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Growth and evolution of character
free2play
Member UncommonPosts: 2,043
How well does the game work for growth?
Suppose I want to spend $20-$30 a month on PED, I dont care so much if i can sell the stuff I get from said investment. I want to use it to make things for my own use. Craft all my own gear, replace it over time and when I add more PED it simply allows me to grow my char. Or is the game pretty much lost to people trying to turn it in to an income?
Comments
well if you have $8,000 - $10,000 to spare im pretty sure you can play this game quite well
for $20 - $30 per week though you can manage more than adequately...although obviously you will be at a disadvantage for quite a while.. if your thinking of pvp at least.. this is a game where the amount you invest in the game is directly related to how well you do, and most of the wealth in this game is already deeply entrenched.. if your planning on playing this game seriously.. then don't count on it as a source of income.. because it won't be..
researching this game before spending money on it.. can't really be emphasised too highly.. as its really just the play thing of a number of rather wealthy individuals..
I can't imagine this is a sandbox for very wealthy people. Graphics are state of the art, 1998. My Avatar is an ingame screenshot from FF14 and they do cutscenes using that identical avatar. My avatar in Entropia looks like something I could do with paintshop.
Besides, everything I have seen on hype for this says there are more nigerian scammers than there are rich people. I just don't know what Mindark was going for here. I'm not saying you are wrong, I just dont want to take the stereotype of something and abandon it. 6 years of EVE I've about had my fill of "PvP" I just want to build stuff now. I looked at that Earth 2012 or whatever it is but it is being over run with griefers it seems. Besides, I already have this installed.
20-30 dollars a month is very do-able, esp for the first year or so of play.
Yes it is possible to spend the outragious amounts of ped if you want, but there is really no need for it.
I would recomend playing the first week or two without depositing, just to get a feel for the game and study as much as you can on the different forums etc.. ask questions.
Then make your first deposit of 50 dollars like you would for the purchase of a game. Then after that decide how much you want your 'subscription' to be.
That initial 50 dollars will come to just under 500ped with the credit card fees and stuff and will be plenty to start out with if you are conservative and play smartly.
If you have a desire to craft your own stuff that is certainly possible, but I would recomend buying gear to start with, and not get into crafting for a few months unless it is really what you want to persue.
With crafting at low levels you really cant make much of a profit (mostly loss) but for self satisfaction, it is possible to craft some of your own beginner gear.
Let me know if you have any specific questions, I would be willing to answer whatever specifics you may have in mind.
Good luck and have fun,
narfi
Playing with Real Money: Colonizing Virtual Worlds
I went ahead and bought $20 worth of PED, geared up with full Settler armor and a variety of weapons. The rifles take very little damage but of course eat PED through ammo and sneaky burn ratios. The swords use no ammo but damage much faster and do redonculous amounts of damage as well. They do of course expose you to gank mobs and all that entails.
As you pointed out, narfi I could have used a week to simply run around in my Undies and open up the map. I chose to drop the up front money because the game did something no game has done in a very, very long time. I remember the very first time I played an MMO, many moons ago called SWG and I recall what it felt like to log in on Naboo and stumble about with no buffs, no tips, no walk throughs and I remember the feeling I had when I played that game for the first three months. I got that feeling again wandering the streets and roads of Entropia. Sadly I'm older and wiser now and some things wont ever come back but that strange feeling od excitement was worth the $20.
Right now I have calculated that with minimal returns I am getting in loot value I will do well to recover 20% of my $20 before it is gone in repairs and maintenance but what somewhat intimidates me is I see it happening in around 2 weeks with the amount of hrs I can log if its slow at work. The crafting thing might have to wait. Back to that ammo burn, the survey charge burn works out to 1 per PID and that's a bit extreme from what I can tell. Still, while a bit higher priced than an average $15 MMO its a fun game. Not worthy of its bad name. The whole Money in money out thing has I am sure attracted a crowd less intent on playing and that is unfortunate.
