Arokh's Diary

[Arokh]

Time for another update of doom.

For the last few weeks or so I've gone slightly more eco. What I mean by that is no more using the Marber to go chirpy hunting, or using my ASG to blast apart turps. As fun as it is doing mass overkill, its somewhat costly and for once I'm trying to make my PED last as long as possible. So I stuck my best armour and in storage and went off to buy one of those Breers. *sigh* These things are boring. I don't know what the mob dies from - either damage from the Breer or of old age since it takes so long to kill.

I went to my old skilling ground Exo land which is north of NO. I began starting a long hunting session - emphasis on long given the incredible speed of the Breer. I noticed that my little PvP/safe zone indicator was flashing yellow, which seemed a bit strange. Exo land is usually safe, but I figured that the owner must have switched it over to PvP. Oh well, that didn't concern me... until a green dot appeared on radar.

I kept my eye on them as I hunted, and the dot kept coming closer and closer, killing Exos until it was within the inner circle of my radar. Unable to take it any longer, I decided to take the first move. Whipping out my ASG, I ran over and opened fire. BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!.... firing many shots off at the oddly inanimate avatar...

Until the green dot merely said "This is not PvP"



Great, first time I thought I had the upper hand and it turns out I make an ass of myself. Turns out I'd got the PvP bug which happens when you teleport from one zone to another. As you probably know from New Oxford to the land areas, its PVP. I teleported from there to the land area which is safe, but the indicator for me never changed to green. So rather than make myself look even more stupid, I ran off radar, hoping never to see that avatar again.

Also been on corn beach doing a little hunting. I can't remember what prompted it, but there was like a mini soc hunt there which involved me, qc and Mikah. Well, loot sucked to be honest. We had many no loots, or very poor ones and eventually it got to the point where we struggled to find any corns. This is where the team sort of dispersed out a bit in order to find some mobs. Not paying attention to the radar I headed off East down the beach, whilst the others I assume went West or South. Not long after we split up this happened:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

Heh, hows that for luck? I must have caught the fresh spawn of corns coming from the West. From my experience the corns spawn far West and slowly make their way East to the end of the beach. If they're not all killed, they head back West again. So if the spawns looted badly, generally a head West to catch the new ones is a good idea.

I also attended that WoF Appreciation Party, which was kinda laggy for me. Kind of expected with my godly 256Mb RAM and onboard graphics. Still it was interesting to see a few people from EF there (some actually talked to me! *gasp*) After spending a little time in the pool, I noticed those rather nice Atrox statues which I went to examine. Unfortunately after looking at them I decided to try not to move since the computer at this point was on the edge of exploding as it tried to cope running the game. However this left my avatar in a rather compromising position, pressed up infront of the statue. Hence I've now got the title 'The Atrox Whisperer' since apparently I was talking to the Atrox statue. *shrugs* That may or may not be true.

Also joined in that Hogglo hunt. I was on the team that HoFed twice... both on the mobs I didn't shoot at LOL! Seriously, that always happens. If you're EVER in a team hunt with me, shoot at any mob I'm not and its guaranteed to either global or HoF. Its like someone at MA is mocking me in a very cruel way. Oh well, either way the hunt was kinda fun, even though its totally obliterated my PED card thanks to both decay and ammo. On the bright side I only died once, thanks to my computer locking up when I was about to FAP. Maybe its time for another hog hunt...

Hrm, what else... oh yes. Aha. Mikah's gonna kill me for this, but I present my favorite EU quote of the month:

(told you I'd post it... it even has sig potential)

Okay, I've been hanging around a lot at the arrival area as you probably know. Which means I have a lot of time on my hands when theres nothing going on there. So 'interesting' discussions pop up in society chat. This particular discussion began quite innocently, mentioning that its odd how theres only a few mobs that have both male and female versions like snables. For some bizzare reason the conversation turned to something like how in which case all the other mobs must be male or something and with no females around they must get pretty angry. Thus need to take the frustration out on anything the comes near them - hence they attack people. Look, it made sense at the time alright?

Could I have cracked the aggro system? lol

 

[Arokh]

...just because I feel like it: *pounce*

(Seriously, MindArk should add a pounce gesture to Entropia. I mean its so useful. One gesture that could be used for so many things like greeting, playfulness, gratzing... etc.)

Anyway the new VU - finally one thats pretty much well done with minimal problems. Well... when I was told there was dragons as a new creature, I couldn't download the update fast enough! I've seriously never been so keen to log into EU in all my playing time. So with the update taking nearly two hours to download (go 5.6Kbps download speed!) I hurriedly logged on and headed for the new teleporter in a mad panic and exitement to see the new creature additions to EU.

It was an uneventful trip to the teleporter and it wasn't long before I got that teleporter that begins with 'O' on my map. Can't remember the name... Osiris or something? Regardless I began asking pretty much everyone where the dragons were, and with little response I took a random guess and headed North. Sadly it was a very short run after running into a huge swarm of Tsk Tsk which promptly sent me back to the revival before I could figure out what was going on. But shortly after reviving I noticed both qc and Mikah were at the teleporter.

After a short discussion, we decided to go and run over to grab the New Switzerland teleporter, while on the way go SE and see the new dragons. I'm not sure how we got the directions in the end, but we ended up heading down to the desert area. It wasn't long before we bumped into what I was told were the dragon creatures - the Malcruentor. From a distance it looked vaguely dragon like. VAGUELY:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

But as I examined it further it looked more like a spinosaurus (yes, a dinosaur) rather than a dragon - very much to my disappointment. But at least I had no objection to killing it anymore. After the first few blasts of a Marber, we soon realised it was WAY tougher than expected. In fact it floored me with one nice 179 hit. Yes. Like I have 179 health. >_>

But on the bright side we soon revived at New Switzerland where I promptly jumped off the lighthouse in a lemming-like fashion. Humans are not known to fly that well, but luckily the ground stopped me falling too far! I had a good chance to look around the whole area there, and its a pretty nice place. Obviously a lot of the buildings were copied from the camps around PvP4, but at least its a somewhat unique setting... with stupidly high mountain. I mean they're there just to tempt us to waste half an hour to climb them! Unfortunately theres very little at the top, and even less to see given that at a certain height the ground just turns to a blue mist. Still, lets see if anyone can find my single sweat bottle on one of the peaks...

Shortly after looking around I decided to join Chilix to hunt some miner bots. Interesting enemies indeed, and after seeing the size of them I half expected to be killed in one hit. But incredibly we survived:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

They're not as tough as I was lead to believe. The only problem was the masses of other hunters around which caused unnecessary competition for mobs. Ah yes... how can I forget. Killstealing. We were fighting a Miner Gen 06 when just under halfway through I lost connection. After logging back in Chilix and I were both dead (since we got attacked by quite a few bots as well). Now not mentioning names, someone had been stood watching us fight this bot, and as soon as we'd died they proceeded to kill the miner bot and ignoring all the other drones around. Keep in mind nothing actually aggroed onto this avatar. This was TOTALLY freakin' pointless given we'd already taken it down below 50% health, and by the time we got back to the coords the wreckage had disappeared. So no loot for either of us. Just a total and utter waste.

This is yet another reason why MindArk needs to give us a slap gesture too. Think about it. How many annoying situations are there in EU that could be answered simply by slapping the offending avatar across the face?
"Can I have some free PED?" *SLAP!*
"We need to band together and make the sweat price 2.0 again!" *SLAP!*
"omg wtf i is 1337 and kewl!!!one1!" *SLAP!*
You! Stop killstealing! *SLAP!*

Get my point?

Anyway, the next day I decided to go exploring the wilderness again on my own. I mean exploring is free and who knows what you can discover? Well as it happens I ran into another Malcruentor (from now on I'll personally castrate anyone who calls them dragons!), but this time it was a Young. True, an Old pretty much killed both me and qc in one hit, but a young can't be so bad right? Wrong. I ran up to it blasting away for 40-50 damage a time. Lazily it walks over pretty undamaged and bites me for 110 points. I realised I'd met my match before it attacked again:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

lol, didn't even bother healing after the first hit (that damage is through Jag + 5A's). My chances of success were pretty much non-existant alone. So with that failed trip, I went back to see about killing some miner bots. Luckily the first one killed (a Gen03) looted just over 45PED:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

So close to a global! But I guess it is a global if you count the markup I got on the ores and such. Thus its a silent one. But so far thats the only good loot those miners have given me. Most of the time it ranges between nothing and about 2PED, which is kinda poor considering the cost to kill them. Oh well, can't have everything eh? Oh and on the subject of miners, it still amazes me how those huge cutting blades designed to slice through rock and such find it difficult to penetrate some flimsy armour.

Hrm and the new rifle/pistol arm bug thing is interesting. Yay. Now I can be emo and threaten my own wellbeing if I don't get what I want:


[br]Click to enlarge[/br]
"Give me a HoF MindArk, or the hand gets it!"

(Always hate uploading to the EF gallery... afraid of uploading the wrong images!)

