PI, Depletion, and WH life

Personally, PI is what got me back into W-Space life, and PI is the overriding factor keeping me there now. I think that is also the reason that I have seen a resurgence in the number of people living in w-space.  High End Gas Mining, and C5/C6 Sleeper Sites still represent the top of the line Isk generation in W-space, but PI is the backbone of providing the Isk to justify a semi-permanent presence.

So along comes the new depletion, the planets I am making "mining" for my coolant on probably had 5-6 people on them each pulling material.  The planets got significantly poorer in a matter of weeks, yet prices have not risen.  So either people had a backlog, or more people are doing it with the new "ease" of PI (yes, I can not get through 5 toons with login and everything in about 15 minutes on nights I don't need to move materials).

So will the depletion lead to a similar exodus of w-space as the falling ABC mineral prices did?  Will people just spread out more and we will see more systems being run by smaller groups?  Or will people just scale back in the holes they are in and make less per person?

Personally, I moved my merry band of PI toons to a new hole and am happily back to only 2-3 toons on each planet and reaping the hot spots all myself.

Time will tell how the new depletion and PI will work, but for now, I think that w-space remains the best place to operate for PI and the less people doing PI in the hole the better.

Fly Safe,
Mick