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itll take time to build the new structures tho. A cut off on the release date may not be good because of that.

That's just one part of the picture. Keep in mind that not only are there easier ways to get resources, playstyles also differ quite a bit, and in lowsec there is no sense of control (fun to explore the existing playstyles / niches there, it all revolves around that) where it comes to mining.

Not that anybody from outside of lowsec would be that interested in going there, except if the playstyles match, for the available tiers of rewards in resource harvesting like mining. But this is a state which is derivative, it's not a root cause, if you will.

It's a fun exploration of behaviour following mechanisms, as opposed to the other way around. One is able to reinvigorate lowsec without applying stimuli to low sec demographics to become the same as null, the other is not (instead it effectively promotes that pitfall).

We often think that reward drives choice. It does, but we tend to not fully realise how broad "reward" is. It isn't just ISK, on the contrary. More often than not this comes long after more primary reward connectors like affirmation, identity, playstyle, mentality and so forth. Because we think, we project. And thus we assume. And those who don't, still project - just their own perception on to others

With the concept as it is currently, CCP is firmly in the corner of "we provide the mechanisms for selected targets with healthy consequences for our indexes". It's entirely understandable, but it is a pity. Then again, this is nothing new.

Lowsec has not had much of core attention throughout the years, very often considered a transit zone, at times a dumping ground, irregularly a niche environment. Which is a bit ironic, because in contrast to null it's actually quite diverse. Sometimes lowsec is an extension of highsec, other times of null. Quite often it's a composite dynamic with different playstyles interacting. Which is very different from highsec as well as null - looking at it without recognising these things has been the underlying reason why it's not gotten that much attention, but it is also why it's been largely sheltered. Or protected, if you will. Not any longer.

The one thing which worries me on the current state of this concept isn't how easy it is to counter, to use, to direct or even to abuse. It's that in the long run it enforces a slow but steady adopting of an organisational mold which already exists in a dominant manner elsewhere. Nullsec particularly, but increasingly also highsec (including the recent pattern of null/high entanglements which there too reinforces such developments).

I do think that this is a shame, but also a bit of a stumbling block in the long run. EVE is diverse in many ways, and it should be. If all organic player based organisation stimuli point to the same outcome this doesn't reinforce health of the dynamic, it does the opposite. Granted, it makes it easier to calculate, to model, to capture in indexes of statistics. But it also reintroduces the old trap of having to replace one set of mechanisms which exactly the same (only minor variations, look & feel) when the indexes show saturation or staleness. Funny thing, by that time it's too late, due to groupthink's influence on collective perception, but also due to social intertia and economic effects.

Now I can accept that CCP cannot - so to speak - allocate the resources in order to take the opposite approach (mechanisms following behaviour). But in order to avoid the known pitfalls (EVE has history in many things, aside of stupid amounts of research on all of this being available to CCP) they're going to have to provide more behavioural options. Right now, the current concept is way too static, too predictable, too easy to capture in min/max and n+1, and nothing really offsets the long term negative effects.

So we can all keep debating the detail level of the current "as is" concept until we see blue in the face, or we can accept that the static nature of things will always be subject to ruthless min/max/n+1/narrative drama. And instead see if there's things CCP can add to the model in order to provide room for composite and diverse behaviour. Lowsec folks are going to have to be a tad more expressive though for that to begin, and null should not be so blatant with its directives & narratives.

The new moon mining mechanic will be huge. The biggest impact this will have is removing AFK, top-level income from alliances and coalitions and replacing it with active, character-based income. This can only be a good thing overall, but the implementation needs to be small enough that an entire fleet doesn't need to be formed to wipe a moon belt, but also big enough that one person (or a small gang) can't wipe the belt within a few hours.

This is going to remove a major source of concentrated income from alliances and dilute it across the alliance members who mine. That alone will change the entire economy. The issue I have is whether this content will be available for anywhere else. Wormholes in particular will suffer from this, while Empire space will just see a change in their economies without being able to do much about it.

Hopefully CCP will put some consideration into making the process of collecting or dissmeinating taxes/bills a little easier. The mining tracker is nice, but using it might become extremely tedious.

"Inaccessible?" Delve has NPC 0.0 stations, and bubbles were severely nerfed. Our space is the most accessible in the game.

You'll still be able to do reactions alone. Moon mining can be, too, but not as effectively, since you'll have to undock to mine stuff.

Still no answer or clarification as to why ice products are being added to the list of resources for T3 production.....making WH space even less appealing....

I have lived in Delve several times. Yes, it has NPC stations. That is a good thing. I wish all 0.0 space had NPC stations nearby.

It's not as bad as the Drones Regions, that's true. It is still a pain in the ass to jump into it. You are still relatively inaccessible compared with Tribute.

I want to adress the "where we get the miners?"-issue brought up especially by some of the low-sec-guys...

To be honest, the problem isn't the supposed lack of miners but the mentality of larger low-sec-groups as a whole.

For example:
My corp lives near some low-sec-systems in kor-azor and khanid region. These low-sec systems are basically dead, apart from logistic cyno-alts, some moon mining POS's and one, maybe two big(ger) alliances who essentially control all the systems within their respective jump ranges. When they find a target, they hot drop or BLOB it. And for the recieving end this is not funny the first time, and it won't get more fun if done repeatedly and on a daily basis. When you can't figth back in terms of fire-/manpower, you only got 2 options: avoid them and deny content or leave for good.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, if in the same position I would probably do the same. But in doing so, they killed and kill any incentive to go to this area regardless how good the risk/reward ratio might be.

But with these changes even low sec corps will need to rethink this mentality and allowing neutral corps to exploit these new ressources for a " reasonable" price (if they don't want to blueball or invite everyone in their sphere of influence, that is), which could mean more people in low sec and thus more targets to shot for pvpers in general.

My point is: if you're a pvp-focused alliance/corp, you don't have to resort to mining to profit. Let others more willingly do the dirty work for you for a piece of the cake, and blow their stuff if they don't comply. More fun for everybody Make eve mmo again...

I run 8 moons in Lo-Sec. Half my reaction materials come from mined moongoo. All the composites go into the market. Will I run 1..or 2 with the new mechanic? Maybe. How many independents like me are out there? If you have a stat that limits the impact to the economy I would like to see it. Not saying it's not there, just don't know. I run over 2 billion isk a week in composites. Are there a hundred like me? A thousand? How many will stop completely or severely curtail? I may move to other aspects of EvE. Nothing is an absolute, but I am independent because of who I am and what I'm capable of doing.

I still do a little mining, and with that many POSs, I'm always bopping around, not docked all the time. Since the larger corps/Alliances will take down any Citadel/engineering platform when it comes out of reinforcement, the only way to anchor one is to "get lucky".

Kind of sounds like EvE is becoming the land of Cattle Barons. Buy the hired guns and drive the sheep herders and farmers off the grazing land for the good of the town. (Which means their own good.) I begrudge no one the style they want to play, but don't belittle the small people.

That's the rant for this evening.