Missions & Complexes

Well the over supply of deadspace modules on the market isn't only attributable to escalations. Regular DEDs are also a big contributing factor and the greatly lowered activity in nullsec probably means that farming DEDs in null has become much easier than it once was.

Personally I enjoy the low prices of DED modules because if prices were to go up I wouldn't be able to slap PIth X-Type boosters on everything =P Obviously my opinion is greatly biased but I do happen to run Sansha/Blood DEDs in lowsec occasionally and the prices of these modules haven't suffered as badly as Guristas modules have so it isn't very bad. Honestly it's mostly Guristas modules that are experiencing the biggest hit.

The big drop in price in Guristas modules have been going on for quite awhile now, even before the whole grr FozzieSov loss of players. I remember when I first started doing DEDs in Black Rise Pithum A-Type Medium Shield Boosters were like over a bil compared to 300~mil or so you get now. That was only a couple years ago. I've noticed Sansha/Blood modules (like the A-type EANMs) haven't taken anywhere close to as bad of a hit.

I'm a bit on the fence here, because I like the security of having an escalated site all to myself; when I started out, I was running with a AB Stratios, and more than once I was caught running something like the blood 3/10 and having someone else nab the loot. Very infuriating, to say the least. Whilst I like to think myself wiser against any such intrusions, I much prefer going through the sites without that hassle.

On the other hand, the plummeting value of loot is something that does concern me. For instance, yesterday I was going through a list of items that I was thinking of selling, and I spotted a few Coreli A-type mods. What caught me eye specifically were the prop mods; the Afterburner is now going for less then 20m, and the MWD is approaching that point as well. As the Serp 3/10 is something that can be escalated both from Hideaway's + Refuge's, the influx of a-type loot from that site has probably gone up exponentially. As someone who's income is mostly derived from exploration loot, and who happens to have most of his assets in and around Gallente space, that's mildly depressing.

Is the chance too high? Well, there have been occasions recently when I've done 20+ anoms in a row without one, and other's where I've got an escalation 3 consecutive times... then again, I haven't had too many sites recently where only the OPE dropped. Dare I say it, maybe the loot drop is something that could be tweaked instead?!



RNG is a fickle thing, but I was going to say they could increase the escalation chance a tad (not to how it was before the changes), but I don't think something as minimal as that would have any meaningful effect. I'll agree with DMC in that more people will be buying the higher tier deadspace loot the cheaper it gets, so prices are going to stabilise at some point, surely?

I feel like the biggest thing is just that gurista's occupy so much space, and much of it is heavily populated (including all that caldari empire space). Plus with the "new" hud you see when you have exploration sites in system so they seem to get run much faster. Even with a lower chance there are still so many sites completed that there will still be many escalations.

I think the armor stuff is helped out by the fact it goes on supers, and armor supers dominate. That said there are 3 factions that drop that stuff, and on the hardeners they all have the same stats. That stuff has pretty much all been on a slide as well, but not quite as bad as some of the shield stuff.

Yes I suppose that's a good point, hadn't thought of that.

It's kind of lame to be doing the hardest 'dungeons' in the game and getting loot that's crazy common though.

The number of exploration sites pales in comparison with the number of escalations.

The way I've seen it explained is that the sites you scan down with probes have a higher chance of spawning an escalation, whereas the sites you don't scan down have a lower chance of spawning an escalation.

I personally think the scan sites should be harder to scan down, and the non-scan sites should not even give an escalation. Then make the escalations have a higher chance for drops.

You say that, like it is a bad thing.

Nope, he has it explained correctly. You're just talking about two different things. Estella is talking about unrated complexes, which do have a higher chance to escalate than anomalies do. However the escalations don't lead to DED complexes.

Yeah there are DED sites that are scanned down as well, but not what Estella was talking about.

And I'd have to disagree about it being a race to the site. In extremely high population areas it is (basically Provi or High) but out in the end of nowhere null or low, they basically stay there until someone comes to run it, no competition needed. At least not in my experience.

^This. Escalations from anomalies shouldn't lead to DED complexes, but to different sites with different loot tables.
(but CCP was just lazy again, i guess )

I loved the old scanning system.
Was it a pain in the ass ?
Sure it was!
Was it gratifying as hell: You bet.

Of course I am trying hard to forget about the need to make 1001^n bookmarks and all those different types and sizes of probes.
Yet hell it was fun.
Also back then exploration sites very often had the deadspace bonus.
So if people wanted to find you, they would need to scan the site down themselves or camp the gates/stations aso.

I spend a lot of time in lowsec back then scanning sites and palying fox and hound with the locals.