Our corp has been enjoying the ferocious grind of the new moon system. Months wasted skilling up, billions invested in refineries, 10’s of billions in rigs.
It is a lot of work, no doubt about it.
Nevertheless, I’m here to report that we are optimistic about the changes. Give it time, this change could be absolutely brilliant for the game. Here is why we are optimistic:
The grind, the fuel costs and the evaporating rocks mean you simply have to be organized and work with folks you would normally ignore or fight. Nulsec is therefore changing. The smaller tribes are negotiating, they are being forced by economic and practical needs to work together. Alliances will shift as a consequence.
The changes to jump freighters mean regional market hubs in nulsec are not just viable, they are mandatory. Again, this is changing the landscape, encouraging new local alliances to form, and creating real incentives for alliances to shift and change around local regions and constellations.
The price of T2 is going to skyrocket. That is simply a fact of life because moon goo mining is now a grind from hell. A complex, expensive grind from hell. If you want t2 stuff, you are going to have to pay for it. We’ve already seen marauders jump 60% in value. It’s going to go up more. But this isn’t bad, per se. It will mean that t2 ships will be a significant step up, forcing folks to wonder about the cost of using t2 fleets (and even modules). And, of course, the relative advantage of fielding effective t1 fleets.
These three factors might… might… be a really wonderful bit of development. Folks have been bitching about the tedium of nulsec for a long time. It’s empty, folks don’t talk, they don’t undock except to roam in large hunting fleets. Well, all that is very likely to change. and we have been demanding it for a long time.
So we are optimistic, and suggest everyone give these new changes time to pan out, and see what happens. It could be the best thing to happen in new eden since forever.
In any case, even if it all falls down because it turns out folks don’t want to pay subscription to run a mining simulator (well possible), at least the devs gave it a proper good shot. These changes do appear to have been well reasoned. We are seeing the emergence of good things, complex things that could not have been easily foreseen. So well done the devs. Even if it doesn’t work, at least you tried, and you gave it some deep thought.
Tracking the market the initial t2 price spike is past and we’re on the road to a long gradual decline in prices with maybe some hickups along the way.
Just kidding. I don’t think there is any risk of fewer T2 fleets. Large alliances and coalitions will, as always, control the flow of moon goo within their sov and benefit the most from inflation. More ISK in = more ISK to spend. T2 fleets will be fine.
It might change lowsec a little, though cheap, throwaway ships have been a big part of the meta for years anyway.
Maybe. I’m choosing to be optimistic. We are seeing a lot of moon rocks evaporate. We are seeing a lot of folks unable to get their corp mates to log on and shoot rocks “for the good of the alliance”.
Under the old system, the large alliances could plot to take over systems and take the good moons. Then as handful of specialist moon miner within the alliance could devote themselves to managing ALL the moons. It was passive income, so a single person could manage entire regions, not just constellations or systems. The role of the elite was to handle moons, and the plebs, the vast majority of the alliances, functioned as pew orientated back up.
So, that has changed now. Now the vast majority of alliance members need to get out and mine. Otherwise the moon goo evaporates. And they need to mine ice, too. No longer can one or two elite members of alliances control the entire moon goo market. Now it is political. Now it is a matter of motivating hordes of pew orientated back up folks, most of whom think Eve is a pew pew game, into shooting rocks, paying subscription to train mining skills, and generally being a completely different kind of player.
We do not see that change happening. We see the opposite. Not only are huge amounts of valuable rocks evaporating due to lack of miners, many very valuable moons don’t even have refineries on them.
It is one thing for the alliance elites to say to their rank and file “We need to get out their and shoot rocks! For the sake of the corp!” It is another thing for that to actually happen.
I completely agree with Pestilen Ratte’s assessment. And a well written, logical analysis to support it!
I respectfully disagree with the previous posters who believe T2 prices will ever be close to what they have traditionally been.
What reason would you have to support such an idea? Do you believe that the recent spike in T2 prices (that they now suggest is reversing itself to some degree) was caused by…what?..panic? Or an economic bubble caused by speculators or market manipulation?
The reality is that EVE’s T2 economy has changed in a foundational way and the price spikes we’ve seen thus far are just the beginning.
I think we’re still 2 days from the first day that a refinery planted with max cycle will be ready to mine. And groups are still planting refineries as they see fit.
Interesting report thanks for the post. It sounds like there is the potential (from what you say perhaps a necessity) for null groups to make a big recruitment drive and get miners and indy players / small corps out of highsec to mine those moons. There is a large reserve of players of that type there after all. At least that’s what an optimist might say. More likely is that we will see a spike in skill injector prices as more miner alts (and bots) get set up. Supporting alts so heavily, while good for CCP’s bottom line and perhaps has helped them through some harder times, it has not I think ultimately been good for the game.
Meh. Alliances with large and secure blue donuts will just move their bots from farming rats and ABCs over to farming moon goo once a week or more depending on cycle times.
Getting the horde of F1 monkeys to sit still long enough to mine for a few hours is nigh impossible.
But the predictable nature of both location and timing for moon mining fleets does open up the door for more “content”.