Missions & Complexes

Hello all.

So I'm CCP RedDawn on Team Space Glitter and a while ago I had some spare time to make some small changes to improve the exploration mini sites.
Some of the changes were received well, others not. So, due to my own love for exploration, I've taken some time out again from our normal release schedule to make some more improvements to Data sites in conjunction with feedback from the CSM.

So for your perusal, I'll list the proposed changes to data sites now.

* Removed all skill books from Relic sites and placed them into Data sites. (Includes Encryption books)
* Removed the more commonly dropped 'non rig-related' blueprints from all the Relic sites. (They will still drop in Data sites)
* Introduced all Cosmos site building materials to all 4 tiers of Data sites. (Info Shard, Com Tower, Mainframe and Databank)
* Introduced the higher tiered (higher value) Cosmos site building materials to all class wormhole Data sites. (C1 to C6)
* Increased the drop frequency of the Cosmos sites items that are currently on the Data site loot tables.
* All exploration Ghost Sites now require the use of the Data Analyzer module.
* Halved the drop amount of the most commonly used building materials found in all data sites. (EG: Positron Cords, Electric Conduits etc)
* All Ghost sites are now Cosmic Signatures rather than Anomalies.

The intention of this change is to hopefully boost the overall value of all Data sites, increase the manufacturing of Storyline modules, increase the demand for Cosmos site blueprints and increase the value of the most commonly dropped building materials.

Feel free to throw your thoughts, concerns and ideas at me here!

Note: The similarities of the Data and Relic hacking game are known, as is the Cargo Scanning/Cherry Picking of containers.
Both of these are outside the scope of my free time right now however but are not forgotten.

Fly safe,
CCP RedDawn

Will there ever be use of the high tech items that have dropped for so long?

Muahhaha!

Aww yisss

Looks like a nice update to sites, though it is hard to give really good feedback without knowing the drop rates/tables. Data sites definitely needed some love, thank you!

- Than

These are gradually being rebalanced as part of Module Tiercide. I'd make sure to give feedback as these passes continue.

As a collector of and builder of storyline stuff, I'm happy about this change :)

This won't actually make a site more valuable. If you decrease the amount while increasing the value, you're sitting at a static point. The only ones who would benefit from such a change are the people who have a significant amount of the goods stored up already.

As for the overall changes themselves, I like that Data sites are getting a bit of reworking, but I'm not sure it'll be what makes me bother to fit a Data Analyzer again when I'm out exploring. The skillbooks are generally low-value, the non-rig BPC's that drop from Relic sites are mostly without value (and most are being sold below mineral cost, already), Cosmos / Storyline mods need some serious TLC from the tierecide project before they'll be of any real value, and halving the amount of the building materials will return to a similar equilibrium over the course of time (instead of 20 worth 500 ISK each, you'll get 10 worth 1000 ISK each).

I can see that the changes will increase the value of Data sites to a small degree, but it seems like it's only going to increase the amount of low-value goods you get with very occasional high-value goods. That will still struggle to compete with Relic sites (especially Sansha sites), where you get a much smoother (and often still higher) average.

Things like Electric Conduits or Armor Blocks are garbage. High-Tech items are also garbage.

What someone a couple of months ago suggested would be construction materials for pirate faction ships and modules. Pirate Faction production materials already exist as dead database entries and it could have been really interesting to see these reintroduced as components for the pirate asset production. Instead, however, we got the utterly useless High-tech garbage that's just cluttering the hangars, in case you collected them at all.

Loot drop was readjusted to 70% of value after Odyssey when the loot spew was removed. I don't know for sure if this included Ancient Relic drops from Sleeper Relic Sites, or the chance of a Talocan Wreck spawn.

I think more of that was due to the Crius expansion changing Reverse Engineering to let you pick the type of subsystem you wanted to invent. Previously it was a crap shoot and you got a random subsystem bpc, so on top of the failure chance, there were a lot of unwanted subsystem bpcs, so there was more rarity for the popular ones.

Thanks for the feedback so far, some good points raised overall.

To answer some reoccurring questions:

* Storyline modules should have a tiericide pass on them to make them worthwhile, however, this is at least a step in the right direction to give you 'some' more options in ship fitting (plus, is it not better that these items at least start getting more traction?)
* High Tech items are on my list to make useful
* Putting the requirement for the Data Analyzer on the Ghost and Besieged sites increases the value of the module. (Currently both Analyser modules are accepted in these sites and it's not consistent with any other sites)
* I'm making a plan to look into the use of the most commonly dropped loot
* The skill books and non rig-related blueprints will still be 'worthless' for a while, but over the long haul I will expect to see an increase eventually. (agreed though, this change doesn't fix this issue immediately)
* The Reverse Engineering supply and demand is something I will add to my personal backlog
* Yes there is a plan to replace the POS based drops once Structures show their wonderful faces


EDIT: Added some stuff

That's it for now, I'll be watching.

CCP RedDawn