CCP announced this morning that it’s overhauling PLEX in EVE Online. As the currency works now, players buy the 30-day sub token known as PLEX with cash and then either use it or sell it to other players in exchange for in-game currency, ISK.
“We really like PLEX because it lets you players in the in-game market decide what trade-offs you want to make between time, isk, and real money,” CCP Seagull explains in a new video today. “It also gives us at CCP a type of income that doesn’t mess with the integrity of the game design.” The overhaul won’t impact that philosophy, but here’s what is changing:
PLEX will be broken down into smaller chunks; one current PLEX, worth around $15 or 30 days of sub time, will now work out to 500 new PLEX, which is intended to allow players more flexibility in trade and allow CCP to effectively sell smaller sub lengths as well as smaller items in the cash shop using PLEX as currency.
The more granular unit size for PLEX will make it easier for CCP to introduce lower value micro-transactions into the game, this is why AURUM will be eliminated alongside these changes, as the service it once provided is being included in the core function of PLEX. Of course, this more bit-size structure will lead to some interesting changes in the PLEX market. With the introduction of the secure “PLEX Vault”, players can now move their PLEX between regions without risking them. Although it is already possible to remotely activate PLEX, so this new feature will really affect trading more than anything else.
“The PLEX Vault will allow you to move PLEX safely throughout the universe rather than having to move it in a ship. It will still be possible to carry it in a ship like any other item if you want, so if you have an urge to fill a shuttle full of PLEX and tour low sec just drag PLEX out of the vault and into your cargo and you’re good to go. We know how much you love it when ships blow up with piles of PLEX inside, we even might understand why, but, we also don’t want new PLEX users to be losing their PLEX before they can trade it because they didn’t know how to get to market safely.”
