Lets Set The Records Straight Right Now About Returns...

jambon

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James Jambon Zidane
I just saw yet another one of those threads saying "waahhh I got poopy loots and I demand MA changes the loot system to make sure I only get good loots" and was going to post this there but figured it would be better suited as it's own thread here.

Lets talk for a minute about the 90% return business and set the record straight...

It never ceases to amaze me how much people feel they are entitled to these days "just because".

People hit globals and hofs and have a 300% return on a run and they expect it's the norm and everything is cool... but they have a bad rut for a while where they're losing a bit and getting 50% returns and they're all bitching about how the loots have to be adjusted to give THEM more profitable runs just cause they spend a lot of money and how they feel their entitled to at least a 90% return all the time.

Let me ask you, is the guy that buys $500 in lottery tickets more deserving to win the jackpot than the guy that bought a $1 quickpick? More over, do you think the lottery cares about who wins and "what's fair"? It's a random outcome based on complicated statistics and probability that ensures the gaming corporation turns a profit. End of story.

Same with EU - it's all based on math and statistics to ensure the longevity of the global economy and even distribution of peds across the system regardless of individual players. (It's been confirmed there is NO personal loot pool)

So what, you're crying because you just had a 60% return on 5400 peds? Big deal. There are miners out there running with several thousands peds in level 13 amps to come back with less than a 20% return. And probably people out there with worse returns that just aren't bitching every 5 minutes about it. But it doesn't matter, you know why?

Because it's all subjective to the size of your sample data. Yeah a 60% return on 5400 peds sucks but what about when you look at the last 100,000 peds cycled through your account? Probably looking at a much better return rate, right?

What's that you say? Still a crappy return on your last 100k peds? Well lets take sample data for the last 1,000,000 peds spent across a bunch of different players. You look at that data and you'll start to see the mythical 90% return coming into focus. You'll probably see at least 900k peds being returned to those players. Some may have had 330% return, some 100%, some 90%, some 40%, a couple had 2000%... and every range in between.

(The remaining 100k peds go into the buffer portion of the loot pool reserved for big HoF's and as a backup to prevent the whole system from crashing after a lot of payouts have happened and the loot pool is low. Note: the loot pool is NEVER completely empty or every creature would be a no looter, every crafting click would fail and every bomb would be NRF.)

So again to reiterate, there is no personal loot pool and the mythical 90% return is based on global values over and infinite period of time. It doesn't always mean you'll get a 90% return on every run or that you'll magically get a huge ATH that pays out 90% of what you've spent (and are down) over the last 3 years. It just means that in general if you total up all the peds put in by all players in EU and the total peds paid out to all players in EU it will equal 90% of the totalwith 10% always remaining in the pool as the buffer. (This may be divied up in any number of ways - some will profit, some will lose, some will hit 90%, some will break even...etc.)


FACT: EU's loot pools are funded 100% by player deposits. Ergo - in order for some people to be able to turn a profit (or score a 2000%+ return on a big hof) many other people have to get less than 100% return consistently. Another way of looking at this would be if you've got $1000 to be given out evenly to 1000 people, in order for 1 person to have $2 that means one person has to get $0.

And if you're getting poor returns for a long while it doesn't mean the game is out to get you, it doesn't mean there is something "wrong" with the loot pool or system - it's just the nature of the beast.

No one profits 100% of the time in EU in any profession (hunting, mining or crafting). In fact most people in EU are running at a loss. Anyone that says they profit on every single run is full of crap. I'm not saying these people don't profit steadily and withdraw all the time, I'm just saying they can have bad runs too.

So hopefully that clears things up a bit. And next time you're having some bad returns instead of posting on the forum or sending in a support ticket demanding better loots you'll remember how the loot is actually spread out. And if you're constantly getting screwed with bad returns maybe it's time to rethink your strategy as it might not be the loot pool/system that's the problem.
 
You must spread some reputation around again before giving it to Jambon... oh well:laugh:
 
Favorite Mob: Atrox

Highest Loot: 263 PED

Total Loot: 3 607 PED

Hunting Rank: NA. of 2 775

---

Favorite Mineral: Caldorite Stone

Highest Loot: 3 537 PED

Total Loot: 53 111 PED

Mining Rank: 717 of 1 961

---

Yep, you know more than us. :umn:
 
I think you got it all wrong - you mix up a lot of things here, and no, i won't +rep you only because you wrote a wall'o'text and i'm too lazy to read it...

