MA needs to quit protecting Caly.

juicy001 said:

i could add tamer to the list also ... u gone need twice or more lvls of your taming lvl in evade ...

i am lvl 56pet tamer and 57 handler and cant tame a lvl 73 mob on rocktropia , just because my evade is to low with lvl 45 ... ffs we never got much evade from taming or skilling pets so whats the points ?!

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are you sure evade matters that much?

OZtwo said:

Yes remember that they do have a new CEO.

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I don't think it qualifies has new any more.^^

Crone is curious, what do the not calypso planets have to offer Crone, that he cannot get on planet calypso?

On Arkadia one can do treasure hunting which is still far away of something new. It feels a lot like mining. What else is new, how much did they pay the programmers to develop something new? How large was or is their marketing budget to attract new players to their planet? How many game conferences did they go to, to promote their planet?

Why would they want to live off another planets customer base? Surely the planet partners realised that the existing player base is not large enough for a second planet, let alone. ..4 or 5? To make a planet work you need a couple thousand new players on your planet. The question is not why people stay on calypso, the question is how do pp get new players that stick around on their planet.

ND tried by attracting a new audience. Where did it go wrong? The audience is not interested in gaming or they do not have the cash to pay for an expensive game as EU or maybe it is not friendly enough for new players did the planet develop enough? Or was RT just trying to get the top players of the existing player base to their planet?

In Crone's opinion the mistake made is that pp try to manage a land area, they should manage a business.

Crone said:

Crone is curious, what do the not calypso planets have to offer Crone, that he cannot get on planet calypso?

On Arkadia one can do treasure hunting which is still far away of something new. It feels a lot like mining. What else is new, how much did they pay the programmers to develop something new? How large was or is their marketing budget to attract new players to their planet? How many game conferences did they go to, to promote their planet?

Why would they want to live off another planets customer base? Surely the planet partners realised that the existing player base is not large enough for a second planet, let alone. ..4 or 5? To make a planet work you need a couple thousand new players on your planet. The question is not why people stay on calypso, the question is how do pp get new players that stick around on their planet.

ND tried by attracting a new audience. Where did it go wrong? The audience is not interested in gaming or they do not have the cash to pay for an expensive game as EU or maybe it is not friendly enough for new players did the planet develop enough? Or was RT just trying to get the top players of the existing player base to their planet?

In Crone's opinion the mistake made is that pp try to manage a land area, they should manage a business.

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Well said. Treasure hunting on arkadia and the hub on Cyrene appear to be the only new things offered. And they are hardly impressive and don't feel unique at all. All of the pp have put forth an abysmal effort thus far. It's not our problem. We all want to see the universe grow and prosper but it's not our nor MIndarks responsibility to do their job for them.

ZPF said:

Well said. Treasure hunting on arkadia and the hub on Cyrene appear to be the only new things offered. And they are hardly impressive and don't feel unique at all. All of the pp have put forth an abysmal effort thus far. It's not our problem. We all want to see the universe grow and prosper but it's not our nor MIndarks responsibility to do their job for them.

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Next Island / Ancient Greece had "time travel" as a new thing - but that just meant that most items you had didn't work, and unfortunately development was halted before sufficient replacement equipment was introduced.

The time travel and equipment ban has been lifted now in any case.

Its because planet partners have no capacity to add unique things to the game. They can design skins and general looks but any new system has to be designed, balanced and implemented by MA.

Surprise surprise when MA finally gets a new system off the ground (after months/years of that pp suggesting/helping/begging for that system) it shows up on caly a week or two before it gets loaded onto the pp that came up with the idea in the first place



Not to mention that any time something on a PP starts to threaten caly being the top dog, it gets a nerf. MA destroyed who knows how much MU on blueprints (I know I lost upwards of 10k ped) when they destroyed weapon crafting so that hunters would go back to using caly weapons instead of ark weapons.

I don't understand why they call it planet partners anyway the whole model was set up like competing planets and not a partnership universe.

I haven't read the whole thread.

MA doesnt favour caly, in my opinion.

Planets other than Caly will not change, until they realise they need to advertise to gain players. Every single planet, including ark at the beginning, joined MA and only tried to gain Caly players, without a working economy (from the start).

