I'd suggest also blocking trial accounts from typing in general chat.  As experienced today a not very good troll (I should know!) was trolling general as he had nothing else to do

2 weeks is actually just about the right amount of time for a new player to get a sense of the game, run though the beginning assignments, and start to realized that joining a corporation is a good thing. They also join with a basic understanding of the game, which makes them better corp members. Not to mention it is an incentive to subscribe.

Blocking trial accounts from the social chat aspect though is bad. There is typically a GM in general, they can moderate. Maybe if they had a "Trial" in thier chat name, so we could target them for scams... I mean for corp recruitment.

The issue isn't with them being spys, its that they can bypass the trade and NIC limitations if they are in a corporation.

The reason they don't allow any transfers is to prevent farming on free accounts, in this way they can make as much NIC or farm as many kernels as they want, they just can't do anything with it unless they pay the subscription fee; so opening 100 free accounts to mine with isn't cost effective if you have to pay for 100 accounts to free up the procedes.

I think most people that are getting a trial account understand they come with limits.

Keeping 'trial members' seperate from the persistant world is the only way to keep it balanced, but it still allows them to get a feel for the game play.

Now your just trolling me.

For help for newcomers there is Help chat channel. Ask and you will be heard.

What corporation gives to you? Equipment? Most of newcomers in corps dont have access to corp hangar anyway for a week or two. Help and conversation? There is chat channels for it. Team? Use chat again. Beta access? What could a new player do on the beta islands? If players want some PvP they could form a squad with each other or pirate corps as cannon fodder.

There is no need in corp to be socialized in PO. Even trial players can do so.

@Arga ..i wholeheartly agree that the game has bigger problems at the moment.

Thats why im even more suprised they took the time to fix "goldfarming accounts" rather then fix the real problems.

You're also right, that new players shouldn't be "nannied" too much.

But often its about a first experience. In fact im talking about a RL dude i know who i told "stories, how much fun the beta pvp can be" and so on. Thats the pictures he has in mind and says "hey, lets try that cool stuff out!".

But wonder ? Hes not getting to see the beta pvp stuff without a corp (with rl mates).

Nope, newbie experience starts with "Go to those 4 far away points for a boring mission".

Give them two days of that boring stuff without showing them the cool stuff and tada ... you just lost another customer.

Its hard to show on the one hand the endgame prophecies, how cool it all will be, and then on the other, you log into the trial and ... boooring transport missions, boooring scout missions and so on.

I must admit that stEVE has the same problem. I must admit that its also typical for sandboxxy things. But stEVE has the "power" (in terms of playercounts and reports, press coverage and so on, beside a much more better new player introduction), to just ignore those problems.

Players will stay, they have to, they see all the cool stuff on websites, reports, reviews, youtube. They also have faith that it will be cool since 100-thousands are playing it.

PO is new, its fresh, its cool (!). But it needs players.

Players that take a look likely will fall into these categories :

1. The stEVE vet -> Everythings fine, he knows he can/must wait. Hes familiar with the stuff, has not that high learning curve. But perhaps hell just head back to stEVE.

2. The passing by -> Will take a look at the tutorial, will leave. Why ? Its okay its sandbox, but hes not told. Perhaps he ran around looking for an ? above a mech to give him a quest.

3. The guy who knows someone who likes PO, but walks alone -> Will take a look, will think "Wheres that cool stuff he mentioned". Will tell him next day "LOL, you still play that go to 4 points thing ?"

4. The guy from 3. but with a corp and some newbie help -> Will probably have a higher chance to stay...

In eve i was leading a corp section that did nothing else then introduce new players to the game.

I agree its not only the trial restrictions, there much more thats a problem currently, since guy nr 3 should find the way into the game on its own. But since we are currently facing problems on that part, why do we take away solution nr. 4 ?

I also agree, that a game, that has settled a bit, has to counter chinagold, metagaming spies and so on. But why, at this time, we restrict trials even more. The time should have been used to improve the new player experience.

I have corp buddies that work their *** off to get new players into the game. Posting on forums, mouth-to-mouth (how i came here), talking to stEVE buddies. And they allready had to overcome the poor new player introduction, now they cant even trade their light mech after the tutorial for the right one the player needs...

Instead of supporting such people to get players in the game, they made it harder for them.

Its like opening a new shop in the cities. No one comes shopping since of a poor windows dressing. Instead of improving that, you nail some planks on the windows...

edit: 50% of spellings removed, rest still there for you to enjoy

Are you guys really paying 15 Euros a month?  Considering I'm paying 10 dollars (or less with multi-month deals), and 15 Euros is ~21 dollars, that seems...expensive.

Oh ok if you're talking about two accounts then that's almost exactly the same per account as USD.

Goals, Achievments, Equipment, Help, Conversation, Integration into the corp because they can fit a role, Beta Access, a glimpse on the "cool endgame".... and more ..

Yeah, trial players can do so, buts its harder.

Nope. It's fine the way it is.
They spend a few days getting a feel for the game, if they like it then they sub.
Letting them join corps etc straight up just screws everyone around, including other people in the corp.
Most people who have played for a couple of hours have made up their minds whether they like it or not.
I can just see Natasya leading 15 trial corp mates in Arkhe's onto a Beta Island to show them how it's done, no thanks.