Well, I signed up a friend for the referral program and played tour guide for a bit today, and frankly I think the trial is way too limited. All he can do is the tutorial, the Azusa mission, and run around Sirius and ESD. As he said "why does the trial last 2 weeks when I can finish it in 3 hours?" In my opinion, that isn't enough to really give them a good taste of the game.

Two things that I think definitely needed for a stronger trial are access to bridges (at least your sponsor's) and Enemy Contacts. DSEs get boring, but at least that is something other than Azusa they can do to get a feel for the game and the space combat is one of the most polished things in the game.

Beyond that I would suggest letting them do at least the first patrol series, or even let them get at all of Sirius (with an appropriate level cap increase to 5, or whatever that would normally get you to).

My belief, judging from my friends reaction,is that the current trial leads to more frustration with how limited it is than shows off the game in a way that makes people want to continue. I just think locking it at the sector border makes more sense than the current "the Azusa is the only thing you can do" trial.

It is a bit ridiculous. Im the one that got the trial account. Ive been playing MMO's for a long time and this is the worst trial evar. Why give me 2 weeks??? Why? that is a honest question that needs a honest answer. I like the game... i think. Cant really be sure with 3hrs of content. I know it is a new game and the full version doesn't have a lot of content compared to others but that shouldn't reflect in the trial at all. 17gigs for 1 mission. The trial of the game is supposed to excite me to get the full version, not trying to leave me on a cliff and force me to buy the game.

If the trial was longer i probably would have got the game. But now i think the game outside the trial is also short, so 17 gigs is a small price to pay instead of spending money now and feeling worse about it