How about a challenge instead of an excuse? If you kill 2k mobs of a mob you can handle without too much armor/fap decay and your tt return is below 75% i'll pay for your losses? You'll have to keep track of the hunt results on this forum though.
Guys, you been told to get back on topic once already. Don't make me have to start deleting posts and handing out infractions. @ OP - you will sometime feel like you have signed your life away while at other times you will feel like you are on top of the world. That is the emotional rollercoaster that is EU. If you just remember that it comes down to how much you are willing to pay for your own entertainment then it helps keep it all in context.
I must say I am quite pleased at the activity on the forums - esp from those in charge Am I correct in saying that Entropia and or Arkadia has a small population compared to other games? Ala <1000 people on Arkadia, <5000 total EU population? Therefore resulting in a much more close knit and active community? I have done more research I have picked up on the more emergent aspects of the game which has been interesting. So it's not as limited as I thought, however I must say that EvE still has greater scope. (I am drawing comparisons to systems which I have experience with, so I am not stating that one is better than the other, as each is quite different.) For the below musings/questions I am approaching EU as a game and not as a means of RL income. One thing that is detracting from the enjoyment so far is having to be so anal about eco - so you cant just buy a gun and go kill mobs But on the other-hand that is also what makes this game unique. It is more akin to real life than a game: everything has an operating cost etc, however (in my inexperience) it also appears that it might be rigged to be even more difficult to make money than in real life? It appears that due to the RL cash system that MA have made it really difficult to make a profit (naturally where RL cash is involved) where as in other games you're able to advance at a more rapid rate vs cost (even non sub). So it seems that your increase of in game wealth is largely dependant on amount of cash you invest/deposit over time as most activities yield a 85-95% return. From what I have read it I have gathered that in order to get into a profit range you would have needed to invest quite a considerable amount of cash: Paying for activities to increase skills Buying skills outright Investing in capital for trading/crafting Land ownership So it seems that you would be able to improve your character at phenomenal speeds if you had to invest $500 right now and get to a point where you're making a profit rather than spending $15 per month until you get to that level ala faster rate of return vs investment. For example my current aim is to do hunting, get some gear, sniper rifle, pistol, melee weapon as a finisher, a good fap, good mining equipment, a land vehicle and a vtol. So the question is if I invest $15 per month how long would that take to achieve? Or how much of an initial investment would that be? Your thoughts and advice would be appreciated
You'll find that most of the "guys in charge" of Arkadia are ex-players who pride themselves on maintaining close contact with the playerbase. People in charge here on the forum (like myself) are still current players so we all have close knit ties with extended friend networks through out EU...This certainly has a good bearing on the activity on the forum. As for your other questions, whilst I've been around for a few years and I have my own opinion on how to "play" EU, i'll leave the finer points to others on the forum as they have a far better grip on facts and figures.
The initial tools are all cheap, you can buy all those things for less than 150 ped. You can find the appropriate beginner armor (optional), rifles, pistols, melee weapons, fap, terramaster, extractors in the Trade terminal. You should use this equipment until you're skilled enough to move up to the next level. Many levels later, I still use the Rock Ripper 1 as my standard extractor, and a cap-99R with A101 amp as a finisher. The bigger question is how much ammo or probes you can afford to buy. I know who regularly mine on 100 ped or less. But they're not independent... they depend on selling small amounts to traders or crafters, and those players may not always be available when you need peds. If you have 2000 ped available for mining, you will be able to save up large enough stacks to sell your materials on auction, cycle peds and be pretty much self sufficient. I usually wait until I have between 40 and 150 ped of a particular resource before listing it on auction. I think there are more than 80 resources that can be mined on arkadia, but if you restrict your mining locations and resource types (ore, enmat, treasure) you can reduce it down to, say, a dozen different resources. Hunting at beginner levels does not require as many peds as mining. 100 ped will kill ~2500 carabok but only 10 scoria. The hardest part of hunting, to be honest, is selling loot. You get tons of extractors and components that have small but significant markup that can make a big difference over many cycles. A lot of people come to rely on selling to the Trade Terminal and that means lower returns. You can reduce this problem and build larger stacks by sticking to one mob for a long time (an entire mission chain, for instance) because each mob only gives about 20-30 different materials (still a lot, ofc, but not as bad as 200 different things). I wish I could stick to one mob for a long time but it just never happens. So... 150 ped per month will not allow you to mine with amps or hunt large mobs all day, but it will allow you a reliable, low level of play, fine for when you're starting up and skilling. If you want to mine, I'd suggest depositing 500 to 2000 ped initially, but only, of course if you can easily afford it.