 

[Arokh]

Bah, after typing this up, my computer decided to virtually kick me in the nuts by promptly giving me the blue screen of death. Note to self: Type up diary entries in notepad and use the save function.

Now this week I've done a few things, amongst the most notable is getting my biggest loot ever. It happened after I'd spent a good six hours at the arrival zone and suddenly there was the sound of the turrets going absolutely mental. Looking at my radar I noticed a green dot running towards Atlantis, closely followed by what can only be described as a cloud of red dots. Sadly the green dot didn't quite make it and died shortly before the turret inches from safety. But then the mobs continued running towards the people in the arrival area - but luckily the wall stopped them. Well... most of them. As the turret gunned down a good portion of them, others stacked up against the wall and poured over:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]
^That was towards the end.

Well, just for a laugh and cheap thrills by one-shot killing low level mobs, I ran outside the walls and blasted away with my favourite shotgun. To my suprise there was the trumpets and golden swirls. Oh, 50 PED maybe? Thats when someone typed 'omg' into the chat, and I looked up to see what'd been looted. 389PED! Only 15 short of a solo Hof!

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

For the record I did NOT sleep with a MindArk staff member to get that. It was a JOKE when I said I was planning to do that in order to get good loot. Geez. Had several people PM me shortly after getting that global asking things like 'So who'd you sleep with to get that? '

Wait a moment... are y'all saying I'm only worth 389PED? Oh, thanks. -_-

Speaking of the arrival area, congratulations to Zoe for winning my 'favourite EU quote of the month'. Behold the quote that made me laugh my ass off and is going to be pretty hard to beat:

For those who don't know, I secretly print screen amusing comments or dumb things people say (including myself) and post it here each month. Why? Because some comments and quotes are too priceless to be lost forever. And of course we can all have a good laugh from them.

What else this week... hrm... oh yes, I've been messing around in the ring at Billys by appearing more noob than usual. First off I aquired a new set of orange noob clothes from another female (Yes, I stripped an OJ out their clothes for PED. And no, I don't feel bad). Then donning the orange clothes and some Settler shin guards, I stood in the middle of the ring and waited to see if anyone would take the bait.

Its suprising the number of people who are willing to just come in and PK a 'noob' simply because it looks like an easy kill. unfortunately this noob fought back. A variety of people came in - ranging from people with Goblin and Opalos / Jesters / Ukash rifles to those wearing Ghost and equipped with Korss / Mk2 weapons. Each and every one that shot, I introduced to either the ASG or H41 Mina (L). lol, they'll think twice about attacking an OJ again. By the way - I never shot first. If someone came in the ring and walked about, they were left alone. It was only when they decided to send a few shots my way when the retalliation came. I think my favourite quote of "tickle the dragon, expect to be burned" applies here.

Although someone went and played the newbie trick to me. Walked in with OJs and before I knew it.... their Opalo quickly turned into a DOA RJ. You just can't help but laugh. Guess I deserved it really. =/

Speaking of PvP ring weapons I have a new toy:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

I bought it off Scorpion for a quick test before I invest in a more high TT value one. Nice gun, in most cases guaranteeing a kill in two hits. With a Shear XR80 its got damage/rate of fire comparable to an ML-35 or one of the Camo series. Since the H41 Minas nearly broken, its time to move to this lil baby. Its already suprised a few people when I pulled it out from under my OJs.

Ah well, its all in good fun eh?

And oh yes, tonight I went out ore mining with just 20 bombs to see what it was like. All went well, getting a few claims of Lyst here and there. But all of a sudden my detector started flashing red. Thinking my graphics cards were messing up again, I reached over to the reset button on the computer... but stopped as I saw the detector was showing a strange signal had been detected:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

Yay! My first global mining and spaceship! Sadly no beacon, but still 50PED residues not bad is it? Thankfully I checked the screen before resetting!

EDIT: Oh yeah, forgot to mention. I got Skype now, so if anyone fancies a chat or wishes to harass me verbally - feel free to do so. To save you the trouble of clicking on the Skype icon on the left, my username is dragon_raketh

 

[Arokh]

I'm going to start with a topic thats been rather popular here on EF for the last few days. The same topic that appears to be the bane of 711 and Mindbuster. So what could be this evil force on EF?

Xfire.



I used it a long while ago to deal with admin issues / contact other staff in <the other game>. But there was nothing more irritating than team hunting in EU, only to be harassed by a little message box asking for me to come and deal with something. As you can imagine, it got annoying quickly. So after removing a load of contacts, I banished the program to the depths of the recycle bin.

Now its back, since all those threads on EF convinced me to give it one more try. So its up and running... feel free to add me if you want (usernames in the off topic Xfire thread). I never add people seeing as if anyone wants to actually talk, they'll add me instead. By the looks of things thats not many people at all. LOL. 7 people in total, 3 who were on the list when it was last installed and one 'test friend'.

-----

As some of you may know, I've been dressing up as a newbie purely to coax people into the ring. But I've taken it one step further and gone off to a variety of places to see what kind of rubbish people tell newbies. Oh boy... some very interesting people you meet. Including this fellow (name withheld) at Billys:

Jammy little sod! Sorry, but being 'very desprate' doesn't qualify for an excuse. I'm desparate for a DOA Loudmouth or Jag arm guards, but you don't see me going around selling VivoT5's for TT+10 do you? (BTW, anyone want one for that price? If you buy two I'll even knock the price down to TT+8 each! )

The sad fact is this individual wouldn't be trying this if people didn't fall for it in the first place. I guess blame can fall both ways here. Shame on that person for trying to get a few free PED off a beginner, but on the other hand shame on the buyer for not reading up on the game beforehand.

Perhaps I should have jumped at that bargain. Reckon they could have sold me some Settler for TT+50 too?

What else... oh yah, went to Swamp Camp again to see what was going on. All was going well, until one or two people decided to question why people were healing for free. Sort of making out that we were demons with FAPs or something and would demand the blood of their first born as payment (yes... the same old story). So a few people there explained why they do it - out of kindness or to get some first aid skills. Skills provoked some sort of discussion, and we were explaining that even skills have monetary value. Apparently skills are worthless. No use for ESIs anymore:

No comment. Unless they know something we don't about MindArks next nerf?

Hunting wise this week I've gone off for both Atrox and mining bots. I'm really not a keen bot hunter at all, but these miners provoke some interest despite looting not so well. or so I thought. I was there at the TT, dumping in materials from the hunt until I came across some 'Valurite stone' (sp?). Out of curiousity, I checked the market value of this 6PED stone. Glad I did so! This single 6PED lump of rock had a market value of 58-60PED! So really it was a silent global, much to my happiness.

Same thing happened with Atrox as well. Went off to Ithaca and only a few mobs in I got a 48PEDer (close global):

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

And the mob after that looted another 49PEDish. I don't mind the loot, its just being so close to a global is irritating. I can imagine a MindArk official sat there in the office, pressing the '49.99PED loot' button, laughing 'Haha! Global, DENIED!" Its like some sick company joke. lol

So I decided to blow up a guide instead:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

Yeah, kind of random, but what better way to waste your last bomb? lol, at least its a conversation starter! (And no, I wouldn't assassinate any of the guides really... I like 'em!).

Finally... err... anyone fancy going on a hunt at some point? Yes, yes I know I can go hunt with anyone in the soc (which I have done and still do!), but may as well see if theres more people to meet and have fun with. So yah, if you feel like hunting, lemme know! This was sort of motivated by looking through a folder of old screenshots, and saw the time long ago when Dom_Sufc and I went out for a random hunt: https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39598

I dont bite... much. Now, any victim... I mean volunteers?

 

[Arokh]

Been a while since the last entry, and I've disappeared for the last few days (as if anyone actually noticed lol). Why? Lets just say my internet connection temporarily relinquished its services to humanity.

I've decided to set a new goal in EU. The last one set was sometime last year when I intended to get a full set of Dragon armour. Recently I was running around Atlas North blasting holes in Snablesnots with my ASG, when the thought occurred 'What shall the next toy be?'

Thus I've set the mission to acquire a DOA Loudmouth to play with. Kinda sucks its now four times the price it was a few months back, but... I dunno. With the introduction of these nice (L) weapons that are easier to max out than a DOA maybe the price will go back down a little bit? Always wanted one of these little black guns to mess about with in a very unskilled manner. Blow apart turps. Laugh as I get my own back on killstealers. Pretend its actually a Foeripper. You know, fun things! But $1600 USD for a gun that'd be used once every so often? Eh. Its almost tempting to join Rico's H&R Circle just to rent one of these for a few days. Dammit, I need a better paying RL job!

Hrm... also this week there's been some changes in the society. I'm not going into detail at all, but anyone who checks the soc terminal will see that Mikah, Status and JackFree have left T.V. which is kinda sad. Dunno really... it's a dynamic universe, and I suppose changes are expected. Just checking my friends list earlier this week made me realise how many people whom I used to interact with on a daily basis have vanished from EU or moved on. For example my very first society leader - Rainman (https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/member.php?u=127). Anyone remember him? Heh, I'll always remember him ranting in society chat how grammatically incorrect it was that 'NEVERDIE' was all in capital letters (this was at the time of CND opening).

