

Eve: How I miraculously escaped a gate camp in a Retriever and earned 100M ISK - cellover
http://ghost.pilgrimbreak.com/how-i-miraculously-escaped-a-gate-camp-in-a-retriever-and-earned-100m-isk/

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arielweisberg
Good story. I really like EVE and was ready to convert to a paying customer
after my 15 day trial, but two things kept me from doing it.

First was cost, retail is 20$ a month, with a discount you can get it down to
10$ a month for the first year if you prepay, but after that I think the
biggest discount is 15$. Don't quote me I am going off of memory.

Personally I am willing to pay 10$ a month. Prepaying is fine. I am not really
cost sensitive and could be a whale (heck I am for Star Citizen).

The last issue was skill training. It's a bullshit mechanic to force you to
subscribe for years on end because it is time based. You can choose which
skills are trained, but there is no gameplay element you can use to progress
beyond a lack of skill training. You can't even pay.

I honestly would have converted were it not for a mechanic so obviously
designed to keep you pumping in a monthly fee by preventing you from
"finishing" the game at your own pace. I like to play games, and then be done
with them and move on.

I know my decision making process is different then most. I play zero games on
my phone and tablet. I feel like this is similar to the IAP model where you
have to fork over the megabucks to get anywhere.

~~~
cellover
I understand your concern about the price. I played the beta 11 years ago and
did not subscribe. Yet, I followed the development of the game as a non
player, always wanting to come back to the game to fully understand it. Of
course the many stories I heard about the game helped keeping me motivated:
[https://truestories.eveonline.com/truestories/index.html](https://truestories.eveonline.com/truestories/index.html)

As for the training process, I tried to adapt my type of gaming with what
skills I had at the moment from the beginning. I spent the first 2 months
figuring out how to shape a balanced pilot: not buying crazy stuff you can
loose (or you can't even equip because you don't fully understand the
requirements mechanics), train skills that seem to matter, not focus on a
certain game mode etc. And it has been rewarding because at no point so far
have I felt enslaved by the skills system.

But maybe that is because I am a fanboy and lack objectivity ;)