My 2 pecs Some things about EU that often get overlooked but are actually quite cool... - The average age of players is probably 30 plus, so there are very few whinging kids in the game - Everyone knows everyone else to a certain extent, because the player base is low and there are no parallel servers - EU is in a period of very high development at the moment, so a lot is happening - If you don't play for six months you don't pay for it - EU looks like it will be around for many years (the main danger to it is perhaps the future of the PC platform itself) - There is virtually no concept of bots or farming in the game - You get rewarded for playing intelligently, and the players who do well have put a lot of thought into how they play So in summary, it's the best game out there, and for the vast majority of players it's also the most expensive. You get what you pay for. Have fun! Forrest
this is true the population in entropia is quite small compared to other MMO's, partly due to the brutal nature of this game and its economy, partly due to the undeniable fact that the publishers of this game can be clueless inept and greedy beyond your imagination. the concept seems to be so compelling to a certain type of player that dispite that they havent managed to completely destroy the game. you dont have to be so anal about eco, but, it will cost you, there are many people that ignore eco and accept paying more for the entertainment they enjoy, but there are also many of those that end up quiting. making a real profit is difficult, and almost impossible in the long run if you expect that profit to come out of the game developers pocket, any profit to be made is on the premium players will pay over the base value of a item or resource you sell. it is a misconception that you need to invest or deposit huge amounts to profit, it is just easier to make meaningful amounts with a larger deposit. making a profit depends more on your RL skills and the amount of time you spend on researching the game. the open nature of the game and skilling system means you can progress at any speed you want, at a cost, but compared to other games progress is slow, you will not reach lvl70 in a few months of grinding. but there is also no need to progress fast, many people who try that end up giving up, so progress at a cost you are comfortable with is the way to go. as you are already used to paying a subscription for games, and if you enjoy what you see, a sum of $15 per month is enough to see progress at lower lvls. what i would do is play for a month or two without buying to much gear and then consider paying your subscription up front so to speak, so you have a lump sum to work with, having a budget to work with makes things a little easier in this game. there are no easy answers to your question, how much is enough, there are people here who deposit over a $1000 a month, and there are some that started with nothing and slowly built their way up. i think it took me about 2 years of heavy skilling (but playing economically) to get to a decent lower mid level in both hunting and mining. some time ago another new player asked a lot of good questions and got some good advice in this thread, i suggest you read it when you have time: http://arkadiaforum.com/showthread.php?5293-Seeking-Good-Advice
This is incorrect. Skills won't make you profit, skills can make it easier to profit but no skills are needed for it. The key to breaking even or profitting is markup. Basically markup is in the stuff that other people can't or won't do. (mining, hunting very big mobs, hunting very small mobs). Off course making a big profit is nearly impossible, but it is possible to to do well enough to keep playing for years without the need of a deposit. The hardest part is to sell your stuff for markup (it gets increasingly easier once you have bigger stacks and can sell to auction).
Eco is good but not the most important thing imo. Having fun is the most important thing. Which is why I continue to skill whip, which is still considered a taming tool instead of what it currently is, a hunting weapon. And has been for over 3 years (if it was for taming I would at least know what my pets are, have forgotten completely it's been so long).
Thanks for the replies so far @harmony - I was referring to selling your skills on chips Well the game is intriguing as there is no other sci fi mmo out there that offers flight and ground combat - just can't help but wonder if EU shouldn't be renamed goldfarmer+
i'm having real fun with this game some times it really stuck and no matter whatever it goes real bad. I'm thinking to end it up anybody here already have it?
Hi, Xi. Welcome Entropia Universe. Myself, y enter only for laugh 1 or 2 hours and see what thing is virtual universe..... 6 years ago. Greetings.
Several things to be aware of with EU. Sorry for one long paragraph but for some damn reason the enter key does not advance to next row now here. EU (aka Mindark ) will take ALL the money you wish to throw at them and not feel the least bit sorry nor will they feel "Dirty" for doing so. Skills do not mean shit any more. They only determine what limited gear you may use and how effective you are with old school UL gear. Think of the game as level range of 0 - 100 and realize your place within that range.. IE at level 5 you don't have access to the same thing players near or above that 100 level do. KNOW that Mindark though they preach to play eco will NEVER reward you for being cheap. Loss is actually your friend. If you don't lose at some point the "System" will not generate the payback loots (globals , hof's , and aths) I play so close to perfect tt return that I don't even get size changes in my claims any more. I get less then 12 Lottery chances a year now. The more you ring the bells the more chances for the special things will come. There IS a glass ceiling for which you will never pass unless you invest literally hundreds of thousands of dollars into the game to be allowed into that club. As for playing with a 15 dollar budgeted style that will work great while you are skilling up with smaller gear but realize you will hit the wall fast where that isn't enough for a single hunt or mining run. The upper mid level players are running minimums of 100 dollar to 500 dollar per run and that's not including crafters who can and have been known to do well over 25 thousand dollar crafting runs. Play to the level you can viably afford and perfect that style of play.. otherwise if you come here with the I wanna get rich fast ideal you will be another statistic in a very short time out of the gate. Lastly READ READ READ everything possible about how this all works and figure out how you wish to play as there are more then a few ways to play and be effective from extremely eco with mining to the gambler crafting session and everything in between.
Some good advice in the rest but I don't think 4 and 5 are necessarily true and I wouldn't recommend to new players to go out of their way to "lose" in order to get a payback. Mindark has said that the system does not factor in your previous losses in your future loot. In other words, there is no "personal loot pool". There are factors that affect your loot, but merely "losing" isn't one of them. Millions of peds have been lost by players following that theory.
Wasn't suggesting they go out to lose on purpose.. That's where their research should come in and show them normal activity AT THEIR level losses will come back to them but not the I'm just tossing money to the wind out of their levels will not. As far as MA not rewarding anyone for being cheap.. well I play very eco and get nearly tt spent back EVERY run (with the exception of when they run events on Calshitzo where I take an automatic 34% drop in returns that NEVER comes back in the form of bell ringers) in doing so I never ring the bells thus never have access to the fancy loot tables thus never get rewarded for knowing the game so well and not handing them tons of money for nothing. So yes MA will NOT reward you for being cheap AKA "Eco"
