Resources & Short-cutting the Cert Tree

[exLupo]

Malorn's idea on the mechanic sounds realistic. *nod*

My guess:
Extreme 1) Work your skills up, spend your resources on mods that you've unlocked.
Extreme 2) Work your skills up, pay resources for 1 spawn of weapons you haven't yet unlocked.
Actual play lies somewhere between.

I don't really see a problem with these living together. People will probably spend some to try out new weapons to see if they even want to cert that high or in that tree at all. Some will be very spendy to keep using the high-tree weapon they like while others will get a taste for that same weapon but spend resources on mods for what they have unlocked now instead while they train up.

Example: Paying for modded MA vs unmodded HA.

If players aren't spending resources then there's a problem. However, only in that players aren't interested in what they have access to. Getting players excited is up to dev. I imagine players will span the range from constantly broke due to always blinging themselves out in mods to Scrooge McStandardAssault, using stock kit while squirreling away his resources for a rainy day.

Something that strikes me as extra nice is that you can be a hard-core tank specialist but if you need to go indoors, you could still pay for some gear upgrades without having to branch your skill tree. There are certainly times in EVE where I'd love to pay a bonus to rent a one-off ship I can't normally fly. It'd have done a lot more linear specialization over the years.