How Many Accounts Do You Have?

Naral

I am relatively new to the game, and am curious as to how many accounts people utilize to maximize their enjoyment of the game. 

Raythor

I used to 2 box in the beginning, but I have since combined both accounts into one. One toon is my money maker, the other is my trouble maker

batolemaeus

Do you mean how many i own, or how many are actually subbed at the moment?

Badem

Just the one account, one toon, 23 million SP, 149M ISK

 

hehe

kirak2009

I have 2  but will be merged  in a few weeks,  wanted to train  up a mining/industrial alt  without taking away  training from my main.

Kyleran

I bought my first account almost exactly 3 years ago.  Within a month I realized a 2nd account would be a great idea and opened it.  About a year or so after that I could see the benefits of having 3 accounts (so I could have unaffiliated alts for spying and free movement through empire during wardecs) and opened a 3rd on one of those 6 month no sub fee deals.

Since then I've been pretty happy with them and while I once in a while feel the desire to get a 4th, it passes quickly as the current 3 afford me the flexibility I prefer.

Its not the most accounts I've ever subbed to a game, DAOC takes that honor where I had 5 at one time, to accomodate the multi-boxing it required for things like healbots for my son and I. (and an account for my wife)

Rockgod99

I had two.

I skilled up a Mission running pilot then paid to transfer him to my main account along with my "everything else" pilot.

I only use one now.

batolemaeus

I own half a dozen accounts, but only one is subbed at the moment. I might reactivate once i play actively again, but since Dominion i rarely log in anyways and when i do, it usually looks like this.

Taristar

Lots of folks use at least 2.

While 1 is mining the other is hauling or running an Orca.

While you are running missions with 1 the other could be salvaging or remote repping or running gang link or whatnot.

Freighter runs are extremely slow w/o a webby escort.

Unless you are in a massive corp then you are going to have some solo play time and it is much easier getting things done with 2 accounts than 1.

I had a science alt on my 2nd account  separate from the Main char on that account it was setup for basic research until the corp setup a couple of POS and started doing the T2 production and all that. The science alt got moved to its own account so that character could focus on mainly science while the main account is combat/mining and the other account is hauling/freighter/Fleet command/fleet boosting and all that.

It is hard to get the skills you want in a resonable amount of time without spreading it across multiple characters and accounts.

Know someone that used to run 8 accounts at a time to support multiple POS's running on his own. Thought I would be fine with 2 for the longest time but the science skills are godly slow for someone looking to skill into that new boat or max gun/weapon skills or needing to finish whatever skill to 5 that takes a month or longer.

Vosper

I opened a 2nd account once I realized how useful it was for my mining ops (I tend to multitask IRL while mining in Eve, so it's not so bad as most make it out to be, and still let's me get Eve-stuff done).

Having a dedicated hauler, now freighter pilot, let me do more mining and less fiddling about, flying between station and asteroid belt every 5/10/15 minutes.  So far, I haven't used my 2nd account during mission running for support.

Rockgod99

YOu know what I hate about certain EvE players.

Is that in reality most of them are very solo minded.

Sure they fleet for shit but most of the time they get around Eves group focused game play by using multi accounts.

Then they go on forums and say You need alts to play eve to its fullest.

When the reality of it is these multi account players just dont surround themselves with players that are willing to do shit like haul, scout and cyno or are just too selfish to share in the spoils.

I'm different I don't need a million accounts I made sure i set myself up with people that arent solo minded. I have friends that like to scout and haul and even a couple that will loot/salvage my missions if i ask.

Eve players take a step back and realize that all those accounts you have could easily be replaced by having a few friends willing to fill those roles.

Kyleran

Originally posted by Vosper

I opened a 2nd account once I realized how useful it was for my mining ops (I tend to multitask IRL while mining in Eve, so it's not so bad as most make it out to be, and still let's me get Eve-stuff done).

Having a dedicated hauler, now freighter pilot, let me do more mining and less fiddling about, flying between station and asteroid belt every 5/10/15 minutes.  So far, I haven't used my 2nd account during mission running for support.

You should give this a try.  I've used all 3 of my accounts in running missions, but found it a bit unwieldy on a single box so now I keep it to only two and burn through them.  I frequently pair my Nighthawk and Domi pilots and they just burn through missions and the Domi can salavage on the way.

Kyleran

Originally posted by Rockgod99

YOu know what I hate about certain EvE players.

Is that in reality most of them are very solo minded.

Sure they fleet for shit but most of the time they get around Eves group focused game play by using multi accounts.

Then they go on forums and say You need alts to play eve to its fullest.

When the reality of it is these multi account players just dont surround themselves with players that are willing to do shit like haul, scout and cyno or are just too selfish to share in the spoils.

I'm different I don't need a million accounts I made sure i set myself up with people that arent solo minded. I have friends that like to scout and haul and even a couple that will loot/salvage my missions if i ask.

Eve players take a step back and realize that all those accounts you have could easily be replaced by having a few friends willing to fill those roles.

