Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Hello CCP guys and other readers

I have been playing eve-online since 2004 and enjoy spending many hours and money on playing the game.

But the truth is, no matter how good and exciting a game is, you will always have periods, where you're not in the mood, or simply dont have the time to play: offline-periods, so to say.

Sometimes, during these "offline-periods" I continue paying for an active account, just because I want to train skills. Other times, I dont feel like paying for an active account which I only use for training skills. So it depends. But mostly I'm not having an active account during the offline-periods.

So one day I had this thought: "It would be cool If I could train skills in eve for less money, but I had to live with the following restriction: I would not be able to log in and play". That is something which I would want to spent money on!

I realize this is a financial question for CCP, but I believe that the idea will become popular and that people would use it.
What the heck, the offer could be: half prize Cryosleep account, but trains at 80% of the activeaccount ingame trainspeed.

Imagine training a bunch of skills to lv5 and refining your combat/mining/whateverskills during your offline-period and then come back after 3-4 months to see how cool your character has become. That would be something.

What do you say? Please leave a comment

Best Regards

no
no
no
no
never.

Just one problem, how you gonna buy the skill books and give them to that character if you can't actually log in and play the game with that character?

I mean, you don't have isk for books, can't earn isk for books, can't give the character isk for books, can't log in and retrieve the books, etc. etc. etc...

Just a problem IMO

Well I would say it would be nice if accounts earnt "Basic" Skillpoints, while you have nothing training that goes into a pool.
The amount of times I've forgotten to login an alt just to find an empty skill queue irritates the hell out of me.

Not saying I expect all the SP that I would've earnt had I been using the +5 Implants, but just the bog standard amount that CCP calculated a while back when they removed the learning skills... frustrating to see all that wasted time, especially on Character that I train up without using for several months until they become "useful"

The other aspect of this though is I agree with the CCP stance that training gets shutdown 3 days after your Subscription runs out, have no issues with that.

This said I do think there should be a means to retroactively purchase skillpoint months you missed at the same cost that a monthly subscription is. Would make sense for those lost months ... if the only issue for you is money, then learn to earn ISK in-game. Sorry but it is incredibly easy to earn enough for a PLEX (Incursions for example will earn you 100mil / hr in High-Sec... 5hrs = PLEX = Monthly Sub) so I don't see that as an excuse.

I mean I think if your account told you how many "Skill Months" you had available, then gave you the option to purchase Skill Months at the default Monthly Subscription price up to the number you had available. Wouldn't see an issue with that.

Often real-life frankly does take presidence, regardless of if you're actually subscribed or not; if you can't log-in because of work scheduals, moving, etc... I mean there are a multitude of reasons then I don't think it is right that your character should really suffer.

Ideally I would say be nice to see a retroactive repayment of lost Skillpoints but would be difficult (at best) to provide fairly.
Checking Monthly Subscription vs Character Age however, is both fair and simple.

I'd hate to see Skillpoints available for everyone to buy, but those who missed out (who clearly still playing) ... yeah I think there should be an option available to them

Once again, and you have no proof that this would "nerf" their income at all. Sure, and they may have a few accounts people have active use this, but nobody here has any idea how many currently inactive accounts may use a feature like that, or how many new accounts might be brought online for cheap training like that.

I know that most definitely if I have to make cutbacks at any time, my eve accounts are going to be the first to go, but iif you I couldkkeep one going for cheap, I'd most definitely do that. Which means that the feature wouldn't nerf their income, and it would retain some from myself.

When money was tight for players in the past, they could still train but not earn. When things got tight for CCP, they ended this practice.

I see no problem with paying a reduced rate to train. I would make it like the old system, where you set something long to train and could not manage the skills. I would have it direct pay, no PLEX, in an amount slightly lower than the yearly (~$11-12) average (so $8, about half the monthly fee). This levels out the pay, but is easier to fit into a tight budget. It would only work for one month, then full price or no training. If you can earn ISK for PLEX, you don’t need a Sleeper account; you can play for free.

So…
No PLEX
No skill management
No server access (Tranquility)
Cost = ½ monthly fee
One month at a time

In the end, the price difference is big for someone tight on cash, but small compared to those who do pay.

Btw, I’m on the fence about Sisi access. It is just the test server. Maybe only a limited number of Sleeper accounts would be given access; the limit lifted during mass tests.