EVE Search - Sticky:[June] Nullsec Asteroid Cluster and Excavator Drone changes

FearlessLittleToaster wrote:

So, I'm actually torn on these changes. On the one hand, this basically reads:

"Dear Goons, through incredible investment of time, money, and effort in your space and the coordination required to defend it you have become able to utilize the Rorqual at it's theoretical limit. We did not anticipate this in the design phase, and we waited until many many players were heavily invested before we took steps to fix it. In short, you will now be punished for being very good at being a nullsec alliance. Also, these changes will apparently break the risk/reward calculus for smaller organizations, so they get punished for Goons being good at Nullsec too."

On the other hand, I can absolutely see how Rorquals are gutting the minerals market in their current form. Given that mining is something people from all regions of the game engage in, that is also a huge problem.

But, Fozzie and the rest of the team, here is the central problem you aren't going to fix by nerfing the Rorq into the floor: The Imperium is going to keep using the crap out of these until you reduce their yield below that of a Mackinaw. I already have four characters at max skills, and I already bought the hulls and drones. Until it's crappier than a barge the Rorq will continue to represent the best isk/hour I can earn while folding my laundry. Meanwhile you will render the hull worthless to players in alliances less able to secure their space.

So I get that you are between a rock and a hard place here. Make the Rorq a doorstop again and save the minerals market. Keep the Rorq as the king of mining and watch Goons bury ever poor new player trying to mine with his Venture in highsec.

However, that is assuming that the only variable that can change is Rorqual yield. I know there are lots of other project and priorities, but might it be worth taking a look at mining in a broader scope? Mining is awful as gameplay, especially in highsec. It might make more sense to remove the direct competition between null and high for lowends, and instead make something unique, valuable, and maybe a bit rare spawn there to give something worthwhile to mine.

Think of it like this. Right now everyone mines the same basic ores, weather they have shovels or massive industrial equipment. So we got better industrial equipment and now the guys with shovels are getting crushed. Would it make sense to give the smaller miners occasional targets that are valuable in smaller amounts but require effort to find? That would diversify mining into two different professions, one for massive industrial harvesting through group cohesion and the other much more like a prospector roaming in search of a gold strike. That could be MUCH more interesting for a new player or alpha clone.