These forums have been archived and are now read-only.

The new forums are live and can be found at https://forums.eveonline.com/

Player Features and Ideas Discussion

 
  • Topic is locked indefinitely.
 

Single-character account for half omega price?

Author
Vokan Narkar
Doomheim
#1 - 2017-04-29 06:30:43 UTC
You know every now and then a "beta clone" thread will appear.

Obviously,. many peoples thinks the price of omega is too high. (Personally thats not my concern so please avoid personal attacks)

And I seen this suggestion in other par of the forums and I like this idea.

Maybe this would be the course CPP should go?

I know many players don't have a time or need to use all 3 slots. Yet, when you sub you start to think - now when all my 3 slots can do PI I should do it to maximalize the money I put into it. Which is exactly how I was thinking and basically everyone uses the alts at least for the PI if nothing else.

But some players have no such need and if the price for a single character account was half or perhaps 3/4 of the current omega they might consider to sub. (Personally thats not my case so please avoid personal attacks)

Thoughts?
Merin Ryskin
Peregrine Industries
#2 - 2017-04-29 06:53:56 UTC
No. A cheaper single-character account is, for most people, equivalent to saying "reduce the subscription price by half", which means giving up ~50% of CCP's revenue. There is no reason to even consider doing that.

And no, the price of omega is not too high. It's the same price as other MMO subscriptions, and when you compare the cost per hour of entertainment with pretty much any other hobby EVE comes out ahead.
Matthias Ancaladron
Imperial Shipment
Amarr Empire
#3 - 2017-04-29 12:59:03 UTC
Lol only half? You mean for one third right?

1 = $5
2 = $10
3 = $15

What people like merin fail to account for would be the dramatic increase in subscriptions.
The entry costs for this game are too much for what the game offers. It's been years and we still can't walk in station and theres too much focus on pvp for a mmorog where the overwhelming majority of games want to cooperate and run dungeons and get cool loot with friends.
That on top of a high subscription price has always kept the game incredibly niche with low long term player retention and high turnover on new accounts.
CCP has always had issues with this, hell dust was free and had probably a few million downloads but many people never played after the first time cause it was too niche and inaccessible.

It makes for a tight community but theyre preventing their own games from being more successful.
(For better or worse)
Moonlit Raid
Doomheim
#4 - 2017-04-29 14:51:42 UTC  |  Edited by: Moonlit Raid
If you pay for 12 months at a time, the cost per month drops by a quarter. And you still get three character slots. If you sub via PayPal/CC, please explain why you wouldn't do this?

If brute force isn't working, you're just not using enough.

Please Note: Any advice given comes with the caveat that nothing will be suitable for every situation.

Daichi Yamato
Jabbersnarks and Wonderglass
#5 - 2017-04-29 15:08:42 UTC
You're more paying for the training and its speed.

Training one char at full speed costs one sub. Training two chars at full speed costs two subs. So if anything, the alpha should cost half price.

But yeah. Id expect most people have one real char per account and the rest expendable. I doubt that many people will be that attached to those pi/trade alts. I think this would hurt more than help.

EVE FAQ "7.2 CAN I AVOID PVP COMPLETELY? No; there are no systems or locations in New Eden where PvP may be completely avoided"

Daichi Yamato's version of structure based decs

Do Little
Bluenose Trading
#6 - 2017-04-29 16:54:27 UTC
Basically, what you are paying for is a skill queue and the right to train (and use) Omega skills.
Only 1 character can login at a time.
Only 1 character can train at a time with the subscription queue.

From CCPs perspective having multiple characters on the account is a profit center since a lot of players will use PLEX to train the additional characters. Even if that PLEX was purchased in game with ISK, someone originally bought it from CCP with real money.
Jonah Gravenstein
Machiavellian Space Bastards
#7 - 2017-04-29 17:44:02 UTC
Matthias Ancaladron wrote:
Lol only half? You mean for one third right?

1 = $5
2 = $10
3 = $15

What people like merin fail to account for would be the dramatic increase in subscriptions.
The entry costs for this game are too much for what the game offers.
What increase in subscriptions? Are you talking about the mythical masses that would play Eve if it was cheaper?

Here's the thing, you can play for free, and I suspect that the mythical masses aren't interested in Eve because it isn't *insert generic MMO of choice here* in space, has a full loot mechanic, allows acts that other games call greifing, has no safe area for PvE etc, etc.

