Isn’t it easer to just mine the proper ore in Null? Every kind of ore is available in Null already. Why go after ore that gets refined into any resource randomly when you can simply go out and get that ore to begin with? You don’t need anchors and command ships to mine the best ore.
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I’ve outlined my idea earlier in this thread, but I don’t mind posting it again.
Cut mining yields by 50% across the board, and add a minigame ala exploration (“asteroid chunk tetris” or “calibrating laser focus” or whatever) that provides a stacking buff up to 300% yield. Balance it such that a solo miner can reach the full 300% (giving him a net 50% boost over what he’d see today), but splitting your focus out over, say, 3 or four accounts could still see a skilled player get a 200% boost (giving him the same net yield he’d have today). You can still multibox beyond that point, or even go fully AFK on your solo account if you feel like handing the New Order some faction strip miners, but your yield will be lower. This benefits the solo miners most, small-scale multiboxers aren’t unduly penalised, and large-scale multiboxing/botting becomes less efficient. I don’t doubt miners will quickly develop new botting tools to play the minigame for them, but if a fleet of twenty hulks are all scoring perfectly on the game CCP can just autoban them all and take care of that problem.
This is being sold as an expansion all about mining, but it fails to solve the #1 issue miners (and new player retention) face, which is that mining is incredibly boring. When a new player signs up and goes through the tutorial, he’s told to mine to afford ships. And when he does that, he realises he’ll be spending hours just staring at his venture, and assumes EVE is just a slower-paced Cookie Clicker.
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People may avoid mining, but not because it’s low APM. For example progression feels bad, mining barges have limited fitting slots to play with, residue offers no meaningful choices—especially since all T2 gear produces it—and mining crystals are confusing and there is off-putting adjectives on ores. But it is what it is.
your idea dies at this point. The backlash CCP would get for this would basically kill the game.
This doesn’t explain what you would need to do to focus the laser. How many button pushes per second would be required?
You said that it would stop multiboxing so that would require at least 1 button push per second for the entire mining session. And if you cut mining yield by 50% and then have a 300% bonus to yield under the best conditions, that’s going to equal out to a 250% bonus to yield which would fill a Hulk in one cycle. One cycle would give a hulk a completely full Mining Hold. So it would then be a net loss since that excess yield would be lost forever even if your hold started out empty.
I’m not sure you know how small the hold is on some of these mining ships. I’m also not sure you know how fast it fills up with all of the mining yield boosts that are available.
Could you go into specifics on how the focus thing would work? How many button presses? Would it require constant button pushes to keep it centered?
And why would this need to be a thing when I already push multiple buttons every 2 to 3 minutes? Why is 2-3 minutes to compress and move ore too little action for mining? I haven’t heard anything on that question either.
The fact that you think a game you only need to pay attention to every 2 minutes is okay game design is enough on its own to prove you’re not going to see sense on this.
If a 300% bonus to a solo hulk miner (which isn’t something you should be doing in the first thing, that’s what the mackinaw is for) is enough to fill it in one cycle, the answer seems pretty clear. Shorter cycles.
Again, I’m not sure what game you think we’re playing here. It’s not a first person shooter.
And mining is hardly the slowest activity in this game. Please tell me that you know this. There are activities performed by people that are way less intensive than hitting buttons ever 2 to 3 minutes. This has never been a fast paced game. Perhaps you do know that and you simply find it fashionable to attack mining.
Easier yes, but not as profitable. The amount of potential minerals you get per m3 is higher with the Prismatic ore. The other ores are of higher quality as well.
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It seems like risk for mining prismaticite effeciently is close to infinite so if anyone is going to do that, the reward also has to be near infinite I think.
I’ve participated in structure bashes, yes. At least that’s a social activity.
Mining deserves special attention, it’s one of the first activities newbies are directed towards. It needs to be, if not fun, at least engaging.
Engaging doesn’t mean frustrating or unfun. And fun is a relative term. I know this. You know this. Everyone knows this.
I don’t believe that your motivation is centered around fun as you’re attacking miners specifically as well as multiboxers. Words like “punish” have been used. Mining is already engaging. Drones, rats, yields, compression, and communicating with the Orca and other fleet-mates already makes it engaging. Not everyone mines alone. I’ve met some really nice people in ice fields. There are the trips to the market in between mining sessions to get more crystals, scripts, and/or Heavy Ice that are also important.
