MF Needs more variety and more depth
I agree MF amps make a lot of sense in the context of Entropia Universe, however, I think they should be different to weapon and melee amps to both make things interesting and reflect the more advanced technology of MF.
I'd like to see MF amps attached to the implant rather than the chip and, just to make it more interesting (and more believable) when the MF amp burns out it kills the avatar - requiring more attention than other amps. I don't see why the same MF amp would not work on any given chip or chip type as long as the amp is matched to the implant itself. If taking this direction, MF amps would have to draw on ME/SME used in lieu of 98% of decay as they'd decay with the 2% implant decay if attached to the implant.
I'd also like to see a whole range of implant attachments other than amps or chips. Why not have a range-finder which, when attached to the implant, allows the option to place a target reticle (like Team Target) by solo MF hunter on anything which can be targeted? Such a range finder could have zoom and certain skill benefits like scopes or these could be farmed out to other attachments. MF has its range limitations and one tool for balancing this up in hunting might be an implant attachment called an aggravator or a shrieker which can be used to tag a target at long range without damaging the target. In PvP it might break target-player concentration and force-unequip the tool/weapon the target-player has equipped or impose annoying visual effects (loss of colour, cause camera-oscillation, impose offset sine-waves on gamma, contrast etc). Given the limited cell buffer (eg. uGridsToLoad etc.), I imagine an aggravator or shrieker working over a 110-190m range depending on the quality of the implant. And limiting the affect on target-player to PvP-only would prevent abuse. This item would be particularly useful if it's effect on mobs instantly interrupted any aggravation they have on another player and focused that aggravation on the user as this would allow more effective separation of dry mobs from sweat circles. I've always wanted to see an attachment which allows more MF to be burned to gain range advantage on any given chip - say, up to an additional 100m range for,
pro rata, up to double regen chip SME consumption limited by implant quality. With weapons, the same deal over a 50m gain on the basic ranging attachment and up to 100m on rarer ranging attachments. I imagine a good implant could take several attachments simultaneously and this could also be used to improve depth of gameplay.
As attachment numbers on implant increase, the odds of a short circuit occurring (which kills the avatar) could also increase based on circumstance (so that it is predictable and thus avoidable by deeper player strategy and tactics). The idea is to introduce mechanics which allow much greater depth of play in MF which would seem to be the most appropriate challenge for MF. MF should be much more complex in a different way because it is so much further along the technological path than (relative to genre) antique guns and blades.
I have lots of other things to say. Wormhole chips, for example, should not be allowed to open a destination on the same planet and difficulty (possibly expense of use as well) should increase with proximity between planets across which a wormhole is operating. If there is any substance to wormhole theory (other than being a pure mathemactical hack like the fourth space dimension), it is eminently arguable that long distance wormholes are much less difficult to implement than short distance wormholes due to the scale of operation. Moreover, for the sake of "balance" the cost of a wormhole should be commensurate with 150% of the cost of the corresponding warp and the duration of the wormhole, once activated, should be commensurate with roughly 50% of the duration of the corresponding warp. The previous and somewhat absurd function of the wormhole chip could be replaced by a "Holoporter" chip which would invoke a holographic teleporter anywhere for about 5-10 minutes with universal access planetary teleporter network (automatically appears on everyone's tp list with user-specified name).Also, it would have to be capable of invoking more than one such teleporter if it is to replace the old planetside transport function of the wormhole chip. If common enough, tech like this could burn a lot of ME, which draws new players deeper into Entropia Universe, through a more viable sweat-gathering subgame, thereby expanding the player-base and stabilising the various planetary economies. It could also function to give players an alternative interplanetary route which, again, would be good for the game given that Space PvP-balance seems to be permanently broken by the
speed hack - if the dates of the videos are any indication.