Shuin Pa
Ministry of War
Amarr Empire
10
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Posted - 2013.06.05 16:52:00 -
[1] - Quote
These are my initial reactions after the first day of Ice Mining.
First let me say that I am pretty tired of mining ice anyway. When these changes were announced, I like many others started hoarding looking forward to the ice prices skyrocketing. So now, on to bigger and better things! I am taking my hoard to Jita and sitting on it.
Social aspect:
It's hard to socialize with bots and AFK players, but there was a community in each system of active players and that has now changed. It's much more of a competition now. Instead of helping other miners with free bonus fleets and such I see greed taking over. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Will large corps take over the system and gank other that try to mine 'their' ice? Too many scenarios to discuss, but it will be different now.
Bots:
Thank you! The new system seems that is will make it much harder (but not impossible) for the scum we call "the botters" to operate in a profitable capacity. I imagine that they will just take to the ore belts now.
AFK Mining:
These days are gone. Even the Mack fills up very quickly now with the cycle time cut in half. If this was you intention, it's working. With the ice rocks having fewer cubes and popping in just a few minutes, AFK is gone. IMHO good job. The current system requires that you be at or near the keyboard to play.
Gankers:
Sad days ahead. Sorry to say you will have to step up your efforts, record timers, keep mobility in mind as you place the scout or make a BM to the mining ships now. This expansion will change how ganking is done, AFK miners are no longer. Ganker Ganking (My mini-game) will be much more challenging now, but I am still out there in the shadows waiting for the Catalysts on DScan! 8-)
Bumpers:
Ahh The New Order... Instead of paying you to keep you from bumping me, may I pay you to bump the other guy so I can extract more ice while the anom is up? Will Corps use this mechanic to remove the competition form the belts?
Respawn Timer:
I have mixed emotions on the four hour timer. I like it because it seems that it has really discouraged the AFK miner. Paying attention to the timers requires some work and/or networking with other miners in the system. My issue is for those that actively ice mine and enjoy it might get cheated here. It would seem to me that the average Eve sub only logs on for a few hours a day and may get cheated out of their game time and play style. That's just a thought.
First day in the belt:
I missed the first spawn, but I hear it was pretty crazy 30-40 mining ships 6+ Orcas all jockeying for space. The second and third were pretty much the same. It seemed as the day went on there were fewer and fewer miners that come out to play leaving much more ice for those of us that were willing to chase the timer and the ice. As time goes on we will see how this plays out, but my initial impressions are good.
I will however, caution that these efforts may be too expensive. Whether the expense is in obtaining the ice or the cost of the ice. Will Hisec moons become available again only to those corps that can afford the fuel? Will the prices of researched BPOs skyrocket because people simply cannot afford to put up a research POS anymore? The trickle down from these changes and the impact on the economy remains to be seen.
Will the asteroid belts soon follow the ice belts by becoming anoms too? (points to ponder)
Lastly please remove the hidden ore and gas anoms and change them back to being probed. You want activity in losec, I see this change having the opposite effect. If a pirate wants to gank miners in these sites he no longer has to work for the tears. But, keeping with the tone of this post, we will see.
Thank you for listening to your player base!
Pa
((Sorry didn't originally intend to write a book)) |