If they would have a working economy, and advertised their planet, on TV or radio or bloody something. They would get a big enough influx of players that people could sell their stuff in a timely manner on auction. Once they can sell their stuff, they most likely will not to leave for Caly.

Advertise, bloody advertise.

The day I see an advert on tv for one of the planets, I know that planet will flourish. Until then, Caly will be the hub of the in game universe!

Just my two pecs!


Rgds

Ace

Mega said:

Next Island / Ancient Greece had "time travel" as a new thing - but that just meant that most items you had didn't work

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That was the good thing though; AG was a separate area and most people there were at same level.

Now, after the change, it's like any other area with the only difference it's a separate map. It lost its uniqueness. Though, it can't be changed back to a closed area; at least not without proper warning (so everyone has the same chance to finish the missions). Also it would be good if the missing pieces would be added.

What I missed was:
- basic mining equipment (let's say some kind of finder crystal) and a showel (to dig it up with). It's enough with one of each (let's say hardcoded to 200m depth). I suggest just basic mining.

- tagging weapon - let's say a slingshot and rocks (bought from trade terminal) with a range of say 70ish meters.

- Vehicles: A small boat, that uses unrefined oil as fuel. Locally oil could be gotten from mining (above). Speed could be 40 km /h or so (doesn't have to be a speed monster).

If AG is closed again I suggest this:
Mission to get repairable weapon from the previous series from archon is kept.
New (L) weapons with new stats are added to AG "traders".
The herb box: You get a non-tradeable, repairable version of the old herb box by doing a reasonable mission like kill 100 "small" creatures. It could be delivered at 0 ped TT.


I think the problem with AG and NI has been because it's been out of control for a long time, except when MA had made occasional nerfs (removing NIP/Scanner, upping mob hit dmg to mention two).

For other planets I think it's a matter of resources; it's clear that a planet like Rocktropia doesn't have the same manpower as Calypso, for instance, when it comes to things like configuration and programming (which, in the next step, means that also design updates are suffering because there are issues in line that had to be fixed first). And I got the feeling that the map shrinks on planets like RT and Cyrene has made both occasional visitors frustrated as well as stolen time from designers that has had to redesign the planets and move mission points to a smaller area instead of spending time on actual development.

For a while smaller planets has been suffering from the local auction but now when you can buy from (practically) Calypso auction, I think it's a good thing for smaller planets that (really) doesn't have a big market. Just to consider Next Island; and the ability to constantly find an (L) weapon at "your" level at a competetive cost.

As for loots I feel the oppposite: On Calypso you nowdays just get 4-5 different type of loot. On some mobs you get useful stuff, on other mobs most of it is TT-food *dodges* (ie pancreas oil), while on other planets you can still get paint cants while you hunt. Well it's for good and for bad. It's nice the number of stacks has been cut a bit, but maybe it got too drastical (on Calypso).

Advertise what? Come see a buggy broken copy of calypso that is 12 times smaller, has fewer mobs, etc... if someone did a superb owl ad imagine how fast flimsy little servers would rubber band and crash shortly afterwards

hmm you know, I actually started in Caly but found RT shortly after and fell in love with it. I really wanted to move there for the longest time and I would fly to do the Kong wave every weekend and I would register for events. I have no problem flying in space long distance to RT. It would have been nice to have found an apartment - I always feel like I have to own a little piece of real estate or a land deed if I want to call a place home. In Caly we have CLDs, in Arkadia we can at least buy AUDs but there is nothing in RT that would make me feel like I am a part of it.

Also, in Caly I don't feel like I am not "one of the core players" - we are just all sort of at the same level because we are so many. The best known players for me are the off-the-wall Rookie channel crowd that talk crazy and help noobs at the same time. Last few chats in RT I felt that maybe RT just likes to be that way, a few core players who huddle with ND and talk about what exciting things to do next.

I think ND has to be the one to decide whether he wants more players to become Rocktropians and stay Rocktropians. If he does, then look at what you need to do or not do to retain players.

mastermesh said:

Advertise what? Come see a buggy broken copy of calypso that is 12 times smaller, has fewer mobs, etc... if someone did a superb owl ad imagine how fast flimsy little servers would rubber band and crash shortly afterwards

Click to expand...

