PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Windows 8... Thought this might help some of you.

Ok, so... I got a new laptop. I am very happy with my Acer V3-551G-x419. Runs multiple games at the same time all on highest settings INCLUDING entropia. And it was also a lot cheaper than similar specs on other machines.

But it came with windows 8. Why Microsoft had to make an OS without a start menu I will never know.. I mean the start screen really doesn't do anything useful. It has live tiles that suck bandwidth. It doesn't give you easy access to your utilities tools and other important programs. Windows 8.1 made it a bit easier of course... But I still wanted to be able to hit a button and see all my stuff in a nice list.

So:

I went to Acer's website looking up other issues, seen a link to go to Pokki. http://www.pokki.com/windows-8-start-menu

It gave me back a real, functional, modernized version of the classic start menu. It is free, do a CUSTOM installation of course on ANY programs you install from anywhere. Seems the standard now is for EVERY company to partner with toolbar and spyware companies. Toolbars will wreck your computer and it's performance.

I am not affiliated with the company, this is not in any way sponsored... I just want to help ease some of everyones frustrations when it comes to Windows 8 bloatware (It is bloatware, 3 gigabyte to patch from 8 to 8.1!!!!)

Everyone Ive said hey, want your start menu back? to Looked at me as if I were nuts.

It is the mission as always of this blog to increase your positive experiences with Entropia and any other areas pertaining to it... And well, if you are happy with your computer you are going to enjoy using it more. And I don't know ANYONE that is happy NOT having a real start menu.

WARNING: MA, Banks, and Bait and Switch = Stolen Helicopter

Well MindArk, you did it again. Thanks to your unwillingness to help, I am blowing the whistle on you.

I redeemed my loan voucher on my dragonfly helicopter. Day or two later I repawned it at the same bank in new oxford.

After YEARS of having one month terms, I HAD NO REASON to expect all of a sudden they would decide to give me a 1 day term.

So... I get the notice that my loan expired.

Support is NOT helping in ANY way.

PLEASE DO NOT PATRONIZE ANY BANKS PARTICULARLY THE ONE IN NEW OXFORD IF YOU ABSOLUTELY DO NOT HAVE TO. I am calling for a boycott of Banking in Entropia.

If they've screwed me over and are so happy to, just wait til you pawn something unique or rare and lose it because the terms have been changed on you.

They claim it is not bait and switch... But after years of having one month terms every time you apply for a loan, WHY the hell would you expect it to change?!?!?!?!

Oh! I almost forgot! Disciple Graduation is broken!

I have a disciple at 100% of his training but it's not allowing him to currently complete it and collect rewards. MA says it will be fixed in the next VU, but who knows. Hard to say when they routinely have mini updates after their updates to fix what they broke when they updated!

OPEN LETTER TO MINDARK

I know, fat chance they will actually read this rave, but it's high time I said something.

When I first started playing entropia about 6 years ago, I could deposit 100 peds, mine unamped without losing it all in one day. I actually played 6 months before I deposited anything past my initial $10. Sure there were ups and downs but I actually got enough loot to keep playing.

Now, without fail, I am lucky to make 100 peds last more than half hour. If I want to make it last a whole hour I have to double my bombing distance... What's sad is, yes, that is funny, but it's not funny because it is so true.

I know someone who lost $300 in 45 minutes recently without a hof, and barely any globals. His highest return was MAYBE 50%.

For me, it doesnt matter what finder I use, where I mine, lately on calypso, I've been hitting maybe one or two level IV through VI claims after about 25 to 40 NRFs. If I wanted to bomb without hitting claims I would go to FOMA for crying outloud! Seriously, after that rock was sold to Foma, every single run I've been on up there since has required 200 bombs of NRF's before I could even get a IX or X and THAT IS WITH AN AMP. Unamped same problem, 200 drops before I might get a claim.

Mindark makes it clear Entropia is not a casino. Heh, I can guarantee that it's not, you have a better return in a casino, at least you actually get wins to go with your losses. See, casinos learned long ago that if you cut the payback too low, people no longer have fun and if they are not having fun, they are not going to stick around and throw their money away. I am not sure what is wrong with Entropia right now, but there is no real breakeven any more. Either you are a crapload ahead which is rare, or you are a crapload below where you need to be to break even.

