Another reason to be extremely professional then when using such an expensive ship, no? And without multiboxing at all, you can hardly move a JF around, since you need a Cyno for it to jump on anyway. These guys aren’t newbies or without social contats in the game. They could easily access all the knowledge they need to avoid being killed, it’s really not a big deal. The increase in numbers does not show that there is “something wrong” with the current mechanics. The pilots need to adapt, that will take time, more or less depending on how lazy or stubborn they are. But in the end, you can move your JF as save as ever if you follow some simple rules.
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Change is in the wind…
We have more data from a wider window of time, and zkillboard’s about at the limit of what it’ll be able to provide unfortunately.
Still using July 4th as the delination date for lancers, JF gankings between July 4th and now is well over 310. For comparison, the previous 4 months before July 4th is ~220. So the gap has widened from a delta of 56 to 90 as we look at bigger windows of time showing JFs are at higher risk than ever before.
As usual, I’m sure we’ll get plenty of nay-sayers with lots of explanations for the increase replying to this additional information. But just like before:
Quibble all you want, but the numbers continue to speak for themselves.
Destruction is good for the game
Totally okay when keeping in mind that they were at almost zero risk before (unless the pilot was exceptional stupid).
In the recent days I was in Ishomilken, mostly almost alone in local. The last JF kill there was (when checking zKill), in Nov. 22, so almost a year ago.
https://zkillboard.com/system/30002756/reset/group/902/losses/
Thats 10 jumps from Jita. Looks like a good and qiet system for exiting LowSec to Highsec. If you chose one of those where the Lancers wait all day long, it’s your own fault.
One more update, but this time not alot’s going to be said about JF gankings. Perhaps I’m saying we’re “post-Viridian” at this point and now dealing with the new challenges of Havoc. And from a JF pilot’s point of view Havoc’s changes are far more reasonable…just incursion on steroids really (plus temporary null sec effects in low sec, sheesh).
GHSOL has resumed operations earlier this month, and our customer base made this possible. Our biggest and best customers made citadels available to us via their generosity and commitment to keep funding them. I can only guess that our competitor’s increases in rates motivated them.
I can’t express my appreciation enough for all the effort/ISK these customers put into the project given the diplomatic obstacles, substantial up front investment and of course, supporting GHSOL through on going contributions to the citadel owners. All of this has redefined GHSOL and made our JF courier service sustainable again. And let’s not forget GHSOL’s JF pilots who are facing higher risks, but still willing to use this new infrastructure to move cargo as safely as possible!
As I wrap this up, I’m going to come back to a topic that started this original thread. GHSOL has come through this unscathed. In the 3 weeks since we resumed operations, our JF pilots have returned moving 300+ load of cargo. So if this continues (as I expect it will), we’ll end 2023 the same way that we started this year…the market leaders when it comes to moving high value JF sized loads of cargo in high/low sec. BUT…and you knew a “but” was coming…I don’t know how any new/independent JF pilot would viably and sustainably haul cargo with all the obstacles in place. They really have no choice to but do so in the context of a larger organization (null sec alliance, courier service, etc) given how citadels are now necessary to counter the T2 lancer dreadnaught threat that can be projected all around Jita.
In the past, just having 2 Omega accounts, a 10b ISK ship and ISK for collateral was already enough for an individual player to start JF hauling (and reading this, that still seems like a pretty high barrier to entry). Over many years, the increasing risks of ganking (super alpha, bouncing in low sec, skirting Concord consequences in high sec, etc) meant fewer and fewer players were ready to do try this undertaking. And of course CCP has done nothing to guide new players toward hauling as a career beyond the agent distribution mission that have been around for decades. So the barrier to entry was already substantial…but now, with requiring multiple citadels in key locations, that barrier to entry is insurmountable by the individual (obviously multiboxing due to lighting cynos) player.
Some have claimed JF hauling is really a cartel…just a dozen or so multiboxing players (or a small active group in a courier corp), and lately I’ve been kinda wondering about that. So many years ago, GHSOL was created as the low cost alternative…just a bunch of independent JF haulers joining together as Black Frog continued to raise rates making our business model of flat rate hauling viable. But I don’t know if that whole scenario could repeat again with another small bunch of players who like hauling…all I can say is GHSOL will continue to give customers a reasonable alternative. And we’ll continue to take in new JF pilots and not complicate their hauling effort with lots of silly rules so they can haul however they want to.
As always feel free to come to channel GHSOL in game to talk about any of these topics…I do love to talk about JF hauling and why it can make you 10b’s of ISK every month if you’re ready to commit the time and effort to this activity!
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