People have had a decade to build stockpiles.

If you're looking to make more isk, look into other professions.

The market is player driven. Rarity is only one factor that determines the price of an item.

Any suggestions on what to do? I've only worked on mining so far. Not much SP in anything else.

I only mined to get "free" minerals for building stuff. Mining to sell to get ISK is basically a waste of time imho as there are other ways to make more isk/hour.

(Yes, I know, lets not open the "those minerals are not free" can of worms. For my play style they were free, ok?).

My OCD wants me to rant at your logic.

Just to expand on this:

If you're spending time on it, it's not free.

For example: you mine for 3 hours to build a cruiser OR you do null sec anoms for 15 minutes and just buy one.

Time saved: 2:45, money gained: however much you would have made in the remaining time.

The only way to use ore is to refine it, so the value of the ore (and of the asteroids) isn't based on "rarity" but on what minerals it gives when it's refined. And the value of the minerals depends on supply and demand, and what production lines they're used for. If the manufacturers can get mexallon and isogen from other sources, they won't pay much for any of the ores that refine to these minerals.

When you look at what's consumed in manufacturing vs. what's available in asteroids, lots of tritanium and pyerite are needed, followed by small quantities of mexallon, and isogen, and tiny quantities of nocxium, zydrine, and megacyte. Veldspar is available everywhere and is mostly ignored because scordite and the higher asteroids also refine to tritanium. Scordite gives pyerite, which is at the sweet spot between how much is needed and how much is available. The higher minerals (mexallon, isogen, nocxium) can be acquired in sufficient quantities at random mission or scanned locations, and zydrine and megacyte can be mined by the large nullsec alliances in sufficient quantities.

So you're looking at scordite. Or, as suggested above, try to find some of the asteroids that refine to isogen / nocxium by using probes.

On top of that, you're selling to players; the market is players. The built-in "rarity" means little to the trader who's under-paying you and only buys your ore because he has better refinery skills than you, and figures he will make a profit at the trade hub selling the minerals.

Just to expand on this:

If you're spending time on it, it's not free.

You nerds that obsess about opportunity cost are paying $15/hour to play EVE. If you really cared about in-game ISK/hour efficiency you'd just buy out of game PLEX instead of running anomalies or doing exploration, then you could have ISK/hour approaching infinity. Tuskino is right -- you mine because you want to mine because you want to build stuff yourself.

You nerds that obsess about opportunity cost are paying $15/hour to play EVE. If you really cared about in-game ISK/hour efficiency you'd just buy out of game PLEX instead of running anomalies or doing exploration, then you could have ISK/hour approaching infinity. Tuskino is right -- you mine because you want to mine because you want to build stuff yourself.

No one pays 15/hour. At most 15/month Is what we spend. Now i know you can buy plex instead of earn money in game. Me personally, i enjoy splitting time between pve and pvp. No point in doing pve though for isk if i always just buy isk. Also i don't care to spend much more real money on this game than my sub. I like buying other games as i am sure many other people do.

As for the arguement about get a second job to fund plex... most people work already and have families. Why get another job when you can just play the game with what little freetime they get? As for oportunity cost in game... why not play as efficiently as possible? If someone else doesn't want to though then by all means they have the right not to.

Please don't write in the new players section unless you are going to write accurate information.

As for oportunity cost in game... why not play as efficiently as possible?

If your enjoyment from the game is in mining minerals to build your own ship, then there's nothing "efficient" about running missions to earn ISK to just buy the finished ship instead.

Even in real life this is dumb. It's like telling somebody who wants to be a musician, that they should spend 10 years burning themselves out on wall street or in silicon valley first so they can earn enough money to take a decade off and play music. This is why you should never listen to an economist in real life or in EVE.

If your enjoyment from the game is in mining minerals to build your own ship, then there's nothing "efficient" about running missions to earn ISK to just buy the finished ship instead.

Even in real life this is dumb. It's like telling somebody who wants to be a musician, that they should spend 10 years burning themselves out on wall street or in silicon valley first so they can earn enough money to take a decade off and play music. This is why you should never listen to an economist in real life or in EVE.

If your enjoyment from the game is in mining minerals to build your own ship, then there's nothing "efficient" about running missions to earn ISK to just buy the finished ship instead.

Even in real life this is dumb. It's like telling somebody who wants to be a musician, that they should spend 10 years burning themselves out on wall street or in silicon valley first so they can earn enough money to take a decade off and play music. This is why you should never listen to an economist in real life or in EVE.

Is that what you're doing?

Any suggestions on what to do? I've only worked on mining so far. Not much SP in anything else.

While you make an excellent point here I'm not sure about you but I would say the majority of people that I know do exactly that. They grind away at some job they hate for 40 years so that hopefully one day they can retire and then enjoy life. It's just funny when you point this out it makes me think how many of us take that mentality in game.