With Winter Nexus approaching on the 9th and running till January 12th, I've been making some preparations for the event. From my understanding, this has been quite a long-running yearly event. So I expect many others to be more prepared than I'll be. There is still a lot one can do.
CCP Games, the developers of Eve Online, released a post giving some hints into what is coming up. From that, there is quite a lot of information that can be gleaned, along with past experiences from running other events, to be as ready as I can be for this one, not having run any before.
The biggest takeaways are the hints at exploration, mining, and combat sites. Events like this are also made for all skill levels in the game. These events are also expected to be happening everywhere, from high sec to null. The only place that seems to be left out is possibly wormhole space.
Naturally, events like these will have some kind of daily login rewards. So, just making 30 secs each day to at least log in to claim the reward is at least something that can be done daily. This event is also lasting for just over a month, so that is going to be a lot of daily rewards.
Perhaps the thing that makes this event a bit more different than others I've partaken in this year is the storm. From other storm mechanics in the game, along with some hints in that post. I can only expect the storm to be moving around daily and hitting quite a few regions of space. That also means being able to relocate is going to be key.
There is also a hint at ice mining and being able to earn an ice mining destroyer ship called Perseverance. While ice mining is usually done in barge mining ships, they are rather slow, and this event sounds like it’s going to require faster movement.
There are also talks about marauder sized combat sites. Along with them requiring a key. That means one can expect combat sites to be all the way up to using a marauder. Even better, these sites won’t just be restricted to running such sites like in past events in null sec.
For me personally, this means ship-wise I'll be fielding a few different ships. I do, however, have a preference for exploration sites. So unless they are not that good, I'm expecting to mostly be running those kinds of sites. As such, I'll be using a Paladin, Anathema, the Pioneer fit for ice mining till I unlock the ice mining destroy, and have a ship for hauling loot.
As far as the pioneer goes, it has zero bonus for ice mining. My other option, unless I wanted to go with a slow mining barge, would be a venture. The Venture also lacks an ice mining bonus, which is why I'm just going with the Pioneer. Ideally, I'd have gone with the T2 variant of the Venture called Endurance, but I'm not trained in expedition or mining frigates, and I'm not spending a week's worth of training to be able to meet the requirements I'm missing. For those who have the Endurance unlocked, that would be a more ideal setup.
Manufacturing
On the manufacturing side, to take advantage of the upcoming event, there is a lot that can be made. There have already been some decent spikes across the board in many things players are expecting to need for this long event. There are going to be some things you want to have right out of the gate, and then things that are going to need to be resupplied through the event.
The biggest thing will be modules for combat sites. Also, since we know marauders are going to be in play in high sec. There are going to be massive amounts of ammo. Even more so since sources from ppl running level 4s and buying ammo from the LP stores will be in quite short supply as people will switch over to grinding the event instead.
Another huge thing is that while many have been mining the normal ores. A lot of players don’t ice mine. That means suddenly a lot of players are going to need ice mining modules. On top of that, since there is going to be a new ice mining ship that will just further drive up demand from Ice Harvester Upades to Ice Mining Lasers.
Finally, you have the modules for exploration. This, I feel, is where things are going to get a little different than usual. Normally, players go crazy for Sisters Core Probes, which are faction probes that are bought using LP from Sisters of Eve. There is just one massive issue with that. The Odysseus, which is rather new, has been eating up all the LP that those farms that LP. So there could end up being a shortage and a price hike. Where players will seek out the normal non-faction probes instead.
The biggest unknown to me is what kinds of exploration sites there will be. If they will be relic or data, or both kinds. There have already been a lot of data sites this year, and since I'm in the middle of a large Relic Analyzer production cycle. I’m just hoping there are some relic sites, and I kind of luck out on that one.
There is also going to be the crafting of the new ice mining destroyer. While this could end up being an opportunity for manufacturers to buy the blueprint copies that people are earning and craft them. The pioneer manufacturing requirements are so low that anyone can make them. I’d expect the same for the new ice mining destroy. I can only hope there is some way to get a blueprint original to drop, but the wording around this event being the only way to get the new ice mining ship and that blueprint only being a copy, makes me wonder.
Final Thoughts
I’ve been preparing for this event for a little while before they announced it. I knew it had to be sometime in December since it’s a yearly event. I just didn't know when. So, I am hoping I got all the ships and modules that I'll need.
I have also already hauled around a decent stockpile of different modules. With some stuff set to sell with a price point of a day or two before the event starts. Some, I'm hoping it will hit right around when the event starts. I also have some stock in reserve for the first week and possibly the coming weeks if needed. With me making any adjustments to my current manufacturing if I see demand and the need to do so.
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Screenshots were taken, and content was written by @Enjar about Eve Online.