EVE Online stands alone in the MMORPG space as the only true single-shard persistent MMO universe, where every player exists on one server and their actions have permanent, cascading consequences across a living economy and political landscape.
Since its 2003 release, EVE has become legendary for its emergent player-driven narratives. From the Bloodbath of B-R5RB, where $300,000+ in real-world value was destroyed in a single battle, to the decade-long wars between coalitions like Goonswarm and Pandemic Horde which recently game to an unexpected and abrupt end.
Mining in EVE Online occupies a unique space in the game’s ecosystem; simultaneously one of the most essential economic activities and one of its most unique playstyles.
Every battleship, station, and ammunition round in New Eden requires raw materials that miners extract from asteroid belts and moons, making them the foundation of the player-driven economy. Yet mining has long struggled with perception issues: it’s often seen as passive, repetitive gameplay that attracts botters while legitimate miners face constant threats from gankers in high-sec and roaming hostiles in null space.
With the upcoming mining-focused Catalyst expansion promising significant changes to both mechanics and features, we sat down with EVE Online Community Manager Peter “CCP Swift” Farrell and Creative Director Bergur “CCP Burger” Finnbogason to discuss the vision for mining’s future and how they plan to balance risk, reward, and fun in a system that has literally fueled the entire game for two decades.
Output Lag: Mining is what originally drew me to EVE Online, the idea of building an empire which starts with mining. In general, it’s such an integral part of EVE. Even for people who may never touch it, they are affected by it since everything is made by players. What was the decision behind now is the time these bigger mining changes are necessary. What’s the goal both short and long term?
CCP Burger: You kind of hit the nail on the head there. If you want to build an empire, you need to start with mining. You need to start with mining your first rock. And that’s how we view mining. EVE Online at its core is about gathering resources to build better equipment, to get better space, so you can get better resources. That’s the fundamental core loop of the game.
We’ve been doing a lot when it comes to the “build better equipment to get better space” areas of the game of the triangle, but the resource gathering has stayed relatively the same. In a sense it’s been a fairy solved part of the equation. Then we have systems that allow you to sort of side-step these, such as the market. We’ve been wanting to look at mining for a very long time, but we felt we needed to get all our ducks in the row so other elements of the game were stable and that the community and economy were in a healthy place before touching a fundamental system like mining.
You can’t really go into something like mining as a single dimensional thing or just a tweak, you need to view it from multiple angles like interaction, new players, end-game, the overall dynamic point of view. We’re in a place right now we’ve created space for us to actuall dive in, stop, think, and then execute these changes, which is what we’re delivering with Catalyst.
Output Lag: I’ve noticed one of the big changes is to the UI and how rocks and asteroid belts are displayed. What’s this mean for the Survey Scanner module? What purpose will they serve now that its function is more baked into the UI.
CCP Swift: This is a great question because there’s some elements of mastery to mining and we don’t want to remove any of them. Right now, every mining ship gets a new default tool of the survey scanner to turn on that overlay. If you’re an old EVE-head and you just hate it and want to turn it off, you can do that. But the new UI is better, I like it so much better and I’ve been playing EVE since 2004. But if you have a Survey Scanner, you can get some additional information that you used to get from before. Like just how much ore is in there, the exact density of the rock. And you can even natively share it across your fleet if you’re in a ship like the Rorqual, Orca, or even a Porpoise so everyone can see the results. It also has a bit of a passive perk to mining crits, which are a new feature.
You can be mining a rock and suddenly get twice the amount of ore you were supposed to get from a cycle. And the neat thing is, this doesn’t deplete from the ore that’s in the rock. So you’re not mad when someone else gets a crit, it’s not taking from you. Your mining equipment is just more effecient for you that cycle and you’ll get more from the rock.
CCP Burger: This also opens up a new paradigm for us when think about how we want to design ships. We’ve been calling it internally a sort of utility slot, and this is kind of the first dabble into that. It gives an archetype of ships a more fun or obvious role. It’s a bit of a new mind shift that we’ll definitely see more of in the future. We’ve been doing a lot of work taking ship classes and deepening their purpose. In 2022, 2023, and 2024, we looked a lot at Dreadnoughts and really carved out their place and purpose in space. We’re starting to do that now with Carriers in Catalyst as well as mining ships. It makes sense that for a mining ship it has this built in functionality, you shouldn’t have to spend time or resources getting the most basic of utilities, but then we can add to it if you want to deepen the experience.
