Player Features and Ideas Discussion

The Problem

My +5 learning clone is sitting in Jita. My PvP clones are sitting in lowsec. These are filled with juicy PvP implants (yes, please add me to your watch list). I have half an hour to spare but won’t be logging in for a few days after that. I do not want to jump because I will not train at the same rate over that time. I do not want to PvP in my learning implants because I am l33t. Just look at my killboard. Ahem.

Result: sometimes I do not jump. I do not get blown up in lowsec. Content is not created.

Sure, I have to choose whether I want to have some fun trying to blow stuff up or the extra skill points. I argue that this is not a good gameplay choice. Some people will choose the skill points and that reduces player interaction. Not good design.

The Solution

Add Learning Boosters to the game. These would not replace learning implants because that would make Malcanis tetchy. They would have the following qualities:

1. They would cap out at current maximum attainable attributes. I.e. adding a booster to a +5 clone would not further improve training rate.

2. They would use existing booster slots. You would have to choose between an existing combat booster and a learning booster.

3. Learning boosters would come in a variety of strengths and/or durations.

In an ideal world, they would be produced from clouds found only in lowsec. Lowsec needs some love. And swarms of Ventures.

What this is not about

- This is not about risk aversion. My PvP implants are more expensive than a set of +5s. I know how to keep my pod safe (usually).

- This is not about removing learning implants. Well, not any more. GD educated me.

This is about removing a reason to not PvP and adding new opportunities/markets/activities etc.

This was moved to F&I from GD at page 6.


Original GD post:

I hate learning implants. I have a +5 learning clone sitting in Jita which I jump to if I will be away from game for a few days. The problem is that when I have time to log in for half an hour I never want to jump back to lowsec for some pew because of the training time loss over the next few days. So someone, usually me :), doesn't explode that day. Stupid, I know, but there you go.

Get rid of learning implants. They just discourage PvP. I'd love to see them replaced with learning drugs of different levels and durations.

Or just get +3s they're cheap enough that if you get podded (which rarely happens in lowsec anyway) it doesn't matter

Or just learn how to warp away when your ship explodes...

Or just run cheaper implants like others have said? Sure dropping the 500 mil for a full set of 5's is nice but +3's work too. And in all honesty +4's would work too.

Thats the cost of using attribute implants, Increased skill point allocation, but with the chance of getting podded and losing all dat isk.

Why force a decision between optimal training time and player interaction? I just don't understand this from a game design perspective.

Risk vs reward.
Actions have consequences.
Diminishing returns on investment.

I DO risk implants. Very expensive ones. But they still don't train as fast.

Listen, there are ways to work around it. I understand that. I just don't understand what this adds to the game. It is a horrible mechanic that works against the other things CCP is trying to achieve.

Well, you can either learn to not die, or get used to not having +5's. The latter comes into play if you fail to apply the former.

I haven't had anything that is not a Slave Set for well over a year now, and I don't regret it. My pew is worth much more than the few days I could save in a year long period.

No it isn't.

Explain please. I don't understand how this supports the goal of increasing player interaction. If you are talking risk vs reward that could also be achieved by boosters which would be destroyed when podded.