So all of the veterans out there are going to probably laugh because they're either smarter than me, or they've made the same mistake. I'll share my stupid mistake in the hopes that I can stop at least one pilot from making the same mistake.
Currently I'm working on mission running trying to earn some extra ISK, LP, and standings with an NPC corporation so that I can better level missions and in turn make more ISK, LP, and standings. Declining a mission once (an no more than once every 4 hours for a specific agent) doesn't hurt your standings at all. If you decline more than 1 mission for an agent within a 4 hour time frame then you piss off the agent and lose standings.
Yesterday I was running level 3 missions in my Brutix, doing just fine not needing any support, and the next mission offered to me tells me that it will lead me to low sec to complete the mission. I paused, started thinking to myself that I probably shouldn't take the mission because someone is probably camping the gate waiting for stupid people to accept these missions so they can pop them on the other side. (Side Note: I go to low sec and null sec all the time when the need arises, but since leaving the wormhole I do live in High Sec again for now)
I decide that I'm feeling frisky and to risk going into low sec to complete the mission. The rewards were about 1 million ISK and 1800 LP I think. I read the stats of the mission online and one of the NPC's are known to drop 1 faction mod about 50% of the time. Faction mods can sell for anywhere between 5 million ISK to hundreds of millions of ISK, but on average people have been reporting about 20-30 million ISK faction mod drops. I figured with all the other loot, plus the hopefully dropped faction mod, it was worth the risk. I fly my Brutix over the low sec entrance and immediately on the other side are two Tech 3 cruisers just chilling waiting for me. A Loki and a Proteus. I know before I ever uncloak that I'm dead and there isn't much I can do about it but either get lucky and jump away or MAYBE take one of them with me.
Sure enough they insta-lock me, web me, and warp scram me. I'm a sitting duck. I launch my T2 Drones and focus fire all my DPS on the Loki. I've got an omni-tank and two medium repair II reppers, totally fit for PvE not PvP. They light me up like a Christmas tree, but I did manage to get the Loki down to about 30% armor before getting popped. They insta-lock my pod and I wake up back in a station. I think I could have taken the Loki or at least forced him to warp away (I didn't have any tackling gear on me), if there hadn't been two of them, but alas I lost about 140 million with my Brutix and my about 90 million with my pod.
I'm not bothered by the loss of ISK, ship, or implants. I am bothered that I still have an "Accepted" mission to fulfill. My options are;
1. Do the exact same thing again and expect different results (definition of insane)
2. See if any of my corp mates will join me to gate crash the Loki and Proteus
3. Wait until non-peak hours and try again when the gate won't likely be camped.
4. Have someone scout ahead in a fast ship to make sure that I don't get jumped again.
5. Fail the mission and take the standing hit
I'm not a big fan of giving up, so #5 is out of the question for now. None of my corp mates are up fleeting up and trying to take them down (lame), so # 2 is out. I'm not going to throw away another ship so #1 is out. I decide to wait until non peak hours and try again. This morning I woke up, logged on and let everyone know that I'm going to try again. The CEO offers to fly scout and cloak for me so that I can see if I'll be ganked on the other side. Definitely a big help knowing that I won't be ganked.
I jump in, blitz the mission, and get out with all my parts intact, no sign of any pirates the whole time.
Lesson of the story??? Don't take the Low Sec missions unless you're ready and able to handle yourself at PvP, if you do take the mission, get yourself a scout at the bare minimum, but fleet up if you can (it's more fun).
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