Why Pay A Subscription

Communications Center General Discussion
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Why pay for a subscription?
The Alpha clone, which is free to play, can do so much in EVE. Now with BS and T2 abilities.
An Alpha clone limits a player to having only one account, even if the other account is a subscription, making it imposable for a subscription player to use Alpha Clones at the same time.

Every other game online that I have ever played, that offers free play, also offers subscription. But the players that do pay with subscription get added boosts, bonuses, in game money and other benefits for subscribing.
In EVE, subscription players get nothing. No incentive to pay subscription.
Although it is claimed that skill training is faster when paying subscription. It is still the same training speed that it has always been, it is the Alpha Clone speed that is slower, not the other way round.

So why bother paying a subscription?

The player base in EVE has dropped to around 30,000. That is about 40,000 players leaving EVE. WHY?
With this idea of Alpha Clones and free play, the player base will mostly end up being free play.

Some years ago, the players in EVE, rebelled. This rebellion was broadcast on National TV news around the world, even in the UK. It was about the very thing that EVE is doing now. At that time the player base was over 70,000, all subscription. That was awesome fun then.

CCP said then that it was not heading towards an ingame purchase style of play. BUT it is clear now that, that was not true, it is an ingame purchase style of game.

This answer WHY the player base has dropped and will end up free play and in game purchase only.
Then after a few years it will end. No More EVE Online.

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Your post is so full of illogical non-sense and fallacies that show a complete lack of understanding of EVE (beginning with the title) that I don’t think anyone will be able to answer your question in a manner you would understand.

Want the answer to your question? Educate yourself about the game and about the differences of Alpha and Omega.

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Access to all T2 hulls, which alphas don’t get, they get small and medium T2 weapons but no ships :stuck_out_tongue:

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Wow I’ve never seen so much garbage come out of one persons mouth except on butake videos. Subscription numbers are totally different from you think they are and have ever been.

The “rebellion” was in 2009. Are you just some troll who doesn’t know the game at all?

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Because alphas can’t use cloak to stay safe to earn billions in wormholes (and many other things). I’d rather me omega sporadically than be alpha forever myself.

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(1) Peak active users (the highest on record, btw, being closer to 60k than 70k) is absolutely not the same thing as total active accounts.

(2) Players have been leaving steadily over time as the game ages. There’s no second “rebellion” happening because of any one decision CCP has made.

(3) The rebellion you mentioned was not because CCP introduced microtransactions. It’s because CCP spent a long time working on “ambulation”, stalling other areas of development and balancing. After all the hype (and neglect towards other areas of the game that players felt really needed attention), all they got was a couch and some $70 monocles.

(4) This was an “in-game purchase” style of game as soon as PLEX was introduced.

(5) In their dev blog about Daily Alpha Injectors, CCP acknowledged that it is possible for an Alpha to train faster than an Omega using the injector. They stated that they are now taking a look at Attributes and the training system so, potentially, Omegas might see faster training speeds in the future.

(6) You have a combat-oriented mindset, as you seemed to forget about that Alphas do not have access to any mining ships above the Venture. Additionally, Alphas cannot use cloaks, T2 and T3 ships (read: most of the ships in the ship tree), T2 battleship weapons, some advanced tanking modules, and their training speed is halved. Omega still seems worth it to me, personally.

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That is a nice number. But what does it mean? Player online? Cannot be, eve had never over 70k player online at the same time. The peak was at 65k (2013). For one day. All days with over 60k player were maybe 5-6 days.

Or do you mean all subscriptions? This number must me far higher (i don’t have the exact number). But if there are around 60k player online at the same time, you will have a multiple of subscriptions (i would guess 10-20 times).

And about your question. What do subscriptions get over alpha? Well:

  • T2 ships
  • T3 ships
  • Freighter
  • Capital ships
  • Mining Barges
  • Production
  • Trade
  • Planetary interaction
  • Ice mining
  • Science
  • T2 large weapons
  • Corporation Management

And upgrades on most other skills an alpha already has.

The max an Omega can have is around 480 million (not sure if this number is still right). An Alpha, without daily injectors, can have max. 5 million. As you can see there is a lot more to train.
But if you say that an alpha can train up to 20 million, you are indirectly right. But to reach these 20 million, you need to subscribe. Or buy daily injectors. But to reach these missing 15 million, you need 300 daily injectors, or subscribe ~10 month.

.
I found it smart what CCP has done with the Alpha skills. They get players back online in a free to play mode. This way the player count goes up (or stay where it is), and they can pay the servers with the subscriptions and plex sell.
The other way would have been that the servers become more and more empty until the point that they are ghost towns. CCP cannot turn off servers (worlds) like other MMORPG can do. They have only one world.
So CCP adapt to the situation and made a (imo) smart move.

It is funny when so many player always say the mantra: “adapt or die”. But when CCP is doing it, you question it :grinning:

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What are the subscription numbers?

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Quelza
Absolutely spot on.
Thank you for clarifying a few points, unlike some others posts.

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Dani Murano.
I did exaggerate to 70k.
Thank you for the input.
Much appreciated.

