Skill Discussions

When I stareted this topic I was thinking new ways to get SP faster.

I see now that almost all are against this and most importantly cause everyone seems to think it's somehow a bad thing that you could train up faster.

When I originaly started to think about this I never wanted to see a grinding XP all the time every where. My originaly idea was to add something extra just a small piece not alot but a little bit. Like most of you I have hard time thinking eve as a huge grinding game to get more xp and level up. But I felt like if I'm doing something. Why I'm not getting better at it while I'm doing it. And not just the meta side of the game when you do your research and know all the details so you are beter but in the game skill wise better.

so mayby it would be a specific level of skill or something or just that extra SP what you would get but the general idea was that I felt that when I do something I realy do not get better at it when you think about skills.

But this is just me.

Let's say you're a student learning mathematics. You start with basic operations like addition, subtraction (level 1), work your way up to the simple algebra and maybe sprinkle in geometry (level 2), get up to calculus (level 3), then you get the matrices and modulo spaces and linear algebra which helps you do everything faster with the help of computers (level 4), and then finally you get to the theoretical stuff that only some puny percentile of the population is interested in (level 5).

Let's say you're currently trained in calculus and you have already learned all of the basics(at level 3). Why should doing more calculus problems help you with the higher level stuff, like linear algebra(level 4) and operation theory(level 5)? The answer is, it shouldn't. If anything it should just keep you from forgetting calculus.

I know that this is a really convenient example that I'm using, but I can think of many more. In EVE, your character is learning higher level functions, things that cannot be learned through simple repetition. The system you are proposing is archaic and something that would only apply to cavemen who are practicing some simple task like making fires or carving stone. If there was an EVE skill like "physical strength" then yeah I would say you should be able to box or lift weights to improve it, but that really is not the case.

You will not get the answer your looking for by posting on an EVE Online forum. Simply because anyone on these forums has no issue with the current system or they wouldn't be here.

When you look at the amount of MMO players in the world its obvious that only a SMALL handful agree with this system. Given the quality of this game there should be millions of people playing.

What everyone is not taking into consideration is the OP's original point...new players run from eve online because the system in place is so intimidating that they give up when they realize that it takes literally YEARS to get enough skills to fly the ship you want or compete with veteran players.

I truly believe if it were not for the massive amount of time it takes to level up that this game would have 10x the player base that it currently does, if not more.

I can personally name at least 20 people that i know from other MMO that wont touch eve online because of this reason.

So you have to ask yourself, is it really a good thing to cater to a small group of hardcore eve players or to the potential MILLIONS of people that would love to get into EVE but simply do not have the time or patience to do the grind.

I think something should be done to make it more enjoyable and less intimidating for new players. I say this because i wish to see EVE online expand its player base much more than it is...why?

Because that means that CCP can afford to put more into features to making it better for everyone.

More subs= more money= more features

You should know by now people will say "faster times= instant gratification". Dont ask me how trimming off some hours, days, or weeks equates to instant gratification but miraculously it does.

I'm a very low SP character (about 3 and a half months of playtime total), and I like the skill system exactly as it is. Sure, I would love to be able to hop into a super carrier next week, but that defeats the purpose of working toward anything in this game. I admire the fact that CCP doesn't bow to the masses and make it easy to get everything right away. By having a slowly building and virtually bottomless pool of resources, you always have something new and fresh to work for and look forward to. The game never stagnates, because as long as you are training skills, you are always building up to something different.

I understand that this means some characters will always have an advantage, and I like that. So many games make every effort to keep things fair and even, but do so at the expense of the veteran crowd. By having an obvious power split, there will always be a challenge and something to work for. Is it daunting at first to realize that it will take over a year to get into some ships? Of course! But there is so much to do between starting the game and flying your dream boat that you will never be bored. Despite my disadvantage against those that have been playing much longer than me, I am quite content with things as they are and do not wish to see any major changes to this system.

If anything, the only change I can think of that would be useful to new players without compromising the game's integrity would be a longer-than-24 hour skill planning queue. While high-SP characters can load a single skill and not have to mess with it for days or weeks, low SP players often have a pile of short skills to train, making it very difficult to plan past a day. With an extra day or so's worth of plan time, newer players could better visualize what they are aiming for.

Again though, that is such a small change that it really isn't necessary, and would have little impact outside of the newest crowd. There really is no need to change anything.