oh the xplosion looks nice, and i've doozed around mining asteroids for quite some time myself. problem is there is no point in being a miner except just that, having a cathartic moment. if instead of fancy drilling there were real purpose and demand for minerals that would be different, and it could have a whole lot of gameplay attached beyond just 'oh, cool'.
Eh, I find mining to be one of the most enjoyable things to do in Elite. Not because it's super profitable, it isn't. Not because the ores are useful, they aren't. I love mining for the hunting aspect of it, I find the search for those golden goose rocks alluring. The scenery doesn't hurt either, flying around very scenic ring systems, dodging spinning chunks of death while needing to also fly close to them. It's a lonely, solitary profession, yet with some of the best gameplay and superlative scenery in the entire game too.
So yeah, adding some skill and more mechanics while also allowing us to blow up space rocks will only make it better IMHO. Like I said above, I worry that 3.3 will have me enjoying mining MORE than exploring!!!
