TL;DR version:

Allow players to merge all accounts into one and log on them with no problem.

but why?

CCP already has this, it called IP and MAC tracking.

So let me get this straight..

I can make 15 scout alts, log them all on, and not pay anything as long as they don't have a training queue active?

And I can just buy a fully trained character(s) on the bazaar with the necessary skill set for what I want out of an alt, log that in too, and pay nothing because stopped training queue?

1. When you are at your online account limit (lets say 2) and login a 3rd character... which of the first 2 gets disconnected?
2. One of your accounts expire, which 3 characters become unavailable?
(could be overcome by the system retaining the current account setup I guess)

While the idea itself would benefit me and I sort of like it, I'm not really in support of it.

Looking at my own accounts it just feels like it'd be overpowered.

This is an interesting proposal, one that i am not in support of.

It makes training disposable/situational alts quite a bit easier.
Makes offline item storage (alts in industrials) a lot easier to manage

If i plex four accounts for thirty one days, which is eight plex (4.8 b) i get access to 12 characters, which i can train in any configuration. once they have reached the level of sp that i desire, i can stop their training.

With two concurrent accounts i still have access to 6 additional characters even though they are not training.
if i were to live say a wh or null, i could store many more things offline then i could normally, and have them all instantly accessible to me.
or run PI off 12 characters and pay for two (six but without the hassle of having to log off both mains).
~ one character who does all the manufacturing and cycling 10 alts to trade PI materials at a poco in a wh.
which while easier, is a huge passive materials faucet.

Cyno chain logistics, are easier as with two or three active training ques on an account with 30 alts, can stage cyno ships where ever is needed and pay 1/2 - 1/3 - 1/10 they would normally
for the cost of two plex you get 3 characters in perpetium.

I know i would take this deal and spend the ~20 bill for the extra 54 characters
(current plex ~550, ((20 b / 550 = 36) /2 = 18) x 3 = 54)

and then only pay for two training ques, after those two months are up.
you never know when you might want an alt somewhere

or need to fuel a pos chain in a wh.

So you would put allot of monney into the game in a way that otherewise you wouldn't. I think CCP would aprove this...

You can already create any amount of trial accounts having endless number of alts. The main difference now is that you would have a reason to pay for them, becouse it makes easier your life. (With also no need to exploit the game by using a plex to turn the trial into full acc.)

And if you want to store ships in alts, you would need to put their training to the level of the desired ship, so you would spend your account pool in it. What means more money to CCP.
This also applies to the PI chars, as you would train them to the desired level to run PI efficiently.
And to Cyno alts as you put their skills to certain level.

Don't forget that no one would stop the training of the main without a pain in the hearth.

And also, if you do all this that you are saying, you would be playing more and paying more. You may not aprove this as a player, but the end result will definitly be positive to CCP and the playerbase.

There is a possibility that you save up money? only if you don't want to play. but there is a bigger chance that you will put more money into the game and be glad by doing it.

If i paid currently for two accounts. I wouldnt have to spend any plex doing my scheme.
I could simply create buddy trial accounts, train characters on the free time to be drake and basic research alts, and then merge them into my mains account. all without spending an additional dime.

btw, how would this make ccp more money? when you only have to plex two to three of your previous five to whatever accounts?

And something like that its what most, if not all, players will do. More alts available for the same/lower cost its to big a advantage to not exploit. The end result its that CCP will have more workload and less subscription income, with several awful side-effects.

Maybe someone from CCP staff having some data in hands could collect some real data and bring them here. This is a feature that need statistical analysis to be proved. (I could do that If I were a CCP employee).

I'm betting that most of the players that have cyno alts, market analyzer alts, spy alts and whatever. Don't pay a cent for them. they are all trial accounts or fake buddys, with this feature they would have a reason to pay, and they would, so for every alt ccp would get at last 1/3 of a plex.

Also If you want to keep training one of these alts you would activate a second training. And again, I bet that allot of people will do this, even those who don't have alts right now would be tempted to do so.

For those old players that already have everything they want with the level they want, indeed, they may represent a long term decrease in the income, but for the amount merging ccp would get a god amount of cash and if for some reason the player wants to keep investing in the game there will be no decrease at all (and CCP and the player will gain with this)

For the new players, there will be much more possibilities to Invest money into the game. And I bet that even those who have short money, would spend some Account pool time creating and improving some alts, or during some emergency activating all alts to bring them to the fray.

I also bet that the good portion of the huge number of player that start and stop playing eve are alts.

And if you are a EVE lover, the more alts you have the more alts you want. I know a guy that have 10 accounts, and I bet that with this feature he would merge all into 1 and would keep paying for 10, as he wants to keep training all his army (Today they fly carriers and dreads, but he wants to reach supercap level on all them.+ his 20 cyno alts...)

Use the buddy system to create your alt. give it a plex instead of plexing your account. and then you get a 50 day paid alt acount for free.

