EVE General Discussion

Hello guys. So I just started playing EVE Online and I really want to play a lot of it and explore a lot of what this game has to offer, but I noticed that many things are restricted to F2P capsuleers. So my question is: How much of the game can I play without having to upgrade it? Can I actually enjoy the EVE Online experience or will I feel handicapped midway through because I can't upgrade my ships? Is it worth it going F2P? Is there a big difference between F2P and paid EVE Online?

I can't afford to upgrade to Omega right now, so that's not an option.

Thank you very much.

Oh I didn't know that. So how does that work? Is it feasible to pay it for free or would only an extremely dedicated player be able to do it? Is it permanent or do I have to buy it every month?

Thanks for responding :)

you need 500 plex a month to pay for omega. its around 1.4b isk a month. you can supplement though with real money, like if you earn almost all you can grab the rest for like $5. its not too hard to do as an omega, you could do it as an alpha, but i'd honestly focus on knowing if you want to play long term and not focus on grinding to pay for omega tbh

I'm going to tell you the same thing that I got told when I first started playing. back then it was very common advice but somewhere along the road we stopped giving it out which I think is a shame.

Yes you can pay for your game time with IG money, but it takes a lot of work to get to that point on a consistent basis.
sure there are stories of people who got very lucky doing exploration and payed for their omega time within 2 days of starting a new alpha character. but those where experienced players who knew what they where doing and even then luck played a big part of it.

when I started I was told just to enjoy the game, learn how to play, and have fun for at least the first year before even THINKING about trying to plex my account. I never took that advice, and I sorely wish I had, instead I spent every day chasing the almighty isk trying to get to that elusive "play for free" state. which just caused me to burn out, I never took out ships to pvp because every loss put me that much further from my "goal" of the plex. when my goal should have just been to have fun.

for now, I'd say don't worry about trying to plex your account (and yes you need to do it every month) and just have fun playing as an alpha clone. if you enjoy it enough that you want to keep going, then shell out for a month or three of omega and see how much better that is (answer, its totally worth it). eventually you will learn how the game works, and how best to make isk. and once you know how to do that, you will know how plausible it is for you to start plexing your account. and frankly, by the time you get there you will probably do what most of us do, and keep paying a for your main account and use the plex for alts as you want or need them.

Thank you for the advice, Bjorn. I'll do that

With respect, if you can't afford $10.95 per month, you shouldn't be playing video games in the first place.

Free is free. But there are limitations.

But since you are new, you don't know the "sting" so to speak until you reach those limits. So here is as chance for you to really make something of your experience within these limits and push at them.

Then you can decide later on if you want to go Omega.


That's what I would suggest to you. Sure there is not a lot you can do, but if you had an Omega account right now, unless you forked over more money for SP, you would not be ahead of the game.

The important part of Eve is to find a like minded community and have fun. The Alpha account will let you try stuff and see if Eve is right for you. There are corporations that specialize in training new players and they enjoy a very high conversion rate. Brave Newbies says that 70% of their Alphas end up subscribing. Eve can be a lot of fun when you know how but the learning curve is steep - more like a cliff. People who try to scale it alone rarely succeed. http://evenews24.com/2017/05/29/eve-grows-welcomes-newbros-and-ch-ch-changes-part-ii/

If playing the full game for free is one of your goals, the easiest way is industry - practically the only way unless you move to lawless space where rewards for exploration and ratting are substantially higher. Earning ISK does require time and is only worth it if you enjoy the activity. Grinding to make your PLEX leads to burnout. If the activity you enjoy doesn't make a lot of ISK, you can substitute real world money - CCP is happy to sell you game time or PLEX you can exchange for ISK in-game.

CCP is a business, the developers and operations crew expect pay checks. No subscribers = no game. It's up to you to decide whether your getting good value for your money.

Extremely dedicated for paying with isk, it costs a lot.
But if you manage to get game time for a while it doesn't take very long to skill up into planetary interaction. 3 characters on one account running some pi can definitely Plex an account.

I think alpha should probably last you a month or two. many players want to go bigger and faster, but without training support skills and learning the mechanics that are needed to thrive. I found a 2 week old player in a battleship in a belt in lowsec, and I killed them in a t1 cruiser that was set up for our alliance t1 fit t1 cruiser fights. If they were using the right ship for the situation they would have been in either a destroyer or cruiser. Those ships are much faster and match the rats that spawned in those belts, they are also much cheaper.

after a month or so I'd guess you will have enough isk and game knowledge that you will want to move bigger ships or want to pursue a path that requires some omega skills. This is where you have to make another choice. You can either pay, start the long grind for a plex, or try a different profession. Maybe mission running gets boring rather quickly it might make sense to try exploration or join a null sec group that is newbro friendly they may have some more creative methods for you to get isk faster.