70 million sp; im there now.

You still have ~4 years until you run out of trainable skills.

I am just as excited as everyone about 1.9 and it's arrival next week. Looks like lots of changes to a game that hasn't had any meaningful changes in quite a while other than data tweaks. A new map, NPC market, map moods etc. Great.

But looking at the changes more closely makes me wonder if some of them won't undermine the gaming experience in the long term.

One of the hooks that kept players playing the game was how valuable and hard to come by skill points were. You had to plan. If you got excited by grinding for a week to increase armor damage by 3% you knew you were hooked.

The sheer scarcity and value of SP is what made the game feel like an investment; a time and emotional investment that you had really created and a character that had value.

It took work to skill something up and when you have to work for something you appreciate it more than if it is simply given to you.

Flash forward to 1.9. Now if you cap and log in everyday you will earn 960,000 ISK per week unboosted. On top of that, you can reallocate it as often as you like. You can also triple boost it and instant boost it. Loyalty ranks are going to boost SP earned per battle AND daily SP bonus. So it will actually be more than 960,000 per week.

As a result, I feel Skill Points will be practically meaningless in 1.9.

Another attribute of DUST 514 was always the economy. You are a mercenary and had to manage the economic aspect of your character. Most players can't afford to run proto all the time. The economics is what made deaths MATTER which is what separated this shooter from all others. You don't just run in guns blazing. Tactics, planning, thought, etc were important because those suits aren't cheap.

Flash forward to 1.9. Many players are going to be awash in ISK after selling off assets in the market, and everyone will earn more ISK from this new feature. Again, Loyalty Ranks will provide more ISK rewards per battle and better vendor prices when selling assets. So ISK won't be as important and Deaths will matter less.

Finally, flash forward 3 months from now. Everyone who wanted has respec'ed, some multiple times.

Everyone is flush with SP, some having triple boosted 750k for 12 weeks.

All the skills you wanted are unlocked.

Special Events mean nothing anymore as a result.

You have all the ISK you will ever need.

If you devalue SP and ISK by providing too much of it, will the game still keep players emotionally invested?

What's left?

I am just as excited as everyone about 1.9 and it's arrival next week. Looks like lots of changes to a game that hasn't had any meaningful changes in quite a while other than data tweaks. A new map, NPC market, map moods etc. Great.

But looking at the changes more closely makes me wonder if some of them won't undermine the gaming experience in the long term.

One of the hooks that kept players playing the game was how valuable and hard to come by skill points were. You had to plan. If you got excited by grinding for a week to increase armor damage by 3% you knew you were hooked.

The sheer scarcity and value of SP is what made the game feel like an investment; a time and emotional investment that you had really created and a character that had value.

It took work to skill something up and when you have to work for something you appreciate it more than if it is simply given to you.

Flash forward to 1.9. Now if you cap and log in everyday you will earn 960,000 ISK per week unboosted. On top of that, you can reallocate it as often as you like. You can also triple boost it and instant boost it. Loyalty ranks are going to boost SP earned per battle AND daily SP bonus. So it will actually be more than 960,000 per week.

As a result, I feel Skill Points will be practically meaningless in 1.9.

Another attribute of DUST 514 was always the economy. You are a mercenary and had to manage the economic aspect of your character. Most players can't afford to run proto all the time. The economics is what made deaths MATTER which is what separated this shooter from all others. You don't just run in guns blazing. Tactics, planning, thought, etc were important because those suits aren't cheap.

Flash forward to 1.9. Many players are going to be awash in ISK after selling off assets in the market, and everyone will earn more ISK from this new feature. Again, Loyalty Ranks will provide more ISK rewards per battle and better vendor prices when selling assets. So ISK won't be as important and Deaths will matter less.

Finally, flash forward 3 months from now. Everyone who wanted has respec'ed, some multiple times.

Everyone is flush with SP, some having triple boosted 750k for 12 weeks.

All the skills you wanted are unlocked.

Special Events mean nothing anymore as a result.

You have all the ISK you will ever need.

If you devalue SP and ISK by providing too much of it, will the game still keep players emotionally invested?

What's left?

The cap is the cap - it is not raised through boosters, only reached faster through Active Boosters.

Dude I hate to burst your bubble but this game died a long long time ago. Too many missteps and bad builds including the announcement about legion and Dust forged the exodus of vets including myself to never look back.

However I must agree with you that this game is nothing like it used to be 1.5 years ago, that I and many other retired Dust vets can assure you, this game now caters to the weak instead of the THINKING player who would take weeks planning a suit build then take six months to complete it.

If half the vets that left came back under one Corporation flag, you would see dominating warfare on an unprecedented scale that people playing this game less than a year couldn't fathom, and certainly wouldn't survive.

This game is nothing like it used to be...

I agree that lack of new players, would be the true death of this game. It is all ready boiled down to nothing but hardcore lifers , it leaves little room for fun or challenge to a new player , to go against full proto , map knowledge , formula players, who have had the chance to join up and kick puppies together, in order to feel superior in at least one aspect of their life. So quit complaining about your highhorse being threatened , you still have other skills to help keep kicking puppies , and will get the chance of having more to kick.