Market prices are still adjusting. Estimated market prices lag behind of that.
This conversation has been beat to death in other threads, but I feel like arguing… I mean having a discussion…
Oh, and this will be a wall of text, but I need to catch you up on several months of history, and like 10,000 posts spread out over dozens of threads.
CCP screwed the pooch by overbuffing the Rorqual. Veteran players used skill injectors to train up an army of rorqual alts that pumped vast quantities of ore into the economy. This lead to capital proliferation and slowly dwindling mining incomes (on the plus side, T1 ship costs had dropped by about 50%). CCP decided that this was unsustainable and that something needed to be done.
They decided to fix things with resource scarcity (the rorqual nerf wouldn’t be enough on it’s own). The hope was that it would make people have to burn through their stockpiles of ore. Naturally, this pissed miners off, and many complained that it was ruining mining, industry, and the economy. Mining incomes certainly took a hit, and T1 ship prices shot up, but it didn’t ruin industry or the economy. They also collected data during this time so that they could make informed decisions during the resource distribution phase.
A couple of weeks ago, CCP announces resource distribution. Miners get pissed and claim that mining isn’t worth doing any more (and that it will hurt industry and the economy).
My take on all of this:
First, industrialists will be just fine. It seems like miners try to drag industrialist into this the same was ganker whine threads talk about how ganking hurts newbros. Regardless, industrialists will pass increased costs onto consumers. This will likely reduce sell volumes, which will impact profits, but they’ll survive.
Second, the sugar rush from the rorqual buff is over. Sorry if you missed it, but the sugar crash was inevitable. The only question was how bad and when. CCP could have waited until players demanded that they fix bottoming ore prices, but then the steps required to fix it would have had to have been even more severe. And, of course, people would have complained that they should have acted sooner. Fortunately, they acted before things got any worse.
Third, I am not trying to be an apologist here. CCP did ■■■■ up. However, their mistake was not in trying to fix the problem, but in creating the problem in the first place (overbuffing the rorqual).
Fourth, mining incomes will recover. I doubt they’ll ever reach rorqual glory days levels, but they will get better. It’s simple supply and demand, and I shouldn’t have to explain it. In fact, mineral prices have already gone up considerably since resource scarcity began. Things will take time to adjust, however. Many players have no-lifer sized stockpiles, and this has led to quite a bit of speculation.
Fifth, change provides opportunity. I have not found ways to profit over every change CCP has made, but this mindset has allowed me to profit over a lot of them. I suggest you try to adopt a similar mindset. You’ll probably be a little richer and a lot happier.
Sixth, yes, CCP does sometimes respond to player complaints. But (1) there is no going back, they have committed to fixing this mistake, (2) constructive feedback that can build a consensus is the feedback is most likely to influence where CCP goes from here, (3) you will put yourself in the best position to provide constructive feedback by fulling exploring the mechanics they have given you.
Finally, CCP has been nerfing many careers, and things that CSM’s have said lead me to believe that they are going to keep going (i.e. Gobbins said to hold off on pivoting hard into new careers). If true, this means we should reevaluate what expected incomes should be, and what the isk should be worth. I mean, if one career gets nerfed, then they get ■■■■■■. But if everyone gets nerfed, then it sets a new baseline. Now, anti-botting efforts have likely played a role, but we have seen the prices of pilot services items drop quite a bit already. I know we like to see our numbers go up, but we can also be better off by having our isk gain purchasing power. I know, it would be nice if CCP hit everyone at once, but that’s impractical. So, we’re stuck eating this ■■■■ sandwich one bite at a time.
This list is by no means comprehensive, but it includes three dev threads and a player thread that had a lot of discussion in it.