Legends
Elite
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2006
- Posts
- 3,241
- Location
- Twin Peaks mall, 2nd floor
- Society
- Dirty Dingos
- Avatar Name
- Inherent Marxus Legends
Thank you for checking out this Hunting Blog where I will share the details of my Hunting adventures in Entropia with everyone. First things first, here are my goals and the main reasons why I'm doing this:
1. I want to get back into hunting again
2. I want to learn and get better and smarter as I progress
3. I want to figure out how to do it in a sustainable way
4. I want to have fun while doing it!
There are some principles I want to adhere to as closely as I can while I do this, these are things that have either been communicated by MindArk as being important in order to maximize returns, or are generally known to be true by the community at large, here they are:
From VU 15.15.0 where Efficiency on weapons was introduced:
And this from follow-up Dev Notes:
My interpretation:
1. "matching avatar skills and gear to the creature being hunted" to me that means hunting slightly below my skill level, using a maxed weapon/amp setup that can 'efficiently' kill the creature but is not too powerful, so probably somewhere between 7 to 15 shots, swings or blows.
2. Higher Efficiency weapon setups means higher overall tt loot returns. Meanwhile, loot composition is only affected by DPP, the biggest factor of which being critical hits/damage, meaning that adding enhancers to weapons or taking pills most likely has very little to do with looting interesting items. There could be a case to be made for using Accuracy Enhancers to raise DPP and improve loot quality on mobs that drop higher mu stuff, I might explore this throughout the Blog.
From VU 15.16.0 where Looter professions were introduced:
My interpretation:
My Looter professions will increase my overall tt loot returns. According to testing done and published in this forum, from level 0-100 Looter there is a total 7% increase to your loot tt value. Since my goal is to have the highest possible loot returns, I must make it my priority to raise these Looter skills (I will discuss this topic further throughout the blog).
Defensive decay returns:
My interpretation:
Charlie has told us here that over 95% of the PED spent on FAPing and Armor protection is returned to you in the mob's loot. Since my goal is to get as close as possible to 100% tt loot returns, then it's plain to see that these defense costs are only going to drag me down over time, so I should do everything I can to try and minimize them.
Markup:
My interpretation:
Any markup spent on an item will never be returned in loot. for example if I buy an ArMatrix LR-40 at 110%, the 8.5 PED markup I just paid will not factor into the loot calculations, and therefore will never be returned, even if I get 100% tt loot returns. So the take away here is avoid paying markup. The best way is to use unlimited items, another way is to use items you yourself looted (preferably that have very low markup and that you would most likely tt anyway).
1. Eliminate/minimize the markup input in my hunting activities by using UL items/gear, items I looted myself and/or items with very low MU
2. Without violating rule #1 above, strive to achieve as high an efficiency as possible on setups used so as to maximize tt loot returns
3. Maximize markup output (loot composition) by raising DPP as high as possible without violating rule #1 above
4. No Pills or Enhancers, which all have high markup
5. Minimize all defensive decay costs such as Armor and FAP decay
6. Hunt mobs that are well within my Looter/Evade level (preferably 3-5 levels below)
7. Log hunting runs that are at least 3 hours, preferably closer to 5 hours in duration
Here's the format I will use when reporting stats on a hunt:
Creature #1:
Creature #2:
Location:
My Looter level:
My Evade/Dodge level:
Rings:
Weapon #1 (efficiency):
Weapon #2 (efficiency):
Weapon #3 (efficiency):
Weapons decay (incl. attachments):
Armor/FAP decay:
Total ammo spent:
Total spent on hunt (w/mu):
Hunting run duration:
Globals/HoFs:
Items looted:
Items TT value (~markup value):
Stackables:
Net returns (w/mu):
Loot quality, i.e. % shrapnel:
Profit/Cost per hour:
Others are welcome to contribute their results here in this thread if they wish, just make sure you follow the same guidelines as I am (points 1 to 7 above) and please use the same format.
Cheers o/
Legends
PS: I'm not doing a spreadsheet but I will most likely tabulate the results periodically so it's easier to see averages over time.
1. I want to get back into hunting again
2. I want to learn and get better and smarter as I progress
3. I want to figure out how to do it in a sustainable way
4. I want to have fun while doing it!
There are some principles I want to adhere to as closely as I can while I do this, these are things that have either been communicated by MindArk as being important in order to maximize returns, or are generally known to be true by the community at large, here they are:
From VU 15.15.0 where Efficiency on weapons was introduced:
Notice
[*] Loot value calculations and the composition of the items in loot will be affected by properly matching avatar skills and gear to the creature being hunted, rewarding efficient kills with more interesting loot. For optimal loot, it will be important to avoid inefficiencies such as low damage output compared to creature health, excessive time and cost to kill, overkill damage, unmaxed weapons and other factors. This system is intended to reward game knowledge, which has traditionally been an important and unique aspect of success in Entropia Universe, and to provide opportunities for participants to improve their loot returns via experimentation, optimization and specialization.
