Not The Target Audience

Today, Mosaic launched and with it came Super Kerr-Induced Nanocoatings. I know a lot of people are chomping at the bit to purchase SKINs for their ships, but I'm not one of them.  A surprising admission to make given that I normally fly with the camera zoomed in on my ship. But why wouldn't I want paint my ship something new?

Well, I looked at the list in the latest dev blog and nothing shouted out to me, "You must buy this NOW!" CCP is starting out by offering SKINs for tech 1 ships, with the exceptions of new SKINs for Skiffs and Hulks to go along with the existing skin for the Mackinaw. If I buy a SKIN, I want to buy one for a ship I fly a lot. Those, unfortunately, are the Cheetah, Prowler, Hound, Prospect, and Procurer. None of those currently have SKINs available in the cash shop.

Notice a trend among the ships I fly? They almost all fit covert ops cloaks. And when I'm uncloaked, I'm usually too busy doing other things, like playing the hacking mini-game, to pay attention to how nice my ship looks. I do admit, however, that if I ever do get around to getting a Stratios, the Stratios Sanctuary Issue SKIN would look amazing.

Just because I wouldn't purchase anything from the current selection doesn't mean I think that SKINs and the cash shop are horrible and need to die in a fire. I may not like the current selection, but that doesn't mean I won't like some of the tech 2 selections in the future. A Quafe Prowler would look pretty awesome.

Part of the reason for having a cash shop is to pull in money over time, not as a single one time influx of cash. Even without the prospect of player-designed corporation and alliance SKINs, the art department has a lot of material to play with. With the new release cadence, players can probably expect to see a few more SKINs added every five weeks or so. Even though I may only buy a few if I buy any at all, I'm still look forward to seeing all the new look ships as I travel around EVE.