You cannot stay in business by screwing your customers. Let our pedrolls last long enough for us to get some enjoyment out of the game. If loot were working like it did before VU10 came out, I would not be complaining one bit. There actually was something called loot. But when you have to reduce globals to 10 peds and up on some mobs, that is a sign that the game is messed up. Used to see all kinds of 50 ped globals on argonaut young and even exarasaur youngs really. Not any more.

If Mindark wants to actually make money, they need to increase the lifespan of the average bankroll, then more people will stick around and deposit. If a person loses a lot of money over a long period of time to a slow grind fine, it is at such a rate that it is acceptable, but to be broke minutes after depositing just doesn't work. I've cut way back on deposits myself because $10 an hour is not acceptable price to pay for the entertainment value that Entropia is currently providing.

I am not here to make waves, or stir up any kind of a war. And I know the last thing many of you want is to read my rants and raves, but we need something to change. I don't know what it is, I don't even know if Mindark knows what it is. But I do know that if they don't act fast, and fix whatever is wrong with the system as it is, their bottom line is going to fall right out from under them, and if Mindark crashes and burns, so does any and all value of your items, peds, estates, and skills that are currently on or in your avatar and it's storage.

The reason the typical casino slot machine has 90% and higher paybacks is quite simple. Any less than that the customer gets mad and leaves and doesn't come back. With at best a 50% return (yes even I am lucky to get more than 50% back on anything I do and THAT IS WITH MARKUP), I am looking at putting more of my entertainment budget towards more lucrative endeavors. I love video poker, I've made a lot of money playing video poker. But I love Entropia, and what it COULD become if those running it would ALLOW it to become. As it stands now, Entropia's golden age has long since passed when the old Calypso passed out of existence and was reborn with the launch of CryEngine 2.

Thanks everyone for listening to my soapbox... It's been too long that I've been quiet, and I would rather see Mindark feel the heat and pressure so they actually fix whats wrong before they crash and burn and we are all screwed out of a wonderful game and everything we have into it. I would be more upset losing my progress from 6 years of playing than I would anything my avatar has to be honest with you. I'd feel like the last 6 years of playing were wasted if the game went bankrupt and had to close down for good. I'd imagine a company with better management and business plans would buy out the assets if things got that bad and we would see a huge paradigm shift in how the game was operated, BUT... That is speculation.

Customer service is the number one goal of ANY business, but apparently MA is ignoring it.

PAYPAL DEPOSITS WORK GREAT!!! THANK YOU MINDARK!

Thanks to Mindark FINALLY listening to us, we now have the ability to deposit via PayPal!

The option is only available through your account dashboard in the website. Minimum deposit is $1. On $5 deposits they kept 1.90 Peds leaving me with 48.10 peds per $5.

Now getting them to allow cashouts back to PayPal is quite another matter!

Good luck and happy hoffing! (Well, not too many of us are happy or hoffing lately. Loot was improving a little while earlier in the year but now, it's virtually non existent.)

Mining Advice 7-26-13

A lot of you have told me that none of my tips and advice are really helping mining results. Well,, I think the mining algorithms may be busted or bugged and MA isn't fixing them. Mining is NOT anywhere near stable or reliable. Looking at Entropia Life, will tell you that something is clearly wrong. Look at the numbers for crafting and hunting. Then look at mining. If that doesn't indicate something is broken I don't know what does. The numbers for mining have never been lower, and I know a LOT of people spending more peds than ever before mining including myself. I've burned hundreds of amps and have never hoffed while amped. All my big mining hofs were unamped. Even the little ones. I don't know what is up.

Now... I got tired of dropping 50 bombs and not hitting any ore claims. So, I decided the hell with it, I will drop combo probes and look for both ores and enmats. The minute I started doing this, I started hitting tons of claims. My returns are around 90% if I combo drop. I am on RT currently, but my advice is you will want to hit Ark for denser claims, or Caly just because it's easier to get markup on your mined materials. MARKUP should NEVER be underestimated in your total returns. Without markup, you are doomed.

If you don't normally solo drop, try solo dropping. If you don't normally try combo dropping, try combo dropping. If you are doing badly at something you normally do good on, try the opposite. The system apparently is so dynamic that anything different than usual can produce good results.

