Why mining inEVE-Online Sucks and is boring - And what i would change

EVE Technology and Research Center Player Features & Ideas
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62

More ships won’t make mining more interesting.

The real issue is that 90% of mining is sitting there watching a laser cycle for 60-180 seconds in what is effectively a defenseless brick. If you wanted to make mining interested you’d have to rework huge swath’s of the mechanics of the game to incentivize people to roam as miners and use industrial command ships like the orca and rorqual as something more than a boosting jetcan.

But currently even moving in highsec with an industrial ship is liable to get you ganked by a 2 mil destroyer on a gate due to poor mechanics, let alone lowsec where the gate guns are useless and bugged and everyone in the game gets a free instantlock brick twice a year.

IMO they should return ore sites to sigs, but make them only probable by “Industrial probes” that can only be fitted to exploration frigs and industrial command ships. Then move the risk of roaming away from gates and to the sites themselves by shoring up gate mechanics like bugged lowsec gate guns.

Then adjust minerals accordingly. I’d even go as far as to remove all ore from static belts besides veldspar, as veldspar is too logistically important to not have easy access too. I’d rather spend 15-20 minutes finding a site, then 20-30 minutes mining the site, and doing this 2-4 times over the course of a 2-3 hour play session, than to sit at a belt with gameplay that requires 0.1 actions per minute.

63

Gosh, mining is so bad, slow and boring in EvE. I found mining in X4 Foundations a lot more enjoyable. Like there’s neat tricks that get you more ore per roid … them little orange specks …

Mining in Elite Dangerous is more enjoyable … and I really didn’t like it.

There’s issues with mining in every space game i’ve ever played (i don’t recall Earth & Beyond) … but for petes sake, can developers please look into ways of improving the QoL or wtfe it is to make mining more efficient / better.

My idea is to update mining every tick so people aren’t sitting at roids that have been expended a short bit after the mining cycle began. Or automatically cancelling the cycle(s) of anything on the roid when it’s technically depleted. Or keep the same garbage and expecting players to keep cycling their miners to be efficient. /lame

That’s one of my main issues with mining in EvE.

64

The available mechanic is to use an ore survey mod. That will tell you when a rock is due to expire. You can then cycle your laser “once” and that will solve all of your stated problems. Yes, that might add to your lack of tank problems, by using up a mid slot. But that is Eve … compromises and choices.

65

Mine around Jita then your mining sessions will dramatically improve in excitement. :wink:

66

The assault module is a good idea since Rorqual can have one. Give them to mining ships and based on if the player went afk they will have to risk hitting that button to save them. If you want the module then it should take away from your defenses since you get something bigger in return for a quick shield.

67

I think all mining ships should have an “I-win” button, that when pressed, charges your banking institution $5.99 (no plex or isk. Just cold hard real world cash)

And what it does is it immediately breaks the target lock of any ship that has targeted you and openly fired. (you can’t target either. No abusing this mod for baiting!) Immediately calls in Concord (no matter the security status of the system. Works in high, low, null, W and hell-space) and they instantly warp scramble and destroy any ship that did target lock locked and fired upon you. It makes your ship invincible to any attack for 2 minutes and allows for instant alignment, and entry into warp!

I mean, CCP would make a killing off this service!

68

What do you mean “risk?” There’s no risk in an ADC-type module for highsec. It functions as a get-out-of-gank-free button for anyone who engages in the absolute bare minimum of effort (staying at the keyboard). You’re asking for a button that triples your EHP with the sole tradeoff of losing a third MLU. It doesn’t really matter if the module debuffs your EHP while inactive because the only time that matters is the <20s window before CONCORD drop kicks the gankers into oblivion. Rorqual gets PANIC because it’s big and slow and a rorqual save attempt generates content, and there’s still some debate as to whether it’s a good thing. Random barges don’t need it.

If you want to make activating it take actual thought, make it give you a suspect timer upon activation. Then you have to decide whether you can tank the ganker fleet, or if you risk the suspect timer and possibly die to someone tackling you after CONCORD cleans up the gankers.

