Someone must know how to do this.....

[Jimmy B]

new people to a RCE based game will never grasp the concept of having to pay 30k usa for virtual items.

No-one just starting out should spend $30k on anything, and its certainly not required to do so in order to profit.

 

[Witte]

Interesting that we hunt in totally different ways and yet find ways to make it work. I don't change mob until I've broken my amp.

I do think that the choice of mob is very important. Maybe you make a wiser choice on forehand? Mobs can speak in many different languages .

 

[davidgr1200]

I enjoy the challenge of "beating" the big bad guys at MA

Now that's the best reason for playing "cheaply" that I have seen!

 

[MaxArfPower]

No-one just starting out should spend $30k on anything, and its certainly not required to do so in order to profit.

well see thats the thing, i like most people here don't care about the profit. its all about the sport, or the hunt.

i don't really know how to explain it better then that.

i tend to break even the majority of the time, and that keeps me satisfied because i can just reroll that back into playing time. though i am pretty frugal at times to help stretch peds when im getting low, but on the ocassion of a good loot i like to splurge and maybe buy a mining amp and try my luck for the fun.

though some people here for the sport of things will not be satisfied till they can get to the high level and hunt big stuff, but in this game that comes with a hefty price tag.

it doesn't take 20 years in those other games to get super uber gear, just maybe a month or so of trying to get the items. and they don't have to sell there kids.

in the end, its not always about money, its about the experience, and if that final experience can never be reached, well thats a disapointment even before starting the game.

 

[PINKY]

I would hazzard a guess even by MA's own $1 an hour standard that it would not be possible to play for $15 a month.

I have no idea of how many hours the average Entropia player plays for per week, but I would make a wild stab in the dark that its not very different from any other popular MMORPG. The most popular one there is has a figure of around 21-22 hours per week for the AVERAGE player. Even if you halved that and said Entropia players ply just 10 hours average per week, that would present a required bank roll of over $43 a month.

To achieve $15 a month, based on MA's $1 an hour figure you would be able to play for just 29 minutes a day.


I am sure it's possible to do it, but not to do it and play properly like Hurrikane suggests.... and most certainly not based on MA's own figures. Maybe this could inspire them to reduce costs a bit nah!

 

[wizzszz]

Ofc one can play for 15$/month - the question is just: what are you going to do the other 29 days...

Ofc you can play small, hunt snables and daikis unarmoured all day, maybe even sweat them dry before you kill them - but let's be realistic, the more your skills grow, the bigger losses you have to take.

150 PED is nothing - we've all lost more on a single hunt/mining run.

 

[Ogulak'Da'Dragon]

If it helps, my brother whos been playing for 2-3 months now, just unlocked coolness yesterday.

Using andie's E-mine armor, korss 400, and fap 2600- he has been self sufficent for the past month.

So it is possible, 15$ a month could be easily done. Even before coolness he was self sufficent, without trading etc. It was all from hunting.

He hunts all day too lol. So I'm expecting him to get commando in a year or 2. W/O! depoing..

 

[SoftHart]

If it helps, my brother whos been playing for 2-3 months now, just unlocked coolness yesterday.

And he has only been playing on $15 a month? I call Bullshit!

 

[JingyiDai]

Bullshitness unlocked

 

[JingyiDai]

oh the guy said 15 dollar each day

 

[Yirrk]

I had asked this OP's question a few months back although it was in the middle of a heated thread so nobody paid attention to it.

Seems the overall opinion so far is that sure you can get by on 15$/month depo, but it's gonna be boring and a drag.

And that is exactly the point I wanted to make. To play here in an entertaining and engaging way similar to other MMOS takes probably ten times more money than those others require. And that IMO is a really bad deal from any angle.
And unless this changes there's no amount of fancy graphics that are going to make up for that huge imbalance. People aren't going to put up with that crap any more, not with the cool MMOs out there offering way more bang for the buck. And right now, they get my money.
Bottom line: MA, wake the hell up already.


I feel sorry for FPC. MA's got them by the balls and they can't do anything about it. Gonna be the same with the other Planets too.

