An Hour of Missions

Whenever any PvE activity in EVE Online is brought up, there is always one question that quickly pops up:

"What's the ISK/h like?"

Now to an extent I understand this focus on profitability - many people do not enjoy EVE's PvE and only take part in it to fund the things they actually enjoy, so they seek to minimize the time they spend doing it. However I would advise anyone to not blindly look at the pure ISK/h they can make running certain content, but also at how enjoyable - or at least palpable - they find running said content. A player doing an activity that rakes in 100m ISK/h for 10 hours after all makes more ISK than another player that does an activity with an income of 200m ISK/h for 3 hours.

Missions are actually in an interesting spot here, as their profitability is highly dependent on how advanced the person running them is. A player who has just gotten into their first battleship will only make a fraction of the ISK a seasoned burner pilot rakes in. This has the unfortunate side effect that one getswildly varying numbers when one asks "What's the ISK/h of missions?". Is it 50m ISK/h? 100m? 200m? 400m? Recently I recorded myself running missions for an hour, so let's answer that question.

"What's the ISK/h of missions at a very high level?"

Tools of the Trade: Gallente Battleships

Of the four major empires, the Gallente Federation is the only one whose battleships I have never flown so far. Though that is more due to personal preference of weapon types and enemy factions, rather than their performance in L4 missions. Compared to the Caldari Battleships I looked at in the last instalment, there is no outright non-functioning Gallente battleship, though I also do not think that any of them quite reach the overall performance of the Raven. Though then again this is less the fault of the hulls themselves, and more the problems with large Railguns I have explained while discussing the Rokh. Still, all of them deserve a serious review.

LP Stores Explained

While L4 missions generate direct ISK payouts through mission rewards and NPC bounties, the largest income generator when it comes to mission running are the LP rewarded for every successfully completed mission, excluding storylines and epic arcs. They are tracked for every NPC corp separately, and can be exchanged at every station belonging to said corp in return for valuable items; be they faction variants of modules and ships, the blueprints to build said modules and ships, or implants. However not every LP stores is created equal - some offer excellent deals in excess of 2k ISK per LP, while others barely break 1k ISK per LP. Thus it is of extreme importance for every mission runner to be able to identify which LP stores are worth flying for, lest their income will suffer terribly.

Tools of the Trade: Caldari Battleships

Of the four major Empires, I personally consider the Caldari battleship lineup to be the best option for people wanting to start running level 4 missions. And this is despite them having one battleship that is completely useless in level 4 missions and another that is middling at best. But let's go through them in detail.

An Introduction to the Mission Running Toolbox

 Hello and welcome to my new EVE Online Blog, the Mission Running Toolbox!

As should be obvious from its name, the posts on this blog will concern themselves with all things concerning Level 4 Security mission in Highsec, from fittings to mission reports to general tips and tricks. It is also meant to be of use for mission runners of any experience level, from those having just gotten their first T1 battleship to those seeking to push their Burner income to the max. To aid in this endeavour, the posts in this blog will always fall under one of those three labels:

General posts contain information of use to anyone.
Beginner posts are aimed at those who have just started running L4s.
Veteran posts will concern themselves with mission running at the highest level.

The first major "series" so to speak will start in a few weeks, as we follow an Amarrian pilot from his first battleship into becoming a high-level mission runner. Along the way we will cover the various missions offered on the Amarr-Caldari side, as well as cover the general steps one has to take to go from novice to expert. The Gallente-Minmatar missions will be covered later next year. Oh and be forewarned: I am already planning a multi-part series on how to chose a good system to run missions in. Brace yourselves for a lesson in EVE Online geography.

To close this post out, let me answer some question you might have:

Q: Why should I trust your advice? How many missions have you even run?
A: According to my activity tracker I have run 5052 L4 security missions since I've returned from a long hiatus (5-ish years) in January 2021.

Q: How long have you been playing the game?
A: My first account was created in Summer 2008, my current main was created in late 2009, but due to long pauses I have only six to seven years of actual playtime.

Q: Why start this blog at all?
A: Because there is currently no place where the knowledge base of the mission running community is centrally gathered.

Q: Why start as an Amarr?
A: Because in my opinion Amarr are the hardest race to get started as a L4 runner. No easymode like Cruise Raven or Sentry Domi here. And no, I won't be using the Armageddon either. Amarr Victor

Q: What about nullsec missions?
A: I have no experience with running missions in nullsec. Pirate burner pilots live in their own world that only bears the faintest resemblance to highsec mission running. Same thing goes for L5s.