The last week or so made me realise how much Entropia has changed since I started playing nearly two years ago. Its true. It does have a different atmosphere and feel to it. Its just that without the people its kinda left me with a bit of an empty feeling. Yes, I've met quite a few people in game, but they're more of acquaintances... or people I've... um... met. For now. Seems my 'close friends' list is shrinking rather rapidly. Serves me right for not really getting to know some other people. =/

*adds 'stalk more people' to his to do list*

Anyway, enough of that. For once I decided to go out and actually go on a skilling session! *gasp!* Grabbing my GDC-97, I went to Corn beach and pick fights with the local wildlife. Actually the hunt didn't go too badly, seeing as in the end I broke about even. However on the way back I noticed an individual running around in circles collecting up all the Cornundacuadas in the area. Hrm, suspicious no? Immediately I donned my Jag armour and whipped out the AL-21 ready to have them all dumped on me. But oddly enough this green dot headed towards Argus along with me. As some of the Corns broke off from the huge mob train, he asked me if I could help run them into Argus.

>_>

As he went to gather the ones that'd broken from the train, I continued to Argus and at least warn people of the impending doom. Not that it mattered, since seconds later the red swarm invaded the city (once again):

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

Is it amusing? Yes, for the first time or so. But come on, if you're going to run mobs into town at least make it count. Like when I ran a load of Atrox into Atlantis. At least that had some entertainment value - like seeing new arrivals learning that Atrox do not like to be sweated. Or people walking into the trade centre, only to be faced by several hungry mobs with sharp teeth. Maybe one day I'll run a spider down there (PEDs permitting)!

Occasionally its funny to do, especially if its an unexpected mob. But apparently this guys been running corns into Argus repeatedly for a while now. That’s not amusing. Its annoying. Both for people stood outside trying to craft, and for hunters who wonder where all the corns disappeared to.

Went on a Hogglo hunt recently as well with Spike and Chopper. As we were about to head out I noticed Spike had somehow gotten hold of a Supremacy set. At first I thought it was a graphics card glitch, or the wrong armour had loaded. Turns out someone had loaned him a set, which obviously proved to be of use in the Hogglo hunt. Sadly my armour seemed to offer about as much protection as my coat did - may as well have worn some Settler! It was a night of incredible critical hits... from the mobs. Every second mob seemed to hit me for 30 damage, and as soon as I went to FAP it killed me with a ridiculous crit hit. But on the bright side, we got several globals in that hunt, one of which included a nice 60PED ESI that Chopper kindly split between the three of us.

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

(Only pic I got, for some reason the others didn't save)

Overall a profitable hunt, and it seemed my new little AL-21 Canis + Shear XR80 toy was a good buy. If you've not tried one of these guns, its WORTH it. Average damage in the 80+ range, and now I'm able to take down MUCH bigger mobs than I ever thought possible. Think the next (L) weapon to try is that GeoTrek H46. Or whatever. The (L) version of a DOA as I call it.

And finally without internet (or at least limited access) I've been attempting to get to grips with Photoshop CS2. Its produced some amusing results, yet some vaguely useful creations. Already posted these in the soc forum a while ago, but I attempted to make one or two Entropia-themed desktop wallpapers. True, the ones of you who are actually good at graphics are going to laugh at my attempts, but give the noob a break will ya? Feel free to use and/or laugh at:

Atrox:
https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/gallery/files/2/5/4/2/AtroxWallpaper.jpg
Guide/newbie:
https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/gallery/files/2/5/4/2/GuideWallpapercopy.jpg
Robot:
https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/gallery/files/2/5/4/2/BotWallpaper.JPG
Storm Hunt (My personal favourite):
https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/gallery/files/2/5/4/2/EUStormHunt.JPG

(Sadly had to be converted to JPEG to upload to the forum, so the qualitys a little low. And the fact that Entropia pictures are hard to resize without pixellating. Had to put in the MA logo as well, so they don't castrate me for copyright etc.)

Yep, people could EASILY do better than what’s up there. Hopefully so will I as my CS2 skill increases. But not too bad for a first ever attempt huh?

 

[Arokh]

No more MindArk Guide Zoe.

I was questioning Simon earlier this week and in response to my comment 'Must say I've not seen Zoe for a while', he replied 'She's not here anymore.' So as far as I can tell some of the guides have left MindArk and the remaining few to be there at peak times as it says on the website. Shame to see 'em leave, I really don't think MA knew how popular they were. *sigh* So David's been moved over to technical support, Zoe's gone, Simon's still there... the other three unaccounted for. I see MA have even started to nerf their own staff.

Yes it was a pilot project, but a successful one nonetheless.

Well been out hunting miner bots again. This time I went out with Loc in a small team hunt, and overall it turned out exceptionally well. Its nice to go on a team hunt every so often, and even nicer when you global on a mob:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

Loot up until then wasn't particularly great, but from that point on things took an upwards turn. As we headed over towards yet another miner bot a Drone 01 ran over and tried to cook us with its lasers. Sadly its accuracy was about as good as mine in PvP, so obviously it didn't live that long. And guess what?

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

Two in one evening? Seemed the hunt was going rather well, and by the end Loc discovered at some point we'd looted some Platinum stone as well, which meant it was pretty much a third silent global. And for once the globals didn't happen whilst I was at the revival! So all in all it was a rather good evening.

Also decided to pay PvP3 a visit as well, since its one area I've not really been in or explored for obvious reasons. For the most part it was rather quiet, but trust me, NOTHING in game gives you more of a rush than wandering aimlessly through a lootable area. I half expected to see a Tango shot, or someone kindly showing me their ML-45. But no. In fact the only green dot I came across was one near the edge whilst I was on the way back to the Chimera Canyons TP. As expected we got into a little fight, which kinda sucked in many ways. We'd shoot each other for a bit before we both began to FAP madly. Shoot shoot heal shoot... etc. This must have lasted for a good five minutes or so with neither of us getting anywhere. Just as I was about to say 'sod it' and walk off... - a lucky 160+ crit hit with the ASG. The dragon wins! By complete and utter luck. Seems the PEDs been replaced with ammo, since I looted 4.5PED worth of explosive projectiles.

And to top it off on the way back I killed this rather nice looting Bery Dominant:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

Which looted a Minstrel Vase and an A&P Brave. Yes, not exactly an incredible loot, but its nice to see items - and its my first ever furniture loot too.

I've also been thinking about trying to unlock Etherial Language. It'll be nice to read what people type after death (even though I bet most of the time it'll be either insults or 'help!'). You see translating from oooOOOoooOOO to English is kinda hard. Skilling to that point won't be much of a problem, the issue arises in getting hold of a res chip to unlock the skill. Like I have 16K PED for one. But meh... I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. So I've moved over to Swamp Camp to start healing with Mindforce and skill Biotropy. However you can't heal when theres not that many casualties... so ran a few Atrox down to swamp camp from PvP1:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

lol

And how could I forget... its time for 'Quote Of The Month'! I had a few this time, including one where an OJ walked up to me and demanded 'give me half the loot!' But no, I think this ones rather good:

Well done, you've won a cookie and a pat on the head.

 

[Arokh]

Interesting week, it's been a mix of feelings. Luck in hunting (good), a from MindArk (amusing), and a certain persons antics which would made me really like to reach through the computer monitor and slap them repeatedly (frustration).

Okay... where to start *looks through the folder of screenshots*... ah yes. Went on another Hogglo hunt earlier this week which isn't that special considering its now pretty much common practice, but this time the team moved further south to go and kill some Second Entities. I think I've shot at one of these before a long time ago, only to get myself skewered on one of those nasty blades. But this time I was:
a) Better armed.
b) Better armoured (as if it made any real difference lol)
c) In a team.
d) Feeling brave/suicidal.

So after the Hog hunt, we started killing SEGs, which weren't as hard as expected. Sort of imagined them walking up fairly undamaged and in a few quick hits one would wipe out the whole team. However we didn't die that often - sure there was the odd one hit kill, crit hit or the time we were swarmed with more then one SEG at a time... but for the most part we could handle them. It was just a pain to teleport from the revival back to the hunting ground when you died. I must say the AL-21 Canis came in handy - its nice to hunt bigger mobs when you can dish out a little more damage:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

One SEG came running over and immediately critted me - just to make the point that it actually wanted to kill me. lol. So a few TP jumps from the revival and I continue to shoot at it to help finish off whatever health remained. Lucky SEG. First ever global off one:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

Logged in the other day just for a quick walk around, see what was going on in the world of EU when Loc asked me to come on an Atrax hunt. Considering at that time there was nothing better to do, I agreed, and we went to the big Atrax land area north of Nates to go hunt the Alphas - Prowlers. It wasn't long before we globalled on an Atrax Prowler:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

We continued along and loot wasn't particularly good - lots of no looters and a few <1PED ones. Then this green dot came on radar and headed straight towards us. Immediate thought was 'killstealer', but no. This green dot just stood there and watched us for a bit, before running off to hunt mobs right next to us. Strange behavior indeed. And it wasn't just that once, since this green dot died and immediately ran back from the revival to hunt right next to us - I'm talking within the inner radar circle. They weren't doing anything wrong or anything, its just I dislike having others on radar whilst hunting. I typed in chat to to say to Loc we'd best move to another position because this green dot was getting in the way. But as that was entered into chat I already saw he'd shot a Guardian a few times, so ran over to help him. Reasonable sized mob... the one I hardly shoot at... guess what? Wrong. It didn't global. It HoFed big time:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]
[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

As soon as I heard the HoF sound, I had this horrible feeling in my gut and my heart just sank. Two quotes from Will Smith in the film 'I Robot' come to mind - 'There is no way my luck is that bad!' and 'Oh HELL no!'

