Again, CCP_Diagoras offers up data tidbits too juicy to ignore.
This time it is a comparison of mining activity before and after the Inferno: Escalation update went live.
One of the notable aspects of this update was the removal of mineral drops from drone NPCs and the removal of tech I ship fittings from all NPC drops. Both of these were very significant sources of mineral in the New Eden economy.
The intent of this was to spur mining and make it a more profitable venture.
So you would assume that mining activity would be on the rise post-Escalation. And there was an increase some regions of space.
Compared to the 7 day avg before Escalation, the last 7 have seen a 14.3% increase in avg m3 mined in nullsec (from 19.8% to 33.2% of total)
Compared to the 7 day avg before Escalation, the last 7 have seen a 49.1% increase in avg m3 mined in low sec (from 0.26% to 0.58% of total)
Compared to the 7 day avg before Escalation, the last 7 have seen a 14.7% increase in avg m3 mined in WH sec (from 2.8% to 4.7% of total)
So far, as expected. Rising mineral prices appear to be driving a desire to mine.
Then there is high sec:
Compared to the 7 day average before Escalation, the last 7 days have seen a 45.53% decrease in average m3 of ore mined within high sec.
Ouch, a 45% dive!
Of course, Hulkageddon is under way. And Hulkageddon targets are primarily in high security space. So most of those (as of this moment) nearly 4,000 dead mining ships on the leaderboard were in high sec.
The targets are in high sec for two reasons.
First, in low, null, and WH space, miners already have to take defensive precautions every day. Hulkageddon in null sec, for example, is pretty much a non-event.
Second, most of the miners in the game are in high sec space. CCP_Diagoras put up one more factoid that illustrates this very well.
Average mined per day for the last 7 days: High (1.47bn m3), Low (13.8m m3), Null (796m m3), WH (112m m3)
So even with a 45% drop in high sec mining, it is still the place where most of the ore is harvested. High sec accounts for nearly double the ore as the rest of space, even with Hulkageddon in full forces.
I hope we’ll get to see some 7 day yields in the post-Hulkageddon time frame to see how much ore high sec miners will be pulling in when the threat of gank has been (mostly) removed.