I've never posted before in these forums, and may never again, but I still want to make my voice heard on behalf of many, many new players.
Let me preface this post with the fact that I'm someone whose EVE career consists of:
1) PVPing
2) training new players to PVP
3) producing POS fuel to make isk to PVP with
I have to ask a question of CCP:
Why are you trying to push new players into high sec territory?FACT: Most players who quit the game in their first two months have NOT spent much time outside of high sec.
FACT: Most players who find PVP learn that they really love to do it.
Let me explain to all of you how a new player's experience is like (in order); since most of you can't remember:
1) they join the game and find that many aspects of it are cool, and many aspects of it they don't care so much for
2) they realize that in order to participate in those aspects that they enjoy, they're going to need isk...and lots of it
3) they realize that they can either:
a) spend every minute of the day mission running/ratting in high sec to get the isk they need
b) get their isk through means that allow them to actually enjoy their time playing the game
You see what I'm trying to get at. 90% of the pilots that I recruit/train quickly realize that one of the best ways to make isk in lowsec/nullsec is to produce POS fuel through planetary interaction. WHY? Because it doesn't require multiple hours of work a day and it doesn't require months of training before they can get into it. It's also something they can do on their own.
Producing POS fuel for a newb does not amount to much isk. It actually amounts to not much but a stable and modest income that is usually just enough for them to get into some t1 cruisers and BCs, and continue to learn to enjoy the game. That usually leads to that player not quitting and sometimes becoming a long term EVE player (customer).
The steps that CCP has recently taken: the announcement of DUST (which actually sounds cool if it can be properly managed); the announcement of custom offices that HAVE to be anchored and can be attacked; and this latest announcement, which is nothing but a complete nerf on robotics and other POS fuel, is being interpreted (with good cause) by these new players as nothing but a direct, frontal attack on them. CCP is effectively telling new players that they should go back to high sec and learn to play there, and that there's very little room for them in lowsec/null sec.
As a player who really enjoys training new pilots and who enjoys watching new players become accomplished PVPers, I just had to pipe in and explain to you how much this screws over new players trying to learn and enjoy the game in lowsec/null sec.
For more experienced players, this is obviously not a big deal. We all either have so much isk or have so many different ways of making isk, that this change will barely impact our wallets. For those new players, it effectively ends their life outside of high sec for the foreseeable future...which usually leads them to quitting the game.
Well done CCP?
signed,
disappointed sukee