In a new devblog, CCP announced their plans for Refineries and changes that will happen with regards to Reactions in the upcoming Winter Expansion.
The changes in reactions are huge, in more than just their impact on Moon Goo, and the reactions themselves. This development is another step in the right direction for CCP as they continue to phase out POS’s completely, with new Standup Rigs to add bonuses to Upwell Structures, specifically, the Athanor (Medium Refinery) and the Tatara (Large Refinery). While the Upwell Structures continue to need rebalancing, the Refineries are promised to be less trouble than current Upwell Structures in terms of Defensive Capabilities.
The announced changes in Reaction Formulas also have the potential, alongside the Moon Mineral changes, to change the economy of EVE Online’s T2 ships and modules. Whether they will effect the market in a good way, or a bad way, remains to be seen. However, with taxation on refineries being a feature, it opens the Reaction industry up to many more players. Players will no longer need to have POS’s in order to carry out reactions, and can instead use Freeport Refineries. New skills are being added to the game for reactions, making reactions more skill intensive for more potential profit.
CCP answers most concerns in their FAQ below, at least regarding Reactions.
Release Day Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What will happen to my current Reaction jobs at Downtime on Release Day?
A: They will continue to run until Downtime on Release Day, but will be stopped at this point. They will not be able to be restarted in a POS array.
Q: What will happen to my current POS array?
A: POS Reactor arrays will remain anchored in space but will be offline after the Release. Your Reactor Arrays will not be able to be onlined again. No new arrays will be able to be manufactured and no new arrays can be anchored. Any jobs to manufacture arrays that are running at the time of the release will continue to run (will not be paused or cancelled) and the arrays will be delivered to the manufacturer once the job has completed. It will not be possible to anchor or online these arrays.
Q: What do you plan to do with this defunct equipment in the future?
A: As we have done previously, a compensation plan will be put in place in the future to reimburse the investment capsuleers have put into this equipment.
With moon mining about to undergo huge changes, and the way reactions work also about to be changed, the question on my mind is this. How will EVE’s market react to these changes? Will we see a price hike in T2 ships and modules, or will the market remain the same? And with CCP begining to phase out POS’s, what will happen to the alliances whose main income is from passive moon harvesting?
