Rationalization behind the parts of the game we complain about.

Entropia Universe Discussion General Discussion
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I’ve been thinking about the history of Project Entropia lately, and how it seems a lot of the changes that MindArk make do not go over too well with the community - for example, the reduction of all avatar speeds and the addition of the ‘This creature did not carry any loot’ message. Many players were highly opposed to changes such as these and protested them accrdingly. However, keeping the game updated seems to be a priority for MindArk, and they have done so.

When Version Updates are implemented, the focus seems to be on new content - occasionally a bug will be fixed, but that information will appear further down the list from the new content. Players like new content. However…

When Project Entropia was started, it was clearly dependant (and still is) on a stable economy. The weapons, armours, items, and tools created at the beginning of the game served as the backbone of the Project Entropia economy through decay and repair. Thus, the stable economy of the past depended on the items of the past.

MindArk introduced new items - however, it would be impossible for them to introduce items that were superior to the ones that existed. Why? Because the economy would be disrupted. So they didn’t. The universe of Project Entropia is full of these ineffective items - take a look at crafted weaponry and how much it tends to decay.

Eventually, however, MindArk did begin to introduce items that were better than the previous ones. We acquired things like Pixie, Goblin, and Rascal armour. Things like the RepEdge Battle Axe 1x0. How did they introduce these things, which are now almost universally used for skilling (and thus by thousands of players) without disrupting the stability of the economy?

They had to make sacrifices. Thus, we were introduced to slower avatars, resulting in more armour and FAP decay, and less frequent loots. These new, effecient items could not exist in tandem with the economy if there were no changes made.

And thus MindArk have created a balance. New, more efficient items are introduced only if they can be supported by a change in the game’s structure or a new source of income for MindArk.

So, if you ever feel like you’re being cheated after a new VU, keep in mind that MindArk hasn’t made any big mistakes - in fact, they’ve pulled off the economy thing so ingeniously that we don’t even realize how they’re keeping it alive. But they are. And that’s the key.

7 Likes
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Well said. I couldn’t agree more :girl:

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Many people tend to only see the changes as bad, because they only see one side of it. If you make the brakes on a bike better, you usually have to change the brake-wire too. Thus, one change usually leads to other things changing as well, sometimes not so noticable.

People screamed for more force nexus, and got it. At the same time, vibrant sweat decreased. So the focus shifted pretty fast. I think most need to have a reality check, to see that evolve = change, and that not everyone can be 100% satisfied.

How many remembers the avatar-movement from pre 7.0? Many whined when it changed, but what about today? Do they like it? Is it better?

The fear of change is a very dangerous fear.

Rant stop.

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You have some good points, altho I don’t really agree on the pixie, goblin, axe, … discussion.
Ok they are more efficient but before that most n00bs didn’t use any armor at all.
And I don’t really believe the slowing down of avatars really had something to do with getting them more decay, because by slowing people down, they can also kill less mobs in the same timeframe.
For instance, before you could kill 100 mobs in 1 hour but they all hit you once, now you’re only able to kill 50 mobs but they’ll all hit you twice :slight_smile:
The axes were introduced to make melee hunting more interesting, the profits you can make because they’re so effective will always be relative small due to the rather low dmg/sec.
By boosting the melee popularity they created themself a pretty stable and big income, so a large financial security.

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Well its all about balancing. I still chuckle a bit about the complaints that the community directed at MA after they changed the drop rates so that a lot more items dropped. I seemed to recall that prior to the changes people were whining about their not being enough items in their loots. So MA obliged but people complained :dunce:

I gave it a lot of thought, and I think in the end what people were really after was bigger loots. This could have been achieved by having more items drop but still at the orginal value of those items. Off course when MA made things drop more, they lowered the TT values so that they would fit the loot sizes for that creature.

1 Like
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nice post have some rep on me :girl:

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well said man, well said :wink:

+rep from me too :slight_smile:

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I’ve noticed alot of changes to the worse also.

1.The more aim+mms I get the more I tend to miss (compared to older VUs)

2.Only items I loot is basically generic chips and lots of them. Some variation should be nice though.I think less items drop nowadays compared to older VUs,several hofs these days are only peds

3.I miss skilling on tantardions without risking to get damaged :tongue2:

  1. Skillchips..I say it again,its so lame to see people spend thousands on chips just to get a good prostand

There are also good things,like nerfs in evade which adds some more excitement to the game again and no more trapping :laugh:

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Great post there Rain Man.

I agree, somehow MA Managed to “pull it off”..but time will tell how effective this will be in the long run.

I for one would bitch up a storm whenever something “new” came along..lol

breaks out magic 8 ball and shakes it vigorously