Lets talk for a minute about the 90% return business and set the record straight...

90% is a long term figure, and even if EU is completely random and works like a casino (which it isn't) the law of large numbers should allow every participant to reach 90% return, given that you play long enough.


It never ceases to amaze me how much people feel they are entitled to these days "just because".

MA claims that the (average) costs to play are 0.50 - 1.50 US$/hour.

If you pay 15 US$/hour for months, there should be some kind of mechanism in place to even that out - simply because EU is NOT A CASINO.

Let me ask you, is the guy that buys $500 in lottery tickets more deserving to win the jackpot than the guy that bought a $1 quickpick? More over, do you think the lottery cares about who wins and "what's fair"? It's a random outcome based on complicated statistics and probability that ensures the gaming corporation turns a profit. End of story.

EU is not a casino - there, i said it again.

Every other company out there makes sure what you pay for the use of their product per hour.
MA doesn't - charging a few people 10 times the average, without compensation sooner or later, is highly unfair.

This has nothing to do with "being entitled", it's just a matter of "why do some people pay WAY more for the same service"? And imo, there is absolutely no reason to charge people that differently.



/Edit:
And seriously, charging players that high, and killing every hope that they will be ever compensated ("there is no personal loot pool") is THE way to kill the game.

After all, give me ONE good reason why people should pay 15 US$/hour when they can play other MMORPGs for 15 US$/month

Because EU is so bug free? And has such a great storyline?
Because the devs always try to make the game better for us?
Because it has such awesome graphics?

Hardly...
 
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For the record, I wasn't complaining at all or demanding that MA change anything, I was just trying to determine what the average return tends to be (specifically for mining, which is why I posted it in that forum and not here, but it got moved anyway).
 
What's this 90% thing, you all throw around? Did MA say that they give an average of 90% return? :scratch2:
 
There are two important factors that I didn't see mentioned in your post.

First, most players spend quite a bit that is never included in returns. This includes defensive costs (healing and armor) as well as miscellaneous decay like vehicle fuel, MF chip, etc. and MU on supplies.

Second, it's not peds cycled that determines how quickly you come to an "average" return, but the number of mobs killed and their hp level. So, hunting punies you will have to cycle perhaps 1000 ped to see a good average return, but when hunting mobs with 3k hp, you will have to cycle hundreds of thousands of ped.

Your return will be highest on mobs that can be hunted with minimal defensive costs, highest efficiency weapon, when the mob is a size that is appropriate to your ped card, and higher MU loots (all of which allows you to "hunt longer"). The "90%" is not a hard and fast number. Some players can get more than this, and some will get less than this. A lot depends on playing style, equipment, and possibly other undefined factors (like skills, other in-game activity, etc). Your "10%" loss may actually go directly to the few lucky avatars who get the uber ATHs.

Some players have uber equipment that allows them to hunt nearly 10% more efficiently than the masses. If these "chosen ones" choose to play as economically as possible, they should get 100% TT return, or possibly more.
 
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What's this 90% thing, you all throw around? Did MA say that they give an average of 90% return? :scratch2:

Urban legend states you get 90% ROI in the long run. Just how long is the run? Nobody knows.
ooOOooOoOOoOoo
 
I think you got it all wrong - you mix up a lot of things here, and no, i won't +rep you only because you wrote a wall'o'text and i'm too lazy to read it...



90% is a long term figure, and even if EU is completely random and works like a casino (which it isn't) the law of large numbers should allow every participant to reach 90% return, given that you play long enough.




MA claims that the (average) costs to play are 0.50 - 1.50 US$/hour.

If you pay 15 US$/hour for months, there should be some kind of mechanism in place to even that out - simply because EU is NOT A CASINO.



EU is not a casino - there, i said it again.

Every other company out there makes sure what you pay for the use of their product per hour.
MA doesn't - charging a few people 10 times the average, without compensation sooner or later, is highly unfair.

This has nothing to do with "being entitled", it's just a matter of "why do some people pay WAY more for the same service"? And imo, there is absolutely no reason to charge people that differently.



