Flaws in F2P Design

[p0intman]

I want everyone to try something in the following method:

Get an accurate timer out, a stopwatch of some sort. It can be on your phone, a watch or whatever. As long as you can accurately time how long it takes to do this.

When you have that done, start the timer as you start the PS1 launcher up. Keep the timer going until you are fully ingame on gemini and able to control your character. Do not leave the computer or timer until then.

post the time.

I was ingame in under a minute (48 seconds, actually) from launching and entering my password to being able to control my character.

With that in mind, I will re-address this and lay it out plainly.

Originally Posted by ArbitraryDemise

I see this as the best option in the F2P format because it adds a level of factional loyalty to the game, and prevents people from just switching sides in a losing battle so they can be on the winning side.

The sense of imposed loyalty is flawed, and I'll explain it.

With more than one account, you can keep more than one character on a single server training 24/7. I have no doubt that there will be skill monitors akin to those used by people who enjoy EVE, and they will be useful. There is no loss in using more than one character. There is no reason not to have more than one account, and there is no imposed loyalty when you can switch characters in under a minute at will, with absolutely no trade off required. At least as it stands in PS1, there is a timer involved to deter this happening on the fly.

Originally Posted by Toppopia

I can tell you are being sarcastic, (i hope you are) and there is no way to swap empires, besides creating a whole new account, and what about all that wasted effort on your old account? You going to give it up just to get 1 win out of thousands? That sounds really stupid to me.

P.S: I wasn't talking to you captainkapautz, i am talking to anyone who thinks about empire swapping, because there is no point really.

to create a new account with soe, you dont need to give up your old account. this is important, because if you look at what I said above...
(cont below)

Originally Posted by captainkapautz

But, and this is the important part really, [what] is the point?

You swapping empire so you don't "lose" really doesn't net you much.

the only thing that matters to some people is to be on the 'winning' team. They don't care for loyalty, they only care about not being steamrolled.

Originally Posted by HtSgtMAD

you ppl that don't have years of experience in PS haven't seen what the dreaded "Fourth Empire" is capable of,it can really fuck over another empire when the herd moves around together as a large group,this used to happen alot when the devs would patch PS,the resulting nerfs/buffs on all empires would sometimes create an issue like Lasher 2.0.

And as SgtMad has said, the "fourth empire" will exist anyway, there will not be any reason for it not to.

Last night, NC had 60 percent global population. We comfortably fought on three continents, and won almost all of them, including VS and TR home worlds. I have no question in my mind that it was due in no small part, to the fourth empire people who switch factions on the fly.

Now, heres the question: Are you prepared to gamble with that in PS2?

This problem will be further exacerbated by the data available, if it is to the degree that Matt Higby has claimed. I will be able to see what empire I want to log into before I log into the game for the first time in the day. All characters training while I'm offline will mean that unless its to change a skill on one, I don't really need to log in and can leave it slowly ticking away. It isn't a big problem, and if you've spent time in EVE, you know that it never ends anyway. It isn't a rush for many of us.

For you new guys that have never played PS1 before, and haven't been playing it very long, take into account that I've had years of experience with this.