The Auction house I am guessing relies on large orders. I gathered 50 or so hides and a bunch of various animal oils and based on the .54 to place a sell order, I will need to farm several hundred to over 1000 ideally to make the cost of the auction practical. Less to do with making more PID, more to do with building Entropia items wealth. Selling to the NPC simple deletes it but the rates are not that far apart as the NPC value rate sets the value on the Auction house. I don't really like min maxing the PID I use that way but everything I level on will be directly connected to it so its a matter of neccessity to carve up PID in/ out if I want to gain more levels.
money?
they are a bank, you know.
No, I didnt know Mindark was a bank.
Up side, they shouldn't fold any time soon. Down side, I dont know if depending on a bank for a source of fun is a wise decision.
free2play: what planet are you on?
If I know what planet you are on then i can give you some pointers.
narfi
Playing with Real Money: Colonizing Virtual Worlds
I started on Calypso, In the big Port in the South.
Found a few outposts and mobs to level 7 or so but I didnt brave it because I could just beat a Lv. 6 earlier.
Since you started on Calypso, I would recomend you try and get to Twin Peaks as soon as is practical.
That is the city where all the traders hang out, and you will be able to sell stacks of stuff that are too small for auction.
You can use the rookie gear for mining to help make the learning experience cheaper. I think it is only 10pec per drop instead of 1ped.
As for hunting, there are as many openions as there are players :P
You might look into getting Pixie or Gnome armor instead of the Settler, they are still cheap armors but offer a bit more protection.
narfi
Playing with Real Money: Colonizing Virtual Worlds
Tried to make it to twin Peaks, only got to Chugs hideout and a Lv. 9 mob camped me in, ganking and killing me every time I tried to leave so I ended up teleporting back to Port Atlantis. Based on the levels I saw being in Twin Peaks means being way outside my level cone anyway unless the mobs around all major cities reduce.
There is a mob just north of the starter city called Snablesnot or something anf it drops quite a bit of muscle oil and ammo on occasion but only if you kill with a sword. Not enough to turn into PID but if I ever get around to shooting stuff the ammo will be there in storage. I'm just going to keep killing stuff my level untill I have 30 PID or so and see what I have for loot and level. Cant seem to figure my level out though. Its still telling me I am Level 0 but I have leveled in long sword several times. Mediocre is title but level is still 0.
I am not sure what PID is. I thought you ment PED (the ingame currency but it doesnt really fit in context)
You might check around Port Atlantas or the Swamp Camp, you may find someone willing to fly you to Twin Peaks.
Snablesnot are great starter mobs and at least used to drop some armor peices you could use. (pixie and goblin if i remember right)
http://www.entropedia.info/Info.aspx?chart=Mob&name=Snablesnot-Female
http://www.entropedia.info/Info.aspx?chart=Mob&name=Snablesnot-Male
It looks like they do 100% acid damage, so your current armor wont be any help. The good thing though is that they dont hit very hard, so its a good opertunity to skill your healing a little bit between kills.
As for levels...
You gain a broad range of skills by performing different activities. Each skill can contribute to multiple professions and each profession has multiple skills which affect it.