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One thing we get as subscribers is access to industrial game play which allows us to easily earn enough ISK to purchase PLEX and pay for our subscriptions. If you enjoy the economic simulation, as I do, this is a win-win. Since CCP originally sold the PLEX to someone for real-world money they win too.

While the number of players logged in varies between the high teens and mid 30K range depending on the time of year and the time of day, actual subscriptions are much higher - probably an order of magnitude higher than the average PCU. People don’t play the game 24/7 and an aging player base with real world responsibilities don’t play as much as they used to.

Where I live, a subscription is half the cost of a tavern lunch - pocket change and I’ll get a lot more entertainment value from the subscription!

That said, I expect CCP to continue following the rest of the industry, moving toward a microtransaction - pay for the content you consume -monetization model. It will be interesting to watch - as long as the funds to keep developing the game come from somewhere!

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Click (where it was reported on UK tv) is made by the BBC but is not the national news.

Its a tiny tech programme on in the middle if the night.

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There is a difference between concurrent numbers and subscriptions. You have some major issues if you don’t understand that. Considering the high 60’s were when subscriptions were over 280,000 they are more likely in the 150-200K level now including people paying with plex.

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Alphas are for people who can’t afford a $15 subscription. And if you can’t afford a $15 subscription, there are probably other things you should be doing with your life than playing an online video game. Having said that, Alphas can’t do squat compared to Omegas. Your options are extremely limited.

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I’m sorry, but this is self-contradictory fallacy, plain and simple. It’s a relative relationship:

  • the absolute base rate of skill training is X, and applies to Omegas
  • Alphas train at half that speed
  • Ergo, Omegas train twice as fast as Alphas

It’s that simple. You were expecting what? That Omegas now train at, let’s say, twice as fast as the base rate? And Alphas train at half the base rate? Then the relationship would be 4:1 instead of 2:1 - still faster for Omega than for Alpha by a multiple. But then why have a base rate that isn’t unmodified for either player type? That’s unnecessary complexity that adds no value, so the logical thing to do is have the base rate apply to one or the other - either Alphas or Omegas get the base rate, and the other is slower or faster as appropriate. Either way, it boils down to the same thing: Omegas train much faster than Alphas - and that’s exactly what is claimed, and even exactly what you said yourself:

(To clarify, an Omega that PLEXes for the privilege is not literally/directly paying for subscription, but is still effectively and functionally a “subscribed” account because that access has been paid for with real money to CCP.)

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OP has been relatively calm and understanding in his responses to our corrections and criticisms. The hostility some of you are exhibiting seems counterproductive and unnecessary.

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Because balzy 70$ monocles will not develop themselves from nothing. Together with highly ambitious games I should mention, not EVE of course. :wink:

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It’s only $15/mo. Why wouldn’t you pay that to support a game you enjoy?

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Because the dev waste money on other bad games perhaps

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Hi OP,

here are a few points to answer your question.

Both of which need a lot of support skills to be competetively effective. Alphas face hard limits here. Access to Skills are generally limited, which means you cannot at all enjoy certain types of gameplay, including but not limited to Industry, Trade, Mining; and you are limited or very limited in regards to PVP, Exploration and Ratting.

You do need Alts or at least one Alt for most higher-tier game activities, unless you do everything in a group of friends, which of course is even better and only beaten by a group of friends with their Alts.

True. Many people already struggle with the slow SP progression on an Omega Level, so that is certainly a reason to not go Alpha. Especially since CCP limited the Skill training on Alphas to 5M SP with the last change. Only way to go beyond that while you are in Alpha State is buying Injectors or changing your State and go Omega.

These three points do make a major difference in gameplay. That being said, if you are happy with the limitations, CCP is happy for you to enjoy your Alpha State.

To not fall under the aforementioned limitations and support the game you love.

Now, I would normally say that the numbers of players isn’t connected to your question, but I assume you are going into this direction: EVE is dying, therefor any real money investment into the game is a bad idea, since when it will be dead, 100M SP on 10 Accounts will be worth exactly as 5M SP on 1: nothing. If that is the way you are thinking, I have to admit the thought crossed my mind, but only for one reason: EVE can be a very long game, if you decide to play it like this. Playing the long game, needs a lot of commitment and certainly you need to invest time and money into it. Now, if you would assume that investment never paid out and you’d end up investing yourself, without getting to the fun point of “the long game”, I can’t argue against it on a totally logical base, because it is a fear-based assumption. Fear is a very natural reaction. While in some cases it might be totally irrational, the question is wether or not this is the case here. There are three main factors which will probably have influence: 1. Your own experience in game, having fun or not and the general mood of the playerbase and how often you hear “EVE is dying” vs. “EVE is great, I’m gonna stay.” 2. CCPs decisions for game mechanics and how they are interpreted by the playerbase and finally 3. Your personal life situation, wether or not you can plan to play “the long game”.

Apart from being super casual and okay with playing under Alpha limitations, I see a possible uncertainty if investing in “the long game” is worth it, as the largest deterrent from subscribing. Taken that, if you go for “the long game”, you will most probably not only invest in more than one subscription, but also a lot of time into the game.

I can surely give no guarantees in one or the other direction. My recommendation would be: play the game as if it won’t be there in a year and see if you find it fun to play that way. Then it is totally worth the Subscription and no need to worry about “the long game”.

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