Wisdom for new Crafters (and not so new)

There are a few of us old players who remember when there was no such thing as Explosive Projectiles crafting. There isn't much we can do about the fact they are here seemingly to stay. But, what I do want to bring to your attention is what you can do about it. Ignore EP. That's right. For one person who may be ahead on EP crafting, there are dozens who are more peds in the hole on EP than most people will ever see in their lifetimes.

If you are new to Entropia, or are planning to spend a lot, here's some things you need to consider before you even think about EP crafting.

9 years ago, people were grinding away on ore amps and other attachments for their gambling needs. Markups on the ingredients were high, but everyone was doing ok lootwise. Hofs can be extremely large on a lot of good attachment prints. Markup on the ingredients back then were substantial compared to now. There is no markup on nanocubes to make EP, but you see, with so many people clicking the same thing, it is nothing more than a glorified lottery in which all participants end up with a very low chance of hitting anything massive.

Yes, you may spend a few peds of markup doing different crafts, but A, a lot of these other things can be sold with good markup when manufactured, and B, If a few percent in markup is going to break you then you should not be crafting to begin with. There has been a LOT of ped put into all these other blueprints over the years, and only an idiot would think it's not going to come back out, but few people click these other blueprints. This makes for opportunity. Especially considering there were items never clicked becuase of very high markup ingredients. Those same prints, are so heavily discounted to click now compared to years ago that I am baffled why more people are not clicking them.

No, I don't like EP. There are several ubers that I know that EP have financially ruined, or at least brought to the brink of financial ruin, their names are withheld due to respect for them. If ubers that spend tends of thousands of dollars a month for years cannot get ahead, it's simple enough to reason out that someone like you are I have very little chance. Entropia has always been great if you go for things not over-crafted, over-mined, over-hunted. Don't believe me?http://www.entropialife.com/Item.aspx?I=7671 if you are logged into entropialife. That will take you to the warbond loot page. Never heard of warbonds? It's because the prints were pulled from the technician and almost no one has clicked them. I clicked a LOT of them testing theories, they were perfect for testing theories on. No one else has hoffed or globalled them but me as that link will show you.

So it is a total myth that you can only hof on something lots of people are doing. In fact, it just means your odds of hitting something worthwhile are diminished. You ever notice how there are not any four digit atrox or ambulimax EVERY day like there used to be? I remember when you wouldn't go a day without seeing at LEAST a four digit atrox, usually you could see five digits on such mobs on any given day or at least in a weeks' time. And to see only 9K or less hofs in the hof chart for all professions on any given day was unheard of. Those were indeed the days.

In the end, do what you feel you want to do, but don't do things because other people are doing them or saying this and that. Eco is not everything. Markup, or no markup is not everything either. I see a day coming when so many people will have been so badly burned from long term EP crafting that it may itself no longer be crafted much. People can only lose so much before they are too burned to keep going.

Anyways, I know some of you will disagree, and that's fine. Yes, you may look at my entropialife record and say "why should we listen to such a noob". Well, for your info.. I've been above 150K skill before, and I chipped down to about 100K and now im almost back up to 150K. All of this playing and skilling without a real hof. If I get more than 30% returns, I celebrate. Yes, loot is very bad these days, why do I keep trying? I figure I have 9 years into it, I am due a break, but there is very little motivating me to keep going. I through $100 bills at the game endlessly it seems like, and MA is so stingy they can hardly give me $5 , and VERY rarely $100 or slightly more. I have cycled magnitudes more peds than I've ever hoffed or globalled by such a high multiple I would be embarassed to say. In order for me to approach being even I need at least a few ATH's and I can't even loot higher than 1.8K ped. So, yeah, not very promising at all.

Everyone needs to find THEIR niche that works for THEM, and not do what other people do just because everyone else is doing it. Find your own way, do your own research, make your own plans. Anything you come up with on your own will work out better for you than the average opinion you may find somewhere. What works for one person will not usually work for another... I think that's part of what they mean when they say the game is "dynamic".

Good luck, and I wish you more success than I've had.