Did Exploration Profits Ever Recover?

Exploration Gameplay Center Known Space
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I’ve been gone for a while, and just recently getting back in. I’m mostly just doing day trading while I read about updates, until I can really dive back in. Anyways, back during Odyssey the archaeology and hacking markets experienced a total crash. Prior to that I was running lowsec exploration out of a recon, and occasionally mixing it up with some hidden plexes. After Odyssey, I was forced to go deeper into null to maintain profits, and even that was beginning to tank really hard. It reached the point where I had to take to a break from my preferred playstyle because it just wasn’t cutting it. I figured I’d hop back into it after a few months, but then life got in the way.

So how is exploration these days? Is it still a dead end as far as profitability? Are complexes still good? What kind of hourly income are you looking at? Basically, should I bother with it, or look into other avenues?

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I think it’s one of the best careers in Eve for casual players. It’s enjoyable and it pays well - at least imo

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It’s viable.

Low sec relic hacking can make about 40m per hour, on par with a moderately-skilled lvl 4 mission runner. Low sec data hacking is about 20m per hour, but much more variable. In my last run, I found a 75m BPC from a low sec data site.

Null sec relic hacking is about double, although more tedious.

Don’t have any stats on combat exploration.

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I came back after a break.
I’ve been gone a while to be honest. Sigs were still radar, mag etc when I left!!
I got dragged back in by a friend, and to get some money in I tried missioning, mining, PI and trading.
Then I thought I would dust of the buzzard and have a fly around.
Haven’t looked back.
Now have three ships fitted for different types of exploration, and working on a fourth.

You just have to persevere.
Sometimes even in null you can go several jumps without a single Sig or Anom (or just gas sites). Then the next system will be choc full and you can make a tonne of iskies.
I tend to be more cautious than adventurous so I don’t stray top far from my start point., but still make several hundred mill per day.

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Intact armor plates are in high demand and at a high currently, so relic hunting in Sansha space should be very profitable 120-200m/h.

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Let’s say (nullsec) exploration is worth the time. I normally make 100m / hour doing relics only. Sometimes more, sometimes less (Average relic site loot is 15-20m). So explorers can make quite some ISKs for relatively low Skillpoints count.

I recommend exploration to new players to make some reasonable income until they have other skills to make more money with.

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define what is good for you.

In serpentis region, loot is not worth it. In guristas region, it is good.
so best is relic in guristas. you can make 200M in 2h on minimum average.

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It will recover, if you don´t spent and/or lose too much :wink:

I recommend every explorer not to think in ISK/hour.
You can waste days without any mentionable can and sometimes you get a jackpot.

I earned the better part of my money with NS/WH exploration.
But I also earned the worst part of my heart condition in that ^^

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Never tried exploration pre Odyssey so I can’t really compare it. But I can’t complain, I currently make between 200 and 600 million ISK per evening running relic sites in deep null.

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Hang in there. You’ll become an EVE player one day.

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I started playing EVE when Bloodlines was out. Somehow I avoided becoming a bittervet, so either I don’t put enough effort into it or something is deeply wrong with me.

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Just wanted to say I did some roaming through angels null and the profits didn’t recover fully. But there’s still income to be had there. My brief run there pulled 40 mil after 2 hours. Way lower than before… but decent money for the risk all things considered. Might just be bad luck, or angel space having low value. I’ll update with additional info once I do a more scientific test with a larger sample size than 2 hours.

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^ Did you do both relic and data sites? Or just relic?

I’ve been keeping track of relic sites that I complete in WHs. Only done one Angel relic site so far (lvl 2), which earned me 13m isk. It’s not that great.

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Both, and Relic appeared to pay more overall. While I’m at it how are the wspace changes? There are noncombat hacking sites now aren’t there?

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Yes, WH’s have non-combat, pirate faction relic/data sites (at least C1 - C3 WH’s), in addition to combat hacking sites (covert/sleeper sites).
WH’s can have a combination of pirate faction sites of various factions, seemingly randomly dispersed.

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So I spent the last few weeks keeping track of my hacking results.

LOW SEC
Average data site: 4m
Average relic site: 12m

NULL SEC / WH
Average data site: 12m
Average relic site: 35m

Level 3 and 4 sites definitely (but not always) pay better loot than level 1s and 2s. I did most of my null sec and wh hacking through wormholes, so there’s a good mix of factions. But Sansha sites definitely pay out the most (my highest was 102m from a level 2 Sansha relic site).

But assuming you’re roaming in null / wh space, and can find a relic every 20 minutes, you can make 100m per hour, and probably significantly more in Stain. Not too shabby.

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If you know what youre doing, hackin relics, especially sanshas, roaming whs, doing sleeper sites (superior sleepers can give you as much as 200-400mil a site) you can live prosperous and pay for your sub easily.