Missions & Complexes

Potentially? Yes. BUT (and this part kills it for most), your success is largely due to luck and luck alone. Generally, it's possible to make a killing from exploration (just look up JonnyPew on Youtube, guy's practically the master of exploration nowadays). That said, it's wildly inconsistent and hardly a steady as L4's are. People, new to exploration and veteran alike, can go on months without so much as a descent site, then at some random moment strike gold one day for mere minutes of scanning. The real-world equivalent would be working a descent paying but boring job or quitting your job and going to Vegas and possibly getting lucky. It's a coin toss.

If you're still interested, low sec and null tend to yield far better than high sec (high sec is notably bland on profit from exploration), though staring off in high sec would be good practice for you until you are ready to take something into low. Unfortunately, high sec exploration tends to be a lot less profitable to L4s even on good days, but like most professions in Eve, give time and patience and you can make it worth your wild. Also, I meant what I said about JonnyPew, seriously look him up. His channel is bloated with helpful vids on setting up fits, how to get started, etc.

If I may suggest, you need to be a bit more specific here; when I read the term "exploration", it could mean scanning down relic/data sites, DED/Unrated Plex's, running combat anom's, diving into WH's... so I'll try to sum up my experiences with each here.

Relic sites in high sec have become somewhat of a running joke whenever the two are mentioned together; everytime I've felt the urge to run one, I've got nothing but junk. Other explorers that I talk to often all report the same thing, so unless it's me being terminally unlucky, stay away from them. Data sites are a little better, I've had a couple of faction POS module bpc's drop in high-sec sites in the past so there's something to be gained from that, but nothing to hold a candle to L4 mission running. Although I only have limited (to put it bluntly) experience of completing low-sec sites, what I've found so far is that there isn't much of an improvement over high-sec. From fellow explorers, the best bet would be finding sites in nul, or better yet, a deserted wormhole.

Combat sites are definitely a money-maker in high-sec; I've practically covered every empire region, and on a very , very good day, you can definitely pull in a lot more compared to what you'd normally make off missions. There are a couple of faults with them though;

1. The competition you're up against, especially when you start to compare the different faction's loot drops. If you ever get around to trying to find combat sites in caldari space on a weekend, you'll see what I mean. Finding area's off the beaten path improve your chances of finding sites significantly.

2. The risk/reward of running these sites out of high-sec. Typically, from 5/10+, you'll need to bring ship's not too de-similar from your average l4 hull. Personally, I'd only consider taking running sites if it's in relatively quiet space or if it was a site that I was particularly curious about... there's no point in running sites as a money-maker if the locals get the jump on you.

Running WH sites is something I'm currently playing around with, so I'll let someone else fill in the blanks for that. In regard's to incursions, if you solely want the best consistent ISK/hour, then that would be your best bet. I haven't got involved with it myself (the last time I seriously considered it, I was hearing about a lot of drama in that particular community), but it's the best money-maker in high-sec, hands down... there is/was a threadnaught rampaging through GD recently about lowering the rewards for it, so if you want to get on the gravy train, you'd best climb aboard soon.

Personally, I like to mix things up. Sure, l4 blitzing is a very good way to grab isk if I'm in need of funds, and as you said, it does get very tedious. So every now and again, I change things up. Whether that's going after sites, trying out different ship fittings, or just throwing a ship to the wolves (my overall pvp experience so far ), variety is the spice of life after all.

One final thing I forgot to mention... if you do intend to exploration, do whatever it takes to get the loot fairy smiling on you. If you have to make a daily prayer asking for her blessing, do it. If you have to sell your (in-game) soul to her to increase the chance of good loot, do it! Hell, if she asks you to do cartwheels in your local shopping mall whilst bellowing out We Will Rock You*, you better do it!! Because when it comes to exploring in this game and you have no luck, slowly but surely, you'll turn into a quivering, babbling wreck.


*Proceed at your peril.

I'm currently hanging around in a quiet WH doing data and relic sites once a day for like 30 minutes and making 250mil a week isnt that hard, or i'm extremely lucky :)

The thrill of the unknown and potential danger is alot more fun then doing lvl4's in high sec imo.

So basically get a rattlesnake and Blitz level 4's and save myself some time if I'm just trying to build a bank to get back into the game.

Yeah, I'm thinking I'm going to try WH exploration since I have the skills needed for the t2 frigs. Missioning is extremely boring.