/Edit:
And seriously, charging players that high, and killing every hope that they will be ever compensated ("there is no personal loot pool") is THE way to kill the game.

After all, give me ONE good reason why people should pay 15 US$/hour when they can play other MMORPGs for 15 US$/month

Because EU is so bug free? And has such a great storyline?
Because the devs always try to make the game better for us?
Because it has such awesome graphics?

Hardly...

Wow. Okay, I don't entirely agree with OP's post (people should be allowed to complain all they want. I agree that demanding MA change things is taking it too far, but most of the time it's done in jest), this is just... wow.

First of all and most importantly, nobody is forcing anybody to pay $15/hour to play this game. If you want to go hunt the biggest mobs or mine with the biggest amps, then that's the risk you take. But there are many out there who play the game for *free*, and many others who pay no more than $15/month because they're smart enough to actually play within their budget and not go blow it all at once. MA is not "charging" people who engage in higher-risk activities more to play the game any more than the casino is charging the player at the $10 blackjack table more to play blackjack than the player at the $1 table. In fact they're not charging people anything. People are gambling at their establishment. And those who gamble at higher stakes invariably lose money at a much faster rate.

And before you jump on me for making the comparison: while legally, EU may not be classified as a casino because of whatever loopholes they've jumped through, PLAYING EU IS GAMBLING. Period. No two ways about it. Yes, there are indeed ways to "win" in the long run (ultimately at the expense of other players) if you are smart enough about it and variance doesn't kick you in the ass too much, but just like in a casino, your returns are random, and the house always wins. Let me repeat that: your returns are RANDOM, and the house ALWAYS WINS. I'm not saying that EU is a casino, or that it is exactly like one, but you can not argue those facts. And neither casino owners nor MA have ever promised *anyone* that if they spend enough money, eventually they'll get their fair share back.

The whole idea of a personal loot pool is absolutely absurd. To expect that there would be one is absurd. The idea that there should be some mechanism to "even" out the amount people pay to play this game no matter how they play it is absurd. To say that MA "killed any hope" these players had at getting their money back is placing the blame on MA for the fact that any players held such beliefs and hopes in the first place when MA never fostered such hopes or beliefs. And the fact that you believe that MA has some sort of responsibility to ensure things should even out for everyone and that there should be a personal loot pool indicates that you do indeed feel entitled to it.

As far as a reason why people should pay $15/hour to play an MMO: I can't give you one. I certainly never would. The people who do spend that money are likely either treating EU like a casino, or they have so much money that $15/hour is nothing to them and they're happy to pay that much to play the game they like.
 
WTF THIS IS JUST A LOTTERY? :eyecrazy: Maybe your right? If thats the case and skills mean nothing and everything comes down to the moment u click based on "luck"? If thats really the case?Then that would make this a total rip off because i have alot better chance to win big elsewhere for alot less $$$$ However if the experience is fun and challenging where yr skills mean something you can build a reputation where u can improve , explore and have fun playing in a real player based cash economy BUT do it without spending more than you would for other similiar entertainment thats what people will pay for happily.Noone wants a lottery based game!
 
1) The recent complaints about 50-60% return are coming from players who cycle thousands and thousands of PEDs a day, and have seen the same results consistently since VU. That IS abnormal. Sure, a bad run or two happens, but over and over and over again is unusual.

2) Comparing these losses to miners who use countless Amp 13s is NOT a good comparison because everyone knows that Amp 13 runs are HUGE gambles. You would be better off using Amp 2-5s for comparison because that's more equivalent to hunters using weapon amps and higher end armor because of the decay that factors in. I've used Amp 13s up to 15 times in a row with crap returns, but I also know not to count that as a normal figure because using them is a bad decision. But if I were getting 50% returns on small amps over and over again, then I would begin to be concerned about average returns.
 
WTF THIS IS JUST A LOTTERY? :eyecrazy: Maybe your right? If thats the case and skills mean nothing and everything comes down to the moment u click based on "luck"? If thats really the case?Then that would make this a total rip off because i have alot better chance to win big elsewhere for alot less $$$$ However if the experience is fun and challenging where yr skills mean something you can build a reputation where u can improve , explore and have fun playing in a real player based cash economy BUT do it without spending more than you would for other similiar entertainment thats what people will pay for happily.Noone wants a lottery based game!

