Player Features and Ideas Discussion

This topic has resurfaced a couple of times in regard to it's effect on ship balance and combat mechanics, however, the continued spiral of this concern is now reaching a breaking point where it's throwing the market in disarray.

Taking a quick look at the market just prior to making this post Mindlinks are averaging out around 100m (spanning from 5m for the impopular information mindlink to 500m for the mining mindlink, perpetuated by it's use in relative safety - both in empire and nullsec). The new tech II warfare links are still probably in the process of stabilization and their fluctuations likely have more to do with popularity of production slots than anything else - they too have a fairly large span however.

I understand the basics of an open market - but if i was an economics forecaster at a certain icelandic game studio i would probably be a bit weary looking at the climbing prices since the introduction of Tech III and the refocus on PvE (incursions, etc.) this game has seen in recent years.

• Mindlinks have gone in stages from trivial 500k, to 1m, to 5m, to 10m, to 20m, to 50m to 100m.
• As an example with counterpoint to any "free market" claims: the Y-T8 MWD only hit 15m or so before CCP decided to re-seed it.

Now, if i'm setting up an booster alt in the relative safety of a POS or a safed-up cloak/null Tech III these prices are not troublesome, it's a onetime investment (in anything other than extreme situations). However, if i am an actual on-grid combat pilot - using the leadership system as it was intended, flying and dying with my gangmates - not only gameplay concerns push me out of my role as it stands; now the market will as well.

This example is in the extreme: but provided i would (on a perfectly skilled pilot) setup a standard tripple-link Claymore from sell-orders at this very minute i would have to pay roughly: 200m (ship) + 100m (mindlink) + 30m (link) + 10m (link) + 5m (link) = 345m ISK for just the hull and leadership items.

• Real players are being pushed aside in favour of dubious alts - not only when it comes to making ISK.
• Active players, running leadership on their main character and flying them on the actual combat grid is a dying breed.
• It's time to wake up and re-seed the item distribution (at the very least for mindlinks) and rebalance the exploitable mechanics. You should be rewarded for actually playing the game, not punished.