And of course, there are the gankers. Those PvPers that have people watching local the entire mining session from start to finish. All of that isn’t engaging? Eyes glued to the screen, chatting in Fleet while still watching local, killing rats, watching out for Diamond Rats!! Look them up if you don’t know what they are. Every miner in 0.5 knows all about them! I know people who have lost ships to them. One in my corp quit over it. He lost a Hulk to gankers, replaced it, and lost it to Diamond Rats a day later. I offered to buy him a new ship, but he had had enough.
You can’t always warp back to dock your ship when Diamond Rats come hunting. They sometimes use warp disrupters. The only defense is to be in a fleet so that one of you can run back for a combat ship- not just any will do either. You need good piloting skills and a tough and durable ship. A T-3 Cruiser will do, but even that’s a tough fight when it’s 5 on one. Once you get your first kill, it gets a bit easier. When you get the second kill, it’s a cake-walk, but 5 on one is not easy! I recommend a battleship- A T2 like the Vindicator.
So…
Marketplace runs to prepare for mining
Normal actions every 2 to 3 minutes
Watching local
Talking in chat to the fleet
Drone actions
Rats
DIAMOND RATS
Gankers
And more…
Yet somehow we’re not doing enough? You’ve never mined outside of a 1.0 system, have you? I tank the hell out of my ships and do everything I can think of to protect them and even I have my eyes glued to local while watching for the anomalies that bring Diamond Rats as well as everything else I listed. How is that not enough?
Oh! I forgot using a tractor beam and salvaging all the wrecks of the rats you kill while mining. Even more actions!
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The location text fading in is great — it even doubles as a clear indication of when ship is out of warp and ready for further input.
In my opinion, the game should focus on making it more accessible to new players. Currently, the situation is as follows:
- Don’t do missions; they’re a complete waste of time beyond level 4.
- Mining HSEC is completely unprofitable.
- Abyss is the best option, but at current prices, you won’t earn much.
- Exploration is theoretically the best option, but it requires a lot of experience; it’s easier to make a YouTube video than to actually do it.
This update is more for experienced players living low null than for beginners, which is a drawback for me. It will make hunting down miners much simpler and easier. We have gas harvesting, and guess why it’s not a favorite activity? So all this alredy its pointless
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The only profit I’ve found in high sec is moon mining, but that’s not for beginners. Ice mining can be profitable if you’re selling the ice. Not so much if you’re using the Heavy Water yourself because you’ll burn through more water than you’ll get by processing the ice. It’s a net negative.
The best bet for a new person is to join a Corp in either high or not high sec.
Your whole post is pointless.
Nobody should ever take notice of a 1 hour old alt that was created to make a post.
I make plenty of profit mining both Ice and Ore in HS.
I also make a lot doing missions and salvaging.
Players should be encouraged to do what they like doing rather than telling them they’re wasting their time or that they’ll never make ISK in HS.
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Anyone can make ISK doing anything. But when you consider the current inflation and the cost of advanced ships vs. the ISK you can make with a particular ship, the word “profit” takes on a real meaning. That’s what I was getting at. If you read my post and took it to mean that I was telling people that they shouldn’t mine Veldspar or ice, then you read my post wrong.
From my perspective, it was never easier to make money, especially in HS. Even for new chars. 
Remembering when I started the game, It took around 3 months to save up and skill for my first Battlecruiser. New players are drowning in money and opportunities compared to that…
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Wouldn’t have taken that long a decade ago.
And I don’t know what you mean by “especially in HS” unless you’ve never left HS. But I’m glad that you can make money! I really am.
What is so hard to understand? I make more money in HS than I make farming C4 or C5 WHs. Considered the accounts needed, the effort to prepare and protect the process and the risks of losing stuff involved.
HS is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy too lucrative today. It’s ridiculous that 5 People meeting up for an evening and lets say run 3 hours - in a row - C4 or C5 wormhole sites end up with less ISK than those exact 5 People running HighTier Abyssals or Blitizing Burners in HS for the same 3 hours.
And no, thats not “you just have to learn how to do it better!” - rest assured I know 10x more about how to make money in JSpace. The ability of HS to basically “log in and start running” without much risk, cooperation or coordination and the fact that you can just repeat it as long as you want just trumps it all.
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