You probably got the news before I did, but, in case you didn't... I think these are some important changes coming down the pipeline towards us!
http://www.entropiauniverse.com/bulletin/buzz/2014/11/12/Developer-Notes--10---Galactic-Transport.xml
Goldbarons Coin Rings
Handcrafted High Quality Jewelry Starting at $20
Cryptocurrency Casino
They really do pay out! Several cryptocurrencies accepted!
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Friday, November 7, 2014
SCAMS TO WATCH FOR in 2014
Be very careful when buying items on AH:
I just noticed people listing Ark underground deeds for similar pricing to the caly CLD's. This means if you were to sort by price and just go along and buy them up you might not notice until it is too late. Just because you pay 1300 peds too much for something doesn't mean you are going to get your investment back no matter what you do.
Also, seems a lot more people trying to sell burned out L items on AH that are unusable condition. Always make sure that it has a usable amount of TT value on the item before you buy it. And also take into account that the markup you pay is also markup on the unusable portion of the item.
I just noticed people listing Ark underground deeds for similar pricing to the caly CLD's. This means if you were to sort by price and just go along and buy them up you might not notice until it is too late. Just because you pay 1300 peds too much for something doesn't mean you are going to get your investment back no matter what you do.
Also, seems a lot more people trying to sell burned out L items on AH that are unusable condition. Always make sure that it has a usable amount of TT value on the item before you buy it. And also take into account that the markup you pay is also markup on the unusable portion of the item.
Mining Quests: Quick and easy skilling!!!
I don't know how many of you are unaware of the challenges available for miners. But, you can obtain them from an NPC at Cape Corinth. Iron, Lyst, Zinc are the three I can remember off the top of my head but there are a couple others available too. Blausriam is the fourth one I believe, and just maybe belkar is the fifth. Every so many points worth of mining claims you can collect free Prospecting or Mining skills. The rewards get sizeable as you progress, and yes, mining progresses very slowly if you are trying to skill up in it, so you might as well get yourself involved with these quests. Why leave free goodies on the table when they are for things you do anyways?
Lysterium: Rich deposits of lysterium are present on Atlantis Archipelago.
Belkar: I don't remember if it is a mining challenge or not but it is a daily challenge mineral, so, best bet for belkar is around wolverine hope.
Iron: North of Ithaca just avoid the troxies.
Zinc: This has been a tough one for me lately, when I go to find zinc I tend to come back with langotz, I know, what a compromise aint it. Well, best zinc lately is around new Switzerland in the LA. I stick to the one that doesn't have any mobs.
Blausariam: Indeed is one of the challenges. You can find it in abundance in the LA to the southwest of akmuul, and shinook river also carries it to some degree.
Lysterium: Rich deposits of lysterium are present on Atlantis Archipelago.
Belkar: I don't remember if it is a mining challenge or not but it is a daily challenge mineral, so, best bet for belkar is around wolverine hope.
Iron: North of Ithaca just avoid the troxies.
Zinc: This has been a tough one for me lately, when I go to find zinc I tend to come back with langotz, I know, what a compromise aint it. Well, best zinc lately is around new Switzerland in the LA. I stick to the one that doesn't have any mobs.
Blausariam: Indeed is one of the challenges. You can find it in abundance in the LA to the southwest of akmuul, and shinook river also carries it to some degree.
Advertising Opportunity on This Blog
This blog has been successful with advertising. Many visitors each month ranging from 2000 to 4000 on average. I am willing to sell banner ads for whatever you wish to advertise. You can PM me in game with your terms and offer: How long you want your ad run and how many peds you will pay to have it put up. Yes, space on a high traffic site is real estate. If no one wants to use it, I am happy to continue using it for myself. But, I just wanted to see if anyone could use an opportunity to market something to my audience. If anyone is interested in having some advertising ran on this blog, please message goldbaron goldbaron357 maximus in game.
If someone has uber items to sell... I may consider putting up a Classified Ad post on here that I would update every so often with items for sale, by who, and for how much. This would be a free service, but ped and paypal donations would be graciously accepted for successful sales generated by this blog.
If someone has uber items to sell... I may consider putting up a Classified Ad post on here that I would update every so often with items for sale, by who, and for how much. This would be a free service, but ped and paypal donations would be graciously accepted for successful sales generated by this blog.
The Auction Trap: How not to screw yourself and the economy over!
It has come to my attention, that there are those of you who are unfamiliar with how an economy functions. Prices are collapsing on things that should not become TT food and I am going to do my best to help you prevent that from happening.
It wouldn't be so bad if supply and demand were strictly what was governing the auctions on Entropia... Well... So some degree, I guess it is. But there is something you need to know and realize:
It isn't just Entropia that is having a sluggish auction. eBay is functioning just as badly as Entropia right now. You can list hundreds of items and if one or two sell you are lucky... And it isn't just at market prices, it's even if you slash your prices.
You see... If no one is buying what you are selling, you won't sell it for any price. There is a grave mistake being made in thinking if you price something low enough it will sell quickly. That is clearly not happening. Molisk teeth and buttons have suffered a full 100% slide in the last week or two since Halloween Mayhem started. Why? There just aren't many people using them right now, but all of you molisk grinders are desperate to sell your teeth because loot is so bad. So, what do you do? You post yours for 20 points under the going rate, or even 50 points. The next guy desperate to sell his does the same, pricing below yours which is already ridiculously low. Now, we have the reverse of a bidding war. At some point, yes, people who normally use a bunch of them will start buying them up for peanuts maybe.. But that is a big maybe.
It is ok to undercut the competition by a ped or two or a few percent. But it is reckless to undercut it by a ridiculous margin trying to force a sale. Just accept the fact that if no one needs what you are selling, it isn't going to sell. There are more people after a quick ped, than there are people willing to speculate or gamble on buying cheap stuff to resell later. Why do you think traders like giving 150% for molisk teeth? Because they know even at 200% they will make something on them.
It will take just as long to sell your goods at the lowest price on AH as it will to sell at a ridiculously lowest price on AH. Markup is THE ONLY way you are going to come out ahead in EU. Well... There's a bit more to it than that, but I can't tell you much. Just know that if you can do everything in EU at TT costs, you are probably going to do great in the long run. And yes, after 8 years in the game you learn a few things. And if I were going to share the details it would be in a guide and it would cost you a few bucks, afterall, it takes money to make money.
Just understand that the auction isn't what it used to be. Just like eBay isn't what it used to be. Those people who paid 100's of thousands of dollars for a grilled cheese sandwhich with the virgin mary on it aren't around any more. Those ridiculous things that used to sell all the time don't sell any more. Entropia, is having much the same problem. Ubers are getting pinched by loot, and when the hofs are only about as big as the cost to kill a mob it comes from, you know it's only a matter of time until everyone is in the same boat.
If you are going to sell cheap and quick, filling orders will do more for you than wholesaling what you have to sell on the open auction, and it won't destroy the markup so badly.
It wouldn't be so bad if supply and demand were strictly what was governing the auctions on Entropia... Well... So some degree, I guess it is. But there is something you need to know and realize:
It isn't just Entropia that is having a sluggish auction. eBay is functioning just as badly as Entropia right now. You can list hundreds of items and if one or two sell you are lucky... And it isn't just at market prices, it's even if you slash your prices.
You see... If no one is buying what you are selling, you won't sell it for any price. There is a grave mistake being made in thinking if you price something low enough it will sell quickly. That is clearly not happening. Molisk teeth and buttons have suffered a full 100% slide in the last week or two since Halloween Mayhem started. Why? There just aren't many people using them right now, but all of you molisk grinders are desperate to sell your teeth because loot is so bad. So, what do you do? You post yours for 20 points under the going rate, or even 50 points. The next guy desperate to sell his does the same, pricing below yours which is already ridiculously low. Now, we have the reverse of a bidding war. At some point, yes, people who normally use a bunch of them will start buying them up for peanuts maybe.. But that is a big maybe.
