One thing is clear Zac ... you obviously did your homework in an effort to bring a more well-rounded look inside our Entropia Universe. Calypso's evolution has been slow and steady, and certainly not without bumps in the road. Any number of people would tell you that it could have been done better, and most assuredly the implementation of the CryEngine2 conversion, but how many of us are truly knowledgeable or skilled enough from a technical perspective to understand the intricacies of what it requires to take on a project of this magnitude and avoid those bumps in the road completely.

That said ... EU presents an incredible dynamic that affords us an opportunity to design our own unique approach to how we embrace and navigate this virtual environment.  From no depositing to breaking the bank, the choice is still personal, and there's an accountability that comes with that choice.

Personally ... I have had my own challenges in the 4+ years that I have inhabited Calypso, but through it all, I have witnessed the developer's own growth with regard to how they manage those bumps in the road.  After the CryEngine2 implementation, we have all seen multiple and swift updates that have fixed or eliminated some of the issues.  There is also clear evidence that the restructuring to an Entropia Universe Platform (so far) has its advantages, and while First Planet Company (FPC) who oversees Calypso and its development is still in its infancy, much in the way of their anticipated approach to moving us forward shows a dedication toward improvement and potential better game play.  Where the challenge comes in perhaps is our level of patience.  We seem to have none at times because we want it to work properly right out the gate, or at least with minimal disruptions, which I feel is reasonable, yet a double-edged sword.  We may at times think one-dimensionally from a personal game play perspective, rather than taking into consideration the expansiveness of in-house dynamics that none of us are privey to.  We just know we want it to work now, which is not to say that our judgments are not based on historical experience, and perhaps even valid at times, but nonetheless, we lot can become quite vocal when it comes to our Entropia Universe.

However, this is why ... we want it to work, and there's a brilliance within our community that has supported this mindset with any number of credible offerings that the developers (MindArk) have periodically chosen from.  Is it enough?  Many think not given the simplicity of implementation of some of the ideas that would enhance our experience to a greater degree.  Again, we are not privey to the road map that leads us into the future, but one thing is certain ... while we have embraced the increase in communication between MindArk and its player base, we stand at the door crying for more, which is perhaps what leads some to be more critical in print than others.

At the end of the day ... we have an incredibly unique and dynamic environment like no other, bar none, and have a personal responsibility in how we approach the opportunities presented to us.  Wise decisions are in order, and choice can either make you, or break you.  The best advice I could give to anyone is to do your homework, and enter this universe armed with more than a weapon.  Knowledge is your greatest asset because it gives you a better decision making position, and there are any number of resources available to help you gain an edge.  I would start first at Entropia Forum where the EU community presents a treasure trove of important guides and player knowledge that will support a more successful experience.  Other resources can also be found at this location.

Is it worth it ... absolutely, and without a doubt, the most immersive virtual environment that has the potential to hold you captive, perhaps even beyond your own expectations, but ... be responsible and know that rules of engagement come from personal choice.  It's all a learning process, both from player and developer perspectives, and those of us who continue to interact with this universe, despite personal frustrations at times, have at least a modicum of faith that the momentum will continue to increase, and we will see our magnificent Calypso bathed in the glory it was meant to achieve.

Great reporting Zac ... thank you for taking the time to acquire your own experiences, as well as digging deeper into the dynamics of Entropia Universe that make it such a unique environment.

 Zac, you rock. Thanks! It's clear you care and took your time getting to know us! Very appreciated. 

Hello Entropians,

Some of you may be wondering where the second installment of the feature is.  The first article has generated so much positive feedback that many Entropians have provided me with information and interviews for the second article.  Due to this unprecedented (during my career) surge in support from the Entropia Universe I will have to delay posting the article for a few more days to ensure that the article, and the comments included from your fellow Entropians, is presented in a fashion worthy of the tremendous support recieved from the EU community.

Hi all,

guess it wouldn't make much sense at all to fight here about our views of EU. This site should be mainly populated by ppl that aren't yet in game, and that would like to have an unbiased impression what to expect.

I know I cannot give, so I'll not further talk about. Guess you cannot, too, you're as involved as me.

We need another approach to educate ppl about EU, to help 'em finding out if it's worth this 4GB download, and to maybe win 'em as new participants. Which would be one we'd all be interested in, right?

So I guess the best way would be to give honest & unbiased information. I accept that what I wrote earlier might be recognized as such, as well as what you provided.

I'm not sure if my following links are suitable to this site, so, plz, Admins, should it be wrong, just delete the whole post!