But on the bright side we did get this HoF right next to the green dot which was sweet victory - look at the radar. You can see how close this person was, so in may ways it had an amusing end. And of course Loc was kind enough to make the 902PED split slightly better than it was, which was nice since he really didn't have to.

This leads me into a loot theory. Loot has to be at least partially decided on the avatar(s) partaking in the killing. Else why is it that in an average team hunt, its either no or average loot, but then the one mob I hardly shoot at or damage loots well? There has to be some sort of avatar factor - 100% convinced there is. There's been posts on EF about possible loot cycles for avatars - some times its good, others its bad. If someone on a good loot cycle teams up with someone on a bad one... then chances are loot will be average/balanced. If the one on a bad cycle stops shooting, then as far as the MA servers are concerned the loot should be good since the avatar left killing the mob is on an good cycle. See what I mean? Its plausible, as is the other million theories.

Anyway...

We headed back to Nates where I ran into neomaven. Got a good look at his WoF jacket and we had a short discussion - in many ways I'm surprised he had the time (or willingness for that matter) to chat to me. But hey, most initial impressions are wrong. *shrugs* After he disappeared, went over to TI to go hunt some miner bots. Found a nice spawn further down South where there were a huge group of miner bots and no other hunters in sight. Until a few minutes later...

This guy (since we can't name names or societies) in Nemesis ran over with a swarm of drones whilst I was killing a miner. Then he just stood there as all these drones killed both me and him. Luckily I finished and looted the miner before removing my armour and dying. Once is forgivable, and so teleported back to where the miner bots were to continue where I left off. A short while later, the same guy does exactly the same thing. And I recognize the name too, since this persons done this to me and a few others before as well. Really don't see where the fun or sense is to ruin other peoples hunts and cost them both in decay, ammo (and ME in some cases). I never realized being a total ass was a profession in EU. What really rubs it in is the smartass comments in chat.

Oh well. Eventually natural selection will run its course. Its only a matter of time. These are kind of people who usually end up doing something really, really dumb and end up featured in the next edition of the Darwin Awards (Google it if you don't know).

 

[Arokh]

You know how you can press K to see your avatar skills? And that each has a picture associated with it? After idly browsing my skills tabs, it came to my attention that MindArk made some of these pictures so ambiguous, they could pretty much mean anything.

Behold, alternate meanings for the pictures:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

No doubt theres a lot more possible captions than whats there.

I think it was last night we decided to go spider hunting. It was me qc and Mikah who headed off to Minopolis after a Feffoid hunt. You see one of us came up with the bright idea to go and hunt large Araneatrox, and due to the popular suicide request we went to the East of the teleporter to see if there was any about. We soon came across an Araneatrox Old Alpha and the plan was the usual - break out the Marbers and do the old revival hunt technique. But as soon as it got to around 50% heath, the creature made a beeline for the turret. "Haha noobs, you're not getting MY loot!"

We decided that it was worth one more try given it was getting a little late, so we set out once more and this time managed to track down an Araneatrox Alpha. But after one or two shots, the creature stopped responding to hits. It also no longer seemed to care that we were around nearby, as if someone at MindArk pussed the 'Agression off' button. So we took this rare opportunity for a picture or two:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

After posing for a pic, the spider wandered off over to qc and Mikah to join them. It seems this spider enjoyed socializing - especially with three female avatars:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

We spent a good while jumping on it, dancing and generally doing things you normally wouldn't be able to do around an Araneatrox. Eventually we got brave and decided to go ahead and sweat it to see how it would respond:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

It didn't seem to care at all, even though we did get one or two bottles from it and kept harassing it with green beams. Wondering if somehow it was trapped, qc shot at it. Which - and lets be honest here - was very much a mistake. You see this act somehow triggered the spiders killer instinct and it immediately went on the warpath. As it killed one team member, we decided to run away - as if attempting to run away from a spider is worth it. Oddly enough it was for me at least. As soon as the spider finished off one more team member, it left me alone and just stood there:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

It was only a short run back from the revival, and so qc and Mikah were back to sweat it. It wasn't long into the resumed sweating process when the spider decided to attack again. Once again it decided to go and pick on another team member to kill rather than me... however my amusement was short lived. After Mikahs quick death, I typed something like 'haha, pwnd! xD' into chat. Which was shortly followed by 'You receive 300 points of damage.' and 'You were killed by the nasty Araneatrox Alpha'

That comment really was tempting fate wasn't it? lol

You know that evening was more fun than actually hunting the mob. Makes me want to go and find more things to do like that, aside from the monotony of hunting and healing/FAQing at the arrival ship. Somehow things like this are slightly more interesting than the usual 'I shot this mob and it looted this....' etc etc. *goes off in search of adventures*

 

[Arokh]

The Eomon event. For once its nice to see MA make an event that all levels of players can join in on. While those with silly amounts of skill go hunt Warlocks and Eomon at the rig, mid level players can go kill those Armax or team up for those smaller (lol) Eomon.... and I can go kill those Exarosaurs.

Although to be honest they could have done a little better than a mass mob spam attack. But as a thread here on EF suggested, its most likely a server load test disguised as an event. Give us something to do whilst they keep an eye on how their machines and software cope with the load. No doubt shortly after this event is over MA will spend time making some adjustments/updates before launching a proper event. Maybe even that landgrab thing.

Ah well, an event is better than nothing at all. And as I say, at least theres something for all levels of play as a lot of people asked for.

Naturally I go to check out these Eomon, since the last time they were on Calypso I missed the opportunity to see them. After a quick TP over to Twins, I headed SE to where they supposedly were. Wow. The only way to describe what I saw is 'a trail of death':

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

This Eomon Provider pretty much walked in a straight line killing anything that got in its way. As you can see by the blue lights and the trail of white dots on the radar. Ignoring the obvious warning that these creatures could be a little dangerous, I shot one with an Opalo just for kicks.

Fact: This action is not recommended.

It walked over and critted me for a wonderful 260 damage. As if I really have that much health. It seemed there were a few teams set up to hunt them already, and to be perfectly honest I wasn't too keen on joining. There was fact that most of the people were total strangers, I had no reason to trust them, and of course there seemed to be competition for mobs. So instead I headed out to find the Exo spawn, since there was rumour of those Elites. But none seemed to have spawned where the Client Loader had said. East of PA, but how far East? Eventually I ended up in the Feffoid/Maffoid spawn far East close to the river and was quickly mobbed by several Maffs. To my suprise the first one killed globalled:

https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75410

Looted an M2732 as you can see. In the end that thing got TT'd since no one wanted it. Only other unlimited weapon looted was that Mk2 a while back from a Drone, but its nice to know unlimited things are still dropping. Crap as that no-markup M2732 may be.

With no sign of the Exos I headed back to PA. However it wasn't long before I was informed via PM where the spawn was at that time, so headed out to see them. Wow, the radar was practically a sea of red - full of Exos from Young up to Ola Alpha! Yet no Elites in sight. Deciding to make my trip there at least worthwhile, I wasted the last of my ammo on the spawn before suiciding exo style. Had to laugh at someones comment in chat - 'Theres always one who runs in the middle!' lol

Recently I've been playing around with Longblades. Because (and lets be honest here), my strength attribute sucks. As it stands my avatar is about as strong as wet cardboard. Its not surprising really, given that I've barely touched melee weapons except for skilling PowerFist up to 2.5K. So in order to boost strength to over 30, it was time to hack my way through mobs with that TT enblade. Yep, if you've read other entries I'm taking a slightly new path in game - Skilling to get power Catalyst/Etherial Language and now Longblades. Both categories I totally suck in, but hey - may as well unlock the easy stuff like MDA eh? Plus the first 2000 skills are easy to get so my total skill count will go up faster. Getting the few more levels to coolness can wait for now.

I started off at Atlas North skilling on Snables with the TT enblade and of course wearing my orange jumpsuit. After a getting a few kills a green dot started heading towards me. Someone in Pixie and what appeared to be an amped Opalo. At this point the radar was full of mobs and they could have hunted anywhere, but no. They chose to start killing any mob around me, or one I was running to hack at. Yes, thats right - come pick on the new arrival with the TT enblade.