It is ok to undercut the competition by a ped or two or a few percent. But it is reckless to undercut it by a ridiculous margin trying to force a sale. Just accept the fact that if no one needs what you are selling, it isn't going to sell. There are more people after a quick ped, than there are people willing to speculate or gamble on buying cheap stuff to resell later. Why do you think traders like giving 150% for molisk teeth? Because they know even at 200% they will make something on them.
It will take just as long to sell your goods at the lowest price on AH as it will to sell at a ridiculously lowest price on AH. Markup is THE ONLY way you are going to come out ahead in EU. Well... There's a bit more to it than that, but I can't tell you much. Just know that if you can do everything in EU at TT costs, you are probably going to do great in the long run. And yes, after 8 years in the game you learn a few things. And if I were going to share the details it would be in a guide and it would cost you a few bucks, afterall, it takes money to make money.
Just understand that the auction isn't what it used to be. Just like eBay isn't what it used to be. Those people who paid 100's of thousands of dollars for a grilled cheese sandwhich with the virgin mary on it aren't around any more. Those ridiculous things that used to sell all the time don't sell any more. Entropia, is having much the same problem. Ubers are getting pinched by loot, and when the hofs are only about as big as the cost to kill a mob it comes from, you know it's only a matter of time until everyone is in the same boat.
If you are going to sell cheap and quick, filling orders will do more for you than wholesaling what you have to sell on the open auction, and it won't destroy the markup so badly.
Saturday, September 20, 2014
PVP Revenge? If you can't beat pk'ers you can make it hurt.
It's an old trick but noobs might not be aware of it. If you find an abandoned vehicle in PVP areas such as Amethera outside an LA or contaminated zone... It means someone was being sneaky and TP jumped into where they think their target is. Destroy their vehicle with your weapon, after it is destroyed, hit it once with your RK-5 repair tool, destroy again, rinse and repeat until it has no TT value left. Sure, you will be out a ped or two in ammo, but you will get some good skills repairing AND successfully irritate your adversary. Of course there isn't much profit in revenge, unless you can shoot and loot them which is unlikely. The trick works well during land grabs and at the oil rig also. But most success will come from them not knowing their vehicle is under attack else they would recall it to storage.
I am not convinced pvp expenditures are "wasted" because I've tended to global and hof after being involved in things like landgrabs and what not. It is so unclear how MA handles deposits, ped, and loot in their algorithms, that we have a clear case of, to coin a phrase and pun at the same time, a "Schroedingers Loot" situation :P All theories are true and false at the same time until MA will be at least a little transparent with us on how things work. I've seen them contradict themselves in support cases so many times. If a person had enough of their official responses, and could read between the lines, maybe there is something to figure out afterall. Basically, the sooner we can figure out the keys to how loot works, the quicker it will force MA to make loot more honest. Casinos figured out a long time ago if you tighten up the payouts, you LOSE money. MA thinks if you tighten returns you will MAKE more money because you pay out less...But worse payouts do NOT give customers incentive to keep playing.
I am not convinced pvp expenditures are "wasted" because I've tended to global and hof after being involved in things like landgrabs and what not. It is so unclear how MA handles deposits, ped, and loot in their algorithms, that we have a clear case of, to coin a phrase and pun at the same time, a "Schroedingers Loot" situation :P All theories are true and false at the same time until MA will be at least a little transparent with us on how things work. I've seen them contradict themselves in support cases so many times. If a person had enough of their official responses, and could read between the lines, maybe there is something to figure out afterall. Basically, the sooner we can figure out the keys to how loot works, the quicker it will force MA to make loot more honest. Casinos figured out a long time ago if you tighten up the payouts, you LOSE money. MA thinks if you tighten returns you will MAKE more money because you pay out less...But worse payouts do NOT give customers incentive to keep playing.
Thursday, September 18, 2014
About the Author: Why I chose to be the "Goldbaron"
You might be wondering how someone would come to the nickname Goldbaron. I know a lot of you are in parts of the world where such a thing is unheard of, but I am a gold prospector in real life, and the initial draw to Entropia was that it gave me some mining I could do in the wintertime... But with loot so bad now, I will be better off working in the snow for the real thing this winter :P
The following is a picture of what I recovered from two 5 gallon buckets of gravel from a stream not far from where I live. Is it work? Yes. But, it is more fun than work. Real gold as it is found in nature's streams.
The following is a picture of what I recovered from two 5 gallon buckets of gravel from a stream not far from where I live. Is it work? Yes. But, it is more fun than work. Real gold as it is found in nature's streams.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Maximizing your returns: A quick and simple way
If I have four digits on my ped card, I can play almost indefinitely if I play carefully. If I have just 100 peds on my ped card, no matter how carefully I play I am easily wiped out. There are many reasons for this but a major reason is that you need much longer runs for everything to average out than we used to need. A small bankroll means you won't be able to stockpile high markup items enough to get markup out of them on AH and traders pay TT for most hunting loot, and they TRY to get ores for nearly TT as well, so be careful with traders.
I have in the past, deposited $10 at a time as I needed peds. A few years ago, it would have lasted a month or two. Now, it lasts maybe half an hour. I know most of you notice this happening to your deposits as well... Soon as you put in its time to put more in. What I will start doing, and I'd recommend you to consider...
Either save your smaller amounts up until you can do one big deposit with what you would have deposited at a little at a time anyways...
OR...
Just deposit half of what you normally do, and put the other half aside and let it build up so that likewise you can do one big deposit.
A lot of people who deposit big play proportionally to the size of their deposit and they go broke just as easily. There is no real difference between you and me doing 100 x 1 ped clicks and an uber doing 100 x 10 ped clicks. There is a difference if you save up 10 times your normal deposit and do 1000 clicks of 1 ped plays. Or, for ubers, 1,000 clicks of 10 ped plays instead. 100 clicks is going to be 100 clicks and stands the same chance of a wipeout. Bigger bankrolls proportionate to how you play will reduce variance in results and hopefully help you survive the upswings and downswings.
If you can deposit big, and play carefully and not get greedy, just keep doing what you would do had you deposited smaller amounts, in my case I tend to gain peds, until I get greedy and gamble them away.
Also be aware that there are certain resources prone to shortages on the auction... I won't tell you what these are, I had to figure out without help and only because I never could buy the stuff when I needed it, or when I did find it the price was too high. If you familiarize yourself with L prints, you will see the types of things that the typical gambling uber crafter will pay a bit more for if it means being able to click an expensive L print.
Gone are the days of putting things up on auction and them selling easily. You now must specialize in niches to be effective at crafting for profit and trading for profit.
I have in the past, deposited $10 at a time as I needed peds. A few years ago, it would have lasted a month or two. Now, it lasts maybe half an hour. I know most of you notice this happening to your deposits as well... Soon as you put in its time to put more in. What I will start doing, and I'd recommend you to consider...
Either save your smaller amounts up until you can do one big deposit with what you would have deposited at a little at a time anyways...
OR...
Just deposit half of what you normally do, and put the other half aside and let it build up so that likewise you can do one big deposit.
A lot of people who deposit big play proportionally to the size of their deposit and they go broke just as easily. There is no real difference between you and me doing 100 x 1 ped clicks and an uber doing 100 x 10 ped clicks. There is a difference if you save up 10 times your normal deposit and do 1000 clicks of 1 ped plays. Or, for ubers, 1,000 clicks of 10 ped plays instead. 100 clicks is going to be 100 clicks and stands the same chance of a wipeout. Bigger bankrolls proportionate to how you play will reduce variance in results and hopefully help you survive the upswings and downswings.
If you can deposit big, and play carefully and not get greedy, just keep doing what you would do had you deposited smaller amounts, in my case I tend to gain peds, until I get greedy and gamble them away.
Also be aware that there are certain resources prone to shortages on the auction... I won't tell you what these are, I had to figure out without help and only because I never could buy the stuff when I needed it, or when I did find it the price was too high. If you familiarize yourself with L prints, you will see the types of things that the typical gambling uber crafter will pay a bit more for if it means being able to click an expensive L print.
