Fixing Eve's Economy

This article (http://themittani.com/features/why-risk-free-highsec-would-kill-eve-online) got me thinking about the various problems facing EVE's economy right now. Don't get me wrong, I DON'T think it's broken. In fact, I think it's in a healthier state than any game on the market that I'm familiar with. But I think there are some areas that could use significant improvement to make it really hum. Right now, a lot of the Goons (and probably other null-sec dwellers) are concerned about the relative emptiness of null-sec. They want their PVP fix and they feel like the giant fleet fights are not it. They make the (rather absurd) claim that hi-sec is too safe and that making null-sec more profitable while simultaneously making hi-sec less safe will lead to more industrial players in null-sec so they can shoot them (the article even refers to them as the low rung of the food chain). The problems with that argument are myriad and fairly obvious. Smoothing the risk curve while raising the reward curve has massive ramifications for the game that should not be taken lightly. Further, the risk/reward mechanism is far from broken. One needs only look at the price for Morphite vs. Veldspar. Despite one of those appearing only null-sec and the other being essentially a hi-sec operation, they yield almost the same reward per unit time. There are only two conclusions, either the risk is roughly equivalent or null-sec dwellers are less risk averse than hi-sec dwellers (and therefore demand a lower return for the risk they take on). I think it's a little bit of both. But you can't squeeze "risk averse" people by applying MORE risk. They won't change their behavior. They'll just quit.

I happen to think that the best way to make the game healthier is better regionality. Currently, there are four effective regions of space:

Hi-Sec: Has "relative" safety. Has good proximity to major trade hubs (that's a player driven item not a game created item... but it's inevitable so I've included it). Has relatively free industrial capacity for everything except copy slots and material research slots. Has lvl 4 missions in abundance.

Null-Sec: Has ABC ores (though it shares this with K-Space). Has Morphite (technically shared with K-Space but very limited). Has no police. Has moon mining.

K-Space: Lacks local AND police as well as has the only NPCs in the game that represent a real threat (i.e. it's the most dangerous place in space). Has gas for boosters. Has drops for T3 production.

Low-Sec: Has Factional Warfare

Anyone claiming that Null-sec doesn't have decent rewards is full of it. Tech and other high end moons provide VAST rewards for players (as evidenced by the financial capacity of NC. and GSF to go to war over them). They are incredible material faucets for those alliances that indirectly produce vast amounts of wealth. And they give them something to fight over.

The real problem is low-sec. Factional Warfare provides some incentive to go to a particular subset of low-sec but not much of one. I propose that fixing low-sec will lead to people developing a slightly less risk averse mindset which will, in turn, lead to a migration to null-sec. How would I accomplish that?

1) Strip Nocxium from Crokite, Dark Ochre and Pyroxeres (giving them Zydrine, Isogen and Mexallon to compensate). This would make Nocxium come primarily from low-sec ores. Grav sites (rarely in hi-sec and often in null-sec/k-space) would still have these. If that doesn't prove to be sufficient then removing Hemorphite and Hebergite from grav sites would be the next step).

2) Buff exploration sites. Make the ones in low-sec have lower variance in type (right now, they are quite often full of crap). The "mid-tier" exploration sites should also have a heavy emphasis on skill books (see #3) with datacores, decryptors and interface blueprints also being possible. Save something unique for null-sec though (implants perhaps?? T1 BPOs??).

3) Remove NPC seeded skill books. This dovetails with #2. I'd pull all of the NPC skill books from the market and then buff their appearance in exploration sites. Make this another item that is player driven. They should also be regionalized (you find hybrid weapon skill books in gallente space, for example). It might even be worthwhile to make specific types come from specific regions (what if all the generic mechanics sub-skills came from Bleak Lands, for example).

4) Make undocking less dangerous. The biggest problem facing low-sec right now is the inconvenience factor associated with a lack of trade hubs. No one wants to supply them because of the simple fact that undocking is unnecessarily dangerous. If you removed the danger of undocking, you'd at least begin to see SOME trade being done in these areas (not to mention, there'd now be something for the indy players to BUY... skill books!). That should establish sort of dedicated mini-hubs that would provide useful convenience for low-sec dwellers.

5) Make the 2nd tier of moon minerals, or mostly all, in low-sec (Cobalt, Scandium, Titanium, Tungsten). Moon minerals provide an anchor for someone to OCCUPY space rather than just pass through it. By keeping these moon minerals in isolated chunks, it creates friction and something to fight over. This is also the tier required for the racial carbides and should be regionalized accordingly.

NONE of that involves making low-sec "safer" (other than the undocking thing which is just stupid). In fact, low-sec would now have a group of explorers and miners that would attract PvP. It also move EVE more to having a player run economy which is a very, very good thing.

On a separate note, I'd really be in favor of highly regionalizing the base minerals anyways while also tweaking the build requirements of the ships. It would be awesome if:

1) Caldari space had a lot more Veldspar and their ships used more Tritanium but no Mexallon (or very little)
2) Amarr space had a lot more Scordite and their ships used more Pyerite and little Isogen
3) Gallente space had a lot more Plagioclase and their ships used more Mexallon and little Pyerite
4) Minmatar space had a lot more Kernite and their ships used more Isogen and little Tritanium

This creates a natural trade flow that we don't really have now which would be very helpful to the economy as a whole. You could further split null into Arkonor areas, Crokite areas (which, under the above changes would be primarily Zydrine dispensers), Mercoxit areas and Bistot areas while simultaneously tweaking moon minerals to be more regional. The problem isn't that Tech is regionalized, the problem is that other minerals aren't. MORE regionalization creates MORE friction which is good. It also shouldn't be absolute, however. I would suggest that there should be at least ONE of each moon type in every region of space. This means that no large area is self-sufficient which encourages fights, trading and diplomacy, the hallmarks of EVE.