EVE General Discussion

Seeing the leaked documents on ring mining requiring more interactivity on asteroid mining and the changes to ice mining, it appears that CCP is moving in a direction of more interactivity in minining.

We will most likley see the details about this tomorrow during the talk on EVE and mining...

That said, I would like to play Devil's advocate and say this might actually be a bad thing for the EVE and its economy.

Mining draws the type of persons who don't want to bother with missions (which by most accounts is simply aggro managment). Miner's seem to enjoy playing the game with little interaction as possible. The pinacle of this aspect is found with people who ice mine which is basically targeting an ice rock, pushing a button, and then waiting 30 minutes.

These people have no interest in playing a game that requires them to push buttons every 60 secdonds. Even regular mining can be done mostly done afk.

Like I said, I don't know what most miner's do while mining. I have talked to people that actually sit there and watch the rocks, but I suspect most of them do other things while playing EVE. Things like watching Youtube or Netflix, chat on teamspeak, troll the forums, listen to music, or generally do other things. (I have been known to do homework).

From an anecdotal perspective, I have the option to play many games. From single player games, to a plethora of multiplayer games.

Personally two games I have been enjoying recently are Star Wars the Old Republic and Victoria 2. That said, I have been playing EVE quite a bit more than those two games even though I have been doing nothing more than Ice Mining. Why? Because I like to listen to music (Mozart) and sip on a glas of merlot while I surf the internet while ice mining.

Its quite relaxing and an interesting way to pass the time.

That said, I would not recommend it for everyone. Its not as exciting and thrilling as a lowsec roam which sometimes I like to do, but sometimes I just want to vegetate.

If let's say, ice mining and mining in general became much more interactive, those players who enjoy "playing the game while not playing the game" have lost their niche.

If one has to constantly pay attention to the game much like missions (well sort of) then you might as well be playing missions.

In this respect, I suspct that a good deal of miners who currently enjoyed their relaxing pastime (well when not being ganked) will find the game too interactive to sit there and relax.

I don't know what everyone will do (I'm sure someone will rage quit). Peronsally I might stop mining and do something else for a living (say turn my current funds into industry), but if I and others stop mining, then perhaps the mineral prices will start to rise causing inflation in general. Which I am sure mission runners and those who spend their real money on plex will not enjoy.

Of course this is just speculation until tomorrow's talk on mining.

It might be quite possible to mine at a lower rate without the interaction and the interaction only increases yield but is not a requirement.

But if mining does require more interactivity for any yield, will most of you non-miners consider mining? Will you missions runners and PVP types quit your current business model and pick up a mining barge to get in on the rising profit related to mining?

Or will only the current miners continue to mine?

Is CCP making a big assuming that players want more mining interactivity while not actually knowing this to be true?

And any players who answer in this thread "yes, I want more interactivity" are you going to personally mine because of these changes or is this just an expectation of what you think other people want?

And yes, I suppose I admitted to being a dirty miner.

I don't know a good answer for this. It is a paradox. Its like if I want to play games, but I have home work to do. I can do both while mining. I suppose it feels like some sort of accomplishment to see my wallet numbers increase while I did homework.

If mining was too interactive I would have to choose to just do my homework (well or fail the class).

If people want to pay $14.95 to play a game in which they do X task that other do not find fun, I would consider that their right.

I mean I do not find gate camping fun when you don't see anyone coming through for 30 minutes at a time, yet I do consider those who gate game have a right to spend their time that way.

If someone wants to stare at a screen and do nothing for hours on end, its just as a valid gameplay choice.

Its paying CCP's bill.

On a side note, I think that blurb about asteroid mining is about real life asteroid mining and not changes to EVE's mining mechanics. It was a great troll by CCP they way they worded it.

IMHO, there should be a choice between low interactivity mining and high interactivity mining. One being low in efficiency, the other being high by comparison.

AFK miners is a good thing for us gankers.

For a lot of people mining is a semi-afk activity. Make it more hands on and it's likely a lot of those that mine now won't bother.






I used to semi-afk mine, but I normally just used to read a book. But it's not something I do anymore so any changes to mining won't have that much effect on me.

That would just make it more boring than it already is.

have fun to mix this with monitoring local and d-scan

Most original thread of the last 5 minutes or so.

I keep reading about how mining is mostly an afk proposition. Maybe this is the case for somebody who runs a retriever and can park in a belt shooting a couple of rocks and filling his jetcan sized hold, this isn't the case for me.

I run a mining fleet which consists of 5 hulks an orca and a hauler. My cycle times on strip miners are just a little over 2 minutes. I can't just press buttons and then go away. With the yield I push out most rocks are popped within 2 cycles (4 minutes) I also have to ensure that each miner is hitting the correct ore type to avoid double and triple taps and am constantly having to lock more rocks across multiple accounts. Also I don't use ISBoxer, tried it, and currently not a fan. Needless to say, I'm pretty micromanaged to the hilt. If CCP wants to increase the degree of micromanagement then they can either add some form of automation, ie perhaps an automatic emptying of ore holds to the orca or perhaps a target list for the strip miners to follow. These are merely my suggestions off the top of my head so no need to start screaming about ZOMG TEH BOTZ!!!


I run a fleet to be profitable and mining is the way that I *choose* to make my isk. If mining is to become more involved to the point that I can't keep up with several accounts then I'll drop accounts to the point that it becomes manageable. If yield is not compensated for the more hands on management then I'll simply go find something else to do which may involve not spending so much money on Eve.


TL;DR tread carefully when "fixing" mining.

Thank you for your time.

This thread should be locked for complete lack of original content.

Move on folk, moan about something different for a change.