Just some thoughts

Entropia Universe Discussion General Discussion
1

Hi all,

As some of you may have noticed, I have not posted anything here for a few days now. I have been around but just not posting. I have been reading posts and gathering some thoughts of my own. Well.. I figure it is about time I share some of those thoughts now.

As with probably most of you, I am a bit dissappointed in this latest VU that MA came out with. I do not hunt anymore or mine or craft. Mining and crafting never interested me as much as hunting.. even when I first started playing PE over 2 years ago. Skilling and hunting were the enjoyable parts of PE to me. Of course, I really enjoy the community aspect of it as wellā€¦ the chattingā€¦ the helping newcomers find TPā€™sā€¦ that kind of thing.

Things have been slowly changing however. It seems to me that with every VU that MA comes up with, they take more of the fun aspect of PE away and it is more about MA making money. VU 6.1 was where I really started to notice this more. Now VU 7.4 is another one where this is quite evident.

This saddens me because PE used to be fun.. even if you didnt have loads of skills and loads of PEDā€™s on your PED card. For me, PE was mostly about skilling and working on my avatar to improve him. Since I could not justify spending hundreds (if not thousands) of $ on an online computer game, I knew I had a long road ahead of me to even come close to being an uber player. I did not mind. I had fun building up my skills. I made a lot of friends while skilling and socializing at the same time. I am not just talking about rifle and handgun skills here, but I am also talking about evade skilling.

It was a dark day for me on PE when MA took away the ability to evade skill on diripis. To me, that was fun. I did most of my socializing and making new friends while evade skilling on diripis.

Now with this latest VU, MA took one more fun aspect of the game away.. the skilling rifle and handgun part. It seems pretty obvious to me that this move was done by MA so they make more money. We need bigger guns with bigger armor to kill bigger mobsā€¦ only to get that annoying ā€œNo lootā€ message.

I am not here to tell MA how to run a consumer based business, but I can tell you that I would certainly do things different if I had a chance. I have managed retail businesses. I have a little understanding how things work. You give the customer what they want or need and they will keep coming back and giving you more business. Your customers should dictate how you run your business and the direction it should go. Your customers are your business. If you charge too much for product you are trying to sell, consumers wont buy it. If you dont listen to them and offer them good service, they will move on to another retail outlet. MA is a consumer based business. We, the players, are the consumers of this business that MA has created. To me, it is not right how MA is handling all this currently. They obviously made a change that most players object too. What should they do? They should bring back the skill system the way it was, and maybe consider another way they can generate more income. Will they do that? I highly doubt it, but time will tell. MA needs to listen to us, the players, and failure to do so may result in players quitting PE and finding other computer games to play. I know MA is a business that is after the almight $.. just like most businesses, but there needs to be a balance between MA making money and them offering a product that the consumer will enjoy and use.

Let me give you an example to help explain what I am trying to sayā€¦
Lets take some other computer game company, for example. Before they put their product on the market, it is beta tested. If all the bugs seem to be out of the game, they put it on the market. Then consumers buy the product and play with it. If the product sells well, they release another versionā€¦ but with updates that would make the game more fun and enjoyable. They update their games according to what the majority of the people want or what the computer game company feels the consumers want and would use. Sure, making money is the bottom line with any computer game company, but most companies know that they have to give the consumer what they want or needā€¦ and the money will come rolling into the company. You see.. IMO, MA has this completely backward. It seems that MA wants the consumers money first, and then they offer them a product that may or may not even be liked by the general public. The love of money is the root of all evil. If MA continues down this road they are on, they are doomed to fail. They will realize when it is too late, that the customer is always right and they should have given the consumer a product they like, first, and then the money would just roll in on its own.

Anyway.. back to the skilling issueā€¦
When I started playing PE, it was the skilling part that fascinated me the mostā€¦ to be able to work on and improve my avatar. Now that is gone. A big aspect of this game is gone for me now.

This latest VU makes me wonderā€¦ What direction is MA taking here with PE? Skilling and skills is obviously not in their roadmap for PE. I see PE becoming just another boring 3rd person shooter game where everyone will have the same advantages and disadvantagesā€¦but with a twist. You must deposit loads of money into MAā€™s bank account to afford big guns and big armor first.

