Trying Out an Alt

 

If you're a new player in EVE, you've probably thought about trying out an alt.  Everybody else is doing it, right?  But maybe you don't want to shell out the cash for two accounts.  I can't blame you there.

CCP kind of makes up for the annoyance of only being able to train one character on an account at a time with the Buddy Pass program.  Now that you can get PLEX instead of game time with the program, it's even better.

Just in case you're a new player, or just haven't realized it yet, you can now essentially play a new character for 7 weeks before you have to decide whether or not you want to keep (and start paying for) the character.  Another way to state this is that you have 7 weeks to get a new character up to speed to where they can earn enough ISK to buy a PLEX every month.

The how of this is very simple.  

1. Send yourself a Buddy Pass from your main account.
2. Activate a new account using the Buddy Pass.
3. Enjoy the 21 days on your new account.
4. Send enough ISK to your new character to buy a PLEX.
5. Buy a PLEX and use it to activate the account.
6. Your main account now gets a PLEX as a reward for your "buddy" activating their account.
7. Sell the PLEX to get back your ISK.

Now, you may lose a little ISK on this due to auction and contract fees and fluctuations in PLEX prices, but compared to the cost of a PLEX, it's a minimal amount.

Now comes the hard part:  What to do with that second character..?

Fly smart.