 

[J. Mandrake]

You can, if trading for a long time and huning/mining/crafting seriously (aka playing) in short bursts is okay with you, I suppose.

 

[WoenK]

And he has only been playing on $15 a month? I call Bullshit!

Me too!
No way in hell can one get Coolness naturally in that time, also not with that outfit. Maybe Serendipity, but for coolness you need to cycle way more than is possible with a Korss400 in 2-3 months AFTER unlocking Serendipity.

Even the hardcore grinders on CP take about 5 months.

 

[Ogulak'Da'Dragon]

And he has only been playing on $15 a month? I call Bullshit!

About overall (he doesn't depo we give him peds) we've given him about 5k~ peds. in 3 months.

So it took an initial investment to get him there, all I'm saying is he is self sufficient now and doesn't need to depo or borrow money from Andie or I.

So playing on 15$ a month? Yes, it might take your average joe longer to get to coolness on 15$/mo, but it is possible to play without depositing at a low-mid level.

Hes currently unemployed waiting to go to the army and his fiancee also plays on him, so overall they play a lot.

Would you believe a Korss hunter could get to be a top 15 hunter on ET?

It is possible as he is a top 15 hunter right now.

 

[Dblood1]

Would you believe a Korss hunter could get to be a top 15 hunter on ET?

It is possible as he is a top 15 hunter right now.

I know its possible I was on rank 6 something on ET only using korss few month´s ago.


But lasting on 15$ a month, you cant play in certain ways. I think most people now by now how to play without depositing. Its good people see it as entertaining, I sure dont anymore.

 

[GeorgeSkywalker]

I would hazzard a guess even by MA's own $1 an hour standard that it would not be possible to play for $15 a month.

There is a common misconception that should be pointed out. My understanding is that when MA say cost of play is $1 per hour that means the decay cost is $1 per hour. The rest of your spending would go into the EU economy. The decay is lost forever it's the cost of play. The part that goes into the EU economy I'm not sure if it's lost or the system remembers and returns to you at a later date.

I'll give a hypothetical example. Say you had $100 dollars and burned it all in one hour on hunting i.e. all creatures looted nothing not a single oil or anything. Say the total decay for that hour was $1. That one dollar is gone it's MA's wages. The remaining $99 dollars have been fed into the EU economy. You no longer have them. Many people would say their cost of play was $100 dollars. I don't believe that is the way MA work it out. We know they only get decay. So the cost of play was $1 for that hour. So the question is what happens to the $99 dollars. This is what we should be asking about. Now since MA say this game is not gambling it may suggest that amount you will get back at some time otherwise one could argue it's gambling. However, we can't be certain of that and it may be the case that $99 dollars has basically beeen used for the next uber HoF, hence re-ditrisbuted to another player not MA. Anyway in this case where you loose $99 dollars and basically never see again, could also be valid and the game still e considered non-gambling. So the question is how then does the system decide who gets the loot and who looses? the answer to that is clearly based on skills, gear, choice of mob etc, hence it decides in some logical way. What that logical way is no-one knows except some people I think are fairly close in knowing what works and what doesn't hence are able to play for no or little cost and profit (on the whole).

 

[aridash]

About overall (he doesn't depo we give him peds) we've given him about 5k~ peds. in 3 months.

which works out at $166 a month or 10x the $15/mth discussed. its good to know someone can be active without any further regular deposit, but thats a big jump start (not to mention the knowledge injection he'd have had).

 

[JohnCapital]

I love this thread. I'm looking through it and reading "Nope." "No way." "Can't do it." "Yeah only if you hunt snables ." Etc. etc.

Meanwhile in this exact same thread, are people saying "I do it." "Haven't depo'd for years." "Yes you can."

Folks are doing it. I dare say Karmic, Omega, Witte, etc. probably are more active with their non/minor depositing avatars than I am (I avg. $50/month) And yet folks are saying "can't be done."

However folks who are poo-pooing the idea are forgetting an important issue: RCE begins w/ the word "real". As in "real life". as in "the laws of cause/effect do not stop at the door".