Please dont take me wrong here. I am not bashing MA. I am just voicing my opinion here on a number of issues. I like the concept of PE, but it is becoming obvious as of late that it is becoming just a cash grab for MA. IMO, MA lost the vision of what a computer game should be.

I would also like to touch on another issue here, and that is regarding lag and CTDā€™s and such. I do not know much about programming or coding, but I have asked a few friends of mine and they all told me that this lag and CTD issue can easily be taken care of by re-writing the code completely. Soā€¦ I would like to offer a suggestion here. Why doesnt MA re-write the code for PE to make it work better? Yes, I know that would be a major job, but it would be worth it in the long run. So what if MA shuts down PE for a couple weeks while their progammers and game designers update the code. Is MA worried that they may lose too many players during that 2 week down time? The way I see it, they have nothing to lose and a lot to gain by doing it. Think about it. Wouldnt you want to come back to PE after 2 weeks to see a whole new and improved game? I know I wouldā€¦ and it would even attract back some players that have quit and given PE a break.

In closing, I just want to say that PE used to be a fun game, but it is quickly losing that element. IMO, MA really needs to figure out what is more important to themā€¦ their bank accounts or the customer? Realize here that if you take care of the customer, the bank account will manage fine on its own.

11 Likes
2

This is one of the most interesting posts I have ever read in this forum :wise:
Peanuts, you have very well explained and critically augmented a strategic problem that MA encounters. This can soon arise to problems for them if they do not a drastic change in there strategy. Doing some communication, like the note about skilling in the news section can help, but it seems that something wrong was done by them.
Also, I would be more critical than you: I would suggest MA team to do some marketing researches (survey, ā€¦) because there is obviously a lack of knowing their consumers, and also, if i may propose, MA CEO could do a MBA (it is not the sesame for the a successful business, but it can help), he/she will learn a lot!

3

Well put Peanuts. I only wish someone from MA (cough Marco) would write such a well thought out explanation for the recent changes and where the game is headed in the future.

4

i agree with you, MA should do her homework better if it donā€™t want to start loosing players and thus money.
when i started playing PE i had a lot of fun hunting with my best friend, well i started to play PE because we wanted to play a onluine rpg together, ince we two had the same gun we hunted together to skill on handgun and end our aprentiship.
since the changes we donā€™t hunt together anymore simply because he became to angry to hunto so he only mine and mentor rigth now.
i still have some fun hunting with axes but something says me that will not last.
Mindark should be more open on their ideias for the next VU so that it can be discussed by them and the players so that they implement only stuff that most players will like or be comfortable with it.
if they keep putting stuff that disrupt the activities on PE someday the only activitie that we will do is chatting and then MA will loose a lot of Money.
They must not be shortsighted and think on the long run.
well enough ranting and back to axing :smiley:

5

A very well written Thread who touch my Heart.

I feel PE is not the Fun it was bevor VU anymore. I spend 700 USD in 3 Month without Regret it but im really Concerned if i should spend anymore after that VU.

As i started PE i was Fascinated by the Realistic Avatars, the Emotes and the Wonderfull looking Lancscapes. I was Impressed about the Smooth Zoning between Servers even if they Sufferd some Things for it like you can running trough objekts. I came to Skilling and it was Fun looking Skills grow.

That WAS my Plan

  1. Step Raising Longblades around 5k Unlocking 2 Hidden Skills
  2. Step Powerfisting and a bit Shortblades to get more HP
  3. Step Starting Handgun to gain fast Aim
  4. Step Switching to Rifle building this Skill up to 4 or 5k
  5. Step Switching to BLP
    When Bored going to Mine a bit.
    Maybe starting to Craft or Tailoring a bit

I dont know whats wrong with MA but This had keep me Busy for YEARS and bound me on PE for a very long Time. But now it would cost me my half Life to get this Skills ! The Skills gained allready Incredibly Slow on Highlevel. Building up Avatars have always Fascinated me and when i had some Ć¼ber Chars in other Games i just Deleted them to start over a new Avatar. You may Think its silly but i like doing this and i know im not allone with that!

