[UPDATE: In a revision of the March 10 Patch Notes, CCP noted that the Moon Goo changes detailed below are live as of March 30.]
In February, CCP announced plans for achieving, “a healthier mineral distribution throughout New Eden.” The centerpiece of this endeavor was a set of planned adjustments to moon mining. It was widely anticipated that those changes would go into effect as part of the “Broker Relations” patch on March 10, but the patch came and went without any changes to moon mining.
Now, CCP says, that’s about to change – and they’re sharing more details about exactly what that change means.
In the February DevBlog, CCP described the changes in broad strokes:
- Complete removal of all basic ore types from all moons
- Adjustments on ore volume extracted per day, per moon
- Adjustments on moon ore type yields of basic minerals
A new DevBlog on March 27 explains:
- “All basic ores (Veldspar, Scordite, Pyroxeres, Plagioclase, Omber, Kernite, Jaspet, Hemprphite, Hedbergite, Gneiss, Dark Ochre, Spodumain, Crokite, Bistot, Arkonor), will be removed from moons. In some cases, they have been replaced with Moon Ore.
- All basic materials (Tritanium, Pyerite, Mexallon, Isogen, Nocxium, Zydrine, Megacyte) will be removed from moon ore DNA.”
R4 moon ores (Bitumens, Coesite, Sylvite, Zeolites) are partially excepted from this latter change and will retain their yield of Pyerite and Mexallon, but not Tritanium.
CCP clarifies that current extractions will provide the expected ore yields; the new distributions will impact only new extractions. However, since refining moon ores will no longer yield basic minerals, “combined, these mean that your current pull will give you the same ores you expected at the start, but you will get a different mineral yield than you expected when you refine the moon ores.”
Capsuleers with large stashes of the impacted ores will no doubt want to refine them now, before the nerf hits.
Reactions on the forum were mixed. Some users feared that this would lead to shortages of basic minerals – particularly Tritanium. Others felt that it would make wormhole moon mining unsustainable because stations could no longer self-supply their own fuels. Still others felt these changes were long overdue to rebalance the economics of the game. Reactions in a Reddit thread on the topic were similar.
CCP proactively attempted to address some of these concerns in the DevBlog, noting that “since the income was quite generous for quite some time, many moon mining facilities are already beyond the break-even point. The main issue after these changes will be associated with the choice to deploy new structures.” Some on the forum interpreted this as a push from CCP to return to belt and anomaly mining.
CCP closed the DevBlog with a cryptic message about “future plans,” noting that “we are planning on increasing the demand for R4 moon goo through the industry (blueprint) changes. These changes don’t have a delivery date.”
Whatever CCP’s ultimate plans are for the economy of New Eden, it’s clear that they don’t end with moon goo.
