I don’t PvE, but if the depots actually are preventing the spawns, then it sure seems like an exploit to me, since there’s no counter-play method available due to their 2-day timer.
If the guy is selling it like OP states, then they’re just getting scooped by the MTU. Kill the MTU, problem solved. If OP wants to send in a support ticket to CCP about it, then that’s up to him, but it’s not an exploit until CCP declares it as one.
I should have been a little clearer. The lab structure itself doesn’t seem to spawn when things are anchored nearby. I just destroyed ALL the structures that were on grid to be sure it wasn’t in a different structure. An MTU isn’t going to take someone else’s cans afaik so that’s not the issue. My GUESS is that the mobile depot or MTU is anchored on the precise location where the lab is supposed to spawn, which is preventing it from spawning.
Again, if it’s working as intended, that’s fine I’ll do something else. But as Destiny says there’s no counterplay. It’s a terrible mechanic, but if it’s not an exploit, fair enough.
As I understand it, if it’s MTUs, then it’s legit, since they can be popped instantly. If it’s depots, then it’s an exploit due to the reinforcement timer (i.e. you can keep anchoring new ones before the old ones die).
I’m almost positive that one of the ̶M̶T̶U̶’̶s̶ mobile depots was reinforced already. It was one of those faction ̶M̶T̶U̶’̶s̶ ̶p̶a̶c̶k̶r̶a̶t̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ '‘wetu’ mobile depots. So no popping it instantly.
So apparently it’s not an exploit. I don’t think I’m allowed to quote CCP (am I?) but the gist of it was that Cosmos missions are old and spawns are limited/rare.
Some items in COSMOS complexes are dropped by means of destroying structures that spawn only once after downtime, then you have to wait another day. If you ask me, thats ridiculous game design.
I’ll take your word for it. Here’s the meat of the reply:
"Thank you for contacting the EVE player experience team. Please note that COSMOS missions are rather old and it is considered normal for the objectives in this missions to be extremely rare and spawns are rather limited.
You may have better luck looking for the structures right after downtime.
I hope this clears things up for you, if you have any further questions or issues, please let me know and I will be happy to help.
Reopen the ticket, ask for it to be escalated to a senior GM, because whoever answered didn’t pay attention to what the issue is.
And make sure you get an answer actually related to your issue before you let them close it.
@CCP_Aurora Tagging you here as you may be able to check or get someone to check if those Depot’s/MTU’s actually block spawns.
If I was certain my theory was correct, I would escalate. But I’m not. It might just be a once-a-day-at-downtime spawn and even though that’s bad game design (especially for a mission you can only do once per character that dragged me through a lowsec system in a poorly fit vexor to try to complete it so that I could complete a separate mission chain that depends on this one,) it’s certainly not my job to decide for CCP how often something in the game should spawn.
Its also possible he looked at it and is still seeing the structure spawning and being destroyed which would mean the anchored structures weren’t causing an issue
When last time I run the COSMOS missions I had to log in just after downtime once to get the item, there was another poor person that wasnt so lucky and logged just after me. That player didnt got the item unfortunately, and would need to wait another day… Maybe even will not be able to complete mission.
This is why the solutions for those actually say that you have to get all the items first from complexes or contracts, then do the missions.