They'll have to be very careful how they do this. A lot of us have highly specialised characters.

I hope they liaise with the maker of Perpetuum Planner so we can have that tool up to date on the day the patch eventually hits or the possibility of mess ups will be high.

I think the removal of attributes is a good thing for the game, I just hope it doesn't hurt my chars too much.

Attributes are the most insane idea ever put into a game.

As in Eve it forces players to specialise in something when most DO NOT wish too.

Variety is the spice of life and most like doing a bit of this and a bit of that, so why ram specialisation down their throats?

People should gain XP I think partly through ep gain and also by what they do in game, attributes are pointless, confusing for new players so why in hell have them at all?

Simple things work best, make a game that plays to what people like to do, and their characters abilities reflect the owner and what they do.

And most of all get perpetuum out of the well Eve did it this way so will perpetuum, Eve has made more mistakes design wise than any other MMO I've ever seen.

Based on what Alf said do they plan on just recalculating the EP costs for each extension at the 75 point cost and giving you the resluting level for that extension based on the current amount of EP you have spent or are they talking about making you do a total respec with all of your SP unallocatted?

I am not looking forward to losing levels in extensions that I waited patiently to get.........

My 2 cents would be to leave the current earned EP the way it is and change the system going forward. I understand that it may mean that existing highly specialized toons (neither of mine are highly specialized) may see a bit of an advantage in the long run over newer players however I don't agree with penalizing them for taking the time and effort to specialize their toon.

The new later robots they plan to release will probably use Expert Robot Control. But that's not the point.

75 as a base attribute.. I'd rather we keep attributes as they are. It's going to cost pretty much all of my planned characters a but load more EP.

Combat character, as first glance, appears to be the most effected and badly hit if training robot control to high levels.

But overall if this change is made it's going to make specialised profession costs most but all round characters cost a little less.

75 is a bad place to be. 65 is much better.

Do the calculations and you'll see.

Removing attributes and getting rid of specialisation is comming at a cost. The base EP cost for skills should be put at the average EP cost with the attrabutes. If that is the 75 points the devs are putting it at then it is that way.

However I don't mind having attributes, as said they make specialisation available. However I don't like the being stuck in that specialisation for ever. So instead of removing them make them some kind of changeable. But to change them it should take some considerable amount of time and come perhaps at a cost.

I believe that if they plan on implementing anything to do with our ep including increasing needed amounts for already acquired skills, removing attribute bonuses and effects, and reducing our present effectiveness with the ep we already have, they need to tell us immediately.

As a new player (3 months), I am confused on how the developers intend on increasing the player base or increase the viability of the game for present players by changing the ep or the extensions of characters to the negative.  But my confusion aside, I cannot abide by a developer’s surprise attack on a player created character.  Finding out about this idea in a side remark in an ‘idea’ thread is unacceptable.

If the change, if any, is for the better of my character, then I would say little; however, if this secretly planned change has a negative effect on my character, I would feel betrayed and belittled by the developers. 

Being new and many months behind veteran players in ep nic, was a frustrating, yet acceptable part of the game.  Regardless of how more advanced another player was, the game was still enjoyable.  But getting ready for pvp or to enter into industry is just something where a new player cannot compete against a veteran (well planned) character.  I’ve read all the posts about how viable a new player can be in pvp and still do some t1 industry…bull.  New players are fodder, and there is nothing wrong with that.  Just 3 months into the game I can see the effectiveness of my skill gains and the usefulness of my ep choices.  If you can’t, then you planned poorly.

So here is my grief:  I like the game.  I enjoy the combat and the industry.  Recently I started creating items with my industry character and miner, and I have been killing harder and harder mobs and increasing my nic substantially.  I have planned my both my characters in order to experience most parts of the game, and I enjoy them all.  From artifacting, to missioning, to PVE and plain old farming plasma.  I’d like to continue on my industry track and start making higher level equipement, and I’d like that to stay on track with my combat characters in increase in abilities. 

Will any ep  change change all of this?  Will I lose parts of the game I have come to enjoy and use as a total experience?  Will I have to streamline my characters in order to just keep 1 of the skills I am using?  Will parts of the game disappear for me and force me to play for many more months and weeks just to attain the level I am at now?

Perhaps not.  Perhaps any change will be minimal and almost imperceptible.  But, if there is a thought of a change in character growth coming, for any reason and in any magnitude, the developers need to let the players know immediately. And seeing this comment in the forums from an ingame chat challenges my beliefs in how a game staff should inform and work with their players.

I just want to remind people that what DEV Alf said is "subject to change".
Whatever the new system will be, I'm sure no one will actually lose time, EP or acquired extensions.
(And hopefully no one will gain a disproportionate advantage either).

That is what happens when you make a FOTM toon......

You're now crying like a pathetic emo kid, because *** binary threads were closed?

Why not just refund all EP? I have not reset any of my Industrial accounts because of loss of tech knowledge and standings, if there is another EP reset option please just refund EP this makes more sense in a more balanced fair way.

If it would be only adjusting some numbers.
By removing the Attributes, they also have to rewrite the character creation setup, and then write a 100% waterproof script to convert all existing Agents to the new system.

they have to make sure that it works in one go, with zero error tolerance.

If they implement something for the spark like i have mentioned earlier, it will also take some time to implement that. What about the character creation joices? Recent standing change removed 2/3 of the starter corporations from the game mechanic.
Will the removal of the attributes also change the starter extensions?
Faction choice has no real meaning in this game - that could be removed too.

basicly, the character creation could be simplified down to "choose your name, avatar and spark",
the tutorial mission could be revamped, combined, and at the end your choosing your profession...

that's actualy the ultimate solution. also extensions groups (i.e. weapon usage, robot control) should get a bonus EP cost by spark selection.

let's say there's a 30% bonus per spark. a JOAT spark will get 5% to the main groups. a combat spark 10% robot control, 10% weapon usage, 5/5 engineering/electronics. and similar ... the system's not perfect anyway and never will be.