Output Lag: I like that idea of a utility slot and what it opens up for the future. The bonus that Survey Scanners give to crit while mining, is that stackable or a one-off sort of thing?
CCP Swift: The Survey Scanner itself is just the one, but if you really wanted to “create a crit build” for your mining ship like for the new mining destroyer which is another really cool element to Catalyst, you can get some extra crit there too. So you can actually get yourself a crit build for mining which is going to be really interesting to ssee how that plays out. For EVE players who love to min max and get lose in theorycrafting and spreadsheets and fitting tools, it’s going to be great to see what they come up with. And I find it hilarious it’s going to be for mining. The best gigabrains are going to figure out how to get the best yield out of mining and then be like alright guess I’m going to go mine.
Output Lag: Let’s talk about the new Hyperspace Fractures, the new type of mining anomaly in Catalyst. I think it’s a really cool sounding system, almost a CRAB Beacon for mining. Is the goal with that to create more kind of PVP content around mining?
CCP Burger: EVE is so much about creation and destruction, and this is the perfect moment to marry those two together. Starting a mining op in a fracture will be a huge thing, and tackling them will be an even bigger thing. The fractures are going to stay open for an extended amount of time, but for the first half they aren’t publicized. You’ll have to scan them down. But at the halfway mark they show up to anyone in the universe.
There’s an interesting play of “Let’s try to find them early and get into them as quick as we can and hammer it hard” while hoping no one will scan you down. But then there’s the element of “Oh shit, is anyone on grid?” making it different on the first half of the phase field. You’ll need to have an eagle eye on local, your D-scan, etc. to see if someone pops in. Then on the second half, you’ll definitely need to have your defenses up. You’ll need to make sure you have people guarding your installments or your mining fleet will fall quickly. Everyone will know where the fracture is. I bet we’ll see an incredible amount of Odysseus’ showing up to give an extra boost to D-scan range so you can sit even further away making it harder to find them. The opportunity for EVE Online madness is beautiful with this addition.
CCP Swift: It continues on a trend that we’ve been doing the last few expansions where we put objectives in space that have high value or are for different sized groups so it’s not only the huge set piece battles over a keepstar where 3,000 people are camping another group for five days straight. We’ve been putting things into the game that smaller groups can also fight over. Now this is something where miners and industry people can get involved as well.
It’s not going to reinvent mining from the bottom up. We don’t expect long-term high-sec players are suddenly going to all flock to the most dangerous mining field ever imagined, but it does put a very lucrative thing in space that players will be able to harvest through mining. It’s like an ESS or like the CRAB beacon where they are very much PvEvP focused systems, and now you have an industrial/PvP focused mining feature. It’s a neat jackspot just sitting out in space and it will be neat to see what kind of content it attracts.
Another nifty thing about it is the way its designed, if you’re just an explorer and you stumble upon one of these things before anyone else finds it, there are some rocks besides the prismaticite which are extremely high value. So you can be like “Hey I’ll sell you the location of this fracture, you’re kind of close to it.” and while you’re negotiating a deal you can be extracting the ore for yourself and be like “It was like this when I found it!”
CCP Burger: Yep and you can also mine the prismaticite at 10% yield if you don’t have access to a Phase Anchor. And as for the other ores with it, it can be anything. And remember, overtime new phasable asteroids will come into play across the duration of the fracture, and then you need to place the anchor and will have a set amount of time that you can mine that rock. So you can’t just sit and wait for 12 hours, there’s a very clear call to action when it shows up, so you’ll have to jump on it when it’s there because it’s only in play for a certain amount of hours.
CCP Swift: That’s what I love about it too, it forces you to act one way or another. If you want to be very meticulous and wait for it, you’re going to lose out on some rocks. If you want to impulsively go and make a flippant decision to try and mine as much of it as you can without having backup in place you could get lucky or you could be making a horrible mistake. That’s my favorite part of EVE. It’s lame when everyone knows what’s going to happen or gameplanned it for days, but I love it when players have to make a urgent decision which inevitable leads to a mistake.
