Before, the Endurance was usable as an ice mining ship, even when the Hulk was accessible. Now, it’s nerfed TO THE GROUND. Now, its last use is to ferry compressed ores around, and the “force me to decide against cloak or probe launcher or one mining laser” Prospect is better at that because it can use a Covert Ops Cloak. I’m sorry for losing a good ship. To a patch. Not to a ganker. This loss means loss of an opportunity for fun to me.
Introducing mining waste is a terrible idea. I don’t mind players destroying roids with T1 mining lasers, but I’m sure all hisec griefers started training Mining V the moment they read the blog. I see fleets of Catalysts armed with MDCM II and Type C mining crystals warping to belts and quickly disintegrate them just for the fun of it. THAT will start a period of scarcity that will make the one that is about to end look like the bountiful golden age of prosperity.
I get the impression that the game designers are so fixed on their precious risk-reward scheme that they forget players may have a different view on fun that doesn’t respect their opinion.
All in all, I’d change the subtext from “The Age of Prosperity” to “The Age of Prosperity ends”.