This is quite true,and many people play EVE this way, just not me.

When I'm rolling through PVE (especially in Empire) I'm very distracted, and it would annoy any teammates I have to see me afking and reading forums when I should be paying attention to matters at hand.

When I'm pvping, or running major 0.0 or wormhole ops I stay focused due to their intensity, but mission runinng and mining aren't exactly thrilling and its easier for me to run them at my own pace.

That's the great thing about EVE, it supports both play styles well, and one advantage I have is if my friends aren't around, i can still keep on playing, where you'll have to basically sit.

solarine

I've tried having two accounts going in several games, but it's turned out to be a real immersion breaker for me. Whenever I create an additional account, I find myself closing both within a couple of months. 

It undeniably has its uses, and arguably more so in EVE, but ultimately it ends up boring me.

So I'm going with one on all the games I keep a sub to.

Naral

Well I have to admit so far this thread has given me hope. I have always liked one account games, but I was worried from all I have read that you simply COULDNT play one account and have the same quality of game you might with more than one. To that end, I think I will try and keep it at one and look for the right Corp for me. Thanks guys.

Taristar

Not everyone is iin a hugh corp or find themselves in a smaller corp for a reason. Multiple accounts are not just for solo play and certainly not what is wrong with Eve.

If you find yourself in a large corp with folks around doing things every time you login good for you. For those of us thta still belong to corps and still enjoy fleeting and group activities but the corp isn't large enough to have people logged in activly doing stuff 24/7 then there is always some solo time and multiple accounts make that much easier than being stuck to 1.

You can actually experience more of the game in a shorter amount of time when you are able to skill multiple pilots at the same time. If you could skill all 3 characters on the same account at 1 time you would see a lot less folks running multiple accounts. But that wouldn't bring in the funds that the current model does for CCP.

If you have not been playing since eve launched and havn't had the time to train most everything you enjoy then multiple accounts give you a chace to specialize more than 1 character and enjoy more of what Eve has to offer tan to wait years to get to what you want becuase you need/want to finish training skills for combat or whatnot 1st.

batolemaeus

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Originally posted by Rockgod99
YOu know what I hate about certain EvE players.
Is that in reality most of them are very solo minded.
Sure they fleet for shit but most of the time they get around Eves group focused game play by using multi accounts.

---

No human being should ever have to sit in place for hours, staring at the screen, unable to move because of the permanent cynosural field his bestower is keeping up to support a few hundred people in their capital ships with a permanent way back home. Sitting at a pos with a command ships for hours, never moving and never seeing action, or being trapped in the golden prison that is a super capital isn't nice either.

The worst job i could offer you would be to sit cloaked in a frigate as an emergency cyno in a backwater system with nobody else in local. You'll have to listen to ts and join fleet+drop the cyno within seconds. You might have to sit there for hours and it may be weeks before you see any action (that is, decloak+drop cyno)

//edith: Actually no, i got an even worse job. You get to stay in empire, run missions and send all the money to me with no reward at all, since i'm usually unable to make any isk myself, that with being unable to dock and switch ships and being slow and vulnerable.

mklinic

I run two accounts currently. For the longest time, I ran one account that is primarily a Science character. My combat skills are low-to-nonexistent and being in a decent corp at the time, I had a lot of fun working with them and relying on other players with diverse skills.

Fast forward two kids later, one corp less, and a whole lot less free time and I now have two accounts. It sounds a bit contradictory, but bear with me. One account is my mission/combat pilot. My Science character is now an explorer/salvager. I get on and run a couple missions every other day or so and my original character goes in and cleans them up. If I don't feel like a mission, I scan down sites for a bit. When my friend are on we'll jump into a WH or run missions together, but for the most part, two accounts have enabled me to enjoy more aspects of the game even though I can't make the same time commitment I used to.

Naral

Originally posted by batolemaeus

 

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Originally posted by Rockgod99

YOu know what I hate about certain EvE players.

Is that in reality most of them are very solo minded.

Sure they fleet for shit but most of the time they get around Eves group focused game play by using multi accounts.

---

 

No human being should ever have to sit in place for hours, staring at the screen, unable to move because of the permanent cynosural field his bestower is keeping up to support a few hundred people in their capital ships with a permanent way back home. Sitting at a pos with a command ships for hours, never moving and never seeing action, or being trapped in the golden prison that is a super capital isn't nice either.

The worst job i could offer you would be to sit cloaked in a frigate as an emergency cyno in a backwater system with nobody else in local. You'll have to listen to ts and join fleet+drop the cyno within seconds. You might have to sit there for hours and it may be weeks before you see any action (that is, decloak+drop cyno)

//edith: Actually no, i got an even worse job. You get to stay in empire, run missions and send all the money to me with no reward at all, since i'm usually unable to make any isk myself, that with being unable to dock and switch ships and being slow and vulnerable.

I dont want to be a naysayer here, but doesn't this speak to a flaw within the game? If there are must have tasks that are so boring or dreary that the only way to get them done is to have mules/alts, it seems to me a design flaw?

