That's the key takeaway from CCP's latest blog post, announcing that after thirteen years of subscriptions EVE Online is going free-to-play. If this is the first time you've ever heard of EVE, CCP made this video a couple of years back from player submissions.

Once the expansion hits, characters will branch off into two types: Alpha Clones and Omega Clones. As well as letting players pay for the game with the resource they had available (cash or time) it pretty much wiped out gold farming, which had been a real problem for EVE. When half as many players are online in WoW, you can just visit a server that's fully populated.

The skill set that Alpha Clones can train is race specific to the character that is training, and includes skills for flying tech one frigates, destroyers and cruisers, and for basic access to trading and industry. In addition, Alphas' skills will level up at slower rates than their Omega compatriots. Omega clones function exactly as every EVE Online account functions right now. In a big November 2016 update, the game will receive a brand new Clone States feature. Famous for its incredibly intricate gameplay systems and steep learning curve, EVE Online has seemingly always prided itself on being a more involved alternative to some of the most popular games in the genre.

Regardless, it's a huge change for EVE and basically the end of the subscription-MMO era.

EVE Online is a curious beast. The FTP account without an active subscription or PLEX will automatically start as an Alpha Clone State and the paid model will be called an Omega Clone State.

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The decision to go free-to-play, which appears to have been incredibly considered, doesn't seem to be a reaction to dwindling subscriber numbers.

The EVE development team has outlined an extensive conversation plan with its players leading up to the introduction of the Clone States feature, catalyzed by the Council of Stellar Management player representatives and their upcoming multiple-day summit at the developer's headquarters.

"We knew that if the floodgates were opened in the wrong way, we could see anything from server meltdowns to the collapse of the Eve economy".

CCP outlines the entire update in needlessly complicated lore terms, but the basics are familiar to nearly anyone who's played a free-to-play game.