CCP Burger: It’s going to put a very interesting strain on corporations and leadership when these show up. It will be like “Alright let’s plan this out” and then, oh no, Pete undocked. So much Leeroy Jenkins potential here. And that’s awesome, because the best stories in EVE are those moments. “Everything was perfect until you dropped everything on the floor.”
Output Lag: How would you compare the value of these new fractures to existing mining opportunities in EVE like moon mining?
CCP Burger: Finding these fractures will definitely be a hard consideration for “Let’s drop everything and go do it.” because prismaticite allows you to refine it into almost anything if you have the recipes for it, so there’s a tremendous value for this ore. This will have super interesting effects on the material economy because all of a sudden you can get materials you don’t normally find in your space. It lowers the need to go elsewhere and get it, but at the same time it can push you to manufacture stuff where you need just a tiny bit more. We all know if we have a cool ship like the Rorqual sitting in our hangar, it’s tempting to undock it and go power a crab beacon or something, then it’s tempting for others to come shoot you, then you lose it. The wheels of the economy keep on rolling or whatever the saying is.
CCP Swift: It’s also a very strategic reserve too. I can see alliances wanting to horde it for a rainy day because you can transmute it into anything. Sure right now Isogen or Pyerite might be the bottleneck to get you the most ISK, but in six months there could be an unforeseen thing but you don’t know what that will be, so you’ll want to keep a strategic stockpile around for that rainy day so you’ll know you can instantly get what you need. Knowing EVE players and them being the constant planners they are they will probably want to horde a lot of it.
Output Lag: How do you think prismaticite will change the economy specifically when it comes to ore? Do you think things will drop or will we see the opposite because people will be building more? I know there are also changes to the production costs of carriers, I assume to get players to bring them out more. Do you think those sort of changes will balance out with the influx or this new ore?
CCP Burger: We always end up hitting a sort of equilibrium at some point. It can go both ways. I think one thing for sure is at the start it will create an upset on the market. There are theories for both directions, you can see scenarios where both could happen. I don’t know if people will stockpile this massively or not, but I think it will create a bit of an upset to begin with and then we’ll find equilibrium. I learned many years ago not to try and predict too much.
CCP Swift: EVE players are really good at doing the most unpredictable thing with a feature. Nothing is built for an expected outcome. Players are going to do some weird stuff.
Output Lag: One last mining question, because I know people are wondering this. is the goal with the new fractures to 100% always keep them to low and null or is there some potential wormhole love coming in the future?
CCP Burger: I think the astrologists of New Eden will have to keep their eyes on the stars and see if they notice any winds of change or if they feel like the weather systems have found equilibrium in pressure zones. That’s as far as I’m going to take that answer.
Output Lag: Fair enough, I’m excited to see what that actually means! The new mining ships feel like a bridge for alpha players; what role do you want those ships to play?
CCP Burger: Yeah it’s basically a progression story. The step from a Venture to a barge is quite dramatic. A barge is like 100x more expensive than Venture’s, and there’s a big skill gap between the two. You can get in a Venture very soon after you start playing, but a barge takes a good chunk of time. We have to remember that for a new player, ten minutes is a long time, and two weeks are eternity. I have a 14 year old and when I think about it in the eyes of a 14 year old, it’s like “No phone tonight” and that’s eternity for them.
So the idea is how can we create a meaningful progression step for players that are interested in industry and mining that does feel like a step up. It’s about 10x the price of a Venture, and it feels attainable. When you lose you lose your Pioneer, it feels doable mining for a new Pioneer using your Venture. It doesn’t feel that way mining for a barge when you have a Venture. Ultimately my hope is we will set more people on the industry path and on the path towards an Orca or Rorqual and this is an important step in that direction. We’re not just releasing the mining destroyer but also a Tech 2 version, an Upwell Consortium verison, and also a Upwell Consortium version of the Venture. We’re upping the buffet for mining ships for all. And holy hell, a ninja mining ship. How cool is that? It will deepen the mining gameplay. Am I in the mood for a mine and chill mode tonight, or a more active ninja looting type mining? Do I want to go ice mining? We’ll have different equipment for each different flavor.