Gone are the days of putting things up on auction and them selling easily. You now must specialize in niches to be effective at crafting for profit and trading for profit.
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Entropia Partners DOES Pay!
I just got my 109 peds from them yesterday. You just need to find someone who is online that can handle the withdraw for you. It went quicker and easier than I could have expected. Although it did take some time to finally find someone on the same planet as me that could pay me. Just have a little patience and give it a try since it all has to be done manually and you can't expect people doing these menial tasks to live in the game 24/7.
Monday, June 16, 2014
ARK DEEDS: Paltry Returns or Serious Considerations? A Fresh Look.
Well... I see my 1 pec per day per deed revenue and think wow, thats sad. But... You know what? In the real world, 5% per year is the magic number. If you compound it, and add to it a reasonable amount each month, in 10 to 20 years you will be wealthy. Of course the limited number of deeds available would eventually put a price squeeze on the deeds maybe negating some of the compounding effect...
What I see right now:
Ark deeds are paying about 7.5% to 8% per year in dividends if all things remain the same as they have been the past few days. The past few days I've gotten a pec a day per deed.
I bought my deeds at 47 ped each on caly auction.
There are say 365 days a year more or less.
This means a deed is expected to yield 3.65 peds a year.
If you divide 36.5 cents by $4.70 you end up with 7.76% interest per year.
If they would run big events like that big gold rush event they had a while back, then yeah, you bet we could see even better numbers.
The point here is, if you took the same money and put it in your savings account at a bank, you MIGHT get half a percent per year on your savings. Inflation is up around 3 to 5% in any given year if not more. That is the hidden tax we pay due to our governments forcing us into fiat money. If you can't beat the rate of inflation your savings are LOSING you money. This is why metals are favored as investments in the real world.
No one knows the long term state Entropia will be in. But as long as land owners aren't in a hurry to sell off their estates for any amount of money they can get. As long as the price of CLD's and Ark deeds isn't crashing near zero.. I think in the end these are the indicators as to whether or not Entropia will survive. Those at the top will find out first and if you start seeing EVERYTHING going up for sale at any price, you know the game is doomed. Despite all the "chicken little" predictions that the "sky is falling", I don't see it happening. Too many people have too much to lose if entropia goes under. A lot of money in the game is pretty much in the hands of scammers to be honest with you. The interesting thing about a casino, or a non casino but real cash economy like Entropia, if I show you two dollars, can you tell me which one is honest and which one is dishonest? I suspect those who have in the past perhaps even laundered money through Entropia, I am sure it must happen, would not let such a mechanism as Entropia go away. Somehow there will always be a big enough influx of deposits to save the company.
I will say I do not believe it is being run sustainably right now. MA needs to take a lesson in running a business. Seriously, the CEO needs to have a meeting with Donald Trump and learn how to REALLY run a business, and how to REALLY treat your customers. If all the casinos in Vegas operated the way MindArk does, the whole city would have dried up and blown away by now. When I was a noob, it only took a year or two for loot to really get to averaging out good. Now, it's taking years for the loot to average out to anything meaningful. Instead of the 1K to 2K clicks it once took to have a nice average crafting return, it now takes 10K to 100K clicks to get that same average. If you quit before it averages you've lost everything. If you keep going til you do get it to average out, you could go bankrupt. It is simply too high variance for it to keep players happy.
Yes I got sidetracked... But ok.. I just don't want to see Entropia shutting down, and I hope enough people will continue putting pressure on MindArk to get them to see what they need to do to make it more sustainable so that people WILL be more secure about depositing larger sums into the game.
So, are the deeds worth getting or not? If you get them cheaply enough, and you aren't hurting for peds or cash, then yes, it is better than a savings account. But, the ROI isn't as high as it should be to offset the degree of risk involved. I expect this to change over time, hopefully for the better. The thing is, if you have faith that things will improve, then we are on the ground floor right now. If you think this is the beginning of the end, well, there you have it.
I think back to the good old days when the asteroid was CND. I fully expected Rocktropia to do as well as the asteroid did, because it had seemed Neverdie was better at managing things than Mindark ever was. Of course it seems Mindark loves tying the hands of it's planet partners. This brings me back to an earlier argument, that Mindark is trying to do with the Soviet Union failed to do: centrally plan the entire economy. The loot distributions, what the planet partners can do, is all centrally planned by Mindark. If the game was ran honestly an sustainably, it shouldn't need much central planning at all. They just are not transparent enough for us to know exactly how honest and fair everything is. But the point is, in a leap of faith, I set out to craft every warbond I possibly could firmly believing they would turn into something down the road. I figured I was seeing around the curve. Now who knows... But what I do know is 1. I have made more crafting them than I invested in the mats to make them including all the failed attempts and 2. Not only do I own the Entropialife page on warbonds, but I have many hundreds of peds TT value of them stockpiled waiting for that day that may never come. Even if they turn out to be nothing, I still made peds on them. If I were to TT them all, I guarantee in a few months plans for them would be rolled out. That is how bad my luck is. So I will hang onto them indefinitely. It's like buying penny stocks. You only need one of them to make it and you've got it made.
I hope I've been of some help to all of you. I just wanted to dispell the myth that Ark deeds aren't doing much.
What I see right now:
Ark deeds are paying about 7.5% to 8% per year in dividends if all things remain the same as they have been the past few days. The past few days I've gotten a pec a day per deed.
I bought my deeds at 47 ped each on caly auction.
There are say 365 days a year more or less.
This means a deed is expected to yield 3.65 peds a year.
If you divide 36.5 cents by $4.70 you end up with 7.76% interest per year.
If they would run big events like that big gold rush event they had a while back, then yeah, you bet we could see even better numbers.
The point here is, if you took the same money and put it in your savings account at a bank, you MIGHT get half a percent per year on your savings. Inflation is up around 3 to 5% in any given year if not more. That is the hidden tax we pay due to our governments forcing us into fiat money. If you can't beat the rate of inflation your savings are LOSING you money. This is why metals are favored as investments in the real world.
No one knows the long term state Entropia will be in. But as long as land owners aren't in a hurry to sell off their estates for any amount of money they can get. As long as the price of CLD's and Ark deeds isn't crashing near zero.. I think in the end these are the indicators as to whether or not Entropia will survive. Those at the top will find out first and if you start seeing EVERYTHING going up for sale at any price, you know the game is doomed. Despite all the "chicken little" predictions that the "sky is falling", I don't see it happening. Too many people have too much to lose if entropia goes under. A lot of money in the game is pretty much in the hands of scammers to be honest with you. The interesting thing about a casino, or a non casino but real cash economy like Entropia, if I show you two dollars, can you tell me which one is honest and which one is dishonest? I suspect those who have in the past perhaps even laundered money through Entropia, I am sure it must happen, would not let such a mechanism as Entropia go away. Somehow there will always be a big enough influx of deposits to save the company.
I will say I do not believe it is being run sustainably right now. MA needs to take a lesson in running a business. Seriously, the CEO needs to have a meeting with Donald Trump and learn how to REALLY run a business, and how to REALLY treat your customers. If all the casinos in Vegas operated the way MindArk does, the whole city would have dried up and blown away by now. When I was a noob, it only took a year or two for loot to really get to averaging out good. Now, it's taking years for the loot to average out to anything meaningful. Instead of the 1K to 2K clicks it once took to have a nice average crafting return, it now takes 10K to 100K clicks to get that same average. If you quit before it averages you've lost everything. If you keep going til you do get it to average out, you could go bankrupt. It is simply too high variance for it to keep players happy.
Yes I got sidetracked... But ok.. I just don't want to see Entropia shutting down, and I hope enough people will continue putting pressure on MindArk to get them to see what they need to do to make it more sustainable so that people WILL be more secure about depositing larger sums into the game.
So, are the deeds worth getting or not? If you get them cheaply enough, and you aren't hurting for peds or cash, then yes, it is better than a savings account. But, the ROI isn't as high as it should be to offset the degree of risk involved. I expect this to change over time, hopefully for the better. The thing is, if you have faith that things will improve, then we are on the ground floor right now. If you think this is the beginning of the end, well, there you have it.