Your avatar skills mean something in that using maxed equipment will reduce waste, thus maximizing your expected TT returns (though they will still never be over 100%, but not having a personal lootpool is specifically what makes this possible, and the more eco you are compared to others, the higher you will get), and your personal skills mean something in that hunting/mining only mobs/areas that give high MU loot may allow you to ultimately profit. So yes, skills still mean something.
 
First of all and most importantly, nobody is forcing anybody to pay $15/hour to play this game.

Don't be so friggin silly - you never know if you hit a big loot on the next kill/drop/BP click - because you CANT know.


The moment you realize that you've spent like US$15/hour... is AFTERWARDS.
Afterwards - that means you realize it when it is too late.


You are apparently very new, so i'll blame your ignorance here and let you get away with it - for now.


PLAYING EU IS GAMBLING. Period.

Not according to MindArk, not according to the swedish authoritites.

And please forgive me, but i value the statements of the swedish authorities still higher than your statements.
 
And please forgive me, but i value the statements of the swedish authorities still higher than your statements.

I blocked you a long time ago, but recently everything you said is true and funny and had to unblock you :laugh:
 
I blocked you a long time ago, but recently everything you said is true and funny and had to unblock you :laugh:

Wait 'til you see all the negreps that i gave you... they become visible when you remove the block...

;)
 
Don't be so friggin silly - you never know if you hit a big loot on the next kill/drop/BP click - because you CANT know.


The moment you realize that you've spent like US$15/hour... is AFTERWARDS.
Afterwards - that means you realize it when it is too late.
If you're so stupid that you don't realize you've spent $15/hour until after the fact and that you don't realize that the $15/hour activity you are doing is inherently higher risk than something that would typically cost $1/hour then I think you have bigger problems than whether or not you're getting your money's worth out of an MMO.

Not according to MindArk, not according to the swedish authoritites.

And please forgive me, but i value the statements of the swedish authorities still higher than your statements.
The guvmn't says it's true so it MUST be true. You realize there's a *reason* the terms de jure and de facto were invented and are very frequently used, right? Just because it is not legally called gambling in Sweden does not mean that it isn't still gambling, and you are in serious denial if you think that it's not. In fact, do you have any evidence whatsoever (and no, your pitiful argument from authority does not count) to indicate otherwise? Go on, show me *exactly* how dropping a probe, killing a mob and crafting an object are not gambling. Show me how it's possible to predict exactly what the results will be? What's that you say, EU is a black box to a player and so the results are inherently indistinguishable from random events? Why, I could say the exact same thing about the cards I deal from a shuffled deck. Funny, that.
 
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If you're so stupid that you don't realize you've spent $15/hour until after the fact and that you don't realize that the $15/hour activity you are doing is inherently higher risk than something that would typically cost $1/hour then I think you have bigger problems than whether or not you're getting your money's worth out of an MMO.

Dude, are you maybe just trolling?
Have you even played the game??

You LOSE all the time, almost always it's the globals/hofs that brings you back to reasonable return rates.

It is perfectly NORMAL to observe that high losses - and as long as you hit a biggie in between, everything is fine.


Obviously, as you call me stupid, you are able to PREDICT whether you will hit such a biggie anytime soon or not...


The guvmn't says it's true so it MUST be true.

Miffed? Only because went with "Keta says it so it MUST be bullcrap."?

:laugh:

Show me how it's possible to predict exactly what the results will be? What's that you say, EU is a black box to a player and so the results are inherently indistinguishable from random events? Why, I could say the exact same thing about the cards I deal from a shuffled deck. Funny, that.

Show me?
I won't show you anything - go play the game, playing the smartass is easy when you don't have to backup anything you claim - and no, you will not succeed with your lame attempts to try to shift the burden of proof on m side - YOU said it's gambling, so YOU gotta put up.


And btw - it's dead simple to construct a system that generates seemingly random outputs, even if it doesn't.
The opposite, real randomness, is the hard part.

Indistinguishable... no it isn't, plot a graph, TT spent vs. TT looted. It will not look random, not even remotely close to random outcomes.
 
Wait 'til you see all the negreps that i gave you... they become visible when you remove the block...

