CCP has made a post on the EVE forums regarding a rather interesting exploit that’s being patched into oblivion.
We have discovered an exploit involving starbases that made it possible for some players to gain an unfair advantage over others. We have taken measures to address this by removing the starbases used in the exploit. Additionally, assets gained from its use have been seized and bans levied against the players involved. We will continue to monitor the game for issues such as this one. We encourage players to create a petition if become aware of any activities which may permit others to gain an unfair advantage in the game.
Some additional details can be found in a thread here on Scrapheap Challenge. Assuming this information is correct and the timeline of this exploit being in the wild is true.. wow. Depending on how widespread the abuse of this was, the economic impact to EVE could be unbelievable.
Already pilots are reporting massive increases in the price of certain items on the market related to Tech 2 manufacturing, as a direct impact of this fix.
I’d say send CCP a T2 shovel to dig themselves out of this PR hole, but it probably costs 10 times higher today than it did yesterday.
Winterblink 
At this point the market has already taken a significant jump… whether or not it is true does not matter at this point, the T2 market will remain high for some time.
If it actually turns out to be all true it could be the turning point in many wars simply due to the MASSIVE increase in costs. I predict great market instability over the next few days and demand my 30 billion isk bailout!
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Holy shit.
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This is huge news and will possibly even affect the political game in New Eden if it is as widespread as suggested. On the other hand, wading through the threadnaught on the EVE forums was one of the most painful yet irresistible experiences I have engaged in for months! Thanks for a more journalistic overview, Winterblink!
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An interesting exploit, and as to the market- well, that horse has already bolted: http://eve-metrics.com/market/view/16683 shows the huge increase in cost of Ferrogel already. The price nearly doubled in the initial spike after the announcement as people bought up all the stock they could.
Say goodbye to cheap T2 indeed.
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As much as I hate to see things like this happen, I do find it fascinating. Events in game that have an impact on the economy like the Enron debacle in the real world make this game that much more fun to play.
What I do find disturbing is according to the thread on SHC, the exploiter did petition ccp for the bug and it was ignored.
I know that many people will call shenanigans on this, but the truth remains that if you become aware of an exploit and continue to use it, you are violating the EULA and should be banned.
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My personal feeling about the member, who supposedly reported, is that if you report… no response, no fix, It should be used. It’s a tool to you to making more money and you get away with it.
EVE is known for it’s real world based economics. Things like this happen all the time in real life. TBH, if you had a hand in an exploit with massive returns, it’s a risk you would be willing to take as well. I bet CCP will delete the petition that was filed, if they even keep the petitions =/
God forbid if CCP had any know about the situation, but didn’t take any action. It should be obvious when a Corp is making “Trillions” of isk, that maybe something is happening. In the real world, People keep an eye on these mega-corps. CCP Failed at such doings, thus letting it go on, until now.
In honesty, I would have done the same if I were in the position.
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The spike in prices is due to speculation in the wake of the announcement about “an exploit”. CCP has released no details of the exploit, market watchers were aware that something was remiss over the last four months.
Sure, this exploit may have been used for four years on a small scale, but someone recently got greedy and started flooding the market with their exploit product.
The recent changes in the market are due to speculation, T2 prices should end up returning to their February/March 2008 levels in a couple of months (once the hubbub has died down). Alchemy puts a price ceiling on Ferrogel et al, so T2 won’t be doubling in price any time soon (the bulk of materials in T2 manufacture are still hisec minerals like Tritanium).
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Winterblink…Argh your warpdrive active podcast has been my favorite for a long time now but man please do some research you and your Nemesis seem to be more and more disconnected from the political and active wars more than ever Argh stop the fail and bring in a hired gun or Me to get the groove back. Otherwise great to have you guys back making podcasts
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