Yes, Players spend a lot more Monney now. They buyed bigger Guns and Hunt Higher Mobs with Low Skills. But i wanna make the Prognosis as soon they Run out of Monney they will Think more about Refunding their PE Accounts than bevore. The High Loots wont stay that High for sure. The Drawback will come, loots get lower because People Hesiate to insert the Ammount of Cash they used to and thats just the Beginning of a Chain lower loots ,less refunding , lower loots ect. I wont Paint all Black or Runt against MA, they do what they think its the Best for PE and their Buissnes. They will do the Best to keep Their Customers happy and maybe in the Next VUs something comming that compensate this Skillgain Nerf. But they also Testing to Switch the Lever between Maximize Profits and Losing Customers to find the Best Result for them. We will see.

I agree in the most Points Peanuts Stated but a few Thinks i want to Comment

About the Netcode :

Its not That Easy and i dont think a Complete Rewriting of this Code would take 2 Weeks. Its not Necessary to Take PE From the Net for that. You canā€™t Compare PE with Halflife or UT. The Calculating Process in CS means you shoot have you hit yes / no. But in PE You shoot, what skill have the Attacker what Skill have the Defender hit ? yes / no. Yes, what are the Resistences of his Armor ā€¦ and so go on. And not to forget Item Tracking! The netcode of PE is not that bad.

And unlike you canā€™t compare a Peresistent Game World with a Single Player PC Game. You need to add new Content to keep the Bored Highlevel Busy constantly , improving the Game adding new Features and this you have to do on the Fly while the Game is Running. Compared to that i must admit happy the Rate of Bugs after Patching is very Low. MA have a good QA.

My Heart is Broken in 2 Pieces one is Unhappy about the Changes the other have deep Respect about MAs work making PE what it is now and push it Forward.

6

Interesting post.

I also think MA is heading the wrong way with this VU. There are different kinds of players in PE, and there should be possibilites for all of these to have fun. As it is now, skilling and hunting is all there is to it. Axing combibos is imo only fun for about half an hour. The fun part in this game for me was mining, which is now hopeless. Same goes for crafting.

There should be more possibilites for semi-noobs like myself to do something useful. Sure, MA wants money from decay they get from hunting, but canā€™t they come up with something better than to spawn one million more mobs into the game? :rolleyes:

What I want to see in the next VU is some more focus on other professions than hunting.

7

ā€œStrong in the ways of the dark side is MAā€ lol

rep given for a well thought out and well articulated post :slight_smile:

but we must look at both sides of this situation, ppl usually fear change and this vu has had more change than most that i rememberā€¦ having said that i have also stopped depositing and will see how it goes for a while

8

Great job with your post! I feel the same way. While it is nice to skill faster, Iā€™m only at about 550 for rifle, and I canā€™t gain any more skill unless I use my MKII. Most mobs that give me skill with that weapon, require an armor higher than Rascal. I canā€™t afford anything else though, and loots are ziltch for me. On average, I go out with 20 ped in ammo, and rake in about 6 ped if Iā€™m lucky. Iā€™ve globaled once with a team (got only 25 ped) in my whole 16 months of playing. I was hoping to hit 1k in rifle and them start moving onto other weapons to try to even them out a little, but now itā€™s going to take so much time and money, that Iā€™m near giving up on it.

I whole-heartedly agree with what youā€™re saying. The fun is going, and the cost is rising to play this ā€˜freeā€™ game. :frowning:

9

WORD, man!

just to add all betas i know suckā€¦and they get much better after that e.g. EVE(well maybe forget about Ryzom lol)

if MA wanted to earn money so bad it wouldnt have been so hard to lurk around..
well ingame advertising didnt work out yet but what the hell:
MERCHANDISING???

if MA pulled up their buts and would have printed various tshirts and sold em
for e.g. 200 ped each they would have made 80%-100% and more profit depending on the amount they printā€¦

hell even small companies and bars do that and profit ..not even to mention coffee cups,key chains and lighters which are evn cheaper to printā€¦

that kind of skill system should have been implemented much earlier when the last skill switch happend.

Changes like this must hurt no one or all at the same rate..

obviously this hasnt been achieved.

