With every new VU,
MA keeps hammering home the concept that there is NO more mid-level players. There is either noob, or uber. No inbetween.
And this move on
MA's part, I can guaran-fricking-tee, if the stats were pulled, has cut their revenue up at CP by at least HALF. A boatload of people I knew who used to go up there weekly, tried going up there for a few days, some even as long as a week, and the returns were so few and far inbetween, so sporadic, they had to leave. They now hunt Atroxes/Ambu/etc, cheaper and better returns.
I think
MA thought that by causing the per-mob ped cost to go up, they'd get more from the ubers... instead, they seemed to have cut out a whole section of their revenue on Aurlis... just look at the globals/hofs for CP. Even on the weekend, you no longer see rolling globals/hofs for up at CP. It's more like only a dozen hofs (max) a day, with several dozen moderately sized globals inbetween - and more often than not, to the same person/team.
It's just like the old question of how should I sell this product...
A) Sell a $5 cost item for $7, and make $2 a sale,
or
B) Sell a $500 cost item for $700, and make $200 a sale.
Demographics. The lower cost item will sell faster, and to more people, than the higher priced item. Before the HP change, ya - had a helluva lot of people spread across the domes, based on skill level. Newbs in domes 1 & 2, solo/team ; Mid-levels solo/teamed dome 3/4 ; ubers dome 4 mostly. I thought it was fun to be able to rip through a good dozen (or 3) mobs in under 3 minutes in dome 1 (using a 485, lol). Now I'm lucky if I can kill 3 mobs in 5 minutes solo... damned near got carpal tunnel last time I solo hunted!
Just hope
MA pays attention to the player difference... and does something POSITIVE about it, rather than beating it with the
NERF NERF NERF hammer...