My so called Virtual Life invaded my real life today

Hello fellow Entropians,

Well some time ago I got an interesting loot while hunting and in an effort to share more with the Entropia community I posted the virtual loot here on Entropiaforum and said I would share with the rest of everyone once I received my real life item. Which I initially speculated would be a rolled up poster in a shipping tube. Needless to say today when I checked my mail I was surprised to see a box from Sweden with some weight to it (pictured to the left with my original PE card reader covering my address....yes the card reader still works ;) )

So I figured I would document the opening for Blogtropia Readers and the pictures in this post are what exactly what I saw upon examining the contents.

Here are the contents spread out minus the poster. It contained a copy of the Entropian Magazine, some Post cards, and a real life PED(Project Entropia Dollar) card. I was quite surprised and totally thrilled but the best was yet to come.

The Poster yes! The Poster! is totally awesome and right up my alley. I have been working on some Concept Robot designs for the EntropiaUniverseConceptCorner Blog and was running into a bit of concept block and this poster has given new life to the project.

Definitely a thumbs up for this Mindark. Thanks a million.

Event or System Stress Test? You make the call!

Hello Fellow Entropians new and old. Well the sun has risen or is rising or will rise for The Animal Kingdom event sometime today. My initial response to reading the first EBN (Entropia Broadcasting Network) messages was "finally a reason to sign on an incentive a motivational tool" just like what I spoke of in my last post. Needless to say I was jazzed to get home and sign on and hunt some of these mobs just to have a chance at maybe some decent loots.

The first couple of days were spent hunting Eomons in teams. The lag was intense but I initially chalked that up due to the large amount of avatars and mobs in one location. Overall I was surprised at how EU was handling the traffic and other than a couple of loots being lost to the lagging loot server hamster it was negligible. I thought to myself "Awesome this will be the event to top all events!" the reason I thought this was this was one of the few times and Event was held for all levels of participants in EU. We had high level Exos, high level Armax, full range of Eomon and a robot invasion of the oil rig in PVP2.

The weekend showed up all to quickly and just getting close to the Event mob spawns was a lesson in frustration due to intense lag. Its about this time I really started to think about what was really going on even though I was in trying to deny it because "Its an Event man! Mindark wouldn't screw with their biggest motivational tool.............would they?" Packing tons of mobs, tons of avatars, and tons of loot transactions into some of the laggiest areas in Entropia Universe, like Twin Falls seems to me more like a system stress test than an actual Event. I tried to remain optimistic and each day tried to hunt the Event mobs which became increasingly difficult and frustrating due to lost loots or crashing. Large events in the past never seemed to suffer so much........there was lag but never this extreme.

I guess if they would have given us a disclaimer like: Mindark is currently doing a system stress test and we need all avatars to hunt mobs in extreme lag with the possibility of loosing some loot due to the lag. I don't think many people including myself would have participated in the so called "Event" I guess it was a smart tactic, they got enough of my PED and got to test the system, but at the same time I can't help but wonder why the event just sort of fizzled into a quagmire of lag, glitches, and CTDs instead of something truly unique (like Events in the past) even if it is a system stress test of some sort.

Overall I am happy Mindark thought of every level of hunter in this "Event" well when they could actually hunt and loot the beasts. I am still trying to wrap my head around why this event was so anticlimactic towards the end. I have no idea if Mindark was testing the system but it seems like it or instead of improving Entropia Universe since the last Eomon migration and Atrox Queen Event they have in fact made it digress I sure hope this is not the case.

So I have to ask all my fellow Entropians, was it an Event or a System Stress Test? You make the call!

The Bucket Theory and Motivational tools

I think sometimes we all underestimate just how much money Mindark can funnel out of EU just soley from decay of usable items. Its like poking a small hole in a large bucket of water if you get enough small holes it will drain a lot of water out of that bucket. The more people play and decay the more PED(Project Entropia Dollar) is funneled off the system.

