if isk was too easy to make for the average joe, ccp wouldn't have a business model

You just described the USA.

Think about it this way: scarcity of a resource is what gives it value. If the average player struggles to fund themselves then that means the economy is working and that both decisions and ISK have weight to them. Honestly it's the main thing that makes this games economy work. I LIKE struggling for money. I love knowing most other players are doing the same. It's the aspect of the game that is the most exciting and keeps it from being JUST "a lobby shooter ." It's added persistence and it's what makes things count. If everyone made enough to run what they wanted all the time then ISK would be worthless. Enjoy the grind, it's what's keeping things interesting.

so 1% save their money and 99% spend it on proto suits? big surprise.

so hold on a second....... 1% of people are wealthy, while the other 99% of people aren't, yet MOST people run Proto....... That's a bit of a paradox isn't it? Most people cant afford to play yet most people run proto.......

Or maybe, cheap 20k isk suits are just too hard to work with? Oh wait, i went 25-2 with one last night, and repeatedly got results like that with a suit that only cost that much.

your a bit off there. if 99% are so poor why can they all run proto.

personally the only really pricy thing i ever run is my all advanced maddie.

i have protofits in the 100's but i can count on one hand the ammount of times ive used them. simply because i dont see it as a viable investment to use proto in pubs and its a bit ******.

actully turns out i have more than 1k full proto fits sat doing nothing.

id love to see some pve. i have a lot of friends who would return to the game with pve being brought in and the player market would also help.

I spent 70 million ISK on 1.8s arrival to buy 180,000 dropsuit fittings (not lying, 800 standard, 600 Advanced, 400 Prototype suits w/ fittings.

and I still have 520,000,000 ISK to burn.

How do you have your fits organized and do you have a number of intermediate options for those that you use most commonly? If I'm running by myself I've found that I'm isk neutral at about 50-60k a suit (an ADV suit with some proto modules). I can play all week with suits in this price range and not lose money. Because of this, I normally run ADV fits in the 40K isk range. This subsidizes bringing out proto stuff when I'm against good players in proto suits and nets me a small profit each day. Some simple math can help you find your optimal level of spending given your skill level and play style.

-Aramis

1%er

Comrade, that is where you are wrong. I run militia fits and still roflstomping proto scrubs.

Very fun, if you ask me.

OR, I say, go into tanking. Learn to drive. Learn to shoot. Learn to appreciate the hatemail you receive afterwords with a bunch of QQ'ers whining about their 150k suits. Then you will enjoy proto stomping ))

Just go play in cheap suits and earn your money. Pad up a bit then switch to your protos again. If youre not good enough to win in protos fits then its not the game, its you.(not saying I am good enough by the way, lol my poor k/d record speaks for itself) My "richest" character only has 14 mil. (Im a noob)
Thats plenty to fit out the best I have and go play. When I start feeling broke I build a couple of cheap fits I like and go grind for money. EVERY single player in the game can do this. Just have to put the time in.
If you're broke, its your fault.

He's right, actually. Learn how to budget. If you have 500 isk left and you have a suit that costs 100k isk, why run it?

Militia shotgun is pretty good and the militia light frames are good, too, now that no one activate scans anymore. Just watch out for Caldari scouts lol

When I feel like making isk, I just switch to my starter gear. Sure, I may not do as good as my regular scout fit, but it didn't matter since it's a change of playstyle. I still go positive most of the time and get sevens amount of kills and isk.

Actually, MLT shotgun light frame is the easiest MLT fit to do well with if youre good at positioning and not being perma scanned

Starter fits exist for a reason.

So stop grinding just to blow it all on proto, mess with your loadouts until you find a good balance between cost/battle effectiveness. It takes some puttering around to work it out but once you find it you're set.

We are the 3.5 percent.

Like in life the OP has been answered but doesn't like the answer so rejects it. It's simple, don't spend more than you make. How you do that is a big part of the fun and challenge of Dust. On this alt I am running strictly free starter fits, with good passive skills it actually performs pretty well and since it can't do much I only have to concentrate on a limited role, it's kind of relaxing, and it is all profit. I don't need ISK so I can transfer it to my other characters.

I don't manage finances, nor do I speak Japanese.

You grind for a week in starter fits so you can play for a day in proto? WTF? You do realize that for the price of one day of proto you could run advanced all week? And that the gap between advanced and proto is tiny compared to the gap between starter fits and advanced? smh

1.Get good.
2.Find people you get along with and whom you compliment with your play style and vise versa.
3.Get better as a squad.
4.Don't be a sore loser or winner. (This will help catch the eye of quality players in quality corps)
5.Continue struggling to get better as a group.
6.Begin squading with a few people outside your group. Eventually one or more with have some influence with some big names.
7.Become friends with people outside your group.
8.You and your group collectively apply to the same corp.
9.LFS into PC battles.
10.Get better.
11.Win PC battles.
12.Profit.

I was once the 99%, then WE became the 1%.

Hate to say it, but yepp. Not much fun. The top players are flying away on wings of SP/Corp-Teamwork/PC farmed ISK. But, as I said so many times:

there is a place for us:

1. Hacking and Hiding (need a few SP for the cloak n scout suit ... but you wont need a weapon, so thats a plus)
2. Sniping (and Hiding) Forge Gun / Sniper Rifle / Rail Gun Tank. Your choice
3. Logistics (again, a few SP needed). Most risk of dying meaningless here.

All can be fun, even at militia level. The thrill of going against an overwhelming force. So if you dont care to be the lowliest of the low on the End of Match Screen... here you go.

So, one percent of the playerbase makes the game unplayable for the other 99%?

Seems legit.

