Following last weekend's Hogglo event that resulted in many people gaining skills related to the Captain profession at an increased rate, and thus laying to waste all the time and effort I and others had put into Captain over the last couple of years (for instance, actually piloting in space to add to Spacecraft Pilot skill which in turn influences Captain) I sent a support case in search of clarifications.
I hadn't planned to post about this support case on the forum, however MindArk's response has pretty much told me to do so:
Dear MindArk Support,
It has been brought to my attention that a recent hunting event on Calypso on Hogglo Diablos has been giving out free skills to participants who had used vehicles to hover a certain height above the event zone. These skills were related to the Captain profession - a profession that I have spent many hours over the last few years trying to develop.
The people who have gained these skills at this event are at a huge advantage in the Captain profession compared to those who were not. I feel that this is a smack in the face to those of us who have tried to develop Captain through piloting in space.
This situation is all the more galling when people are crowing on the forums about going from (for example) level 10 to level 22 in Captain over the weekend. My level is 19 and has taken a long time to achieve, even with the help of chipping so perhaps you can appreciate my annoyance.
I wish to ask:
Was this an intentional feature, or was it a bug?
If this Captain-related skills "giveaway" was intentional then what does MindArk plan to do to compensate those of us who have taken the time to acquire these skills over several years only to be overtaken by people who saw an opportunity to gain free skills at a ridiculously easy rate compared to the likes of me and other space pilots?
If this was a bug that was not intended to happen like it did regarding these skills then will the abuser's skills be rolled back and accounts be suspended?
I eagarly await your response to my questions.
Regards,
Dusk.
And their response:
Hi Dusk,
Thank you for your support case.
We at support are currently not discussing this, we have a lot of support cases to get to and we cannot sit and give out information that everyone should have to each individual when they inquiry to support, you must understand what a massive increase in cases that would be.
Please direct these questions via the forums, we are sorry that we cannot give you the reply you wish but that we simply cannot do that from support at this time.
Kind regards,
Ulf | Entropia Universe Support
The first part I've emboldened, information that everyone should have. Really? That's why they've been silent again, as usual, when this sort of shit goes down.
As for the second bit that I've emboldened, well here we are. Let's start the conjecture because MindArk aren't giving anything away for the moment.
(10 characters)
Also I note some of the posters who are unhappy in this thread were actually adding to their spacecraft pilot skill last weekend. Explain that one to me.
Because your damned if you do, and damned if you don't unfortunately.
That's all well and good, except this was a short event that created this situation. Now as things turned out I wasn't available to be in game last weekend. As it was, I was alerted to the situation at around 7pm local time last Sunday evening. And even if I had been available, I would have ummed and ermed about joining in because I would have been concerned about exploiting and the consequences that can come with that.
Maybe there won't be a roll back, but maybe there will be some form of compensation (I asked if both scenarios were a possibility on my support case).
But its not about screwing those who spent their time on that event either, its about mindark finding a solution that this doesnt happen again or if it does that they can react to stop it way faster then they did in the past - if they cant afford own staff to monitor an event maybe they should offer arkadia some money to rent out one of their offical avatars to keep things right on calypso
They got to come up with something to clearly value time and money spent of 'everyone' involved and make sure that certain avatar achievments still count something tomorrow.
(they know)
Just a little tip for all except Space invaders
There is a very simple, though less cheap possibility to get all these skills. You can take a Sleipnir (С,L), just arrive in the Training Ground and doing nothing, waiting for the mobs (like Cosmic Horrors), they will shoot at you. This will be the growth of the same skills, fully passive, due to the decay of the ship and spent fuel. You do not need Motherships for doing this. However, skills will grow slower, and decay will be higher, but in addition, you will receive a repair skills when you use RK-5 on your destroyed Sleipnir. Anyone can do it. Without the help of Mothership owners, and I'm sure that if those who did not use possibility of the Hogglo event, will gain skills there (with no carried loot of course), and after 2-3 weeks, all old and advanced players will have at least 15-20 level of the Captain profession.
I have tested this method a few times today. it works. Decay of Equus after each destroying was 1 PED.
PS Do not attach any weapon to your Ship - it will decay too.
Hopeing to sell more sleipnirs i guess
