Saturday, February 28, 2015

State of the Universe Address 2015

State of the Universe Address 2015

Greetings Entropians,

First of all, everyone here at MindArk would like to extend thanks for your participation and support of Entropia Universe throughout the past year. Our plans for 2015, outlined below, have been designed to provide an increasingly exciting and rewarding real-cash economy gaming experience for you. But first I’d like to briefly review some of the improvements to Entropia Universe that were accomplished in 2014.

2014 Highlights
Social Interface Redesign
Early in the year the chat and messaging interfaces were completely redesigned to improve communication and encourage enhanced social interaction between participants. New features included offline messaging, custom chat channels, avatar profiles, and much more. Subsequent version updates refined the new interface and provided additional features.

Infrastructure & Performance
Ongoing improvements were made to the Entropia Universe platform infrastructure, including hardware and software upgrades and enhanced development tools. Starting late in 2014 and continuing early this year, our development team conducted several stress tests in order to profile performance and identify areas for improvement. Valuable data was gathered from those tests, which will help to improve client and server performance moving forward in 2015.

New Player Experience
Ongoing improvements to the New Player Experience were implemented with every Version Update and partner release during 2014. These efforts will continue to be a top priority during 2015 in order to maximize the marketing efforts of MindArk and the planet partners.

Webshop
MindArk implemented a web-based shop available on EntropiaUniverse.com where participants are able to purchase various items and consumables, including special Starter Packs ideally designed for new participants.

Creature Control System
A fun new feature allowing avatars to assume the form of various creatures was implemented in the form of Creature Control Capsules. This system is also available to planet partners to help enhance storyline events with controllable creatures and NPCs. Capsules for additional creatures will continue to be added in future Version Updates.

Taming
The long awaited return of the taming system was unveiled last fall, sporting new features along
with former functionality. Stable estates were also auctioned during 2014, and will soon provide services and enhancements for pets.

Support
With the closing of MindArk’s office in Mexico during 2014, support operations were relocated back to the Gothenburg headquarters. This change has resulted in a better overall support experience for our customers, with faster response times and much improved support ticket satisfaction ratings.

PVP Improvements
Several improvements to PVP interaction were implemented in 2014, including the disabling of auto-arget functionality in PVP areas. Additional tweaks and improvements are planned for mid-2015.

2015 Roadmap
Taming
The second stage of the Taming system will be implemented in the upcoming Version Update.
Pets will gain passive buffs that can be unlocked at various levels of experience. Stables will gain the ability to offer several new time-limited pet buffs as well. Additional functionality will be added to the Taming system in Version Updates throughout 2015, some of which will be coordinated with the ComPet application.

ComPet Application
Work is progressing well on the design phase of ComPet, which is currently planned for release in Q4 of 2015. The ComPet website will be launched within the next two weeks and will provide ongoing updates and info on the ComPet project.

Citizenship & Housing System
Development of these systems was unfortunately delayed in 2014 due to the critical infrastructure upgrades taking quite a bit more development time than anticipated, along with several other projects receiving higher priority in the second half of 2014 and early 2015. The housing system will be implemented incrementally, starting in mid-2015.

Space
In order to improve the quality and quantity of space content, we are working on several new features and systems. Those new features will be developed and released incrementally during 2015 and into 2016. The first stage of the Galactic Transport system will likely be included in the Version Update currently planned for June, and will offer transport missions with rewards drawn from the Galactic Transport pool that is funded by auction transfer fees.

To create the potential for more exciting and rewarding PVP activity in space, there are plans to refine the balancing of spaceships and spaceship weaponry in order. Along with that rebalancing, additional PVE space content is planned for Q3/Q4 2015.

New Player Experience
As we have done for the past couple of years, MindArk and the planet partners intend to continually improve the experience for new participants, in hopes of better engaging our customers and thereby improving conversion and retention rates and maximizing our marketing efforts.

EU Client
The effort to overhaul and modernize the various user interfaces of the Entropia Universe client will continue in 2015. This is an ongoing project with the goal of unifying and streamlining the many existing user interface elements to improve usability and aesthetics.

Affiliate System
Work is moving forward on the affiliate program mentioned in the State of the Universe Address 2014, though the expected release date has been revised to 2015 due to integration requirements with other planned projects.

Marketing
MindArk plans to continue to expand and refine its marketing efforts in 2015 in order to maximize the number of new participants joining Entropia Universe. As outlined above, our marketing efforts in 2014 were very promising and we plan to become even more aggressive in 2015.