I have enough money to protostomp, I choose not to. If you want to make ISK to protostomp, run cheap fits. When you still get stomped even though you're using Proto, don't come back and QQ about it.

i run militia to std gear all the time and i still find this game enjoyable and profittable.
i can kill whole squads pf people just using a militia or stanadard scout and can take on a heavy with just my basic assault M-I suit

Welll, I'll be on tonight if you want to squad up but I am not sure what it is you are challenging. My only claim is that I run in a free suit, enjoy doing it and find the suit to be decent with the passive skills at a good level. I'm not sure what you expect to find.

Eww, poor people

I'd consider myself fairly wealthy (254mil ISK) but what I have pales in comparison to other folk's cash reserves. Viktor Hadah Jr has around a Billion if the rumors are true.

So you'd rather that some be wealthy and others broke?

Instead of most being able to sell gear and make their way?

I'm not criticizing you, just confused as to your line of thought.

I'd rather everyone have the chance to be rich rather than most be broke.

I can not agree more

I am constantly counselling players to think before the skill up there weapons or suits, they are sure this will make them better players.

I always suggest they look at the things that wont necessarily encourage them to spend more ISK like, shields, armor, engineering, rapid reload, hacking,etc. I get these things appear boring, but they are essential.

most will ignore this advice and go straight for better and much more expensive equipment, which they quickly loose because they have an out of balance suit that is financially unsustainable...and.... sadly... let the begging for isk begin

I am isk rich manly because I have the skills to run a very cheap suit and hold my own, 1st thing I check is how much it costs, and that is the deciding factor as to when and how much I use it.

sorry if this comes across as "preachy"

[quote=Enki Kalgarian]I run my advanced heavy suit and die to a proto heavy I put on my proto heavy and I run through most heavies.so you can't say running cheaper suits are better like I said in theory it's perfect in reality it's not so good no matter what any of you rich players say.

sure

why do you find it difficult to believe rich folks run militia ?

Never hide

pick your spots, play within the limits of the fit you are running

go with a cheap suit to start, if the battle is going in your favor, change to a more expensive fit.

if you up against a team of proto stomper, stay with the less expensive suits,

have fun, experiment with different basic fits

I have found this quote from the literature archives of an unknown source.

It translates as follows:

"You can not strengthen the weak by weakening the strong."

Us 1% gives you lowly 99% something to aspire to, to strive, to be better. We are Gods among clones. Use this as inspiration and go forth. One day you may be in the likes of us.

so 1% save their money and 99% spend it on proto suits? big surprise.

hmmm...???....

should I or shouldn't I.....?

You just described the USA.

Time to put my money where my mouth is... eh?

I accept your challenge, my good man.

I will play with a starter frontline and a basic uplink

so far its going as expected not great but not awful


in 3 matches so far

lost 18k
made 250K

and its kind of fun...

damn....

"Enki" is a popular first name.....hahahaha...strange, does it mean something ?

I was someone who was vehemently against pve in dust, as it would take away development of the pvp aspect.

I just started playing eve about a week ago. I now understand and see the light. We need pve in dust and we need it badly.

When you max out your core skills you'll find that your starter BPO fits are incredibly robust. My Gallente Starter Fit could get over 600ehp and still carry decent weapons and equipment.

Here are some tips:

1) Save up ISK and then restock in bulk. Like, 100+ at a time. Of everything. Suits, weapons, equipment, everything. Then when you have a bad game, you're not down and out. If you play and your net is ISK positive, a few bad games here and there won't hurt you. If you do this and you stay ISK negative, then you need to adapt your playstyle.

2) Don't wait until you're flat broke to run your cheap fits. Once you get below a certain threshold, run cheap fits and nothing else until you get back above said threshold. My threshold is currently set at 5 million ISK. When I get below that, I run fits that I know with certainty allow me to go ISK positive. I just restocked everything (ADV & Basic suits, weapons, equipment, modules, everything). I got down to just over 2.5 million ISK. For the time being I plan to run my cheap fits and save up until I get at least 10 million ISK. Then I plan to send ISK in increments to a bank toon (out of sight, out of mind...this leads me to my next point).

3) Create a bank toon. Make another PSN account, it takes all of 5 minutes, and create another DUST character. This will serve two purposes...one, it will give you a character to sit and rack of passive SP over time. As you log in, after a few months you'll have a respectable amount of SP to play with. It can make for a fun break from your main. Two, it acts as a bank for your main toon such that it keeps you from spending ISK as easily on your main. Send your bank toon ISK in increments (250k, 500k, 1M, 5M, whatever works for you) and then forget about it. Keep your min above the aforementioned ISK threshold, and when the time comes you'll realize you've saved quite a pretty penny on your bank toon.

Hope this helps.

Peasants try working. Last I check basic suits are fairly cheap to run. Peasants.

Not everyone's corp does PC battles, and not everyone in a corp that does PC battles partakes in the battles themselves.

My corp does PC battles but I personally have just under 9M SP and due to poor skill choices early in my DUST career I am nowhere near having a proto fit. As such, I do not take part in PC battles.

PC battles are where the proto gear comes out and the combat is no holds barred.

ok.

I'll send you 10 million isk when I log on in about 15 minutes. You do not have to call me 'God", but the 1st person that you kill with weapons from my gift you must tea bag....or die trying.....

that is all.

Total given out in last 2 days from this post is now 53,000,000 isk...

*Mean while in Viktor's Evil lair*


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip7YU_kuB0s

you die twice in a pro suit.

I have 30+ Mil SP and run a suit that costs 11K almost every match, sometimes i pull out my 18K suit, and on rare occasions I pull out the 258K suit