I think back to the good old days when the asteroid was CND. I fully expected Rocktropia to do as well as the asteroid did, because it had seemed Neverdie was better at managing things than Mindark ever was. Of course it seems Mindark loves tying the hands of it's planet partners. This brings me back to an earlier argument, that Mindark is trying to do with the Soviet Union failed to do: centrally plan the entire economy. The loot distributions, what the planet partners can do, is all centrally planned by Mindark. If the game was ran honestly an sustainably, it shouldn't need much central planning at all. They just are not transparent enough for us to know exactly how honest and fair everything is. But the point is, in a leap of faith, I set out to craft every warbond I possibly could firmly believing they would turn into something down the road. I figured I was seeing around the curve. Now who knows... But what I do know is 1. I have made more crafting them than I invested in the mats to make them including all the failed attempts and 2. Not only do I own the Entropialife page on warbonds, but I have many hundreds of peds TT value of them stockpiled waiting for that day that may never come. Even if they turn out to be nothing, I still made peds on them. If I were to TT them all, I guarantee in a few months plans for them would be rolled out. That is how bad my luck is. So I will hang onto them indefinitely. It's like buying penny stocks. You only need one of them to make it and you've got it made.
I hope I've been of some help to all of you. I just wanted to dispell the myth that Ark deeds aren't doing much.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
CLD/Ark Deed Trading: A Look At How It Works
If I don't tell you someone else will and I'd rather get the blog traffic!
Some of you have already figured it out and if you are like me then at one time you wondered how it was done... Someone told me they made a ton trading CLD's... Trading CLDs? Really? At the time I had forgotten about the order function at the AH... I wasn't used to deeds being orderable, but they aren't the typical deeds.
You can place an order for CLD's and Ark deeds. I see orders on Ark deeds for example ranging from +41 peds to +45 peds a piece. If you get them at a low enough order, the daily price on Ark deeds ranges from 46 peds to 48 or 49 lately. It isn't a huge spread, but it is possible to carve out some extra peds. Just bear in mind you will have a little over a ped in auction fees when you relist an ordered deed.
If you want to buy many deeds to keep then I'd recommend placing an order just above what the traders are paying that way there won't be enough in it for them to try and outbid you in the orders.
I had several ark deeds for a day. In that day I earned about a pec per deed. Not much. But when you consider that it was a slow day and I didn't see any ark underground hofs to speak of, it wasn't bad at all. I would imagine if they run any underground events again or otherwise have a busy day it might surprise a person what the ark deeds would pay.
The beauty of trading them is, while you own them you own the dividends too. So even if it takes you a week to flip your deeds you are still making something plus your profit from selling them.
CLD's work the same way, just it is scaled up and presumably with larger margins simply because the auction fees must be horrendous on a CLD to relist.
Good luck, happy trading!
Some of you have already figured it out and if you are like me then at one time you wondered how it was done... Someone told me they made a ton trading CLD's... Trading CLDs? Really? At the time I had forgotten about the order function at the AH... I wasn't used to deeds being orderable, but they aren't the typical deeds.
You can place an order for CLD's and Ark deeds. I see orders on Ark deeds for example ranging from +41 peds to +45 peds a piece. If you get them at a low enough order, the daily price on Ark deeds ranges from 46 peds to 48 or 49 lately. It isn't a huge spread, but it is possible to carve out some extra peds. Just bear in mind you will have a little over a ped in auction fees when you relist an ordered deed.
If you want to buy many deeds to keep then I'd recommend placing an order just above what the traders are paying that way there won't be enough in it for them to try and outbid you in the orders.
I had several ark deeds for a day. In that day I earned about a pec per deed. Not much. But when you consider that it was a slow day and I didn't see any ark underground hofs to speak of, it wasn't bad at all. I would imagine if they run any underground events again or otherwise have a busy day it might surprise a person what the ark deeds would pay.
The beauty of trading them is, while you own them you own the dividends too. So even if it takes you a week to flip your deeds you are still making something plus your profit from selling them.
CLD's work the same way, just it is scaled up and presumably with larger margins simply because the auction fees must be horrendous on a CLD to relist.
Good luck, happy trading!
Getting More for your TT Food! Auction Advice
While I am doing monotonous things like hunting... Yes, to me it is monotonous... I randomly think of things I don't consciously consider, and then I figure ok now I have something to blog about. Which, is why I am posting now.
A lot of people get a lot more markup for things that otherwise are sold to the trade terminal. The reason this works is because if you need a few pecs worth of a certain ingredient in a huge 10 or 20 ped or more per click craft, it's ok to pay 200% for tt food. If you are dropping several peds per click, or in some cases maybe a ped or two, it won't really affect your outcome much at all. You have two options. Buy in bulk so that you can get it "cheap", but why buy 4,000 ingots of lyst when you need 40 of them? Or buy what you need so that all those peds you would otherwise tie up are free for the main ingredients so you can get more clicks in your run.
So, when you are determining what you can get for smaller lots of "tt food"... Consider when you were crafting. What were you buying and what percentages were you paying for your small lots? Chances are similar lots for similar markups will continue to sell. Convenience is a service. Small lots can be convenient. So, the extra markup is the natural cost incurred by convenience, especially since you still have auction fees to contend with.
The only long term profits tend to come from markups. Not always, but, generally. I know the exceptions are rare but I do know of a very small few. Basically if you can make an extra few peds every hunt, thats an extra few peds you won't have to deposit later.
Go through, write down a list of materials youve bought in small quantities and the price range youve paid for them. This will give you a working guide from which to base future listings on. Certain wools and cloths are good for around 120 to 150% in small lots. Leathers.. Wood... Anything you can't generally do something with.
I hope this gives you some encouragement when deciding what to do with your hunting loot. Good luck!
A lot of people get a lot more markup for things that otherwise are sold to the trade terminal. The reason this works is because if you need a few pecs worth of a certain ingredient in a huge 10 or 20 ped or more per click craft, it's ok to pay 200% for tt food. If you are dropping several peds per click, or in some cases maybe a ped or two, it won't really affect your outcome much at all. You have two options. Buy in bulk so that you can get it "cheap", but why buy 4,000 ingots of lyst when you need 40 of them? Or buy what you need so that all those peds you would otherwise tie up are free for the main ingredients so you can get more clicks in your run.
So, when you are determining what you can get for smaller lots of "tt food"... Consider when you were crafting. What were you buying and what percentages were you paying for your small lots? Chances are similar lots for similar markups will continue to sell. Convenience is a service. Small lots can be convenient. So, the extra markup is the natural cost incurred by convenience, especially since you still have auction fees to contend with.
The only long term profits tend to come from markups. Not always, but, generally. I know the exceptions are rare but I do know of a very small few. Basically if you can make an extra few peds every hunt, thats an extra few peds you won't have to deposit later.
Go through, write down a list of materials youve bought in small quantities and the price range youve paid for them. This will give you a working guide from which to base future listings on. Certain wools and cloths are good for around 120 to 150% in small lots. Leathers.. Wood... Anything you can't generally do something with.
I hope this gives you some encouragement when deciding what to do with your hunting loot. Good luck!
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Real Life Trading Opportunities!
Many of you are excellent at trading in Entropia. I have joked in the past that some of you must be selling on eBay because there are actually coins and currency that once in a while sell BELOW face value! Crazy ain't it... This brings me to another point, if you are going to auction anything off for less than TT, just TT it :)
But ok... If you are making hundreds of dollars a month trading (I know it is doable to reach this level of trading profit, and in a few cases some of you may be making thousands, but that is a LOT of work), what do you do when all your peds are tied up in stuff and waiting to be sold at auction? Are you playing other MMO's? Potentially ones without a real cash economy?
Can you think of anything that you could buy very cheaply and sell at a high markup above what you paid? That is legal? :P
I try my best not to promote anything in my blog unless it works and directly helps my readers if you give it a try. This is not a system, this is not a get rich quick scheme. This is not multilevel marketing. This is honest old fashioned trading. Buying low selling high. It does not involve foreign currency, commodities, or stocks.
