Missions & Complexes

The problem is high sec but as I said earlier, there is an imbalance between missions and other types of income. A low sec lvl4 pays more than a high sec one, but the difference isn't big enough to justify doing them in low sec given the added inconveniences of roaming gangs and having to actually control a swath of space to run them in.

Low sec exploration pays way more than high sec exploration and since it can be run in smaller, nimbler ships, it's not nearly as problematic as lvl4 missions. The trouble is it's really hit or miss. The 5/10 and up sites are great but they are of course rare. If you really go out and try to hunt them, you may find one a week. Yes you'll make a billion isk off it on average, but a billion over the course of a week of probing and hopping around isn't actually a whole lot of isk compared to farming endless incursion sites or high sec lvl4's. But at least it isn't so boring.

Low sec lvl5's do pay better than high sec lvl4's but the problems encountered with lvl4's are only magnified with them. You can make a pretty penny that way though. I'd say it's better than high sec lvl4's, probably even with high sec incursions.

FW LP farming in its various forms pays better than just about anything you can do in high sec, but I don't expect that to last. We're going to crash the FW LP markets hard in the next few months. I expect the equilibrium will be less than that of high sec incursions since that's what it was prior to the FW changes.

I also feel obligated in this to bring up mining. Mining, anywhere in eve, is possibly the single worst thing you can do for income by a very wide margin. This strikes me as flawed.

I think all income sources should be more or less balanced at any given player "level." Level in this case refering to skills, fittings, ship and location. Example: mining veldspar in high sec with a max skilled, optimally fit hulk as part of a proper mining fleet (haulers, links) should pay equally well as running high sec incursions in a pimped blitz fleet. High sec lvl4's run in a small pimped gang should also be equally lucrative. The low sec version of any of these should pay far more obviously but once again, balanced across the various professions. This setup has never existed during my time playing eve, but it should. Players should not be forced into particular play styles simply because the devs decided to favor one above all the rest.

Low sec L4 missions pay better than high sec L4 missions.
Low sec exploration pays better then high sec exploration.
Low sec incursions pay better than high sec incursions.
Low sec ratting pays better than high sec ratting.

The issue here is you are comparing exploration with missions, not low sec to high sec. Unless you get some lucky finds, exploration pays less than missions.

Le sigh....

We've had enough mudflation in EVE, thanks to the introduction of incursions and migrating drones from alloys to bounties. It makes more sense to nerf high sec income than buff low/null sec income. The problem is that people oppose a nerf more than they oppose a buff, so it will probably never happen.

I made about 220 million in 5 days of ninja looting/salvaging from high-sec L4 mission runners. Give that a try.

wow....

My simple question turned into a 6 page diatribe...

For those that answered thank you! Apperently I need to find better ded complexes and the person mentioning how to spawn them I will have to do further research.

Not necessarily true -- I make quite a good "wage" (at least as good as hisec l4s, most days) doing all the losec Radar, Mag-, and "Fighting LADAR (IE, [Pirate Faction] Gas-Processing Site/Drug Lab -- bring Codebreaker, and tank!)" signatures I find, typically about a 6-8 jump trip form my base in a hisec border system.

The DED 'plexes are another story, those are the "chance to score big," but it is a small, and fully random chance, no more. That Cynabal BPC in your cargo, though...That makes up for a lot of "Grrrrrrr..." moments, indeed.

The way to mitigate that competition is to switch regions and/or factions fairly often -- once your little neck of the woods starts seeming dry, then it's time to pack the Cloaky-Hauler and pick a direction on the map.

It's definitely more of a "lifestyle," than a "job," and it really helps to get your inner RP'er on and let immersion take over, I find:

In losec explo, it really feels like space is huge again, that EVE really feels like EVE -- IE, there are people out there out to get you (Ishtar with ShadowSerp tank mods + Sisters prober = nice killmail + loot), and that your brain, knowledge and efforts make a real difference, that help you live in an environment that is, fundamentally, inimical to all life.

HiSec PvE, for the most part, is like trying to find parking at your local mall on "Big Sale Friday" whilst having to dodge jumped-up trailer-trash in these every 3 seconds whilst waiting in line listening to the town pump on her cellphone talking about how drunk she was when she slept with those three guys last night -- all at once. ("Woooooooo...! Toe-dully Awesome!" Ugh, [/facedesk])

E:

Losec does probably need --or it certainly could use-- some type of primary income, but it would have to be carefully balanced. (We don't want another hisec Incursion ISK-printer here) I submit that that income-source should be exclusive to losec, as well. Want those pirate-faction mission-agents, you gotta come to 0.4 and lower.

lvl5 missions is pure win.
When you know what to do,a 3 month player easily hits 400k LP per hour,a 6 month player can hit 600-800k LP maybe.
Then when you really invest ISK and actually put some effort in it,you can hit one story line per hour.
I think 1,5 MIL LPs per hour is a good income.After a while ofc you stop doing anything since you already bought all the crap you need and you are just bored to go farm since you dont really need it

I'd tell you how I make isk in Caldari lowsec, but then you'd rage yet again because I'm plexing. :)

Certainly can pay big, yes, but when you look at how long it takes to run a DED 4 (what like maybe 6-10 minutes or so) and compare that to DED 5 or 6 (i think i timed Serp DED5 as 24 minutes for me once, but this was before tier3 battlecruisers with Ishtar + Hurricane) - and add in all the little things that have made exploration so much easier (Shift and Alt keys, signature filtering and so on) - i think it is debateable if you are not better off scouring highsec in total safety all day long, only looking for those 4/10s. Not that i wouldn't find that boring after probably half a day...

Compared to when i first went into lowsec, which i think is more than a year ago, it certainly feels like there are much more people 'sifting through' from highsec. But still when you hit that jackpot, especially after you had to maybe go to nullsec for the final site of an expedition, it is (at least to me) so much more satisfying.

Oh and i think those Faction Warfare farmers get their ISK taken away when the nerfbat hits, seriosely. ATM it's utterly ridiculous ... not only from an income perspective, but also looking at the gameplay involved. Gunless frigates; stabbed, gunless frigates; couple day old characters in stabbed, gunless frigates - This is not what i associate with lowsec. FW was meant to encourage PVP...