Entropia Platform Third-Party Partners
Companies and organisations around the world now have the opportunity to leverage the Entropia Platform for marketing, promotion, production assistance and training

MindArk is already working closely with several parties that plan to launch services during 2015 that will harness the power and flexibility of the Entropia Universe platform. Details of one of those projects will be announced within the next couple of months. Stay tuned!

Planet Partners
Planet Toulan
MindArk was excited to bring its newest planet online early last year. Though still in its beta release, Planet Toulan promises to bring exposure of Entropia Universe to a previously untapped sector of the online gaming audience and add a unique Arabian theme to the existing planet partner roster. Full release of Planet Toulan is expected mid-2015.

Planet Cyrene
The long-awaited full launch of Planet Cyrene is planned for 2015.

Planet Arkadia
Planet Arkadia did a wonderful job with its content development, marketing, and event management efforts during 2014, and plans to carry that momentum forward into 2015.

Rocktropia
Rocktropia will continue its efforts of implementing popular brands into its content, building on its success with King Kong and other Universal Studios properties.

I hope that all of you are looking forward to the exciting releases coming up in 2015 and that our planned developments help you to enjoy Entropia Universe more than ever before. We at MindArk are committed to continually improving the content, quality and capacity of Entropia Universe in order to offer as enjoyable and exciting a Virtual Real Cash economy experience as possible.

Best regards,

Klas Moreau
CEO MindArk PE AB

Friday, February 27, 2015

Sounds on Planet Arkadia

Hello everyone!

As some of you already know, I am the dude responsible for the sound on Planet Arkadia. For those who didn’t know; now you know.

With the upcoming Version Update (VU) there will be allot of sounds. Ambient sounds (check out the coast, the desert and the arctic) and almost every mob has sounds (known who doesn’t have it yet is Yrrijak and Wombana). Allot of old sounds that didn’t work before (or ceased to work) will work now. And yes, same goes for weapons.

Most likely, though, you will enter an area, meet a mob or use an item that doesn’t have any sound for some reason. If that happens, DON’T SEND A SUPPORTCASE! The reason for that is that it will just take longer time for me to get that information. Instead, I want you to write about it here in this thread.

ROE (Rules Of Engagement) when it comes to sound:

What I don’t want:

Polls about changing a specific sound
Messages like “There is no wind-sound at this location…” IF you don’t recall that there was a sound there before. Same goes for mobs or items/weapons that worked before.

Allot of areas doesn’t have sound yet and we are well aware of that. The sounds is a project that will continue for a long time since all ambient sound is connected to areas that has to be implemented manually, everywhere (Yes, on the whole planet ).

Messages about the sounds (or the lack of sounds) in space or on any other planet. This includes vehicles, weapons, items and mobs (e.g. Pets) from other planets.


Q:“But where should I turn then?”
A: Bring it up on the Planetary Partners forum or according to that Planetary Partners recommended contact method.

If you have doubts about where the weapon/item/mob comes from; read the weapons Item Description, ask around or use knowledge-sites like entropedia.info

Suggestions or complaints in an uncivilized manner. That includes non-constructive feedback, rants, etc. Read the forum rules if unsure.
Questions about when a specific sound or area will be implemented.
Debates. The sound is about taste, just like music. Keep it simple and don’t try to win an argument why a specific sound is right or wrong. Leave it and walk on.

What I do want:

General feedback on the specific sounds: Quality, if it is too loud or too low, if it looks/sounds “out of sync” with the item/mob animation, etc.


Example: “I think the sound on my Herman ARK-500 Prototype is fantastic, but maybe a few Decibel too loud.”


Fun suggestions on small (or big) details that would enhance the total experience of Arkadia when it comes to sound.

An example is the big manufacturing machine that also holds a storage terminal (can be found in Celeste Harbor and on the second floor of Trade Centre at IFN HQ and Dauntless Firebase). After VU, when you approach it, you will hear a sound from the box opening.

The “roadmap” of the sounds on Planet Arkadia:

We will implement sounds in every VU until “it is done”.
We will implement sounds for mobs/items/weapons as soon as we have come up with a sound that we think fits the object in question and if we can hold a certain quality.
We are very reluctant to change the sounds that already exist in the game. An example of this is various weapon-sounds. That doesn’t mean that we won’t implement new sounds for new weapons if we think it is appropriate.
We will implement ambient environmental sounds all over Arkadia, including the Arkadian Underground. We will start with the south-east server known as “The Celeste Server” since this is the server that most players linger on. Allot has already been done, but there needs to be fine-tuning. The same can be said about other servers “8 Coins”, “the Arctic” and the “Arkadian Underground”. The reason for that last mentioned servers are done is that I realized that they could be done fairly fast.