Let me put it another way: IRL could two people share the same amount of entertainment if they're given two vastly different budgets?

Of course not. The guy w/ the big budget can see Broadway shows, fly to exotic locations, etc. etc. The guy w/ less money is grabbing 2-for-1 deals at Blockbuster.

And yet, they're both having a good time, although quite different in experience.

But even better, both of those can do things that increase their entertainment budget. Perhaps the cheap guy saves his movie money and buys 3 month bank CDs, then sells and uses the profit to the buy his movies. If the higher budget guy did the same thing, he can obviously command a higher overall return, but he also risks more. Sound like some place we know?

So why, in an RCE game are people looking down their nose at the "cheap playing" options, as if it's a flaw in the game? It's not. EU is one of the only entertainment venues I know of that offers such a vast selection of entertainment that can fit any budget possible, big or small. It's also one o fthe only places I know where the more you play, you actually have a chance to increase your fun budget instead of decrease it.

No, you can't go to Broadway on a Blockbuster budget. No, you can't play EU in "exotic vacation" mode on $15/month unless you already have a self-sustaining budget. Centech can't get 147 peds and go shooting hogglos with his DOA. That budget will last him about 20 hogglo (not counting armor/fap costs, so even less). The chances of him getting enough loot back to compensate him on such a short run are s-l-i-m. If that 147 ped of ammo is all he can rely on at that level, he is screwed.

However, different people at that same lvl have self-sustaining budgets and can do the exact same thing without even needing that $15/month.

Are we playing the same game??

Yes, and that's what makes it so f*ckin' cool. Something for almost everyone.

 

[Jimmy B]

I do think that the choice of mob is very important. Maybe you make a wiser choice on forehand? Mobs can speak in many different languages .

Indeed they do

well see thats the thing, i like most people here don't care about the profit. its all about the sport, or the hunt.

i don't really know how to explain it better then that.

i tend to break even the majority of the time, and that keeps me satisfied because i can just reroll that back into playing time. though i am pretty frugal at times to help stretch peds when im getting low, but on the ocassion of a good loot i like to splurge and maybe buy a mining amp and try my luck for the fun.

though some people here for the sport of things will not be satisfied till they can get to the high level and hunt big stuff, but in this game that comes with a hefty price tag.

Yes, the fact EU is tied to the real economy, and that profit in-game means profit IRL, means that inevitably the top-end gear will be costly.

That's the nature of the game, no changing it. L stuff means high dps, and uber protecting armour is available to more people now - albeit at a cost. But the UL uber stuff will always cost money, as long as people can make money with it

it doesn't take 20 years in those other games to get super uber gear, just maybe a month or so of trying to get the items. and they don't have to sell there kids.

Yeah, each to his own. For me, if anyone can get anything they want in the game after a month's play, I see no challenge or point in playing really. In a month and a half I'd be bored and looking for a new game.

No point comparing such a game to EU, it's not comparable.

 

[PINKY]

There is a common misconception that should be pointed out. My understanding is that when MA say cost of play is $1 per hour that means the decay cost is $1 per hour. The rest of your spending would go into the EU economy. The decay is lost forever it's the cost of play. The part that goes into the EU economy I'm not sure if it's lost or the system remembers and returns to you at a later date.

Actually, IMHO it may be your understanding that is the misconception. I only think this to be the case as an interview with Marcus Erikkison (spelling?) I did for the Avastar, where we were discussing the $1 an hour model and he was explaining to me that one of their aims to to make that cost a more stable one. At the moment, its all over the place with vast losses some times, and vast profits other times. They wanted to bring typical play more into the $0.50 to $1.50 cost per hour. The way we were discussing it, we were talking about a literal cost per hour to the player as an average.

A good example is perhaps to compare it to the requirement of pub fruit machines to display their average return on them. E.G The monopoly fruit machine down the pub has a compuslory return average of 97.8%. So it is programmed to pay out an average of £97.80 for every £100 you bet. However, as anyone who plays a fruitmachine knows you may lose £10 straight, or win £20. When you lose, the money is stored as part of the payout for the next (or the next, next etc) person down the line. Eventually the machine must pay out the £97.80 for each £100 its taken.

