I recommend reverting to the older isk payout method. Or simply increasing the payout for lower level finishing positions. My reasoning follows:

The game used to have much better payout for isk. Since the new year the amounts paid out for kill board position below ~5 place have dropped dramatically.

The effect on the game overall is negative and it is worse for the new player experience as new berries have more trouble making money. More cash is rewarded for destruction of equipment (tanks, etc) and infrastructure (turrets) than just killing reds. Which is fine.

However, losing money for almost every match just makes it difficult, if not impossible, to buy skill books. Isk cannot be purchased, it is only rewarded in battle. While there might have been a good reason to limit isk payout the reality is the game is dying and the original reasons are invalid today.

I believe the reason was the large amounts of isk in game (which was the fault of CCP mishandling of rewards and PC) was the reason to lower the amounts. However, the problem isn't those with millions of isk on hand (my total is in the tens of millions - no I will not share it) but those with well under a million. A multi million isk skill book means it is impossible to skill into a higher skill because it is nearly impossible to gather the funds.

Aurum is available to those that don't have the time or the skill to move forward quickly. However there is no other way to acquire isk beyond game play. This is forcing new players to grind cheaply, to eek out a profit and to play conservatively when the game is much more entertaining doing exactly the opposite.

If you really want the game to be enjoyed versus endured increase the rewards to lower finishing positions.

Fully agree. My proto suits and gear are gathering rust and dust (514) and I don't get the fun of heaving them because only 2-3 battles with proto gear and I will bancrupt.
I skilled into proto weapons and suits, but they are too way expensive to use them.

Fully agree. My proto suits and gear are gathering rust and dust (514) and I don't get the fun of heaving them because only 2-3 battles with proto gear and I will bancrupt.
I skilled into proto weapons and suits, but they are too way expensive to use them.

Very good point

Indeed. The problem isn't just with running in cheap gear and getting to the top, the problem is also that at the top often you have to spend excessive amounts to just get there. There have been many times where I have just made an alt in BA just to be able to afford to buy a skill book for my main (although my corp likes to help) and just grind some easy isk in the BA, biomassing when I get out of the BA. I can make easily 10 million isk in a short period of time (usually one battle per alt till I make it out of BA) and transfer that to my main where it accumulates so I can have shiny things on the battlefield and it goes quick, regardless of my position on the roster (never did have a hard time getting to 1-5 as a Logi or a scout).

While the BA works for grinding free isk, the preferable method of grinding for me was using BPO suits with cheapish mods to eek out a fortune. The task itself though is near impossible now though, even at 30k isk average for a cheap suit, the relative HP for a cheap suit and lack of other options available on it mean that you die more and costs a similar amount to what your expensive suit cost would run. Net effect for a veteran player is negative isk.

EDIT: Having the ability to sell equipment and suits to other players would mitigate this problem and allow us to play and use what we want to that gets the best results.

Well, OP's point is about the newest players being unable to purchase even skill books because matches don't pay enough to those who don't do well while they need those skill books in order to do well in the first place.

This seems entirely seperate from what I understand your concern to be which amounts to "I want to run PRO more often".

No one should be able to run PRO in pubs with any kind of consistency. The fact that some players can due to broken PC mechanics is what has hurt the NPE more than anything else. What we need is way less PRO frames in pubs instead of more or it becomes the downright baseline tier for anything resembling competitive performance. We're close enough to that being the case as it is.

Yes I will be OP compared with the new players but that is the idea. I played a lot to reach here. This happens in all online RPG games either shooters or not.

All RPG games are about gear. You play long time just to advance and to be able to use better gear. The aim of all games is to use better gear and this is stronger even than the will to kill more.

Yes I will be OP compared with the new players but that is the idea. I played a lot to reach here. This happens in all online RPG games either shooters or not.

What is the point in skill books? Can we just remove them? I mean you already spent the time gaining SP. What is the point in charging ISK on top of SP? That would lower the barrier.

I'll also reiterate that your post misses OP's point entirely in that his argument is highlighting specific issues any player able to field PRO fits has long surpassed. Neither is your situation subject of OP's argument nor do I think that he'd agree with what you're saying.

I recommend reverting to the older isk payout method. Or simply increasing the payout for lower level finishing positions. My reasoning follows:

The game used to have much better payout for isk. Since the new year the amounts paid out for kill board position below ~5 place have dropped dramatically.

The effect on the game overall is negative and it is worse for the new player experience as new berries have more trouble making money. More cash is rewarded for destruction of equipment (tanks, etc) and infrastructure (turrets) than just killing reds. Which is fine.

However, losing money for almost every match just makes it difficult, if not impossible, to buy skill books. Isk cannot be purchased, it is only rewarded in battle. While there might have been a good reason to limit isk payout the reality is the game is dying and the original reasons are invalid today.

I believe the reason was the large amounts of isk in game (which was the fault of CCP mishandling of rewards and PC) was the reason to lower the amounts. However, the problem isn't those with millions of isk on hand (my total is in the tens of millions - no I will not share it) but those with well under a million. A multi million isk skill book means it is impossible to skill into a higher skill because it is nearly impossible to gather the funds.

Aurum is available to those that don't have the time or the skill to move forward quickly. However there is no other way to acquire isk beyond game play. This is forcing new players to grind cheaply, to eek out a profit and to play conservatively when the game is much more entertaining doing exactly the opposite.

If you really want the game to be enjoyed versus endured increase the rewards to lower finishing positions.