What me mine?

Akita posted this on the forums and I echo her sentiments so absolutely I had to ask permission to reproduce it here (and for pvp read any other kind of non-mining eve activity):

I see a LOT of posts around here from relatively new people where they say something to the extent of "I really want to PvP, but I want to fund my PvP with mining ops income".
This is wrong on so many different levels that I just had to start a new thread just for this.

First off, the skillset for mining is hugely different from the skillset for combat.
Not only that, but it places emphasis on different attributes too.
IF you're trying to get "good at PvP", alongside practical, hands-on experience, you also need the in-game character skill levels to back that up.
If you're WASTING time (yes, wasting) on mining-related skills instead of combat-related skills, you will not be particularly good in either of them (hence, less money earned from mining to spend on PvP at which you'll suck, causing you to lose ships more often, and vicious circle repeats).

Second, even assuming for a second you thought of that too, and actually run TWO characters on separate accounts (one with high per/wil and decent int. for combat, the other with high mem/int and decent perc. for industry) , leaving aside the fact that it's borderline crazy to do that (instead, of, say, selling the GTC you would have used for the second account to get the funds)... there still is the problem of mining being so utterly soulcrushingly BORING and annoying at the same time that I have more fun spinning shuttles in my hangar instead. And no, don't rely on the fact you can do it half-AKF or somesuch... you risk coming back to "absolutely nothing", since you ship has been blown up by a stray NPC or a suicide ganksquad (depends on ship, really)... or worse, come back only to see that asteroid you've started mining only had a handfull of units left, and your ship has been basically sitting idle for a very long time.

Last but not least, taking into account what I've just said, why oh why don't you just do missions instead ?
Missions require almost the same skillset as PvP does : you generally don't EWar NPCs, and MWDs usually can't be activated in missions, but that's about it for the major differences.
Missions deliver (at least in HIGHSEC) at least the same, if not always better rewards than mining does, and as an added bonus, you're also gaining standings with the NPC corporations, providing you with discounted broker fees, reduced refinery taxes and at some point the ability to place jumpclones in those NPC stations.
Not only that, but good standings open up the road to R&D agents, which is basically "bonus ISK without much actual work" (a.k.a. "passive income")... just start the project, and come by to collect (and then sell) cores every now and then.


Ok, now don't get me wrong, mining CAN be profitable.
But it requires quite a bit of dedication, patience, and preferably access to some 0.0 ores deep into your own alliance's space, in a larger mining op with protection, haulers and ideally a Rorqual with a mindlinked commander.
For highsec or lowsec dwellers however, missions are a much better way to earn a living (and safer too, IF you know what you're doing).
Well, ok, if tritanium would ever go above 5 or 6 ISK per unit, THEN you could say mining in highsec MIGHT become a bit more profitable, but really, not before that.
And no matter how you look at it, it STILL is the most boring activity you can do right now.
___

So, let me ask you this of all the newcomers:
What ever made you think MINING was a GOOD idea as an alternative means of funding for your PvP habit ?
I mean, seriously, I want to know that, what possibly could you have read or done to think that ?
Was it a person ? Was it pre-conceived notions ? Was it some guide or wiki or something like that ?

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