Topic: Kernel changes, Roamers, Infestations, and Unintended Consequences
An MMORPG is an extremely complicated integrated system and changes to one aspect of the system will have a ripple effect through other parts of the system, many of which will be unforseen.
The devs are clearly trying mightily to add PvE content to the game in the realization that it will help greatly in retaining players, reducing the "churn" rate and start the sub rate climbing. The coming new islands aside, the addition of roamers and then exploration a while back were fun steps in that direction. Then came the kernel changes (reduced to 50% average drop rate). The changes were beneficial - on balance, but...
Since then, exploration for salvage, science, and observers has remained fun, but infestations are now a borderline waste of time and roamers are now a complete waste of time.
When the kernel drop rate was 100% roamers were worth tracking down and killing because they represented one of the few chances on alpha islands to get mech kernels and bronze assault kernels. If you spotted a convoy (or were told of one), and took the time to change bots and track it down, you always got a reward for the effort: the kernels. Now, it's no longer worth the effort. They drop lousy loot and if you're lucky, you'll get 3-4 kernels from the entire convoy (half of which are from T3 lights/assaults, and can be gotten anywhere). I don't know how many convoys I've seen since the kernel changes that have been completely ignored by players.
The same with infestations. I personally now only use my combat bot for observers and use a fast small bot for all other explorations. For infestations I spawn them, grab the loot and run. 95% of the time I never go back, because the few times I have I got crap from the drops most of the time. I only go back now if the infestation is lev 2 or 3 and near enough to a teleport or outpost to endanger someone zoning in. What's more, many of the lev 2+ infestations I've spawned could be spotted from trafficed areas and they were still there hours later, so I'm not the only one ignoring them.
In sum, the kernel changes made it no longer worth while to go through the bother of hunting down roamers or infestation spawns. The loot drops are normal and represent stuff that drops from every other normal (and easier to get to) npc spawn and the kernel drops are not reliable enough to make the time and effort to kill the associated mech (50% of 1 = zero 50% of the time) worthwhile.
So, by making the kernel changes (which were worthwhile), the devs accidentally gutted 2 other aspects of the game. These are special (non-repeating spawns). It should be possible to code them for 100% kernel drops (like observers), a better chance of T2 loot drops, or anything else that will make the travel time and effort to kill them worthhwhile again. It's a shame that a significant chunk of their earlier effortss has been effectively harmed by their later efforts.