Missions & Complexes

Yes. You're basically constantly assessing risk and trying not to get boxed in. It's somewhat luck based, but you can, by exploring in certain patterns, mitigate risk on the minigame. It's like a miniature roguelike game. A lot simpler, but there is some strategy to it.

Ignore the haters, the minigame is fine.
Certainly better than just waiting for the cycle to proc.

What disappoints me is the loot.
Currently EVERY other form of isk-making is more profitable than relic/data sites.

1. Bring a cargo scanner. Scan all hacking containers prior to doing the mini game.
2. when the cans are spewed out, try to find out how the can types correlate with the stuff inside the container. E.g. BPCs are always in Data cans, Decryptors in cans labelled "Parts" and so on. If you are lazy, wait a few days/weeks, it will certainly be somewhere on the net.
3. once you know what is in which cans, you'll go for the valuable stuff inside the container. There may be like 2-7 cans of the appropriate type comming out. Requires dexterity to catch them and if you are solo, the chance will not be 100% you get a certain item, but your chances are WAY better.

The only downside: you will KNOW when there WAS that shiny Faction BPC in the container - and you did not get it, because you flunked hacking or missed the can... Tough luck, man! *chr chr*
(made the whole thing more exciting and meaningful for me though)

ah... and 4. don't tell ANYONE. They will try to steal my hacking sites!!!!

I had fun last night. I made a good amount of money if they sell. The question is, will what I got sell?

I did about 10 sites last night. I don't have elite skills for hacking, but getting there. I would say the real challenge is in the decision making of what path to make and what to attack. I've blown up a few based on fails already with real complicated 0.0 sites both data and ruins.

Pretty sure the cans decloak you when they spew. This is an unfortunate event that both happens in-game and in the bedroom.

Prime: Are these considered cans? They don't show up in the overview anywhere as far as I have been able to tell, so I wasn't sure.

While i think the changes in hacking system are great step in the right direction, making the whole process interactive and interesting, the current implementation has some rather big flaws.

First of all the spewing of cans on successful hack. You are actually getting penalized for succeeding in activity if you try it alone (no matter that you invested considerable amount of SPs) .

I can't say i had much experience with the new system but i did few sites in 0.0 and i can safely say if you didn't do some research or haven't played much that type of games in order to know some tactics that will improve your chances, you have pretty good chances to fail at some hacking attempts.

I've managed to fail on 2 containers twice each, from around 12-13 total. Both containers exploded on the second fail. I have max skills and use t3 with the right subsystem, and i'm not a drooling idiot - meaning i won't attack an 60/40 antivirus node on 40 coherence. Still when i come upon a mini game that has almost all the possible nodes active, there is some chance you will get cornered at the beginning or mid game with no options to continue.

You start one route and come upon 60/40 antivirus, go another way to preserve coherence there you encounter another, go the third way just to come upon third. You open one data cashe hoping for utility and end up with suppressor. So i can say there is some chance (i can't say how big from my limited experience so far) that you will end up with the container blowing up in your face.

Sorry for the tirade but it was to illustrate the point that after you actually beat the skill based game (which takes in account your skills - via coherence and strength and your strategy at the game itself) instead of profiting for it, you get hit by the RNG bat and can actually lose the nice loot you have just won. Even with scanning the container and scooping only the right cans you still can miss the big prize. Which levees you wondering why do you even bother.

The second reason is the need for second person (lets not kid our self - in most cases second account). Encouraging team play is great but in the current implementation the second person does not contribute at all with the whole mini game . He only sits there and waits for the container to spew the goods. In the unlikely event that this second pilot is an actual player he will get bored to hell very fast and soon go for something more interesting like afk mining. And this defeats the whole purpose of encouraging team play.

And since i don't like just to drop critique without any constructive suggestions i'll share my ides for future improvement on the hacking game and mechanic as a whole.


To encourage team play you can actually implement some kind of remote module. It can have 1 per ship limit and can be activated on a ship or on container that is current being hacked. It can give some bonuses to the person who is actually doing the hacking. Or you can go even further and take into account the skills of the second player. Maybe giving him another instance of the minigame. If the person hacking the can fails his attempt his module will continue to cycle and the second pilot will have a chance of finishing the game. If he secedes the container will give the same loot as if the first have finished. But if both succeed the second pilot will receive some small amount of bonus loot.
The spewing mechanic will become obsolete. If you like to do hacking alone you go do it and if you hack container you get the loot you deserve. If you bring someone else with you, and he actually contributes to the hacking, then you get bonus loot. You can have the container spew one can for each player that finishes the hack.

This way you increase the potential loot a container can give by team of players, making a site with lets say an average reward of 25 mil when done by a single player to have average value of 40mil when done by two, 50 by three players and so on. This makes for far better scallability and will actually encourage teamplay.

Not to mention that this can contribute for some great EVE moments.

As an up and coming hacker you have just found the next from a series of great data sites and start to hack the containers in your shiny new buzzard. You are half through the minigame, so concentrated in your effort, that you notice the loki that has decloaked next to you only after you hear the sound of targeting and it's too late. As the loki finishes targeting you think "Whell it was a good run". Then you notice that the loki has activated a module on you. but it's not the warp scramble you have expected but instead it is Remote Hacking Amplifier and he is actually helping you hack the container. Thinking "What a great guy, now we can both hack finish the hack and get bonus loot, we can share and become BFFs forever" you finish your hack wait for him to finish his instance so you can share the spoils. And since this is EVE as soon as he finishes his hack and the container ejects the bonus loot, you get pointed and destroyed promptly.


This is my view of how the system can be improved, and since there are a lot smarter ppl than me working for CCP i hope they will come up with even better system, which will promote actual teamplay, taking into account all the players participating and engaging them in the game, not one where one player is scaning and hacking and only actinge as a loot mu

but its ******* shite...

the hacking game is ok, sort of but it does not require any sort of skill... The loot flying around in space is ****, ruins it for me because its annoying and stressful.

Honestly its like, congratulations you have won 70 million isk worth of loot, nope, nope ah-ah-ahhh you better get it quick, AWWWWW ... nah its gone, you've had, tough luck...

I'd much rather they hurry up an let us leave the ship, and go hack the place on foot, instead of having to worry about our overviews we would have to worry about getting the loot while potential being shot at by other players also trying to get at the loot, now that would be fun..

Couldn't agree with you more
What this does is lower your isk per hour ratio.. CCP killing your income yet again so they can sell more plex's
If you're in W-space ... you now have to kill sleepers salvage them stay alive fiddle with this damn mini game OH and look I'm getting jumped by a group of people b/c I dropped the ball on D-scanning thanks to this minigame taking up too much time and attention.

like seriously was in a C3 relic site tonight ... I deserved to get jumped soooo bad with all the time I was taking .. I just said screw it and left with nothing but the sleeper loot... not going to lose 3 tech 3 cruisers (multiboxin) b/c this minigame is taking up too much of my attention.

and you wonder why these guys get DDOS'd

BUUUT the probing changes are phenomenal TYVM CCP

"Wormholes are dangerous"

NAWW REALLY ? =) ♥

Yet after almost a year in a C6 I maintain a kill efficiency in the upper 90's and am approaching 1000 kills on the corp KB cumulatively with all my toons. A handful of those killmails have all 3 of my chars on em ^^ so we won't count those twice/thrice

Most of the time I welcome getting jumped, but not when I don't have a web n scram fitted. Which won't be a problem anymore since I'm dropping the analyzer


P.S. according to CCP greed is good.