;)

Lol all 2 of those neg reps, how dare you! :lolup:
 
Favorite Mob: Atrox

Highest Loot: 263 PED

Total Loot: 3 607 PED

Hunting Rank: NA. of 2 775

---

Favorite Mineral: Caldorite Stone

Highest Loot: 3 537 PED

Total Loot: 53 111 PED

Mining Rank: 717 of 1 961

---

Yep, you know more than us. :umn:


LOL dude you don't need huge ath's to profit in the game. And this wasn't about a getting into a D*** measuring contest of who's got more globals.

Are you saying we should only listen to people that have hit big HoFs and a large amount of globals cause they have all the answers? Even a noob that just hit a 30k pedder on a random atrox young? I mean it couldn't be cause they just got lucky or happen to be using amps or only hunting high cost mobs, right? ...no that's crazy!

I think it's pretty stupid to judge how much someone knows about EU based on their total globals and/or highest global value - especially considering there are so many other ways to make huge profits in the game without hitting hofs such as trading, owning land areas and mining for high markup ores.

I never said I had a magic formula for finding where all the big loots are lol I was just explaining in general the math behind how the return in determined based on having played EU since 2006 and my understanding of probability and the gaming industry.


I think you got it all wrong - you mix up a lot of things here, and no, i won't +rep you only because you wrote a wall'o'text and i'm too lazy to read it...


Maybe you should actually read the whole post and understand what I'm saying before opening your mouth as you completely missed the point of this thread lol


For the record, I wasn't complaining at all or demanding that MA change anything, I was just trying to determine what the average return tends to be (specifically for mining, which is why I posted it in that forum and not here, but it got moved anyway).

LOL I wasn't referring to your post actually. But funny you came on here defending it.



There are two important factors that I didn't see mentioned in your post...

You're right. I forgot to mention that part about the decay and mob HP and such. But that's mostly because I was trying to keep it as a global discussion relating to all professions. Even crafting which has no decay associated with it other than L bps. But yeah the point still stands and the 90% figure (and all figures mentioned in my post) are rough guidelines as there isn't an official rule book for EU loots lol.


WTF THIS IS JUST A LOTTERY? :eyecrazy: Maybe your right? If thats the case and skills mean nothing and everything comes down to the moment u click based on "luck"? If thats really the case?Then that would make this a total rip off because i have alot better chance to win big elsewhere for alot less $$$$ However if the experience is fun and challenging where yr skills mean something you can build a reputation where u can improve , explore and have fun playing in a real player based cash economy BUT do it without spending more than you would for other similiar entertainment thats what people will pay for happily.Noone wants a lottery based game!

If all you do is one profession (hunt, mine, craft), you don't have a float, you TT your loots and have no other strategy other than...

For hunting - Buy the biggest gun you can use and afford and hunt the biggest thing you can kill with fapping like crazy.
For mining - Buy the biggest amp you can afford and go to some random place and start dropping bombs.
For crafting - Buying resources in a rush out of auction at the lowest listed markup and condition crafting low lvl amps.

Then yeah - luck is your only saving grace.

But if you have an actual strategy and understand how to treat each profession like a business - it's all skill.


1) The recent complaints about 50-60% return are coming from players who cycle thousands and thousands of PEDs a day, and have seen the same results consistently since VU. That IS abnormal. Sure, a bad run or two happens, but over and over and over again is unusual.


It's not abnormal it's the nature of a dynamic environment. Sometimes there has to be extended periods of bad returns - otherwise it would be called a "consistent" environment. It's been said many times EU is dynamic and with good reason. I think their bad runs happening after the last VU are purely coincidental.

Or maybe they were just lucky the whole time previously hitting some good globals and hof that let things balance out. Maybe they were using a strategy that wasn't sustainable but couldn't tell because they were just getting lucky and now their luck has run out and their strategy just needs improvement.



My whole point is that people need to get out of the mentality that their entitled to better returns and that MA should change things because something must be wrong since they only got a 60% return on their last dozen runs. As there is no personal loot pool it's not possible to keep tabs on what a player spends vs takes home and ensure that they get a 90% return.

