Why does everything have to be a big secret?

Silo · March 7, 2005, 2:50pm

I was reading Skam’s thread about professional standings and how they work. We’ve all read these types of threads: “how does blah work?”.

My question is, why is it all such a big secret? I understand why MA wouldn’t want to provide the specifics about the loot system, so I am specifically not talking about that.

Why doesn’t MA tell the community things like:

-how skills interact to perform actions (i.e. how are they all combined to come out with a result? / do any skills play a bigger part than others?)
-professional standings (i.e. what determines your prof. standing?)
-skill level / rank increases (i.e. what skill levels trigger rank increases? / what skill levels unlock new skills? / how can I get consecutive skill increases between 2 attempts but then no increases for 50 attempts?)
-chance of success (i.e. what are the percentages? / what is the full interaction between skills, QR, etc.?)
-the list goes on…

I know that some of this info (or theories rather) is available through user websites. And, a big “thank you” goes out to all of the players who have taken the time and spent the ped to discover more about these things.

But again, why won’t MA just come out and tell us some of this stuff? It wouldn’t give any of us an unfair advantage. In fact, it would do more to level the playing field.

I suppose an easy answer to this question is that PE is not a game but rather a virtual universe. As a virtual universe, we, the players, have to discover everything on our own and anything published as a result has to be produced by the participants.

There is just one thing wrong with that ideology: we will never be able to verify the authenticity of such theories. Some theories that I have seen are great; I believe them. But, there is still a small chance that they are not completely accurate. And, an even larger chance that they will be changed with a vu that is just around the corner.

So, what is this communities take on this subject?

Essi · March 7, 2005, 2:59pm

[QUOTE=Silo]
So, what is this communities take on this subject?
[/QUOTE]

Personally I like this more than many other games where you sometimes even have simulator programs to calculate nearly exact outcomes of your actions. Result is that everyone plays the game like economists (using simulators and calculator a lot).

PE has lots of unknown factors and it partly does make community to work together. If you could get all info from MA’s website you wouldnt need other players around. IMHO that would mean a lot less interaction and co-operation between players.

Also current situation makes PE just little bit more difficult. And when there is higher difficulty there is always chance to benefit from it. There are always people who wont bother to find out from community sites or test themselves. If you do bother, you have advantage.

Kalashi · March 7, 2005, 3:23pm

[QUOTE=Essi]
Personally I like this more than many other games where you sometimes even have simulator programs to calculate nearly exact outcomes of your actions. Result is that everyone plays the game like economists (using simulators and calculator a lot).

PE has lots of unknown factors and it partly does make community to work together. If you could get all info from MA’s website you wouldnt need other players around. IMHO that would mean a lot less interaction and co-operation between players.

Also current situation makes PE just little bit more difficult. And when there is higher difficulty there is always chance to benefit from it. There are always people who wont bother to find out from community sites or test themselves. If you do bother, you have advantage.
[/QUOTE]

EXACTLY

MA stated time and time again…its not THEIR world…its OURS!

Its ALL about the ‘Skills’ and the ‘Players’ US!

we make it, we break it, we shape it!

system · March 7, 2005, 3:31pm

It makes the game much more interesting. If you take away the mystery of skills and how things work PE really doesn’t have much depth when compared to other games.

DD
:evilking:

iwasinnamuknow · March 7, 2005, 3:33pm

yup i love sitting here thinking about all different fomulae, hidden systems etc…it has been said i have an “analytical mind”, so i love to have tonnes of info/mysteries/theories etc to fill it with

honorman · March 7, 2005, 3:34pm

some times i feel to much secrets from MA

Essi · March 7, 2005, 4:04pm

Sometimes I have thought how I would make it myself…

I would make it totally dynamical (wait a sec.. this close what MA says).

Totally dynamic would mean for example: dynamic skills - how much your skills matter depends on other players skills. Thus player with highest skills always has same “bonus” in actions. Actual skill level then doenst matter at all but only how it relates to other players skills. Every day when others skill - you get worse. Every time when noob joins this game - you get better.

This same might very work with crafting successes etc.

It would mean that there are no forumulas to publish that players could really understand.

Silo · March 7, 2005, 4:17pm

i must agree that i actually do like the vagueness of the game, i guess. it is what keeps the addiction strong…not knowing what the hell is going to happen next.

plus, it does lend to greater (more frequent AND meaningful) interaction with other players.

even if there was a MA manual, half of the players wouldn’t read it and we’d still be in the same boat! lol.