The main EU web site is a site owned by a bought-in Uber and member of a top Society:

Beware - this site is heavily moderated and has harsh rules - talking about quite some things is strictly forbidden! As mentioned, (once made by a back then quite honorable member of the community, but recently) bought by a person not undisputed, that has a heavy interest in as much participants as possible, this site is now considered quite shady by many - heavy censoring, and quite frequent bans for all not following the "happy EU" line of the buyer. But it's the biggest one, and the one MindArk (game maker) seems to prefer to relay informations to first. You cannot live without.

To complete the view the esteemed reader might visit:

It's completely free from censorship and moderation, so you'd find all of the scum of Calypso concentrated here. Don't worry - be quiet, use selection on what you read, and you'd find a lot of useful information between the constant name calling, cursing, haggling.

Remember - this is the place where things are told that are not allowed to be told on EntropiaForum. Just ignore the mud getting thrown about, you'd need this site as well as the other. One alone wouldn't give a complete view, so you need to read this one too. Even if sometimes its demanding ...

Ahh, visit the "Forum" links on both - guess you already did ... That's where the beef is.

When visiting the forums the esteemed reader will be buried with terms it cannot know - "Ghost", "Mk.II", "ModFAP" etc. This is where the EU wiki comes to help:

It's the main source of information about EU. It's to mention that there have been reported wrong entries to manipulate items trade values (never forget, it's all about real  money here!), but usually it's quite correct and well maintained.

There's an option in game to determine the actual trade value of items, and often it does quite good. Sometime you need a closer look, and this is when:

comes into game. Check here when Wikipedia doesn't provide correct values (or none at all) for the current markup.

Closing now I'd like to provide a last advice. When actually starting this game, stay clear of avatars just partially clothed. And of those that are in orange or the same brownish gear like you. There's a high risk to get scammed, after all it's about real money.

Usually ppl with coats, boots or hats (not berets) are the ones you'd like to ask - these things are of quite a value, and the owners are less suspectible to want to just scam you - but it could happen anyway!

Whatever you do, be careful - it's about real money, as mentioned quite often now. You'll find depictable vermins, and huge loads of simply nice people. Maybe you'd ever find me - tell me the code word "Most Foul" and I'd reward you with a nice piece of armor suiting your current state - but first you'd have to find out who I am in game ...

Hint: I'm not Juan nor Gonzales ;-)

Best luck, have fun!

Juan,

Entropia is not aimed at a small crowd with a lot of money, litle life and much time. Entropia is aimed at both those you mentioned, but also full-time working house mothers with 4 kids living at home in the age between 8-20 where she has to help 2 of them with homework 4 hours after work etch day becuse they have dyslictia.

Persons who dosnt deposit more then at highest 10 dollar a month if even that becuse their prio is not on this game, if the 10 dollars from last months havent lasted that is, which they normaly do, and in most cases incressed to maybe 110 or 120 peds becuse of well spent, well thought out investments/miningruns or hunting runs done economicly.

These are people who play a litle every now and then becuse they enjoy it and can do a lot with those 10 dollars.

Entropia builds primary on entertaing the indivdual without the need of impact from other players in your gaming if you so desire, you can play alone in a litle "bubble" or with others, log on and off when you want to, and dont have to spend any cash to play the game, meaning even if you dont have money currently, you can still play and socialize, if you dont like doing so, you dont even need to log on until you feel that you want to log on again.

Noone in entropia wishes to "trick" people to join becuse these people will quit and a lot of effort spent by mentors will be lost, new won friends will be gone becuse they felt tricked. We are trying to keep a realistic picture of the game for new players, and a realistic picture is not some horror-scenario-ultra-expensive-"requiers a lot of time"-Entropia. Becuse that is just as false as claiming this is the easiest and most understandable game online.

To gain skills in this game it does requier a lot of time, lets not shove that under the table, becuse it is true, it can take months, years or decades depending on how dedicated you are and how much money you wish to spend "in bulk". But you dont need to, you can skill up slowly in what Juan would call endless grinding with litle reward. However, not everyone agree it is "Endless grinding with litle reward" but rather "Fun after work" as it should be. It is all up to the person what to do.

Also, i feel ancient around you guys, like i played Entropia for to long. However, just becuse i happend to be close to the oldest gamer around still, dosnt mean i depo more nor less or earn anything more then anyone els, i chat in town, buy clothes and take care of new players when i can, thats my thrill, when i hunt, i usualy hunt small mobs (Small snablesnots and dakis) wearing pixie and wielding an opalo with people who recently arrived to calypso doing the same. My choise game in entropia ^.-

I have been playing since Mar 2007, heard it all, seen it all and still dont know it all by any stretch of my imagination.