I tell all about this opportunity in "Philatelic Philosophy: Stamp Collecting Wisdom & Opportunity". I priced the book low, and it gives you the reasons why Stamps are a huge opportunity right now, and how it works.
I've learned to buy them for a mere couple percent of book value, and turn around and sell them almost instantly for 10% to 20% of book value, meaning 500% to 1000% gains! Depending on how lucky you are, you can even do better than that.
You don't have to focus on just US stamps... You can do this in any country in the world. Every country has stamps. Stamp collectors are a dying breed. Old collections go up for sale every day in all manners of ways, and there aren't enough buyers to drive the prices up on all the stamps that get sold every day. You can get in on the ground floor, with prices lower than they ever will be. It just takes time to find the bargains. I spend a couple hours a day searching the internet, and I generally find a few listings that are nothing but pure profit. I use the profits from stamps I sell to buy more stamps, and it literally grows on it's own.
Yes... I am wanting to sell copies of my book. That's the whole reason for promoting anything. But, there genuinely is a great opportunity and it is up to you if you want to look into it or miss out on it. I will not give away valuable information, I perhaps have already given away too much information for free in this post. But the how's the why's, and the what for's are all laid out in my book.
Anyone who buys my book is free to contact me in game and I will do my best to answer any questions and fill any gaps in what you need to know. And yes, I am pretty much able to know who has bought my book. I don't mind teaching others about this opportunity because it will only be here for so long, who knows how long prices will stay low and the market remain flooded. There are more stamps in the world than I can possibly buy, there are more bargains than I can possibly corner the market on. And each of you being in the part of your world you are in have unique opportunities to find offerings that I could never have a chance at finding. Estate sales, yardsales, craigslist, you name it.
Philatelic Philosophy is only $3.95 on Kindle. It is available on many other platforms as well, but I favor the kindle because it is easier to maintain a high quality when published. The paperback is available for $7.95 I think, from amazon.
It is a small investment to make so that you can learn what you need to know to be successful in a real life trading world.
But ok... If you are making hundreds of dollars a month trading (I know it is doable to reach this level of trading profit, and in a few cases some of you may be making thousands, but that is a LOT of work), what do you do when all your peds are tied up in stuff and waiting to be sold at auction? Are you playing other MMO's? Potentially ones without a real cash economy?
Can you think of anything that you could buy very cheaply and sell at a high markup above what you paid? That is legal? :P
I try my best not to promote anything in my blog unless it works and directly helps my readers if you give it a try. This is not a system, this is not a get rich quick scheme. This is not multilevel marketing. This is honest old fashioned trading. Buying low selling high. It does not involve foreign currency, commodities, or stocks.
I tell all about this opportunity in "Philatelic Philosophy: Stamp Collecting Wisdom & Opportunity". I priced the book low, and it gives you the reasons why Stamps are a huge opportunity right now, and how it works.
I've learned to buy them for a mere couple percent of book value, and turn around and sell them almost instantly for 10% to 20% of book value, meaning 500% to 1000% gains! Depending on how lucky you are, you can even do better than that.
You don't have to focus on just US stamps... You can do this in any country in the world. Every country has stamps. Stamp collectors are a dying breed. Old collections go up for sale every day in all manners of ways, and there aren't enough buyers to drive the prices up on all the stamps that get sold every day. You can get in on the ground floor, with prices lower than they ever will be. It just takes time to find the bargains. I spend a couple hours a day searching the internet, and I generally find a few listings that are nothing but pure profit. I use the profits from stamps I sell to buy more stamps, and it literally grows on it's own.
Yes... I am wanting to sell copies of my book. That's the whole reason for promoting anything. But, there genuinely is a great opportunity and it is up to you if you want to look into it or miss out on it. I will not give away valuable information, I perhaps have already given away too much information for free in this post. But the how's the why's, and the what for's are all laid out in my book.
Anyone who buys my book is free to contact me in game and I will do my best to answer any questions and fill any gaps in what you need to know. And yes, I am pretty much able to know who has bought my book. I don't mind teaching others about this opportunity because it will only be here for so long, who knows how long prices will stay low and the market remain flooded. There are more stamps in the world than I can possibly buy, there are more bargains than I can possibly corner the market on. And each of you being in the part of your world you are in have unique opportunities to find offerings that I could never have a chance at finding. Estate sales, yardsales, craigslist, you name it.
Philatelic Philosophy is only $3.95 on Kindle. It is available on many other platforms as well, but I favor the kindle because it is easier to maintain a high quality when published. The paperback is available for $7.95 I think, from amazon.
It is a small investment to make so that you can learn what you need to know to be successful in a real life trading world.
Friday, March 21, 2014
FOMA: What you can expect in 2014
I remember the days when you could hit X's and XII's unamped on FOMA which was then CND. Now, you are lucky to hit IX's unamped, sometimes VIII's, and that's on ore!
If you run a level 7 amp, virtually every hit is a global, though I've had the odd XII and X running the 7.
When you drop below a level 6, you no longer can expect a global with every claim.
If you can't hit in 20 to 40 drops, my experience is its not a good time to mine up there. Give it an hour or two break. If you see other foma globals cycling through, then chances are you will get some claims too.
I have yet to actually totally nrf a level 7 amped run. Most of them break even or profit. If you should nrf a level 7 on foma, then, maybe its best to leave foma alone.
Based on my experience, if you see someone globalling a lot, or hof spamming three digit foma hofs, they are amped for certain. On a level 11 amp I was getting 180 to 280 ped hofs.
Further note: If you only plan running what you have for peds and going back to caly, it is best to just save your ores and ingots and take the TP down to caly. 7 peds is cheap security versus the odds of actually getting looted on the flight back to caly.
If you get shot down a few times carrying just a nova fragment or two, seems the pirates get the idea you are a no loot mob.
Either foma will hit or it will be cold, if it is cold, do not try to force it unless you have deep enough pockets to bomb every inch of every dome.
If you run a level 7 amp, virtually every hit is a global, though I've had the odd XII and X running the 7.
When you drop below a level 6, you no longer can expect a global with every claim.
If you can't hit in 20 to 40 drops, my experience is its not a good time to mine up there. Give it an hour or two break. If you see other foma globals cycling through, then chances are you will get some claims too.
I have yet to actually totally nrf a level 7 amped run. Most of them break even or profit. If you should nrf a level 7 on foma, then, maybe its best to leave foma alone.
Based on my experience, if you see someone globalling a lot, or hof spamming three digit foma hofs, they are amped for certain. On a level 11 amp I was getting 180 to 280 ped hofs.
Further note: If you only plan running what you have for peds and going back to caly, it is best to just save your ores and ingots and take the TP down to caly. 7 peds is cheap security versus the odds of actually getting looted on the flight back to caly.
If you get shot down a few times carrying just a nova fragment or two, seems the pirates get the idea you are a no loot mob.
Either foma will hit or it will be cold, if it is cold, do not try to force it unless you have deep enough pockets to bomb every inch of every dome.
My Experience in Making My Own LUCK (CRAFTING)
I have had my hofs capped, by what I don't know, to 1322 peds or under. It is frustrating. All of the peds I cycle, all of the hours spent playing. It seems there is no way to break through this glass ceiling. I mean, I can see through it but I just can't punch through.
So, what did I do... I tried a few clicks of level 2 lights on condition. 5th click in I got 1320 ped hof. Seriously... Why is it keeping me in this range?
I then decided to get a few L prints, shear xr's, bull tacs... I proceeded to hit three more hofs 1K+ on these L prints.
My experience is that as long as you have the success rate maxed, you will get your best crafting return doing L prints on condition. A lot of things worth crafting use materials of such a high markup that I don't think it is possible to profit at all doing them on quantity, unless you can do short runs of bigger items that you can make with residue and turn a profit on that way... But, if you are tired of not hoffing, or just want to see if you can change your luck, get yourself a 20 or 30 click L bp, try a bull tac10 or a Shear XR 40 print. The tac10 runs about 3.5 peds a click. I promise most of you wont be deposited. AND
What further confuses and confounds me:
If I lose a bunch of peds hunting or mining, I can take a L print and usually get some or most if not all of my losses back. My experience is every 5 to 10 runs you can expect a hof, but whether the hof is big enough to recover your losses, hard to say. But if you play eco a lot, it doesn't hurt to shake up the system every so often with a condition L print run.
