Time Is Money, Friend: EVE Online's Skill Training Boost Bundles

While writing last Thursday's article about the starter pack sale, I ran into something unusual. I saw what I believe are new packages for acquiring skill points that don't involve buying a starter pack. Now players can just buy skill points without all the extra stuff like game time, PLEX, and SKINs. For today's article I thought I would look at the packages and see what type of offers CCP put in the cash shop.

I have long wanted CCP to sell Cerebral Accelerators instead of straight up skill points in the cash shop. Generating the skill points at an advanced rate just felt more in keeping with the EVE universe. But I should explain how the cerebral accelerators work.

Basically, the cerebral accelerator adds a certain number of points across the board to all learning attributes for a set amount of time. Players can extend the time the training occurs by learning the Biology skill. Each level of Biology extends the time of the cerebral accelerator by 20%, meaning the enhanced training time doubles by training Biology to level 5. I would advise doing the training before using a cerebral accelerator, because the length of time the accelerator lasts is determined when first used.

The Biology skill causes something of a dilemma for the consumer. How many skill points are people buying? Looking at the skill point generation formula helps. Skill points are generated per minute with the following formula:

SP per minute = Primary attribute + 0.5 x Secondary attribute

Each skill has a primary attribute and a secondary attribute. For example, the primary attribute for Biology is Intelligence and the secondary attribute is Memory. With a skill training time multiplier of 1, training to Biology V requires 256,000 skill points.

If you want to know how many skill points are generated in a day by an accelerator, the formula is:

SP per day = 1440 x 1.5 x attribute bonus

or simplified to

SP per day = 2160 x attribute bonus

So a Standard 'Boost' Cerebral Accelerator, with provides an attribute bonus of +4, grants an extra 8640 skill points per day.

The next step is to determine how many points each of the accelerators provides to determine how many skill points each package offers. They are:

• Standard 'Boost' Cerebral Accelerator - base: 34,560 SP, with Biology V: 69,120 SP
• Advanced 'Boost' Cerebral Accelerator - base: 77,760 SP, with Biology V: 155,520 SP
• Specialist 'Boost' Cerebral Accelerator - base: 138,240 SP, with Biology V: 276,480 SP
• Expert 'Boost' Cerebral Accelerator - base: 216,000 SP, with Biology V: 432,000 SP
• Genius 'Boost' Cerebral Accelerator - base: 311,040 SP, with Biology V: 622,080 SP

Now, someone looking at the offers for the first time might think to themselves, "Why are the best accelerators in the cheapest bundles?" Because CCP is really pricing the skill point bundles based on the skill points offered up front.

Below is a description of each bundle, the price, and how many skill points they offer:

Apprentice Bundle: $9.99

50,000 SP + Genius 'Boost' Cerebral Accelerator (+12 to all attributes. lasts for 12 days or 24 days with the Biology 5 skill)

Total number of skill points: 361,040 skill points or 672,080 with Biology V trained.

Novice Bundle: $18.99

350,000 SP + Expert 'Boost' Cerebral Accelerator (+10 to all attributes, lasts for 10 days or 20 days with the Biology 5 skill)

Total number of skill points: 566,000 skill points or 782,000 with Biology V trained.

Graduate Bundle: $22.99

700,000 SP + Specialist 'Boost' Cerebral Accelerator (+8 to all attributes, lasts for 8 days or 16 days with the Biology 5 skill)

Total number of skill points: 838,240 skill points or 976,480 with Biology V trained.

Prodigy Bundle: $28.99

1,050,000 SP + Advanced 'Boost' Cerebral Accelerator (+ 6 to all attributes, lasts for 6 days or 12 days with the Biology 5 skill)

Total number of skill points: 1,127,760 skill points or 1,205,520 with Biology V trained.

Master Bundle: $42.99

1,750,000 SP + Standard 'Boost' Cerebral Accelerator (+4 to all attributes, lasts for 4 days or 8 days with the Biology 5 skill)

Total number of skill points: 1,784,560 skill points or 1,819,120 with Biology V trained.

I should add that a character who has remapped the learning skills and is using +4 learning implants can train 1,857,600 skill points in 30 days.

Finally, how many skill points do players receive per dollar in each package? I'll provide figures based on both the base amount and with Biology trained to 5.

• Apprentice Bundle - Base amount 36,140 SP/dollar, with Biology V trained: 67,275 SP/dollar
• Novice Bundle - Base amount 29,805 SP/dollar, with Biology V trained: 41,180 SP/dollar
• Graduate Bundle - Base amount 36,461 SP/dollar, with Biology V trained: 42,474 SP/dollar
• Prodigy Bundle - Base amount 38,902 SP/dollar, with Biology V trained: 40,184 SP/dollar
• Master Bundle - Base amount 41,511 SP/dollar, with Biology V trained: 42,315 SP/dollar

The Apprentice Bundle offers the best skill point-to-dollar value. However, with the Master Bundle, someone could get the same amount of skill points in 4 days that a player only using the Apprentice Bundle would receive in 65.

The way the skill point bundles are designed, CCP is aiming toward those who want their skill points and want them now. If someone is visiting the cash shop to buy skill points, that is already the mentality of the customer. CCP is just taking advantage of the player's desires to get those skill points. For CCP, time is indeed money.