Every so often running normal missions you get an email about a special mission you can run. Sometimes they can be crazy rewarding. Other times they suck. They can even be quite risky.

If I'm not mistaken every 16 normal missions you end up running from the same NPC you end up getting a special storyline mission. These can be a single mission or a little mission arc. With how many missions I ended up running I've had a lot of them.

One thing I did not take into consideration when picking a place to run missions was who I'd be getting my special storyline mission from. The good news is if you just ignore them and keep blasting away missions then another person will give you a mission and so on.

These missions themselves grant a decent faction standing boost with the corporation that is offering the mission. Along with quite a lot of diverted faction standing both positive and negative.

The first one I got was a transportation mission. While not great it was just a couple of jumps between pick up and drop off. The reward was an implant that was more or less worthless. I was rather disappointed.

Things then got much worse. The next one I got after 16 missions was a deliver 10k Omber mission. Not only do they not give you the Omber but you have to buy it. The reward after removing the cost of the ore was only a couple million ISK in total.

I decided I had enough of the first NPC. So, I did not accept his mission. Instead, I ended up blasting through quite a few more missions to get yet another special mission. While it was from a different NPC it was the same mission. I went on to grind further missions and got the same one yet again.

I now had three special missions that each wanted me to buy and deliver 10k Omber. Even worse they were a decent distance apart. At that point, I decided I was just going to bite the bullet and get it done.

I went off to a trade hub. Bought a ship that was big enough to haul all the ore. Then spent way too much time picking up each mission and delivering the goods. Once you factor in the price of the ship and the ores, I must have made one or two million ISK.

To say I was disappointed is an understatement. I decided if the closeted special storyline mission gave me the same ore delivery mission yet again. That I'd just ignore them moving forward. Thankfully that ended up not being the case.

While at least I got some nice faction standing boosts for the most part. I did not care that much about that aspect. It either needed some decent ISK rewards or I felt it was a bust.

After 16 more missions the next special storyline mission had me go out and kill some guy. I felt that was easy enough. While I had no plans to salvage the wrecks, I decided to at least check what dropped.

Turns out a Dark Blood Power Diagnostic System module dropped. Seeing the 39 million estimated value did not quite make up for all the nonsense of the other special missions. It more than made running this one worth my time.

I also know there is usually a difference between the estimated price as that might be some buy order or other things affecting the price. I was somewhat expecting it to be worth a little bit less. Turns out it was worth a bit more. I ended up selling it for around 72 million ISK.

The next special storyline mission I got was a part one. I had no idea what the end reward would be. If there would be a chance for some amazing loot along the way. For all I knew I'd just be wasting my time. I however went for it.

Three or four of the missions were just delivery missions. They were often a few jumps out and quite low-paying. One of them I even had to jump into low sec which I changed ships to do. I’m kind of glad I did as it was a somewhat busy low sec. Thankfully it seemed most people in there were not into piracy so I was able to sneak in and out without someone trying to blow me up.

Some of the missions where I had to fight some NPCs had cap-draining towers. They were powerful enough that I found myself more than once having to warp out and dock at the station to recover.

I knew there was a chance for these kinds of missions to be a bit more challenging. They sure were. I just hoped it was going to be worth it. Thankfully it was.

During one of the missions, I ended up finding a few implants on one of the ships I blew up. They did end up selling for around the price listed. While nothing massive some of the ships I had to take out were battleships or just large fleets. So, something I was getting a 2 to 4 million bounty tick hitting my wallet from time to time

As far as the final reward. Beyond getting 1 million ISK for finishing the mission in time. Was a Me-005 implant. I knew with it being a 005 it was going to be worth something. I ended up listing the one I looted for 100 million.

Between all the savaging, mission rewards, loot, and bounties. I ended up clearing over 150 million. While it took quite a lot of time to do all the missions. Along with that second run. It more than made up for the other mission offers I got.

Final Thoughts

I was also not shocked after running a further 16 missions that I got the dreaded deliver 10k Omber again. With some of the profits I made, I'm just going to buy a decent chunk of that ore and put it at the station with the NPC where I get my special story mission from. As it’s clear there is a decent chance of getting that mission.

Sometimes these kinds of missions can be a major miss. Other times they can just shock you. Hopefully, I'll get a bunch in the future that are worth running. While they don’t give any loyalty points which is a bit of a disappointment. They can sure make up for it when they want to in drops.

Information

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Screenshots were taken and content was written by @Enjar about Eve Online.