I am really asking this as a question, not criticizing EVE--I dont have the information to be critical as I have not experienced that aspect of the game one way or the other, hence this whole thread.  I guess using a run of the mill, fantasy based MMORPG as an example, all classes have some use to the group on a regular basis, not just to mash a button once an hour or whatever...is that not the case in EVE?

batolemaeus

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Originally posted by Naral
I dont want to be a naysayer here, but doesn't this speak to a flaw within the game?

---

Of course Eve has flaws. Certain activities are incredibly boring, so people work around them with sock puppets.

---

Originally posted by Naral
I guess using a run of the mill, fantasy based MMORPG as an example, all classes have some use to the group on a regular basis, not just to mash a button once an hour or whatever...is that not the case in EVE?

---

Eve uses this a lot more than fantasy mmos. Which can be the flaw described above, when interdependency creates niches that are necessary, but not very fun. Some roles are just necessary, like providing a way out in case of emergency, reporting enemy movements (although that can be fun, so it's often not alts who do this), or producing more once you've hit the hard cap of production jobs per character. The hard cap is there to stop one guy from supplying the entire economy, but it also limits the growth of some production tycoons.
Or, in my case, i do produce stuff, but my position doesn't allow me to do that effectively, since i'm always at war. An alt offers me a playstyle that is radically different from the one i like most.

Malcanis

Originally posted by Naral

Well I have to admit so far this thread has given me hope. I have always liked one account games, but I was worried from all I have read that you simply COULDNT play one account and have the same quality of game you might with more than one. To that end, I think I will try and keep it at one and look for the right Corp for me. Thanks guys.

 

You most definately can play with one account, but unless you're the kind of person who likes a very challenging game, or you're prepared to just sit in hi-sec doing your thing, you'd better be the kind of guy that gets along well with a team.

I have 2 accounts, but nowadays I hardly use the second much. It has my "second main", who is skilled up with carriers, dreads, haulers, freighters, etc etc - basically all the dull-but-useful stuff I didn't want to do on my primary account. These days I spend less than 5% of my play time logged in to that account. Although it's pretty damb handy when I want to move all my stuffs about (I have a lot of stuffs).

dave6660

I have 2 accounts.  One is my main PvP character and the other is my blockade runner, covops scout and logistics character.

dave6660

Originally posted by Rockgod99

YOu know what I hate about certain EvE players.

Is that in reality most of them are very solo minded.

Sure they fleet for shit but most of the time they get around Eves group focused game play by using multi accounts.

Then they go on forums and say You need alts to play eve to its fullest.

When the reality of it is these multi account players just dont surround themselves with players that are willing to do shit like haul, scout and cyno or are just too selfish to share in the spoils.

I'm different I don't need a million accounts I made sure i set myself up with people that arent solo minded. I have friends that like to scout and haul and even a couple that will loot/salvage my missions if i ask.

Eve players take a step back and realize that all those accounts you have could easily be replaced by having a few friends willing to fill those roles.

I'm sure there are people like you describe but I wouldn't say it makes up the majority of the players who have multiple accounts.  If you're in a PvP corp and go on a roam, having a few people with neutral scout alts to fan out and look for targets is extremely useful.  That way you don't have to sacrifice a DPS ship or e-war ship for a scout.

If you're a pirate and are -10 then having a hauler alt is huge plus.  I've never seen a pirate corp recruit somebody just to fly a blockade runner or jump frieghter.

I don't think we're being solo minded at all, our alts are an asset to the corp.

Teala

2 accounts.   One has my hauler and a crafter and the other has my miner, a rat, and a scavanger.   ^_^   I can't see playing this game with less than 2.

Kyleran

Originally posted by Naral

I dont want to be a naysayer here, but doesn't this speak to a flaw within the game? If there are must have tasks that are so boring or dreary that the only way to get them done is to have mules/alts, it seems to me a design flaw?

I am really asking this as a question, not criticizing EVE--I dont have the information to be critical as I have not experienced that aspect of the game one way or the other, hence this whole thread.  I guess using a run of the mill, fantasy based MMORPG as an example, all classes have some use to the group on a regular basis, not just to mash a button once an hour or whatever...is that not the case in EVE?

Somethng to ponder, if said 'design flaw' encourages players to purchase more than one subscription to EVE, from CCP's perspective, is this really a problem to resolve?

EVE isn't like any game you've ever played before, so right off don't try to apply conventional fantasy MMO design concepts to it or you will be sorely disappointed.

Know this, no one would ever ask a single account player to do one of those boring jobs because there almost always is a alt account available to cover it.

As you've noticed, there are many people playing EVE with one account and enjoying it immenselly.  But the game does lend itself well to having more than one for those people like me who can appreciate the benefits. (and lack patience)

Cecropia

It has held me back on occassion, but I have only ever had 1 account for EVE in the 5 years I've been playing. I can't stand alts in MMORPGs. If they could somehow prevent people from making alts in MMORPGs I'd be all for it. But why the hell would they do that? They're in the business to make money, so that's what they do.