Developer Notes 9 - Version Update 15.0 Preview

Taming

As announced in an earlier Buzz article, Version Update 15.0 brings Taming back to Entropia Universe. In this first phase, each planet will feature one low-level tamable creature:

• Arkadia - Nusul Puny
• Calypso - Bristlehog Puny
• Cyrene - Young Arret
• Rocktropia - Panther Puny
• Toulan - Tabtab Puny

Existing pets work as they did in the old taming system, though those types of creatures cannot currently be tamed. Additional tamable creatures will be added in future Version Updates.

Shrapnel

Right click menu of Shrapnel in inventory

Shrapnel, a new stackable resource, will be introduced to hunting loot in VU 15.0.

All creatures on all planets will drop this new resource as a symbolic representation of salvaged battle debris, regardless of the type of weapon(s) used to defeat the creature. Shrapnel will replace a portion of the total loot value formerly dropped in the form of ammo, animal oils, tier components, paint cans, etc.

Shrapnel is not used as a crafting component; instead, Shrapnel can be converted to Universal Ammo at a ratio of 100:101, or sold to the Trade Terminal at face value.

Looted Stackables

The first phase of an effort to improve the distribution of looted stackable resources will be implemented in VU 15.0, starting with a majority of Planet Calypso creatures. Veteran participants will recall how several years ago most types of looted stackables could only be looted from particular creatures.

The benefit of returning to that method of distribution is a reduction in the number of different items looted in a particular hunting session, as well as more a more interesting hunting experience that allows hunters to leverage wisdom gained from previous hunts.

Loots for creatures on other planets will be adjusted in the upcoming partner releases after 15.0.

Why do you get more ammo in your loot

No, no one hates you in MindArk office. Well they may be hate you if you own island full of treasures on Planet Calypso, but this is not the reason for the ammo in your loot. The reason is a flag called "disable auto-generated loot" which can be placed on individual creatures where it makes sense. Setting the flag means that auto-generated items such as ESI's, Oils, Makeup, Paints etc won't drop on the creature, instead only ammo and specifically assigned loot items will drop.

The flag was placed on the puny creatures because it didn't make sense to spread out a few pecs here and there in various trash item stacks, it only makes the game seem more expensive than it is it TT values get spread out.

The flag was also placed on big shared loot monsters such as wave spawner bosses because players have been complaining for ages about one or two people getting high TT items and full ESI's while others getting no loot at all. These creatures can still drop combat tokens which now becomes a more common occurrence since the TT value can't be used to fill up big L items etc.

And no you can’t get PED in your loot. It was possible few years ago, but it was changes for some strange legal reasons.

It is all about the LOOT

May be you have read comments from people claiming that Entropia Universe has no gameplay. Everything is about the loot. Everyone plays to make profit, have good loot, get global, score a HOF or receive ATH. If there weren’t the loot and the dream that you can get rich playing no one will play the game. May be even you think the same. And maybe you are right. In the end this is real cash economy game and everything you loot can be sold for real world money.

But something (that was before my eyes for years actually) strike me lately while watching EVE Online videos. Actually while reading the comments bellow the videos. Big portion of the post are actually how many ISK (Inter-Steller Kredits, the in game currency of the Eve-Online universe) per hour everyone is making. The satiation is actually way worst than in Entropia Universe. Soon you will stop caring about the fun and all you care will be how much ISK you are making per hour. You won’t play how you like it, but how you read in the internet someone was making butload of ISK. When you don’t play EVE you will calculate every hour as lost ISKs. And that why a lot of hardcore EVE players seem to overheat and quit. It becomes like real life job in china factory. You are forced to be as productive as possible. Every month you must make more ISK than before. Maybe someday you will be able to buy PLEX (a 30 Day Pilot License Extension, an alternative to paying for your account with cash), but then the price of the PLEX will go up and you must work even harder to make even more ISK. Some are making second and third characters; some are paying for second and third accounts just to make more and more ISK, where is the fun in that? And while this is what can make old player quit this also can make new player don’t start the game at all. You are thinking “OMG this dude is making 1 billion and I can make only pennies, I’m never gonna have a chance.”

But let’s not look only at EVE Online. If you look at Diablo it was always about the loot. Even before the RMAH (Real Money Auction House). Even in Diablo 2 people were replaying the same thing over and over again just for the chance of good loot. Diablo 3 was the same. Grinding 8-10 hours per day just so you can loot little better item. And people are doing it no matter if they are playing online, offline, solo or coop. They grind for hours just for that split second of good feeling getting good loot.

I’m sure it will be the same for Star Citizen. Everyone will try to make as much UEC (United Earth Credits) as he can. There will be tons of guides and videos how to do it. And the person with the most UEC will be proud of himself for achieving that.

