text: Biggest problem I have seen so far is that, for all the talk about pvp, not a lot seems to go on at any one time in general in low sec / 0.0. There is a ton of boring time while looking for a fight or a gank. So they tend to jump into high sec where they can find targets, usually ones that dont or don't know how to fight back effectively.
  On top of that, there is the rather steep learning curve, and the odd jumps going from high sec to low sec to 0.0, and you get a lot of players that are new to EVE's style of play that get frustrated, with a large % of them leaving.
  (Just my opinion of course) They need to make Low Sec more desireable, both in minerals, and reasons to pvp there (losing faction is not a great reason to want to jump in). This would give more high sec players reasons to 'jump into the pool' as it were, and start enjoying the deeper waters.
  0.0 is a whole different thing, and my experience in there is very limited, but the biggest problem I have seen as a passenger (son and few friends all live out there) is that any areas owned by corps are fairly simple to defend... just look for the non-blue that showed up on local and everyone starts hunting them down. Makes it difficult for smaller scale fun roams, hunting, etc, and in general does not make it feel as unsafe as low sec or (oddly enough) high sec.
  What are good answers or solutions? I have a few ideas, but weather they are good are not I guess is up for interpretation. ;)
  I would definitely love to see 80k+ people logged in at any one point, preferably accounts, and not just players with 4-6 alts logged in. lol
  Zyella: Right on.. great suggestions. 0.0 you spend a lot of time defending, but yeah makes better cash. Though I used to get plenty of ores from reprocessing drops from agent jobs. Seems like they must have changed that because reprocs are nowhere near what they used to be, seems like. Used to be better than mining - get ores while blowing stuff up.
  And who's fault is that? If the majority of people hide in highsec and are unwilling to at least learn to live in a bit more hostile prone environment, we are gonna come to highsec with blackened hearts and murder on our minds. I believe the point we are trying to make is that highsec is not a place you can come to hide from random acts of violence.
  Agreed on the learning curve, but stats or gtfo on the "leaving" part. I believe you just chose to arbitrarily pull that one out of your deep 6. Most people I know who have started this game past a month or two have stayed despite incredible losses. I think it's due to the time investment. You spend a lot of time learning, skilling, grinding, etc. A typical person usually isn't willing to throw that away just because they got ganked a few times. It's my hope they learn and become better players, regardless if they are industrialists or purist pvp'ers.
  Call me silly, but I doubt many miners would jump into lowsec even if they put Arkonor in every belt. Most miners I've talked to are totally risk averse, and in my line of work I end up speaking to many of them. Granted, the conversation usually begins with several choice profanities on their behalf, but on occasion it's possible to engage in a useful dialogue with them.
  Lol you are a poor example Demon, in that you are one of the extremes on the other side. I think a lot of the rage and tears on the forums comes from conflict with people from the 2 extremes of the spectrum (PVP-only-screw-who-you-can types that want the non stop adrenaline, and the PVE-only-carebears that want to never have to interact with other players across the barrel of a gun). I myself am a bit more of a middle-of-the-road (getting older and a bit more mellow) type that enjoys both but leans towards mining / missioning.
  Would upgrading the ores in low sec be an ultimate fix? I seriously doubt it. But would it start putting more high sec players out there, and in particular corporations? I believe it would. As for other fixes and / or incentives, I truly don't know, and I am sure there are a lot of pple out there who have great ideas. The point was there really is not much of a slope, only a cliff.
  As for the percentage of leaving remark. I have been playing this game off and on since 2004. Due to that, a lot of friends, family, and even some other co workers have tried the game out. Five of them total are still playing. Three out of those five are CoD and TF2 junkies that don't give two damns about anything in the game other than what the best pvp ships are and how to fit em. The rest had repeated bad experiences early on, or (against my advice at the time) tried to get a better feel for the game in bad locations (too close to Jita).
  I am not laying fault at the feet of players, I think a large part of it is simply the way the game is laid out. And CCP has been making inroads over the years (adding in the newbie section and training missions, etc) which is slowly helping out the new pple. Making the slope a little easier on them would help more, and coming up with some form of fixes to help out spicing things up in 0.0 and low sec i think would be an even better step.