69

You are 100% right, i didn´t ask for an instant win button, i mor asked for an swich to turn Ganking (Acressor>Pray) into PVP avtion. Therfore i asked for an Mackinaw with remote rep drone boost, an Skiff which is not just an brig hard to engage, but an easy target if not avtive played but hard to take down if active played.

I would love to remove the “Pray” smell for those who dont want to go just for max ore per minute, and replase it with ships which are not one to one compare able with t1 pvp Cruicers but with ships moved into that derection.

And yes i’m 100% sure more ships will do that trick, bekause in PVP you have for every oportunity differend ships in different sizes. in Mining you have some multitools nerfed that they just funktion in a group. with no real gameplay.

70

small quibble: you can fit mining boosts to a Command Destroyer, which can happily keep up with a Prospect Fleet. Sure, there’s no /level increase to my mining boosts, but max skilled with a mindlink gives me a respectable 35.2% reduction in cycle time.

The Bifrost (j-space) and Magus (k-space) have been my boosting ship of choice when gas huffing for a good long while now.

some of your proposed changes to ships have WAY too many /level bonuses. For the Prospect, for example, I’d replace the sig radius reduction with a second gas scoop bonus, lose a Low or Mid slot for another High slot and give it a 20% to scan strength role bonus (less than an Astero).

I’ll also point out that Battle Procurers and BLOPS Tackle Prospects have been A Thing™ for yonks.

I don’t dislike your ideas, just that you’ve gone a little overboard giving four /level bonuses for the relevant T2 ship skill. Keep it to two, same as every other ship.

EDIT: I’d like to see a Triglavian mining frigate with spool up mechanics. That might convince me to switch to a Porpoise for boosts and onfield compression.

71

That is more likely to increase the amount of multiboxing miners than increase the number of players mining in fleets.

Nothing to stop them from mining in groups? What about the fact that mining a rock that someone else is already mining reduces yield for both of you, and when the rock runs out of ore, the first laser to cycle gets the last ore, and the other lasers can continue to cycle for up to 3 minutes and get nothing

72

One way to make mining more interesting, is remove all mining from high sec and move it to low/null/W/space hell.

Or

Make it easier for gankers.

73

Its ok with a boring activity from the perspective of veterans. You can call it an entry level activity. But if you think you can fix mining, which isnt broken, and not make it worse. HAVE AT IT :smiley: (You cant, you will make it worse)

74

To make mining more exciting, use Needle Filaments to jump your cloak fit Orca from High Sec into Null.

2 Likes
75

Might happen, but if you reduce the tanks of the miningbargues, and the need to engage activly into a gang or into atackers it would balance.

In highsec you do not miner on the same Rocks, because if you do your stripminers run dry. this is only something for frig mining. and in a Low or nullsec goup it would mean, dont team up, because otterwise you risk to get less. (I would say it is a great massage to engage people to play more together and to team up) :wink:

76

The whole game is build upon that, Eve is about Mining, Produceing, destroying and building up again.

But the problem is as i want to demonstrate. Mining in EVE is handled as if it is a seperate neche of this game. Just look at the solutions CCP came up in all this years.

They made Mining ships the most tanky ships in eve, but do you feel it? no because these ships are just brigs with the ability do die fast or not that fast. just to be no solution in PVP.

And on the other hand the Mining Capitals are to powerfull, that they breake the game just because of the lack of the risk reward point you have every where in this game. So they are multitools with solutions which habe to feel bad compared to others, that you more likly want to use a other ship. Why not remove that nesty feeling with in these ships and give them somehing else, solution to make these ships just good in what they do.

All i say is. PVP in eve is fun, but if you would reduce PVP to that what mining in eve is, it would not. That fact makes me assume giving the players the same choise in Mining like you have in PVP it would lift it to the same level.

And most importent, remove the klame “Mining/Ore Ships, are not allowed to be an good solution in PVP”

Thats all i want, or hope for.

77

100% with you. If you look into the ships put up. the skiff fooses its helarious tank, and gets it only back if it activates an Combat Damage Control. what means every Miner in Hisec is gankable if not well played.