Cue the ASG shotgun + BullTac70

Even with minimal damage its a one hit kill for low end mobs. To this persons surprise, the tables had turned dramatically! Anything in the immediate area I shot at, whether they had already inflicted damage or not. After being sufficiently irritating (which isn't hard), I typed 'Annoying isn't it? " into chat. Safe to say that green dot disappeared pretty damn fast. LOL

It wasn't long after when qc joined in and we had a team aptly names 'OJ LB fest'. We moved all around Eudoria, hunting different mobs. In all locations the returns weren't particularly good, but at least the skills were flowing in nicely! At one point I looted a Basic Target Assessment unit from a Berycled at Zeus. It was kinda surprising, since I'd always thought those things were looted from robots. Evidently not, and it had an incredible 16.6K% markup on it! Shame the TT value was like 0.02PED. lol

Towards the end of the hunt we headed out E of Scylla to kill some Caudatergus, which we did well on. Very well in fact. qc and I got a 53PED global off a Caud Guardian which looted a Vigi (M) harness:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

Not looted anything like that for a long time. And looking at the auction history, it had a potential markup of nearly +250PED. Not a bad TT on the harness either:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

So yeah, its not been bad recently. A gun, an armour part. Its always nice to see something like that in a loot window. Even nicer to see something adj, imp or mod. </dream>

 

[Arokh]

Hum... lets see. Eh, wasn't planning on typing up another entry for a while, but hey - EU's apparently down for maintenance and I've got nothing better to do right now. Kinda sick of typing really. Spent a lot of time recently finishing off the second draft of a 111,500 word novel, and its got to the point where my fingers barely work. Ah well, time to browse though this weeks screenshots, load up media player with some relaxing spiritual chill out music, and start typing something...

Ah yes, here we go. I've started a little eco hunting, that is hunting without armour and using minimal tools. I figure its worth it taking a little more damage than normal given you at least get skills for decaying a FAP. While the event was reaching its climax at the crater, I decided to go and hunt elsewhere. The lag was unbearable, the connection kept on failing, and if I got into yet another debate on 'Whos Longtooth mob that is' I would have lost all remaining sanity.

It wasn't long before I joined qc at Fury with the intention of going on a Feffoid hunt to loot a Korss. Of korss (Ha, pun!) we decided to do this little hunt unarmoured. After all, Feffs are relatively easy and we'd only have weapon, amp and FAP decay to pay for afterwards. Now its surprisingly easy to hunt Feffs without armour, and the damage they do doesn't seem to be much more than if I were wearing say Rascal or Jaguar. Think thats because no armour set I own actually has cold protection, and as such only absorbs the small amount of impact damage they do.

All started well, we were surviving easily with just the occasional FAP, taking down most of the Feffs before they even reached us. Shortly into the hunt, someone ran at us to dump a load of mobs onto us - most likely hoping we'd be overwhelmed and killed. Unfortunately for them, we weren't. With a few well placed shots, the mobs went down pretty quickly and we resumed the hunt. In the distance we spotted a Feff Clan Warlord, so feeling brave we tagged it to see how we'd cope unarmoured against it. Well, safe to say it was pretty easy and it left a rather nice suprise:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

A full TT (177PED) Korss and a the time only 40ish PED off a HoF. Hrm looking at the loot we got... I think we didn't split evenly enough qc. Think I owe you like 20PED. We'll sort it out in-game.

(Hrm... why the hell have I got 'Barbie Girl - Russian Edition' on this media player playlist...? wtf? *goes to change it*) Now where was I... ah yes. It seemed things were on the up swing, qc's theory being that due to the event a lot of (L) weapons are being used up and as such MA would need to drop more. Seemed that theory was right. Merely 3000 ammo later, we hit another:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

For a while things seemed to return back to normal, the odd no looter, a few 10-15PED loots, 1 or 2PED etc. I was about to pack it in for the night, but qc insisted we kept hunting there, since there was likely to be another Korss drop. After all we'd already gotten 2 in one hunt! So it was a quick jump back to the revival to repair, rearm and auction the Korss - which sold minutes later for around 100PED. Rather than teleport back to where we were before, we ran into the Feff territory again, pretty much killing anything not wearing clothes on radar. it wasn't long before we hit the third for the evening:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

We continued a little longer, but the no loots started setting in and we decided the area had become dry. But noticing a lot of Feff globals in chat, I suggested we go over to Phoenix and try our luck there. Turned out the same story there too. We got a good way over to Zychion when all of a sudden someone typed 'gratz' into chat. Looking at the global messages it turns out some lucky sod nearby had gotten probably the only good loot in the area. But given our earlier success I didn't really care too much (despite what I may have typed into team chat at that time lol). Overall the Phoenix hunt was a slight loss - 100PED ammo, 30PED decay... got around 110PED loot. So can't really complain huh?

Also being skilling on TT Longblades relentlessly for the past few days and finally have got strength over 30. Next stop, 40. Though I think I'll move back to Powerfist for a short while. Simply because I need 1/2 a level to unlock MDA (which will level up as LB is skilled). Oh yes, and if you've got any suggestions of how to increase strength as fast as possible, let me know please!

Ah how could I forget... the little situation a few days ago. Muahahaha! Whilst hacking away at Snables with the TT enblade, qc mentioned in soc chat how something strange was happening on the Oxford bridge. Two new arrivals had come along and started begging for free stuff. After explaining to them that begging/demanding items is not the right thing to do and that sweating or depositing was the way to go... the girl started threatening qc that she'd start shooting unless some free stuff was handed over. Yes you read that correctly. A new arrival threatening to PK if they didn't get free stuff.

Well, do you really think I'd miss this opportunity to see this? Of course not!

Unfortunately as I got to Oxford, the two had already vanished. However since I was feeling particularly mean, a plan was hatched. Qc found that the two beggars were in Port Atlantis, evidently trying to get free items there. She told them that there was free ammo on the Oxford bridge (you can see where this is leading can't you?). Well, they certainly jumped at that offer and came pretty quickly back to Oxford.

A conversation ensued, but they really didn't waste much time in getting to the point:

*sigh* There was a time were I asked why they don't sweat like everyone else and the reply - to the persons credit - was exceptionally honest. "Because I'm lazy". Indeed. Isn't it so nice to be demanded to give things because someone can't be bothered to earn it like everyone else? So, as promised, they got free ammo. 19 medium BLP packs and 18 light weapon cells to be exact:

Just not in the form they probably had expected.

(Unfortunately I must have saved over the screenshots of the bridge incident as I saved these conversations). Were we mean? Quite likely. But come on, you've got to have a little cruel fun. Moral of the story: Don't beg. You may get something you don't expect.

But to balance out that (probably bad) karma, I headed off to swamp camp to go MindForce heal. And so has begun the road to Etherial Language. Currently I'm level 4 Biotropian, so evidently a LOT of work is still to be done. Pepper has kindly informed me of what it roughly takes to get there, and some of the figures are quite daunting. But nonetheless it shall be attempted!

• 
  Arokhs to do list:
  [ ] Acquire a DOA Loudmouth or Camo Urban (long term goal!)
  [ ] Reach 30 Psyche
  [ ] Unlock Power Catalyst
  [ ] Unlock Etherial Language
  [ ] Unlock Melee Damage Assessment
  [ ] Graduate in Longblades
  [ ] Reach 40 strength

PED permitting of course!

 

[Arokh]

Wow, busy time. Was invited by Solaris a few days ago to go Atrox hunting with her and a few other Perseus members down by the rig. Its nice to go and hunt big Atrox, but I think its about time the Vigi arm guards were replaced by something a little more substantial. You really notice it when a mob hits there. 20, 25, 19.... 79 damage. Problem is the current high price on Jaguar arm guards, so all things considered I may as well just go straight for Angel. Its not THAT much more.

It wasn't too long before we reached the rig, and for once it wasn't a bunch of people in Eon or Shadow equipped with mod imp DOA Foeripper mentor editions... or whatever. Thus my life expectancy was exponentially increased. Since the people there actually seemed quite friendly, I took the opportunity to record the last part of the film I was making (Which is now in the Galleria section if you're interested). Unfortunately the team thing was still on my screen and so I had to leave the Atrox hunting team in order to film.

Guess what?

150ish PED global mere minutes after I leave. LOL. Well gratz to them nonetheless. I'm no longer bitter about teams globalling/HoFing whilst I'm shooting at something else / reviving / left team / CTD'd etc, simply because now it's pretty much expected it to happen. Almost disappointed if it doesn't.

Still, it was fun at the rig. We sweated a few Atrox:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

And the Atrox made us sweat in return:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

Didn't get any oil, even though some spawned right next to me a few times. Really couldn't care less about it to be honest. I was there to film and of course just generally hang out. Kinda fun, and hopefully once I've made a few more friends there I'll visit more often.

Shouldn't have said that really. Now theres going to be a queue to PK me.

Another highlight was joining Solaris and society on a beacon mission. Fairly straightforward and pretty much the average beacon mission. Though I did notice now the drones on board no longer have a generation. Usually they have things like 'Drone Generation 06", but now they're just labeled as "Drone". Unless that was a bug of some sort? At the end of the mission, just as the boss was killed, my computer blue screened. Think its the first time I was in a mad panic to get the computer to boot up as quickly as possible. Luckily, I got back just in time to loot what I was supposed to.

