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[Retropunch]

As a person who done it once (and promptly stopped after since it was the main challenge for me), I must say that it was way, way easier long time ago, I couldn't do it any of the three times I tried again later. PLEX prices have raised a lot and I can only suspect that with F2P they are even higher.

Yeah, talking to a few long term players they said it used to be very possible with a bit of work - never easy, but something you could definitely do if you needed to. Now it's pretty much impossible without a really big production chain or some sort of syndicate.

[Kot]

You best bet was trade, though it required some understanding and obviously luck. There was a point when you could do it even with mining, though proably it required a fair dose of alts. The easiest way (apart from succesful scams) was to get some money started in a week, even by mining, and then trade like crazy. In general, I feel like there is no good way to actually get PLEX money early on, it's mostly a matter of luck and finding a niche. Having friends set up within a good corporation so they would be willing to fund your PLEX is good idea, of course if they have income allowing for that. People are reluctant about that though, since they feel you might bail too soon without paying your debt, so it would be good if they were offline friends or at least from outside the EVE.

The biggest question is and always was... if you're willing to play the game like it's a job for 21 or so days... why not get an actual job and pay for your PLEX with real money?

[aristabulus]

...
The biggest question is and always was... if you're willing to play the game like it's a job for 21 or so days... why not get an actual job and pay for your PLEX with real money?

Yup, that's the position from which I was arguing a couple weeks ago:

Spoiler: for vertical brevity (click to show/hide)

Well, since the upcoming free to play thing is so close I decided to pop open a trial account and check this out.  Unsurprisingly, mining is pretty profitable and I'm able to get around 1Mil isk every full haul in just a Venture, so in theory I could get up to that ridiculous 1.2 billion in less than a month and have a sustainable supply of Plex.  Radical.

I can appreciate the angle of maybe not having spare cash laying about for a subscription... but what you're suggesting is volunteering for digital sweatshop labour.

With the alpha skillset, you'll max out around 4 hauls per hour in a Venture.  1.2 billion divided by 4 million (per hour) = 300 hours.  For 30 days of sub time, worth 15 bucks.  You'll effectively be slaving away at a job that pays you 5 cents an hour for the privilege of not opening your wallet.  (and this is all assuming the PLEX prices don't rise significantly before you have that much)  If you approach it like a full time job (40hrs/week), it'll take you about 7 weeks.  The math doesn't really improve once you're PLEXed, even though you'll be able to accrue isk a bit faster.  You'll still effectively have a part time job vastly under minimum wage, when you could be not worrying about it and doing in-game things simply to enjoy them.

Finding some way to chase the money down out of game is a better use of your time.  Even if a proper job isn't feasible, there are ways to make a little cash.  Mowing lawns / raking leaves / shoveling driveways, other miscellaneous grunt work... they all pay better than punching rocks for 5 cents an hour.

[Girlinhat]

I did the math, and if plex is about 1.2bil then you need to make 40mil every day to afford it each month.  That's simply beyond Alpha capabilities, really.  But if you're patient, there's no reason you can't spend 3 months to make 1 month of Plex, and if you know what you're doing you should be able to make a ton on that month.  You might not make another Plex entirely, but you might make it halfway there, so the next time it only takes you 1 month of alpha for another 1 month of omega.  Then when you're omega again, you'll have higher skills and gear than the first time and be able to progress faster than your first plex.

Especially because some money-making is improved by being omega but some things can wait.  You can spend your omega time learning reprocessing, for instance, and get a ton of ore converted into materials at the end of your plex time, and then when you're back to alpha you can sell the stuff, waiting for a good price that can buy you another plex.  You don't absolutely have to hit the cost at the month, you can hit close and finish the difference.

[Mephansteras]

Ok, finally decided to just go ahead and dive back in. Reactivated my account and started poking around to see where I left everything off. Kind of a mess, but not too bad I suppose.

Feel free to send friend requests to my two characters.
Danlia Starseeker is my Industrial character. She can help set you up with basic gear easy enough and I'm happy to sell to Bay 12 people for cost on stuff.

Sarvalkaan Tigersclaw is my Combat character. If there is a Bay 12 corp I'd probably join with him. He's currently based out of Minmatar space (Hek) but I can probably migrate him wherever.

[Not good with names]

Starting the download, we'll see how my account looks when I get on (Oh the market orders! Oh the spreadsheets I have since deleted!).  I'd be interested in a B12 corp too, though I'm pretty sure my main is pretty much only spec'd to explore (and shoot down other explorers).