So stop complaining about your returns, just be happy it's not zero and just know the following key points:
  • There is no personal loot pool.
  • There is no minimum guaranteed return. So stop expecting one - you past results mean nothing for what your future results should be.
  • If everyone got a 90%+ return all the time there wouldn't be nearly as many globals and HoFs and the value of the HoFs would be a lot less. And once again people would be bitching that they finally got a HoF and it wasn't big enough.
  • If you're looking to play basically for free (by breaking even most of the time) and still have the chance of hitting a big payday there is only one solution ...go play at pogo.com - you can play games for free and you have chance of winning money when you spin the bonus wheel. Don't come into EU expecting that your $100 deposit should last you for 50 runs getting a 90% return or better while at the same time expecting/demanding to hit some big hofs and globals.

I know it's frustrating to lose money, and we all expect to win big in EU or at least we expect that we can beat the system and do better than the average player (why else would be play? No one would play if we all thought we were going to lose.) But the fact of the matter is it's a highly controlled environment and while your returns might seem bad there are countless other players that are happy with the results and on a global scale the money is paid out in full to all the players. You can't complain (and expect people to care) just because you put in a lot of money and are on the losing end of things.

If you can't afford to play and don't like how the loot is divided out you're welcome to go play something else - not like they have you under contract or something.
 
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clear that the whole game is a lottery there is only one difference and that is that you always get back a small%.
It is the point that makes the game does not fall under the Lotteries law in Sweden.:wise:

Then plays MA'S holy hand a role too.

The big problem is that most players let themselves believe what MA says instead of requiring that MA is always proving her words.
 
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I know it's frustrating to lose money, and we all expect to win big in EU (why else would be play?) But the fact of the matter is it's a highly controlled environment and while your returns might seem bad there are countless other players that are happy with the results and on a global scale the money is paid out in full to all the players. You can't complain (and expect people to care) just because you put in a lot of money and are on the losing end of things.

I do agree with most of your points, but not this - I certainly don't "expect to win big" in EU, and that's definitely not a reason for me to play (and I imagine it's not for most of the people who play either). I play because it is a unique game with an economy unlike that in any other MMO which provides for an actual challenge - the fact that there is an element of luck involved may mean that I won't break even even if I do play perfectly and I may have to make more than one deposit, but I can live with that. I certainly don't ever intend to play it was a way to make money though - I play it for fun and challenge. If I do happen to ever get ridiculously lucky hit and ATH or something then sure it'll be nice and I'll probably withdraw most of it, but it's certainly not anything I'd ever count on.

And I'm of the mind that people are allowed to complain all they want about a bad run - and they'll usually at least have socmates to empathize with them. It doesn't matter how well prepared you are for a bad run or how well you know that such runs are inevitable, unless you're an emotionless robot it's still going to be disappointing when they happen, and having people to vent to about it (especially when you go on a particularly long and nasty downswing) does tend to at least soften the blow a bit for a lot of people. I know that if I go broke and end up having to make a second deposit I'll probably whine a little bit to my socmates, even though I know full well that with such a small bankroll to begin with it's fairly likely to happen.
 
Maybe you should actually read the whole post and understand what I'm saying before opening your mouth as you completely missed the point of this thread lol

Maybe you should tell people that your post is only half of the story, and that this thread is nothing but a personal dispute taken to public anonymously?

However, what i wrote is perfectly correct, and it does address what you said.
(i even quoted the parts that i addressed)


If there is some diametrically opposed meaning buried somewhere in between, you know, invisble to the humble reader, please enlighten me.





No wait - i don't give a damn.... :rolleyes:

This personal dispute in disguise should be deleted/locked anyway.
 
Hi folks,
statistics is a wonderful field that very few people understand. People who do understand it realise that individual personal experience is usually only an indicator to the situation as a whole, as the dataset is normally not big enough. Asking others is usually necessary to tip the balance - have most active people been seeing a massive drop in returns too?
To me it seems more and more likely that loot is messed up or has been changed in terms of returns. MA haven't stated, as far as I know, that the lootpools are set at 90% payout, but this seems to have been an expected average result for people over longish periods of, say, a year.
If you are an active player, you will know what 'awful returns' are - most will put it at 30-50% return for a run. If you get lots of runs like this, then the upside has to be pretty nice too when it comes, and as we know, it is mostly one great result out of a thousand or more clicks/kills on each run. Maybe some people have found pockets of goodness and get way over average payouts, whereas others keep going for years without that magic click to get their returns even close to 90% again.

