I made a suggestion over on the player features & ideas section of the forum regarding a module for scanning signatures.
Would appreciate feedback and thoughts from you guys. Especially those who find scanning 30+ signatures as annoying as I do.
Cheers. 
Yeah, no
its already too easy.
it isnt in a bad spot right now, but any automation of a process is big no in my list.
Not needed. Scanning 30 sigs is not that difficult to do.
I currently live in a c2 wormhole. While having to scan signatures daily can become tedious, it comes with the territory. It is wormhole exploration afterall. I don’t think a module that automatically scans signatures would be good, maybe a module that determines the type of signature so you don’t end up scanning dozens of gas sites.
You already got site identification on 25%, if flying dedicated scanner, youll identify more than 50% of sites’ type on 4au scan range.
A few weeks ago I trained the last probing skill to 5, astrometric wayfinding I think it was and since then, I don’t even have to go below 2 au pinpoint formation to probe anything but a DED 10/10.
So a “sweep” in the 8 au pinpoint formation has most of the information ready in one go. If you don’t look for gas sites, remove them from the list and continue.
You don’t always have to probe everything.
I don’t know. Probing at the moment contains little to no risk and an extremely small chance of being caught. Probing is easy, massively so when you compare to how probing used to work. It’s just a boring mechanic. I’m all for features that are interesting and fun but something that is boring and tedious doesn’t make it hard or challenging. It’s pretty much impossible to fail at probing and there’s absolutely no skill involved with the exception of using combat probes in conjunction with d-scan.
The old probing method will still be there and be more efficient. This adds more risk, and the chance of killing targets you won’t have ever had the chance of killing before. It may even bring more people in to wormhole space which is a good thing.
Makes it far too easy.
Scanning seemed to get nerfed in the last patch. Would like to know the truth on that.
But with the skills at level 3+, Sisters probes, Sisters launcher, T1 scan modules, the cheap implants and any scanning ship, it’s still pretty easy.
not really in large wormhole, works in highsec/lowsec but wormholes are usually 100au+ big and thus the sigs arent all close to sun
I agree with reasoning. Thats all true however the suggestion you made is far too good. (If we even accept it matters since CCP rarely listen to ideas involving new ship or new module.)
What about changing it so its a citadel module which will have some timer and maybe range limitation?
Easier to change system size then, even travelling is tedious in such a shithole.
There are people who have spent a great deal of time and training getting good at scanning. That should continue to be rewarded. People who suck at scanning shouldn’t be rewarded by making it easier.
I think you’re a bit too late to pull that card. Scanning is already a lot easier compared to how it used to work and back then people were good at it before it was made easier. Sorry pal.
Scanning is ok…really annoying are just the 120AU+ J-Systems with 6+ Spawnpoints of Sigs…but not a great thing in Eve in general.
You’re right - they did make it easier, and WH dwellers were up in arms over that too because they’d spent a lot of time getting good at using the old finicky system and it gave them a tactical advantage over those who hadn’t bothered to learn it (and rightly so). But just because they made it easier in the past doesn’t mean they are now obligated to make it even easier in the future. There’s a reasonable balance point to be had between making it accessible to new pilots while continuing to reward those who choose to excel at it. I would argue that we’re at the right balance point now.
Tweaking the system to make it more intuitive and accessible to new pilots is fine, but what you’re suggesting wouldn’t just make it easier - it would essentially eliminate scanning as a skilled task. There’s no balance to such an approach.
Well no, because the old method of scanning will still be more efficient and you will be cloaked.
It’s not the fact that because it was made easier, it should be made easier again. The fact is it’s so easy there’s little to no reason not to introduce such a module. With good skills, it’s impossible to fail a scan and there’s no risk of being caught once you’re cloaked up and probing away. Scanning might seem cool the first few times to a new player but after you have scanned thousands of signatures it’s just a painful chore that really adds no depth to the game.
With my idea, not only does it take more time than regular probing but it comes with an increased risk of being caught.
Your entire argument leans on the fact that scanning is hard and takes skill. In reality though, it doesn’t. You’re fighting to protect something which isn’t at all skilful.
Wormhole space is pretty dead, there’s no competition to scans sites down faster than someone else… Odds are they’ve already been scanned by someone else and someone is waiting for you as a trap. The only place where competitive scanning maybe makes any sort of play is hi-sec but who the hell runs hi-sec sites they aren’t worth jack.
In PvP there is always a race for scanning down the system. You might be right in case of PvE.
There is friction to living in W-Space. Wormholes pop in and out and they have several limitations for traffic flowing through. You need scanning skills and equipment to scan them. It isn’t meant to be easy. I think that W-Space is the harshest life you can have. I have lived in High-Sec, W-Space, and Null-Sec, and pretty much all of my player skill (as opposed to character skill) has been learned while in W-Space.
You can burn time training scanning skills. You can burn funds getting faction scanning hardware and probes. You can leave aside the possibility of defending yourself and opt for a Covert Ops frigate to scan, which has great bonuses. You can get scanning implants. That all helps improve your situation immensely, and you’ll find that scanning 30 sigs becomes less dreadful. Also try only scanning up to the point where you know what it is. You don’t need to scan everything to 100%. 25% is enough for things that do not interest you.
I don’t think EVE Online is a game where you can expect to have fun most the time. It is more about grit and dedication, and doing things that aren’t particularly pleasurable is part of the experience. You want to scan the signatures in anticipation of what you’ll find. It is not in isolation fulfilling and engaging gameplay. It is preparation in expectation of future fulfilling and engaging things.
Some people are deeply disgusted by scanning. If it gets you in a really bad mood perhaps you should consider moving to Null-Sec. You won’t have to scan at all if you do not want to. If you do scan you’ll find valuable easy-to-hack relic sites often, as opposed to lower-yield sites that you must run in a different ship.
I myself live in Null-Sec at the moment. I do scanning because I make most of my ISK through exploration. It is valuable to my alliance because as a group we keep our wormhole connections mapped and close dangerous ones. I have other characters in W-Space, but at the moment it is not where I am most active. Null-Sec life is easier and usually there are more people to do fun things with. W-Space can be a logistics nightmare.
If you dont enjoy scanning, wormholes are not for you, play the game to have fun, isl/hour is not everything (and wormholes are not free isk compared to nul or FW)