Joseph Ridgeson
WarRavens
Orion Empire
106
   |
Posted - 2013.05.12 08:00:00 -
[1] - Quote
I logged on my other character on the same account as Joseph. I had never played him, never got into a game, did NOTHING with him and merely created him to see what the Amarr barracks looked like. I decided I would have some fun to see what could a new player do with their starting 500,000 SP. I was shocked, however, to see that the biggest limitation is NOT starting SP but cash.
The alt had 1.8 million ISK. How did I have this much without playing him? Simple: the reset game him 1.6 million for the fact that he had starting skills as one of the base roles (that are now gone). I decided to try a little test. Imagine a new player, new but very smart. They looked up the forums and decided, well in advance, what they were going to do. Let's say they wanted to be a Caldari Assault player. Being well informed, they know they can't flat skill into Assault for at least several weeks, so they bide their time getting necessary skills so they can rock out with those groovy Caldari Medium Frames. Here is what they buy, the price, why they bought it.
Dropsuit Command: 48,000. Clearly it HAS to be gotten for any character.
Racial Dropsuit Skill: 229,000. They want to get into a X Frame. It is necessary.
Weaponry: 48,000. Prerequisite for ANY weapon.
Light Weapon Operation: 66,000. Needed for...
Assault Rifle Operation: 149,000.
So there they have all they need to say "I can use an Assault Suit with a Basic Assault Rifle. Price? 540,000. More than twice what a newbie would start with. But other skills are surely needed.
Dropsuit Upgrades: 48,000. Needed to open up the Upgrades line.
Dropsuit Shield Upgrades: 48,000. The new player IS a Caldari after all.
Dropsuit Shield Extension: 149,000. Use better Extenders.
Dropsuit Shield Regulator: 149,000. Not much else should go in those low slots, so Regulators are go.
Hmm, another. 394,000. Anything else that would be great to have? Actually, yes. Of all the Militia vs. Basic gear. grenades have the biggest impact. Going from 2 grenades to 3 is simply too massive NOT to get as quickly as possible. Price?
Explosives: 66,000. Opens up...
Grenadier: 378,000. 3 grenades open.
The total price is 1,378,000. Clearly, the new player can't handle that. At all. Look at any of the prices. The new player can't even afford to get a Racial Frame. Say the new player is not great because, well, they are new. Say they pull in 110,000 per Ambush (if that, I was lower starting out). That is going to be 10 matches because they make up the 1.128 million for just the skills that the well researched newbie needs.
"That doesn't sound so bad. What's the issue?"
What does the non researched newbie do? "Hmm, I don't have the money to buy the skills. I can just spend my SP and I'll have the SP back by the time I have the ISK." They end up wasting points, getting frustrated at the game, and possibly quitting almost immediately.
The hilarity of the whole thing is that the cash that my alt got back was over 1.378 million...
Be well. |
Joseph Ridgeson
WarRavens
Orion Empire
114
|
Posted - 2013.05.12 22:14:00 -
[3] - Quote
Illendar Cortharis wrote:If everyone who joined EVE could use Titans from day 1, would the game be fun?
I'm sorry that CCP has forced you to think about the choices you need to make and the impact they're going to have, but tough luck.
Use Militia gear, work around your limitations.
Because what is stopping new players from using Titans is simply a lack of ISK 
I get the sense that you didn't really read my post too closely, at least from the notion that you mentioned Titans. I feel as if you think I am talking about Skill Point cost and not ISK price for SKill Books.
Of course using Militia gear is an option; I never stated it wasn't. However, what does the new player know? They know they have 500k SP and 250k ISK. They can buy almost no skills to use all that SP in. Even once they get a grip, it would be quite a long time to even buy the skills. Skill Book ISK price is based on the multiplier of the skill and most of those were increased from Chromosome to Uprising.
Be well. |