Just throwing this out there EVE has been great for PVP content and krab content…when it comes to exploration, let’s be real: not so much has been done. There have been very few new features (if any at all?) introduced since I joined (5 years ago) for explorers. I think the last major one was ghost sites, which were released in 2013.
People have also been hollering about the imbalance of data/relic site value for a long time as well. I think relic sites are fine - but with the death of POSes, the value of data sites has gone way down. Faction sticks are going to go away soon, and faction POS modules are less and less valuable as POSes become phased out. All faction POS part BPCs will eventually be phased out. Since there are no faction upwell combat mods, data sites are really just for finding abyssal filaments nowadays. They’re a lot of effort for what is essentially a very underwhelming payout.
In short: Exploration needs new content, and data sites need a re-balance.
The Proposal
Add rare escalations (like there are for combat anoms) to data sites that periodically spawn upon successfully hacking a data can. Make the data escalations exploration only (non-combat). You travel there like a normal escalation, and when you get there it leads to an abyssal pocket with cans to hack instead of NPCs.
Make the cans much more difficult to hack than ruins. Put a decent amount of salvage in them (equivalent to the best relic sites; 120-180mil) and/or unstable mutaplasmids. Hell, maybe even make faction upwell module BPCs that only drop from those sites.
If you fail a hack you die and get podded like a normal abyssal site.
Discuss.
TLDR: Data sites get a rare chance to escalate to an abyssal pocket where you die and get podded if you fail any cans.
It might also be interesting to set up very rare encounters on non-descript ‘trap’ cans that automatically pull a player into abyssal space. In the ‘trap’ space players have a given amount of time to solve all cans or they die. Success solve of each can awards supreme loot.
The looming threat of a ‘trap’ would spice up all non-combat exploration sites.
For as much as I am interested in new content concerning Exploration, it’s a good idea to tie it with Abyssal Deadspace, since most updates that have been going since Into the Abyss all had some part dedicated to Triglavian.
However, being sure to hit the jackpot each time you successfully hack a can, no matter how hard they are, isn’t a good thing. It will just kill the prices of everything related to it, and relic sites in New Eden and Anoikis could simply be blitzed to get those escalations, which mean more signatures that aren’t despawning because the shitty cans are still there.
I don’t really know. What could be interesting would be to set the escalation only on the last can, so people would have to complete the site to have a chance of getting it.
No matter what the value is now, the price of any and all loot that is sold to players will eventually drop to the point of uninterestingness. I have no idea if that’s a word, but I like it. : - )
That’s what I meant by saying blitzing : cargo scanning the can and cherrypicking.
It’s about Exploration in general, as if you give something as interesting as an escalation that can reap way more ISK than multiple sites, Relic are going to be left behind, even if they have technically more ISK in the cans.
Abyssal space provides engaging, short session content for players with real life obligations that limit the time they can spend in New Eden. They also provide a laboratory where CCP can experiment without impacting the rest of the game. I have no doubt the features we find in the Abyss will make their way to K space and new stuff will be added to the Abyss. I think it’s more likely that hacking will be added to the existing format - with added time/fitting pressure rather than dedicated exploration sites.
Bringing weather, advanced AI , etc… to exploration sites is likely on the agenda but I doubt they will be instanced - player interaction is an important aspect of exploration gameplay. Rebalancing the rewards is overdue but, as mentioned earlier, scarcity is a major component of value - in a player driven market, prices are determined by supply and demand.
The advantages to using instances in pve is controlling who enters. This seems contrary to the idea of exploration. Instances essentially belong to a player or a group. They are suited to a mission style pve where the content spawns on demand for the owners. They enable ccp to control what ships are being used and how many (and can therefore set appropriate difficulties) without the risk of trolling that can happen in resource wars. They force everyone to join the instance at the same time but don’t accidentally lock someone out for being too late.
Exploration is resources in space and players compete to be the first one to discover and extract the resources before getting out alive. Instances where nothing but scripted events can happen, no competition, no ‘gold rush’ does not seem well suited to exploration.
EVE has been great for PVP content and krab content…when it comes to exploration, let’s be real: not so much has been done. There have been very few new features (if any at all?) introduced since I joined (5 years ago) for explorers. I think the last major one was ghost sites, which were released in 2013.