So in Entropia the loot is very important, because it is actually real money, but it is actually not as important as in other games. A lot of people actually don't care about the loot. Or the return %. Or how ‘eco’ are they playing. There are 13 000 000 results in Google for “how to make isk in eve” and 47 000 results for “how to make PED in entropia”.

I’m not sure what was the point of this post, but just something to think about next time discussing THE LOOT. And play as you like it for ISK, PED, GOLD, UEC or just for fun. You are the master of your game time.

PS: Sorry for the overuse of “actually”. Sorry for other bad writhing too actually.

MinDark juicing up the loots, globals and HoFs!

I just received mail from Entropia Universe I will post it in the end of this post. Most stuff you probably already know, but here is what is new and interesting: “Finally, as some of you may have noticed, MindArk has already started celebrating by juicing up the loots, globals and HoFs! No one can be sure when this insanity will end so be sure to grab your share of these Modified Loots!”

So far I was thinking that the improved loot was just for 1 day – 30 of January 2013. Last few weeks my mining runs are usually over 100% TT return and I didn’t track my hunting runs, but probably I am doing good there too so I believe that Mindark improved the loot return. Well there is always the random factor so some people will still be screwed by the system, but the last message in that mail make me buy biggest gun I can use and go hunt big mobs. I didn’t do it so far because the price of the laser weapons I usually use is like 140% MU and I was thinking of switching to BLP or Mindforce.

And here is the full mail from MindArk:

Entropia Universe Celebrates Ten Years!

On the 30th of January 2003, Project Entropia was officially released to the public. That release, also known as the PE Gold release, marked the beginning of a long and eventful evolution to the greatly expanded and advanced Entropia Universe of today.

Less than a year after the launch of Entropia Universe, a player bought the rights to a virtual island via the Entropia Universe auction for 26 500 USD. The participant recouped his investment within a year. In 2006, that sale was greatly surpassed, when a user bought the rights to an asteroid space resort for the equivalent of 100 000 USD. The rights to that same space resort was later sold by the same participant for more than six times the original investment.

CryEngine 2

Always maintaining its cutting edge appeal, Entropia has seen two graphics engine upgrades in its lifetime. The latest of those, in 2009, saw the implementation of the state-of-the-art CryEngine 2 and a whole new cinematic look.

Planet Partners

Until 2010, Planet Calypso was the only planet in the Universe. Then on April 6 2010, Entropia Universe doubled in size overnight. A new planet, developed and managed by an independent studio, was added to the Entropia Universe. Thus, the music-themed Rocktropia became the first participant in MindArks Planet Partner system.

More studios have since joined the Planet Partner system, leading to the creation of three additional planets: The time-travel themed Next Island, the treasure-hunting themed Planet Arkadia, and the SciFantasy-themed Planet Cyrene.

Space

To complete the sense of place and scale, interplanetary Space was recently introduced, allowing seamless trade and travel between the different worlds that make up the Entropia Universe.

Come celebrate the Tenth Entropian New Year with us!

In celebration of this exciting milestone, MindArk and the Planet Partners invite you to a variety of special events, with special TEN (Tenth Entropian New year) edition items distributed in loot and as event prizes.

These and other events will continue over the next several months. Each planet will also be introducing a special TEN Edition version of one of its weapons. Very soon, MindArk will be announcing a major estate auction, quite different from the traditional land area model.

Finally, as some of you may have noticed, MindArk has already started celebrating by juicing up the loots, globals and HoFs! No one can be sure when this insanity will end so be sure to grab your share of these Modified Loots!

What improved loot system means

May be the most important word in Entropia Universe is "LOOT". And when MindArk introduced Loot System Improvements everyone was asking what is the meaning of this? Is the loot return % better now? Or is it something else?

Few days later Kim from MindArk made it little more clear:
"We haven't made any changes to the actual loot system in this VU. What we have started doing is re-designing the loot lists so that each mob should drop less generic TT-food and more interesting stuff. This process is in no way finished and will continue in the upcoming VU:s as well."

I didn't see improvement in the loot of the mobs I am usually hunting so far. Feffoids, Maffoids, Atrox, Atrax, Argonauts seems to give the same loot. While Puny mobs seem to drop a lot of pistols, rifles, weapon amps and rocket launcher. Not sure if this is only from the last VU, but it seems that it is possible to make profit hunting Puny mobs. I must track some Puny hunt to see if it's true.

After some players asked if the loot actually got worst because they get lower return now, Kim from MindArk had to clarify even more:
"I can confirm that no changes have been made to the loot system, intended or otherwise, in the latest VU. I also have some information regarding the 0.0 ammo loots that you've been receiving. That ammo does in fact come from an additional loot-list layer that was added on top of the regular loots to fill up the last few pecs that sometimes remain to be added after higher value items have been added to the loot."