I remember when I started like it was yesterday and I lasted around 3 days doing the sweating thing. It was then I made a decision to put what I would have spent on the many other MMORPG games in subscriptions and deposited a meager amount. Asked for advice, weighed it all up and made some small purchases and began the next step of the journey.

Again, as I move through EU I ask questions, learn from my mistakes and try and replicate my successes. I have 160K in skills but given the time I put in over the last 2.5 years its not surprising. This is my game of choice and hey I invest in my avatar while enjoying the game.

Some people play the stockexchange, online poker, lotto all have a risk but if your not prepared to lose it - dont spend it. Sweating is a simple way of turning over some ped and it is the way it is to ensure that 10000000000s of players dont start and destroy the economy with cheap and easy ways to turn a dollar with the bot scams and harvest programs that then devalue the ingame system - which unlike others has a rl cash value. Sweating is hard but you can do it...there are proven examples which I wont bore you with.

I took from the article that it was a great game and for new players. How they approach the game can differ but its free, dynamic and there is support (mentors, guides, societies and ingame hints/help) for players who may want to while away an hour, invest and make a modest profit over a medium term or those who sink all they have into it and try to become the next virtual millionaire (not advised unless you have that sort of dough to spend). Either way the game is a good game and is stable enough to be here in another 2.5 years+.

If your new - speak to guides, find a well regarded mentor, give it some time, ask those around you at the main entry point to the game, read our forum: Entropiaforum.com and stay alert....if it sounds too true then like life - beware.

All the best and hope to see you ingame. Advice is free, sweat...well thats a different matter ;)

Bagman

Hi Xzion & Zac,

it's not my intention here to have huge discussions about the details of EU - this would be ways beyond the scope of this site, right?

I tried to correct some points laid out, as I see as my duty as a long term EU participant.

I replyed to some of your claims, Zac, that I KNOW that are just the results of some "beautified" information coming from "Uber participants" that have a vital interest in luring in as many depositors as possible - after all it's what they profit on.

This is a very long time game - improvemet times is measured in years played. It's completely different to other games we know - after even some months you'd never ever have have a slightest chance to know anything about the whereabouts ...

To Xzion:

I can just ask anybody interested to use the links I mentioned:

Dear reader, don't believe me. Educate yourself, check for sites named EntropiaForum, Entropedia, PEAuction - read and find out I'm talking honestly here. All the info I gave above is easily to evaluate.

I myself don't hunt Atrox, even if all sources are telling me it's the most hunted, and maybe most profitable mob. And that it is the beginning in the mob ladder where you could expect to loot something of value.

And when I have to kill them, I don't need any armor. My HP, evade, paramedic and such skills are ways sufficient to kill them with a little healing. Even providers or better.

But reaching such skills would take literally years for a new player. The loopwholes have been closed since long.

I chosed Atrox because they are a quite popular choice among advanced new participants, that have maybe made a year or slightly more spent.

And I chosed them to to counter your claim of the 20$. This is, in my humble opinion, and plz excuse the term, pure BS. I'm not more than an advanced newbie (after at least 4 years ...) and I don't have any problems losing your 20$ in a single afternoon.  Not to even talk about that my gear that's worth a vast multitude of your 20$ ...

To work with those 20$ you'd either need to reduce yourself to trading-only of smallest value/ markup things, maybe making a net of 1$ in a weeks slavery, or killing most newbie mobs over, over and over, and hope you'd break even. Grind at it's best.

To improve in skills in an adequate manner you'll have to spent PEDs. I have given an example thats:

a.) widely recommended by all of the forum gurus, and

b.) followed by lots of participants.

You could easily do any other thing, hunt other things, mine, craft, whatever - but whatever you'd do as soon as you left the actual full-noob zone could easily result in the loss of your 20$, in a single afternoon.

It's not hard to verify, just check the links I provided.

This is a great game, can provide a lot of fun and satisfaction, but is aimed to a quite small crowd of ppl with with huge funds, much time and few life. And it has a high chance to create addiction, especially for ppl susceptible to gambling:

Whatever you do, killing a mob, dropping a mining probe, crafting something, there's some constants:

1. It will cost you RL money, and the money spent will have a direct impact on the return to expect (skills will come dependent of money spent, and loots will come dependent of cost to kill mob - there's a small possibility that even a small mob might yield huge return, but this might be an fairy tale ...)

2. You'll get nothing, _often_, or:

3. You'll get a small part of what you spent, _close to always_, or:

4. You'll hit a small jackpot and get what you spent, or even a little more, _rare_, or:

5: You'll hit a real jackpot and win what you'll spent in the next month, _very rare_, or:

6: You'd hit the huge jackpot: Hall of Fame. This is now some thousands of dollars. Just - the vast majority of these is reaped by the always same 20 - 50 participants. A common colonist has about the same chance to hit such as you have a chance to hit the jackpot in your local lottery.