Now the example above (I believe) explains your theory quite well, where loot returns or costs are either paid out to you (woot!), stored for the next person (boo! ), but MA income averages out to $1 an hour (or £2.40 for every £100 in the fruit machines case). However, the major difference between fruit machines and EU is that we all come back and play EU repeatedly. Far more in fact than we would ever play a fruit machine (unless you are a moron - or have a great system!!) due to this single fact, it is fair to say that rather than in the case of a fruit machine where we would experience perhaps 15 minutes of a "payout" life cycle and either win or lose - with EU, we go back again, again and again and eventually will cover the entire life cycle of a "payout". Due to this, it is fairer to say average costs are $1 an hour rather than take into account all the wins and loses on any one single hunt. It is after all the average cost to play that MA are quoting. So technically the fact you lost $100 in an hours hunt is irrelevent as sometimes you will be up, sometimes you will be down. The average would still be $1 which is what MA are talking about.


That said i personally think the $1 an hour model is a load of old testies - I would love to see some figures from MA that supported it!

 

[Karmic]

Seems the overall opinion so far is that sure you can get by on 15$/month depo, but it's gonna be boring and a drag.

And that is exactly the point I wanted to make. To play here in an entertaining and engaging way similar to other MMOS takes probably ten times more money than those others require. And that IMO is a really bad deal from any angle.

I disagree that playing the game in the way that I do is boring and a drag, if it was, I wouldn't be doing it. To me, challenging is more fun, easy is boring.

I think some people are missing the time requirements of other MMO's when they discuss cost. I could no longer handle the time requirement to do so. My roomate still plays one that I used to play, he's on it more than I'm on entropia, yet he was dropped from my former guild because he couldn't be active enough, I was grandfathered through despite my low playtime (4 hours per day most days) since I was a member from past games.

I've spent 4-5 months raiding the same few mobs over and over again hoping the item I want will drop and that I will get it, just knowing that eventually a new expansion will make it all obsolete. I had my fun in those games, there are positives and negatives to both. I can say I really enjoyed the space game with pirates whose name someone didn't mention despite the mind numbing travel times, which my friends assure me has been fixed. That is a challenging game as well, there are major penalties for losing a fight. This game is more rewarding to me, yes I've illicitly sold gold,platinum,credits, whatever and made some money on others though I never could bring myself to sell my character for the big bucks ($1000).

I spent years playing some MMO's always in the top guild, with groups of players that joined each one day one, and built their way to the top "fast". Some of those guys played 12-16 hours a day, we didn't have everything we ever wanted in a month. I don't care that it will take years for me to become one of the higher ranked players in this game either, my challenge of playing the game without depositing is done, my challenge of moving up the ranks continues and I certainly hope to see a lot more new content in the coming years.

 

[WoenK]

About overall (he doesn't depo we give him peds) we've given him about 5k~ peds. in 3 months.

So it took an initial investment to get him there, all I'm saying is he is self sufficient now and doesn't need to depo or borrow money from Andie or I.

So playing on 15$ a month? Yes, it might take your average joe longer to get to coolness on 15$/mo, but it is possible to play without depositing at a low-mid level.

Hes currently unemployed waiting to go to the army and his fiancee also plays on him, so overall they play a lot.

Would you believe a Korss hunter could get to be a top 15 hunter on ET?

It is possible as he is a top 15 hunter right now.

Maybe the monthly Top15

If you calculate the stuff and the PEDs you gave him, it is no wonder he is doing well (although I really do not believe he got Coolness without chipping).
5k as play money will make you self suffcient, no need to TT everything because of low funds, one can sell at auction in big batches.
Maybe also do a bit of trading besides hunting and one will make profit.

But even with 15$ per month it is possible to survive. I did in the beginning.
My problem was I became "greedy" and wanted more.

Just like John Capital stated,possible but not in the same league.