NARF i better stop and log in ā€˜somewhereā€™ else

10

its kinda late for all that ā€¦ 2 year i listen the same post , 2 year i see petition to speak with MA , 2 year i say the same thing , and 2 year MA do only what they whantā€¦

my main problem know is :
what i am going to noob i helped , what i am going to say to all that player who deposited 10 to 100 $ per month , what i am going to say to noob that spend time and money to hunt , what i am going to say to the noob i helped to reatch 2k skill during month and now it worth total nothing, what say to then when they come and say " badd i feel total backstabed , i left this game".
the only thing comme to my mind is ā€¦ you right , you should left and put 10$ / month in other game , they dont going backstab you ā€¦

11

I beleive MA has made this change because they have a goal in mind. They know what they want the game to be about and it seems to be more than just autoskilling.

Of course we can only guess because they have not said this. However, looking back on the changes one could say that it points in this direction. They seem to not care too much about the population that wants to gain skills with realative ease in large chunks.

Maybe they are trying to carve out this population in order to lay the groundwork for something a little more RPG and ā€œVirtual Universeā€ than endlessly clicking your mouse in order to see some numbers go up.

If people are no longer skilling solo they will come into towns and trade or converse. They will go hunting for fun and make new friends.

MA must have a vision, we just need to try and pinpoint what the reasons are for this change and make our own choice as to whether or not we fit into their vision.

DD
:evilking:

2 Likes
12

[QUOTE=Devil Doll]
I beleive MA has made this change because they have a goal in mind. They know what they want the game to be about and it seems to be more than just autoskilling.

Of course we can only guess because they have not said this. However, looking back on the changes one could say that it points in this direction. They seem to not care too much about the population that wants to gain skills with realative ease in large chunks.

Maybe they are trying to carve out this population in order to lay the groundwork for something a little more RPG and ā€œVirtual Universeā€ than endlessly clicking your mouse in order to see some numbers go up.

If people are no longer skilling solo they will come into towns and trade or converse. They will go hunting for fun and make new friends.

MA must have a vision, we just need to try and pinpoint what the reasons are for this change and make our own choice as to whether or not we fit into their vision.

DD
:evilking:
[/QUOTE]

I am not talking about autoskilling here DD :cool: I am talking about normal finger and mouse button clicking. Dont even get me started on the subject of autoclickers and autoskilling. :sniper: :rofl:

Nice post DD. You touched on something else that I was going to cover in my original post in this thread, but.. I forgotā€¦ and that is communication. Yes, MA must have a vision.. a goalā€¦ for the direction they are going. But it is like some sort of secret operation to them and they dont want to let anyone else know. Maybe they are afraid too many people will leave the game if we know too many details. IMO, there has never been real communication between MA and us players, and this is a key problem here. We are the consumers of their product, and if they dont start noticing us and listening to us, then they will suffer in the long run.

13

[QUOTE=Peanuts]
IMO, there has never been real communication between MA and us players, and this is a key problem here. We are the consumers of their product, and if they dont start noticing us and listening to us, then they will suffer in the long run.
[/QUOTE]

they are allredy surffer ā€¦ so strange MA speak about VU 7.5 now ā€¦ we just learn about 7.4 som hour before ā€¦

i am not against the " change skill system" but i do not like how it was done.
lots of player lost a lot due to that change.
lets say someone has got 1 199 HG and mentor system finish at 1.2k . with new system mentor finish at 2.4k ( exemple dont pick on number) how it come that diciple do not got 2.399 or somethink like that ?
this mean MA just changed system without adating hour skill to the new system.

lets say MA need change ped ration.
i am not against it. but if say for reson X MA say now with 10$ you get 20 ped ā€¦ i whant to see ped in my ped card twiced and get item for compansate the lost on my item.

here MA change the value of the skill , but do not adapt the avatar in game ā€¦
if i where crafter ā€¦ i will startto worry a lot ā€¦ just for info MA will change craft in 7.6ā€¦

14

[QUOTE=Devil Doll]

If people are no longer skilling solo they will come into towns and trade or converse. They will go hunting for fun and make new friends.

[/QUOTE]

Or maybe they just wont spend as much time in the game anymore.