That was all!

Best Regards,

Lars – Official of Planet Arkadia and sound developer at Arkadia Studios

Oratan Attack Inbound 27th February 2015

Oratan seem to have mobilized yet another massive attack by the big Lancer Colossus and Titan warriors.

The IFN urge every colonist to be vigilant on these activities and help defend the bases this coming weekend, we believe the base that will be “tested” during this attack is Dependable Firebase as we seen Oratan in the area acting as scouts until the IFN spotted them.

If you are able to lend support, please assemble at DEPENDABLE FIREBASE (Coordinates 27427, 25138).


The attack are estimated to hit on Friday the 27th February 2015 @ 19:00 and expected to end as soon as every last Oratan Lancer Titan is killed!
Intel suggest they have gathered a lot of Lancers for this attack so the IFN expects it to last for days.

Please arrive early and ensure all equipment is clean and in good repair, and you have adequate supplies of ammunition.

Cyrene Dynamic Upgrade Map - February 27th 2015

Great Plains
Level 1 - New Mang Chang & Rhino Beetle maturities - Unlocked for the next Planet Partner VU! 10 of March 2015

Mer Beach
Level 1 - Additional Merfolken Gladiator maturities - Unlocked for the next Planet Partner VU! 10 of March 2015
Turrelion Desert
Level 1 – Additional Living Vortex maturities. - Unlocked for the next Planet Partner VU! 10 of March 2015


Difference between Star Citizen and Entropia Universe explained

Both games look the same and you may wonder what is the difference between Star Citizen and Entropia Universe?

First Players in Entropia Universe are called depositors while in Star Citizen are called bakers.

And Second some people think that they are investing in Star Citizen while some people are investing in Entropia Universe.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Interview with Klas Moreau

Interview with Klas Moreau Chief Cxecutive Officer at Mindark about Virtual Property Investment.

The Core - Robot Mayhem #3

And here is another nice event from Planet Calypso. Too bad it is at the same time as WoF (World of Firepower) finals. For me the most interesting part is the date of the next version update - March 10, 2015. Most of planet Cyrene bugs will be fixed so I can try it again and hopefuly more areas will be unlocked.


Recent intelligence indicates that the robots may have located another RX cache on Eudoria. Activity in the Hadesheim Crater indicates that the robots are currently preparing a major excavation, which gives us little time to prepare a proper response.

The teleportation pods used to enter the Core previously have been in secure storage since the last expedition, safely out of range of any potential self-destruct trigger signals. The robots had found ways to circumvent our jammers, but Sgt. Quintana reassures me that his team at Minopolis has been able to upgrade the jamming devices in such a way that they should provide at least a few days of access to the Core once again.
Since time is short, CDF staff will require assistance to accomplish the necessary objectives in time to prevent robot access to the RX caches. Once again, we turn to the brave colonists of Calypso for assistance. Similar to earlier campaigns, rewards are being offered by the CDF for the salvage of Robot Data Storage Units from the Core.
The DSU recovery effort will begin on Friday, February 27. Brave colonists wishing the enlist in the effort should report to Sgt. Quintana’s EST dropship located in Minopolis.
Good luck out there!
/Brig. General de Sousa

Event Dates

Event Start: Friday, February 27, 1600 UTC
Event End: Monday, March 2, 1600 UTC

Instances

There are five instance levels to accommodate avatars of various profession levels. All of the instances are access by interacting with The Core teleporter inside the EST dropship in Minopolis, and then selecting the instance level you wish to enter.

The Core Level 1

Core Harbinger Gen. 01 (Lvl 4)
Core Harbinger Gen. 02 (Lvl 7)
Core Eviscerator Gen. 01 (Lvl 6)
Core Eviscerator Gen. 02 (Lvl 9)

The Core Level 2

Core Harbinger Gen. 03 (Lvl 9)
Core Harbinger Gen. 04 (Lvl 11)
Core Eviscerator Gen. 03 (Lvl 12)
Core Eviscerator Gen. 04 (Lvl 15)

The Core Level 3

Core Harbinger Gen. 05 (Lvl 14)
Core Harbinger Gen. 06 (Lvl 17)
Core Eviscerator Gen. 05 (Lvl 19)
Core Eviscerator Gen. 06 (Lvl 24)

