The Truth
Eighteen months ago I made the following promotional video for Project Entropia, along with McCormick. If you haven't ever had a chance to watch it, it's worth the three minutes.
Critical analysis of all things Entropia. Please Digg any posts you find interesting.
Eighteen months ago I made the following promotional video for Project Entropia, along with McCormick. If you haven't ever had a chance to watch it, it's worth the three minutes.
Posted by Dub 1 comments
Posted by Chris Hackard 2 comments
The problem....
I've been talking to people, and most of them seem unhappy with their gameplay experience in EU. The game has taken an evil path, that forces us to double or triple our cash deposits into the game to keep playing.
Most of them struggle with the current problem of bad loots, and reselling. Both combined are a deadly factor that kills any enjoyment the players used to take in the game. The current drop rates on items such as ML35, MK5, DOA Strikehammer, etc... is too low, and there was a skill nerf recently, that makes it 10x harder to skill up making it hard to play without constant depositing.
Balance in the future
Mindark talks about adjustments now, so that the future can be more balanced. Well, im sure they have their reasons to do so, but maybe the nerf was a bit too dramatic? It used to be ok to skill, but nowadays its really tough. While everyone likes a challenge, maybe most of the players lack the cashflow to keep up the progress. It would be ok if items still dropped, since you could sell the loot to keep skilling, but items seem to have stopped dropping. Combine this with agressive reselling, and you got yourself a very difficult challenge to overcome.
While talking about market tactics, lets take the example of Feodora Hat. There's no point in trying to strangle that market, because its an item that crafters are constantly making. Therefore the price is uncontrolable, and if any reseller tries to do some manipulation, he will end up with hundreds of Feodora's in his hands, and wont be able to make a profit this century.
Another problem is the droprate of blueprints.
There are a bundle of high level Blueprints that never dropped. There's a full book of Weapons BP's, with about 50 different weapons... And only 5 are usable.
Because the high end Bp's for those weapons are nowhere to be seen... or in this case, they never dropped. For several years now that crafters have been expecting the high end crafting blueprints... And here's how things are at the moment:
- If a level 9-10 BP drops, then the crafter that loots it has the monopoly on such item. As only 1 drops. Like the Evil BLP amp. Only 1 BP looted so far, in 5 years.
- The BP drops, but there's no resources available to craft the item.
- And if there are resources, the Chance of Success in crafting such item is too risky, as we are talking about 50-100 dollars per click, and usually you will need materials for 10 attempts, in order to make 1 - 5 items, with no guarantee's it will happen. Sometimes you fail all attempts.
Again, there is a reason BP's don't drop. In armor and guns case, it should be obvious that Mindark fears to put out something unbalanced, so they are still studying what would be appropriate for a lvl 9-10 armor. Crafted items should never be better then looted gear, and that makes sense. Loot should be a treasure, craft should be a means to get the treasure.
(L) vs Unlimited
Limited can have some good stats. Take Modified Korss (L). Its a great weapon no doubt. But for it to be profitable, you will have to loot it yourself. And there's no guarantees it will be. Because if you don't, you will have to buy it, and they usually sell for a % that takes away a big chunk of the profit you'd get by using one.
Because (L) has something unlimited doesn't. When the decay eats your weapon, you can never use it again. So, dmg/pec will only matter in (L) guns if you buy them for their TT price, or close. Anything above it and you are automatically rising the dmg/pec, considering decay+ammo burn+percentage.
Im a non (L) guy. I really like the fact that i can repair my equipment an infinite number of times. It feels like im not dependant on the market. Maybe that's why MA wants the future to be (L). So that everyone is part of the market, making it a well oiled machine.
The HighEnd Unlimited Gear
Improved Mk2, Mod Merc. The two most prized guns in the game. There's a myth that if you get one, you will profit beyond your imagination. That's false. Not even with those guns profit is guaranteed. What's guaranteed though, is that their are far more economic to hunt with because they decay alot less then most guns, have a higher speed and a better dmg/pec considering the ammoburn. This creates an illusion:
Profiting with those guns requires: several hours a day hunting, good loot management, good skills, and luck above all.
Last known Mod Merc or Improved Mk2 dropped years ago. And to make a small estimate, if 20.000 players log into the game and hunt 100 creatures in a day... thats 2 million loots per day. Now, Mindark says they got +500K players registered. 20K players per day isnt really a big number. So in 1 year... you have ~730 million loots (in this scenario). This past year, no mod merc, mod fap, improved mk2, improved fap has dropped... that we know of.
Adjusted fap has been found twice, Supremacy armor has dropped considerably, 2 parts of eon are known, and a few of shadow armor as well. But those only allow you to hunt bigger mobs like daspletors and aliens... that don't drop anything good, and are constantly overthrown from the Hof list by 5K exa's, 8K argo's, etc...