I'm in since late 2005, and I'm member of a not-this-small Society. None of us ever scored such.

I understand you, ppl - I want new participants, too, to pay for my loots! But I guess it wouldn't make much sense to promise the blue from sky, after all they'd fast realize the lies ...

Let's just keep honest, let tell 'em that EU is a game for the hardcores, and for the rich ones, but let's tell 'em too that is has room for "the unwashed masses", too (I'm among these).

Don't start if you're not ready to drop at least 50$/ month for a while. Don't start if you're after fast reward. Don't start if you're goal is "end game".

And don't start if you aren't a nice guy - we don't like such. We have a great community, and exactly this is that makes this game great.

You'll be welcome, but you have been warned. Think for yourself now, and use the provided links, pal.

CYA!

(I'll not respond anymore. This discussion is growing beyond the scope of this site. I have provided hints where to educate yourself. It's so good when a [man/girl] can think for itself - do so, and feel welcomed. My best wishes to you!)

I have to agree with Xzion.  First of all you should know that I don't write an article without thorough research - in this case, months of it.  The article does only comment on some areas lightly, but that is due more to word limits vs practical time allocation.  I myself have globalled twice without putting in huge amounts of cash.  I know of others who never put in cash.  Sweating is a good example: it may take a very long time to earn any decent money, but along the way you are generating a valuable skill set.  the trick, like Xzion said, is not to overreach.  If you attempt to go too far too early, you will burn money, no doubt about it.  You have to be realistic too: a game with a real cash economy is bound to reflect some of the laws of the real world, ie. the work smart and hard factor.  You will have to work hard to generate money in this game.  In terms of the financial rewards going to the top of the food chain you should re-read that sentence.  It says that rewards don't JUST go to the top of the food chain, which implies that a fair amount do.  To comment on who Mindark has to pay is a moot point: you could argue that about any development house in the world.  I truly believe that there are opportunities in this game to make money.  But again, it is like the real world somewhat; you have to spend money to make it.  Mentoring is an issue that will be touched upon in the next article - new players can receive quite a boost by taking this path.  Their mentors, however, will often loose money by mentoring, but then, like you infer Juan, they can probably afford it.

To all non-EU players reading this, we are very sorry you have to read a discussion you probly dont understand much of when we add names of guns and other gear you can get ingame.

--

Ontopic agian;

You are speaking about mid-level geared hunter who is pretty well skilled, but dosnt know he should not be using ghost (Espcially not plated ghost) to hunt small troxes, im speaking about plain newbie who just started the game and should not even think such thoughts yet for few months.

Im speaking about a basic gear of;

Pixie (The most usefull of the basic armours) (But not needed as you can hunt armourless in the start on the smallest mobs), 20 ped~~

opalo (The basic rifle), 3.2 ped~

TT fap (First aid kit, the cheapest one), 15 ped~

And for the most hardcore newbies; a101 (Also so called amplifier which incresses the dmg done by the gun it is placed on = AMP) (50 ped~~) placed on the opalo, not needed for atleast the first 1000 skilllevels, and if you get that far, and have a mentor maybe he/she is willing to let you borrow hes/hers amp to put on your gun to hunt with.

So a total cost on about 40 ped~~ for the basic startgear without an amp. that would be about 4 dollar.

This would serve as the basic gear for any new player, lasting for atleast 1-5 months if played right, with a bit of luck in the start befor you have fully masterd your opalo. If you chose to skip the armour and go with the fap (first aid kit) insted, which you will need skills with anyways later on as the FAP is your nr1 most valuble tool as a hunter, then you can easily get the gear for around 20-25 ped. Then for the ammo, you got 175 ped left; you go on runs of 20-40 ped ammo per run, the return with this setup is most likely far above the "normal" avarage of 75%, it dosnt come as a big suprise you say that is the avarage return for you, and others at your level, becuse a lot of people lack the knowledge of what to hunt, and with what gear (By looking on the list you provided, Nothing wrong with the gun and amp you mentioned, just the rest)

  The return with the setup i said would be about 95-105% return, these are the numbers i have gotten on my hunts with this setup, which i have done over a hundred of times even if i dont like to hunt, 105% of 40 ped is not a lot, but 95% return is not a big lose either, so it evens out in the end, but it is still profit in most cases and if you keep this up long enugh you will have a lot more then you deposited initaly assuming you dont fall for the temptation to go hunt high-regen troxes with half-bad gear and lack of skills. If you lose a lot on one place when hunting, change area to somewhere with similiar enemys to shoot at.

