Your thoughts on new Alpha skills?

[Lugues_Slive]

I am about to call it a night, but I want to make sure that my point is being understood.

As an Omega (which I assume you have been at some time) your expectations of starting income can become tainted. You know that there are those fat 250M ticks out there, or an Orca load of ore waiting for you. Then when you go Alpha and see that you cant make anywhere near this, you are disappointed.

But if you look at it with fresh eyes, like someone who has never played for more than a week, a 20M ISK day doesnt look half bad. You just payed for that cruiser, or are a few days from your BS now. You don’t need a 250M ISK tick, because you have nothing to spend 250M ISK on, and you have the pull of a new game to drive you to hours of 2M ISK Ticks instead of the, no offence, bitter vet need to make a quick buck to PLEX or by something shiney.

[Lord_Rolfski]

Comparing alphas with how it used to be is irrelevant. What is relevant is making current alphas stay. More ISK means nothing if prices go up as well and PLEXing feels like a ridiculous grind.

[Wheelwright_Phien]

When talking about Alphas’ ability to make ISK, you should also keep in mind that alphas don’t need that much ISK to begin with.

It’s not like they need 1.75 bill every month to PLEX.

[Tavin_Aikisen]

@Dione_Arnold

So only hardcore players will stay subbed to a specific game over any long course of time. Free to play allows people to actually try the game and to come back. This game still charges the same amount, and the free to play model, up until now really didn’t allow people to play for free. Even now the entire game isn’t actually free, like in the better free to play games like Star Trek Online and Elder Scrolls Online.

So… because other games go free, EVE should go free too. That’s your argument?

And other “better F2P” games… that offer lock boxes and other devious business practices?

[March_rabbit]

Replace word “Alpha” with “Omega” and you get the same result. Because status “Omega” does not magically makes you successful. You need knowledge and experience.

The only difference here is that Omegas pay while Alphas don’t.

[Eternus8lux8lucis]

What an Alpha has to pay for or buy is more than available through normal gameplay. And a LOT of the starter stuff CCP has made does actually give you a large chunk of change right from the get go with a lot of newbie friendly engaging gameplay.
Yes if you think youre going to get into PLEXing ur account right from the ground up you will need a lot of time and knowledge. But to simply play the game for free as you skill to 5mil SP and being able to do everything you can and enjoying the game you got it all available to you.

This is the same argument people used with omega subs only.

[Sindara_T_Soni]

@Lord_Rolfski

I’ve been making ISK on 7 accounts as an alpha for a year and I think I’m entitled to say it generally sucks.

You’re not (or no more so), because 7 accounts or 7000, you still represent a sample size of 1.

@Lord_Rolfski

ISK making is just a frustrating experience for new alphas

Not in my experience and not according to what I see in Rookie Help every day (currently Rookies are reporting upwards of 50 million ISK from salvaging behind people completing the Rogue Swarm Nests, for example).

This week, every Alpha is getting a free Battlecruiser, a free Battleship and a free Daily Injector (worth 60 million + if sold). They’re also getting Cerebral accelerators worth 90 million (last time I checked the market). You can see how they can have a Wallet with 100’s of millions in it very quickly.

The ISK struggle is an outdated concept. In modern EVE it is not a thing.

[Salvos_Rhoska]

@Lugues_Slive

From one anomaly I got a faction drop worth 100M isk.

Oo

What anomaly was that?

[Dani_Murano]

@Salvos_Rhoska

Oo

What anomaly was that?

For me there are several that give 30-200 million.
I am only talking about the high sec ones. Loc sec might even be better.

Even the small combat sites like Hideaway, Refuge and Den can drop good loot (but really rare).
The Sig sites Watch and Vigil have a really good ratio for me so far. As far as i remember i had always a snake implant or daredevil from Vigil. Lookout is rather bad and does not gave anything good so far (for me).
Warehouse and Phi-Outpost (Serpentis) are great as well, and can easy give up to 200 million (normally around 30-60 million).

As alpha the high sec combat sites can be done without any problems. Only the DPS from the watch can be a bit of a problem. All others are easy done.
But the bigger threat are other players . You cannot (or could not) outdamage a Gila, Ishtar or T3 cruiser in a Vexor. This might change now with the new alpha skills.

I made around 600 milion in the last week only on loot (Implants, Deadspace loot, Faction loot, blueprints). This might be a joke for most of you, but for me, as “high_sec_semi_afk_casual_alpha_pilot_with_limited_time_per_day”, this is ok. And i dont have to grind to farm a plex each month

I will use these for a plex or daily injectors and get the T2 Weapons/Drone skills and a few pirate ships. I like the new alpha system. Others buy the plex for me, and they get my ISK for it. And i can train skills that i can even use when i don’t buy any more plex. Win/win for everyone .

[Dione_Arnold]

Eve already is free to play. I’m just stating that it is crappy version of it. Why go free to play if no one will use your model? Adopt the better models.

Elder Scrolls is free to play but with dlc and cosmetics and things like xp and inventory increases. You can’t pay to win those games. The core store doesn’t have any loot boxes. There is a newer side store that has items in it but none of that is pay to win, it is also things like dye packs and mounts. If you want gear or anything combat related you have to actually play the game.