Also, I tend to do better on Level 3 amps than I do with say a level 7 or 8. I can actually global on a level 3 but I have barely been getting globals on 7s or 8s.. It seems screwed up but if you are losing your shirt on big amps, try some smaller ones :-)

Publicity Stunt? Or did something really happen?

This on the Rocktropia Launcher after the fresh update... Not sure what to make of it. Read for yourself and see what you think.

http://rocktropia.com/news/2013/06/19/neverdie-is-dead-long-live-tutankhamun/

If I figure anything out of course I will update and revise this posting.

Loot Observations For Spring/Summer 2013

Loot has been totally awful as you well know for the months around December 2012. I could not buy good loot no matter what I did or what I spent. Only a very few were lucky but at great cost and doubtful if any profit was to be had.

Now... Just talking to everyone I know... And watching the hofs/globals, here is what I notice:

This last winter:

Hofs and Globals were almost all low two or three digits. Almost never much bigger. And they were harder to get (not frequent)

NOW:

Hofs have been in the mid to high three digits, more frequent... More globals hitting too. And quite a few four and five digit hofs have been hitting too.

So, whatever happened, it would seem that MA fixed the loot pool to the point where it is bearable to play. At least more so than in last winter.

Who knows what tomorrow or the next update will bring, but keep in mind, loot always seems to go to hell (not literally) right before an update, so I find it is best to play after a fresh update instead. Maybe I am wrong, maybe you have proof otherwise, but for me this is always the case. And it is possible everyones avatar loots differently during different times. There are some strange algorithms that are becoming somewhat apparent.

Team Loots different than Solo Loot?

I had meant to post this sooner, some of you may have seen this or read this elsewhere but likely didn't think anything of it. However, it is unusual for MA to admit to anything:

"Any attempts at abusing team mechanics or any other Entropia Universe systems or features in order to gain an unfair advantage over other participants will be grounds for disqualification from the event."

These words were found in the terms of the Feffox event. I read this as an admission by MA that teams are treated differently by the system than solo hunters. The ramifications of this are unknown, but given that I could only ever global or hof in a team but never solo (even if the others in the team are not hunting with me), proves that indeed teams loot differently (usually better) than solo hunters.

New Thoughts on Quantity Versus Condition Crafting

I know at first glance, condition crafting looks like a lost cause... You might get just a few successes and a few partials in a hundred clicks or none at all... Knowing a crafter who does huge runs on full condition consistently, I have an adequate supply of information from which to make some conclusions.

Suppose you have 5K Peds.

Suppose average markup on materials to click ore amps is 130%.

We all know the system rewards only based on TT burn of materials and supplies. Markup is not a factor, although it is arguable... i.e. Use a VRX seeker 2000, you will get more ruga and rares than you would using a cheaper finder that is TT food... So possibly the higher the MU needed to craft an item, the better quality of residue (gemstones) and blueprints (1 or 2 click but ATH or bust prints).

However, you are essentially making TT food. No one is going to buy the 5 million level 2 lights or level 2s that you would click over the life of your crafting career.  You could get markup on a few I am sure, but the market just isn't there to make one run, sell all amps for markup, and do another run. Instead, residue is your best bet... But also, there is something you must consider.

Scenario 1... You craft quantity. You aren't going to stop crafting til you hit a big hof probably. Problem is, big hofs on quantity are rare unless doing L prints. Not saying it won't happen, but you will get more smaller successes and less bigger successes. This means, more clicks have to be done to hit a big jackpot, and that means even more money will have been lost to the markup of the ingredients.

Scenario 2... You craft condition, when you succeed, it counts for something. You have to do fewer clicks to hit a big jackpot in the long run than you would if you were doing quantity. Big jackpot simply means an amount that would make you so happy, you would be in shock and happy to take a break for a while. We all know how hard it is to quit when you are losing a bit an wanting to win it back... Either hit big or bust. This results in fewer clicks being done, and less of your peds being consumed for markup on materials.

Eventually, the loot does balance out somewhat... It might not be today, or tomorrow, or a month from now... But rest assured you will get your good loot if you persist.  You only lose if you quit playing before it can balance.

The final consideration is the size of your bankroll: If you cannot do more than a handful of clicks, you should not attempt condition. Either you hit it big or go broke. If you have big bankroll, you can weather the ups and downs.

