ZPF
Stalker
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2007
- Posts
- 1,988
- Location
- NYC
- Society
- Freelancer
- Avatar Name
- Zelos 'Playboy' Fargen
All of these loot theories leave out what I believe is a very important factor in this game: luck.
Very true. Nothing is guaranteed in this game. Even if you grind perfectly, in one area, follow all the "rules" that some people on PCF will tell you, have super eco gear, etc there is still a chance to lose your shirt. That's the nature of the beast. All you can do is analyze reliable data and try to maximize your chances of success and minimize losses by chasing markup.
The profit formula in my brief experience has been markup, efficiency, consistency and luck.
These aren't set in stone, though. There are people who give up efficiency for the ability to chase markup faster/harder (ex: big mining amps). You can give up markup if you have a way to kill certain mobs very efficiently (Earth Shock). Some people have more luck constantly switching zones rather than grinding one zone endlessly.
The only thing we don't understand AT ALL is the luck factor. There are all these theories about sine waves and whatnot but nothing has been proven. Until we can break this down, no system is guaranteed to work. And with markup being at an all-time low, and new players still pouring in, competition is more fierce than ever.
TLDR; Rely on your own data/experience and do what works for you, until it doesn't
I understand where Fluske is coming from. You can have a system you think works, use it for a very long time and profit, but that doesn't necessarily mean the system is the root cause of your success. You would need a massive sample size to be able to spout that as "fact". But I think Rocket is just trying to share his experience, rather than sound like an authority on profit.
In terms of mining vs hunting, I definitely think the rules still apply, but with greatly reduced effectiveness and far more unstable results.
Just glanced at EntropiaTracker. Weekly Hunting = 2 mil PED Weekly Mining = 500k PED.
There is FAR more competition in hunting, and DPP changes the game. Mining has nothing similar to DPP. Finder decay is most likely returned in loot, so the only way to get an edge is to minimize markup input, which is fairly easy.
Mining for the most part is a level playing field. Hunting is very different. You can't go into hunting using your mining knowledge and expect good results. Especially when you throw waves into the mix. Waves are far less of an issue in mining.
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