Rain Man's Diary

I figured I'd add a thread here. I like writing about my PE experiences and also need a place to record information that I don't want to forget. I suspect I'll be posting synopses of my adventures and misfortunes in PE and any goals I happen to achieve.

On the 'goals' note, I should be recieving Ranged Damage Assessment any day now, and 3,000 Rifle skill is only a few hunts away. I'm very excited about those.

And, so I don't forget to do this later, a wish-list of items I hope to buy after the holidays when I can afford them:

• A-3 Justifier Mk.III
• Elkarr Precision Scope
• Ecivox Laser Sight (x2)
• Full Ghost Armour (M)
• Omegaton FAP-50

Things have been slowing down lately. I had been skilling with my Justifier Mk.II at the cornundacaudas on the 'hook' peninsula south of Camp Caravan, but loots were apparently not consistent enough and I found myself having insufficient funds for big hunts.

A few days later I decided to give the old powerfists another go and bought six of the Trade Terminal EnKnuckles-A fists. I took them north of Argus and fought slightly weaker cornundacaudas. My intention was to increase my powerfist skills to 1000. I went from 792 to about 850 and lost interest.

At about this time I began to notice Soradin posting on EntropiaForum every so often. His personality and the contents of his posts interested me. I suspected that he would fit well into my society, the Silvertongues. I sent him a private message asking if he'd like to meet ingame and chat or hunt a little.

He agreed, and I met him at Zychion Citadel last night. His wife Dreganna was also present, and we made small talk for a few minutes. I used my last 90 PEDs to buy Medium Weapon Cells and we formed a team. We decided after some deliberation to hunt the mobs north of Chimera Canyon. They turned out to include older maturities of berycleds, merps, and sabakumas. Soradin informed me that Dreganna usually led the way on the hunt, as she had a nose for loot. And did she ever! During our short hunt, I alone looted two Generic Skill Implants, Gnome thigh-guards, an Omegaton M2722, and an EWE EP-40.

The loots cheered me up and hopefully when it's all auctioned off I'll be nearer to my former financial state and able to go back to practicing my rifle skills.

During the hunt I pitched the idea of society membership to Soradin and Dreganna. After some time they agreed, and I'm now very happy to say that they're both Initiates in our humble society.

Their added membership coincided with a couple other Silvertongues members being online, so the result was a five-member hunting party later that night. As Soradin and Dreganna did not yet have the teleport at Fort Ithaca, we decided to set out from Cape Corinth and get it with them. The journey was less than eventful until we neared Ithaca and began taking on small Atrox. We easily took down a few matures and then a guardian. Unfortunately only a little while later we were overwhelmed by five of the beasts and all died.

Even so, we revived in Fort Ithaca and accomplished our goal. By that time it had been hours since I first logged on, so I stuck my new items on the auction and logged off. Overall it was quite an exciting and profitable night - in more ways than one. Not only did I beef up my wallet somewhat, I gained two very good friends and society members.

The future is bright.

I'm getting there, slowly but surely.

I took the profits from my recent hunt with Dreganna and Soradin and went back to the old cornundacauda peninsula. I brought about 310 PEDs worth of ammo and in the span of several hours used it all up. Loots were decent and I came back with bearable losses. I got one particularly nice loot with 26 PEDs, Kobold gloves (M) and an Omegaton A103.

I was in it for the skills, though. During that hunt I gained about 30 levels in my Rifle skill, bringing me that much closer to my goal of 3,000. I plan on taking more ammo out tonight to have another go at it.

So, as was planned, I took the old Justifier for another long hunt tonight, bringing all of the ammo I could: roughly 270 PEDs worth. Unfortunately, luck was not with me tonight. When all was said and done, my PED card showed a measly 150 PEDs. I lost 120 PEDs in total.

As I was leaving Camp Caravan a couple of society mates told me that loots weren't very nice tonight. I decided to press on anyway to grab some skills. I told them that loots were probably declining in preparation for another ultra-uber HoF. And they were. As I was finishing up my hunt (less than 10 PEDs of ammo left), The Collector hit a 20,000 PED Atrox Dominant. Congratulations to him. A noticeable portion of his loot apparently came from my pocket.

Even so, the night was not all in vain. I managed to gain another 20 levels in Rifle, bringing me to 2985. Only 15 to go. I also noticed my professional standing had changed from 'Skilled Laser Sniper' to 'Experienced Laser Sniper'. That cheered me up a little. That change should indicate that Ranged Damage Assessment isn't far off. I hope not.

I spotted McCormick as I was running back into Camp Caravan, so I congratulated him. All in all it was an enjoyable night save for the fact that I lost so many PEDs.

Finally! It's been a steep climb.

After my monumental (in relative terms, of course) losses earlier, I was so close to my goal. I decided to throw financial caution to the wind and hunt my last few PEDs away.

So here I am, 15 levels in Rifle later and nearly broke. Loots didn't pick up, nor did I get anything noteworthy. You'd think after using almost 2,000 PEDs worth of ammo in a single area, you'd get more than just a single 60 PED global. MindArk works in mysterious ways.

After discovering that Ecivox lasers are very highly priced due to the ingredients used in crafting them, I decided to look for third-level attachments instead. I'll save some money and hopefully have an easier time finding them.

My updated wish-list is as follows:

• A-3 Justifier Mk.III
• Cinclar Precision Scope
• Castar Laser Sight (x2)
• Full Ghost Armour (M)
• Omegaton FAP-50

I may have to update my wishlist again!