In the end we got roughly our ammo back, and I traded some of my loot share in for a robot component since I collect them. Taking my new wonderful robot power amplifier, I headed back to my apartment to place it next to my... robot power amplifier...? What? I'd already got one? Dammit! >_<

Shortly after that I went out with qc to hunt some big Molisk, in an area that totally sucks if you happen to die thanks to lack of nearby revivals. It was a relatively good hunt with two 60PEDish globals, but I still came out roughly -30 PED. Yay for the eco of Mk2+A-104. >_>

Now what else... oh yes. Speaking of the rig reminded me. I've been attempting to get a PK streak HoF thing for the last few days after buying my new little LR-48 toy. Just because a solo HoF is long overdue, and this is the easiest way of getting one to alleviate that absense. Ha. Easier said than done. It all began when I went out to PvP1 to test this new LR48+XR80 combo (50.5-101 damage 38 attacks/min), and ended up turning two green dots white. "Interesting" I thought to myself. "This things pretty damn good, wonder how many more I could get?". So I teleported over to New Oxford and had a bit of a walk around the bridge. It took about an hour, but I added three more kills to the streak. Unfortunately people there got wise and no longer walked on the bridge, so it was time to change area. Billys Spaceship Afterworld. After a brief few bouts in the ring, the kill count was bumped up to seven. And as I JUST completed the eighth kill guess what?

PFN_Error. Windows has encountered an error and has shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

I stared at the blue screen of death, and remember thinking "No matter, if I log back in quickly all will be fine! Just like if you disconnect from a team hunt!"

So after a quick reset I was back in game. But unknown to me, once you log out the kill streak is set back to zero. So after two more, I got someone to put an end to it and claim the HoF. But to my dismay, nothing came. Bah! However by that time it was late, and I decided to stop for that evening and continue the next day. The story for the next day is pretty much the same, but a few 'voluntary' deaths included. This time the kill count reached 9 in total, but then I couldn't find anyone for a long time. As I headed back to the Oxford bridge...

Bang. CTD. And to really rub it in, the crash logger proceeded to crash. (At the time I really wasn't in the mood to appreciate the irony.)

So it was time for one last go. Four kills in and then... no one. All the rings were deserted except for the uber one at Twins, PvP1 was empty and everyone at Oxford seemed to be hanging in auction. So it's left at that really. If it wasn't for these frequently increasing connection losses and blue screens... *growls* If you know how to fix a PFN error, PLEASE let me know. Problems been getting worse and worse.

And lastly, yes. Its that time again. Quote of the Month! Its been a quiet month, until tonight. Mikah nearly won with this one:

But it wasn't long before Loc beat it with this comment which came totally out of the blue:

Dunno what to say really. Apart from gratz, you made me laugh the most by use of a single sentence this month.

 

[Arokh]

No doubt you've all read the news. The Cryengine, developed by Crytek for FarCry and Crysis. Is it just me or is there a lot of crying about? The way its playing out, this game will end up being renamed Crytropia Universe just to fit in with the theme. If that happens, it'll be the end of it for me really. Too much overusage of one word. Still, it'll be nice to see how the game will change visually when its implemented in 3008. Sorry, I mean 2008. On the bright side it probably means they'll be recoding parts of the game, so hopefully some of the visual bugs will finally vanish. And we'll get some nice new shading and textures.... yay! ^_^ Way to go MA!

Mostly this week has been spending as little as possible. You see theres a theory circulating in soc chat that you get a nice big loot sometime in the week before your birthday. Apparently. So I'm going to put it to the test, hence no unnecessary spending whatsoever. Then in the week running up to Sept 5th, I'll hunt my ass off. Lets see how true this theory really is. Unfortunately to raise that money I had to sell my beloved FreanD Delta for 350PED, the remaining 10K fruits I'd stashed since late '05 and the 3K sweat in storage. Delta was unnessary PED tied up anyway, seeing as I rarely used it.

But what fun could be had without money? Well I did spend some time sweating which benefied me in three ways:
-Raised psyche
-Raised MindForce skills
-Got me a little income so I could buy ammo for my uber M2100 pistol.

But as time at swamp camp dragged on, I remember thinking the place could do with some livening up. So slapping on a little armour, I headed up to the NW corner of PvP1 and enticed some Atrox to chase me. Tell you what, its a LONG run from PvP1 to swamp camp when you have a herd of angry reptiles chasing you! But after some time I finally arrived close to swamp camp and promptly removed my armour to die. See this was the plan. Plant some nice big mobs amonst the normal Daiks, Exos and Comibos and wait until someone 'discovered' them. After reviving I headed out from the outpost and sat a safe distance away from the mobs and waited for events to unfold.

Didn't need to wait long. It took a mere two minutes for someone to run over to investigate these new mobs... before all hell broke loose. A little advice: If you're being attacked by some nasty mobs, don't run towards other sweaters! It's somewhat doubtful they'll be able to assist. In fact this act caused what can be only described as a chain reaction of death. The Atrox (Provider-Guardian level) ran from one person to another, before making one final assault on the group at the turret.

Casualties? I'd say a good 15 or 20 copped it before the turret ended the spree. Half expected to see 'Atrox Guardian killed 15 others in a row before succumbing' in chat. lol. Still people seemed to appreciate it - they got a good laugh, and surprisingly a few people got quite a lot of sweat out of them. Makes a little change from the norm eh? And yes, I did do a bit of healing after the incident. Not totally heartless. Yet.

Ah, the failed prank as well. Oh this is shameful. Completely and utterly shameful. If you've read one thread, Alice mentioned how its be fun to detonate a mining bomb to make the ground shake near new arrivals. Then run past them yelling 'OMG! A robot attack!' 'Run, run!'. Get people to panic y'know? Well, being one to amuse myself, I thought it was worth trying. So after getting hold of some mining bombs, I teamed up with Alice, Pinky and Kress and went to terrorize the swamp camp with a fake robot attack. First we came from the North, but soon realised there were too many experienced people there who'd know it was just a mining bomb. However to the south was some newbies, so we moved over there to begin the prank. *BOOM!* The first bomb goes off.

Silence.

I thanked Kress, Alice and Pinky for their very convincing shouts of terror (or lack thereof), and so we decided to do take two. *BOOM* second bomb goes off, and luckily two run off yelling about the (fake) impending robot attack of doom. Did we cause a mass stampede? No. It went totally unnoticed. Probably got a "lol" from one person - that was about it. (Thats why Pinky, Kress and Alice... I didn't shout. Didn't want to make myself look too much like an ass if it failed! lol Sorry!) . Somehow thats not one prank we'll be trying again anytime soon!

Been hanging around the arrival zone a lot too. Which reminds me...

I AM NOT PORTUGUESE!

I've had several people walk up to me and go 'Portugese?', or 'estos espaniol portugal?' or whatever. Then after saying 'no' they immediately reply with 'Yeah, but your soc name is portugese. So you must be too!'. No. No I'm not. Just like Nebu isn't Dutch. Call me Portugese again I'll beat you with my decayed Axe 1x0 repeatedly!

Ah the arrival zone. It can be fun. Entertaining. You can make new friends. You can also lose your sanity. I don't mind helping out, a lot of the new people are genuinely nice, but theres always one or two who make you want to slap them to death with a Merp. Cue a conversation:

<New Guy> so how'd I make money?
<Arokh> Well, one way is to sweat.... (etc etc)
<New Guy> whats sweating?
<Arokh> Sweating is... (cue explanation)
---some minutes of silence pass---
<New Guy> and howd I get money?
<Arokh> By sweating, like I just told you.
<New Guy> whats sweating?

I know, lets automate it! Lets see... sprinkle a little psudo Visual Basic code here and there and:

Private Sub(PA Arrival Chat)
Do

<New Guy> so how'd I make money?
<Arokh> Well, one way is to sweat.... (etc etc)
<New Guy> whats sweating?
<Arokh> Sweating is... (cue explanation)
---some minutes of silence pass---​

Loop Until Arokh=Loses temper OR Logs off
End Sub

There we go. PA arrival chat summed up in a simple subroutine. Come on, if you ask a question at least read the answer. Is it really so hard to check for an answer before asking the question again and again and again? I understand the game's new to people and so expect a lot of questions - that's perfectly fine and understandable. No problem whatsoever. Just don't ask questions, ignore the answer and ask again! Repeatedly! True, I could just refuse to reply, but the problem is they'll keep on asking until someone says something. Or throw a tantrum because no ones answering them. It's a no win situation.

Was also wandering about the PA mall too where I met rayne dragon. 'Who?' you may ask. She's the leader of the Entropia Dragon's Pride society - seems pretty nice to chat to. For a while I've been browsing the soc terminal, seeing what new dragon themed/named socs there are out there and this one kinda caught my eye more than the others. *sigh* Seriously, if only I were a freelancer I'd join that soc pretty damn fast. True, 90% of the reason is the name. But so what? Hey, at least I'd turn out to be a good mascot!