Quote:
It's been years and we still can't walk in station and theres too much focus on pvp for a mmorog where the overwhelming majority of games want to cooperate and run dungeons and get cool loot with friends.
Of course it's focused on PvP, IT'S A PVP GAME.

Quote:
That on top of a high subscription price has always kept the game incredibly niche with low long term player retention and high turnover on new accounts.
CCP has always had issues with this, hell dust was free and had probably a few million downloads but many people never played after the first time cause it was too niche and inaccessible.
Bollocks. The sub price is on par with other subscription MMO's.

The game is niche because of its nature, not because of the price of a sub; hell a large pizza or a few beers costs more Roll

Quote:
It makes for a tight community but theyre preventing their own games from being more successful.
(For better or worse)
So you're saying by that outliving most of its peers, being the only MMO that showed a year on year increase in subs for the best part of a decade, and being one of the few games that make the mainstream press regularly isn't successful?

Get out

In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded.

New Player FAQ

Feyd's Survival Pack

Merin Ryskin
Peregrine Industries
#8 - 2017-04-29 19:01:44 UTC
Matthias Ancaladron wrote:
What people like merin fail to account for would be the dramatic increase in subscriptions.


{citation needed}

Remember, if you cut prices in half CCP would have to more than double the paying player count just to break even compared to where they are now.

Quote:
The entry costs for this game are too much for what the game offers.


Nope. Subscription costs are the same as other online games, and still incredibly cheap when compared to other hobbies.

Quote:
It's been years and we still can't walk in station and theres too much focus on pvp for a mmorog where the overwhelming majority of games want to cooperate and run dungeons and get cool loot with friends.


Walking in stations was a questionable idea that has thankfully been abandoned. It adds very little to the core gameplay of EVE, at massive cost in development resources. I'm fine with CCP continuing to work on it as a side product, especially if the technology makes it into a complete game, but it's not something that EVE is incomplete without.

EVE's focus on PvP is never changing. From day one EVE has been intended to be a PvP game. If you just want to run dungeons and get cool loot with your friends, without any risk of PvP, then EVE is not the game for you. Sacrificing the consistency of EVE's design concepts in favor of a desperate attempt to appeal to hardcore PvE players is a great way to kill the game.

Quote:
CCP has always had issues with this, hell dust was free and had probably a few million downloads but many people never played after the first time cause it was too niche and inaccessible.


Dust's problem was that it was a console FPS that wasn't the latest Call of Halo game. Virtually every game that isn't the next increment in the series is doomed to failure, simply because the existing games have already taken the entire market. The primary mistake was making a console-only game and trying to compete in that market as their only hope of success, instead of including the PC players who offer a significant existing customer base to draw from. The individual game design choices are minor in comparison to that mistake.
Sonya Corvinus
Grant Village
#9 - 2017-04-29 20:14:03 UTC
The price for Omega is fine as it is. If you can't afford $0.40/day for entertainment, you have no business playing video games and need to focus on finding a better job anyway.
Omnathious Deninard
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#10 - 2017-04-29 21:37:05 UTC
A reduced rate for only using one character slot would simply allow players who want to use alts to do so cheaper.

If you don't follow the rules, neither will I.

Vokan Narkar
Doomheim
#11 - 2017-04-29 22:41:19 UTC
Jonah Gravenstein wrote:
What increase in subscriptions? Are you talking about the mythical masses that would play Eve if it was cheaper?

Merin Ryskin wrote:

{citation needed}

Remember, if you cut prices in half CCP would have to more than double the paying player count just to break even compared to where they are now.

You both assume that every single player who pays full account will stop doing it and pay only for 1 character slot - would that really happen?

Omnathious Deninard wrote:
A reduced rate for only using one character slot would simply allow players who want to use alts to do so cheaper.

Hmm right. Although that would make cheaper only multiboxing alts. Industrials and traders usually use all their character slots.

Also even those use mainly use single character on the account usually uses the other 2 to do PI, upgrade bpo, trade etc. and thus help them to PLEX the accounts. But I guess you are right - we would see a new era of multiboxing if this was any cheaper... something I certainly don't wanna see.

Jonah Gravenstein
Machiavellian Space Bastards
#12 - 2017-04-29 23:42:32 UTC
Vokan Narkar wrote:

You both assume that every single player who pays full account will stop doing it and pay only for 1 character slot - would that really happen?
I made no such assumption, I asked where all the players would come from if Eve where cheaper.

Try reading what I wrote instead of making assumption of yiur own.

In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded.

