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Player Owned Customs Office: Your feedback on the past month

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Author
Neo Agricola
Gallente Federation
#41 - 2012-01-04 14:26:01 UTC  |  Edited by: Neo Agricola
CCP Omen wrote:
...

1. Is there anything related to the Customs Office feature or PI taxes that you think is broken or terrible?

2. Do you think the amount of PvP engagements has changed in EVE as a result of this feature?

3. Do you think the feature has created new opportunities for small to mid-sized corporations?

4. Do you think PI has become more or less relevant in EVE?

5. Do you have any awesome story related to a Player Owned Customs Office?

1.) No Comment
2) No
3) see 2)
4) that Question is BS! sorry. Someone has to do PI for PosFuel and so on. and currently it is a PitA (aka. clickfest) which takes a lot of time to set up...
5) see 2)

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pmchem
Brutor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#42 - 2012-01-04 15:02:22 UTC
RubyPorto wrote:
Scrapyard Bob wrote:

Planets still need to have their refill rates adjusted upwards, to support larger numbers of harvest colonies packed onto a single planet without completely trashing the resources harvested for everyone. POCOs encourage people to congregate onto fewer planets then before.


Sounds like you've got two competing forces striving for equilibrium.

Low yield due to competition results in diaspora. High costs to set up and maintain a POCO encourage centralization. The market will determine where the balance lies.

I see no problem there. Moving is relatively painless, due to being able to scan quickly and easily for concentration, while knowing what you're going to get.



Yeah, I do not think planets need refill rates adjusted up. The universe is a big, big place and too little of it is fully utilized. If one planet is too heavily used, then people should just go elsewhere. Make a different product. Set up a new POCO. Not have CCP make it so everyone in a region is using the same plasma planet or whatever. Increasing refill rates will also make PI goods more common due to increased production, lowering prices, making POCOs less important, etc.

No need to increase refill rates.

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trianna Ekanon
The Spawning Pool
#43 - 2012-01-04 15:47:36 UTC
I would say that PI demand needs to go way up. The only market thats somewhat robust is the Pos fuel market. Having POCO's use P4 was great but that was only a temporary boom with a small residual market.

Perhaps its time to start need electronics to make spaceships.
Jack Dant
The Gentlemen of Low Moral Fibre
#44 - 2012-01-04 17:06:09 UTC  |  Edited by: Jack Dant
trianna Ekanon wrote:
I would say that PI demand needs to go way up. The only market thats somewhat robust is the Pos fuel market. Having POCO's use P4 was great but that was only a temporary boom with a small residual market.

Perhaps its time to start need electronics to make spaceships.

Yes, the PI market is just not liquid enough at the moment. Working from CCP's market data from last year (and it's about time more recent data was released), the daily trade for most PI items in Jita is absurdly low.

Except for stuff used for POS fuel or T2 components, each P2 or P3 item moves 200-800m isk a day, while P4 do just 2-4b/day. For comparison, most complex reactions move around 10-12b isk a day.

Giving all those items a place in T2 production would make for a much healthier market and encourage more people to do PI.

What happens in lowsec, stays in lowsec, lowering the barrier to entry to lowsec PVP: https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=476644&#post476644

Callic Veratar
#45 - 2012-01-04 17:37:52 UTC
My biggest issues at the moment are:

1) Once I've set up my planets, if I want to change the materials I'm extracting I need to reconfigure the extractors and heads, the routing to storage, the processing from that storage, and the routing to launch. It's very tedious. I would love to be able to set up the processors to process any good, as long as it had the full set of ingredients (preferably with a prioritized list).

That way I can set up 3 basic processors and 2 advanced processors and their routing chains that will process anything that's available to them, without having to delete and reroute everything each time. All I need to do is introduce any new goods into the chain (by extraction or import) and it'll fire up.

2) Storage requires a stupid amount of power for a trivial amount of space. Either the requirements need to go way down or the storage way up (possibly both).

3) I have several planets that produce P2 goods from P0. I would love to have more info on the base UI about how much each extractor was pulling. At the moment, I have to flip back and forth between the extractor's program menus to make sure that I'm getting more of the one I'm short on.