 

[JohnCapital]

Just like John Capital stated,possible but not in the same league.

Might want to re-read what I said.

If others are accomplishing goals you find impossible to achieve, instead of calling BS, might want to ask how it was done.

• https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/...lness-4-months.html?highlight=coolness+months
• https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/...ess-7-5-months.html?highlight=coolness+months
• https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/...ess-six-months.html?highlight=coolness+months

and my personal favorite:
https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/achievements/104114-coolness-unlocked-again.html

Unlocked Coolness in 138 days all natural!

Now, the budget issue adds another layer of difficulty, but it's simply another factor, not the deal breaker.

 

[ano]

Hehehe. I've never abandoned off-the-wall theories like perception and serendipity and stuff, although I can't say they hugely influence what I do either.

But there is so little evidence beyond the anecdotal! You and Witte are like my Entropian Dawkinses, that's why I helped all those years ago with the skill effect on professions thread. EVIDENCE uber alles. Occam's razor etc.

Back on topic though - I came back to the game (having chipped out nearly everything a while back) to see if I could live off what I'd been paying for other mmorpgs in my sabattical. In short I can't. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, maybe I'm playing uneco, but I do a little crafting and hunt armourless with an m1a + a102 nearly maxed, hardly uber activities.

 

[WoenK]

Might want to re-read what I said.

If others are accomplishing goals you find impossible to achieve, instead of calling BS, might want to ask how it was done.

• https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/...lness-4-months.html?highlight=coolness+months
• https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/...ess-7-5-months.html?highlight=coolness+months
• https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/...ess-six-months.html?highlight=coolness+months

and my personal favorite:
https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/achievements/104114-coolness-unlocked-again.html


Now, the budget issue adds another layer of difficulty, but it's simply another factor, not the deal breaker.

My comment concerning the bull excrements was, 2-3 months only with a Korss and only 15$ per month. One can not cycle enough PEDs only with a Korss to unlock Coolness _naturally_. More than about 180 PEDS in ammo per hour is not possible. Even if you hunted 24/7 for 3 months you could only cycle around 388k.
I know the other archievements, but as far as I remember most of them were living on CP and they were surely not hunting only with a Korss

 

[GeorgeSkywalker]

Actually, IMHO it may be your understanding that is the misconception. I only think this to be the case as an interview with Marcus Erikkison (spelling?) I did for the Avastar, where we were discussing the $1 an hour model and he was explaining to me that one of their aims to to make that cost a more stable one. At the moment, its all over the place with vast losses some times, and vast profits other times. They wanted to bring typical play more into the $0.50 to $1.50 cost per hour. The way we were discussing it, we were talking about a literal cost per hour to the player as an average.

A good example is perhaps to compare it to the requirement of pub fruit machines to display their average return on them. E.G The monopoly fruit machine down the pub has a compuslory return average of 97.8%. So it is programmed to pay out an average of £97.80 for every £100 you bet. However, as anyone who plays a fruitmachine knows you may lose £10 straight, or win £20. When you lose, the money is stored as part of the payout for the next (or the next, next etc) person down the line. Eventually the machine must pay out the £97.80 for each £100 its taken.

Now the example above (I believe) explains your theory quite well, where loot returns or costs are either paid out to you (woot!), stored for the next person (boo! ), but MA income averages out to $1 an hour (or £2.40 for every £100 in the fruit machines case). However, the major difference between fruit machines and EU is that we all come back and play EU repeatedly. Far more in fact than we would ever play a fruit machine (unless you are a moron - or have a great system!!) due to this single fact, it is fair to say that rather than in the case of a fruit machine where we would experience perhaps 15 minutes of a "payout" life cycle and either win or lose - with EU, we go back again, again and again and eventually will cover the entire life cycle of a "payout". Due to this, it is fairer to say average costs are $1 an hour rather than take into account all the wins and loses on any one single hunt. It is after all the average cost to play that MA are quoting. So technically the fact you lost $100 in an hours hunt is irrelevent as sometimes you will be up, sometimes you will be down. The average would still be $1 which is what MA are talking about.