So, what did I do... I tried a few clicks of level 2 lights on condition. 5th click in I got 1320 ped hof. Seriously... Why is it keeping me in this range?
I then decided to get a few L prints, shear xr's, bull tacs... I proceeded to hit three more hofs 1K+ on these L prints.
My experience is that as long as you have the success rate maxed, you will get your best crafting return doing L prints on condition. A lot of things worth crafting use materials of such a high markup that I don't think it is possible to profit at all doing them on quantity, unless you can do short runs of bigger items that you can make with residue and turn a profit on that way... But, if you are tired of not hoffing, or just want to see if you can change your luck, get yourself a 20 or 30 click L bp, try a bull tac10 or a Shear XR 40 print. The tac10 runs about 3.5 peds a click. I promise most of you wont be deposited. AND
What further confuses and confounds me:
If I lose a bunch of peds hunting or mining, I can take a L print and usually get some or most if not all of my losses back. My experience is every 5 to 10 runs you can expect a hof, but whether the hof is big enough to recover your losses, hard to say. But if you play eco a lot, it doesn't hurt to shake up the system every so often with a condition L print run.
Monday, February 10, 2014
NOOB MISSIONS: LOTS OF FREE STUFF AND SKILLS @ HALFMOON BAY!
I didn't bother with Half Moon Bay, since I figured there would be so many people there, I'd probably lag out and never get to play again, which has happened at times due to being on dialup. Well... I decided what the hell, I better see what I am missing. Apparently, I was missing half the fun of playing Entropia!
The mission chain leads you down the path to new cape Corinth, which is where you will find daily missions, token exchangers, mining guild representative for mining challenges... You are just throwing away ped if you are mining and not doing the challenges!!! I am actually excited about playing now, it gives me something to work towards even if I can't global or hof most of the time.
Ok... SO:
First upon arriving at half moon bay, you need to go talk to the guy down by the beach, forget his name but you can't miss him, he's the foreman npc. He tells you go kill a few sabakuma and retrieve a finder. Along the way you will probably loot a knife and a gun, but they give you guns and ammo for doing the quest. Sure, is noob weaponry, but that's ok. By the time I made it to cape Corinth, I probably had 5 to 10 peds profit including mu on stuff. Not bad for just killing time. Plus skill gains too!
After you return to him with the finder, you are sent back in to go after the big sabakuma in the nest, which is inside an instance. Go into the cave and follow it in and kill the big saba. Return and then you will be asked to talk to the female NPC that is hiding in the bushes by the TP. You will be sent up the road to find her boss.
Please note, MA did a crappy job of writing a story and plot, half it might make sense and only then if you make up half the stuff that supposed to fill the blanks. They even have two npc's conflicting about whether the one NPC is a male or female! Talk about bad writing. But, I will be the first to admit fiction writing is very tough, simply because fiction HAS to make sense, reality doesn't.
You end up progressing down the path, and you find the npc's boss, who instructs you to retrieve 5 maffoid skulls and turn them into her boss. You are given a voucher once you do that, for a piece of CDF Scout armor, UL. I got the harness which presently is +4 ped mu. I think what piece you get is entirely random.
BEFORE you get to her boss though, you will run across a courier that lost medical supplies. This is a quick and easy quest as it is just around the next bend and on the right in a little path on the other side of some big rocks.
There are a few more quests though, and even some I am told beyond Corinth, including a kill 300 punies and get 4 peds of ammo.
It will give you hours of fun if you have nothing better to do than sweat!
GOOD LUCK!
The mission chain leads you down the path to new cape Corinth, which is where you will find daily missions, token exchangers, mining guild representative for mining challenges... You are just throwing away ped if you are mining and not doing the challenges!!! I am actually excited about playing now, it gives me something to work towards even if I can't global or hof most of the time.
Ok... SO:
First upon arriving at half moon bay, you need to go talk to the guy down by the beach, forget his name but you can't miss him, he's the foreman npc. He tells you go kill a few sabakuma and retrieve a finder. Along the way you will probably loot a knife and a gun, but they give you guns and ammo for doing the quest. Sure, is noob weaponry, but that's ok. By the time I made it to cape Corinth, I probably had 5 to 10 peds profit including mu on stuff. Not bad for just killing time. Plus skill gains too!
After you return to him with the finder, you are sent back in to go after the big sabakuma in the nest, which is inside an instance. Go into the cave and follow it in and kill the big saba. Return and then you will be asked to talk to the female NPC that is hiding in the bushes by the TP. You will be sent up the road to find her boss.
Please note, MA did a crappy job of writing a story and plot, half it might make sense and only then if you make up half the stuff that supposed to fill the blanks. They even have two npc's conflicting about whether the one NPC is a male or female! Talk about bad writing. But, I will be the first to admit fiction writing is very tough, simply because fiction HAS to make sense, reality doesn't.
You end up progressing down the path, and you find the npc's boss, who instructs you to retrieve 5 maffoid skulls and turn them into her boss. You are given a voucher once you do that, for a piece of CDF Scout armor, UL. I got the harness which presently is +4 ped mu. I think what piece you get is entirely random.
BEFORE you get to her boss though, you will run across a courier that lost medical supplies. This is a quick and easy quest as it is just around the next bend and on the right in a little path on the other side of some big rocks.
There are a few more quests though, and even some I am told beyond Corinth, including a kill 300 punies and get 4 peds of ammo.
It will give you hours of fun if you have nothing better to do than sweat!
GOOD LUCK!
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Portable Trade Terminal & Portable Repair Terminal!!! YES THEY EXIST!!!
I somehow apparently missed the VU notes, though MA is a bit derelict in announcing changes in a timely manner so I tend to miss them as they happen. Years ago I made suggestions that they implement portable terminals for trade and repair, it only made sense. A couple weeks ago I was browsing through the Auction and ran across them!
They are Limited, and have a max TT of 20 PED. Markup for the portable TT unit tends to start around 140% on a buyout. Sure, prices will go up, prices will go down. I am uncertain if they are looted or crafted though I would imagine they are crafted.
The portable repair seems to go much higher in the 200% to 300% range at least at present time. Possibly due to the vast numbers of people who hunt and have use for a portable repair terminal. In any case, they can be found under Tools > Misc Tools in your auctioneer. Don't be surprised if you can't find any on other worlds, but like everything else in the game if you want it, you can buy it on Calypso.
I have not owned either of these so I cannot testify as to their decay per use, but when you are out in the middle of nowhere, whats a little decay as opposed to the cost of TP chipping to a terminal or the time involved in flying or driving to one.
They are Limited, and have a max TT of 20 PED. Markup for the portable TT unit tends to start around 140% on a buyout. Sure, prices will go up, prices will go down. I am uncertain if they are looted or crafted though I would imagine they are crafted.
The portable repair seems to go much higher in the 200% to 300% range at least at present time. Possibly due to the vast numbers of people who hunt and have use for a portable repair terminal. In any case, they can be found under Tools > Misc Tools in your auctioneer. Don't be surprised if you can't find any on other worlds, but like everything else in the game if you want it, you can buy it on Calypso.
I have not owned either of these so I cannot testify as to their decay per use, but when you are out in the middle of nowhere, whats a little decay as opposed to the cost of TP chipping to a terminal or the time involved in flying or driving to one.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Mining Finders and Returns: What you can do to improve them!
Unfortunately the modifications done to the mining system have destroyed tried and true mining methods. I suspect anyone doing gridline mining will lose their bottom dollar in a hurry. You can no longer just run and drop, turn around and dig up your finds... Simply because mining in such a way won't give you much to dig!!!
