Is a subscription required to play the game?

[Cass]

One of the trailers on the store page says that "EVE is free", while the page also goes on to talk about subscriptions. Is the subscription an optional feature, meaning that the game is free-to-play, or will I have to pay monthly fees to gain access to the game?

[Harrison]

You can play for free, there are restictions which limit the ships you can fly and the modules you can use. To lift the restrictions you'll have to subscribe.

[Cass]

Originally posted by Harrison:

You can play for free, there are restictions which limit the ships you can fly and the modules you can use. To lift the restrictions you'll have to subscribe.

Is the game pay-to-win in that sense, as I'll be hindered by the restrictions that I could pay to remove, or can I still do relatively well without having a subscription?

[Harrison]

From everything i've seen it looks like f2p players can have just as much fun as those with subscriptions.

While the limitations are fairly strict they don't keep you from being involved at some level with just about every area of the game.

[PyroPaul]

The game is Subscription Based - The 'Free2Play' aspect of the game can be considered more as an 'Unlimited Free Trial' rather then what most people consider F2P.

That being said - Eve Online is such a convoluted and complex world that even being limited with F2P you still have hundreds of hours of content, choices and activities you can play through relatively unhindered by those limitations.

[✪ Fat Potter]

I am a strict free to play guy and have been playing this game non-stop their are so many things you can do as a free to play here without even noticing your not paying for a subscription, also it is VERY VERY EASY to "work" for yourself or for a corporation to make money to buy the plex needed to get 30 days of game time it currently costs 1 billion ISK to buy PLEXx1 and that gives u 30 days of game time in low sec you can solo mine asteroids and make 100 million ISK per hour so 10 hours of mining will get u 30 days of game time easy peezy. Also working for corporations they are always willing to buy you gametime/ships/ anything you need just to basically help them out each month. They may ask you to guard an area, go mine some materials whatever they might need so its very very easy to keep your gametime active 24/7/365 as along as you play the game!

[Zigzagman]

Originally posted by ✪ Fat Potter:

I am a strict free to play guy and have been playing this game non-stop their are so many things you can do as a free to play here without even noticing your not paying for a subscription, also it is VERY VERY EASY to "work" for yourself or for a corporation to make money to buy the plex needed to get 30 days of game time it currently costs 1 billion ISK to buy PLEXx1 and that gives u 30 days of game time in low sec you can solo mine asteroids and make 100 million ISK per hour so 10 hours of mining will get u 30 days of game time easy peezy. Also working for corporations they are always willing to buy you gametime/ships/ anything you need just to basically help them out each month. They may ask you to guard an area, go mine some materials whatever they might need so its very very easy to keep your gametime active 24/7/365 as along as you play the game!

yea gl with that....the game in its current state is ♥♥♥♥...the players are worse than ever the scammers have taken over trade hubs again....the grief is even more real now.....and any real sense of pvp is one blob vs another blob.......most long time players have quit myself included....best of luck with keeping up with plexing after you realize you will never be "rich" you will never be a super power corp leader, you will never "own" space, you will never be anything but a meat shield for the "real" power players with trillions....once all that sinks in its pretty boring

[Eliza]

@Zigzagman. It takes time to get anywhere in EVE. I started at the bottom, I can fly supercapitals (and have) and am a director (by promotion) in a Null Security powerhouse. If I did not find my niche and rally others to my cause, I wouldn't be having so much fun. I love blob warfare, it's satisfying as hell to win and crushing to lose. Just as it should be. Expecting honor from PVPers you do not know is so incredibly daft that it redefines the word. You are expecting someone to limit their fun for your sake! No, that's not how it works at all.

[hammer_of_god]

OP: You do not need a subscription to play EVE.You are limtied to lower "level" ships and skill sets but there is plenty to do and see with what they let you have for free. Basically months worth of fun to have. As it has been for over a decade EVE is what YOU make it. Now it is free.

[glock30owner]

Originally posted by Zigzagman:

yea gl with that....the game in its current state is ♥♥♥♥...the players are worse than ever the scammers have taken over trade hubs again....the grief is even more real now.....and any real sense of pvp is one blob vs another blob.......most long time players have quit myself included....best of luck with keeping up with plexing after you realize you will never be "rich" you will never be a super power corp leader, you will never "own" space, you will never be anything but a meat shield for the "real" power players with trillions....once all that sinks in its pretty boring

Tears, give me your delicious tears.

[Ripperman]

You basically cant do ♥♥♥♥ unless you pay the monthly fee. The people playing F2P are just there to be ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ destroyed by players who have been playing for years. Thats the only reason this game started the F2P. To give vetreans someone to prey on so they continue to subbed. The game caters to the most toxic people on the internet.

[PyroPaul]

Originally posted by Ripperman:

You basically cant do ♥♥♥♥ unless you pay the monthly fee. The people playing F2P are just there to be ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ destroyed by players who have been playing for years. Thats the only reason this game started the F2P. To give vetreans someone to prey on so they continue to subbed. The game caters to the most toxic people on the internet.

You can explore, run combat missions, and Active Mine resources at actually turn a pretty penny at that. You can even PvP if you know what you're doing as Frigates are actually quiet the danger if played right.

the F2P mechanic was actually introduced to allow Veterans to come back to the game and re-learn it before buying into it, because it is the major reason why many old players refused to come back. Why pay for 1 month when i'm going to spend that month learning all i've forgotten and all that's been added in my absence?