That said i personally think the $1 an hour model is a load of old testies - I would love to see some figures from MA that supported it!

Thanks for that Pinky. My understanding is now updated with new info it's more dynamic than loot

From my earlier example if they consider the whole $100 as cost of play then no way is average cost per play $1 an hour. Majority loose much more than that, their $1 an hour is either:
a) completely outdated even when it was first mentioned
b) a complete lie

$1 an hour only makes sense if you take into account decay only otherwise it's simply not true.


Do you have a link to the interview with Marcus Erikkison?

 

[RexDameon]

Well I will tell you this when me and Onica started in Dec of 2003. We looked at the other MMO's and the cost of the software and subscription. We also are on a limited budget so we said we would deposit 21$ US a month that would basically get us each 100 PED after the fees.
We never put anymore then that in. and we put in about 350$ US total up until about 2 years ago when we stopped depositing.

Couple things to know and keep in mind.

1. to play one of those other MMO's for the last 5.5 years would have cost aprox 1980$ US for subscriptions plus about another 200$ US or software and add-ons for the TWO of us.
2. We are not hard core gamers on average probably about 4-8hrs a week over the last 5.5 years.
3. However i have not gotten the luckies of big loots. I only scored my first solo HOF within the last year and it was only 200+ ped. I did get one big team loot of 21K that i did split with my team mate and later my half funding both me and Onica's play along with some equipment. It actually took me 3.5 years to get my first global. I"M NOT COMPLAINING though although i havn't had a lot of globals i seem to always be close to break even and small profit enough to keep going time after time.
4. You have to put a lot more time into trading smart and smart about how you hunt and when you hunt and what you hunt. Who you know and how they help you is a big help. I have had A LOT of people help me and be great friends.
5. I'm relativly low skills for most people of my Entropia age. I've only got 120HP and a total of around 68k skills.
6. I did kinda try everything and balance my skills a bit. i'm level 18.98 in swordsman and 28.9 in rifle sniper and somewhere in between those two i'm pistoleer.

My Recommendations
Take your time. Explore. Have more places to hunt/mine and try to stay away from places that people often are. Pay attention to loot. if your getting a lot of no-loots move to a new location. and if you have 3 hrs at night to hunt and at 2.5hrs in you get a global and your in profit range QUIT THEN dont keep going. Basically KNOW when to stop hunting/mining....And when you are doing those activities make sure you have enough time and PED to invest in the time it will take to get to that profit point. For example if you have 10 PED dont go try and hunt even with an opallo cause you'll probbaly just loose it all quick. Have 100 PED that way you can quit at say 60 PED or 80 PED of ammo when you finnally got that larger then average loot to get you to the break even/profit zone.

and now that i've said this i'm for sure never going to get a global again ;-)

 

[WoenK]

Thanks for that Pinky. My understanding is now updated with new info it's more dynamic than loot

From my earlier example if they consider the whole $100 as cost of play then no way is average cost per play $1 an hour. Majority loose much more than that, their $1 an hour is either:
a) completely outdated even when it was first mentioned
b) a complete lie

$1 an hour only makes sense if you take into account decay only otherwise it's simply not true.


Do you have a link to the interview with Marcus Erikkison?

Mayority loses more than that, because they hunt way above their level, spent way to much for high MU weapons and definately way more than just a few hours per week.
One hour at the Troxies alone costs about 50 PEDs in decay, one hour with snables around 5 PEDs.
"Normal" people play maybe 20-40 hours per month, at that rate it will take you at least a year to be able to solo an Atrox.
Freaks like me, that spent about 100-150 hours per month are bound to pay more than just 15$.

 

[ZippO]

I love this thread. I'm looking through it and reading "Nope." "No way." "Can't do it." "Yeah only if you hunt snables ." Etc. etc.

Meanwhile in this exact same thread, are people saying "I do it." "Haven't depo'd for years." "Yes you can."

Folks are doing it. I dare say Karmic, Omega, Witte, etc. probably are more active with their non/minor depositing avatars than I am (I avg. $50/month) And yet folks are saying "can't be done."