Now, pockets could be 'times', places', 'mobs', 'use of the right tool/weap' - many things, but it seems that MA is paying out in an unbalanced way at the very least.

In real games of chance there is a tendency to leave the game at a low point. Statistically, it is better (or less bad) to leave after a good run. Neither is what MA should want people to do, though, or am I mistaken?! If this isn't a game of chance MA, then make it that more people feel like staying around!
 
Your avatar skills mean something in that using maxed equipment will reduce waste, thus maximizing your expected TT returns (though they will still never be over 100%, but not having a personal lootpool is specifically what makes this possible, and the more eco you are compared to others, the higher you will get), and your personal skills mean something in that hunting/mining only mobs/areas that give high MU loot may allow you to ultimately profit. So yes, skills still mean something.

Unless they are TAMING skills... MA you bastards :)

Yes you just witnessed what i like to call.. a thread hijack of extraordinaire magnitude :cool:

Let's face it, it was a crap thread to start with, full of pure dribble from a let me dare to say "a 1 dollar easypick buyer"
 
http://www.americancasinoguide.com/...of-slot-machine-payback-percentage-signs.html

“Tell me how to win,” she said, and I laughed. That’s the most common request I get about slot machines, and it’s one I can’t fulfill. There’s nothing you can do to change the results determined by a machine’s random number generator.

“All right then. Tell me something. I was in a casino last week, and they had a sign up that said ‘Our slots pay back 93 percent.’ Does that mean every machine pays 93 percent?”

No, it doesn’t, I told her. Each casino has a wide range of payback percentages within its game mix. By and large, higher denominations give more money back to players --- dollar machines pay more than quarters which pay more than nickels which pay more than pennies.

Even within the same denomination, there’s room for a range of paybacks. In a casino whose nickel games return 89 percent of money wagered to players, there’s likely to be games that pay in excess of 90 percent, and games that pay 85 or 86 percent.

For that matter, it’s possible for games of the same denomination and theme to have different payback percentages. A quarter Red, White and Blue machine that returns 93 percent could sit right next to one that returns 89 percent. That’s not as common as it once was, but the game chips to make that possible are available to casinos.

“So if there are all those different paybacks, how can they say, ‘Our slots pay back 93 percent’? Where does that come from?”

That depends. Was it a plaque on a wall somewhere? Was it a sign over a particular bank of machines?

“It was on a wall, not really next to any particular games.”

OK, I’ve seen that in a few casinos, but not everywhere. It’s a casino-wide average. The total of all money won by the casino at all electronic gaming devices --- including video poker, video keno and video blackjack as well as slot machines --- is divided by the total number of wagers at those games. Multiplied by 100, that gives us a casino hold percentage. Subtract that from 100, and you have the payback percentage to players.

For example, if $1 million is wagered on a casino’s electronic gaming devices, and the casino keeps $70,000, dividing that $70,000 by $1 million give you .07, which multiplied by 100 tells us the casino kept 7 percent of all wagers. Subtract that from 100, and we find that 93 percent of money wagered has been returned to players. That’s the payback percentage.

“But not every machine is paying 93 percent?”

Right. Some payback percentages will be in the 80s. Some will be in the high 90s. Most will be in between. Most of the low-denomination slots will pay less than 93 percent. Most of the high-denomination games will pay more. But the casino-wide average in the casino where Maggie plays will come to 93 percent. Other casinos will have their own averages.

“I don’t suppose you could tell me how to tell which games have the better paybacks.”

I’m afraid not. Two slot machines that look identical on the outside can have different payback percentages.

She sighed.

“Oh well. Trial and error it is. At least keep your fingers crossed for a jackpot for me, will you?”

Will do.



Maggie was asking about a sign that listed a casino-wide average, but sometimes you’ll see a sign over a bank of machines that says, “95 percent payback,” or “Up to 98 percent payback.”

Such signs refer specifically to that bank of machines. If it’s specific, with no qualifiers, such as “95 percent payback,” most states require that all machines in the bank be programmed for 95-percent return. There’s room for some short-term variation. If you sit down at a 95-percent machine and have a cold streak, running through a hundred bucks with zero return, there is no requirement that the next player get back 190 percent to even things out. Over time, with enough play, your cold streak will simply fade into statistical insignificance, overwhelmed by the results of hundreds of thousands of reel spins.

