rates, Eve already gets cheaper to play from year to year. Unless I were absolutely certain an idea would generate more income, I wouldn’t take the risk at this stage.

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It’s $15… a month.

As @QuakeGod said, if you can’t afford that, you shouldn’t be sitting on your ass playing video games. You should be out working so you can afford $15 without crippling your budget.

Alpha injectors are what you are asking for. it’s already in the game.

No you can already specialise your alphas.

So anyone on a small retirement, anyone disabled on social security, any young kid with just a small allowance … they should all not play Eve because it’s just $15 which YOU have no trouble coughing up… i just … i don’t know what to say…

Alpha Injectors can not raise the skill level of skills you can not train ? … i am talking about extending the skills and ships of alpha accounts to allow them to have access to higher level gear in exchange for a ‘partial/micro-subscription’.

You can not extend your Alpha beyond any specialization than the Alpha state allows. Say i want to just mine and fly a barge with some mining drones… Doing a Captain of Industry subscription could allow that, without extending any other skills beyond the Alpha state level.

Or say i want to do lvl5 missions, which i currently can’t within Alpha state, i could get a Mission Runner subscription and get the tools to do them. Now i am not sure if lvl5 is the cap in missions? So maybe Alpha should allow upto lvl3 missions, the Subscription could add lvl5? and more social skills to get more rewards.

If that’s what you want my answer is no hell no.
That sort of microtransactions actually costs them money to run because of the admin overhead.

Then hell no. There is a very good reason free accounts can not use barges or do much industry. It scales too well to infinity.

The following is meant only to clarify the OP’s suggestion. It does not render any opinion of my own.

That I can tell, he doesn’t mean micro-transactions. The proposal is more akin to tiered subscriptions.

Alpha accounts have an artificially imposed skill cap. Presently you have to go all in for an omega account that lifts all those caps at once. What he wants are focused subscriptions that lift the cap on a subset of related skills for a lesser price.

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A kid over 13 needs his parents permission to play eve, a kid under the age of 13 is not even allowed to play without breaching the EULA.