Essi, very interesting last post! Rep to you!

Aziphirael · March 7, 2005, 5:09pm

Well historically Marco did say that MA prefered us to find out how everything work Although putting more stats on tools is still in the works.

Personally I like the challenge of working it all out

My great acheivement towards understanding PE would be contributing to the pre-gold SMC mining map which plotted all the best ore fields and how they respawn over time.

Silo · March 7, 2005, 6:37pm

a little clarification…my original post was referring to mechanics mainly. not things like where certain mobs or ore are located.

by mechanics i am referring to how skills interact with each other to produce an outcome, what the different ranks of skills are, and things like that.

i don’t think that it gives anyone an advantage by knowing what rank is after “beginner” before everyone else. so, why couldn’t (and shouldn’t) MA provide that type of information (i.e. non success/failure influencing information)?

Svetlana · March 7, 2005, 6:40pm

[QUOTE=Silo]
a little clarification…my original post was referring to mechanics mainly. not things like where certain mobs or ore are located.

by mechanics i am referring to how skills interact with each other to produce an outcome, what the different ranks of skills are, and things like that.

i don’t think that it gives anyone an advantage by knowing what rank is after “beginner” before everyone else. so, why couldn’t (and shouldn’t) MA provide that type of information (i.e. non success/failure influencing information)?
[/QUOTE]

Ya- very basic things should be published by MA. But as every1 kind of agrees it is a fun challenge to try to figure it all out ourselves… even things like professional standing skills… it’s like trying to piece together a puzzle

maniac · March 8, 2005, 6:20am

I think I’m one of not many players who doesn’t play like an economist. I just… play… Trying to survive on luck and persistance. Mostly luck.

But honestly I think people just don’t know how exactly things work. That’s why nobody is giving a precise definition. Hell, if I knew the Loot system, I’d be rich by now, with people, paying me for getting that information.

I’d be publishing books. “HOFing in PE. How do we do it.”

Gruye · March 8, 2005, 6:43am

they want us to figure that stuff out on our own… and i have on some things

Muppis · March 8, 2005, 6:50am

Yeah, relax. Take this game day by day. You can´t hurry in this game.

Faustian · March 8, 2005, 8:24am

Think maybe these links will help you…

https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=182&page=2&pp=10
https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=183&page=2&pp=10

Atleast I think this is what your reffering too.

maniac · March 8, 2005, 10:08am

Oh, oh, I just wanted to ask: How to win in Project Entropia? Did anyone beat the game before?! Why is it such a big secret if somebody did? :rolleyes:

Nozzy · March 8, 2005, 12:47pm

It’s said that Legion “cracked” the loot system once

Silo · March 8, 2005, 1:38pm

a few misconceptions that i would like to respond to about my intent with this thread:

Maniac, i am not asking how to “win” the game. that is one of the things that attracts me to an MMORPG…no ending. i have never enjoyed any game that required me to go through a level and then on to the next cut screen and level.

Faustian, your posts on CoS and Skill Rankings are exactly the kind of things i am talking about. i have seen those before, of course (and they are great), but my point is that that information didn’t help me advance in levels or craft better, so why didn’t MA publish it? why keep it a “secret” and essentially force a player to do it for them?

Muppis, i am not trying to hurry the game, i don’t think (am i?).

i suppose that what i can take away from the previous posts is that some people enjoy disovering for themselves the interworkings of the game in general or mechanics specifically. and others, like me, think it would be nice to have a little more basic information provided from MA about the virtual universe they have created.

i am sure there is also another group, that would like all the success/failure factors spoon fed to them as well.

i am definitely not in that last group. i wouldn’t be scouring forums and guides for information if i was.

oh yeah, there is another group too: those that don’t try to learn anything and end up failing miserably in the game. sure, they contribute to the loot pool, but they also quit in a very short timeframe.

it isn’t like MA hasn’t endorsed guides. they posted the EP created guide within the CL. so, they liked it, thought it was worthy of sharing with every player in the game, but didn’t want to go through the trouble of doing it themselves (my opinion).

huh. this is turning into more of me complaining, which was not my original intent either. sorry for that!

i really just wanted to know what other people thought about MA not divulging simple types of information.

Kalashi · March 8, 2005, 2:16pm

[QUOTE=Silo]
a few misconceptions that i would like to respond to about my intent with this thread: