B-Type Conundrum

Since the removal of the static DED complexes a few months ago now, the cost of certain items has skyrocketed. I wanted to have a quick peek at two of the more popular items from the loot drops of the 2/10 sites, the Gistii B-Type Small Shield Booster and the Gistii B-Type 1MN Afterburner.



The shield booster, along with maybe the Dramiel blueprint, was perhaps the outstanding pick from the loot drops and would net a tidy sum for little effort once shipped to market. I seem to remember at one point these items hit a peak of around 70-80 million ISK per unit, but for one reason or another seemed to hover for a long while around the 40-50 million ISK mark. They did get less popular in pvp uses with the introduction of the ancillary shield boosters, but have always been a popular item to stick on shield boosting pve fits for as long as I can remember. I sold a good stash that I had been saving at one point for just under 50 million ISK each. How foolish of me looking back now.

Now prices in some hubs have been reported as high as 150 million ISK on occasion. With prices seemingly levelling out at around the 120 million ISK mark for the time being in Amarr, and around 110 million in Jita. A dramatic rise indeed from its slumber at around the 40-50 million ISK mark just a few months ago.

For pvp uses of this booster it would now seem to be an unwise investment. Hawks and Jaguars that benefit greatly from this module in certain popular fits would now seem like just an easy way to bump up an expensive lossmail with the cost of this item costing multiple times more than the actual hull itself. It will be interesting to follow the popularity of this module in the pvp scene over the next few months. I don't think I will ever make use of it again, that is for certain.


The Gistii B-Type 1MN afterburner was the middle ground loot drop. Always nice, not quite as lucrative as the booster or blueprints in terms of ISK value, but in terms of usefulness it was actually a popular drop. You could ship to market for a nice little bump to the wallet or you could use them, in theory, as a free module on your pvp ship. It is, in short a great module and hugely popular and I feel will remain so. 10-15 million ISK was the usual retail value and most people wouldn't even think twice about dropping one of these on their pvp ship.

Now the module is spiking at around the 25 million ISK mark. I feel it is bordering at that level where it is still affordable for the average pvper but it is teetering on the edge of being a little too expensive. Although I will still use them personally, when I purchased ten in bulk a few days ago I paused for a moment and took in a sharp breath when I realised the total price. I think it will put some people off using this module as it is close to the cost of an actual hull that it will be used on, and more than in some cases.

One thing is for certain ... since the removal of the static complexes where a 'shiny' lossmail with certain trinket items was labelled as average, with the spiralling cost of some modules these shiny lossmails now just got a whole load shinier.


MB.