Also, if you are on a cold crafting machine, don't feel bad about switching to another one. Every TP seems to indeed have its own server and is in a different looting phase. There are some areas that are taking more than others, and others paying more than yet others.

If your success rate is not maxed on that print, my advice is not to click it on condition.

Things I notice on condition crafting:

With a sufficient number of clicks, I do about the same as I do on quantity, it's just more exciting to watch. And I get rarer blueprints. Globals are more frequent.

Skill gains are quicker.

With that, I will leave you to your own devices in planning what your next course of action is.

CLD Payout Update

I never wanted to buy CLD's. I never have. Instead, I have a different plan in mind... Let's just say I am... Speculating on some things in Entropia Universe that I am not willing to divulge at this time at peril of it throwing a monkey wrench into my possible opportunity. I also don't want to go on the record and start any rumors from my theories which may or may not be true. However, I know a lot of the importance of my blog is in providing you with actual working theories to improve your returns, so please expect in the next few days my new posts that I will reveal some patterns that have proven true 100% of the time. Even that said, they are still theories since there is no way to know for sure, other than their results, which indeed seem to corroborate them. It is time to get back to business as usual, here at Entropia Universe Guide.

While the 50 cent per week dividends that were common in the beginning of the program, per CLD, are far far better returns than any savings account or certificate of deposit with any bank... Mind Ark is not guaranteed to remain solvent in the amount of time it would require for the CLD's to actually return their initial investment, which was about 3 years, now I suspect more like 5 years.

The initial terms were, 50% of the profits from Calypso to be paid evenly among the CLD holders.

When the earnings reports and all were made public, turns out that MA has dropped it from 50% to 30%. This information came from a few concerned CLD holders. If this information proves in error I will correct this posting.

There is nothing to guarantee MA will maintain a certain payout ratio. They seem to change terms on the fly, with no prior notices. They don't even give us notice in advance when there is going to be an update!!! Well, unless you count the "Servers will be offline in 30 minutes" in red chat text... And maybe, maybe from checking the support tab a day before they update... But most times I can't find any information on the updates until a few days AFTER they already took the servers down and patched. I would like to see them be more forthcoming with what future patches will hold, and what day they will go into effect.

As far as investment opportunities are concerned, just keep in mind that CLD's are on par with Stocks. They can be a good value one day, and worthless the next. Anything you have in Entropia, you should expect can be lost. With that in mind, you should never put in anything you cannot afford to safely lose, and you certainly cannot go by past performance to be an indicator of future performance.

With that, this is the "Goldbaron" signing off.

Regarding my Open Letter Post...

It might appear that I am advocating that MA make it easier for pirates to loot people by saying the exploit of risk free space travel needs to be fixed, which I am aware from the recent update notes is in the works or already has been fixed.

I am neither taking the side of the Pirate nor the Trader. The only way the markets can be the markets is if everyone has to play by the same rules: This is to say no special priviledges... i.e. you only are safe in space if you fly on a mothership and log off before you leave and back on when you get there.

RT, Ark, have came a long ways. Cyrene has issues but from what I understand they are due to MA holding them up on things like the Mechs, which is a pity, I know many people have quit because Mechs were not released yet on Cyrene. I know many who quit because they took too long rolling out Treasure Hunting on Ark... All in all, the planets are starting to mature nicely, except maybe for NI :P You know... I actually forgot about NI until now...

Based on what I see... I would have to rank the planets in the following order as to their economic strength and importance:

Calypso
Rocktropia
Arkadia
Cyrene
Next Island

So... Rocktropia is the natural starting point for me. It is maturing. There are starting to be uses for materials and things... But the bottom line is, virtually everything is bought up and loaded onto motherships by traders and taken to Calypso.

My uber crafter friend couldn't even do 1% of his normal size runs that he does on Caly if he were on Rock. 1% of his normal size run would dry up every available stone and ingot of resources available not just on the AH, but from traders too. As a result, he must stay on Calypso. RT, Ark, Cyrene, need players like this. But there is no point for them to try when everything is cheaper on Caly, and in such abundance. The only way to get uber players like this over there is to make sure the whole playing field is fair and balanced, and that will ensure a more proper availability of resources at more stable prices allowing domestic crafters to take root on their respective planets without having to move to Calypso.