Sorry about the lack of screenshots. All the ones I took were on the computer I had to ship back to the UK.... and forgot to transfer them over to this one. Bah! Although I did get one screeny this evening. Was planning on keeping it for my quote of the month thingy, but this is more of a conversation than a quote. Eh. Made me laugh anyway. Cue a totally failed attempt at a "gangsta" way of saying hello:

Thanks Loc.

 

[Arokh]

Okay, first of all apologies for everyone who I conversed with on Saturday night. Have little idea of what was said or done, given I was in an advanced state of mental incompitence. Yes, made the mistake of logging onto EU whilst a tad drunk. How'd I get like that? Went out to a restaurant in the area near me, where I met a group of Italians (only one of which could say a few words in English). Went over to the bar to get one drink, and before knowing it I'd mingled with the group and was suddenly being passed free drinks for absolutely no reason. Being polite and non-wasteful (Hey, it's free!), I accepted them... big mistake! Seeing that apparent act of 'friendship', they decided to have me as a tour guide and suddenly I'm being dragged off to another restaurant by my new 'friends'. Same thing happens there. In the end I managed to hold myself together to somehow make my way home and log onto EU. Yes, as if logging onto EU was a good idea.

However on the bright side I didn't spend any PEDs, have no unusual new friends on my FL, nor ended up married some random avatar. And I logged in later to find my avatar still had clothes on, so it seems nothing too bad had gone on. But still.

So these last few days. Well I went to Argus only to find some explosive action going on in the ring, which turned out to be MS9 playing with a rocket launcher and JackFree taking flying lessons. Stood around to watch that, since I LOVE seeing people fly out of the ring and land in wierd positions. But after a while, curiousity got the better of me and well... I took a rocket to the face. Who says you need wings to fly? After the ring incident I stuck around to chat for a bit, and to my surprise got a new addition to my friends list. Yes, the same person who took those compromising photos of me 'talking' to those Atrox statues. MS9. (I wasn't talking to them, it was lag. Honest!)

However mostly been in the new arrival zone again this week. Not as bad as it sounds, since often we have a bit of a giggle there. When things got a little quiet, Simon turned into an army officer and decided to inspect us:

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

'This is my rifle. There are many others like it, but this one is (L).' Learn it and love it folks.

Not exactly sure how this happened, but during another quiet moment in arrivals appearing, we decided to get dressed up in armour. It wasn't too long before we discovered out true identity. Entropias very own Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers:

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Now the robots really have something to fear! Humans wearing bright coloured armour, waving their arms about in an overly-exaggerated way whilst talking - like so:

Last night was hilarious, since something unexpected happened. I was stood there along with a (new) friend Xzion chatting and nothing really special was going on. Just the usual "Press enter to chat, type your message and press enter again to submit. And if I have to tell you again I'll slap you silly." Then literally out of nowhere came these guys:

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Just by reading the name you can guess what went on. These guys temporarily became the new PA arival squad. It's been over two years now since I've been in EU and somehow avoided being 'James-ed'. lol, not that night! Soon we were surrounded by a group doing the sexy dance, much to our amusement. Unfortunately at this point a new arrival logged on:

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I have NEVER seen a newbie learn the movement controls so fast! He soon shot off and ran around the compound, being chased by a group of guys wearing nothing but underwear. As more arrivals appeared, each got their own little bit of attention from the sexy dance gang. They too learnt how to move pretty fast! Its hard not to laugh when something like that happens, especially when it happens totally randomly. *has been officially been james-danced*

I was also approached later on by a guy looking for people to allow him to display art in his gallery. Always considered uploading something to hang in my apt, but a gallery? I'm not THAT good. Geez. Theres a few problems with this though, seeing as my sketches:
1->Mostly comprise of requests from people (not gonna gallery-ize a request).
2->Probably contravene the EULA in some way.
3->The older ones suck and there's no way I'd upload 'em to EU.
4->The more recent ones are drawn on scraps of paper. Low quality.
5->My scanner has bad resolution.
Since the area was quiet at that point, I spent 20 mins or so roughly scribbling something down on paper. On the inside of a blank DVD case cover to be exact. The result: http://raketh.deviantart.com/art/Fire-Mage-62333457 (lol, my dA account which has been inactive for quite some time now. Ignore all my real old work there - see point No.3 on the above list.) And yes, 90% of the time I draw dragons. Don't act all surprised. >_>

 

[Arokh]

The fish joke.

I've had a one or two people run up to me this week asking what it is, since they heard their soc mates or friends mention it or something. It's really not all that funny to be honest, and really was just the result of me randomly typing out bad jokes at the arrival zone. To satisfy your curiosity:

Two fish were in a tank. One says to the other "So... any idea how to drive this?"

There. Enjoy.

Hrm, I really have to respect those who've made it in EU without ever depositing. Since my cards were stolen in March I've had to make do without any cash at all in game and to be honest it's been a bit of a struggle. Pretty much sold off all the items I can bear to lose, and hopefully there's enough PED left in game to last me until end of September time. So whats the plan then later this year? One huge deposit into EU to make a dream a reality. One of three options. My plans are either to buy one of the following combinations:

1: DOA Loudmouth+Dante + Dynera lasers and Hanzor scope.
2: ML-35+Dante... and the above lasers and scope.
3: Jaguar Arms, Helmet, Bear gloves, 5Bs, V1 Mini-Sweeper, Prosecutor M35, and an assload of skill chips.

Problem is I can't decide on what. The advantage of the DOA is that it will allow me to hunt a number of mobs unarmored since I'd be able to kill 'em before they wipe the floor with me. Advantage also here is that I get rifle skills with the convenient firepower of a pistol... and all the defensive skills that come with it. Thus the need for armour diminishes. Plus it's not bad for a laugh in the ring every so often. Same story for the ML, only it has a much nicer range and has the advantage of being both a decent hunting weapon AND a potential Arokh saver in PvP zones. If I go for either of those options, I'll downgrade armour to Boar.

However to quote the old saying 'Don't put all your eggs in one basket', perhaps its not a good idea to buy one big item. For example if more nice (L) things come out, prices may go down and before I know it - BAM! I've lost $1000 or something. Thus option 3. Get rid of my Vigi once and for all and complete the Jag AND get some nice plates, but settle for lesser weapons - V1 for mobs and M35 for the odd times I mess in the ring or PvP1. Not to mention extra skills to 'correct' my current skill imbalance and to help increase HP those mere 29 points more to medium HP. Then hope for a nice uber-HoF to fund a nicer gun.

IMO a sensible (but less fun) option is 3, yet the temptation of the first two choices is equally strong. Hopefully when the time comes someone will be kind enough to loan me the weapons from 1 and 2 (collateral given of course) to try 'em out, see if its what I'd really like using. But more of that when the time comes. And yes, if you've used either a DOA Loudmouth or ML-35, I'd appreciate any input you can give on it - like experiences using them etc.

Anyway, events of this week. Remember in the entry before last I mentioned how conversations at the arrival zone can theoretically go in circles? Didn't believe me eh? Well, read the chat:

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But whatever. No matter what happens, smile, be polite and if applicable, moan in soc chat instead. Luckily my keyboard isn't (L), so I can type things out over and over again without worrying too much. Ah well. At least the advantage is I get to have a laugh with Simon, Emma and the other PA regulars. As surprising as it may seem to people, we do have fun there. It seems to me a number of people are so obsessed with skilling and such, that they rarely take the time out to just sit around and chat with others (don't mean just soc members). If I just wanted to skill and kill creatures, I'd play an offline RPG game. So yeah, its sometimes worth taking a little time out and spend some time with fellow colonists. Even if it's just saying 'hi' to that lone green dot on radar when you're in the middle of a hunt. It's not like it costs anything.

Nevertheless, I can't just hand around there all the time, so decided to go out to Neas place and see what was going on there. Wow. I knew people go there to sweat, but its like turned into an alternate version of Atlantis.

Theres sort of mass teamwork going on - 30 or so avatars sweating one ambu and moving onto the next. It's probably the only place I've seen successful team-sweating. Despite the numerous deaths and OoooOOOooo's filling chat. Not a bad place assuming you can stand the lag, but I did manage to get 2K or so sweat in five or so hours... but sadly with only one Psyche skillgain. At the very least you do get decent concentration skills which'll be helpful for skilling my Mindforce (remember the Soul Language quest?).

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

Unfortunately in the midst of the chaos, death is usually the outcome. Once something aggros onto you, its rare it leaves before you die. I suppose at least my heal chip is getting a good workout this way. One thing that did amuse me at Neas was the geniuses that were stood around typing 'Selling sweat @ TP'. Somehow I don't think it occurred to them that 99% of the avatars there were sweaters and thus most likely wouldn't need to buy any. It's the metaphorical equivalent of trying to sell sand in a desert.

I also managed to totally fudge Entropia's music files this week. But how? Well it turns out that (on this laptop at least) EU music is played through Windows Media Player and after closing down EU, all the sounds that were used are present in the playlist. Guess who pressed the option to "delete from music library" instead of "delete from playlist"? Yup. I've gone and deleted most of the sound files from EU by mistake. Oh joy. Does that count as an EULA violation, or just stupid user error?