Conversely, if you hit a big jackpot, there is no requirement that the machine then go ice cold to get down to the 95 percent target. The machine will keep operating as normal, and over time your jackpot will be overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands of plays and fade into statistical insignificance.

When the sign does have a qualifier, such as “Up to 98 percent payback,” then let the player beware. At least one machine in the bank is likely to be a 98-percenter, but others can be lower. Not all states permit such fudging, and this ploy isn’t as common as it was a decade ago, but when you see it, be wary.


Even if EU isn't a casino, and even if this so called 90% thing exists... it's not much different than a casino which does promise a certain percentage back, but in the long term takes the cash of the many... has this changed with recent vu changes that promise better loot... maybe a little... now instead of one pec of this or that you get one pec trophies, etc. Instead of no looters, now you get no looters in addition to blazers...complete an event - let's get a different colored blazer for that..... there might be more gear out there with some sib in loot, but it's all L for the most part.. is that better than the past - some might say yes, some might say no... either way, MA has not said that a certain percentage will be paid out, and even if they did, much like real world casinos, that might not mean anything at all because most playing will still lose in the short term.

MA has said that there is no personal loot pools... At least real world casinos keep track of things a little http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comps_(casino)
 
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Unless they are TAMING skills... MA you bastards :)

Yes you just witnessed what i like to call.. a thread hijack of extraordinaire magnitude :cool:

Let's face it, it was a crap thread to start with, full of pure dribble from a let me dare to say "a 1 dollar easypick buyer"

oh lol you crack me up sometimes, no, often!
i hope you realise the danger you are in, before you know it you will be in a chopper blindfolded and being renditioned to that little island just off port atlantis :p
 
wall of text

so how do you suggest MA should pay their bills, i am not MA's greatest fan but i do understand they have to pay the bills. maybe they could do something radical and make it a subscription game then nobody will lose, oh, wait :p

the main point of that wall of text you copy-pasted seems to be that you can not effect your results in a casino.
you have been around this game and forum long enough so that i do not have to list all the different ways you can effect your results in entropia universe.
 
the main point of that wall of text you copy-pasted seems to be that you can not effect your results in a casino.
you have been around this game and forum long enough so that i do not have to list all the different ways you can effect your results in entropia universe.

Whether that was the point or not, you can actually affect the 'likely results' in a casino, at least in the short term.
- you just can't guarantee them. In roulette you can actually swing it short-term from probably winning to almost certainly losing, but I stress again - this is short-term. The bank is happy enough that you actually stand very little chance of winning in the long run, and that for all the short-term winners there is probably someone having a bad streak that more than covers the difference. At least, that is the nature of roulette, for example.

In many ways EU would seem to be worse than roulette because of 'all the different' ways, but in EU there is also markup and apparently ways of tipping the odds if you know the right ways (cycles are not truly random, mining has areas and depths etc.).

Oh, I've also been seeing a lot of advertisements for EU recently. Today's slogan is a new one for me though. It says:
SOME SAY IT'S EXPENSIVE TO PLAY. OTHERS MAKE MONEY FROM IT. TRY IT NOW!
Interesting!
 
In many ways EU would seem to be worse than roulette because of 'all the different' ways, but in EU there is also markup and apparently ways of tipping the odds if you know the right ways (cycles are not truly random, mining has areas and depths etc.).

Oh, I've also been seeing a lot of advertisements for EU recently. Today's slogan is a new one for me though. It says:
SOME SAY IT'S EXPENSIVE TO PLAY. OTHERS MAKE MONEY FROM IT. TRY IT NOW!
Interesting!

i really like that slogan, if i didnt know the game and saw that it would make me curious and i would check it out just because it sets a challenge. it is also upfront about the risk of it costing a lot which i think is smart.
 
Urban legend states you get 90% ROI in the long run. Just how long is the run? Nobody knows.
ooOOooOoOOoOoo
Thx for the answer. For a moment there, I thought it came from MA. :eyecrazy:

When the 90% is just an "Urban Legend", I'll put it in the same category as the idea that Perception gains has a "special meaning". ;)
 
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