Included with that idea someone else had. “you become Yellow blinky” by activateing that modul, turns an defending action into an PVP action. what means not only the whish to help someone with reps makes you atackable, no the wish to survive does actions does the same too.

But that also means that gankers have to rethink ganking too, bekause with skiffs made to fight back and Mackinaws made to give shield support it could become fun for both, the gankers and the defender.

78

Its time to stop encouraging ganking

1 Like
79

I know what you mean. at the moment you sit out there in a (venture/endurance/prospect) - (Procurer/Retriver/Covetor) - (Skiff/Mackinaw/Hulk) and all you can do is when an gank is happening, wait and die. - what means you must scout to scan and to have an eye on the local every time to avoid any contact.

Because as soon as they are next to you, you are screwed, and you most definitely loos a ship. (risk an hand full destroyers, reward of an huge killmails of hundreds of isk + loot)

and why is that, it’s because CCP decided Mining can’t be PVP, so all you can do is being pray waiting for an gank.

but mining isn’t teamplay ither, you can park an alt in an boosting capital, but that’s it.

and the situations are limited too, in which it is an good idea to undock an capital to boost you. so I’m 100% with you, making ships easier to kill would mean less opportunities to go out mining.

So, what I would change in less words, making AFK Mining more risky, with an Modul you must activate to reach the same tank of today. So if the gankers involfe to target afk miners, they form up less DPS what means more chances to survive. But added with more Drone power. Because the Skiff/Procurer can’t hold against beltrats at the moment what they should be designed for, that means in 0.0. (so that ship needs rethinking)

added The mackinaw (retriever) with just an large cargo is obsolete, because you want to go for max yield, what means Hulk(Covetor) or max tank what means take the Skiff(Procurer). With an boost to logistic drones, it would have an role in anti gank scenarios and with an fleet hangar it could support others whit its larger cargo hold.

To conclude, al what you can do is parking some Skiffs to make it difficult to break the tank. And wait till someone brings an fleet which is big enough to break it anyway. But whit my mentioned changes these gankers might show up more often, like belt rats. More frequently but not always as many to one-shot a skiff. Because the skiff would become sketchy. Is it played or is he active. Are there others to bring shield support. Or is there any risk of getting ripped while trying to approach.

Ganking would become an PVP action like everywhere else in EVE, and with options like to not always have to put an boosting capital on the table which is worth around 2-15mrd it is more likely to do a fun mining fleet. Because Mining is like ganking, if what you can lose exceeds what you can earn, you rethink twice to undock. Which just means less content for you, and less content for those who went out to look for something to shoot at.

All I want to say, is an boosted venture isn’t able to target all rocks because of its limited targeting range, the hulk isn’t able to scan al rocks it has in mining range, the prospect is an bad scout and a bad mining ship, if you don’t go for gas alone, the procurer and the skiff are breaking the game with its tank, but are not able to handle 0.0 belt rats because of targeting range and damage.

Combined with 2 Boosting capitals which are still designed to fit into a role, which they are strongly nerfed to be no option in solo mining.

And coming back to:

Would just mean, nobody looses ships, so nobody needs to rebuild them, than there is the next question, why mining in the first place?

To finish this post, CCP has 2 options to solve this issue, 1. makeing miningships much cheaper, to correct the risc reward issue, or 2. to give them a pvp role to let them keep up whit its market value.

80

if you dont want to mine then dont do it ? oO

if you need more pvp then just do it ? Oo

if you think your overpowered ship´s will make a change to mining then your not the smartest one ( i know your not the smartest one :stuck_out_tongue: )

Mining ships are designed to M I N E ! and not to shoot other ppl with they still can do if you know how to fit.

worst thing is your mining JF … you didnt understand anything about this game !

just be quiet and go back into your ore site

81

I agree. It’s largely a team activity that becomes more engaging with a security detail, and haulers and others.

This is why I’m a huge proponent for removing all mining from high sec and move it to low, null, WH and space hell.

Solo miners (which I do) becomes more interesting in low sec, having to pay attention, and play cat n’ mouse, and gives corps a more engaging group activity.

1 Like