Price of Plex - Market intervention Required from CCP

[Kezrai_Charzai]

@DeMichael_Crimson

Doesn’t matter, the type of mentality you have is what’s killing this game.

Hahahaaa … seriously, it was already pointed out to you the history of time codes, Plex, various cash shop issues in the game (Monoclegate, Summer of Rage etc in other threads). The facts are posted right in front of your eyes, the dates are there to see…

and your answer is to cover your eyes and ears and start singing “Lalalaa I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

There is something killing this game all right, and it is fossilized dinosaurs like you and the decision making team at CCP who think they are selling Rolexes and Ferraris, and not realizing MMOs are a commodity these days. It ain’t 2003 anymore, bub.

[DerpiestTony]

1. Alphas keep the game alive, they’re something omegas take advantage of and hunt down, and most omegas pay cash, therefore alphas are something we should keep for good.

2. Removing Plex from the market is a big mistake, say bye to a big fraction of your alphas and omegas who use ISK to pay for and future subscriptions.

Im an alpha who doesn’t bot, and I’m a legit nullsec explorer.

[Daichi_Yamato]

@Kezrai_Charzai

The only thing that stabilized the steady player bleed of EVE was Alpha state… you know, that thing that all the sub-only dinosaurs want to get rid of?

This isn’t true.

Whatever boost alphas initially gave is gone and we now appear to be in an even steeper decline than before alphas.

The result of alphas has been more whining from entitled snowflakes, more bots and vets dropping their sub to play as alpha or creating alpha alts (myself included).

I haven’t seen any observable benefit of alphas. They generally don’t create content or otherwise enrich the game.

[Teckos_Pech]

@Desmios_Sanguis

I screwed up, big time, I should have checked PLEX prices first. 2.1bil? It was 1.1/1.2 when I left. I checked in with my old incursion running buddies, they are still making the same amount. They said there has been huge inflation because of a few super players that largely control the economy and are able to PLEX 8 - 20 accounts for in-game isk, some by botting. He said only a very small amount of players can keep up with the inflation rate. I don’t know the truth of this, but I do know this is disgraceful.

PSA: Inflation is defined as a general increase in the price level. The increase in a single item in the basket of goods used to calculate a CPI (or any other index) is not necessarily inflation. Some even limit the definition to a sustained increase in the price level due to a rise in the quantity of money.

@Desmios_Sanguis

I am not going to sell every asset I have so some superpower with trillions of isk can play for free. And I feel like I’m getting screwed by having to save up and pay real money for a PLEX while some botter plays for free.

Then pay for a subscription. That is what I do, I pay approximately $0.365/day to play (I buy for a year at a time). Even if you pay month-to-month you are paying only about $0.50/day to access Omega content.

@Desmios_Sanguis

These people should not be able to control the PLEX economy like this, especially when so much wealth is concentrated in so few hands – and all those people isk-plex their account.

We have absolutely no idea what inequality looks like in the game. Ironically PLEX can be a mechanism to reduce that inequality.

@Desmios_Sanguis

I don’t have all the answers, I only know the problem and the one solution I can offer: get rid of it.

As was asked earlier, how long did you think about this?

PLEX offeres another avenue for obtaining Omega status. This gives players more choices. Yes, the high price makes it hard for some players to avail themselves of this option, but still it is an option for some. So it is better to have it than not.

Further, it allows the mega rich players to trade ISK for game time…with players who may have time to work a good job, but less time to grind. Thus, it may very well flatten out the ISK/Wealth distribution–i.e. move ISK from the mega rich to the non-mega rich.

@Desmios_Sanguis

Indeed. Let me extract all the skills I’ve spent years accumulating so some fat ■■■■ in goonwaffe with 20 accounts ratting 0.0 can play for free.

You need to get rid of this idiotic idea that PLEXing an account is playing for free. It isn’t.

A person who PLEX their account trades time for ISK and then trades the ISK for PLEX to obtain Omega status.

A person who pays via a sub trades their time for RL money, then trades that RL money with CCP to obtain Omega status.