CCP Swift: It will also be easier for people to catch that mining bug, starting out in a Venture and thinking “This is cool!” but it feels really daunting to then try to get into a barge. On the other side the PvE equivelant is “I’m in a frigate” but then a couple days layer I’m in a destroyer, now I’m in a cruiser, now a battlecruiser. It has a much smoother progression path and I can see the Pioneer and Outrider even providing that a little more. You can go from a Venture into something bigger and better that isn’t gamebreaking but you’ll feel the difference and it will feel nice. Then you’re in that for a while and as you’re training your skills you’ll be able to see yourself contributing to the mining ecosystem. At the same time, you might realize “This isn’t for me” and you haven’t spent a month of your training time getting there. It opens so many doors for people and will be a nice tool for people to have.
Output Lag: Let’s finish by talking a bit about the Odysseus. One of the coolest looking and coolest sounding ships. Tell me a little bit about the process of coming up with something so unique…is the idea for in the future to see more unique and out there kind of ships like this?
CCP Burger: This is one of the great things about the pirate faction and their ships. We can allow ourselves to be a bit more out there with them when designing them. The Odysseus is one of those kind of times where our art team was actually playing with this concept a few years ago and bouncing it around for some years. We didn’t really know where to place it though. We knew it was a Sisters of Eve ship, but we didn’t really decide on what it could be. Then at the beginning of this cycle game design was able to marry the idea of a wonderful piece of equipment that fit with the ship. We’ve talked about this idea fantasy of the nomad; going out and getting lost in wormholes. During COVID I went out and flew in wormholes with no bookmarks, no public bookmarks. Just scanned down the next hole and flew to it and hoped for the best. There was something so fascinating about it. Every wormhole felt like a fresh start filled with new opportunities and new dangers and puzzles to solve. We thought how can we take that and really amplify that emotion and feeling, and created the birth of the Odysseus. This is the ship that when all other ships run away from the unknown, this ship drives towards the storm. It’s like the scene from Twister with Sam Neill in the pickup truck driving towards the twister. It’s that ship. There’s something so beautiful about this kind of idea and it ties into the whole spatial rift and phased feel of Catalyst. Instinct says run away from that rift, but the Odysseus flies towards it. The ships ability is the unknown, and there’s something so fascinating about it. To me the ship is almost more poetic than just steel and Sisters of Eve and its beautiful bubble. I could talk about it for hours.
CCP Swift: When I first saw the Odysseus I thought about one of our players (chloroken) and his series A Nomad Tale. He woke up and decided to be a nomad one day, and be a guy who lives in a wormhole all by himself. This is that guy’s ship. It taps into that fantasy of just being out there living in space, surviving off the land in a sense. It feels very Firefly vibes. I’m going to name mine Serenity for sure. It can go into all the wormholes, even frigate wormholes. It’s a cloaking ship with an SMA which has some PvP implications. You can now bridge with an Odysseus around and refit off it with your black ops fleets. There’s so many unique ways players are going to use this thing.
CCP Burger: The exploration command burst is super amazing. I can imagine this moment you fly into a wormhole, you bump into a group of players and they ask you to join their fleet to provide the bursts. You fly with them for a few hours and help them out then at the end split the profits and go your separate ways. It’s this perfect nomad fantasy.
Output Lag: This has be excited to jump back into exploration for sure, and it’s a really cool looking ship as well. The design is great.
CCP Swift: I’m for sure going to lose one by staying uncloaked a little too long.
CCP Burger: I’m buying two. One to wear, and one to keep.
Output Lag: Thanks both of you for your time, very much looking forward to the Catalyst expansion!
The Catalyst expansion for EVE Online goes live today, November 18. For more information on all the changes coming to mining and other aspects of the MMORPG with this update, I recommend checking out this detailed ‘Mining In Focus: New Ore & More” blog posts on the EVE Online website. Now is a great time to check out EVE Online which you can do so for free!