There's always the chance that mod faps and the likes have dropped, but such items draw attention and the community is tight. Usually if someone owns a mod merc or a mod fap, people know who that item belonged too, even who looted it back in the days. So... If such an item was looted this past year, theres 95% of chances it would of been known by the community.
Perhaps its the only future in EU. I can understand that. It would be stimulating to everyone though, if things still dropped. Players without goals are as good as beer without gas.
Hunt for your Life
I'll say it again. A Mod Merc + Mod Fap will only make a difference if you got high skills and hunt ALL DAY LONG.
Most players have a life. Few of them are willing to participate in EU +8hours a day. So why does Mindark fear these items dropping so much?? And i started this blog entry complaining about ML35's and Mk5's... Guns that compared to such good items like the Mod Merc's are total crap. Slow reload and high decay. What if everyone had a mod merc..or Imk2?
Well, then the lootpool would not generate so much income, as everyone would be hunting more economically, which would automatically adjust the loot. Meaning that those items would become less efficient and profiting in the broader scenario. So why don't they drop?
Note
I really don't see Mindark suffering any bit if they include 5 of each good items like Adj V1, Mk5, etc per month, in loot. They have alot more players, alot more depositers, loot is now attributed in different ways, you can't trap creatures anymore, there are bigger markets and other professions other then hunting / mining / crafting..
They would only stimulate player's desire to loot one themselves, keep a hand on the inflation, and show that good stuff can still be acquired if you are lucky.
As many have said, including the previous blogpost, there isn't that feeling of "massive" in the tip of your fingers anymore, everytime you click to loot a mob. A 40K ATH can be a great feeling, but having an improved mk2 instead would be absolutely mental, for most players.
While i'd scream with a 40K ATH, i'd totally crap my pants with an improved MkII.
J.
Posted by Jorael 3 comments
Today while I was browsing new item stats at PE Wiki, I noticed that we have such a wide variety of items in Entropia Universe some of which have not shown up in a loot in years. (yes, YEARS!) So I started thinking about it even though its a running joke in the Entropia Universe community it has been stated on more than one occasion that ALL items still drop in loot. Here are is an older quote and an answer from a more recent Q and A session from Marco, a well known and respected Mindark Official.
Marco quote from a long time ago:
The economy concerning rare items will always be limited, as the items are just that-rare. Contrary to some beliefs though - every item can be found, even a Mod FAP or an Mod Merc or an Imp Mk2.
Sep 01, 11:11 2004 - Stratics HoC
*The Question: Item drops, previously it has been said that all items will always drop, from the mob they dropped from before, just the frequency changes. Fair enough - but clothes stopped dropping, as did toys and certain high-level stuff. Is it still possible to loot all post-gold items? Not just mod/imp/adj stuff, but other stuff that we don’t see anymore?
Marco's Answer: Most items, that aren't "special" (like from campaigns or events), can be found, however, some are very rare.
Posted by Chris Hackard 8 comments
Wasn't planning on posting today, but I just read a Blog entry by Seth Godin that rings so true for the current state of Real Cash Economy MMOs. Had to share it.
"Many systems only work when there are a lot of entries but just a few winners. Whether it's the US Open or the economics of the local gym, it's the effort and expense of the non-winners that supports the benefits of the winners. These pyramids are getting more common because of the winner-take-all nature of our world. Digg wouldn't work if there were only a few stories a day submitted. It's the stories that don't make the front page that make the front page winners succeed."If you buy into this, then success in Entropia, or any other system, seems pretty simple. Become one of the winners, now. Or stop participating.
Posted by Dub 2 comments
MMORPG's, which stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Games, have a recurring problem of resellers, scammers and leeches. While its only annoying in games where credits are only monopoly money... In games tied to Real Economy its more then that, its a cancer that eats the game from within. In Entropia Universe, reselling and scamming is quite a problem. Why?
10 PEDs = 1 Dollar
Resellers:
Reselling is a double edged sword. While as an owner of a coveted item, I will see its value grow in time due to the reselling of other copies of the item. But as a potential buyer, I may be priced out of something I want due to the rise in value that reselling can cause.
There's also a growing curve that is stepper on high end items, due to their rarity. For mid-market items, the curve is smaller, but some resellers will strangle the market with some agressive techniques, forcing you to pay fortunes for an average item.
Why then, would you buy it, you ask?
Simple. Progression. In EU, as you build your character and evolve in skills, you will want better and faster gear. As in any other game. You will also want to hunt bigger creatures, and mine better resources. This means that some milestone items in a player's rise will be driven to insane prices because resellers know players will want them.
Natural inflation is one thing. But in my opinion reselling inflation is ruining the game, cornering players budget's and halting their progression. If players sold their items to others that would use them, then inflation would be natural, showing their true value. But the big problem is that resellers buy items cheap from players that want to get better gear, and sometimes sell them for double the price.
Posted by Jorael 5 comments
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