In both cases, people are trading time ultimately for Omega status. Some players have a high opportunity cost of time, others do not. PLEX lets those players come together and make a mutually beneficial trade.

Your posts indicate such a trade is not mutually beneficial to you. Fine. Don’t make the trade. Pay via a sub…which is what you want to force everyone else to do…so lead by example and do it now.

@Traco_Miritu

So letting the superwealthy win is an solution?

How are the winning Balos?

@Desmios_Sanguis

Right, I’m a troll because I don’t want to subsidize a bunch of superwealthy players with 10+ accounts to play for free.

Then don’t. Stop playing the PLEX game, pay via sub and stop whining like a ■■■■■.

[Daichi_Yamato]

@Kezrai_Charzai

Notice the difference in player population before Alpha (red line) and after Alpha (green line)

Notice how your green line starts a year before alphas? And the spike dies in 6 months?

[Kezrai_Charzai]

Dude, please stop being intentionally dense. The green line is not ‘data’. The green line is something I tossed on in 3 seconds, right before posting, as a visual indicator for those who can’t read charts well. It extends about 5 months more to the left than it really should. As does the red line, a bit too far to the right.

The end period of the 4 years of declining player participation in EVE is the sharp dip near the bottom of the red line, ending in roughly August of 2016. Player participation begins to pick up around the beginning of September, as word leaks out that EVE is going F2P. The numbers skyrocket briefly in Nov/Dec. 2016 (launch of Alpha state), and stay high for much of 2017, then decline and level off at a higher number than they were pre-Alpha. The numbers are currently back into a slowly decline.

This is because CCP had one, awesome shot at attracting a lot of new players. They were desperate for numbers, most likely because they knew they were going to court a buyout and the bleeding player numbers looked bad. So they rushed in an Alpha state, shored up the numbers, and then did absolutely nothing to adapt their game to a F2P model. The closest they came to making a stab at actual F2P marketing was putting in the Daily Alpha injectors, which they did at the end of 2017, again probably in some sort of response to the rapidly dropping Alpha numbers.

The ‘spike’, as you say, is what happens when any well known game introduces a major change that looks interesting, and the ‘spike’ still levels off at higher base numbers than there were pre-Alpha.

Alpha succeeded. It did exactly what it was supposed to do - make EVE look like it wasn’t slowly dying, and generated a lot of buzz - and if it has failed to produce significant income (something all you ‘Alpha opposers’ keep saying, but have absolutely no data on) then that is on CCP for not changing their model at all to take advantage of F2P spending patterns.

However, CCP says Alpha was a success, and they have posted some of their best numbers ever, and it looked good enough for PA to come along and buy the company… after Alpha had been running for two years. So, since CCP and PA were the ones to look at the numbers, and CCP calls it a success, and PA thought CCP was worth hundreds of millions… I’d say you guys are full of crap and denial, and Alpha is here to stay.

It’s really only of question of, can CCP learn how to market to them?

[BPRelvara_LSG]

FYI Alpha phase was last try to sell CCP in 2017 for planed 980 M$, but nobody show up, after that everything goes down, ( income, employments, arranged price, profit … )

Last PLEX sale was before PA take over, after that CCP must produce profit not just pumping up meaningless numbers

[Rich_Darine]

It costs more to be poor

[Daichi_Yamato]

@Kezrai_Charzai

Alpha succeeded. It did exactly what it was supposed to do - make EVE look like it wasn’t slowly dying, and generated a lot of buzz - and if it has failed to produce significant income (something all you ‘Alpha opposers’ keep saying, but have absolutely no data on ) then that is on CCP for not changing their model at all to take advantage of F2P spending patterns.

Alpha succeeded but failed. Ok.

Look at the activity graph again. Player activity was no longer declining at the same rate in 2015 compared to the big drop after 2013/2014. Alphas didn’t come till right at the end of 2016.

Alphas brought a flurry of activity for roughly 6 months, but ccp said this is more old players making alts than new players.

@Kezrai_Charzai

and the ‘spike’ still levels off at higher base numbers than there were pre-Alpha.