Many don't only goes for cyno alt... they want also a SB alt, or a prober alt... there are many situations... not only Null-sec...

This would offer some comfort, so you don't have to create and train the alt everytime, you can spend just some money and have them forever without needing to pay allot like it is today, forcing people to cheat.
[quote=Kusum Fawn]
I am also confused as to account number (active training que numbers) vs concurrent online character number, when it comes to allowing me to online alts at the same time, is there a different fee? or simply time taken from the pool of account time left ?
because if i can activate fifteen alts at once but only for say mining operations, and not in general throug out the week, and pay for only the time out of the pool that i am actually useing the mining alts, i cant see how this would gain ccp money in the long run over what they currently do.

People who do bad things will take measures to hide them. They will not place their botting characters in the same super account as their regular characters. And they will do whatever they can to make it look like the two super accounts are owned by two separate people. Result: CCP has exactly the same problem in linking characters to people as they have now.

1. None. There are 2 options here, and they are really easy to program, 1 or 2 lines of code can solve this.

Linking all characters into one account is probably a good idea because it could benefit both CCP and the players. But you have confused the idea by talking about the number of training characters on the account. Forget that nonsense. Come up with a way to describe a monthly account credit that costs 1 plex and allow people to consume more than one per month. That is then the number of characters they can log in simultaneously, the number that can be training, etc. Also switching to the new system would have to be mandatory & free or no one would use it.

But even with some changes to make it usable I won't support you because of this:



No change is ever 1 or 2 lines of code and all programmers hate you for your stupid dismissal of our jobs as easy. If it's so easy you go write your own internet spaceships game or stfu.

If you read it again, I said that the logic to allow a character to log or not log is something simple. and YES the logic can be resumed to a line, If you are a programmer you should know more then anyone else that what a programmer do is to Take a complex Task and split it into simpler commands. Like "IF logged_chars > Maximum_allowed THEN log_permission = False" simple and clear logic. And I also mean that there is nothing impossible to programmers, it only take more or less time to do, there is no such thing as difficult. I respect and admire Programmers, they are are the ones that will set the parameters for the new era that the human kind is entering since everything is related to computer and informatics...

I am a programmer, and over it I'm a mechanical engineer that applies programming logic to solve real life problems. I don't design Internet spaceships, I design real stuff, (at the moment aircraft and a new energy management systems that could be applied in spaceships btw...),

But setting our differences aside, Thanks for appreciating the main Idea...

It is not an exploit, it is a feature, and you will pay for it, all also all new player will think: "Good deal!" and will pay for it.

The exploit is the creation of trial accounts that will not be turned into paying accounts, ( that happens massively) this gives much more workload and side-effects then this feature would do.

And keep in mind that there is always something more that you would train in your alt...

The idea is to give CCP an easy way to track the players instead of the characters, so they would be able to have a measure on this and also to maybe give some benefits for those who contribute to the game having many alts, and lowering entrance barriers in the game.

in other words: Help in statistic, that are base for decisions. and maybe will make people activate more alts and give more money to CCP, so they will hire more DEVS and develop a better game faster.

"IF logged_chars > Maximum_allowed THEN log_permission = False"

Now, you need to define logged_Chars that's another 4 to 5 lines of code

now you need to redefine log_Permissions now that a few extra lines of coding

Maximum_Allowed: Now you have to redefine this, which is some extra lines of coding.

then you now need to debug it to make sure you didn't break any other code that could be tied to other predefined... But you are a programmer right? So you know all about this. I myself am not a programmer, My major is actually in CIS or computer information systems I deal with how software talks to hardware and vis-versa, and I'm still forced to learn the basics of programming.

edited above to put back the point you choose to ignore. Your ideia makes WAAAAYYYYY Cheaper to maintain an alt army.

*Its to good a advantage to not use. Your whole answer its moot snce you misinterpreted my semantics. I'm thinking that you made it on purprose so you keep the thread alive while not answering to the critics the idea its receiving.

I think CCP can easily track that information based on billing information. I don't see the added value of this suggestion.

-1

different accounts from diferent persons can be payd by the same person. like a father paying for their soons, or 1 guy gathering their friends monney and paying for them (this happens). would you ban everyone just because of 1? I don't think that CCP does this...

So, do you think that lockng the characters in blocks of 3 would be a good Idea? So you can only access them if you pay for the stack? allowing to train 1 of them at a time? (more like the way it is now but with a better interface an slight discount on alt accounts subscription.) ?

What can be done to make this interesting?

And a single API-Check will reveal my private army?

Also i don-¦t want to merge my accounts. It-¦s working at them moment (with now downside).

NEVER TOUCH A RUNNING SYSTEM

I'm still a 1-account player, but I honestly think this could work well.

Could you also log into the same account, and use a different character?
I'd like to be able to do that