The first thing i’d like to see done to generate income to residents of lowsec (which is meant to balance multiple things) is severely reduce or remove pirate battleship BPC’s from DED’s and shift their drop rate into low sec belts. This addresses 2 concerns, 1; re-establishing battleship progression (T1 → Navy → Pirate) and 2; Providing a shifting and valuable income source for lowsec.
With the nerf of BPC drop rate in DEDs, a percentage of that drop rate is moved into only lowsec belts, similarly to how Mordus spawns work. So, in angel space, you could find machariels that drop machariel bpc’s, sansha that drop Nightmare Bpc’s etc. This then moves some wealth out of nullsec, makes it harder to effortlessly farm pirate BS BPC’s and also actually puts people in lowsec belts and not in some site that has to be probed down. Which, anyone with a brain will warp out when they see probes.
Yes, this creates danger to earn your isk, but the isk you make will be immediate injections of isk, instead of a slow burn of 15m ticks. It can also be done in PvP ships (i used to hunt for barghests in my PvP battleship in lowsec, so if i didn’t find a spawn, i could still get a fight from people thinking i was a ratter).
My general idea for making isk in lowsec should revolve around player interaction and quick, semi-large injections of isk. Beseiged sites are good in theory, maybe rework the rewards slightly and NPC’s so they aren’t quite as oppressive (so you don’t need a T3 or faction cruiser) to lower SP pilots. But again, they should be risky, but offer decent payout. I’d like to see more similar sites like that in non FW lowsec. Things the average lowsec resident can do to help inject some cash into their wallet without grinding boring anoms, but also keeping them open to attack and making it risky.
Another addition which, wouldn’t only affect lowsec, but nullsec too, is the higher tier data sites (lowsec, nullsec, wormholes) start dropping 1 run faction module BPC (rare) and use cosmo/storyline materials to build them (which also drop from data sites). For example, you could run a Serpentis data site and it has the potential to drop a 1 run shadow serpentis web BPC. This also adds some isk making potential to lowsec (and other areas) and also helps offset the amount of faction modules that get rolled for abyssals, to hopefully help keep their prices in check (when you just want a normal faction module). I’d also like to see data sites starting dropping more COSMO materials and COSMO/Storyline BPCs, these modules need to be easily accessible, not competing with faction modules imo.
Keep in mind, this is more from a solo/small group point of view. I’m sure we’d all like to see passive moons return, but it doesn’t seem like there is any willingness for CCP to change their mind on that atm. And i don’t know an alternative to passive moons that could help fund smaller (or larger) groups. But i do know that passive moon mining was good content creation in lowsec back in the day. It would require further discussion and brain storming to see what options are available. Perhaps each lowsec system could have an ESS type structure that could be captured by the group that controls the system that provide some kind of passive income. So its a constant “capture the flag” type mechanic to maintain the passive isk income (this is obviously overly simplified, but just going on principle).
To elaborate a little more on how i see lowsec. Lowsec is more “lawless” than nullsec, when it comes to isk making/interactions. There is no umbrella or jump bridge/logistic chain to make you feel nice and cozy. At any point, someone can come into the system and find you to kill you. Which is why the way to make isk should be relatively quick with decent payouts, but may require effort in finding the sites to do or hunting for the ships that drop the loot. This helps put more people in lowsec over a larger area, constantly shifting and rotating.
Lowsec = Quick, higher capacity injections of isk at high risk
Nullsec = Slow, consistent injections of isk at low to moderate risk
In the simplest of terms, we are the pirates in lowsec, the NPC’s in the belts or unique sites are the booty. Pirates don’t like to share the booty. I’d expect pirates to fight each other to control the booty.