This is only one small problem compared to how many new finders there are available.. All of them are L, too. I hope better UL finders are on their way some day. In any event the old tried and true finders are not working as well as they once did in the areas they were great in. Here's how I started fixing this problem:
If you have a bit of a bankroll and want to become a REAL prospector in Entropia (The difference between a prospector and a miner is, a prospector looks for a place good enough to mine and a miner stays in a place that is good enough to mine once it's been found through prospecting) You need to pick a few finders, do a few runs on each in a few of your favorite places.
The result of my doing this has confirmed that indeed some finders work better than others in certain regions. If you regularly suffer heavy losses with one finder, switch to another. Is it better or worse? And keep working your way through finders until you can't find one that gets you any better results.
At present, I am very happy using the F-213 on calypso. It is doing better than my old 105 was after the alterations to the mining profession. I just got tired of bad mining returns and had to do something about it, but the last thing you want to do is buy new finders because you don't know how much ped will be wasted along the way, but I realized I was losing a lot more by not doing what needed done.
You also need to watch the ground. If the ground has the appearance of a certain ore, that ore is probably found there, as I mentioned before. Places that don't look like they would have something probably don't. You can't just keep dropping bombs and expect the system to compensate you.
I suspect results will vary from person to person as to which finder works best due to your play style and skill level... There quite probably is no "one finder fits all" approach. The F-105 USED to be the considered "one finder fits all" but not any more. As soon as someone figures out how to make ends meet, MA moves the ends. It never fails.
I hope this gives you a good starting point in rebooting your successful mining, as it has for me.
This is only one small problem compared to how many new finders there are available.. All of them are L, too. I hope better UL finders are on their way some day. In any event the old tried and true finders are not working as well as they once did in the areas they were great in. Here's how I started fixing this problem:
If you have a bit of a bankroll and want to become a REAL prospector in Entropia (The difference between a prospector and a miner is, a prospector looks for a place good enough to mine and a miner stays in a place that is good enough to mine once it's been found through prospecting) You need to pick a few finders, do a few runs on each in a few of your favorite places.
The result of my doing this has confirmed that indeed some finders work better than others in certain regions. If you regularly suffer heavy losses with one finder, switch to another. Is it better or worse? And keep working your way through finders until you can't find one that gets you any better results.
At present, I am very happy using the F-213 on calypso. It is doing better than my old 105 was after the alterations to the mining profession. I just got tired of bad mining returns and had to do something about it, but the last thing you want to do is buy new finders because you don't know how much ped will be wasted along the way, but I realized I was losing a lot more by not doing what needed done.
You also need to watch the ground. If the ground has the appearance of a certain ore, that ore is probably found there, as I mentioned before. Places that don't look like they would have something probably don't. You can't just keep dropping bombs and expect the system to compensate you.
I suspect results will vary from person to person as to which finder works best due to your play style and skill level... There quite probably is no "one finder fits all" approach. The F-105 USED to be the considered "one finder fits all" but not any more. As soon as someone figures out how to make ends meet, MA moves the ends. It never fails.
I hope this gives you a good starting point in rebooting your successful mining, as it has for me.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
MA Support: Incompetent? Or complicit? BIG unresolved issues.
A friend of mine once had me check on his support cases for him, since he hadn't been able to log in and play in quite a while. I looked at the date stamps on the messages and thought wow... After this long of a time? How long are cases supposed to take to resolve?
If anyone rips MA off, the "banhammer" comes down on them sooner or later. But... We can't exactly ban MA support for ripping US off. Because there are no doubt hundreds of thousands if not millions of disputed peds tied up in support due to bugs, glitches, and MA's unwillingness to assist their customer, I thought it would be helpful to help put their feet to the fire as it were. If I suspect there is a bug in any aspect of Entropia, I avoid it like the plague, because I know there is no justice when it comes to asking them for help.
So... I want you to look at what your calendar says the date is now... And I want you to look at the dates on this case which is still pending by the way... I always wondered why my friend was quitting and selling out for good, if this happened to me I probably would too. This is far too serious of an issue to not have been resolved. They have demonstrated they have the ability to track every pec and transaction, yet they are unwilling to do it when it doesn't benefit THEM. A happy customer, is a paying customer. If they don't actually assist us, there will be fewer and fewer happy customers, and they wonder why they have to watch their bottom line.
Since there is no accountability with MA, All we can do is expose what they probably would rather remain hidden and unseen.
To protect identities, names will be blotted out but all other details as they were in the case history. I obtained permission from my friend to discuss his case in my blog. If this case hasn't been resolved, IMAGINE how many bigger cases are probably no doubt still on the books that MA won't own up to and do something about? This can't be the only one. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, if you have something you are waiting for them to do something about, bug them every single day if you have to, don't let them get away with not helping you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012-11-07 06:23 You wrote:
did a level 6 key tonight and the 7th box ( large chest) said i opened it however no loot or loot msg followed nor loot apear in my inventory
If anyone rips MA off, the "banhammer" comes down on them sooner or later. But... We can't exactly ban MA support for ripping US off. Because there are no doubt hundreds of thousands if not millions of disputed peds tied up in support due to bugs, glitches, and MA's unwillingness to assist their customer, I thought it would be helpful to help put their feet to the fire as it were. If I suspect there is a bug in any aspect of Entropia, I avoid it like the plague, because I know there is no justice when it comes to asking them for help.
So... I want you to look at what your calendar says the date is now... And I want you to look at the dates on this case which is still pending by the way... I always wondered why my friend was quitting and selling out for good, if this happened to me I probably would too. This is far too serious of an issue to not have been resolved. They have demonstrated they have the ability to track every pec and transaction, yet they are unwilling to do it when it doesn't benefit THEM. A happy customer, is a paying customer. If they don't actually assist us, there will be fewer and fewer happy customers, and they wonder why they have to watch their bottom line.
Since there is no accountability with MA, All we can do is expose what they probably would rather remain hidden and unseen.
To protect identities, names will be blotted out but all other details as they were in the case history. I obtained permission from my friend to discuss his case in my blog. If this case hasn't been resolved, IMAGINE how many bigger cases are probably no doubt still on the books that MA won't own up to and do something about? This can't be the only one. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, if you have something you are waiting for them to do something about, bug them every single day if you have to, don't let them get away with not helping you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012-11-07 06:23 You wrote:
did a level 6 key tonight and the 7th box ( large chest) said i opened it however no loot or loot msg followed nor loot apear in my inventory
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
New Mining Advice for 2014
MA revised the mining system as you all know or should know. As a result, I am better able to determine where I should and shouldn't drop my probes. However, before there was no indication by looking at the ground as to what was there.
Now, I find that when I hit a claim particularly on calypso, I can look immediately near the claim marker and see ground textures that have either the same texturing as the ore I found, or at least the same coloring. It is weird, but I didn't notice this until after I looked down at the ground in high graphics quality, hmmm, a caldorite claim, and the ground had the same texture as the caldorite ore. Of course the ground that looks more like copper and belkar has copper and belkar. Wolverine Hope is one example of that. TI is a good example of finding gazzurdite near rock outcrops that look, like gazzurdite. And if you look closely at the textures on TI, you will notice blue looking rocks. Of course cobalt is mostly blue, and it is found all over TI.
By applying what you know about what ores look like, and look for those features in the various places you mine, you can get a bit more accurate in dropping your probes. It may not yet be an exact science, but MA has done a better job at letting it be a little closer to reality.
I can't say for certain this trait exists for ALL ores, or if just for ores, or for ores and enmatters alike... But I was strolling through my usual area that I hit Langotz in, and I notice a very limited amount of langotz looking rock in the terrain. Right about where I usually hit it too. SO.. Just wanted to give you guys some more of that great quality content you've come to expect from me. Keep your eyes peeled, and if you decide to scoff at this, I am telling you, you will be surprised. Just make sure you are using the right finder to hit the stuff you think you are looking for.
After a long break from posting here, it's good to be back actively posting... So... Until next time, Never fear, the goldbaron is here!
