Crimson Harvest 2026 started on 6 October and runs until 3 November, as we covered when it was announced. A week and a half in, r/Eve has stopped talking about what the event promises and started talking about what it actually does. Between elusive keys, camped gates and a booster expiry date that has people scratching their heads, here is what the threads say. These are player reports, not official data, and we flag it where it matters.
Criterion of Fitness keys: everyone wants them, few find them
The Criterion of Fitness sites are the most talked-about part of the event. They need Criterion Ciphers, and getting them is the hard part. In "These Keys are Too Rare" a player asks for a higher spawn rate on the sites that drop them. One reply says the sites are plentiful but nearly impossible to run solo: you need one or two hacking characters and one to three Marauders. Under the video guide on making 600M ISK per hour in highsec, one user says they hacked 400 event cans and got a single key, and another reminds everyone that the 90% loot drop does not apply in highsec.
Market prices tell a similar story: two users mention keys selling for around 300 million ISK. That is what players say, not a price list, but it explains the hunt. On geography, the thread splits: some say the key type depends on which part of lowsec you run the site in, others swear it works the opposite way, with one corner of lowsec giving keys for the opposite corner of nullsec. Nobody linked an official source, so treat it with caution for now.
A polarized Kronos that went badly in a Criterion of Fitness site. Thread on r/Eve.
Speaking of risk: the author of that post lost the ship in a Criterion site with a polarized fit and could not recover the wreck, because the site's gate only opens once. In the comments some suggest a more expensive fit with HG crystals and a heavy Nos, others say a session change makes the site despawn. That is advice between players, so take it as such.
How much does it pay? Depends who you ask
The money picture is all over the place. In a thread ironically titled "S-tier event" one user complains about finding wormholes and sites everywhere except the right ones. Another answers that they made roughly 3 billion ISK across about 60 nullsec sites, thanks to bioadaptive caches, keys and a capital skillbook that sold for 1.5 billion. A third, after about fifteen sites, says they scraped together around a hundred million. The numbers cannot be verified, but the gap is wide and clearly depends on drop luck and location.
Plenty of players are also unhappy with the rewards. In "Why are this events rewards so meh?" one player finds the Akoman underwhelming compared to the bonuses from the previous event, and others note that events have paid less every year. On the trading side, another player complains about the value of Mutated Blood Samples after nearly finishing the track. To find your way around, the thread on which items can be traded collected a shared spreadsheet and a tips page.
The 90% loot drop and the camping problem
The rule that 90% of a destroyed ship's items drop as loot outside highsec, with capsules dropping implants 50% of the time, is doing what everyone expected. In one rant on the subject a player writes that the event gave them some of their best fights of the year, but that too many people now camp every undock and every gate, killing pilots who do not even get time to take control of their ship. They ask for some anti-camp mechanics. In the threads we read, there are no official replies from Fenris Creations on the point.
If you prefer to watch, here is a PvP video from the event posted on r/Eve.
Boosters expiring on 10 November
Perhaps the oddest discussion is about dates. A player noticed that the Crimson Harvest boosters expire on 10 November, a week after the event ends, while in past years they lasted until January and overlapped with the Winter Nexus ones. The same user points out that this is also the date of the Cradle of War boosters. In the comments, some guess a template copy error, others a way to curb market speculation. In the comments we read there is no official answer, so this remains a player report awaiting confirmation.
Either way, 10 November is a date to mark: according to our earlier article, it is when the EVE Vanguard paid alpha opens. In the comments of a thread about the next campaigns someone also suggests a new expansion on the same date, but with no details and no source, so for now it is only a rumor.
Triglavian standings: a recurring question
A typical newcomer question: does hunting Triglavians during the event ruin your standing with them? In the dedicated thread, players say the Triglavians spawned in event sites do not lower your standing, while killing them in Minor Victory systems does. It comes from people who have tried it, not from an official confirmation, so check the event notes before sacrificing your standings.
Next date: Brawl for CSM
Outside the event, but still PvP: on Saturday 17 October at 21:00 EVE time, in Amamake lowsec, the second Brawl for CSM takes place. The theme is T1 battlecruisers: the organizer says they have 100 Hurricanes to hand out and invites every CSM candidate to form their own fleet. If you want to know who is running, we covered it here.
The Brawl for CSM poster.