very chivalrous of you to admit this!
Well actually you were insulting. Blaming me being arrogant for using the word "us" while you yourself are constantly generalizing your problems onto "US"!
Also attacking Parlog and patronizing me in the process.
I gave you many points about how I view and play the game, telling you it's not as broken as you say it is, but you're simply not willing to listen.
So what's there to discuss with you then?
Ok, sorry for that generalization on my part then, I didn't realize it, and that's not something I should've pointed out then, true enough, I can see that.
As for the viewpoints. Yeah, I know how your perspective is, I'm just coming from another one. I've played this game since a while as well, never with a high skill value rather then an investor though, and I always tested out different mobs which give return, as well as places for mining which are profitable, and have always turned it into one after a while. That testing was very expensive, and very time consuming.
Since I always could only reach the lower mob range because of that reason, but had access to the spreadsheets of other people in different ranges of skill, I saw the difference in how it was playing - and especially paying - out over time when doing certain tasks at certain places, that's what a society and contacts are for after all, trying to get the work done together which is just too much for a single person after all.
It's not that I don't know any sorts of ways to profit anymore, they are definitely existing, but they have dwindled by a lot, not only in amount, but also in altitude. Meaning while formerly I knew of some ways to get 1k ped per month if you were behind it for a while, now I only know of a few ways turning 1/10 of the profit at max, and neither I personally, nor the people I know have found anything bigger then that, and even worse, no way to make it sustainable for more then 2-3 people at max for a few days rather then an actual place to put effort into long-term.
Also, the place from where I'm coming from, roughly lvl 25 in my hunting skill as I was mostly a trader for a long while, turning profit this way, I actually can't find for the hell of it any place which is in my range where I can even think about staying at least in the game with less then 6% loss. That doesn't sound much, but when turning over 1k ped it's already 60 ped, which is 1/3 of a monthly fee for any other game. Do that a week and well... the month is gone, intense playing just isn't possible this way, or at least I've found as much.
I don't want to know where there is profit to be made in lower ranges, able to keep a beginner from investing 5k PED before before reaching any range to fare better, I just want to know IF there is one, because despite extensive testing on Arkadia, I have yet to find any single positive paying venue, while formerly I could name 4 in that range alone. I don't speak about getting paid in the positive even, just staying at 100% after MU steadily so I can build up skills finally, since as I said, I was coming back with the intention of not investing, or trading, but to actually play the game properly unlike I ever did before. I was always on the side of theory-crafting, overly eco play, working out models and seeing people profiting from it, as well as seeing myself profiting from giving the knowledge away since I was their personal trader to keep it running permanently, making a small cut from the profits as well.
Coming back I expected the markets to have shifted, but actually not finding any way for a beginner to stay above water is just off-putting. I know one has to invest something to reach something, but it's always either been time and effort, or money. Not both combined. Most people don't invest either, so it's expected they loose, I just don't expect to do it despite putting it into the game.
Also, I don't know how much this part is coming from those looter skills, will it change when I level up further? Or will it stay the same at those mobs despite it? It's just such a huge unknown factor, and despite asking around for a while nobody could even give me a resemblance of an answer about this. With equipment we at least know, it's exactly 7% between 0% effectiveness and 100% effectiveness. But how much are those looter skills? 10% at lvl 100? 20%? 40%? Even 10% is massive if you take it into perspective, with how many 'double' Shrapnel loots I get without overkilling is literally killing my profit away completely. I steadily make minus now, and I actually don't see a way out of it without investing more then a year worth of full priced games.
It was mostly ranting here, but the questions I ask are still something which are lingering in my mind. Some will be found out with further testing definitely, but some... I have absolutely no reasonable way to get the necessary data on them myself, and they are sometimes big unknowns, like the looter skills.