Thanks for the reply! Would be nice if there was a PLEX option but the numbers don't work too well for that. 1 would be too few and 2 too many :(

Hi,

This is a new program just launched today.

It is not a replacement for the Power of 2, just a new addition to our offers to give you more options

/nadir

In other words....

You continue to fail to bring in new players, so you continue to push alts onto your existing clientele, in a vain effort to keep the game going.

Alt's are a cancer to EVE, until CCP actually admits that, and starts putting out real content, rather breaking and fixing things that haven't worked for years, the ugliness will continue.....

"Start a Sidekick" and get that highsec carebear/falcon alt you've always wanted.

Of course the fact that people LIKE alts, and are willing ot pay for those alts doesn't enter into your equation.

Apparently neither does the fact that CCP is responding to overwhelming popular demand by focusing on fixing and iterating on core features of the game instead of bringing in completely new (and likely somewhat buggy) features all the time.

I think I'll wait for you to back up your assertion that CCP isn't bringing in any new players before I take you too seriously.

Semi-related question:

I just re-subbed both my accounts to check out the changes in Retribution. I accepted two separate offers that were on my account management page (60 days for 19.99 and 30 days for 9.99), one for each account. I'm pretty happy with that, but with all this talk I keep hearing about the Power of 2 and now this Start a Sidekick promotion, I wonder if I'm eligible for one of these programs? As of right now I'm set to go back to regular subscription rates at the end of this cycle.

You continue to fail to bring in new players, so you continue to push alts onto your existing clientele, in a vain effort to keep the game going.

Pretty much this and/or neutral logi.

I think i'm gunna go get my self a sidekick for that price!

I'm sure if you ran a detailed poll you'd find that most people don't LIKE alts. It's just due to the game's flawed design alts are a virtual necessity.



The demand may be overwhelming, at least in theory. And for the past 18 months or so (basically since Incarna), CCP has been doing just what you described. However, where's the payoff? Has the game hit 500k subs, for example? Nope. It barely recently hit 450k, and out of those how many are alt accounts due to programs like the one we're discussing now?

Not to mention that EVE is unique, in a non-flattering kind of way. It is unique in that many players continue paying without actually playing, just waiting for their skills to train up. In no other MMO in the history of gaming did people continue paying without actually playing, because without playing you got nothing. Unlike in EVE. So, out of those 450k subs, how many are just alt accounts or characters being created for the Bazaar, that don't ever appear in space? Accounts with 1 char that logs in for 30 seconds to queue the next skill once a week? I guarantee you CCP knows. I also would bet ISK that they won't tell you or me what that percentage is. But what good is an MMO where a goodly chunk of the player base can never actually be interacted with? Or is just an alt or a semi-AFK bot-like entity?

That's the irony of it all. CCP tried something bold with Incarna, but failed to deliver and got badly burned. And since then they haven't taken any risks for 18 months and the game is stagnating. In the meantime, there's a number of games in production now which are perhaps not direct competition to EVE, but could easily siphon a nice chunk of the population away from the game, albeit possibly just temporarily.



Hasn't someone in CCP literally say this a little while ago? That they have trouble bringing in new players and keeping them, hence the whole New Player Experience overhaul? Doesn't require much more confirmation than that, IMHO.

You continue to fail to bring in new players, so you continue to push alts onto your existing clientele, in a vain effort to keep the game going.

Alt's are a cancer to EVE, until CCP actually admits that, and starts putting out real content, rather breaking and fixing things that haven't worked for years, the ugliness will continue.....

Apparently neither does the fact that CCP is responding to overwhelming popular demand by focusing on fixing and iterating on core features of the game instead of bringing in completely new (and likely somewhat buggy) features all the time.

Lets get real here for a second.
Alts have their good parts, such as tanking, while your main mines out asteroids.
This is due to the fact that mining ships can not properly tank while mining without having to spend enormous amount of isk
for officer and faction fits. So one would bring in their alt with a T1 ship specifically fitted to tank the rats.

Another form of use for Alts is for camera view of a certain system in your alliance.
60-200 reds show up in system, its good to have an eye on the station, so one would know whats going on.
People do this all the time, so its not breaking news to anyone.

I for sure wish that CCP would include actual Robot Camera, that alliances can use (on their own systems)
Planetary already lets us get them, why not actually manufacture them and use them.?
Maybe have a timer of use for them, like 1 hour eve time max, then they self destruct.
Some and possibly many might hate me for it.....lolz

Also to mention, If CCP seriously wanted to get more real players into the game, they seriously need to drop their
monthly subscriptions way down. people have real life things to pay for. spending this amount of current monthly subscription costs forces people to take large breaks from playing eve, such as myself.

$5. a month would bring thousands of new players into Eve Online. (Actual Real Players) not Alts.
Eve Online subscribers would go from its current numbers to a wopping 500-k over night, if not more....

I say this because there are many people who have real life matters to attend to than dishing out the current rates of subscription cost to some gaming company. I love EvE, but after I have been through the NYC Sandy Hurricane and almost
losing my house, and have over $80,000 dollars of repair cost for the house and set it back to its
proper location on the foundation.
My house shifted 2 feet off the foundation, and water flooded all the way up to

the cieling of the second floor of my home.
Eve is getting expensive for me., but its my outlet. Thats the reality that CCP has to view and face.
The only reason why people are jumping to these "Power Of Two" and "Buddy" programs they have going on,
is the actual fact that people are trying to find affordable ways to play this game.
Permanently Lowering the monthly subscription cost, WILL solve most of these issues when CCP says::
(We cant find or get new players in our game).....

.

I think i'm gunna go get my self a sidekick for that price!