Arkadian Oil Rig Improvements

You've hit on one of the main reasons I'm STILL ON RT INSTEAD OF ARKADIA! Both Caly and RT have a 'big rig' and 'little rig'. At RT the little rig is THE THING one and the big one is the Beer Garden. One of the starter missions at the bar that the forum trolls live in do make you go to the rig, but honestly, that was a mistake imho because before the RT server re-do the beer garden was nearly impossible to get to unless you fly there. Many n00bs don't have vtols or choppers yet, so making them get some tp way on the far side of a planet where there are dragons and other mobs nearby that they won't stand a chance surviving against was pretty silly for a starter mission.

What I like about RT's rigs and what I think Ark can copy somewhat if they want...
1. the little rig in the thing DOES NOT REQUIRE A RADIATION SHOT because it is a part of the starter place, etc. Ark needs to put something similar to Thule/The Thing in and put missions in it that are somewhat exciting, etc. like the thing is.

2. the little rig at RT is easy to get to. TP to camp finale, hit t to revive and you are there. You don't get the camp finale tp UNTIL AFTER YOU COMPLETE THE FINAL THING MISSION and go in to the cave and make it to the other side. Some similar type of instance that's challenging ought to be how all planets allow the easy access via a tp/revive type of setup, etc.

3. the 'big rig' DOES require a shot and does have big mobs around it. All planets should have similar in their 'big rigs' so if Ark is going to redo it they ought to follow suit.

4. The explosives make it quite fun at the little rig on RT since they kill you in one shot doing tons of damage. This is quite random somewhat since the barrels that explode are all over and can actually be made to explode when other avatars shoot them, etc. 'traps' like that make pvp challenging and fun...

5. Not really 'rig' related but is somewhat... RT has forum trolls and rocktropians... mobs that have 2-5 hp max in some cases on lower maturity, etc. OTHER PLANETS DON'T HAVE THIS YET. For folks like me carrying around a viper whip that does 1.5 - 5 points of damage this is a game changer, especially since the UL weapons now can be repaired at 3% instead of 50%. Getting little mobs like this on Ark will help bring more n00bs in, ESPECIALLY if they can do like I do sometimes and use the little rig to feed the tt so that the free oil is doing nothing except repairing weapon to lowest level so that I can get a few more 'kills' in with it. Minimum repair on the viper whip is 65 pecs I think. Thing rig gives me about 20-30 pecs of oil every half hour or hour (depending on how many others are there - sometimes at the right time of day it's no one but me, other times theres 3+ others, making it much more difficult or worth the time of being there, etc.)... so after about 3 full times of taking it all when I'm there alone, I can repair the whip and get about 2 new harlem blocks of kills in. Ark needs weapons and mobs at this low level that will allow some non-depositors or n00bs to survive without deposits a month here or there like I have at RT for a few months to really get more folks involved and wanting to go to the rigs, etc. I don't 'have to' survive this way since I can deposit if I want and still have tons of stuff in storage I can TT from time to time, but it's actually kinda fun/challenging to try now and then. If Ark can present that level of challenge, I think it'll cause some to try to be there more often.

6. Forgot my favorite reason for liking the RT rigs... THERE IS DYNAMIC VISUALS GOING ON... The snow at the thing helps set the mood as does the music and the explosions. The Beer Garden's huge keg is always overflowing, creating a waterfall type of effect. The color schemes in both areas also is nice. The reflections on the ice in the road in the thing make for a real 'winter' feel, especially when the moon is full or the sun is blazing at noon. The architecture around the big keg is kinda interesting to look at and fits in with the 'stadium' theme to the place. Some nice eye candy helps keep things from getting boring.

7. little rig at RT IS NOT LOOTABLE PVP. It is a pvp zone, but not lootable.

 

Ah, just to be clear: I wasn't comparing comparing planets...
It merely served to show the only experience I had with rigs: and it happened to be on a flar flung planet where my mentor took me for a visit.
If not for the help and transport of soc members, I never would have been able to finish 'The Thing'; let alone make it to either rig. Not only because of the (mentioned) distance but also because of the difficulty.

So in my case it's not a fair comparison to make, as this is my home planet, and therefore I make ventures into the wild by my(newbie)self.

I like Arkadia: and am not looking for copies of other planets.
Just wanted to clear that detail up.

 

I have started this game in December so I can tell you my fresh noob experience at the Ark rig, also my idea on how to make it more fun. For me the oil rig was fantastic, since I found an oil barrel after 1 minute of staying there. I was hooked. So I started to go there more often. I can say the rig is empty very rarely. Usually there are 2-6 players running around the area at all times, except the interval 21:00-00:00 MA time when the rig doesn't spawn oil at all.

I have had lots of fun at the rig, now I don't go there like I used to, only to bring other noobs or to say hi to friends still running there. I can tell you that the Ark rig is by far the most noob friendly rig in Entropia. The drop is between 40-60 oil, just like the noob rig in Caly and it's much more fun to get. I have been to all the rigs on all planets. I've been even to the Big rig in Caly where PvP-ers let me pick 2 times on 2 separate occasions (around 3 ped per barrel) but that was just my fortune because that place is usually a noob's nightmare. The noob rig in Caly is more "organized" because ppl stay in line but PvP-ers use it to get HoFs by killing all the noobs in the line (between 5-15 people or even more sometimes). Very uncool for noobs. On RT you get 1 or 2 oil per barrel which is absolutely no fun, even if it spawns much faster. If you picked a 60 oil barrel one time at Ark rig you won't find it fun to pick 1 oil barrels at Hunt the Thing on RT. Also I find it's much easier and fun to avoid oratans than dodging explosions.

It's hard to get more people at Ark rig since 5-7 people is already above max capacity for the oil spawn. Some noobs don't even believe that there is oil there, they don't even know how it looks like. I brought a few noobs there and they got bored very fast if they didn't find oil in a few minutes, so my idea to make it more fun is by adding a MegaSpawn. Let's say once per hour a mega barrel will spawn randomly carrying a bigger drop than usual. So each hour there will be a real chase for the biggie. Of course this attracts PvP-ers too, but the Ark rig is harder to control since the spawn area is so large and the rig is unlikely to get closed just for 1 big drop per hour, hence it will successfully remain a noob rig, and more fun at the same time.