[Retropunch]

But if you're patient, there's no reason you can't spend 3 months to make 1 month of Plex, and if you know what you're doing you should be able to make a ton on that month.  You might not make another Plex entirely, but you might make it halfway there, so the next time it only takes you 1 month of alpha for another 1 month of omega.  Then when you're omega again, you'll have higher skills and gear than the first time and be able to progress faster than your first plex.

That's basically how I looked at it - If I could get a month free every now and again it'd be a nice bonus. Unfortunately, the time sink was just too much for me - even when I had the time, I felt like there were other games/things to do that could quickly snatch my attention away - after a week of not playing you come back feeling seriously behind on everything.

[lordcooper]

I did the math, and if plex is about 1.2bil then you need to make 40mil every day to afford it each month.  That's simply beyond Alpha capabilities, really.

It really isn't.  Here's a few things that can make you enough isk with low skills.

Running 1-2 null/w-space relic sites a day.

Killing and looting 2-4 shiny-ish wormhole site runners.

One semi-decent scam.

Joining a few public roams (shoutout to Spectre Fleet) and being quick to loot targets.

Ransoming 1-2 capital ships/Marauders (less reliable).

Stealing from a couple of juicy Encounter Surveillance Systems.

Running Guristas 4/10 DED sites in hisec.

Stealing Geckos and augmented drones from dumb Incursioners who leave them behind.

Corp theft.

Identifying and selling desirable unoccupied wormholes.

Flying tackle for a group of vets tends to get you showered in isk whenever you catch something shiny.

[Kot]

TBH I don't think the F2P is a bad thing. I never had patience to stay with EVE for longer periods of time, so I ultimately always ran into the problem of needing to buy a new PLEX which was meh because I knew I might not really play it to the fullest.

[Retropunch]

-snip ways of earning isk-

They all may edge you towards that total (or take you all the way there), but require quite a substantial knowledge of the game, strong corp connections and the like. It's the same as if you've got friends in a corp who'll give you the cash to get you your first PLEX - it works if you've got those connections, but it's unlikely you'll have that in your first month.

More than that, most of these options will be a lot more difficult for alpha clones, as no one is going to hand over corp controls or trust a lot of things from alpha clones.

I'm sure it's possible, but it's a hell of a lot of work. I mainly like to make it clear for new starters that it's not viable to go in and think you'll definitely get PLEX in your first month - as that's a trap a lot of people fall into and then get discouraged.

[lordcooper]

Oh, I'm not trying to encourage people to do this.  I pay for most of my accounts with actual cash myself and would suggest most others do the same.  It's just wrong to state that alpha account limitations prevent someone from earning so much, particularly if they have the initiative to do more than grind out low paying hisec stuff.

Admittedly I have the advantage of experience, but I've actually tried making a plex with brand new characters on a few occasions (once when I was broke IRL and twice just for a challenge).  Without using any pre-existing connections I did it in half an hour once (got really lucky with a data site dropping a faction tower BPC).  Another attempt took about two hours when I piggybacked off someone else's margin trading scam by undercutting them, and the third was purely from looting ships destroyed while I was flying with Spectre Fleet (this was a while ago, but I'd estimate it was over 5-7 hours of actually flying with them).

[kilakan]

I mean... you guys are forgetting that once you get enough cash together you can plex yourself and you are no longer an 'alpha clone' trying to plex himself each month.  Heck you could even alternate months, one month you save enough as an alpha to plex and play next month as omega then if you don't earn enough the next month you just do scanning or whatever as an alpha again for awhile.

but yeah, you aren't gonna plex yourself the first month but maybe after a month or two you can.  Then sporadically after the fact, you don't need to keep premium up 24/7

edit*I actually can't get out of where I am at the moment.  All I have is a hurricane(that I can't fly) in a white-space station.  I'd need to launch it to scan for the wormhole exit and even then I'd end up leaving behind ~500mil worth of stuff in the hanger that DOESN'T include the tech level 2 fully outfitted hurricane.... humpf.
Welp if yall do get into this over the next week or two and have a semi-decent corp going I'll have to resub I guess hah!

[lordcooper]

White-space?

CCP are often willing to move a single ship and its cargo to Empire space for returning players, might be worth petitioning for that.

[Girlinhat]

They do want customer retention, and if you're stuck because your sub ended mid-expedition, then it's worth a try.

[Retropunch]

CCP are often willing to move a single ship and its cargo to Empire space for returning players, might be worth petitioning for that.

Second that - just ask real nicely and say that it's basically the only thing stopping you sub-up. I read loads of stories about them doing that kind of thing.