Apologies if this has been said. Only skimmed over the thread.

As I understand it, the purpose of the Academy is to improve player retention. We want players who are absolutely new to the game, have never had an encounter with New Eden, to not rage quit and never come back. The Academy serves to reduce the level of prison r4pe new mercs will inevitably experience.

While I know no one wants to separate the player base, and many knee-jerk bittervets will cry HTFU (and in most capacities I agree), people do need to realize that this FPS is radically different from anything most gamers have ever played. To the uninitiated, DUST514 is as hardcore and unforgiving as it gets. EVE would probably give most people here a panic attack.

That's not to say we can't educate them.

The trick is we need nubs to stick around long enough to get New Eden in their blood. 20,000 WP and a couple Skirmish matches doesn't accomplish this. We need a controlled environment where new players can acclimate to "New Eden" before being thrown the sharks. New players should be isolated long enough for themselves to see the difference that SP and teamwork mean. They should have incentives to play frequently, they should be exposed to AUR gear and 1 day Boosters.

Currently there is no hook.

The Academy should be a controlled ecosystem that reflects the ideals and philosphy of New Eden without immediately burning out anyone interested in getting involved. We want people to acclimate to the cruelty and the harshness. We want these players to want to get r4ped.

Increasing the requirements for graduation is one way to accomplish this. Let people stay in the academy until they have 4-5 million SP. Raise WP respectively. This gives them some core skills, a proto weapon and suit.
This also creates a healthy SP gradient; old members of the Academy have a noticeable edge over noobs, and so helps people understand that there will always be older, SP richer players. The current problem with the Academy is that this gradient is almost non-existent. New players do not understand there is a gap.

Create boosters, and AUR items locked to a character. Get new people spending AUR.
Drug dealing 101, CPP. Drug dealing 101.