The Core Level 4
Core Harbinger Gen. 07 (Lvl 22)
Core Harbinger Gen. 08 (Lvl 26)
Core Eviscerator Gen. 07 (Lvl 31)
Core Eviscerator Gen. 08 (Lvl 39)

The Core Level 5

Core Harbinger Gen. 09 (Lvl 32)
Core Harbinger Gen. 10 (Lvl 36)
Core Eviscerator Gen. 09 (Lvl 51)
Core Eviscerator Gen. 10 (Lvl 58)

There are also reports of several powerful Warlock-class robot bosses inside The Core. Colonists are urged to be prepared for aggressive new offensive tactics from these augmented Warlocks.

Scoring

The following point system has been created to track the retrieval of Robot Data Storage Units (DSU):

Robot DSU Class 1 (1 point)
Robot DSU Class 2 (5 points)
Robot DSU Class 3 (10 points)
Robot DSU Class 4 (20 points)
Robot DSU Class 5 (50 points)
Robot DSU Class 6 (100 points)
Robot DSU Class 7 (500 points)
Robot DSU Class 8 (1000 points)
Robot DSU Class 9 (5000 points)

Your event score will be updated automatically each time one of the Data Storage Units is recovered.
Final event scores will be calculated based on hourly point averages to derive each participant's 15-hour normalized event score.

This scoring method removes the need for participants to track time spent in the instances (beyond meeting the 15-hour prize eligibility requirement, described below), removes the risk of participants being inadvertently disqualified from the event for time reasons, and allows all participants to hunt as much as desired in the Robot Mayhem instances without giving an unfair advantage to those who are able to hunt for many hours.

Rewards

The colonists accumulating the highest number of points during the event period will be awarded the following rewards by Earth Shock Trooper command:

1st Place - CDF XTLC 1000
2nd Place - CDF XTLC 800
3rd Place - CDF XTLC 600
4th Place - CDF XTLC 400
5th Place - CDF XTLC 200
6th Place - Universal Ammo - 4000 PED
7th Place - Universal Ammo - 3000 PED
8th Place - Universal Ammo - 2000 PED
9th Place - Universal Ammo - 1000 PED
10th Place - Universal Ammo - 500 PED

***IMPORTANT*** A participant must complete at least 15 hours in the Robot Mayhem instances in order to qualify for one of the above rewards. This requirement does not apply to the Bonus Rewards.

***NOTE*** Reward items for places 1-5 will be awarded after the upcoming Version Update, currently planned for March 10, 2015.

Bonus Rewards

In addition, all colonists reaching the following event point totals will receive bonus rewards from EST Command (only the highest bonus reward is awarded per avatar):
10000 Points - 1200 PED Universal Ammo
5000 Points - 500 PED Universal Ammo
2500 Points- 250 PED Universal Ammo
500 Points - 50 PED Universal Ammo

Reward Item Info

CDF XTLC 200 - 33.33 DPS, 4.1329 Eco, 60m Range, Lvl 20 Laser Sniper Req., 10% Increased Laser Sniper Skillgain
CDF XTLC 400 - 57.33 DPS, 4.1346 Eco, 66m Range, Lvl 40 Laser Sniper Req., 10% Increased Laser Sniper Skillgain
CDF XTLC 600 - 75.33 DPS, 4.1383 Eco, 72m Range, Lvl 60 Laser Sniper Req., 10% Increased Laser Sniper Skillgain
CDF XTLC 800 - 92.00 DPS, 4.1439 Eco, 78m Range, Lvl 80 Laser Sniper Req., 10% Increased Laser Sniper Skillgain
CDF XTLC 1000 - 106.00 DPS, 4.1501 Eco, 84m Range, Lvl 100 Laser Sniper Req., 10% Increased Laser Sniper Skillgain
Universal Ammo - Can be used in place Weapon Cells, BLP Packs & Synthetic Mind Essence

Rules & Notes

This event is intended for solo hunters. Any attempt at abusing team mechanics or any other Entropia Universe systems or features in order to gain an unfair advantage over other participants will be grounds for disqualification from the event, forfeiture of any prizes, and possible sanctions imposed on one’s Entropia Universe account.

***IMPORTANT*** Do not abandon the mission! If you abandon the mission for any reason, either intentionally or accidentally, all points earned up to that moment will be lost forever. Support cannot and will not restore points for abandoned missions, regardless of the situation.

Happy Hunting!
The Planet Calypso Dev Team