Point being that people leave and come back to that game because they get to play the game for free, not a trial version like is offered here. And if the subscription model is nice enough, people will subscribe.

I understand Eve can’t let alphas have access to everything, because then someone would use their alpha accounts to PLEX too easily and noone would ever have to pay. But this game’s subscriber status isn’t enticing. This is one of the only AAA games where they charge you to play alts.

[Salvos_Rhoska]

@Dani_Murano

I made around 600 milion in the last week only on loot (Implants, Deadspace loot, Faction loot, blueprints). This might be a joke for most of you, but for me

Damn, you have far better luck than me, especially on those Angels sites you described.

@Dani_Murano

I will use these for a plex or daily injectors and get the T2 Weapons/Drone skills and a few pirate ships.

This is probably what I will be doing as well, come the change.

[Sasha_Nemtsov]

@Dione_Arnold

Elder Scrolls is free to play

I thought it was buy-to-play Dione. When I played it recently, after a 3 year absence, it remembered that I’d paid for the game back in 2014, and yes, I could play without further outlay.

Please, correct me if I’m wrong. It happens…

[Lord_Rolfski]

@Sindara_T_Soni

The ISK struggle is an outdated concept. In modern EVE it is not a thing.

Lol, tell that to an alpha who’s saving up to Plex his account or instantly gets whelped everytime he tries PVP.

Again, it’s not about getting occasionally lucky with loot drops. It’s about consistently making ISK a rewarding and fun experience for alphas, which it simply is not atm. For that to happen the still hopelessly retarded NPE needs to improve as well.

[Sindara_T_Soni]

@Lord_Rolfski

Lol, tell that to an alpha who’s saving up to Plex his account or instantly gets whelped everytime he tries PVP.

Which Alpha is this specifically? I’ll tell them straight away …

Saving up to PLEX an account is not the standard by which I judge ‘is there an ISK struggle’.

If you believe not being able to earn 1.6 billion in the first month means Alphas are struggling, we’ll have to agree to disagree. If that’s the scenario you’re hoping for … all Alphas can easily PLEX in their first month … I think you’ll put CCP out of business.

At the moment, what Alphas are consistently doing, is asking for a good Battleship fit for an Alpha. Poor things. What a struggle …

[Dione_Arnold]

@Sasha_Nemtsov

@Dione_Arnold

Elder Scrolls is free to play

I thought it was buy-to-play Dione. When I played it recently, after a 3 year absence, it remembered that I’d paid for the game back in 2014, and yes, I could play without further outlay.

Please, correct me if I’m wrong. It happens…

Yes you are correct, the subscription is free to play, the base game must be purchased. The base game is selling for about $10 right now.

[Salvos_Rhoska]

I also paid for it back in 2014
Meh. Still not interested.
Id rather spin my ship in EVE than ESO.

[Sasha_Nemtsov]

@Salvos_Rhoska

I also paid for it back in 2014
Meh. Still not interested.
Id rather spin my ship in EVE than ESO.

I can understand that; it’s surely not for everybody. I think I was so blown away playing Skyrim that I became suck(er)ed in to a spin-off that was nowhere near ready.

When I played it recently, I really enjoyed myself. But it did make me think of EVE, and it wasn’t a happy comparison. If you forget for the moment their obvious differences and bring it down to a simple level, both are MMORPGs, put out there by businesses in order to provide entertainment and turn a profit. Zenimax Online simply took the assets and whatnot provided by Bethesda (was it?) and turned it from a single-player game into an MMO.

It’s slick, gorgeous to look at, and a delight to play. They’re upfront about asking for money, but the DLC is mostly worth it. The other stuff, like mounts, player homes, etc., is gauged so that it’s desirable but not leagues away from attainment.

ESO also has its player-critics of course, but nothing like those of EVE Online (that I’ve seen). There’s no CSM; they just seem to get it right without needing such an entity, or patch when things go belly-up.

Maybe CCP need to be a bit more professional (sophisticated, restrained, cautious,) in their approach, and some of the players more realistic, less emotional, in their demands. Both sides could benefit from not treating EVE Online like a challenging lover.

The new Alpha skill-set is fine. EVE always feels like a work in progress. Some day we’ll have a game whose structure is so reliable that all they have to do is pour in the content, sit back, and watch the money roll in. I hope the introduction of Alpha clones helps with that, but I remain pessimistic about the long-term health of the game.

[Gregorius_Goldstein]

Best thing with the new alpha skills is that you can call people back into the game and they can just log on and join a roam. If they won’t sub again because they don’t have the time to play much between job, wife and baby so be it. I prefer old freinds to show up now and than for free over freinds that are gone and forgotten. Everyone that plays “full time” and isn’t short in money will sub anyway.

[Lord_Rolfski]

Alpha’s can only plex in a single month if they know what they’re doing. Which takes many months to figure out. Believe me, I know from experience.

[Remiel_Pollard]

Those things are locked away to prevent exploitation, primarily.