Assembly Hall

No.

Cosmetic restrictions? You find the prices of items in the NeX too high?



Which PvP persistent worlds have gone F2P?

LOTRO is a great example of a PvE persistent world which has succeeded by going F2P: it doesn't matter that some guy can buy gear twice as good as yours, because he's not trying to kill you with it.



Progressive download is already on CCP's great whiteboard in the sky, but only to enhance the new player experience (i.e.: start the game the moment you launch the installer). Being required to purchase extra regions is a foolish idea. How are people supposed to introduce rookies to the world of EVE Online when the rookie has to keep bringing out the credit card just to get to the other side of a stargate?

I'm amused that you then try to prop up your argument by pointing out one F2P game that failed dismally (Lego Universe) while holding a PvE F2P as an example of what EVE could become. Does not compute!

I'd also like to remind people that what CCP offers through the NeX is a "virtual goods store" from which the obscenely rich can buy "bling" to show off to their friends. The NeX is not a micro transaction store. The whole point of conspicuous spending on luxury goods in real life as well as in game is to show off to other people: you have items which everyone knows are ludicrously expensive because you have more money than they do. Such items in real life would be Gucchi handbags, Versace polo shirts, $10k designer jeans*, etc.

Although I'll get tarred and feathered by many of the other posters here, I'd like to see the NeX providing non-vanity items such as special issue ships. Examples could be a NeX equivalent of the CNR: you pay Aurum instead of LP & badges, along with a Raven. With a sufficiently high Aurum value, NeX ships would be ideal for the purpose of trolling. Imagine your killboard efficiency when you blow up a single 30B ISK battleship hull (never mind the gold-plated modules that were fitted to it)? The NeX could even release "limited issue" industrial/utility ships of similar meta-level to the Utu or Freki through auction, further increasing item value: this would be the "alliance tournament" of the commercial side of EVE.

I believe there is a fair trade-off at some point between real-world effort (as represented in game by Aurum) and in game effort (as represented by LP, badges and ISK). So go ahead and spend your €500 on a ship with which to bait gankers. Eventually you'll lose it, all the while providing awesome content in the form of a loot piñata.

* and you guys were having a tanty about CCP Zulu's reference to $1000 designer jeans! LOL

Sorry, but you don't seem to be getting this:
To a lot of players, the fact that other people are able to change the conditions of the world and their gameplay by RL means seriously damages the game world for them.
For me, I'd turn to single player games where no one else gets to wreck my illusion.

20 million players who didn't have much choice but to pay a subscription fee. And do you really think CCP wants to keep their target audience down to 20 million players? I doubt it. Most people don't have the money to spend on a monthly sub. There are a lot more than 20 million people out there that would gladly give EvE a try and potentially spend money in the MT store if given the opportunity to.

It is true that F2P is a method of a free trial that is designed to hook the player. That's the point. As it gets harder and harder to get people to pay subscription fees another method has to be found. Just because you think 20 million people were ok with paying subscription fees for a game doesn't mean they are now or ever even wanted to.

Frankly the current free trial that CCP has for EvE is a joke for this game. What the hell can you accomplish in 14 or 21 days? 3 months maybe. Personally I think CCP should make EvE F2P and restrict what skills can be trained and what modules and items can be used without paying the monthly sub or PLEX or whatever. With enough restrictions the potential player could experience everything eve has to offer to a very limited degree for as long as he likes or needs. By severe restrictions I mean nothing allowed to be trained above level 2 for mining, weapons, defense, etc....

Even games like LotRO and EQ2 (just to name a couple off the top of my head) do this. Play for free with restrictions. Pay your monthly sub and get the full blown game and everything it has to offer. Why would this be bad for EvE? More targets to shoot everywhere you go...only weaker targets. More potential revenue for CCP. This leads to more devs and more in expansions and faster and better development of current and new content.

Does every miner in EvE quit after being bashed up by other players? The kind of people that would quit after that are the kind of people that wouldn't like EvE to begin with. The kind of people that would survive are the ones that subscribe, train and come back for revenge.