New Player FAQ

Feyd's Survival Pack

Cybertherion
Doomheim
#13 - 2017-04-30 00:31:29 UTC  |  Edited by: Cybertherion
While the pricing and what-not isn't an issue I care about the idea of a single player account appeals to me. Balancing skill queues between alts is annoying, and I only use two out of my three slots because of this. There must be some way both CCP and the community can benefit from people with only one personality.

I only post here if EvE is offline. Which means my posts are never well timed.

EAT KRABSAK.

Caleb Seremshur
Commando Guri
Guristas Pirates
#14 - 2017-04-30 01:00:51 UTC
Merin Ryskin wrote:
No. A cheaper single-character account is, for most people, equivalent to saying "reduce the subscription price by half", which means giving up ~50% of CCP's revenue. There is no reason to even consider doing that.

And no, the price of omega is not too high. It's the same price as other MMO subscriptions, and when you compare the cost per hour of entertainment with pretty much any other hobby EVE comes out ahead.


The point of entertainment isn't how much it costs per hour.... such a slave mentality.
I own a sports car, not because it's cheap but because its FAST
Merin Ryskin
Peregrine Industries
#15 - 2017-04-30 01:05:44 UTC
Vokan Narkar wrote:
You both assume that every single player who pays full account will stop doing it and pay only for 1 character slot - would that really happen?


It's a pretty safe bet, since most of the valuable things you can do with alts are best done on separate accounts (both for multiboxing and simultaneous training). People with no (significant) alts would only pay to keep their main active, and people with alt accounts would suddenly get a 50% discount. For example, if you have a PvP main and a hauler/probe scout/PvE/whatever alt you buy two half-price accounts.

Now, I'm sure some people would continue to pay for a three-character account, but I don't think it would be anywhere near a majority.
Merin Ryskin
Peregrine Industries
#16 - 2017-04-30 01:06:36 UTC
Caleb Seremshur wrote:
The point of entertainment isn't how much it costs per hour.... such a slave mentality.
I own a sports car, not because it's cheap but because its FAST


I really don't see your point here. Obviously you buy fun things because they're fun, not because they're cheap, but if you're going to say that something is cheap or expensive then you have to look at the price.
Cybertherion
Doomheim
#17 - 2017-04-30 01:08:48 UTC  |  Edited by: Cybertherion
Exactly. Maybe a "one person" account could have an in-game benefit, but not cost less IRL. I don't understand why whiny b**ches complain about the cost of stuff, if you own a computer you're basically already rolling in more money than half the world IRL.

EDIT: I was replying to Caleb's last post.

I only post here if EvE is offline. Which means my posts are never well timed.

EAT KRABSAK.

Vokan Narkar
Doomheim
#18 - 2017-04-30 02:04:52 UTC  |  Edited by: Vokan Narkar
Merin Ryskin wrote:
Vokan Narkar wrote:
You both assume that every single player who pays full account will stop doing it and pay only for 1 character slot - would that really happen?


It's a pretty safe bet, since most of the valuable things you can do with alts are best done on separate accounts (both for multiboxing and simultaneous training). People with no (significant) alts would only pay to keep their main active, and people with alt accounts would suddenly get a 50% discount. For example, if you have a PvP main and a hauler/probe scout/PvE/whatever alt you buy two half-price accounts.

Now, I'm sure some people would continue to pay for a three-character account, but I don't think it would be anywhere near a majority.

hmmm yea... right about that

okay here is a thought

this account would not allow to play multiple accounts at once - ie. it would have the same restrictions as alpha clone in this regard - you cant play full omega + single omega, you cant play single omega + single omega etc.

obviously VM can workaround this as someone mentioned but that is punishable and also much more resource intensive than normal multiboxing
Merin Ryskin
Peregrine Industries
#19 - 2017-04-30 02:36:35 UTC
Vokan Narkar wrote:
this account would not allow to play multiple accounts at once - ie. it would have the same restrictions as alpha clone in this regard - you cant play full omega + single omega, you cant play single omega + single omega etc.

obviously VM can workaround this as someone mentioned but that is punishable and also much more resource intensive than normal multiboxing


As you said, way too easy to work around. And now you're paying 4x the price to add a single alt account if you don't get around the active accounts limit, which isn't much fun for anyone.
Sitting Bull Lakota
Poppins and Company
#20 - 2017-05-01 11:39:53 UTC
Or ccp could just lower the sub price.
Population goes up, revenue goes up, threads complaining about sub price go up.. everybody wins.