I was browsing the PE Wiki today and was comparing the stats on the guns one step (ammo burn) up from my Justifier Mk.II. The Mk.III stood out, but then I noticed the Fusil Charade had impressive stats as well. It seems to do a little more damage and fire faster than the Mk.III, and both of these things come with only a slight difference in economy (0.02 damage/PEC less).

It looks like good news, since the Justifier Mk.III seems to be selling for quite a premium these days. If I can find a less popular but superior alternative, then I'm all for it.

I unlocked Ranged Damage Assessment last night.

After deciding that a Cinclar scope and two Castar lasers were too expensive for my budget, I picked up an Alekz scope and two Abrer lasers instead. I hoped they would allow me to increase my hunting efficiency somewhat.

So, instead of losing 150 PED last night hunting, I only lost 100. These things sure are paying for themselves quickly.

All sarcasm aside, I'm very excited about my new skill. Last night I also picked up a FreanD Alpha Mentor Edition BLP Pistol and have been skilling both BLP Weaponry Technology and Handgun. Lately I've also been in the mood for more powerfisting. We'll see what the next few days bring for me.

My updated wish-list is as follows:

• A-3 Justifier Mk.III
• Full Ghost Armour (M)
• Omegaton FAP-50

These forums are so depressing lately.

It's making me really not want to play PE - and so I haven't in several days. Calypso is becoming divided into those who support Club NEVERDIE (why the hell is it in all caps?) and those who don't give a crap. I'm one of the latter.

Why don't I give a crap?
- NEVERDIE himself seems to be an overhyped, egotistical fart. After the purchase of the space station he released a video to the PE masses in which he basically said that Project Entropia was fun and then pointed his camera at trees that were being blown over by the hurricane and said 'Whoa, holy fuck' a lot.
- His idea for the space station is completely unrelated to anything else in PE. If I had any desire to see DJs playing music, I'd do it in real life. I don't want to have shitty dance music pumped throughout Calypso on giant billboards. 'Dancing is free in virtual reality' - but it sure as hell doesn't cost anything in real life either, so I'll stick to that.
- He charges thousands of PEDs for apartments, supposedly in order to make back his initial investment, then holds several contests with 100,000 PED rewards.
- A certain event coordinator of his (oh, I'll just come out and say it, OgiMini) has less than adept skills at doing anything and has made a fool of himself and the space station in attempting to promote some upcoming events. It puts a bad face on the Club and makes it seem less professional.

And the space station isn't the only thing. MindArk and their ridiculous ultra-uber loots have gotten out of hand. I don't want to see thousands and thousands of PEDs go to one person. I think the only people that want that are MindArk and the avatar who gets the HoF. Everyone else wants higher average loots. Think about it. Have you ever thought of a PE-friend of yours and said 'Gee, I hope he/she gets a massive loot sometime soon. That would be nice.' No, you haven't. You've been thinking about how it would be nice if you didn't lose a hundred PEDs every time you went hunting.

Some weeks ago, I was hunting Cornundacaudas and getting abysmal loot. I took 250 PEDs of ammo with me and used it all in the span of a couple of hours. In total I got 120 PEDs of loot in return. Then I had to pay for decay (20-30 PEDs). Not five minutes before I finish my hunt, some random guy gets twenty thousand PEDs on an Atrox. Try to convince me that my money didn't go straight into his pocket. You won't be able to.

This 'virtual universe' is on a slippery slope. Things have not been getting better. MindArk is on a savage crusade for money and they feel that it's best to have addicted players rather than happy customers. I don't like it one bit.

From this point, I am not going to deposit any further. Until I see a change of pace - an actual chance for the little guys - then they won't see another cent from me.

I urge anyone reading this to seriously consider what you're doing the next time you deposit. Ask yourself: will this be worth it?

Fun Fact: I have been gaining reputation points faster from being a forum douchebag than I ever did as an honest, contributing poster.

It seems my forum douchbaggery is over. I'm not feeling so cynical these days.

Although I've only logged into PE once in the last two months (and that was just to sell a gun and jump off again), I still read EF almost every day, and I am still interested in seeing what happens in PE.

I am not happy when I see how many people are being upset by Project Entropia, and I empathize with them. I went through what most of the unhappy people here went through.

As I posted in a recent thread, I think the root of much unhappiness comes from addiction. Project Entropia can be highly addictive in the same way that lottery tickets, casinos, and online gambling can be addictive. You're always hoping for the big break, the jackpot - and even though the odds are it will never come, you hope and you hope and you hope.

Addictions like this can make you feel very unhappy. Hoping for something a lot and then not recieving anything is very depressing. Project Entropia does this quite often. And with the mechanics of the virtual universe, if you're not profiting you're losing.

It's a one-two punch. Project Entropia sucks you in and gets you hooked, then disappoints you when you expect big loots and successes. Then, since you're addicted, you don't want to stop, and continue to be let down. This is how frustration builds. As we've seen on EF, sometimes people break. I know I did. Just read a few posts back from this one.

What we must learn to do is recognize our addictions and allow them to cool down before they take control. I don't feel nearly as much animosity toward PE nowadays as I did two months ago. I've cooled down, and I suspect I'd be able to login again tomorrow and enjoy myself (not to say I will, just that I could).

If you're feeling down after playing PE, take a break. Give it a week, a month, or more - however long it takes for you to cool off. Your avatar and PEDs will still be there when you come back.

Haha. Take a break, indeed. Yesterday I sold all my belongings (including my hard-earned Rifle skill) and today I sent an official withdrawal request for 1,750 PEDs. Hopefully I can get back some of the money I poured into this over the years. If my withdrawal is successful, I will uninstall Project Entropia.

I had a lot of fun over the 2 years I played, but not recently. I'll still stick around and read the forums, watch the news, etc. I just won't play.