http://www.entropedia.info/Chart.aspx?chart=Activity
For example:
Laser Sniper(hit) is a profession which is affected by the skills,
Skill
Hidden
Skill Effect
HP increase
Attributes: Agility
No
3
40
Edit
Combat: Aim
No
4
0
Edit
Combat: Combat Reflexes
No
3
1600
Edit
Combat: Combat Sense
Yes
5
800
Edit
Combat: Commando
Yes
3
200
Edit
Combat: Marksmanship
Yes
8
0
Edit
Combat: Rifle
No
39
1600
Edit
Combat: Weapons Handling
No
8
1600
Edit
Construction: Laser Weaponry Technology
No
14
0
Edit
General: Coolness
Yes
4
400
Edit
General: Courage
No
3
320
Edit
General: Dexterity
No
3
800
Edit
General: Perception
No
2
1600
Edit
General: Serendipity
Yes
1
1600
Edit
%
Levels
then if you look at BLP Sniper(hit) you will see that it is affected by most of the same skills,
Skill
Hidden
Skill Effect
HP increase
Attributes: Agility
No
3
40
Edit
Combat: Aim
No
4
0
Edit
Combat: Combat Reflexes
No
3
1600
Edit
Combat: Combat Sense
Yes
5
800
Edit
Combat: Commando
Yes
3
200
Edit
Combat: Marksmanship
Yes
8
0
Edit
Combat: Rifle
No
39
1600
Edit
Combat: Weapons Handling
No
8
1600
Edit
Construction: BLP Weaponry Technology
No
14
0
Edit
General: Coolness
Yes
4
400
Edit
General: Courage
No
3
320
Edit
General: Dexterity
No
3
800
Edit
General: Perception
No
2
1600
Edit
General: Serendipity
Yes
1
1600
Edit
%
Levels
So as you use a laser rifle, you will gain skills that affect that profession (laser sniper(hit) and ranged laser(dmg))
From those skill gains those two profession levels will increase, but not just the ones you are using, other professions that share skills in common will increase as well, just not as rapidly.
I hope that makes sense, it took me a while to wrap my head around it when I started.
The thing about this game that people have a hard time grasping when they start is that it is a game of months and years, not of hours and weeks. Keep asking questions, and doing your thing, I think you will have fun.
gl and have fun,
narfi
Playing with Real Money: Colonizing Virtual Worlds
oh, I forgot I was going to mention, Ammo can be bought and sold at the trade terminal for the base price, so there is no need to store it.
I sell back all my unused and looted ammo after every hunt just to keep things simple and my ped card more fluid.
The exception being that I store explosive projectiles since they can not be purchased from the trade terminal, but they have low enough markup that unless you are planning on skilling support weapons I would just tt them as well.
narfi
Playing with Real Money: Colonizing Virtual Worlds
Sad encounter tonight in Entropia. Exploration simply is not an option. Way too many aggro mobs and they DO NOT EVER break aggro. They will follow you, they will hound you, they will die to kill you. I had several follow me in to deep water and drown trying to kill me. I got caught in a dirty outpost, ended up buying a vehicle to break out. Went very, very far quite fast in the vehicle and stopped to get my bearings. The aggro train behind me obliterated my vehicle, sending me to the next outpost revival point to repeat the walk outside, insta-mass aggro, die, back to revival point. Did, Die, Die, Die, Die, Die, Die, do it again. The revival points in the unmarked outposts are in small buildings and if you allow the screen to populate before you open the main map, the outpost guns will obliterate 5 to 25 of them immediately. Saying that the mobs are grossly over populated. All together it makes exploration an unending gauntlet of mindless death. Poorly thought out game mechanics.
That can be hard
I would recomend getting into an active society that is friendly towards new players.
They would be more than willing to help you out in the times you get stranded at a bad outpost.
It really sucks solo, but with a group of (new) friends and the right attitude situations like that can actually be alot of fun.
Not sure your current budget or plans, but a TP chip and implant might be cheaper than a car and you could just tp jump a distance away and continue on your travels. (of course if you land right on a mob then you will die and have to try again)
you might check out this site,
http://v2.euforces.com/
I dont have time to look throught it, but i thinkt hey have a way of letting you contact them and letting them know you are stranded and they will send out a 'rescue team' to help you get away.
I guess in a way its their way of roleplaying in the game and its cheap entertainment for them to organize and help people out that way.
hope you get rescued,
narfi
Playing with Real Money: Colonizing Virtual Worlds
The wierd thing is, it isnt costing me anything so they arent making money. Quite the contrary, my weapons arent being damaged or in need of repair becuase I'm not killing anything. Setting a Home in character sheet would fix it. Its just bad mechanics that benefit nobody.
I'm sure I will get out. Chugs Hideaway is to the north of me and it has a teleport tool so if I break half way between where I am and there before getting killed, it will send me there.