Trials and Tribulations

Hello capsuleers! As some of you may have heard already from CCP FoxFour's presentation at EVE Vegas, Team Size Matters will be releasing a number of improvements for trial accounts in the Phoebe release on November 4th. This blog will go into detail regarding what we're actually changing and how we hope to improve the trial experience for new players.

Why We Are Changing Trials

The goal of these changes is to open up the game to new players so they can explore a greater variety of the content available in EVE. We believe getting new players invested in the game early on will keep them playing longer than if we throw all the good stuff behind a subscriber wall. In addition to opening up the game for trial users, we will be adding extensive logging in every area that we are removing restrictions. This way we can closely follow changes to ensure they are not enabling negative behavior such as botting or trial cycling exploits.

What We Are Changing

We want players on trial accounts to have a chance to experience a large variety of activities in EVE without being overly burdened by existing restrictions. This will help to make it easier to find something they enjoy doing and thus decide to stick around. In that vein we are lifting the following restrictions in Phoebe:

• Trial accounts are no longer limited in the ways they can send and receive ISK. They are now able to directly transfer ISK to other characters and corporations and send ISK to other characters by direct trades in stations. This will assist trial players who want to share ISK with each other or are looking to get into a corporation.
• Players looking for places to trade will now be able to post in trade chat channels (Channels 10 - 15). The normal restriction on chat frequency still apply. 
• Players interested in mission running are no longer limited to just level 1 and 2 agents and they can now participate in incursions (and receive a cut of the reward pool). Those interested in some low-sec mission running and/or PvP can now sign up for Factional Warfare.
• To assist with joining corporations, trial players will now be able to apply to up to 5 corporations at any one time. If they are rejected by a corporation or withdraw their application, an application slot will free up and they will be able to apply to another corporation. For those who are not quite ready to make the jump into a permanent corporation, trial players will now be able to post fleet finder advertisements.

Skill Restriction Changes

We will be removing the trial restrictions from a lot of currently restricted skills. Some new restrictions will be put in place, but most of these are to inform trial players about what is achievable within the trial period, or are directly associated with already trial restricted ships. As mentioned earlier we will be keeping a close eye on how trial accounts use these skills and we will not hesitate to restrict some of them again if they are leading to misuse or exploits.

Skills which are currently restricted that we will be allowing trial accounts to train are:

• Anchoring
• Command Center Upgrades
• Interplanetary Consolidation
• Planetology
• Gas Cloud Harvesting
• Amarr Starship Engineering
• Caldari Starship Engineering
• Gallente Starship Engineering
• Minmatar Starship Engineering
• High Energy Physics
• Plasma Physics
• Nanite Engineering
• Hydromagnetic Physics
• Graviton Physics
• Laser Physics
• Electromagnetic Physics
• Rocket Science
• Nuclear Physics
• Mechanical Engineering
• Electronic Engineering
• Quantum Physics
• Molecular Engineering
• Amarr Battlecruiser
• Caldari Battlecruiser
• Gallente Battlecruiser
• Minmatar Battlecruiser
• Amarr Battleship
• Caldari Battleship
• Gallente Battleship
• Minmatar Battleship
• Amarr Industrial
• Caldari Industrial
• Gallente Industrial
• Minmatar industrial
• Assault Frigates

Skills which are currently not restricted which we will be restricting:

• Capital Remote Armor Repair Systems
• Capital Remote Hull Repair Systems
• Capital Repair Systems
• Megacorp Management
• Empire Control
• Sovereignty
• Fighters
• Fighter Bombers
• Amarr Drone Specialization
• Caldari Drone Specialization
• Gallente Drone Specialization
• Minmatar Drone Specialization
• Projected Electronic Counter Measures
• Tactical Logistics Reconfiguration
• Advanced Weapon Upgrades
• Capital Capacitor Emission Systems
• Capital Energy Turret
• Capital Hybrid Turret
• Capital Projectile Turret
• Doomsday Operation
• Tactical Weapon Reconfiguration
• Small Blaster Specialization
• Medium Blaster Specialization
• Large Blaster Specialization
• Small Railgun Specialization
• Medium Railgun Specialization
• Large Railgun Specialization
• Small Autocannon Specialization
• Medium Autocannon Specialization
• Large Autocannon Specialization
• Small Artillery Specialization
• Medium Artillery Specialization
• Large Artillery Specialization
• Small Beam Laser Specialization
• Medium Beam Laser Specialization
• Large Beam Laser Specialization
• Small Pulse Laser Specialization
• Medium Pulse Laser Specialization
• Large Pulse Laser Specialization
• Fleet Command
• Wing Command
• Citadel Cruise Missiles
• Citadel Torpedoes
• Cruise Missile Specialization
• Heavy Assault Missile Specialization
• Heavy Missile Specialization
• Light Missile Specialization
• Rocket Specialization
• Torpedo Specialization
• Jump Drive Calibration
• Jump Drive Operation
• Jump Fuel Conservation
• Jump Portal Generation
• Advanced Infomorph Psychology
• Advanced Mass Production
• Capital Ship Construction
• Deep Core Mining
• Advanced Laboratory Operation
• Capital Shield Emission Systems
• Capital Shield Operation
• Amarr Strategic Cruiser
• Caldari Strategic Cruiser
• Gallente Strategic Cruiser
• Minmatar Strategic Cruiser
• Amarr Defensive Systems
• Amarr Electronic Systems
• Amarr Engineering Systems
• Amarr Offensive Systems
• Amarr Propulsion Systems
• Caldari Defensive Systems
• Caldari Electronic Systems
• Caldari Engineering Systems
• Caldari Offensive Systems
• Caldari Propulsion Systems
• Gallente Defensive Systems
• Gallente Electronic Systems
• Gallente Engineering Systems
• Gallente Offensive Systems
• Gallente Propulsion Systems
• Minmatar Defensive Systems
• Minmatar Electronic Systems
• Minmatar Engineering Systems
• Minmatar Offensive Systems
• Minmatar Propulsion Systems
• Corporation Contracting
• Margin Trading
• Wholesale
• Retail
• Tycoon

Skills that are currently restricted which will remain restricted:

• Starbase Defense Management
• Cloaking
• Cynosural Field Theory
• Advanced Planetology
• Drug Manufacturing
• Astronautic Engineering
• Laboratory Operation
• Amarr Carrier
• Caldari Carrier
• Gallente Carrier
• Minmatar Carrier
• Amarr Dreadnought
• Caldari Dreadnought
• Gallente Dreadnought
• Minmatar Dreadnought
• Amarr Freighter
• Caldari Freighter
• Gallente Freighter
• Minmatar Freighter
• Amarr Titan
• Caldari Titan
• Gallente Titan
• Minmatar Titan
• Advanced Spaceship Command
• Black Ops
• Capital Industrial Ships
• Capital Ships
• Command Ships
• Covert Ops
• Electronic Attack Ships
• Exhumers
• Expedition Frigates
• Heavy Assault Cruisers
• Heavy Interdiction Cruisers
• Industrial Command Ships
• Interceptors
• Interdictors
• Jump Freighters
• Logistics
• Marauders
• Mining Barge
• ORE Industrial
• Recon Ships
• Transport Ships
• Contracting

UI Changes

Trial accounts will now see more information relating to their trial status in a number of places in the UI. This includes clearly indicating trial restrictions in the UI and giving players a more direct way to get to Account Management (actually a streamlined subscription page) from the client.

The InterBus Ship Identification System

The ISIS will show players a visual representation of the ships they can and cannot fly on a trial account. Players seeking further info on the specific restricted skills can hover over a ship to see more details.

Character Sheet

The skill list in the character sheet will now indicate whether skills are trial restricted or not. Note that as mentioned in CCP Seagull's Phoebe dev blog, trial accounts will still have a 24 hour limit on their skill queue instead of the upcoming unlimited skill queue.

Information Window

In the information window, players will be able to see whether any of the required skills to use the relevant item are trial restricted.

Market

The Market will display restrictions on ships and items which cannot be used during the trial. Players will still be able to purchase and move these items as normal.

Industry

Industry panels will display any trial locked skills required in manufacturing and research.

We're very excited to be bringing these changes out in Phoebe and hope they allow new players to really get a feel for EVE while they're in their trial period.

• CCP Terminus, on behalf of Team Size Matters