Developer Notes 3

This Entropia Universe Buzz article is part of a new series of Developer Notes where the development team at MindArk will share various tips and bits of information about Entropia Universe with our participants. Some Developer Notes will address important issues that we have noticed being discussed on community forums, while others will be prompted by feedback and questions received via support cases. Our goal with the Developer Notes series is to help participants better understand MindArk’s goals for Entropia Universe, and hopefully correct several misconceptions that have arisen within the community that we feel might help participants make more informed decisions for their avatars. We hope that you find the Developer Notes article series interesting and informative.

Hunting Efficiency Examined - The last Developer Notes article sought to stress the importance of efficiency in Entropia Universe, but did not provide a clear definition of what is meant by the term efficiency. We would like to offer a bit more insight for the benefit of the community, and in this article will focus on ways to become more efficient in Entropia Universe’s most popular profession, hunting. Efficiency tips for the mining and manufacturing professions will be covered in a future article.

Efficiency in hunting has several components, the most vital of which is Hit Ability (sometimes abbreviated as HA). Hit Ability is a measure of how accurate you avatar is with a weapon. You can view your avatar’s Hit Ability on a weapon by right-clicking on the weapon and viewing the item’s information panel. Based on your avatar’s skills and the requirements for the particular weapon, a number between 0.0 and 10.0 will be calculated and displayed. The single most important effort a hunter can make in becoming more efficient in his or her hunting activities is to always use weapons which are “maxed” -- weapons with which your avatar has 10.0 Hit Ability. The importance of this cannot be stressed strongly enough.

A second and very important part of efficient hunting is to consider the relative cost of using a particular weapon, often referred to as weapon economy, usually measured as damage per PEC. This measures how efficiently, in terms of weapon decay and ammo consumption, a weapon produces each point of damage. An avatar will enjoy much better overall hunting results over time when using weapons with higher damage per pec. Many community websites, such as www.entropedia.info, offer detailed statistics on the economy of nearly all the various weapons available in Entropia Universe. The MindArk development team is also considering including more detailed economy statistics on the item information panel in an upcoming release to improve the availability of such information.

Another important part of hunting efficiently is making sure that your avatar has achieved the full damage capability of the weapon being used. Like Hit Ability, damage capability is calculated based on the avatar’s skills and the weapon’s requirements, and is shown in the format Actual_Damage / Maximum_Damage on the item information panel. For example: 10.0-20.0 / 10.0-20.0. To be the most efficient as possible, make sure to hunt with weapons on which your avatar has reached the weapon’s maximum damage potential.

Finally, be sure to hunt creatures within your avatar's skill level. Creatures within Entropia Universe are designed with avatars of varying skill levels and equipment in mind, and each creature type has different attack speeds, regeneration rates, hit probabilities and damage potential. It is a good idea to avoid excessive armor decay and healing costs when trying to hunt as efficiently as possible.

One of the wonderful things about Entropia Universe is its very knowledgeable and helpful community of participants. There is a wealth of information available to newcomers and veterans alike on the various Entropia Universe community websites and forums, and participants are encouraged to seek out the accumulated wisdom and tutorials available there. There are also many helpful mentors and societies that can be found in major cities on each planet, or contacted through the Mentor Register and Society Terminals.

We hope that this article has provided some valuable tips for your future hunting expeditions.
Happy hunting!

Developer Notes 2

This Entropia Universe Buzz article is part of a new series of Developer Notes where the development team at MindArk will share various tips and bits of information about Entropia Universe with our participants. Some Developer Notes will address important issues that we have noticed being discussed on community forums, while others will be prompted by feedback and questions received via support cases. Our goal with the Developer Notes series is to help participants better understand MindArk’s goals for Entropia Universe, and hopefully correct several misconceptions that have arisen within the community that we feel might help participants make more informed decisions for their avatars. We hope that you find the Developer Notes article series interesting and informative.

Efficiency Matters - One issue that we have noticed being discussed quite frequently on community forums such as PlanetCalypsoForm.com is the concept of efficiency (sometimes referred to as economy), especially with regard to hunting tools such as ranged and melee weapons. A growing number of participants seem to have adopted an approach based on the theory that “economy does not matter”, a theory apparently based on (faulty) field tests or other experiments. We would like to state here very clearly that avatar skills and efficiency on the tools used do indeed matter a great deal, and have a very significant effect on overall returns in all Entropia Universe professions. Any playtest experiments, theorycrafting or other analysis you may be presented with which indicate or suggest that efficiency does not matter are thus flawed either in their conception, data collection, data analysis or conclusions.