4) Remembering the scanner sensitivity for each extractor would be a great boon. I rarely change what I'm extracting, so instead of having to reconfigure the scanner 12 times every time I restart my extractors, it'd be nice to only have to do that once in a long while if I'm changing what I'm looking for.

Some general ideas:

1) The ability to process resources at a POS would be quite interesting. I would expect that it would need BPOs (or BPCs produced through PI) and take longer than on planet production, but it adds more options and flexibility without increasing the passive income of a player by allowing them to have more planets.

2) The ability to link command centers to share resources. (Potentially one link per level of command center).
spookydonut
Caldari Provisions
Caldari State
#46 - 2012-01-04 21:06:23 UTC
Callic Veratar wrote:
My biggest issues at the moment are:

1) Once I've set up my planets, if I want to change the materials I'm extracting I need to reconfigure the extractors and heads, the routing to storage, the processing from that storage, and the routing to launch. It's very tedious. I would love to be able to set up the processors to process any good, as long as it had the full set of ingredients (preferably with a prioritized list).

That way I can set up 3 basic processors and 2 advanced processors and their routing chains that will process anything that's available to them, without having to delete and reroute everything each time. All I need to do is introduce any new goods into the chain (by extraction or import) and it'll fire up.

2) Storage requires a stupid amount of power for a trivial amount of space. Either the requirements need to go way down or the storage way up (possibly both).

3) I have several planets that produce P2 goods from P0. I would love to have more info on the base UI about how much each extractor was pulling. At the moment, I have to flip back and forth between the extractor's program menus to make sure that I'm getting more of the one I'm short on.

4) Remembering the scanner sensitivity for each extractor would be a great boon. I rarely change what I'm extracting, so instead of having to reconfigure the scanner 12 times every time I restart my extractors, it'd be nice to only have to do that once in a long while if I'm changing what I'm looking for.

Some general ideas:

1) The ability to process resources at a POS would be quite interesting. I would expect that it would need BPOs (or BPCs produced through PI) and take longer than on planet production, but it adds more options and flexibility without increasing the passive income of a player by allowing them to have more planets.

2) The ability to link command centers to share resources. (Potentially one link per level of command center).


Heres someone who didn't read the OP at all.

How does any of that have to do with Player Owned Customs Offices?
non judgement
Without Fear
Flying Burning Ships Alliance
#47 - 2012-01-05 00:06:12 UTC  |  Edited by: non judgement
The only thing I'd say is that it'd be nice if the Interbus CO had less shield HP. Maybe half the shields (and maybe half the armor as well) would be great. I would start replacing more of them if the Interbus CO were easier to kill. I do of course realise that it is mainly for bigger corps, who have more people and can defend the new POCO, to replace the old Interbus CO.
Gyges Skyeye
Caldari Provisions
Caldari State
#48 - 2012-01-05 04:01:47 UTC
1. I think that the POCO system could be much more user friendly if there was a way to more easily set aside the PI tax revenue. Having it necessary for someone to go and tally up all PI tax entries in the corp wallet or even create a program for it is not really fun, nor in my opinion a worthwhile barrier to have.

As these new features are added, it will help if you iterate on some of the older features on which they rely. I'm sure that most of the space accountants would love to have more than Seven wallet divisions, or even better have separate revenue streams be directed into their own piles.

I presume that much of the original wallet features were created with the game in 2003 and was possibly as much as 32 bit chips could handle. But you know, were in 2011 now and it would be nice for Eve to kind of catch up. People can go out and buy software programs to do their taxes for them now. We can handle having a more powerful suite of tools at our disposal to manage our space empires.

3. Provided mid to small corps have the firepower and time to take down the interbus ones, yes.


2. I haven't noticed a big increase in pvp activities, but I live in a wormhole. My big thought on this is: If it was your intent to have conflict originate over Customs offices, I feel that has largely failed. I say this because to begin with the customs office as it stands is kind of antithetical to conflict. Customs offices right now are industrial facilities and small ones. Customs offices are never the vital installation owned by residents. (Maybe they will be once they are tied into Sov but not currently) If you own a null sec system Sovereignty is your most valuable asset. If you live in W-space your POS is your most valuable asset. If you live in Lowsec you are probably crazy or a pirate and also probably rely on high sec. If you live in high sec, well NPCs own everything there anyway. That I find to be your problem.

