Market Discussions

Probably not, that would cause meta 1-4 items to eventually become cheaper /same then/as meta 0 stuff. The point of meta 1-4 is that it's better but rarer.

I think you're getting a little ahead of yourself. CCP hasn't stated if they will or will not replace the T1 with other metas.

The question for a loot table is "Are the values that were T1 items being seeded with different values, or is the over-all size of the loot table being reduced?"

If the T1 items are being filled in with say "Metal Scraps" then the frequency of the Meta items remains the same. (table has 10 slots, some are now "Metal Scraps" or "Nothing")
If the T1 items are being removed from the list such that the list is now shorter, then the meta items will have a larger chance of being on the ships. (table has 6 slots instead of 10)

Or do the loot tables work in some other way?

Actually, this isn't altogether true, and it is a risky speculation. In the past, they have indeed overly increased the drop rates of certain meta items, making some of them as common and cheap as T1 modules, and, in a few cases, cheaper and better than the T2 modules.

In fact, I'm not exactly sure why they are bothering with this sort of change. If they eliminate the T1 drops, but the overall drop quantity remains unchanged, then Mongo is correct - folks will just reprocess the meta items as quantities increase and the prices on them drop. The only real effect will be that demand for T1 modules will likely drop, since there will be plenty more meta items available at a cheap price.

If they elminate the T1 drops, but keep the overall quantities of meta item drops as they are now, then you'll see a surge in mineral prices across the board, since reprocessing will take a hit. The cost of manufacturing T1 modules will subsequently rise, but the low meta items will probably end up still being as cheap as T1, since they will still be easily harvested by running L4 missions. I don't know about most of you other folks, but I can't use up all of the meta modules I've collected from mission loot - no way.

I'm tired and I'm probably missing something, but, exactly, how does this help T1 manufacturing?

Now, if you eliminate loot drops completely.....

Ooooh good question? Ammo is bpc and bpo. you sir....

These two posts from master-blogger Jester have some great insight into these changes. I agree with him and they cover some questions discussed in this thread:-

http://jestertrek.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/stool.html
http://jestertrek.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/return-to-source.html

Some relevant Quotes:-

---

This is a massive change to the game's underlying economy and things are going to be very scary for the next few months. Hang on tight!

---

In a couple of weeks, CCP is going to do something so sweeping, so breath-taking, that I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around it. It's potentially the biggest change to the game since I started playing the game.

---

Pyroxeres mining is worth more than 20 million per hour right now, and I don't see any reason why it won't hit 35 before long.

---

Several people have asked "if no meta 0 mods drop, won't the increase in meta1-4 mods make up the difference?" The answer is no, for two reasons:
- Meta1-4 mods reprocess into half the minerals meta0 mods do; and,
- With no meta0 mods to put on new player ships and LOL-T1 ships, meta mod prices are almost certainly going to increase above their reprocessing value and therefore won't be reprocessed.

---

What seems very clear is that today, less than 50% of minerals -- particularly low-end minerals -- come from mining. In a few days, that's going to be the only significant source for minerals.

---

This means that drones will no longer produce minerals. This means that the mineral source from missions and ratting will also dry up to nearly nothing. That means that to build things, someone is gonna have to go out and mine asteroids all day long. Ho-lee ****.

Pretty sure these changes are from the Escalation (April), not Inferno (May).
As in: there might be more market related changes in May.

Very excite!

I'm very interested in the upcoming changes. My thought is that they all will lead to further marketwide inflation, and lolmining might actually start becoming a viable source of Isk. Imo meta + prices will increase as well. Prices on some things are starting to look like a few years ago. I'm all for stirring the pot anyway, and I'm a believer in minerals coming from miners, it just seems more sensical and in line with intended careers and mechanics, vs so much coming from reprocessing, which was not intended.

Fun times ahead!