EVE General Discussion

OK, see, that second point is a good one that shows the absurdity of the skills in the first place. I actually quit my first time around solely because of those skills and doing the math behind them. It was ridiculous. And yeah, no reimbursement for those who hadn't been training for over two years would have had disasterous results. I'd probably argue that alone was the reason for the reimbursement over anything else, not losing an advantage... which comes to why I disagree with your first point. When you train faster, you get more SP, which ends up being the whole reason you'd want to train faster, so you can get more skills. And those that trained over the two years? They got more skills than those who prefered not to put up with that absurdity. No matter how you swing it, that's an advantage and one that was gained through the skill.

Right. Let's get this done shall we? The following are all very good reasons NOT to reimburse the skills. I will detail them all in individual sections for ease of reading and understanding, and it you want to counter them, then feel free to try in a logical fashion. These are not reasons you do not "require" a SP change, these are reasons that SP reimbursal would have a genuine negative effect on the game.

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Flavour of the Month

Flavour of the Month is a way of saying that certain ships in the game are OP in some way and that people, for obvious reasons, tend to use the ships and equipment that are the best. So what happens is people congregate towards using the stuff that is likely to get nerffed. If you refund skill points you compound this problem, because people are then able to use said skill points to move towards the new flavour of the month, ie, the new things which will need to be nerffed. Because there will be more people moving to it than there would be without the skill refunds you end up compounding the problem so it gets worse faster, which leads to earlier nerfs, which leads to more SP reimbursal, which leads to earlier nerfs, etc etc until CCP can no longer keep up with the changes and you have an ultimately broken game. You will probably argue that people wont get enough SPs back to see any meaningful change like this, but that is not true, and I will cover that in a later section.

Too Many Skillpoints

Let's take this time to examine how many skill points people would be able to get back. If you want a reimbursement for your Orca, then it's only fair that everyone else get reimbursements where the same phenomenon has occurred. I am a 2009 player, and I will be using my skill sheet as an example;

I use Recon ships, and Heavy Assault Cruisers, so I expect a refund on the Assault Ship and Covert Ops skills because I don't need them and never use them. Also, I use heavy Interdictors but I don't use interceptors or destroyer sized Interdictors, so I expect to get the Interceptor and Interdictor skills refunded. I would also like all my mining barge levels reimbursed because I do not need them for my Orca. I fly command ships but not logistics, so I expect my logistics skills refunded. I also expect the Battleship 4s and 5s refunded because I don't fly Battleships, I go straight from BCs to Carriers. Also, I need as refund on Evasive maneuvering V because I don't need that for my Heavy Interdictor, but I had to train it. Now it's not a requirement. Also, I don't need Long Range Targeting for my Command ships, so I want that reimbursed. Oh! Don't forget to refund me Electronics Upgrades 5, I certainly don't need that for my Electronic Attack Ships. blah blah blah blah.

Now, you'll point out that many of those are silly request. But, frankly so is getting your skills back from the Orca. Where exactly do you draw the line? With all the above skills refunded I could probably pop myself straight into ALL of the new flavour of the months. Hell everyone could move so that all Eve players ONLY used the broken OP ships with this kind of change.

Less Meaningful Consequences

Eve is a game where what you do actually matters and effects your (and other people's) game play. What you train and what your character can do is a big part of that. If your just letting people undo their little mistakes you take away from what is a fundamental part of this game. Consequences. People play Eve for it's realism, and for it's harsh environment. This is not Helly Kitty Online, everything is NOT going to work out alright in the end. And that is what a lot of people love about this game. Frankly, if you want to remove that aspect from the game, perhaps you should be playing something that doesn't have that already. Star Trek online is comparitively free of consequences. Maybe you should try that.

CCP Employee Time and Pay

Working out who is genuine and who is not, would be impossible. As such CCP would have to be reimburse everyone for all their requests. Now, by everyone... I mean literally everyone. Who isn't going to want to take advantage of what is essentially a chance to get bazillions of skill points back on all the things they don't use very much anymore? That's a rhetorical question by the way. Now, CCP don't have enough GMs to do this AND answer all our petitions etc. Which means they would need to hire more, or fire some devs, or relocate them. Either way, that means that there are less devs working on our awesome expansions because someone wanted some skillpoints back.

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I could probably go on forever like this. Every one of the above points is enough reason to not reimburse skill points on it's own. Frankly, unless you can solve all of the above (I assure you, you can't), then this is a pointless discussion. With any of the above still standing you can not be reimbursed. For the sake of the game and for the sake of it's players. You don't NEED your SP back. You just don't. You were happy to spend those SP in the first place, so learn to live with your decisions. Please, if you want to make a counter to the above arguments go ahead. I do not want anyone replying with what is essentially their personal view restated without any content or counter, because we have already heard what you have to say and your "opinion" is now completely useless unless backed up by a logical argument. A arguementless/logicless opinion is only relevant the first time it is stated by each person, and then at no point there-after.

TL:DR If your taking part in a discussion and you can't be bothered to read the posts then you shouldn't be here. Go away.

I don't like any kind of skill re imbersment. I just think that you train stuff at a time for a reason and that's just it. Leave it done with.

I have an orca alt. That orca has been WELL worth the ~30 days of training you're complaining about.

I have an alt with mining barge V that I don't use. I can't fly Orcas but I could really use those skillpoints can I get reimbursed too?