Of course, the game I'll blog the most about is EVE Online and the upcoming Kronos patch on 3 June. Yes, I called it a patch. Of course, the patch is expansion-sized since it originally was going to hold the summer expansion, but CCP considers it a patch, so a patch I shall call it.
Anyway, since I'm not sure about the whole industry revamp thingy CCP is doing, I need to actually play through the content in order to judge the effect of the changes, at least on my own game play. Perhaps some players are savvy enough to tell from the information CCP has released what will happen, but I am not one of those people. So I came up with a list of things I need to do to properly judge Kronos.
Ships
Right now I'm very disgruntled over the nerf my poor Procurer will receive. The 77.7% increase in base speed designed to aid high sec miners in their battle against James315 and the New Order means I'll abandon mining while fully aligned. What's the use when I have to turn around so often? Add to that the mining output decrease. And I'm lucky in that I currently don't use Mining Laser Upgrades. I could get my pre-Kronos output back, but that would require dropping a nano and my Damage Control II. The drone bonuses? Garbage, as far as I'm concerned, although the increased drone bay will allow me to carry ECM drones if I need to escape. The only good thing is that the Procurer is such an obvious bait ship that I might get bothered less in the belts after the Kronos patch drops.
As for the other ships, the new Prospect looks intriguing, but probably more a ship I would use in a roam through NPC null if I'm desperate for megacyte. It's new enough and shiny enough that people roaming through low sec will go out of their way to try to kill one. I want a ship that isn't going to attract so much attention. Which is why I don't fly a Skiff in low sec either.
Also at Fanfest, CCP announced that blockade runners and deep space transports will receive a rebalance pass in Kronos. If the balance team thinks that they buffed the Procurer, I'm really afraid of what they will do to my Prowler. My Mastodon? That ship needs so much love I hope the balance team can give me a reason to fly that hangar queen.
Ship-related Tasks
- Log onto Singularity and come up with viable fits for all the ships.
- Acquire ship and module blueprints needed to fit the ships correctly.
Mining
I'm very skeptical of the notion that Kronos is going to spark a flood of players heading into low sec to mine. At first I didn't consider the addition of the new types of ore sites a buff at all, but then I started to think outside the box. Because I already mine in 0.1 and 0.2 systems, I already can mine hedbergite almost any time I want just by going into a belt. But after looking at the geography of Minmatar low sec, I'm open to the possibility that the sites will prove an upgrade to 0.3 and 0.4 systems. But really, if people are not wandering through low sec looking for the crokite and dark ochre sites, are they really going to come to low for Jaspet?
Then again, I welcome the addition of new types of sites in low as long as they don't replace the spawning of the existing sites. Part of the reason is the situation in Heimatar. That region of the Minmatar Republic only contains one 0.2 system. In all probability, more hedbergite is mined in high sec than in low sec in that region. A pretty silly situation.
One change I don't think a lot of people are taking into account is the switch from mineral to ore compression for moving mining products around. Does anyone think that people who are drawn to mine in low sec due to the availability of a cloaky mining ship like the Prospect are going to more ore around in a tech 1 industrial? For those thinking that miners can just use a low sec POS, the nature of relying on ore sites that spawn throughout the region means a friendly POS will probably not be available in system. Assuming, of course, that the player doing the mining is willing to put up a low sec POS in the first place. More likely, those people will transport the ore back to high sec using their Prospect. If mining picks up in low sec, I foresee the majority of the increase happening in systems adjacent to high sec.
Mining-related Tasks
- Do survey of current ore sites pre-patch.
- Do survey of ore sites post-patch.
- Find new mining output on Singularity pre-patch.
- Conduct analysis of ore sales in the Minmatar Republic post-patch.
Industry
I'm really curious how this will work. The low sec stations should have less use, and thus less in taxes. However, the high sec industrialists should attract most of the available teams, with null sec acquiring the rest. Will that make low sec the least effective place to build? I'm not referring to capital construction. I'm referring to the items I make: ammunition and nanite repair paste. Hopefully I can stay competitive. With any luck, I can move into manufacturing modules, but that I think won't happen anytime soon.
One other item I'm watching is the cost of researching and copying blueprints. With the changes to the remote use of blueprint originals in POS, I expect virtually all POS owners to move those activities to NPC stations. I'm willing to bet that move will make low sec stations a lot less competitive with high sec facilities than many expect.
Industry-related Tasks
- Develop spreadsheet that records construction costs accurately.
- Track construction costs in both Minmatar high and low sec.
- Track copying costs in both Minmatar high and low sec.
- Track ME and TE research costs in both Minmatar high and low sec.
- Conduct analysis of the sales of my products in the Minmatar Republic (Heimatar, Metropolis, and Molden Heath)
Conclusion
I realize this summary of the changes to low sec sounds pretty negative. Quite frankly, I think low sec got nerfed again. But I don't want to go off spouting how bad the patch is unless I have facts to back up my assertions. Facts I won't have until we have played with the patch for weeks, if not months. Given my limited play time, the tasks I'm setting for myself are probably too ambitious. And hopefully, my theory crafting is totally wrong and low sec will experience an industrial renaissance. I doubt it, but I can hope, right?