My suggestion is allow player corporations to gain license to operate customs offices in high sec. Think of it as CONCORD franchising out the customs offices if you will. The current tax rates remain the base rate. The 20%* tax that currently exists continues to be paid to CONCORD. Player corporations may charge additional fees beyond this 20% tax rate and keep the margin for themselves.

Because the current war system kind of sucks, I am going to propose a relatively simple system to encourage combat focused on these structures. In order to gain ownership, corps can either place a bid to concord on a customs office or blow it up and place one down the old fashioned way. A sample bidding system would be a mandatory 25 million isk minimum bid, minimum auction time of 48 hours after an opening bid on a customs office is received, and a 6 hour shotgun rule on bids finishing the auction. If a planet in high sec has no customs office at downtime, concord simply places a new one there under its ownership. (Queing the whole bidding process to start over again.) (I envision bids being public knowledge. No silent auctions)

Now in order to destroy a customs office, instead of the default war system, I propose these mechanics. A corp or alliance may file a right of claim petition with CONCORD over ability to destroy a customs office for 5 million isk, or over an entire system for 25 million isk. A corp may only have 10 planetary claims or 2 system claims active at once. (Basically nothing exceeding 50million isk in value, at which point a normal war dec will suffice for such larger ventures) These claims function for a weeks time regardless of if they now own the customs office in question.

This should be pretty similar to the war system except allow for a more focused approach allowing an actual industry to spring up around owning the customs offices. The claim would basically allow for unrestricted hostilities between the claimant and the current owner on the grid of the customs office only. People can adapt their fighting methodologies thusly.

Thoughts?



4. I think with rising PI product prices comes rising awareness of their origin. PI is still most entirely avoidable for all but the largest groups of players.


*or whatever % it is

(Sorry if there is a double post. Internet is futzy today)
RubyPorto
RubysRhymes
#49 - 2012-01-05 04:59:29 UTC
That is an absurdly overcomplicated system. In Hisec, you don't get to own public infrastructure. Full stop. You get POSes and that's it.

As for the combat only allowed on Grid, you know you can easily build Grid walls and the like to keep your Logi safe and let you pop back and forth across grids, right? Making neutral RR even sillier?

Grid-Fu Guide.

Some of it's been ruled naughty, most of it's still nice. Santa's not going to bother checking it twice.

Second thought on that, if you want to shoot someone in Hisec, Wardec them (CCP fix the DecShields so I stop sounding like an ass for suggesting that people do something that can't help)

"It's easy to speak for the silent majority. They rarely object to what you put into their mouths." -Abrazzar "the risk of having your day ruined by other people is the cornerstone with which EVE was built" -CCP Solomon

Souchek Lehman
Doomheim
#50 - 2012-01-05 13:58:09 UTC
Good afternoon.
I am a fairly new player and the CEO of a small company. Not exactly the best at S&I, however I thought I would chip in my two isk. We were recently involved in a struggle for control over a particular systems POCOs. In the end we ended up on the losing side, however I can say that during that week I had some of the highest and lowest moments of my trip through EVE.
It was a wild ride, I probably learned more about low sec politics in that week than in the preceding three months. At times I got fairly stressed but in the end I had more fun sitting docked with thirteen chat windows open then I ever had in WoW progression raiding. Hell, I even got my first two kills.
I think in the end it was a great idea, and with a little tweaking will work out just fine. All the corps and alliances involved in our conflict were mid to small sized. Keep it coming and give us some more space toys to set up and tear down. Its things like this that made me want to play this game and I have been very pleased with your work since the new xpac.
Thank you and hope you had a good holidays.
S.L.

