Cloud Imperium Games is not the only game studio that uses in-game holidays as an excuse to sell digital goods. CCP announced a sale themed around the annual Federation Day holiday held by the Gallente. When I started playing back in 2009, Federation Day was an event run by Gallente role players celebrating the formation of the Federation. Now, I didn't see any posts for player celebrations, but I do see a news article advertising sales in the cash shop. Looks like another holiday has been commercialized and stripped of meaning.
CCP is advertising two bundles this year, the Luminaire Ascending Pack and Luminaire Exalted Pack. For those who don't know, the system of Luminaire is the home of Gallente Prime, the cultural and spiritual home of the Gallente. The system is also the home of Caldari Prime, which helped lead to the current conflict between the two NPC empires.
The first bundle, the Luminaire Ascending Pack, seems aimed at luring Alpha players and/or accounts to temporarily convert to Omega accounts. The $6.49 package consists of:
- 10 days of Omega
- 20 PLEX
- 100,000 Skill Points
- Basic 'Boost' Cerebral Accelerator
- Catalyst Navy Issue and Maulus Luminaire Rising SKINs
Just looking at the amount of game time included in the package, I will guess the sale will last 10 days. The 20 PLEX probably comes out to netting a player 90 million ISK based on the 4.8 million median price of PLEX yesterday and after deducting taxes and fees. The 100,000 skill points avoid the loss of skill points experienced when using skill injectors while the cerebral accelerator adds +2 to all learning attributes for 2 days. And finally the package includes nice skins for a faction navy destroyer and a regular Tech 1 cruiser.
The more expensive bundle, the Luminaire Exalted Pack, costs $17.49, or $2.50 less than one month of game time. For that price, players receive:
- 400 PLEX
- Standard 'Boost' Cerebral Accelerator
- 250,000 Skill Points
- Catalyst Navy Issue, Maulus Navy Issue, Nemesis, Brutix Navy Issue, Megathron Navy Issue, and Hubris Luminaire Rising SKINs
The 400 PLEX is interesting. At current Jita prices, 400 PLEX sold on the market will bring in 1.8 billion ISK. If a player already has 100 PLEX, that turns into one month of game time. And one month of multiple character training only costs 350 PLEX in the New Eden Store.
On the training front, the cerebral accelerator adds +4 to all learning attributes for a base time of 4 days. The 250,000 skill points probably goes some way to starting training for the new skills introduced in Viridian. And the six SKINs probably will have value if sold on the market.
The sale of ship packs in EVE has a large element of FOMO, especially for those looking to purchase their skill points with their credit cards. Not only did CCP not announce when the sale would end, but players can only purchase a pack once. Which means for the credit card warriors out there who have purchased all the existing bundles, their only opportunity to purchase skill points straight from CCP comes in these events.
Hopefully the quick look at the bundles will help, as the cash shop doesn't make telling what a player is purchasing exactly friendly.
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