In other news, apologies for those who added me to Skype, you may need to re-add me. Long story short, my account got banned. Why? Because I owed Skype 17 cents. 17 freakin' cents and so they delete my account! On the bright side they deleted it, so it can at least be remade. In case you're wondering, username: dragonraketh

 

[Arokh]

Hehe, a big smile crossed my face this morning as I went to collect the mail. Bill, junk mail, bill, EU real life item, bill, bill.... wait, what?

Yes, I got the following:

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So I did the only decent thing - sent 'em one back from Africa. lol. Now after some thinking, the only reason I can imagine why I got one is because of the joke some weeks ago. Emma appeared after a long period of absence and it turns out she'd been on holiday. So I jokingly said something along the lines of "Holiday eh? Ya send me a postcard / fridge magnet / <some other random item people get on holiday>? ;-)" (can't remember what option I chose). A few people laughed, and that was the end of it.

If that was indeed the case... note to self: Next time joke about an ATH. lol

Then again, it could have just been randomly sent out. Just a shame it got a little damaged in the post, since theres a black mark on it, most likely from a dirty machine at the post office/dispatch. Ah well, nothing that can't be cleaned up. In any case, thanks EU guides! *pounce* ^_^

So the world of EU. First off a few weeks ago I met someone at the arrival zone, and promised that I'd go with them hunting. Now even though I've been adamant about not spending PED this month, I decided to risk a short 40PED hunt on Feffoids with the guy. Would have felt bad if I'd had kept him waiting until depositing later this year, so went out on a short hunt. We headed out to Fort Fury and went West to where the Feff spawn is. Wasn't bad for a quick hunt, but the problem was loot share since I was using a MK2, he a Breer m1a, so most of the time I ended up getting WAY more loot since it was set on damage determines.

Well after about an hour we'd spent most of our ammo and got about 26PED loot. However since the damage determines seemed to deny the guy much return, I split what I had got with him to make it a little more balanced - 'bout 8PED worth. Not much, but I at least wanted enough remaining to cover decay cost and maybe a little ammo. I know all too well how it sucks to be on a team hunt and end up getting hardly anything thanks to shooting wrong creatures or whatever.

At the end of the hunt, a Clan Warlord spawned right behind us, and it charged. Unable to put on armour in time, I decided to take it naked. All went well, with a little FAPing. However on the last tiny bit of health I died thanks to FAP lag. Seriously the chat went something like this:

You take 59 points of damage
You take 60 points of damage
You take 40 points of damage
You were killed by the genitally challenged Feffoid Clan Warlord
You are healed 32 points
You are healed 32 points
You have been revived
You must be alive to perform this action

Wish I had gotten a screenshot of it, since that was the most bizarre lag ever. Take damage, die, heal, revive and then told you need to be alive. Not exactly sure how that happened, but most likely the servers trying to catch up on what was going on. *sigh* if it wasn't for that the Warlord would have died without me having to take the somewhat painful route to the revival terminal. And yes, after all that it was a no looter. But on the bright side we did at least have some fun and I got a new addition to my friends list.

However I can soon start spending PED again properly to test this week before birthday loot theory. Plan to do a decent hunt on the 3rd Sept a couple of days before my b-day and see what happens. This will be the definitive test, and no matter what happens - I win. If the theory is false, I get the satisfaction of being right. If its a true theory... well, loots obviously good right?

Oh yes, also ran into someone I've not seen since Aug 2005 in game. An avatar named Nity, whom ran me from Fort Troy to Twin Peaks back in the day. Answered whatever questions I had at the time etc... its true y'know. Those who are genuinely nice are remembered. It may not be much, but those who were kind when I was more of a newbie, I hope to somehow repay in the future. Not sure how, but you know. Its always nice running throughout Calypso and bumping into players you recognize from long ago - especially if you remember them for something like that TP running for example. Moral of the story: Be nice, you have no idea which of those OJs may be around in a few years.

To my surprise twice (or was it three times?) since my last entry I've received offers from people, to join their society. And I don't mean from newbies who need to make up a total of 5 members so their soc isn't deleted after a week. Never realized that a dragon mascot was in such demand! I don't foresee myself leaving T.V. anytime soon (yeah, sadly you guys are still going to have to put up with me!), but it is nice to see if I ever decided to go wandering again there's at least some open offers.

Wow... over 4000 views of this so far. You mean people read this?

 

[Arokh]

First off, remember this:

I AM NOT PORTUGUESE!

I've had several people walk up to me and go 'Portugese?', or 'estos espaniol portugal?' or whatever. Then after saying 'no' they immediately reply with 'Yeah, but your soc name is portugese. So you must be too!'. No. No I'm not. Just like Nebu isn't Dutch. Call me Portugese again I'll beat you with my decayed Axe 1x0 repeatedly!

And idly browsing through EF what I happen to come across?

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

Oh very funny! lol Though I must say Pinky, I'm really enjoying these Jaffa Cakes I'm eating right now... mmm... oh, whats that? You don't have any available right now? Oh shame, I'll just sit here and enjoy their orange cakey goodness by myself then. Mmm. For those of you who don't know, our little pink friend here is really quite partial to Jaffa Cakes. And if you don't know what they are... shame on you!

Secondly - scanners. No, not the people who rip you off with an armour upgrade scam, but the little green boxes that show information about other avatars/creatures. Am I really the only one here who asks before scanning? To be perfectly honest I find it particularly rude when someone runs up to you and the first thing they do is shove it right in your face without even saying 'hi' or anything. I mean the blatantly obvious ones that come up and shove it right into you. Hell, if I wanted a good probing, I'd go to an airport customs officer who's wearing one of those white gloves. Come on people, manners! I honestly don't mind being scanned. I'd say yes most of the time anyway, but its just the principle of being ASKED beforehand. Frankly I think its like the virtual equivalent of walking up to someone in the street and looking through their shopping bags to see what they've bought without even asking.

Well its been the time I've been waiting for - the hunt just before by b-day. Remember the theory that you get a nice loot from MA as a gift? Well needless to say I've disproved it, and thus get the satisfaction of... well.. being right I suppose. Though I'd choose PED over that any day. I started out with 200PED ammo and headed south from Corinth to that blue zone on the far West of Eudoria. First creature that I saw was a Hispidu Dominant, and remembering that I can just barely take Youngs, avoiding it was the best option. I spend a good hour or so wandering around trying to find creatures, but that area was practically deserted, only the odd Neconu about rather than the Feffoids that were apparently there. So instead I spent a while killing off the Armax in that area:

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Very slow hunt with a bad spawn, so I headed back to the teleporter. After topping up my ammo to get 300PED total I went out to Fury to slaughter Feffoids, since they usually do well. Emphasis on usually. This time after a good 300PED ammo, I returned with a little less than 100. Then there was repairs, luckily they weren't too bad since it was only the gun and the amp due to hunting unarmoured. I had about 250PED left, and I decided to spend another 200 on some Argos at Twin. Well that went okay I suppose, given a 50% return. But after that I thought 'sod it' and packed it in. In all honesty that theory is disproved - after 5-600PED ammo not even one global. Damn, should have made a bet on that... d'oh!

So I returned to the arrival zone. Where after only 20 minutes there Ayhoe appeared. 'Who?' I hear you ask. Well it's the new avatar of Rain Man (my first ever soc leader). The guy who responded and helped in my first ever thread here: https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7676 hehe, nostalgic posts! Anyway this time around I decided to help get the Echidna TP. We set off from Chimera TP and sort of hugged the border of PvP3 all the way round to the destination. For the most part it was an uneventful run, only problems were when we got ambushed by a few Merp Guardians - I must add those things have a HUGE aggro range! And it didn't help that some spawned right on top of us, which made things a little more difficult. But at least we made it to Echidna in one piece!

After returning to the Arrival Zone, it wasn't long before I decided to join in another TP run as a guard. It was a fairly long one, going from PA -> Nus Lull (that the right name?) -> the outpost N of there -> Billys -> Phoenix -> the caves -> Limnadian District. As soon as we got the the outpost E of PvP, we played the somewhat popular game of 'How many OJs can you fit in a shop container?'

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For the most part it was a quiet run, the only problems were towards the end where we encountered a few Estophyl on the way to the Limnadian TP. Think the maturity was somewhere around Provider to Guardian, which wasn't too much of a problem. The challenge was preventing them aggroing onto others since without armor on they can hit pretty hard. And having casualties wasn't and option! We all made it through successfully after a few Esto kills. By this point my ammo was getting a little low, so I headed back to Atlantis to harass Simon.

Not many people were arriving, and on that quiet night I was surprised by a few 'happy birthdays' from the people around the arrival area. Especially one from Alice who stayed awake just for that - ty by the way! Not to mention a free private dance from Lady. lol, how'd you know what I wanted?
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If thats not a compromising picture, I don't know what is.

Finally it's time for the Quote of the Month. Alice wins, thanks to this witty comeback at the arrival zone:

Owned.