Attribute Implant Costs & the "Fun" Disincentive

I believe that there are arbitrary disincentives against doing PvP in Eve.

The risks/rewards of activities in a game should ENTICE players, not discourage them.

I came to Eve wanting to pvp and explore space. I quickly realized that I had to grind standing for jump clones. I then realized I needed a lot of ISK to afford to regularly pvp. I'm increasingly having to "work" and do the "smart thing" rather than to do the simple, fun thing. I'd like to suggest 1 change that could help improve Eve dramatically.

• Lower "attribute" implant costs by ~80% (over 6 months)

Have LP stores charge $15m and 10k LP for a +5 implant rather than 65m + 65k LP. I'd wager that would lead to a +5 set being about 90mill, which is still a significant investment. CCP would also need to rearrange cases where implants are in the pool for mission rewards and drops. An entire +3 set should be 10m not 10m each. I am not suggesting costs be reduced on "skill hardwiring" implants. I would possibly even argue that those prices should INCREASE.

I am not saying this as a personal complaint about spending ISK on implants. I made about 1.5b in my first 2 months playing Eve. I am suggesting this because I believe this game mechanic is hurting Eve gameplay.

Counter-argument #1: "It's market driven and the prices reasonably reflect demand."

This is not true.

Base prices on attribute implants are set by CCP. A +5 implant from a standard LP store is 65million + 65,000 LP. CCP also determines what type of implants are received from various storyline missions, etc. CCP entirely determines the baseline value.

+3s cost about 9,000,000 (5.25m ISK + 5.25k LP)
+4s cost about 18,000,000 (12m ISK + 12k LP)
+5s cost about 100,000,000 (65m ISK + 65k LP)

Those are not market-driven prices whatsoever. CCP sets the bottom value. It's price fixed.

If CCP wanted to, they could make +5 attribute implants cost 15m and 10k LP instead. There is no player manufacturing involved. There are no other market forces at play. There is high demand because efficient training time is universally in demand.


Counter-argument #2: "PvP involves risk & Eve is about rough choices."

Risk implies putting something on the line. The risk/rewards of pvp should be driven by a "fun factor, " not set in opposition to it. Choices put in front of players should be fun.

Having to choose between efficient training time and fun is a horrible game mechanic. Vets may not fully appreciate this because they take training for granted after a while and tend to have tons of ISK. But for players under a year old, this is usually not an exciting choice or a reasonable risk.

A passive time-sink skill training design is already counter-intuitive to most hardcore gamers. You can skill-up while docked and AFK. Undocking just to have fun doing pvp should not significantly compete with training time.

It can take months of focused effort just to get a jump clone. And who really wants a jump clone that nerfs your training time for 24 or more hours? This is not a minor matter for newer players.

The risks of pvp should be primarily about the ship and equipment you bring, not TRAINING TIME for your character. It's an unecessary disincentive. I strongly believe this is a primary reason that so many players stay in empire or just quit Eve, even if they dont see it purely in these terms. The sense that enjoying the game more freely will cost you training time is a very bad thing.

That's a horrible choice to have to make as a gamer. Fun vs properly training your character. Vet players and CCP need to step back to see how unnecessary that is...


Counter-argument #3: "Top implants should not be easily available to everybody."


I consider this a fairly abstract rationalization for the status quo rather than a sound argument against the proposal.

It's not an actual reason against a set of +5s costing 90-100mil on the market. 90 million is not a small amount, although it would be a very fair investment for a +5 set.

The argument implies that having a +5 set is some type of very special entitlement or advantage that only the most skilled and rich players should have access to. I disagree. I think a fair price should be required, but we're talking about having efficient training time. Efficient training time absolutely SHOULD be within reasonable range for all players if they are willing to fork over a fair amount of isk. To suggest otherwise is to support the most irrational grind aspect of gaming.

100m for a set of implants that allow you to FULLY enjoy the game is more than sufficient cost.

New players would aim to have enough cash flow to maintain +5s in their first few months. Older players would get used to the lower costs fairly quickly. Absolutely no harm would be done. Nothing would be lost.

A lot would be gained for Eve... because you'd absolutely see more people doing pvp when the risk/rewards are not unnecessarily undermining training time.


The Fun Incentive: A better way

It's my opinion that the risks/rewards should ENTICE players, not push them away from Eve.

The current costs in time/effort just to be able to pvp without severely compromising your training is entirely arbitrary. The fact that many players have accepted it does not make it sound or good for gameplay.

You shouldn't have to decide between having fun doing pvp and properly training your character. The "risks" of getting blown up should be the costs of ship and equipment, not CHARACTER TRAINING TIME. Current costs of optimal training times are pointless discouragement against getting out there and having some fun.

Let's consider all the new players who come to Eve because of the hype around PvP. Why should it be so hard for a new player to access such a basic fun-enabling features of the game? Jump clones take considerable time and effort. Once a new player gets invested in playing Eve, they start thinking long-term about character development. Game mechanics which actively discourage them from having fun need to be re-evaluated.

My suggestion is to cut "attribute" implant costs by 80% over 6 months. The reason I think it should roll out slowly is that the economic repercussions could be dramatic and very complex. 20% cuts in NPC prices every 2 months would be reasonable.

This could dramatically improve Eve gameplay, allowing a much greater freedom to engage in the risks/rewards of PvP. This would apply to "main" characters and "alt" characters. I suspect there's be a very significant increase in PvP with more activity in lowsec, nulsec and w-space.

This would be a boost to the economy.

This would be a boost to emergent gameplay dynamics and Eve universe politics.

This would help grow the player base.