In an Eve-o forum post today, CCP Fozzie announced some vague upcoming changes to the drop rates of Pirate Battleships.
Pirate battleships are drops from escalations in their respective regions, and the pirate LP stores, apart from the Nestor, which comes from the SOE LP store and chips that drop from sites.
The change is aimed at affecting the price of battleships. The use of battleships in main fleet doctrines has exploded in recent years, leading to concerns among players about the ease of availability.
The changes in the dev post are that in June, there will be a moderate change in the spawn rate of escalations and a larger reduction in the drop rate of the BPCs. In July there will be a change in the material composition of the ships, to increase the build cost.
The markets have already reacted to the news, with Machariels at 700m on sell orders in Jita at the time of writing, with other spikes in Nightmares (600m), Rattlesnakes (approaching 600m), and Vindicators hitting close to 800m.
Whilst the market always reacts strongly to the initial news of any changes, the long-term price is going to increase. Whether this has the desired impact on usage is, however, quite another matter.
As further details come out on these changes, we will, of course, keep you updated.