TEN THOUSAND YEARS - Recruiting chill dudes for exploration! In game channel - 10k lounge

RubyPorto
RubysRhymes
#51 - 2012-01-05 14:47:52 UTC
Souchek Lehman wrote:
Good afternoon.
I am a fairly new player and the CEO of a small company. Not exactly the best at S&I, however I thought I would chip in my two isk. We were recently involved in a struggle for control over a particular systems POCOs. In the end we ended up on the losing side, however I can say that during that week I had some of the highest and lowest moments of my trip through EVE.
It was a wild ride, I probably learned more about low sec politics in that week than in the preceding three months. At times I got fairly stressed but in the end I had more fun sitting docked with thirteen chat windows open then I ever had in WoW progression raiding. Hell, I even got my first two kills.
I think in the end it was a great idea, and with a little tweaking will work out just fine. All the corps and alliances involved in our conflict were mid to small sized. Keep it coming and give us some more space toys to set up and tear down. Its things like this that made me want to play this game and I have been very pleased with your work since the new xpac.
Thank you and hope you had a good holidays.
S.L.


You sir, Win at being an EVE neophyte. I tip my hat to ye.

"It's easy to speak for the silent majority. They rarely object to what you put into their mouths." -Abrazzar "the risk of having your day ruined by other people is the cornerstone with which EVE was built" -CCP Solomon

Vincent Athena
Photosynth
#52 - 2012-01-05 17:37:09 UTC  |  Edited by: Vincent Athena
1. Is there anything related to the Customs Office feature or PI taxes that you think is broken or terrible?

For me the main issue is that not only was the tax increased, but the cost basis for the tax was massively increased. The way it is now it really increases the cost of operating my factory planets. Fortunately the market price for what I make has gone way up, so Im still making excellent profit. For now.

2. Do you think the amount of PvP engagements has changed in EVE as a result of this feature?

Ive heard it has, but have had little personal involvement.

3. Do you think the feature has created new opportunities for small to mid-sized corporations?

We set some up, but last I heard the income was pathetic, and the payback will be years.

4. Do you think PI has become more or less relevant in EVE?

For me, more relevant as I'm making more money.

5. Do you have any awesome story related to a Player Owned Customs Office?

Not awesome, but: We cleared out all the COs from a low sec system and set our own. Used several carriers, battleships, and a Nyx. The local pirates noticed the Nyx, but did nothing. A few days later they knocked 3 POCOs into reinforced. We got our plans together and went in. The pirates were shooting some of the POCOs to get our attention. We brought in several BS's, several carriers and a smattering of other ships. They all hid or logged, except for one Drake that they sacrificed to us. A few triage cycles later all the POCOs were repped up. We have had no issues since.

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Kagan Storm
Doomheim
#53 - 2012-01-05 19:03:44 UTC
CCP Omen wrote:
Hello and a happy new year!

1. Is there anything related to the Customs Office feature or PI taxes that you think is broken or terrible?

2. Do you think the amount of PvP engagements has changed in EVE as a result of this feature?

3. Do you think the feature has created new opportunities for small to mid-sized corporations?

4. Do you think PI has become more or less relevant in EVE?

5. Do you have any awesome story related to a Player Owned Customs Office?

Best regards
CCP Omen


1. taxes are fine just enough to make you wana do something and not be terribly bothered if you cant
2. no
3. yes. A LOT
4. CSAA are made from it.. lol... and poses for moongoo :) Relativ yes. Controllable like moons no.
5. no

MY questions back

1. why does planet view show position of Customs office?

2. WHY NO DISCOUNT FOR PEOPLE WITH HIGH CONCORD STANDING. Would make sense

3. Why POCO dosent use ISK for operating? i mean there is people on it.. people I have shoot and killed... you know... you flip stations.. kill a few and all go back to work... POCO you blow up. Make it use atlase a Janitor or some exotic dancers or something Bear Custom office official. When you blow it up i tahs 50% chance of dropping it CONCORD sells themBear

4. Shoot POCO. POCO drops PI? Why no?

My ego is the the size of my carriers jump range.

