So, having been keeping an eye on how this issue develops we can see that the majority of posters (8/10) thus far are far from happy with this kernel nerf.

On the other hand, we have one forum troll meddling and one elitist telling every other corp to gtfo as: "Not every corporation is supposed to have T3 / T4 research". Easy to say for those who have it.

Is anyone keeping a close eye on kernel prices and availability at the moment? It will be interesting to discover if they are being bought out immediately by rich corps / players and either withheld or resold at massive profits. My guess would be that kernels from the market will be purchased and withheld by the uber-wealthy. We can't have the whipping boys getting a glimpse of glory now can we, what what?

Exactly Alexander. Nobody will be able to come into the game and expect to be able to advance into T4 and therefore, pose some challenge to the Beta alliances without either having a huge numerical advantage to begin with, where they substitute quality of gear with sheer quantity of T1 guns; or by joining a Beta corporation/Beta alliance.

In either case, it gives no future for the newcomers to the game. They can buy kernels? Lol? The plasma already drops in larger quantities from the high-tier mobs, therefore Beta corps already get the best NIC source for combats. We also get the best NIC source for industrials, which are the Alpha - Beta transport missions.

So, besides having exclusive access to Epriton - key to upgrade everything and build everything noteworthy - and having better Noralgis yields compared to new guys on Alpha, we now also get complete monopoly on kernels just to make sure nobody can EVER compete with the 3-4 corps living on Beta right now.

Its simply wrong and unfair, the game should be getting more complex for Beta dwellers with more stuff to do, not making everything easier and ensuring our perpetual dominion over our little islands until we start fighting each other for +1 useless outpost.

The kernel incapsulation as units for science research is fine in my opinion.
Those who want money will simply farm plasma and sell it. Thats why kernel became more science asset, what is logicall. I wonder why this changes was implemented only in last patch.

Research rate from kernels was pretty fast: for gaining t4 missile launcher tech we spent less than few month gametime. If devs want long term gameplay for new players, they should degrade science rate, and that was done. Less cry about "We achieved endgame...." more gameplay.
Simply.

I am not arguing Alpha corps/new players having access to T4/5 NPC's on Alpha islands. That would indeed be silly and completely nullify the idea of going to Beta, which is why I've never said that T4/5 kernels should be available on Alpha.

I am arguing that with -50% kernel drop rate it makes kernel incursions into PVP islands less worthwhile because:
a) Less kernels are required
b) Longer time investment is required
c) More danger for less return

On top of that, my argument still stands that instead of "progressing" through the 6-9 month kernel grind - and it is that, no corporation that joins the game will bring the sort of numbers required to steamroll through it faster then that - its simply easier and more convenient for people to join already established corporations.

... Which actually promotes blob-warfare as corporations get bigger and bigger due to the influx from new players/intermediate corps disbanding.

Starting a discussion on who can't or doesn't use anything but T4 is not even a discussion, so I wont get into that.

T1-T2 fitted squads can easily compete and beat T4 fitted squads, it is the age-old quality vs quantity discussion; quantity has quality of its own blahblah, again not really worth discussing as its beating a dead horse.

New corps joining the game simply cannot be a threat to current Beta alliances for the simple reasoning:
a) They have no experience
b) It will be 6+ months before they're at a technology level to compete
c) They have no stockpiles

In short from the beginning everything is now stacked against the new corporation. Yes, we agree it shouldn't be easy to progress to a competitive level in the game. I am arguing that its nonsense to make it downright impossible in a reasonable time-frame. Reasonable is not 6-9 months, mainly because the few people playing the game will get bored & leave in 2-3 months tops if the population doesn't climb upward.

Yes, there will be NIC sinks, and Delta/Gamma/Whatever islands, and terraforming and all of that wonderful stuff we have heard so much about. But its not in the game now, and it doesn't count as a factor or counter-balance until implemented & its systems available.

IF the kernel nerf is meant to balance out the good stuff thats coming in the future, then it should come into the game along with everything else its meant to balance. Right now its only serving to slow down the game progression - which is fine for the 2-3 corps that finished the tech trees. In fact, it only prolongs their finite advantage. But that is irrelevant because it is after all, a FINITE advantage and sooner or later the server will catch up to even up the playing field.

What is relevant is the impact on new players and new corps.

The main reason the market is dead, is because there is no incentive for corporations to amass NIC. For communist corps NIC becomes a laughing joke, as they are by far and large completely independent from the market.

An incentive to amass NIC would be the terraforming/POS/player-buildings. But again, thats not coming in the near future therefore not a relevant factor.

Yes, you have however not proven why making it a downright pain in the *** for new players will benefit the game in any way. There is progression, then there is korean farming. Perpetuum is a korean farming game at the moment, with optional PVP.

I'm agree with the oppost.
/signed

Mr Styx u may be a little biased here since kernels have no more utility for your corp. This game nor any mmorpg belongs to megacorps, its called sharing and ppl learn that as youngsters, why would newcomers or med to small sized corps have to invest more time to feel the "progression" wind in their faces, than your well timed and adverted gang did (no ofense).
I say if there was an issue with knowledge base being too common, there might be other options than giving again such disadvantage to big corps (drop rate to 70%, change spawns, drop % of knowledge learnt and so, .,)

I never said you did say that. I also never said that T4/5 NPC's should be available on Alpha islands. No offence, but invest in reading comprehension. You've just started off your entire post on something I didn't say which you appear to insinuate that I did. At this point I'm debating on whether to even respond to the rest of your post seeing as it seems to be a response to a variety of things that I never even said. However since you've brought up some more fallacies I'm quite happy to dispute them.

Incursions are not less worthwhile at all. Something only becomes less worthwhile if another, better option becomes available. Not because the ending point got moved. Again, longer time investment is also not required if you use the market. You can farm T4/5 NPC's on beta the entire time saving the kernels for when you have T3 research completed funded by selling beta gained Plasma. Just because you've said yourself that you're very isolated from the market doesn't mean that you can completely remove that aspect from the argument, as hard as you seem to try.

And you think this is a problem? M2S has been a corporation IN Perpetuum for nearly a year and a half. Despite most of that being in Beta we had all the people right from the beginning in live, that's one reason why we completed our tree so fast. I don't see an issue with brand new corporations having to wait 6-9 months to complete their technology tree because in reality that's how long it would have taken us if we'd have been a new corporation in live. I just don't agree that this is unbalanced. Research is one of the most integral things in the game and you seem to think it should be completable in a few months by a rag tag group of individuals with very little effort nor organisation.

But it's still something you continue to insinuate in your arguments hence is relevant.

I never said new corporations would be, I said Alpha corporations. Once again you've created an entire response to something I never even said. However as I said just above I don't see 6-9 months being an unreasonable time frame to complete T4 research on EVERY ITEM IN THE GAME. Capitalized to highlight the importance of this fact.

As I've mentioned multiple times in my post I simply disagree that the situation new corporations are in is unbalanced or unfair using the evidence or arguments I've shown.

Speak for yourself. I fail to see how you can give an accurate opinion on the market from someone whose corporation is self proclaimed to be very isolated from it. I'm quite active in the market and know for a fact that it is getting better.

You call it a pain in the ***, I call it a balanced curve relative to the benefits gained at the end when research has been completed. As for Perpetuum being a grind, it doesn't have to be. No one is forcing you to kernel farm every time you log in. I'm fairly sure this isn't what the developers are wanting you to do. You're supposed to do other activities but just kernel farm, maybe this is why you think it's such a grind. Because it's what you're doing the most of.

Besides, I don't agree that it's a grind anyway. An organised effort with a sufficient number of people utilising all game and social mechanics available will see your technology tree completed in a reasonable time frame.

People don't like sharing, they don't want to do a community effort, and they want easily obtainable goals. Newer corps can team up with other corps to establish complete lines. This team-building approach creates new communities in the game.

If what Styx says is true, then a solid team would develop over 6-9 months. Most alliances in this game have 3-5 corps within them, each of which could simply donate kernels to another having a figurehead in each. Each figurehead is simply a prototype of one color. That requires trust, and I'm willing to bet people wont go with it.

Furthermore you could just sell kernels of one color and focus all your efforts on just one.

I also think the focus of the game isn't getting everything and it makes the game very monotone. ie don't grind all day and play more. We're certainly not spending all day grinding.

While I don't like this change either (seriously, which nerf is good?), I don't really see how this makes a difference for solo and group play.

Before:
Solo - 100% kernel drops
Group - 100% kernel drops

After:
Solo - 50% kernel drops
Group - 50% kernel drops

It has been slowed down for everyone. Grinding was faster in groups before the patch too, and that hasn't changed.

"more people farming can compensate for the loss" isn't really an argument since more people could have farmed even more kernels before the nerf too.

You make it sound like there would be a fixed rate at which players HAVE to farm kernels otherwise something bad happens

.. the problem is this isn't WoW which has millions of players and thousands of guilds and not even close to similar game mechanics.  Having a 9000 lb gorilla in the room stomping on all the little guys makes them want to quit once they see both what they're up against and also how long it will take for them to be competitive.

This was and is already a huge problem; the kernel nerf just makes it worse.  That you need 6+ mos of EP under your belt to be really competitive with all the Beta roaming alliances is a MAJOR reason people quit this ostensibly PVP game or wouldn't even try it to start with (in fact it's exactly that reason that I personally never bothered to play Eve and came here instead, thinking that the gap wouldn't be quite so large as it is).  This has been discussed in other threads as well .. with nothing being done.

What this means you are forced to group .. yet there are frequent numerous complaints about 'blobs' even from the Devs.  The only way to truly break a 'blob' is by making solo play viable which it currently isn't for anyone not from Early Access with a t4 corp behind them handing out gear.

No.  It's about *** over newbies, soloists, and small corps in which case they're both the same there. 

It seems the pot is calling the kettle black on the Wow portion, and no, it's not a good analogy to compare the balance on any level with a game that has billions in income and 6+ years of development in an entirely different genre with a sandbox game made by an indie dev team out for less than a year.

End game pve raiding and kernel tree research are not equivalent anyway since one does not give a huge advantage over the other IN PVP which is what kernel nerfing gives all the heavily teched Beta corps over everyone else while they sit on their tech.

While I agree with khalsius (?) from the latest podcast (I've only heard the first half) that eventually all the t4 tech will leach out in to the market, at the moment, this has only happened in a marginal way with a handful of items and in most cases at exorbitant pricing and the point of having the research is so you have the option to make something that may otherwise not be available, they've slammed the door on most people ever seeing that.

Some people have posted defending this saying "not everyone is supposed to be in t3/t4" -- of course .. so you can have fish in a barrel or keep them in alpha amirite?

I stand by what I said, I think it should be reversed and if not then prototyping/research EP refunded so it can be spent elsewhere (like on CTs since that's the only viable alternative?).

It's adding insult to injury to keep people's EP on top of making sure they have no chance in hell of progressing.

The speculation about smaller corps basically ending up in informal huge alliances just to get access to tech because they can't gain access in a *reasonable* time frame themselves was true before the patch; this makes it infinitely worse.