Perhaps I was unclear? The "Delta Wave" augmentation would give you all your SP without playing at all.

Dev post from the DCUO forums

Feel free to tell me why you think you should have everything everyone else has to keep the game fair?

Here are my thoughts:

People that spend more time and have access to more features in the game will tend to have better skills and more powerful stuff. Welcome to MMOs.

The new changes to PvP regarding map rotation, seasonal gear and the ranked matchmaking are all steps that will improve the experience for all players. They will work together to place people against matched opponents. People that have better and larger amount of stuff that causes them to win all the time will face others who employ the same tactics. So, as the game matures with these systems in place the people at the top can go nuts and debuff each other to death and it will be an even playing field.

Furthermore, this is a business, not a charity; it is also entertainment, not the Olympics. So the idea of equality for all players to keep the power gap between certain groups - regardless of financial hardship or life commitments that impact game play time - isn't something that drives my day to day thinking. Player choice of activity drives this more than anything. In most cases, statements like: "I don't want to," I don't have time to" or "I don't have money to" are not going to make us alter entire systems in the game or how our business model works. There would be no game if we did.

I've always wanted boosters to be a catch-up thing (whether that's hit cap faster, or unlock ability to reach some global cap, ie a perpetual cap that nobody can surpass that increases each day from last reset), rather than a get-ahead thing.

With boosters working as they are, CCP is monetizing necessary items (SP), instead of focusing on creating appealing optional items.

Reading through the thread now because lots of people posted since I first looked.

Edit: I'm totally in favor of things like boosters that turn your active SP into passive gain to eliminate the grind, though.

Full passive breaks down because it doesn't require the free player to get invested in the game. They don't get rewarded properly for being more active and providing content for the paying customers. Furthermore, it is entirely unrealistic to LIMIT free alts, which means a year or two from now, fresh players will have no opportunities in competitive play because ALL niches will be filled by a handful of players. At the very least they should be paying the server upkeep and development costs for such large advantages.

Please elaborate on how this addresses the core concerns I brought up in the OP so I can create a more meaningful response.

The core of this argument is wrong.

Passive Booster = faster SP.

All it does is increase the rate at which passive SP accumulates. That's the definition of "faster". It doesn't hand you SP without any time spent to accumulate. You still have to wait a week for your week's worth of boosted SP.

Active Booster = easier SP.

You still have to enter matches. It doesn't give you SP based on games you already played. It doesn't just hand a pile of SP that ignores the cap. You still have to be playing (or AFKing, but that's another issue) to get the SP bonus from the Booster. But for the effort it would normally take to get 1000 SP, you're rewarded with 1500. More SP for same effort = easier. Again, fits the definition of the word quite nicely.

More SP = nope.

There is no option that says "pay X moneys, get Y SP" None. It doesn't exist. There is nothing that just directly gives you more SP. And there shouldn't be.

Both options - Passive and Active Boosters - let you build up a larger amount of SP than would be the case without them, but the time/effort still needs to be spent to make the most out of them.If you buy a 30 day Passive Booster, then look back on your account in a week, you won't have the full 30 days worth of bonus SP yet. If you buy a 7-day Active Booster, activate it then come back after a week without playing, you don't get a stack of SP for buying the Booster.

AAhahahahaha, seriously? Thats like asking why have more than one weapon.

Progression, motivation, rewards, treats. It's the carrot on the stick! It makes you feel like you have achieved something, it makes you feel like you have something to strive for. It's gameplay benefits are choice.
The actual SP training system servers a couple of purposes, one its gates the content. It stops players from access the entire game at once. Without the training time, it would be like getting Bioshock Infinite, turning on god mode, disabling player collision detection and letting the player choose what order they'd like to play the levels in. It also means the player gets exposed to new items and gear at a slower rate giving them time to learn what everything does.




But seriously though. You didn't answer my question. Why would you want to swap that player out?

True, the carrot on the stick is an added benefit, but without it, then dust is just the latest quake with a new coat of paint. Having a persistent character that grows over time in line with your play style preferences is central to what makes dust different.

No it's not very hard. For me, or for you. But what if this was the first FPS you had ever played? What if you don't instinctively know the difference between a rifle and a sub-machine gun? There are a lot of items in the game now, you could spend a good deal of time just browsing through them and figuring out what each does. Now double that number, then double it again, then again. When CCP has finished fleshing out racial variants and subtypes of militia, basic, advance, prototype and officer gear...well...let's just say that it's a big number. If you picked up dust for the first time and were told to go fit a drop suit, most people would just give up straight away because there are far too many options and they'd have nothing to base their decisions on. Choice paralysis is bad.