Player Features and Ideas Discussion

I think the easiest way to equalize the SP and experience levels among players is to have everyone initially subscribe to the game in 2006. Everything would be pretty much even that way.

We should be demanding that CCP construct some sort of real life time machine. We can call it a time/space continuum disparity repairererer. It might be a huge boost to CCPs bottom line as I can see 2 or 3 other applications for a time machine beyond just mollifying the overdeveloped sense of entitlement of some of the newer players.

I agree completely :)

Personally, It would have been nice to have heard of Eve Online before the Dust beta was released in 2012 (my first introduction to the universe), but that'll teach me for concentrating on console gaming back then - A mistake I'm not likely to repeat!

Sure, more options are never a bad thing.

The examples cited above whereby noobs are useful within a week, all require focus, understanding and guidance from players to fill a very specific niche combat role. My suggestion gives new players a little nudge in the right direction without being prescriptive, or particularly abusable by older players.

Just FYI, CCP actually gets MORE money from a PLEX than a sub.

(I'm on my mobile so I can't be as eloquent as I want)

That "very specific niche" you describe is one of the single most important parts of any roaming gang. It is also one of the cheapest and, in my opinion, one of the best ways for inexperienced pilots to learn PvP (crawl before you walk!).
It also doesn't require are "skill plan." Train up to use a warp disruptor and a MWD. That's it.

OP... you seem to be of the opinion that is a newbie (with lacking skill) can't stand up against a veteran toe to toe then he is "not competitive."
My counter to that is; THAT'S THE POINT!

A newbie isn't going to learn PvP on their own. They NEED people to help them, teach them, etc. The skill system effectively forces this reliance.
Moreover, the "lack of skillpoints" issue also forces newbies to think more in terms of mechanics and tactics rather than in terms of pure skillpoints (which most other games encourage).

So can a week-old newbie stand up against a multi-year veteran? Nope. And that's fine.
Can a group of week old newbies stand up against a multi-year veteran? Yep. And they'll kill him too.

The only things to really make sure for beginners to not see such a high barrier of entry is to make sure most profession have and entry level point with early access. Having a profession that needs months of training to ever accomplish anything is what should be considered wrong and most of those are gone by now imo. The last one that was sorely needed was done years ago when they made the old mining frigs/cruisers into serviceable logi boat to give a start and progression where you can learn and try before committing to a T2 "long" train.

Although I think I get your point, I'm not quite sure how this really applies to my proposal. How does introducing a new player to a small set of skills and giving them an small incentive to be undocked, create "unruly children" (to paraphrase your analogy).

They still need to ask and learn to grow, it just eases them into the system.

I managed to solo a Comet, piloted by a veteran, while flying a mostly T1 (including T1 Hobs) Tristan after about 5 weeks of play. I'm by no means particularly gifted at EVE PvP, but SP is not what's stopping newbies from being competitive.

Nothing else to add really, just an anecdote to dump onto the pile.

I'm going to have to take exception to this, it's a massive Eve fallacy. It takes much longer to teach yourself PvP, a lot of perserverance and a stock of isk but it's doable. The difficult bit isn't learning the combat strategies (at least solo/small gang) but learning the properties of every ship you could end up facing & what it's strength and weaknesses are.

My suggestion isn't going to make anyone PvP that otherwise wouldn't... But it will encourage the people who might just give it a go eventually. However it will get people understanding the skill queue and less likely to leave their character gathering dust in a station, rather than undocked & flying.

Thread closed.