EVE General Discussion

Why is this a game mechanic at all? Would anyone in the game have less fun if medical clones were removed entirely?

(No, I didn't lose Titan 5)

Yes, I would.

There are 2 good reasons for med clones.

1. This is NOT WoW. There are repercussions for your actions, or lack of actions. So, if you engage in PvP (read Undock), you have the possibility to lose your ship and lose your POD. If you fail to update your med clone then you have the opportunity to lose a skill. Getting killed has meaning in this game.

2. Isk Sink. Paying for a med clone destroys isk. It does not transfer to another character, it does not manifest itself in a module. It is removed from the game entirely.

*edit... I have lost Amarr BS 5 due to a minor oversite. Never happened again.

Would you support a subscription based medclone system? Whereby you buy a clone and it stays for 90 days no matter how many times you get podded during that period?

Preserves 1 and arguably could be made to increase 2 if done right.

There should always be a risk, and loosing your pod and "dying" should not be "meaningless". If it was then people would simply stop caring (especially since some have more expensive clones then the ships they fly in PVP ).

If you removed that risk you suddenly take away a lot of the "excitement" and adrenaline rush some people experience when their ship gets blown up and they are clicking like mad trying to get their pod out intact.

If it was obviously difficult to keep your clone updated it would be one thing, but lets face it, its almost impossible to end up in a situation where you dont have access to medical. Only thing i can think about is that you have forgotten to change your cloning station and you end up in a hostile station after its been taken over, but in those cases you most likely have jump clones, and CCP has been known to help you out in situations like that (at least if your returning to the game after a break).

Im also pretty sure the role players would scream if something like this happened since cloning comes up on several occasions in chronicles and similar, and there would need to be another explanation on how we can "continue living" without clones.

And related, when looking around i came across this article, so now you can read how cloning started if your interested

But short version, keep medical clones, things would not be the same without.

I thought one of the benefits of med clones was giving a reason to knock out station services in sov stations. I believe, (but I may be talking out the wrong orifice) once the clone services are out, you cant update clones, so if your station is camped with the services down, and you get podded back to station, you can either keep up the fight in alpha clones (with all the attendant risks) or hunker down and watch the station fall. Granted, its been years since I've shot a station service, so I have no idea if this is right or not, or a tactic anyone has ever used (I remember we knocked out the services when we hellcamped 6VDT the first time a couple of years ago, but I don't know if it was for this reason, or just to be dicks).

I would be sad if med clones were taken out, and I say this as someone who once lost Advanced Weapon Upgrades 5 to a forgot-to-upgrade slip. Even more insulting, I lost a set of +5s in the same podding. And I was flying a Harbinger.

But how are people going to lose SP from podding?

On this rare subject I have to fully agree with Tippia

At a cost of 45m/60m for purely the clone (not including implants which is optional) - there are a lot of PvP, people do not wishing / can afford to take part in, as cost of the clone is so much higher then the ship and fittting.

So you have a game mechanic that encourage you to do less PvP, the more you training skills... - Which I find to be really BAD.


I would love to see med. clones cost be completely removed, as I find the offer very little good to the game. It's not like losing a ship is bad enough. Often also losing implants or being returned to home station fare away from the death. You also have that if you PvP in null/WH, is just more often cost more, as you are more likely to loss PODs. Which should be the other way around :)

Have the ISK sink from the cost of moving med. clone location, and jump cloning. This could be tied into the capsuleers gaining more power, and new black market jump cloning technics. Might even keep a 1k ISK per million SP cost of clones if really need be.

I believe that this would make a lot of people more willing to take part in PvP. Specially the older chars and in POD hostile space, at least I would for sure.

I don't see how any skills are at risk when you can pay for a lifetime of clones in advance.

So they have to buy a larger clone to cover their SP gain for the next 90 days? That's fair but I don't like the idea of only being at risk of losing SP once every 90 days (and only if you ignore the warning mail).