In fact - it is a major complaint about the whole Alpha Clone thing i have...
The Cut off point doesn't benefit new players - it benefits Older players.

As a veteran player i know how to outfit a Frig or Cruiser to it's strengths and play PvP or PvE... And like many returning players, i have enough isk on hand to easily buy a Faction ship and fit it with Faction Fittings - making it better then some T2 Fit builds out there.


A newbie on the other hand... he doesn't have the knowledge, standing, or on hand cash to do such a thing, and in turn greatly suffers by being throttled down to Cruisers.

I really think that the Cut-off point should of been Battle Cruisers - because when i played, that was basically the standard ship of the line that 90% of the combat players flew.

[Shotgun]

Originally posted by PyroPaul:

the F2P mechanic was actually introduced to allow Veterans to come back to the game and re-learn it before buying into it, because it is the major reason why many old players refused to come back. Why pay for 1 month when i'm going to spend that month learning all i've forgotten and all that's been added in my absence?

That's not the reason at all. F2P was implemented to prop up the sagging player counter, and to try to draw in freemium gamers. The reason you gave would result in marginal utility at best for the game and its developers.

[PyroPaul]

Originally posted by Shotgun:

Originally posted by PyroPaul:

the F2P mechanic was actually introduced to allow Veterans to come back to the game and re-learn it before buying into it, because it is the major reason why many old players refused to come back. Why pay for 1 month when i'm going to spend that month learning all i've forgotten and all that's been added in my absence?

That's not the reason at all. F2P was implemented to prop up the sagging player counter, and to try to draw in freemium gamers. The reason you gave would result in marginal utility at best for the game and its developers.

While you may want to believe that - the truth isn't that at all.

The F2P implementation was something asked for by the community for a long time, and is intended to help with player return and retention, not specifically with generating new blood.

There was great focus on the prevention of conflicts, so that when an Omega player returns to Alpha Status they are not punished for it, having the ship stripped of parts they can no longer use, nor being instantly kicked out of a ship they can no longer fly.


What's more - The game is in no way 'Freemium' nor with it's current build or marketting will it attract 'Freemium gamers'

For this game to be 'freemium' the entire game would need to be Free.
in exchange for that freedom - your skill training time would have to be slowed by a factor of 4.

so players can in turn play for free with out limits - but they would need to use Premium items or services if they ever had the intention of more reasonably using certain assets or Tools.

Because instead the design follows something similar to an 'extended free trial' it is more tooled around aidding players coming back to the game or keeping players in the game despite the fact that their paid subscription has expired.

[Shotgun]

Originally posted by PyroPaul:

Originally posted by Shotgun:

That's not the reason at all. F2P was implemented to prop up the sagging player counter, and to try to draw in freemium gamers. The reason you gave would result in marginal utility at best for the game and its developers.

While you may want to believe that - the truth isn't that at all.

The F2P implementation was something asked for by the community for a long time, and is intended to help with player return and retention, not specifically with generating new blood.

There was great focus on the prevention of conflicts, so that when an Omega player returns to Alpha Status they are not punished for it, having the ship stripped of parts they can no longer use, nor being instantly kicked out of a ship they can no longer fly.


What's more - The game is in no way 'Freemium' nor with it's current build or marketting will it attract 'Freemium gamers'

For this game to be 'freemium' the entire game would need to be Free.
in exchange for that freedom - your skill training time would have to be slowed by a factor of 4.

so players can in turn play for free with out limits - but they would need to use Premium items or services if they ever had the intention of more reasonably using certain assets or Tools.

Because instead the design follows something similar to an 'extended free trial' it is more tooled around aidding players coming back to the game or keeping players in the game despite the fact that their paid subscription has expired.

"free trial"
"players coming back"

Dude, come on.

Edit: the truth lies in the way this feature is being marketed, which is being done in a manner specifically befitting the targeting of the F2P demographic.

[TreyUwU]

Originally posted by Cameron:

One of the trailers on the store page says that "EVE is free", while the page also goes on to talk about subscriptions. Is the subscription an optional feature, meaning that the game is free-to-play, or will I have to pay monthly fees to gain access to the game?

I've played it 100H as a F2P and stopped, if you really want to play the game, try it for 100H hours, when all of your skills will exceed a 1 Day training time, you'll need to pay to have more fun (and 2x training time).

Oh, and do not try to solo PvP as a F2P, just a tip... .

I don't want to hurt anyone or be salty but listen to this, all the vets will tell you that even if you're a F2P, you'll have tons of fun, except you wont if you start alone.

Find someone to begin with or a more experienced player (as i did), he will teach you the basics and how to make some starting funds.
After this join a corp, and play with it, join the fleets (again, join a good corp, like pandemic horde or a corpo alpha friendly, not a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ corp full of salty vets because you'll not be able to do any kind of fleet event as a F2P, because you're not as good as an omega at the same "lvl").

Forget explo (no stealth) as a F2P, instead if you like the hard style.

Focus on ratting (they'll explain to you what's this about).

And enjoy your 100 hours or more of gameplay, past this point, consider farming isk to buy a plex, or buying one directly from the cash shop.

Keep in mind that EvE is NOT F2P, it's just an UNLIMITED TRIAL.