RubyPorto
RubysRhymes
#54 - 2012-01-05 19:57:41 UTC
Kagan Storm wrote:

2. WHY NO DISCOUNT FOR PEOPLE WITH HIGH CONCORD STANDING. Would make sense

3. Why POCO dosent use ISK for operating? i mean there is people on it.. people I have shoot and killed... you know... you flip stations.. kill a few and all go back to work... POCO you blow up. Make it use atlase a Janitor or some exotic dancers or something Bear Custom office official. When you blow it up i tahs 50% chance of dropping it CONCORD sells themBear

4. Shoot POCO. POCO drops PI? Why no?


2. Since it's trivial to get up to 5 Sec, it would remove much of the tax incentive to go to a POCO from a IBCO. Also Interbus != CONCORD

3. If you mean fuel, no structure in EVE that can not be picked up and carted away uses fuel. In essence, the cost (since it's non-recoverable, it's a cost rather than an asset [like a POS is]) to run the POCO is the cost to set one up amortized over how long you can keep it alive.

4. Yeah, Why no PI drops from POCOs? That seems silly to me as well.

"It's easy to speak for the silent majority. They rarely object to what you put into their mouths." -Abrazzar "the risk of having your day ruined by other people is the cornerstone with which EVE was built" -CCP Solomon

Tau Cabalander
Retirement Retreat
Working Stiffs
#55 - 2012-01-05 22:51:54 UTC  |  Edited by: Tau Cabalander
1. Is there anything related to the Customs Office feature or PI taxes that you think is broken or terrible?
Players should be able to set the base prices, not just the taxation amount. Or merge the two into one, and make it a flat amount by type.

Taxation by individual standings would also be a good idea.

Storage silos in PI have been broken since day one: they are useless for their small capacity and high requirements.

2. Do you think the amount of PvP engagements has changed in EVE as a result of this feature?
It has increased. But I doubt it is anything to brag about.

3. Do you think the feature has created new opportunities for small to mid-sized corporations?
Depends on the definition, but I'd suggest the answer is no.

4. Do you think PI has become more or less relevant in EVE?
Many players have stopped doing PI in hisec. It is no longer really useful to new players or hisec dwellers.

5. Do you have any awesome story related to a Player Owned Customs Office?
Can't tell if you are being serious or not. They are unexciting defenseless structures.
Mandarani
Rancho Buena Vista
#56 - 2012-01-06 03:04:08 UTC
1. Is there anything related to the Customs Office feature or PI taxes that you think is broken or terrible?

Nah, refinement is always nice, but nothing is terribad

2. Do you think the amount of PvP engagements has changed in EVE as a result of this feature?

Yes This is exactly what LowSec needs, have Kill mails to prove it (yay for silly dreads).

3. Do you think the feature has created new opportunities for small to mid-sized corporations?
Most certainly, profits are nothing to write home about, but this brings more fights

4. Do you think PI has become more or less relevant in EVE?
Dunno, POCOs didn't really change anything in that regard.

5. Do you have any awesome story related to a Player Owned Customs Office?
Fights are good, to reinforce someone's POCO, then make friends and end up recruiting them is awesome!
Miiikka
Stanza Inc.
4S Alliance
#57 - 2012-01-06 11:09:06 UTC
Professor Alphane wrote:
Don't think there has really been enough time for everything to settle into a pattern yet.

What I would say is broken (well perhaps not broken but against the grain at least) is a couple of things.

1. You just handed on a gold plater null sec alliances a bonus 10% on there already larger share of PI profit.

2. Your system seems to try and encourage people to hold and defend property in low sec, something no-one is really going to undertake as the rest of the tools a null sec alliance have for these purposes aren't available. Discouraging people from taking that 'risk it for a biscuit route' and basically doing the oppossite of what you seem to have intended.

3. The overall effect therefore was a nerf to high sec ops and a buff for the already phenominally rich null sec alliances, plus added another complication for those who want to dip there toe in riskier ventures.

All in all a nice idea, when implemented doing almost the complete opposite of what was intended, pretty much par for the course really.

Just the way I see things of course your milage may vary.


/edit- thanks for asking though Lol



Pretty much this.

Most of the large Sov holding Alliances are tearing down the Interbus Offices and erecting their own, thus adding to their already substantial income stream.

The Offices in lowsec have had some activity surrounding them, but are for the most part untouched.