Shutting down the exploit on space travel means that every planet's economy will normalize. Resources will still ship out, just in smaller quantities, under the more discerning care of it's traders. They will have to be careful, and perhaps invest in convoys to prevent being looted. Safety in numbers... Might even see the EU equivalent of the Merchant Marine spring up. This is healthy all the way around.

Traders will start sticking at one planet or another more, buying and selling local resources, and importing what they can... And certainly not over exporting to the point of crafters starving for lack of materials or excessive prices.

No one right now will move to their favorite planets because why should they if they can't get the materials they need to craft, or the weapons they like to use, or the tools and armor. Everyone gravitates towards Calypso. Sure, MA has a conflict of interest, because it still has a stake in Calypso. It really could care less what the other planets do because it knows it will assimilate all the players that move to Calypso.

The sooner the markets stabilize across the universe, the more likely those with big bankrolls and high roller status will move around, explore, and help establish these fledgling planets. Ideally, we will want to see a varied set of markups on all the planets. That is one mistake MA made I believe... They have not yet made the markup charts planetary based, they still are based on ALL planets which largely means Calypso since all the buying and selling of consequence goes on there. Not every planet should judge it's market values by the same ruler. What we hope to see is varied markups on all planets relative to the supply and demand on that planet for that item or resource. This helps traders spot opportunities to fill, and the markets will tend towards equilibrium via the process of trading.

MINERS HAVEN UPDATE: Miner Friendly Again?

It would appear my flaming boycott had an impact on Land area owners. Atrox Valley I believe it was had a mining tax BELOW 1%!!!! Kudos to the LA Owner! I will be mining every opportunity I get there!

Z apparently has thinned out the Armax spawns on the old Miners Haven LA. Or is it Heaven? Well it may have been Miners Heaven, but it's still not quite back to that yet... But, it is mostly wide open and miner friendly!!!  Although... I haven't had many good claims there the last couple times I was through, but to be honest, Calypso has been almost as bad as the Asteroid for any mining... And THAT is bad!

I want to leave a reminder to all LA Owners: Even the Land Grab winners...

MAKE SURE that you denote the ores and enmatters that are findable in that area in the info. If I walk into a land area that has no list in the info box of ores and enmatters, and all I see are tax rates, I am not likely to drop many bombs!!! Unless I know from past experience what is there.

January 2013 New Years Advice, Comments, Etc.

I am sorry I was unable to get here to wish you all happy holidays and a merry new year... But here we are, another year gone where I don't know, but let's hope time slows down a bit so we can enjoy life. I swear, the clock starts spinning any faster might as well hook a generator to it... That's just about how bad time seems to fly any more.

There are a few issues I want to touch on.

A. Yes, the Android app is working from what I am told. I hear people might be having issues with it but it is working. As of now, you do not need to have your blueprints in books to be able to use them at the crafting terminal. This may change, who knows. And from what I see, it doesn't seem to matter what planet my prints are on, I seem perfectly able to use them, which makes sense. An app like this needs global access to all your items if it is to work. But who knows where things will end up after a while with the way MA tinkers with stuff.

B. Mining is inexplicably volatile and high risk. EVEN ON CALYPSO, you can go 50 bombs without a claim. This is ridiculous. And the software doesn't exactly do anything to balance it out either. If I didn't know any better I would say MA fubared the mining grid and won't come forward and admit to it. On the other hand, I visited FOMA. Please, don't be foolish enough to go there. Do so at your own risk. I paid 150 peds for a V oil before I realized why I vowed never to go back to FOMA, but I decided it couldn't have stayed that bad forever... Ummm yeah right. FOMA is definitely having issues. If you do go, you are going to want at least 10,000 drops for it to average out. I have done 1,000 drop amped runs without so much as a global, so it is forseable that 10K drops MIGHT give you a shot at something. But if you ask me, it's not worth the stress. There are a few things I can tell you... 1. You cannot buy a hof. 2. You cannot buy a global. They seem to happen on their own accord. So don't plan on being able to hit anything just because you are running big amps.

