‘Sinks and faucets’ are the game mechanisms that add or subtract ISK from EVE’s player-driven economy. For example, the biggest faucet is bounty payouts (money appearing out of nowhere), and the biggest sink is generally player purchases of skill books (money vanishing as payment for items that appear out of nowhere). Most of those numbers stay fairly stable, but when comparing the last few months of economic reports, we’ve got a couple of interesting trends in progress.
Bounties Rebound
Back in June, folks were ratting like crazy (and by ‘folks’ I largely mean Delve, and by Delve I mean the Imperium). From a high of 63.5 trillion, though, bounty prizes went into freefall, dropping more than 20% to a low of 51.3 trillion in August. Since then, though, those industrious bees (and ratters across New Eden) have punched up their numbers to a healthy 63.1 trillion ISK. That’s a solid 25% higher than last November’s ratting numbers. It’s apparently a good time to turn on your favorite show, pop the tab on a can, and buy a VNI.
Incursions On the Rise Again
Though it’s easy to find folks who bemoan the current state of incursion running, that noble industry has made steady growth since the summer. Each month has seen consistent increases in incursion revenue, to a current high of 9.11 trillion – now the third largest ISK faucet in EVE. That’s almost 30% growth since June. For comparison, the same sort of thing happened last year: November 2016’s incursion runners pulled in just over 9.5 trillion.
Blueprints Spike
To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the Lifeblood expansion sparked a gold rush for tasty new blueprints. BPOs are typically EVE’s fourth largest sink, after broker fees, transaction taxes, and skill books. For one glorious week in late October, though, the Lifeblood expansion shoved the blueprint NPC market through the roof. Capsuleers bought almost six hundred Athanor BPOs on the very first day at 5.5 billion apiece, and refineries were only one aspect of the Lifeblood blueprint rollout. (Screencap courtesy of EVE Marketer.) Purchases of brand new BPOs had been hovering around six to nine trillion ISK a month, but October’s blueprint market more than tripled, to a high of 28.98 trillion. November’s number is a modest 9.11 trillion ISK, consistent with previous months plus a very small boost. It seems the gold rush is well and truly over.
Sources
If you’re interested in shiny graphs, here are direct links to the last few months of sinks-and-faucets reports for your delectation and delight, plus last November’s chart.
Enjoy.
Jenne Exupery is a low-wattage independent who dabbles in shipping, salvage, trade, exploration, and nearly victimless heists. He can usually be found bumming around Derelik and Domain under one name or another. Preferred contact method: in-game mail to Jenne Exupery of Manticore-Horizon Shipping [MANHO].