Small Corps who do not have the means to destroy/defend these offices are being shut out, by the added complication of increased charges for their members who carry out PI to offset the costs of towers etc.

So, as predicted another additional income stream for large Alliances, another blow for the small corps/individuals trying to make a little profit out of PI.

My 4 characters continued with PI for a week after this change was implimented to see how things went, but then I stopped them on all 20 planets. The higher initial charges, along with the reduced profit (which was not that much anyway) makes it not worth the time invested anymore.

Its a shame, but not entirely unexpected.
Toshiro GreyHawk
#58 - 2012-01-06 14:03:36 UTC
First off, I'd like to point out that there was more than one aspect to the game play modification that created the POCO's - which was the one that turned the Hi Sec ones over to Concord and drastically increased the taxes on imports and exports.

So - if you only want to hear about Low/Null Sec POCO's and don't give a damn about the impact of the taxes on Hi Sec PI (where I suspect most of the people doing PI are) - then the OP should have been written such and #1 shouldn't just refer to "PI Taxes" but to "POCO Taxes".

Now - as to trying to get people to go down to Low Sec by taxing them into doing it - that can have some effect but for the most part - the taxes will not get people who are Hi Sec Care Bears down into Low Sec - they will simply cease whatever activity you're penalizing if the penalties become to onerous. To really encourage people to go down to Low Sec - you'd need to raise taxes on EVERYTHING in Hi Sec. As long as they can just change occupations - that's mostly what they're going to do. Of course - a number are going to quit the game before they go down to Low Sec ... so that's something else you'll have to deal with if you do tax everything in Hi Sec at a higher rate.

Now on to the questions as they effect Hi Sec PI, much of which has already been said - but is being repeated here for emphasis.



1. Is there anything related to the Customs Office feature or PI taxes that you think is broken or terrible?

a) The remarks made by others concerning the storage situation are to the point. In the past - a work around to the near usless nature of the storage silos - was to use the CO for the over flow. Now - you're not only getting taxed to send it up there - you're getting taxed to send it back - and then - getting taxed again to finally export your finished product. Thus - as mentioned - the drastically increased taxes on import/export through the CO have had a negative effect on this work around and high lighted the flaw in the design of the Storage Silos. Most people don't use them. While they cost about a third of the price of another Launch Pad - initial set up costs are not the biggest problem - Power Grid is. Given that the initial surge at the begining of an extraction cycle can over flow the small capacity of a Storage Silo - it has no real use. For newer players - the extra cost of using Launch Pads as Storage Silos - is not only counter intuitive - but much more expensive.

b) Whether the taxes are terrible or not - depends on how much money you've already got. For most people who have spent some time already playing the game - the increased taxes are a real irritant - but not crippling. However - for newer players just getting into PI - they raise the bar on what is needed to get started. As is - with skill costs and infrastructure there is a real cost to setting up a colony - and if you are setting up multiple colonies that ... multiplies those costs.

c) There are different PI strategies that depend on what it is you want to do and what's available to you to do it with. The creation of Factory Planets - where materials are exported from one planet to be imported to another - is heavily effected by the increase in taxes - especially for individuals or small corporations that don't have a lot of money to get their PI efforts started.

d) As mentioned - the fact that you cannot use a corporate Wallet to pay these taxes - means that you've got to manually move money from the individuals corporate wallet to their personal wallet - which is a pain in the ass. Before - since the taxes were then trivial - it wasn't as big a problem since you didn't have to do it as much. Now it is. Given all the other pain in the ass stuff associated with this - it would be nice if this was fixed. Currently, PI is done by individuals - not corporations. There is for example no corporate access to the CO or the Launch Pad.

e) As to trying to get around paying taxes through manual launches from the Control Center ... I've not seen that as very workable using expedited transfers due to the low storage capacity of the CC and the lag between transfers but I've not tried routing to the CC ... *shrug* ...


2. Do you think the amount of PvP engagements has changed in EVE as a result of this feature?

Don't know.


Toshiro GreyHawk
#59 - 2012-01-06 14:05:41 UTC
3. Do you think the feature has created new opportunities for small to mid-sized corporations?