Exactly. Advertising alone is not enough. People will try it for 5 minutes then uninstall EU.

If what the other guy said is true and PP's are not being allowed to create unique and interesting content, then this whole system is going to fail, miserably.

Or we will just have to wait till these planets develop and essentially become Calypso-clones (with slight nuances like different mobs and ores) and it will just be a constant battle of which planet is hosting the most profitable events.

Things are not looking good.

ZPF said:

Exactly. Advertising alone is not enough. People will try it for 5 minutes then uninstall EU.

If what the other guy said is true and PP's are not being allowed to create unique and interesting content, then this whole system is going to fail, miserably.

Or we will just have to wait till these planets develop and essentially become Calypso-clones (with slight nuances like different mobs and ores) and it will just be a constant battle of which planet is hosting the most profitable events.

Things are not looking good.

Click to expand...

Interesting...

Remember when the first batch of similar guns hit?

The Isis LLC-30, Trekkies Delight 12, scott and barlow LR-30 and a Cyrene gun I forgot what its called...They were all the exact same gun with different skins.

They DID help fill a niche on RT, Ark, and Cy...good range good dpp...great guns imo...

Last night I discovered a few new things... The Armada Combat Knife MKIII that I discovered is the same as the ISIS LBS 30 from caly.

I also discovered a L30 sword on RT that does like 38-76 44 uses, but not sure if it is a skin-change copy of something or is actually a new set of stats yet...it is definitely the highest sword RT ever had (yes some axes are higher)

But either way, it seems MA is starting to try to fill some gaps on some planets. Which means they were working on it long before my thread. Which makes me happy.

I hope they do it much more, and on many more planets/destinations

It is only a small part of all the problems that need fixing but I wanted to point it out...

Crone said:

Crone is curious, what do the not calypso planets have to offer Crone, that he cannot get on planet calypso?

On Arkadia one can do treasure hunting which is still far away of something new. It feels a lot like mining. What else is new, how much did they pay the programmers to develop something new? How large was or is their marketing budget to attract new players to their planet? How many game conferences did they go to, to promote their planet?

Why would they want to live off another planets customer base? Surely the planet partners realised that the existing player base is not large enough for a second planet, let alone. ..4 or 5? To make a planet work you need a couple thousand new players on your planet. The question is not why people stay on calypso, the question is how do pp get new players that stick around on their planet.

ND tried by attracting a new audience. Where did it go wrong? The audience is not interested in gaming or they do not have the cash to pay for an expensive game as EU or maybe it is not friendly enough for new players did the planet develop enough? Or was RT just trying to get the top players of the existing player base to their planet?

In Crone's opinion the mistake made is that pp try to manage a land area, they should manage a business.

Click to expand...

None of these planets is trying to "live of another planets base". (Calys base) Do some people like to go explore, and leave their home planet...yes! When ND left and made RT it was obvious some would come from caly...it is impossible not to, especially being the first new planet besides Caly. But no one is dumb enough to think they will survive pulling from caly.

ND is at the forefront of social media and advertising tie-ins, and is working hard on getting new players.

But this is a side issue...

The issue in this thread is how can MA spread out opportunity better, how can players on other planets sustain themselves better, how can there be a more seamless universe that allows US, the players, to have more fun and do what what we like where we like with less hurdles...and without the constant feeling of "oh crap, if i need any of 500 different items a player like me needs to survive, or want to sell, I need to leave cy or toulan, or mon, or RT and go to caly.


Many people in this thread keep asking "why we have all these planets...Caly barely has enough players to sustain itself"....ask yourself this though...

Many players on other planets play only because there are other planets! We are cycling like crazy, only because of the other planets...is it really that easy to say "we don't need those planets or the players there"? Half of us ain't sticking around if caly is the only option.

Each person that plays and cycles, no matter where, helps this game. The game needs 100 planets in 100 countries afaic. BUT they also need it to be much more seamless, and provide easier access to the things needed for all professions of all levels.

PP's can develop and handle support, and advert themselves, and the model would work no matter how many planets there are if players logged on and found what they needed more readily available, with a much more cohesive starter experience and the ability to loot stuff that and sell stuff no matter where they are, and without the need to fly to Caly every week.

