Missions & Complexes

#1 - actually there is a very high degree of consistency in loot drops based on the mission, NPC, ship class and the position within the NPC fleet / group. But then you would need to spend time collecting and analyzing the data to know this, and given your drive to maximize your ISK / LP as evidenced by your previous posts here and by #2 above I doubt you have the patience or that you would be willing to dedicate the time needed to work this out.

#2 - this is nothing but your personal opinion, even though it is shared by many does not change that fact. The old adage of one man's junk is another man's treasure certainly applies here. To some it is not WHAT you get that matters it is simply the process of obtaining it. I have corp mates that hate to shoot things but find great enjoyment in being the janitorial staff of EvE, they are quite content simply running around and cleaning up the useless stuff people like you leave behind.

Point of view and how long one has been in the game also plays a role here. New / newer players can easily make more cleaning up a single level 4 mission than they could make in a week or more running level 1 and 2 missions.

And then there is the person and the goals they want to achieve. A friend of mine is a numbers geek, he loves anything to do with numbers and figuring statistical averages etc. He is currently working on several projects in EvE that consume hours of game play time simply collecting numbers so he can analyze them with no real in game benefit to be gained by the efforts.

(OP here)

This is an awesome response; a very holistic view of the game and time spent. Very nice response.

In my case, I'm looking for a fun project with numbers combined with a simple piece of knowledge:

When I am done killing stuff, and I've looted / salvaged only the battleship wrecks, I want to have a general percentage in mind of what I'm leaving behind in terms of salvage and loot. Sure - my gut tells me 10%. But who knows, maybe it's occasionally 20%, or 2%, or whatever. The number doesn't matter to me, so much as _knowing_ it does. Plus, I'm going to look at it with LP and mission rewards factored in, so I can compare what's left behind against total rewards.

It's just like you said - it's the *process* for me, not the end result. Most times, I just do mission running to fulfill my OCD of full-clears. Even if it means sitting in a pocket for 5 extra minutes salvaging wrecks. (For fun, I took on full spawn aggro in Rogue Drone Harassment. Killed so fast, MTU + tractor + 2 salvagers couldn't keep up with wrecks.)

Sometimes it's fun just to research Eve in addition to playing it.

There's nothing wrong with looting or salvaging - it's just not a very efficient way of earning ISK for the most part (there are a few exceptions, but these are becoming increasingly rare). Players used to be able to make a career out of salvaging but those days are long since past.

Perhaps it is the loot / salvage charts I have collect from more than 300 trips through Damsel over the years that allow me to see see what you cannot. Memory and the perception of things past can be a tricky thing which is why you can interview 20 people who all witnessed the same crime and get a different story from every one of them.


Best read again, I never stated anything about loot / salvage and how good or bad it is. In point #1 above you stated that there is no consistency to loot / salvage in missions, my comment addresses that by stating that there is a very high degree of consistency in loot / salvage drops when comparing NPC, ship class, mission and other factors.
Since you seem to have the word "consistency" confused with how good or bad something is here is a link that will help clear up that confusion.

Related to this quoted section of your post if it sucks so bad why do people like you waste so much game time running missions when there are many things in game you could be doing that have a higher ROI?


Before I start the is a short version at the end of this post for those who do not want to read it all.

Considering the large number of players in the game and the extremely small sized group that frequents this or any other EvE related forum I would argue that your 99.95% claim is just another personal opinion and it grossly overstates the realities of the game as a whole. And yes that IS my opinion.

Setting that aside it simply does not matter how many people state that mission loot / salvage is worthless. As long as it has any ISK, or other value / use in the game it's worth depends on what you want / need in the game so indeed the adage of one man's junk is another man's treasure most certainly applies. Just few examples to illustrate what I mean.

Because of your single minded drive to maximize your ISK / LP from missions you see most loot / salvage as worthless, yet DMC, myself an many others I know see it as a valuable source of minerals especially those like Zydrine that cannot be mined in high sec as well as a source for the salvage materials needed to produce rigs.

Then there are the groups of new players I like to have join me in missions. In one 20 to 30 minute stretch of time full clearing a single level 4 mission the loot / salvage they can get is worth more ISK than they can make in a week or more of running level 1 and level 2 missions solo and they get the greater standings boost as a bonus. By spending several enjoyable hours talking to them on TS, teaching them about the game while running missions in the process they make more ISK in one gaming session than they could in a month or more of running missions solo, I get to have fun playing a game and spending time with like minded individuals and I call that a win for everyone involved and that makes the loot / salvage worth more than it's imple ISK value in game.

Yet another point of view, because of my job and how much I get paid and how much I can afford to spend buying plex I simply do not need to concern myself with worthless crap like how much ISK / LP per hour I make or how many ships I lose. Everything I do and everything I have done in the past I did simply because I wanted to do it, and I did it because I enjoyed doing it and yes that includes "wasting" my time cleaning up all that "worthless" space junk you leave laying around.

Promised short version of one man's junk is another man's treasure.
Your worthless junk, can be a significant source of ISK for another player.
Your worthless junk, could be a valuable source of rig building materials.
Cleaning up your worthless junk could be a source of enjoyment for another player.
So yes there is truth in the one man's junk is another man's treasure, because the value of loot / salvage cannot be measured in ISK alone. Even if we measure it's worth in ISK alone the true value depends entirely on point of view. 4 to 8 mil from an average level 4 mission may be "worthless" to you, however to a new player starting to explore the world of PvP 4 to 8 mill is enough to buy several fully fit ships to take out and experiment with.