EVE General Discussion

It's not smart if thats the reason. If the new player pick a faction (like I did 7 years ago) then they usually have no idea if that faction is what they really want to be in EvE. In my first days of EVE I started as Amarr and like a week later I came to the conclusion that I wanted to fly missle boats instead. With alpha clones the players are locked out of experimenting with other T1 ships of other factions, thus limiting their starting experience more than the original trail setup.

Then they can just create a new char or account. It's free after all. People can just create 4 accounts for each race, if you really don't know which to pick. But honestly, the race doesn't matter too much, aside from solo/small gank PvP. All races have decent PvE ships and in bigger fleets, your single Alpha account ship won't have much of an influence.

Allowing all racial ships to be trained, would mean you would have to increased the SP limit, which in turn decrease the incentive to sub.

The system is fine as it is.

Wise words right here.
I think that Alpha thing is very good to bring older players back, I'm just not convinced it will work with true newbies as well.
Eve has the reputation of being a pretty brutal and merciless game, where older players have such a massive advantage, that newbies will never catch up (I know it's mostly untrue, but that's what people who have never played it say).

T2 is pretty much standard for PVP- having newbies fly anything less puts them at a massive disadvantage right from the start (especially if they cannot use t2 ammo) and may reinforce the idea that it's impossible to catch up.
And please don't give me that "A good and experienced pilot can win with a worse ship"-crap: true newbies by definition are NOT experienced, which puts them even more at a disadvantage.

I like the idea that alphas are limited to only racial ships. But to get truly fresh blood into this old game, I would have suggested to simply limit them to frigs and dessies (no cruisers) T1 and T2, with every relevant skill and every module available (exception for cynos and cloaking devices, maybe even bomb launchers to prevent abuse). That way even a newbie could become competitive with older players in his own narrow niche, he will become more desirable for non-**** corps to recruit and will feel that he can really contribute to the game (especially if he flies dictors or inties for his corp).
If a newbie feels that he can achieve something and that he really matters, he is probably much more likely to stay and go for a full subscription.

I feel for you.

I cannot afford the new Mercedes I want, so they should just give me one for free so long as I stay within 50 miles of my home town.

I wish that every one who wishes to play Eve could afford the sub, but that just ain't the way the world works.

I'm honestly not trying to sound like an a**hole here, but a subscription is $15/month for something you get dozens of hours of entertainment out of.

If you can't afford $15/mo for entertainment you need to spend less time on video games and more time either finding a new job or working a second job.

Alpha is fine, if ur just starting out. But for 'returning' players, it's just pointless, your char is so gimped, u can't really do anything usefull impo. (if u have any suggestions i'm all ears though!!! )

esp, cus u can't even activate one next to a paid account. (yes, yes, i know, nobody wants to see fleets of F2P suicide alts, but ... not even 1???)

Then again... i tought of starting all over... see how far i can get with just an Alpha

The best part is you sounded like an A hole without trying and you were honest to boot. Win win.

Ooooh, I can post again, this is odd ........ I'd been in this game since 2004 and the good old days of splash damage but quit in 2013 mainly because I'd done pretty much everything, sold my character and bought 5 years worth of game time and all I used it for was logged in from time to time to fly around a few trapped capitals in high sec. *shakes fist at that change*

I really hope I do get ganked at a gate, might bring back the feeling I had that kept me in the game for 9 years of excitement.

in my mind, free to play isnt just a model, its more like the future of gaming, you would be shooting yourself in the leg if you didnt take the opportunity to make your game free to play nowadays

I agree that two weeks is no way near the time it takes to try out EvE. I have been playing nearly 10 years and I am still learning new tricks. You can't wrap your head around EvE in two weeks! Unless you enlisted in EvE Uni or miraculously got taken in by a super D duper group of nice guys ..you aren't learning EvE in two weeks. I hope this gives more people a chance to get into EvE.