Raven Jita wrote:I don't understand the "I must isk/PLEX my account," mentality at all. If you "consolidate," onto a single account the monthly fee is trivial. The same inflation rate that caused game currency grinding to become harder makes out of time real cash worth more by the same relative exchange. So are many eve players just complete loafers without a job or what? And where are you flying that there's nobody to shoot at. It took me 10 seconds to open the map and find a system within half a dozen jumps where I could get a fight. Lowsec border systems still house plenty of pirates. FW home systems still gather hoards of pilots. Nullsec chokepoints are still camped and fought over multipul times a day. Busy empire systems are still bursting at the seems with creative gankers. Wormholes are just about as sporadic as it gets, but even there I don't have to make more than 2-3 connections before I find a target.
Your mineral and industrial income is **** because people are willing to sell their minerals for less than you. That means they've got a more efficient setup and/or they simply like doing it more than you do and are willing to make less. Exploration, same deal. Lots of people are enjoying it, the drops are now commonplace. Supply and demand dictates that if you want to continue selling something lucrative, you'd better find something more scarce or in higher demand at the moment. Sorry if your calcified playstyle and entitled attitude prevents you from seeing this, but you need to remember where the content comes from in this game, the players who aren't bellyaching about patches, but bringing new content with every or in spite of every change.
"" Supply and demand dictates"" and there it is - supply is too high and demand decreasing.
Consolidating accounts and paying a monthly sub is fine and relatively cheap (depending on your exchange rate) but then you have 3 characters on one monthly sub and can only train one at a time - Unless you buy plex.
Somewhat defeats the purpose doesn't it?
Buying plex in game with isk - (Unless your a successful scammer who relies on the stupidity and greed of others) takes far longer now than in the past due to in game inflation and no increase in income streams. I used to make enough to plex all my accounts in 3 or 4 days, doing the same thing now would take me the best part of 2 weeks to plex those same accounts.
I don't want my leisure time to be a part time job. I also won't pay CCP $25 for the privilege of training an additional character for a month.
You are right about the current content trends - The single most unfriendly play styles are dominating due to such low player numbers and as long as those same play styles have such a hold on the game it will continue to decline. Eventually leaving only those who's play style is at the expense of others.
When the sandbox is totally focused on only the worst aspects of game play - It has the potential to break the sandbox.