Originally Posted Here
And this from follow-up Dev Notes:
[h=3]Developer Notes #14 - Loot 2.0 Update[/h]
Effects of Critical Hits/Damage on Loot
Finally, we have noticed several misconceptions in recent community discussions regarding Critical Hits that we would like to clarify. Critical Hits do not have a direct impact on loot value calculations per se. Since loot is now based on the actual cost to kill a creature in Loot 2.0, dealing more damage via critical hits (or by having higher damage per pec) does result in smaller loot events for a given creature, but this effect is directly proportional to the lower cost to kill and allows more creatures to be killed (i.e. more loot events) for a given amount of PED spent. Also, the composition of loot improves in such cases and results in a lower proportion of Shrapnel in loot. In other words, the use of items or consumables that provide increased Critical Hit Chance or Critical Damage can never have a negative effect on loot returns.
Originally Posted Here
My interpretation:
1. "matching avatar skills and gear to the creature being hunted" to me that means hunting slightly below my skill level, using a maxed weapon/amp setup that can 'efficiently' kill the creature but is not too powerful, so probably somewhere between 7 to 15 shots, swings or blows.
2. Higher Efficiency weapon setups means higher overall tt loot returns. Meanwhile, loot composition is only affected by DPP, the biggest factor of which being critical hits/damage, meaning that adding enhancers to weapons or taking pills most likely has very little to do with looting interesting items. There could be a case to be made for using Accuracy Enhancers to raise DPP and improve loot quality on mobs that drop higher mu stuff, I might explore this throughout the Blog.
From VU 15.16.0 where Looter professions were introduced:
I have confirmed with the dev team that the loot profession only affects loot returns (as stated in the release notes), not loot composition.
My interpretation:
My Looter professions will increase my overall tt loot returns. According to testing done and published in this forum, from level 0-100 Looter there is a total 7% increase to your loot tt value. Since my goal is to have the highest possible loot returns, I must make it my priority to raise these Looter skills (I will discuss this topic further throughout the blog).
Defensive decay returns:
Most of the decay from healing and using armor is now compensated for in the loot of the mob. On top of this the actual amount of decay to the armor per damage absorbed was reduced greatly. Overall the cost for healing and armor usage is less than 5% of what it used to be.
My interpretation:
Charlie has told us here that over 95% of the PED spent on FAPing and Armor protection is returned to you in the mob's loot. Since my goal is to get as close as possible to 100% tt loot returns, then it's plain to see that these defense costs are only going to drag me down over time, so I should do everything I can to try and minimize them.
Markup:
The loot system never accounts for markup. Not on markup spent on things like enhancers or limited weapons, nor on markup gained from loot such as oils, items and ESI etc, markup values are just transactions between players.
My interpretation:
Any markup spent on an item will never be returned in loot. for example if I buy an ArMatrix LR-40 at 110%, the 8.5 PED markup I just paid will not factor into the loot calculations, and therefore will never be returned, even if I get 100% tt loot returns. So the take away here is avoid paying markup. The best way is to use unlimited items, another way is to use items you yourself looted (preferably that have very low markup and that you would most likely tt anyway).
~~ ~ ■ ~ ■ ~~ CONCLUSIONS ~ ~ ■ ~ ■ ~~~
Therefore, my focus on these hunts will be on the following:
1. Eliminate/minimize the markup input in my hunting activities by using UL items/gear, items I looted myself and/or items with very low MU
2. Without violating rule #1 above, strive to achieve as high an efficiency as possible on setups used so as to maximize tt loot returns
3. Maximize markup output (loot composition) by raising DPP as high as possible without violating rule #1 above
4. No Pills or Enhancers, which all have high markup
5. Minimize all defensive decay costs such as Armor and FAP decay
6. Hunt mobs that are well within my Looter/Evade level (preferably 3-5 levels below)
7. Log hunting runs that are at least 3 hours, preferably closer to 5 hours in duration
Here's the format I will use when reporting stats on a hunt:
Creature #1:
Creature #2:
Location:
My Looter level:
My Evade/Dodge level:
Rings:
Weapon #1 (efficiency):
Weapon #2 (efficiency):
Weapon #3 (efficiency):
Weapons decay (incl. attachments):
Armor/FAP decay:
Total ammo spent:
Total spent on hunt (w/mu):
Hunting run duration:
Globals/HoFs:
Items looted:
Items TT value (~markup value):
Stackables:
Net returns (w/mu):
Loot quality, i.e. % shrapnel:
Profit/Cost per hour:
Others are welcome to contribute their results here in this thread if they wish, just make sure you follow the same guidelines as I am (points 1 to 7 above) and please use the same format.
Cheers o/
Legends
PS: I'm not doing a spreadsheet but I will most likely tabulate the results periodically so it's easier to see averages over time.
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