However folks who are poo-pooing the idea are forgetting an important issue: RCE begins w/ the word "real". As in "real life". as in "the laws of cause/effect do not stop at the door".

Let me put it another way: IRL could two people share the same amount of entertainment if they're given two vastly different budgets?

Of course not. The guy w/ the big budget can see Broadway shows, fly to exotic locations, etc. etc. The guy w/ less money is grabbing 2-for-1 deals at Blockbuster.

And yet, they're both having a good time, although quite different in experience.

But even better, both of those can do things that increase their entertainment budget. Perhaps the cheap guy saves his movie money and buys 3 month bank CDs, then sells and uses the profit to the buy his movies. If the higher budget guy did the same thing, he can obviously command a higher overall return, but he also risks more. Sound like some place we know?

So why, in an RCE game are people looking down their nose at the "cheap playing" options, as if it's a flaw in the game? It's not. EU is one of the only entertainment venues I know of that offers such a vast selection of entertainment that can fit any budget possible, big or small. It's also one o fthe only places I know where the more you play, you actually have a chance to increase your fun budget instead of decrease it.

No, you can't go to Broadway on a Blockbuster budget. No, you can't play EU in "exotic vacation" mode on $15/month unless you already have a self-sustaining budget. Centech can't get 147 peds and go shooting hogglos with his DOA. That budget will last him about 20 hogglo (not counting armor/fap costs, so even less). The chances of him getting enough loot back to compensate him on such a short run are s-l-i-m. If that 147 ped of ammo is all he can rely on at that level, he is screwed.

However, different people at that same lvl have self-sustaining budgets and can do the exact same thing without even needing that $15/month.



Yes, and that's what makes it so f*ckin' cool. Something for almost everyone.

Hehe, ya if you want to be bored out of your f*cking mind hunting the same crap mobs all day that drop the same thing over and over again and then sweating which btw is so much damn fun to cover your losses than be my guest.

It is not that i am looking my nose down to cheap playing options btw.. I just question how many would want to even think about going this route without pulling your f*cking hair out.. You know how much time you have to spend droning on like this to actually get somewhere in this game?

I guess i have just been in this game too long but every year seeing loots get worse and worse even at the skill levels that i am at has me frustrated to say the least and the lack of content i won't even begin to express my dismay at. I think most of us know what "real" economy means my friend and i am sorry i don't have the "happy-go-lucky" attitude anymore about this game.

Also these people that you post that have unlocked coolness in such a quick amount of time obviously are spending an insane amount of time in Entropia during this period.. There is no way in hell i could see the average person that has a job working at least 40 hours a week and then coming home and at least taking care of some things around the house before zoning off in Entropia would have time to make these gains and probably not even close. Alot of the time that i actually profit in this game is when i have to spend at least 8 hours hunting in a row on multiple days.. I just don't have time for that and to be honest would rather burn my f*cking eyes out with hot coals than sit here and ultra camp/sweat and get the same damage to my eyes trying to focus on the screen.

 

[PINKY]

Thanks for that Pinky. My understanding is now updated with new info it's more dynamic than loot

From my earlier example if they consider the whole $100 as cost of play then no way is average cost per play $1 an hour. Majority loose much more than that, their $1 an hour is either:
a) completely outdated even when it was first mentioned
b) a complete lie

$1 an hour only makes sense if you take into account decay only otherwise it's simply not true.


Do you have a link to the interview with Marcus Erikkison?

Seems the Avastar died a death... http://www.the-avastar.com/

The problem you have with your theory is you are still identifying one single hunt loss and comparing it to MA's declared AVERAGE player cost per hour... (note I didnt say MA profit per hour)

Yes, anyone can lose $100 but they can also win it back on the next hunt. Average in that case is break even. You have to look at average, not one single event. Wether the cost to the player is via decay or loot is irrelevent. if you have less money that you started with, its a cost.

That said, I agree 100% with both points a) and b) even if you do average it out, there is no way I can see that the actual figure to the average player is an average $1 an hour.