C. ROCKTROPIA: Loot is infinitely better balanced for me on RT. That said, it may not be for you or the next guy. Instead of 25% returns like is normal for me on Caly no matter what I do these days, RT actually keeps me around the 80% and up range on a run, doesn't matter if I craft, mine, or hunt. So I want to applaud the RT team for keeping a fair and balanced planet.

Mining advice: The F103 seems to be golden in Hell, and it is definitely doing better than the 105 on the surface for me. In general the ores on RT are shallower than elsewhere... Not saying you won't hit well with a deep finder of course... But I've tried most finders on RT, and the F103 is the one I keep going back to when I am there. If you are not doing well on RT, try either the Demonic or the F103, I think you will notice a big difference. And I still have not hit a SOOTO on RT.

Crafting: The RT armor prints, and tool prints available at the technician are quite cheap per click to craft, and I notice I gain more skill on RT than elsewhere. If you want to cheaply skill, clicking these prints on RT might be the answer. It certainly seems to be for me, and even on full condition crafting I can usually break even or profit even on a short run.


If there is ANY resources you need, and you are on RT... Please do us a favor and place orders for it... I mean, when we don't see anything listed on the AH, and we don't see orders, we don't tend to know someone needs it unless we advertise in Lagoon and someone speaks up. If we know something is in demand we are less likely to TT it or "give" it to a trader for peanuts.

Hunting: I can definitely say that my loot is best with ARK weaponry... Who knows why, but I see a huge difference in loot between various guns... And Arkadia guns always give me the best % return so far of anything.

D. ARKADIA: Treasure hunting was good to me last year, I know it's been a while already since I been there doing that, but, the only SOOTO's I've had in about two years came from ARK, and were vases.

The keys, I did try last winter. I am happy with how it works... But I had just ran through all the mobs to get to the end and fight the boss... Apparently... All those little mobs on the way, loot from the goes into one of the treasure chests. The other treasure chest just has the boss item and what not... So as it turns out I didn't end up having much of a haul on my attempts. Now, I guess they changed things so you can't really just bypass the mobs on the way... At least is what I heard, and I am not uber enough to bother doing another key... Well I just don't have good enough gear for hunting. I am a miner, crafter... Hunting is a joke... Anyone want a good laugh, look me up on entropialife... Hunting is the biggest damn joke I ever did see.

E. HELL: I am impressed with my hit rates in hell. They are reminiscent of the hit rates I had on the asteroid before Foma ended up with it... i.e. I can hit at least once in 10 to 20 drops, instead of 50/50 chance of hitting one claim with 200 drops on FOMA :P Seriously, that is literally how bad FOMA is for me. Beginning to think the only way to hof there would be to have someone at MA tell you where to bomb.

One thing I have noticed... If you can't hit a claim fairly close to the TP, you probably won't in the rest of the dome, at least for many drops. If you are doing badly, just drop a few bombs around each TP and see what happens. You have nothing to lose if you are losing already!

MISC:

They are practically giving Marber Bravos away now... +90 peds mu! Seriously! At least thats the most recent one I seen... I heard of them selling even cheaper. Used to be +200 for one. It makes me wonder what other opportunities are out there.
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I am not sure if there is a way out of the Prison on RT now or not... The TP was there, then it wasn't, and I don't honestly know if it is back yet... But before you go to prison on RT.. Just make sure you have some Mind Essence and a TP chip so that you can TP out even if someone hid the TP!
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I know officially there are no personal loot pools... But I don't see how. It is obvious something is personal with us and MA... My loots seemingly are "capped". In 6 years time... Of running big amps, small amps, no amps, full condition crafting, quantity crafting... Hunting big mobs, little mobs... I have ONLY broken through the 1,000 ped level ONCE. I have only gone past 500 peds, three or four times. What is keeping me capped? I have plenty of skill... I've deposited plenty... The fact I have an invisible glass ceiling above my loot must in and of itself indicate my loots are tied to my avatar. Whether they want to call it a personal loot pool or not, it has the same effect.
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 I dunno, I thought I had more stuff to report, but too many things on my mind to sort out. I have one more post to do for today, and then after couple days I will get back to quality posts on specific issues and advice. I know a few recent posts have been quite general and nothing really special... It is time we get back to business and help you all prosper a bit more easily. Which,, interestingly enough has a lot to do with my next post!