Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Before the Hardcore Brigade(tm) stabs me in the throat with a pen, hear me out. I'm not saying remove them ( though it would certainly fix the problem ). Just rebalance them to bring the loss potential in line with the rest of the game for a new player.

Learning Implants create risk aversion in new players. That is a fact. The primary goal of a new player is typically to progress quickly and see/get/use more cool stuff. Learning Implants facilitate that. Threatening their progress makes them more risk averse over just threatening their ship or their wallet. Couple that with Learning Implants being a favoured gift to newbs by older players and the first thing newbs buy when an older player gives them enough ISK and you've got a problem. From the moment they log in and ask questions about training rookies are told "Train Cybernetics. Get Learning Implants. Nao." because its the "right way" to train a new character.

Thus the heart of the problem is a new player can use expensive high level Learning Implants before he has the reasonable earning potential to absorb the loss of said Learning Implants. In other areas of the game the player's progress and access to new ships/items limits the player's potential loss to a reasonable level so that they're eased into the game. Losing your first frigate isn't a big deal. Losing your first Cruiser kinda sucks, but by the time you can fly a Cruiser your earning potential is high enough to be able to reasonable replace it. Same goes for a Battlecruiser. Then a Battleship. Each time the potential loss does increase in theme with the game's philosophy but each time the player's earning power isn't hopelessly outstripped in replacing it.

Not so for Learning Implants. With Learning Implants a rookie can train his way into battleship level loss potential in a matter of days and in fact everyone will probably tell him to do it. Thus creating immense risk aversion whereby they're probably going to avoid PVP activities for quite some time and lowering rookie rentention in the event they do get their arse blown up. Thus Learning Implants and Cybernetics need to be rebalanced to bring their loss potential in line with player progression.

This could be achieved by lowering cost and/or changing skill requirements and/or increasing the training time required for the more pricey Learning Implants. But the fact of the matter is the level of potential loss vs how fast you can train into that loss vs the growth of your earning potential is the heart of the problem. If you want to up rookie retention and pvp participation, you could address that problem. If you have no interest in the game's health, feel free to RAEG post.

Alternatively, we could just post "Don't Plant The Newbs" signs in around the rookie systems.

You may flog me with dead cats now.

I see the points that you both make, and I can understand where you are coming from. However, I disagree that CCP should hold the hands of newer players and force them to learn the game before flying new ships. Additionally, I don't see that this would have any actual effect - some new players don't really play the game at all until the have a few million SP already, so this would solve nothing in those cases.

Forcing this change would very much take away from the sandbox while not allowing new players who DO understand the game to play how they want to.

Not supported.

5 weapons? Only if you count neuts as a weapon and ACs/Arty are only one skill.

Large projectile Turrets IV
Torpedoes IV
Cruise Missiles IV
Supports to V
Shield and Armor tanking certificates to Standard
Core Competency Improved.

Yes it would take a long time... that's the point. I had 2 friends who played and immediately trained for battleships only to lose their first one, and be busted back down to frigates because they sold their smaller ships to pay for each successive upgrade.

If you don't have the skills, you shouldn't be sitting in the ship.

Drones too, it's got a nice drone bay. You're talking six months plus to fly a tier one battleship, isn't that a little excessive?

Its not a matter of handholding. Its simply a matter of adjusting the pontential level of pitfall a new player is exposed to in order to bring it in line with the rest of the game. The game has a problem with player retention, simple as that. Its easy to blame it on the game just not being for everyone. But its more than that. Its also a matter of the game not adequately explaining itself and having too many pitfalls without telling you what those pitfalls are there.

EVE's core gameplay is in no way hurt by better helping new players get into that gameplay without blindsiding them for no reason. The better EVE shows off what it is and how it works up front the better the new player experience will be.

EVE needs to be beautiful enough to marry despite being a psychotic *****. Not reveal she's a psychotic ***** a month after the wedding. It would lower the divorce rate considerably.




You completely misunderstand me. I meant everyone will be telling him rush into Learning Implants as soon as possible. Not rush into a BS. Anyone telling you to rush into a BS is either an idiot or a jackass. >.>