Crone was on Arkadia for some time and he had to go back to Calypso to actually sell his loot every so many days. Which is a pain in the ... right. So Crone moved back to Calypso.

This could be solved by a global auction, but MindArk does not want this, that would destroy a business opportunity for players. So it's a no go. Traders could start on Arkadia, but the traders don't want to, there is simply not enough sellers and not enough buyers, therefore traders have to travel back to Calypso to sell ruining their profit. This could be solved with attracting more players or by removing space travel. But can MA remove space travel as it exists now? It would make all those ships more or less obsolete.

Choosing between hundreds of items that Crone can use? At least weekly Crone cannot find one weapon that matches his skill and he needs two, one for Mai, one for Crone. Even on calypso.

Really all the planets need is a boost in players and something to offer that other planets do not have. MindArk could help by limiting space travel even more, which would keep new players at the planets where they started. Also they could make calypso tools and weapons useless on the other planets and vice versa, this would force the new players to create their own economy on the various planets.

The pp really need to step up their game. If they want something new, they need to pay for it. Pay MindArk to create x or y, that will enable MindArk to hire a programmer to do just that. Does MindArk not deliver on time or according to the specification? Get a lawyer. It's part of running a business.

That the new planets are not focused on 'stealing' existing players is (Crone wanted to say bullshit here and swype came up with Blair. .. He thought it would be funny to tell.). Why aren't there only starter mobs, starter weapons, starter tools? No... there are at least 50% mobs on Arkadia the new players cannot hunt for the coming year.

The problem is not MindArk, the problem is planet partners running a land area. Apparently they are fine with that. If they are, so is Crone.

MindArks main focus is not to create a game, it is to create virtual business opportunities.

The PP's do have the option of getting MA to develop a new system for them but MA decide the cost and as the PP's aren't allowed to develop code for their planet, other than scripts for events, they're stuck with no option than live with what MA develop.

Ark got treasure hunting added - although it's just another form of mining.
RT was supposed to have virtual studios but I've got a feeling the costs involved would be so large it would make it unsustainable.

The other problem we have are newbies who start on the new planets are often told once they done all the intro missions to move to Caly as it's easier.

Then we have the limitations on the PP that Caly doesn't seem to, i.e. building new apartments and shops, the others are limited to a few at a time driving the price up and out of range of most newbies but Caly has just added a load for the CLD even though there are hundreds of empty apartments. Same applies for Monria it's had more apartments on launch day than some of the PP's have now but it was a MA development.

totally agreed with op

its a mess

greetings

Rayden said:

are you sure evade matters that much?

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yes the bars tell i maxed it pet skill wise , but no chance to get the respect bar up =((

and about balance ... if lvl 75 evade is needet why not lvl 75 tamer ? i say its totaly unbalanced and not atractive for new ppl wich is also a bad point in my view

as I said before I agree with OP,
but since both Taco and some guys refer to space, mainly as an "obstacle"!
I want to be differ myself in this issue.
Space isn't an obstacle, it is good as it is and it can be much more than good with future additions.
There is no need to be smaller or bigger in size! It is perfect in size as it is and it is an addition to my experience in Entropia (I believe many will agreed with me).
The thing that I "need to travel" through space to another planet was always fascinating me!
Come on guys let's be serious.
There are issues and things that need to be fixed but space must be there as it is.
It is fun and enjoyable and with some smart addition can be more awesome.

Few months ago Collapso switched over to this brave new markup-free loot model. We were told other PP's will follow shortly... but they never did.
Nobody knows what the future brings. Maybe they will go forward with this plan and kill MU on all planets? Or maybe PP's will never agree to that and eventually Caly will revert to the old loot model as well?

Anyway, at the moment it's way easier to collect a decent markup on any planet BUT Caly, for players on all levels. There's few exceptions from this rule, but the big picture is what it is.

Downside is, u can't really sell your loot anywhere but Caly. The result is large quantities of valuable resources constantly moving through space, from the provinces to the metropol of the empire. Annoying, troublesome and a waste of time, yes. Could it get even worse? Definitely. Count your blessings.