Now, I find that when I hit a claim particularly on calypso, I can look immediately near the claim marker and see ground textures that have either the same texturing as the ore I found, or at least the same coloring. It is weird, but I didn't notice this until after I looked down at the ground in high graphics quality, hmmm, a caldorite claim, and the ground had the same texture as the caldorite ore. Of course the ground that looks more like copper and belkar has copper and belkar. Wolverine Hope is one example of that. TI is a good example of finding gazzurdite near rock outcrops that look, like gazzurdite. And if you look closely at the textures on TI, you will notice blue looking rocks. Of course cobalt is mostly blue, and it is found all over TI.
By applying what you know about what ores look like, and look for those features in the various places you mine, you can get a bit more accurate in dropping your probes. It may not yet be an exact science, but MA has done a better job at letting it be a little closer to reality.
I can't say for certain this trait exists for ALL ores, or if just for ores, or for ores and enmatters alike... But I was strolling through my usual area that I hit Langotz in, and I notice a very limited amount of langotz looking rock in the terrain. Right about where I usually hit it too. SO.. Just wanted to give you guys some more of that great quality content you've come to expect from me. Keep your eyes peeled, and if you decide to scoff at this, I am telling you, you will be surprised. Just make sure you are using the right finder to hit the stuff you think you are looking for.
After a long break from posting here, it's good to be back actively posting... So... Until next time, Never fear, the goldbaron is here!
Bandwidth & Loot: Issues I've Learned Firsthand
Since I have dialup, I am plagued with certain issues. If I am careful, I do well. But most of you have so much bandwidth that you might not realize these issues. For me, either I have bandwidth or I don't, there is no "things aren't going so well". Things don't go at all.
I have to shut off windows automatic update, as if having it on over dialup does any good anyways, anything that actively sends and receives data needs to be disabled while playing entropia. Even if you are on high speed connections, it seems whatever bandwidth you have, entropia uses it. Huge usage spikes have been reported to me by a couple friends who hof big and ath. Just prior to the loot popping up, their network jumps to almost full usage. What implication this has is up to you to decide.
What I am getting to though, is if something is using my bandwidth, I have issues with claim lag, as in you drop a bomb and have to wait 10 minutes for the result to show up. Or, you drop and drop and continue to drop your probes and it just feels like things are timing out. No loot at all. And what I find is, the minute I start getting bad returns, I go through look for things sucking up bandwidth, close them in the task manager, I start getting loot again!!!! Imagine that!
If you are on a wired broadband connection it would seem to be less of an issue. But if you are over a wireless router, other devices streaming Netflix or downloading large files, etc can cause extra latency and bandwidth shortages just enough to impact performance in Entropia. I have tested on numerous types of connections, and you can see and feel the differences between certain variables in how the game responds and behaves.
The slower your internet, the more diligent you need to be about closing ANYTHING that is sucking up your bandwidth, as I can provably say it WILL cost you returns. And from what I can tell, there is no compensatory algorithm that feels sorry for you after you've fixed the issues. I am telling you this so that you can avoid the issues. If indeed these sorts of things are impacting you, it won't take long for you to notice a positive change by freeing up all the bandwidth you can while playing.
I have to shut off windows automatic update, as if having it on over dialup does any good anyways, anything that actively sends and receives data needs to be disabled while playing entropia. Even if you are on high speed connections, it seems whatever bandwidth you have, entropia uses it. Huge usage spikes have been reported to me by a couple friends who hof big and ath. Just prior to the loot popping up, their network jumps to almost full usage. What implication this has is up to you to decide.
What I am getting to though, is if something is using my bandwidth, I have issues with claim lag, as in you drop a bomb and have to wait 10 minutes for the result to show up. Or, you drop and drop and continue to drop your probes and it just feels like things are timing out. No loot at all. And what I find is, the minute I start getting bad returns, I go through look for things sucking up bandwidth, close them in the task manager, I start getting loot again!!!! Imagine that!
If you are on a wired broadband connection it would seem to be less of an issue. But if you are over a wireless router, other devices streaming Netflix or downloading large files, etc can cause extra latency and bandwidth shortages just enough to impact performance in Entropia. I have tested on numerous types of connections, and you can see and feel the differences between certain variables in how the game responds and behaves.
The slower your internet, the more diligent you need to be about closing ANYTHING that is sucking up your bandwidth, as I can provably say it WILL cost you returns. And from what I can tell, there is no compensatory algorithm that feels sorry for you after you've fixed the issues. I am telling you this so that you can avoid the issues. If indeed these sorts of things are impacting you, it won't take long for you to notice a positive change by freeing up all the bandwidth you can while playing.
Entropia Partners PED earning opportunity!!!
You may have noticed the new banners I put up and the link at the top right of the blog. I had fellow Entropians asking me if I had used this site. I didn't... I was reluctant to. No reason in particular... I AM on dialup still, and I am reluctant to have to do anything bandwidth intensive, which with the advent of flash and java becoming bloatware on most sites, I am very selective in what I use my resources for. (This brings up another issue I need to blog about... How bandwidth affects your loot.)
It would seem the active entropians have joined entropia partners... Lots of good quality posts in the forum, and I don't see any whining or belly-aching in their forum like I have come to expect from the main official forum. I will be the first to admit most complaining tends to be justified, and several more issues I need to raise in my blog come to mind.
Well... In the forums present on the entropia partners site, is a section dedicated to members posting proof of their payments and earnings on the site. This ensures transparency and integrity. The people doing the payouts are volunteers who pay you in person on behalf of the site operator. Cashouts of up to 1K peds are documented.
This is a tremendous opportunity and the site has a lot of potential though it would seem it is in it's beginning phase. In time I would expect it will advance by leaps and bounds.
If you want to make some extra ped, and join a great community, I highly recommend Entropia Partners. You may click on the link or banners present in this blog to take you to their site.
Stay tuned for more great posts coming very shortly!!!
*** Update: I forgot to mention that you can also earn Second Life Lindens and EVE ISK's as well.
Some concerns have been expressed that some people haven't received their payouts, but I do not personally know a single person who has not received a payout from this outfit. If anyone has such a concern, I will do my best to investigate it.
It would seem the active entropians have joined entropia partners... Lots of good quality posts in the forum, and I don't see any whining or belly-aching in their forum like I have come to expect from the main official forum. I will be the first to admit most complaining tends to be justified, and several more issues I need to raise in my blog come to mind.
Well... In the forums present on the entropia partners site, is a section dedicated to members posting proof of their payments and earnings on the site. This ensures transparency and integrity. The people doing the payouts are volunteers who pay you in person on behalf of the site operator. Cashouts of up to 1K peds are documented.
This is a tremendous opportunity and the site has a lot of potential though it would seem it is in it's beginning phase. In time I would expect it will advance by leaps and bounds.
If you want to make some extra ped, and join a great community, I highly recommend Entropia Partners. You may click on the link or banners present in this blog to take you to their site.
Stay tuned for more great posts coming very shortly!!!
*** Update: I forgot to mention that you can also earn Second Life Lindens and EVE ISK's as well.
Some concerns have been expressed that some people haven't received their payouts, but I do not personally know a single person who has not received a payout from this outfit. If anyone has such a concern, I will do my best to investigate it.
Monday, January 13, 2014
New Years Update
I wanted to say happy new years to all of my dedicated readers, and thanks for making my blog a success. I know the past few years have been tough for a lot of people, hopefully things will improve.
I have a lot of things I want to blog about... I've had a lot of time to investigate a lot of things in the entropia universe, and there are beans to spill and skunks that need ratted out. There are also some new thing I am learning after the revamped mining system.
You can expect very soon for some new posts showing up, that will be well worth the time you've waited for me to post something new!!!
For now, Good luck while I start composing these new posts!
I have a lot of things I want to blog about... I've had a lot of time to investigate a lot of things in the entropia universe, and there are beans to spill and skunks that need ratted out. There are also some new thing I am learning after the revamped mining system.
You can expect very soon for some new posts showing up, that will be well worth the time you've waited for me to post something new!!!
For now, Good luck while I start composing these new posts!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)