So I’ve created this blog and then I’ve basically gone back to my “login to train” ways.
But, I want to comment on that because I’ve been working on my Learning skills. On Slydes I got impatient and stopped training up learning once EVEmon told me that it wasn’t faster for me to train the learning skills (this was about two years ago). However with the CSM meetings about learning skills I’ve got new hope in this skill tree…. because it could turn to gold. Hot sweaty steaming skill point gold. How pray tell? Clicky the linky -> Modify or Remove Learning Skills (CSM)
As you’re probably guessing, I’m hoping for the option that refunds all skill points in the Learning, because I’d love to be able to allocate a few million skill points to anywhere that I see fit. If they don’t change the Learning skills it’s not as if it is a bad thing that I spent the time training them all up.
The point of this potential change is to try and engage new players and indoctrinate them in to the game faster, thus shoving the needle in further and making them in to a fatted calf that CCP can then suckle for money. I’m all for it, in fact I encourage it, but is it enough? I’ve tried countless times to get friends from other games involved in this one and no one wants to because it’s “too established and I’ll never be able to catch up”. When you have the mentality of being the best at everything, why would you even try to do something that you can’t be the best at? Ever. That’s the point that makes Eve both great and awful. The idea of waiting 50+ days for a skill to train just doesn’t appeal to the masses. People want instant gratification, Eve just doesn’t offer that.
Why is that? Well the easy answer is that CCP has come to the conclusion that less is more. I’d hazard a guess that once they get an account on the books it has a much much longer life-cycle than accounts in other MMORPGs. That would make sense when you can only have one skill training per account and skills take many many days to complete. This further bloats their account numbers because I’m guessing that, like me, the average Eve player has between 2 and 3 accounts.
My suggestion is a simple one and it addresses all of the above issues (well other than the Learning skills, those just kinda suck). What if you could pay an extra monthly fee on your account to activate a second skill training queue. Think of it has having two processors learning for you, you can set them to different items or you can run them in tandem to half the time of a skill being trained. There’s nothing to stop them from allowing you to purchase even more than two processors, heck you could finally have that alt on the same account (if you really really wanted to I guess). This probably doesn’t help the “n00b” as much as other things, but it would give the same profit’s to CCP and allow the userbase more flexibility in their skill training. Hell it might even ake them more money as the people with three accounts might double up their subscription fees to train all three accounts faster.
The reality is that CCP already is allowing much more than other MMORPGs in some ways. CCP is the only one allowing you to buy in game currency. Wait… what? You heard me, CCP allows you to buy in game currency. I can go buy a PLEX right now and immediately pick it up in Amarr and sell it for 300+ million ISK. It’s one step removed from them DIRECTLY selling currency, but it’s still pretty much selling currency. Additionally they allow you to purchase characters, which pushes the market for PLEX in some ways because if I really really loved the game and I really really wanted a new account that can fly ship X that would take me two years to train up to, I could purchase the PLEX (and in turn the ISK) to buy the account.
Just my two pennies, but there would be more than that coming CCP’s way if they would put in that option.