Hardly. From eve offline.

2014 41k
2015 34k
2016 33k
2017 35k
2018 33k
2019 so far 24k

365 days before alpha 32k
365 days after alpha 36k
Past 365 days 33k

12-6m before alpha 31k
6m leading upto Alpha 29k
6m after Alpha 37k
6-12m after alpha 30k
12-18m after alpha 32k
18-24m after alpha 30k
Last 6m 31k

Looks like ebbs and flow. After 6 months the spike from alphas was pretty much completely gone. And alphas aren’t exactly pushing content either. Destruction didn’t move much when alphas came in.

I don’t understand where you’re coming from when you say alphas have suceeded. Suceeded at what?

[Solstice_Projekt]

I like the irony of them creating a release that was supposed to (actual dev’s quote) “expand the fanbase” causing the game to go into the opposite direction. Too bad most people nowadays seem to lack a memory of all the games that got pussified/stupified and died.

CCP’s just really, really good at making it a really slow, painful death.

[xxxTRUSTxxx]

they do not have full access to the full game, what are they then?

[Daichi_Yamato]

The irony is bigger than you think.

The original ccp devs came from ultima online. Another mmo that died by catering to their version of carebears and trying to make the game more mainstream.

When they made eve they wanted to go back to a harsh, hardcore pvp sandbox and it was going really well…

[Solstice_Projekt]

It’s fascinating how greedy upper management can be so short sighted and full of themselves, they’re thinking attracting easily milkable idiots is ever going to end well.

[Solstice_Projekt]

What he thinks doesn’t matter. What you wrote is CCPs perspective on Alphas.

[Drx_Drx]

@Solstice_Projekt

What he thinks doesn’t matter. What you wrote is CCPs perspective on Alphas.

That is also not true, if ccp knew what to do with alphas we wouldnt be in this mess

@xxxTRUSTxxx

they do not have full access to the full game, what are they then?

Come to Sosan, Ill show you what alpha can do
Bring this solstice ■■■■■ too

[Gerard_Amatin]

@DeMichael_Crimson

The bottom line is that an Alpha account doesn’t make CCP any money.

Alpha accounts do not directly make CCP any money.

EVE online makes CCP money. And the people who pay for EVE are only paying for their plex, ship skins and omega subscriptions if the game has content. In this game, content means other players. Alpha accounts provide a lot of those players and thus content by lowering the threshold for people to enter the game.
Apart from the Alpha players that have paid for subscription or plex in the past or will pay for it in the future, even the Alphas that never spend a dime on this game will make CCP money. Just because they log in and provide the rest of us an interactive universe.

I’m an Omega player, but saying that Alpha accounts do not make money for CCP is plain stupid.

[DeMichael_Crimson]

Sorry bud but your whole explanation is nothing more than conjecture filled with hypothetical crap.

Seriously, you people will reach for any obscure example in an attempt to validate the false statement that Alpha clone accounts make CCP money.

Give it a rest already.

[Kanzero]

Best thread on the forum right now

[Annielle_Auduin]

@Desmios_Sanguis

Please forgive me for wanting to get back into EVE without selling every asset I own. I apologize.

Dude, we just telling you that subbing real money will help CCP. Not goons. The moment you buy plex by cash and sell it to goons, it means you taking their farmed ISK for yourself.

At this moment there is two side. Those who demand, and those who is not.

The number is tilted heavily on demanding side. Making the market reacting accordingly. Giving those who use cash directly to CCP more profit.

[Vincent_Athena]

The purpose of PLEX is not just to allow people who do not want to spend money to get Omega. It is also to combat illegal (that is, against the EULA) Real Money Trading. If someone who wants ISK gets it via sending money to CCP instead of an illegal source, then that is a win for us all. Alot if illegally sold ISK comes from hacked accounts. If the sellers of illegal ISK has all their customers go away, they will stop trying to hack accounts. More ISK someone can get per PLEX, the less attractive the illegal ISK sources look, and fewer customers the illegal sites get.