Personal Lootpools - Many of the theories which suggest - inaccurately - that efficiency is unimportant will often employ the concept of a “personal lootpool”, claiming that the “system” will eventually provide a sort of compensation to avatars who have been operating in an inefficient manner. Such theories are very much misguided. There is no such thing as a “personal lootpool” for individual avatars, and there is no system in place which tracks each avatar’s returns over time, or which provides compensation to individual avatars. As a result, long-term results in Entropia Universe are directly related to the choices made by each participant, and those who approach their chosen profession in an efficient manner will find more success than those who do not. Overall this is a very positive thing and an important part of the Entropia virtual universe concept, as it allows those participants who spend the time and effort to approach their activities within Entropia Universe in a smart way to improve their chances of becoming successful, just like in the real world.

Developer Notes 1

This Entropia Universe Buzz article is the first in a new series of Developer Notes where the development team at MindArk will share various tips and bits of information about Entropia Universe with our participants. Some Developer Notes will address important issues that we have noticed being discussed on community forums, while others will be prompted by feedback and questions received via support cases. Our goal with the Developer Notes series is to help participants better understand MindArk’s goals for Entropia Universe, and hopefully correct several misconceptions that have arisen within the community that we feel might help participants make more informed decisions for their avatars. We hope that you find the Developer Notes articles interesting and informative.

Independent Lootpools - One concern that we see very often on community forums, especially when a big All Time High is achieved, is that one profession is unfairly “financing” a huge loot in another profession. This misconception often results in one group of participants (i.e. hunters) becoming upset or frustrated that their activity is being used to fund the rewards given to another group of participants (i.e. miners). To hopefully dispel this misconception, we would like to inform participants that the loot pools for each main profession (hunting, mining and manufacturing) are completely independent of one another, and that a large loot in one profession has absolutely no impact on potential loots in any of the other professions.

Resource Distribution - In order to promote interplanetary trade and to stimulate the growth of local planetary economies, the availability of various resources will be periodically adjusted on each of the different planets within Entropia Universe. The MindArk balancing team monitors resource availability and distribution among the planets very closely, and is constantly making adjustments to achieve the goals of local planetary economy growth and interplanetary trade. One exciting side effect of this process is that it creates unique opportunities for observant and industrious participants to profit from shifts in supply and demand in local planetary markets and creates opportunities for speculation. Another benefit is that the reallocation process creates a more dynamic and challenging universe for participants to enjoy and adapt to.

Why players stop playing Entropia Universe

This is e-mail from Jan Welter Timkrans, Creator of Entropia Universe to players who had made at least one deposit and had last logged in between January 1, 2010 and May 31, 2011. You will not read it somewhere on the official game sites, but it is interesting so I will posy it here.

Gothenburg April 18, 2012
Fellow Entropian,

In March, we mailed a survey to all Entropia Universe participants who had made at least one deposit and had last logged in between January 1, 2010 and May 31, 2011. We were very impressed with the response rate of this mailing--10.9% of all recipients contacted chose to complete the survey!

Main survey results

The purpose of the survey is to rank the main reasons why participants become inactive. The three main reasons we discovered from the survey results were:

Poor loot returns: A total of 86 % of respondents either "Strongly Agree" or "Agree" with the statement that "Poor loot returns" was an important reason for their inactivity.
Too many no looters: A total of 71 % of respondents either "Strongly Agree" or "Agree" with the statement that "Too many no loot messages" was an important reason for their inactivity.
Lack of direction or purpose: A total of 59 % of respondents either "Strongly Agree" or "Agree" with the statement that "Lack of direction or purpose" was an important reason for their inactivity.
Other reasons to become inactive: "Strongly agree" or "Agree"

4. No interesting content (story, missions); 57 %
5. Not enough avatar progression; 52 %
6. Game missing important systems; 44 %
7. Introduction of limited items; 37 %
8. Not enough social interaction; 17 %
9. Beacon system removed; 21 %
10. Taming system removed; 17 %
All of the reasons listed above are both concerns for MindArk, as well as improvement opportunities. We have already started to work hard on the three top reasons, and will soon start projects that will address most of the other points, too.

You will receive progress reports as we achieve results. Here is the first one.

Progress report no 1: "No more no looters"

Clearly, one main reason players become inactive is the many "This creature didnt carry any loot" messages. This is also the easiest one for us to remedy of the three main reasons, so this is where we begin:

The design team has now adopted a goal of "no more no looters". Effective from April, looted creatures in Entropia Universe will give only a very small number of no loot messages compared to before.

Log in and try it out!

Kind regards,

Jan Welter Timkrans
Humble Creator of Entropia Universe

P.S: Beacons are back with new graphics, new robots, new loot.