Then you go out and blast small dakis and snablesnots who has a low regen with this basic gear and you will see that you eventually make a profit as your skilllevel raises. I dont need to make a whole lot of math out of this to show how this works, but i never failed in getting a profit with this setup with some time spent.

And for the atrox hutning (Which god forbid, someone does the first thing they do when they start playing) i would simply take pixie + 5B plates and a vivo t15 with a gun like breer m2a-m5a, or p2a-p5a (I usualy hunt with breer m3a + a103), depending on if you like handguns or rifles. however, becuse of my setup that i like on small troxes it usualy takes around 3 mins to kill one. Therefor i prefer to stay away from them. hehe. ^_^

Just wanted to show you what i mean with this post! Why i can get away so cheap ;)

Kind Regards

Xzion

Right Xzion,

guess we'll not agree. I can live with it, and I think it's not the place for huge discussions here.

But since this site isn't a dedicated EU site I think, too, that here's quite some people curious abut EU, and I think we should be honest, not trying to lure 'em in with wrong promises. So let's do a small reality check, for the education of our readers.

I'll calcutate an example of a hunting session that should be most common:

We'll hunt smaller Atrox, dino like critters, one of the most hunted mobs in EU. We'll hunt smaller maturities, young to old, commonly referred as "baby trox" and regarded as "noob mobs". To hunt them at least 3 or 4 month of intense skilling prior would be useful, we'd need enough skill to handle the gear successfully - lower skill means higher cost.

To hunt we'll use some very common gear that usually is recommended for those: A P5a pistol (L) (L means limited, cannot be repaired, braks when decayed) with an a104 amp, Ghost armor with 5B plates, and a 2600 healing tool. Prices:

P5a: PED 222 at 110% markup = PED 244

a104: PED 40 + PED 200 markup = PED 240

Ghost armor, set: PED 348 + ? markup, let's ignore the markup, me too lazy to calculate

7x 5B plates: (PED 31 + PED 30 markup) *7 = PED 427

FAP, 2600 or SK 50 (L): about PED 140

Makes PED 1399, or nearly 140$. Without the markup of the armor, and without all of the other gear we usually carry: Implants, Teleport chips, refiners, other weapons, scopes, lasers etc. etc. I'm rarely leaving town without gear worth at least 5k PED (mining gear included). And to be clear: this is just middle class gear! Lower middle class gear, to be honest. We'd be regarded "another noob" wearing such.

Well, let's suppose we have found our troxies. Time to start the slaughtering. Oh - we haven't talked about ammunition yet! Well, we carry about PED 200 of it, 20k rounds.

Now we start shooting: The P5a shoots 52 times a minute, every shot costs us PED 0.13 (decay of Pistol and Amp + Ammo). With an "action rate" of 50% this means costs of PED 202 pro hour.

An Atrox mature has 1030 HP and a fast regeneration, means we'll shoot such for about 20 - 40 secs, maybe even more. We'll need 20 or more shots, means costs of at least PED 2.6 pro mob. Since Atrox are quite agressive we'll be surrounded by nice little critters munching on our armor, creating decay, and causing wounds we'd need to heal every other minute.

Doing this for a while, maybe 4 or even more hours, is what is recommended by the ones that claim to "profit". Shooting Atrox after Atrox after Atrox - grind? Anyway, after this we'll have burned about PED 800 of ammo + weapon decay, and we'll get presented a nice bill at the repair terminal for our armor and FAP decay, PED 50 at least.

The esteemed reader will ask about the loot, I know. Ahh - the loot! ;-)

We'll have had some globals (loots above PED 50), and now we have a few choices:

1. We were lucky and made profit, more or less. Very rare.

2. We were unlucky and the return was about 50% of our expenses, or even less. Not rare at all.

3. We got what is most common: a return rate of about 75% - means we just have lost Xzions 20$ in a single afternoon ;-)))

Dear reader, don't believe me. Educate yourself, check for sites named EntropiaForum, Entropedia, PEAuction - read and find out I'm talking honestly here. All the info I gave above is easily to evaluate.

And keep in mind: I wasn't talking about some exclusive end game scenarios. This scenario is for "advanced newbies" or maybe "lower middle class players" - nothing unusual as you'll find out. It'll take you some time to reach this, one or two years of dedicated gam(bl)ing should be OK. Maybe you're a lucky one and don't have to need to deposit the few thousand $ it takes for the unwashed masses, maybe you just deposit 20$ once and suddenly you have gear and skills worth 200x of this ...

May the loot be with you! Out'a here, good luck!