I think when Mindark's financial numbers fall short we will see events happen, like the current one called "The Animal Kingdom", which plants more people in chairs in front of their computer decaying away in Entropia Universe. Uber items and the new repairable weapons are motivational tools to keep people depositing and playing just like the events and huge All Time High Hall of Fame loots.

Its a fine line though if you release to many great items well they become not so rare if you don't release enough good items people will think its impossible "so whats the point" Mindark has to keep that carrot close enough to smell it yet far enough away only a few actually get one now and then.

When you take away the gleam of MOD MERC, MOD FAP, IMP MKII, and others you start to see what they are and mean. They are purely motivational tools to continue participating in the Entropia Universe. Sure in the hands of the right hunter an IMP MKII is an efficient weapon but they make up any loss in that one hunter's efficiency by the 50-100 other hunters not hunting as efficiently trying to loot another IMP MKII. Also most high end items would be considered a "windfall" for those willing to sell them at the current going rates.

So you have to ask yourself now and then what is it that motivates you in Entropia Universe? To some its looting great items or resources, others its being a Land Baron in its many forms, others its all about the "sale", some its all about fun and socializing, and others its all of the above. MA needs to keep all these different personality types happy while still being financially successful. As long as people participate in Entropia Universe one thing will always remain constant, that bucket will never be full and it will always take more money to keep it from draining.

Animal Tamer Extraordinaire......well maybe?

OK I broke down the loots have been miserable and the grind far to boring these days. So I went out with my trusty Rattlesnake ME whip and went looking for some animals to wrangle. So this is my quest, my one day trial into the world of becoming an Animal Tamer Extraordinaire........well maybe?

First thing I noticed a Rattlesnake ME whip is not the best whip to tame with when you are a beginner since it has way to much damage potential. So you usually end up killing the mobs you can initially tame before you can get their spirit and health low enough to even attempt to tame them. I have been saving my fruit and always find sweet stuff when mining so I had a good supply of nutrio bars which are refined from the fruit and sweetstuff. Its a good thing because from what I have read tamed animals in EU eat a lot and often. OK so I head out and hit a couple different mobs that are able to be tamed and come to the conclusion that it will have to be a Daikiba with a maturity level Old.

The search for Daikibas begins.

After a few unsuccessful taming attempts I finally tamed a beast. It was, to my surprise, a Daikiba Mature. I had to run him all the way to the stable which was interesting needless to say but I am always up for a challenge. Once there I tested the stable feature and then whipped out my brush it was time for some serious taming and trust building. While using the brush and getting the Daik to perform the actions is painfully slow there is some satisfaction increasing your taming skills and watching your pets skill increase too. I spent maybe a good hour working on the Daik and I was able to get him to a level so I could finally name him and thus"Blogtropia" was born in EU lol. Once you hit level three things became very repetitive and slow and I soon realize why so many people break the EULA and use Mouse clicking applications to gain skills on things like taming, scanning, and crafting. I decided long ago I would never use one of those applications but taming my little Daikiba "Blogtropia" is trying my patience. Now if he could continue to grow and learn new things it would enhance the interactivity and be worth the long pauses between clicks otherwise its just about as fun as scanning or picking ones nose.

While I am not highly skilled in taming and I could always try to tame higher maturity beasts once you reach level 3 its the same with those. Maybe in the future this profession will expand and it could possibly be one of the most innovative professions in Entropia Universe but until that time it looks like its just one more way to waste money.

While experimenting in taming I came to one conclusion and hopefully Mindark will implement or have a Gold partner system with an Mouse Clicking Application (normally called and Autoclicker or A/C) until that time some of the avatar functions like taming will leave you with a hungry Daikiba and Carpel Tunnel Syndrome but I guess you can call yourself an "ANIMAL TAMER EXTRAORDINAIRE" up to level three that is.

Got to go my Daikiba is hungry again...........now only if Mindark would design a modified pooper scooper I would be set.