CCP Wants Us to Pay to Alpha Test This?

I genuinely think CCP is out of their minds if they believe a paid Alpha next month is the right move for EVE Vanguard, given that the current October test reflects what we're getting.

I understand it's an Alpha. I'm not expecting a finished game, perfect balance, polished AI, or a complete progression system.

My bigger problem is much more fundamental:

Vanguard does not feel good to play as an FPS right now.

The gunplay feels extremely generic. Weapons lack weight, impact, and personality. Firing a gun doesn't give me that satisfying sense of force or feedback that good shooters live and die on. Enemies getting hit doesn't feel particularly impactful, recoil and weapon handling aren't especially memorable, and fights often feel more functional than exciting.

That's a huge problem because this is an FPS.

You can add more maps, progression systems, loot, objectives, weapons, and EVE integration. Still, if the basic act of aiming at something and pulling the trigger isn't satisfying, everything else is being built on a weak foundation.

There are plenty of shooters competing for people's time where the gunplay feels fantastic within the first few minutes. Vanguard does not have the luxury of being judged purely as "an EVE game." If CCP wants this to reach an audience outside existing EVE players, the FPS fundamentals have to stand on their own.

Right now, they don't.

And that's why the idea of charging for Alpha access feels so strange to me.

The current test still feels like something I should be helping CCP test, not something CCP should be asking me to pay for the privilege of testing.

I'm sure a lot can change between now and the paid Alpha, but unless there is a substantial improvement to the moment-to-moment combat, I don't think adding more content solves the core issue.

Before Vanguard needs more stuff, it needs shooting that actually feels good.

Paid Early Access can work when people already feel like they're buying a compelling game that's still in development.

A paid Alpha for an FPS where the FPS part still feels this undercooked is a much harder sell.

I want Vanguard to succeed. I like some of the ideas here, and I think the EVE universe has plenty of room for a great FPS.

But if this test is close to what CCP plans to charge people for next month, I think they're monetizing it far too early.

I just recently made a choice & got Omega for a 2nd acc in Eve. And that was a bit of a tough choice to make.

Now Im hearing Vanguard Alpha will be paid? Can I at least pay in PLEX/Isk (sonce both ingame economies are alredy connected, correct)?

To clarify why I believe both economies are already connected:

1. I farmed last Vanguard Alpha (summer/May 2026) and got rewards in Eve. Can I do the opposite?
2. The DEVs themselves stated multiple ti

m

1. es that both economies are (will be?) connected. It only makes sense that ISK (and potentially PLEX) can go both ways?

PUBG Extraction Shooter Cancelled Less Than A Year After Getting Revealed

“After reviewing the project’s development status and future direction, we concluded that its current direction would not allow us to deliver an experience players could enjoy over the long term,”

Between this, the Arc Raiders team admitting its own success caused serious burnout, and Marathon still struggling to find its feet, extraction shooters are proving a lot harder to sustain than the glossy investor pitch decks suggest.