I’m running missions in a Corax, but I can only do level 1 missions. I only make 50K - 100k ISK per mission. Comparing that to an explorer alt that I made, he made 4 million in his first 3 hours after creation.
Is there some aspect to mission running that I am missing out on? I don’t do any salvaging, is that where the real money is in mission running?
Is there a different way that I’m meant to make good ISK in combat? Perhaps encounters or something?
Higher level missions give more ISK and loyalty points (LP). You buy stuff with your LPs and sell it on market. That is the core income from missions.
But you need reputation with the NPC corporation to get access to higher level missions, which is gained by doing lower level missions.
Currently missions aren’t great way to make isk. Running lvl4 missions in maruder (months of training) gives something +100 mil per hour of very grindy gameplay.
I suggest hisec combat exploration (DED sites) or join WH corporation. Wormhole is unique gameplay but at endgame (capital ship PvE) you can make billions per hour.
But whatever you chose to do in EVE, don’t do it for isk. Find corporation, friends in game and enjoy your time in New Eden. Don’t make EVE your second job and min/max isk income in given time frame.
Yes, no one does level 1 mission unless you need to repair faction standings. Skill social skills up and you can do L2 in passive shield tanked Gnosis right away. Real money are in L4 - that is where you are going.
Also, as said before in this thread, the isk in missions mostly comes from buying things with loyalty points from the loyalty point store of who you’re running missions for and then selling those things on the market.
Do the Sisters of EvE epic arc, run the career agents, and do the “faction standings repair plan”.
EDIT: The overall isk earned through missions (especially for newer characters) might not be all that great. That’s because missions are generally safer (“er”) than many activities in EvE and - strangely somehow - always available. Risk vs. Reward
balance out, by possibly buying BPO’s and doing some building… or you may not be looking at the right stuff to buy then sell. most items on the few LP’s ive seen want the same amount of isk, as LP, or just a lil bit less. which can be worth it in the long run, isk wise.
Aliastra have one of best lp/isk from blueprints. but selling those faction modules can take some time.
Sisters of EVE are know as best if you want steady and easy income. Since probes and launchers are easy to sell. But actual lp/isk is only ~1.5K for sell orders. So you will easily find something better than that if you are willing to spend some time in market.
lv 1 and 2s pretty much suck, but imo that’s mostly okay as you should only be running them for a few weeks as a newb to figure out basic mechanics, save up a bit of isk then move on to better stuff.
Lv 1s can largely be bypassed by training the connections skill to level 3, with 0.01 standing you get a boost from connections to be able to do level 2s. If you did the soe arc you probably have the standings for at least one faction.
lv2s I haven’t done in a long time don’t really have a good idea of rewards, but like I said you will likely move on from here pretty quickly.
lv3s. this is where you can start to specialize and if you get good at mission running make decent income compared to most of the other talked about new player professions.
lv4s, done poorly you make very little isk, done well you get good income. And if you get into burner blitzing, well that beats, most other income sources
Just want to add that L3 is where you start blitzing and thus making like, two times the value in the same amount of time. Basically it’s where you have a grasp on the mechanics and can start thinking back of what you did, and how you can do it better.
I remember my light missile Merlin being annihilated by them evil Guristas very quickly and there I was broke again.
There isn’t very much you can do with only 98k skillpoints in that case.
Running lvl 4 missions in HS is better than ratting in null (considering the blackout). With good skills and enough reputation with the NPC, u can run them and make +100k isk/hour. Ofc lvl1 missions are lame. You need to grind up to lvl 4 missions to make income. From my experience the income is generated through the raw isk of rats u kill, the mission reward isk, the LP points (which is converted in faction items), the salvage and the loot if you plan on doing it. Some mission mobs drop nice loot. Its not bad, the more you get skilled to it, the faster u run them, the greater the income will be.
The rewards for a mission vary - the lower the security status of the system the agent is in, the better the payout. The better your standing with the agent the better the payout. The better your Negotiation Skill the better the payout.
So, focus on one corporation and on one agent in that corporation for each level - and try and find someone in a 0.6 or so system. Remember that (especially Level 4 missions) will take you anywhere in a Constellation and that could include lo-sec destinations if they are nearby.
Some missions do drop good loot. If you can salvage/loot quickly it’s a nice little side income - especially early on when you are cash short. There’s a cracking multiple Drone AI Core thingie drop in some Level 4 missions. Check prices rather than just “sell to whatever”. It might be worth hauling the tat to a trade hub. It might be worth reprocessing it or using salvage to make rigs. Ideally ones that sell!
And missions against drones and Pirates give bounty payments.
LP is useful, but do your research. The value of an object is what someone is willing to buy it for. Turnover is often as important as absolute profit. “I’m rich whenever someone buys my over priced widget that no one wants” means “I’m poor and deluded”. Fuzzworks is a great site for getting ideas about which lines to investigate.
I remember starting out, yes, I did the usual route of missions: level 1 in an Executioner then a Dragoon, 2 in an Arbitrator having struggled with a low skill Dragoon. Prophecy, Apocalypse. I used industry as a secondary source of income - it rapidly became my main source: I like the optimisation puzzle of making and selling stuff for profit. Yes, I had to save to buy an Arbitrator. It all comes with time.
Eve is a long game. Not an instant fix of happiness, but the slow burn of learning how to live and survive in a simulated world.
Take time out to do other things: don’t just grind one thing. Go exploring. Go mining. Wander into lo-sec or null and pick a fight. Chat with people in corp - even the NPC corp chat channels can be friendly. Don’t burn out in a search for ISK - ultimately it has no real world value, just enjoy living in the insanity of New Eden.
You don’t need big, expensive ships to enjoy yourself.
Could view the reward for having high agent standing is that the agent will offer you the better / higher paying missions. Also the mission location being closer to the agent.
Plus with high agent standing you can actually decline a few missions in a row and still be able to quickly regain standing by completing another mission.
Need to find a proof on that otherwise this is false.
People affirmed the agent standing changes the reward. I experimented it and it’s 0% true (agent standing from 0 to 8 has 0 impact on the rewards.
So now please stop affirming random nonsense and show me a serious work that shows the agent standing has any effect on something else than your access to it. Otherwise it’s just BS.
Because yes it cost me a lot of time to test it and you just spoutting BS is an insult to the person who take their time to check the fact.
@Cypr3ss_Deteis is right, I don’t have to provide proof of anything since I didn’t affirm anything whereas you stated for a fact that having high agent standing has no effect on rewards. I would say post your proof or stfu but I think you’re using the term literally instead of figuratively.
And that’s all fine and great. However the type of mission being offered and the mission location itself is also part of the reward associated with Agent standing.
Agents with high standing will offer the higher value better paying missions located in the Agents home system whereas Agents with low standing will offer low value poor paying missions located multiple jumps away, or worse offer a lot of missions that you’ll decline.
That’s all based on my own experience. I don’t have any documentation to prove it and you don’t have any positive proof to refute what I said. Doesn’t matter how much you scream, you can’t prove otherwise and I’m definitely not going to waste any of my time arguing about it with you.
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