First up, a confession - up until the end of the 3.3 Beta I have never been interested in mining, actively avoided any thought of doing it, thought watching paint dry (or reading the forums) would be more exciting that sitting there hitting rocks with a couple of low powered lasers. Then Beta finished and I had a goal, there were some new ships I wanted and I knew I would need to engineer them. I looked and discovered to my dismay that I needed to unlock that shedevil Selene Jean which meant I had to go mining. Since I wasn't interested in doing much between the Beta finishing and 3.3 dropping, I bit the proverbial bullet and did a bit of study on what I needed to start mining. Read an excellent guide and got myself an Asp E and actually went out and got the cursed 500T done. Was it fun and enjoyable - nah not really, kind of exactly what I thought it would be like, sitting there shooting rocks with low powered lasers. To be honest, probably had more fun with the collector limpets than I did with the actual mining 
Then 3.3 dropped and mining was forgotten about. Got the new Phantom, stripped most of the good stuff from my Krait Mk II and went exploring. Within a week went from 3% Pioneer to Elite, and enjoyed every moment of it. Then I started reading some of the posts on the new mining mechanics and it got me thinking. I have a half empty Krait Mk II sitting there surplus to my requirements and I half 1.5B Cr in the bank, lets at least try this new fangled system out. So I did some more reading, fitted out the Krait, found a decent hot spot (Painte I think) and made some decent cash - not my overriding intent, I just wanted to find something interesting that I hadn't done before. I can now say I am quite hooked on mining, in fact I am loving the new system.
The worry when dropping into the hotspot and you see a couple of other ships at the edge of the radar, are they pirates, will they interrupt my fun even though I don't have any cargo yet? Yes I know that they won't hassle me until I get some cargo but you can bet the first scan with the Pulse Scanner will reveal a juicy asteroid and I have to sit there not doing anything until they leave
The serenity of just cruising through the rings, gliding around, over, under and even between the asteroids. An added bonus is now with night vision it doesn't matter if I am on the wrong side of the planet, I can still navigate around quite easily.
The anticipation when an asteroid lights up like a beacon, I just know this is the one I have spent the last 5 minutes looking for. I eagerly sent a prospector probe at it and YES, it has fissures and even contains what I have been looking for.
The enjoyment of manoeuvring around the asteroid (cos they are always spinning aren't they!) to get the right angle for the seismic charge, then getting the power of the charge just right. That moment when I launch the final charge into the asteroid, then skedaddle far enough away so I can detonate it and watch the biggest fireworks going. The mad search to get the loose fragments before they drift too far away, always moving the ship to make it easier for the suicidal limpets to make it back safely. The satisfying 'thwack' as the Abrasion Blasters smack the fragments loose and my hope the limpet isn't too quick to pick it up. Sending more limpets out because well limpets can be damn stupid at times lol
Finally the anxiety of leaving the ring with a full load of Void Opals (128 in the hold plus another 8 in the refinery - why waste space) knowing I have three jumps to get to that station that pays top dollar and my ship has zero offensive capabilities. Going into a slight panic at every jump when I see another ship, praying the damn FSD will spool up faster. That enormously long trip to the station (93ls lol) where I are sure every ship is a pirate. The utter relief when I slide through the slot and dock. The elation when you check the market prices and find they haven't dropped in the 2 hours you have been mining.
Yes I am now converted, I just find mining so relaxing. Okay the profit margin is good (that is the understatement of the year - I make between 200m Cr and 230m Cr per run now), yes that helps but I know that will probably soon be nerfed. I think is the peacefulness of the search interrupted by times of activity when you find that 'golden' asteroid. Add the fact I take the time to do some searching on the best market before heading to the ring. I do use 3rd party tools to find the latest prices but will actually fly to the station and check the prices myself before heading to the ring.
All I can say is if you haven't tried the new mining, give it a go, it might just surprise you as much as it has surprised me
Then 3.3 dropped and mining was forgotten about. Got the new Phantom, stripped most of the good stuff from my Krait Mk II and went exploring. Within a week went from 3% Pioneer to Elite, and enjoyed every moment of it. Then I started reading some of the posts on the new mining mechanics and it got me thinking. I have a half empty Krait Mk II sitting there surplus to my requirements and I half 1.5B Cr in the bank, lets at least try this new fangled system out. So I did some more reading, fitted out the Krait, found a decent hot spot (Painte I think) and made some decent cash - not my overriding intent, I just wanted to find something interesting that I hadn't done before. I can now say I am quite hooked on mining, in fact I am loving the new system.
The worry when dropping into the hotspot and you see a couple of other ships at the edge of the radar, are they pirates, will they interrupt my fun even though I don't have any cargo yet? Yes I know that they won't hassle me until I get some cargo but you can bet the first scan with the Pulse Scanner will reveal a juicy asteroid and I have to sit there not doing anything until they leave
The serenity of just cruising through the rings, gliding around, over, under and even between the asteroids. An added bonus is now with night vision it doesn't matter if I am on the wrong side of the planet, I can still navigate around quite easily.
The anticipation when an asteroid lights up like a beacon, I just know this is the one I have spent the last 5 minutes looking for. I eagerly sent a prospector probe at it and YES, it has fissures and even contains what I have been looking for.
The enjoyment of manoeuvring around the asteroid (cos they are always spinning aren't they!) to get the right angle for the seismic charge, then getting the power of the charge just right. That moment when I launch the final charge into the asteroid, then skedaddle far enough away so I can detonate it and watch the biggest fireworks going. The mad search to get the loose fragments before they drift too far away, always moving the ship to make it easier for the suicidal limpets to make it back safely. The satisfying 'thwack' as the Abrasion Blasters smack the fragments loose and my hope the limpet isn't too quick to pick it up. Sending more limpets out because well limpets can be damn stupid at times lol
Finally the anxiety of leaving the ring with a full load of Void Opals (128 in the hold plus another 8 in the refinery - why waste space) knowing I have three jumps to get to that station that pays top dollar and my ship has zero offensive capabilities. Going into a slight panic at every jump when I see another ship, praying the damn FSD will spool up faster. That enormously long trip to the station (93ls lol) where I are sure every ship is a pirate. The utter relief when I slide through the slot and dock. The elation when you check the market prices and find they haven't dropped in the 2 hours you have been mining.
Yes I am now converted, I just find mining so relaxing. Okay the profit margin is good (that is the understatement of the year - I make between 200m Cr and 230m Cr per run now), yes that helps but I know that will probably soon be nerfed. I think is the peacefulness of the search interrupted by times of activity when you find that 'golden' asteroid. Add the fact I take the time to do some searching on the best market before heading to the ring. I do use 3rd party tools to find the latest prices but will actually fly to the station and check the prices myself before heading to the ring.
All I can say is if you haven't tried the new mining, give it a go, it might just surprise you as much as it has surprised me