That is hard to say - especially since PI is in fact done by individuals rather than corporations ...

As mentioned above - for individuals seeking to start in PI - it's raised the bar. Once you get your colonies going and making money it's not that bad - but it makes the start up harder - as you are paying taxes on something you haven't sold yet. We pay taxes in the Market Place on goods we have sold - but then we already have the money from the sale to pay the taxes. With PI - you are paying the taxes just to import and export goods - before you've gotten anything out of them. Then of course - you have to pay taxes AGAIN - when you actually sell them.

So it depends on what you mean by "small and mid-sized". If they've got the money to deal with the start up costs then it's not that bad. If they don't ... they're going to have to come up with it before they can do anything really worth while - and do it properly. With low skills and little money - you can go **** around with PI but it's mostly not going to be worth your trouble. The other factor in this - AGAIN - is that ... since PI is an activity of individuals - the amount of corporate support they can draw on is a major factor in a PI start up. If the Corporation is behind them and willing to pony up the start up costs - then "mid-sized" corporations should have no problem ... depending on how many people they are trying to get started at a time and what their other finnacial obligations are. The "small" corporations ... especially the one man corporations ... are going to have a much rougher time with startups.

Another factor here is what is meant by "opportunities". In the realm of PI - no - it hasn't created any new opportunities and has made PI itself harder. For those seeking to exploit or blow up people - yeah - there it may have created opportunities. I personally have no trouble believing that people would just go around blowing up Interbus CO's without putting up their own - just for the joy of destruction and to mess with other players. I mean ... this is EVE ... of course they would do that. How long they'd keep it up - would be one thing - but then - Interbus isn't reseeding those CO's ... so if no one puts up a POCO ... and defends it ... CC launches are all anyone trying to do PI on that planet has or is going to have.

In any case - as has been pointed out - the larger the corporation - the more they are in a position to take advantage of what the POCO's have to offer in terms of exploitation as well as in denying resources to those weaker than they are. Maybe they have all the POCO's they can defend - but that doesn't stop them from destroying the ones someone else might use.

4. Do you think PI has become more or less relevant in EVE?

I would imagine it was about the same. The market for PI products hasn't changed - and since you can't get these products anywhere other than PI - nothings changed there.


5. Do you have any awesome story related to a Player Owned Customs Office?

I have no awesome stories. Just stories about what a pain in the ass it is to manually juggle money and try to come up with on better on site storage (at the expense of production) since the work around of using the CO as over flow has become less desirable. For me - the entire POCO evolution has been nothing but a negative ... except for the increased prices I'm getting but then we'll have to see what happens with that. If it stays the way it is - then the increase in prices I'm getting will have made up for the increased irritations. Of course ... you might want to ask the people who are paying those increased prices how they feel about it. Some of them may well be able to just pass the price increase on - but somewhere - someone - is going to be paying for the extra money I'm getting for my goods. However ... if it doesn't stay where it's at or go up some more ... if I end up getting about what I was getting before and have to deal with all the aggravation then I'll be the one who's not happy.

*shrug*
Gustavus Adolphus
Croatoan Enterprises
#60 - 2012-01-06 14:08:01 UTC
1. Is there anything related to the Customs Office feature or PI taxes that you think is broken or terrible?

If the stated goal was to punish PvE types or provide LOL's for griffers, it’s been achieved. PI taxes really don’t matter at all, you could raise them over 1,000% or even 1,000,000%, they just get amortized into the final production costs and passed on to the end consumer, hello ISK sink.

2. Do you think the amount of PvP engagements has changed in EVE as a result of this feature?

Not really, no one cares, griffers blow up Interbus CO and POCOs alike; but it is nice to see the one sided care for PvP types being posted in a PvE forum.

3. Do you think the feature has created new opportunities for small to mid-sized corporations?

Thanks for the LOL's, oh sorry, was that meant to be a question or a sarcastic joke?

4. Do you think PI has become more or less relevant in EVE?

Its part of a production chain for many items, PI will always be in stasis per the importance or demand of the final item(s).

5. Do you have any awesome story related to a Player Owned Customs Office?

Yeah, one time at Band Camp…..