So, the newbie adventures finally reach their conclusion. This time we see the final week and I reveal whether a profit or loss was made, as well as dishing out some PED to those who helped me on my travels. Remember, at the time of the final week, I still hadn't revealed who I was, so the experiment remained uninfluenced until the very end
DAYS 23-25:
I don't know what caused the sudden change, but the skills were slowing down and the loot had dried up. I seemed to be getting returns of just 30% on each mining run, giving me a real cause for concern... Then, just when things couldn't get any worse, on day 24 I was killed by a random Atrox I didn't see and revived miles away in the middle of the Atrox LA north of Nate Valley.
Try as I might, I simply could not escape from this LA - no one online in NBK Legion could take out the big troxies, so eventually, after over an hour of trying I gave up and logged off. Day 25 my luck changed, and after trying to escape for about an hour and 45 mins, Kev Ginger Aslin revived next to me. I asked if he would mind helping me get out of here and after asking his team mate Sweety Ice Phoenix, the pair decided to help me. We ran south towards Nate, my bodyguards cutting down anything in our path whilst chatting to me about safer areas to try mining
.
Eventually we got back to Nate and they went one step further than the help they had already given, by inviting me to add them to my friend list so I could call them if I ever got into trouble again. What a great gesture - a totally random noob and they both go totally out of their way to help! Many thanks Ginger & Ice!
DAYS 26-28:
Two days wasted and still the mining was terrible. The returns were averaging about 40% and my stockpile of 100 bombs was near depletion. I ended up having to reduce my runs each time, eventually running as low as 25 bomb runs, dropping them, and heading back and repeating. This was taking up massive amounts of time and not helping the skilling one bit! I was obviously on a really bad patch and had just about given up hope when I hit a global! Only a 51 PED Blausariam, but it was desperately needed! It at least enabled my to go back to sensible sized runs, but the skills were still moving slowly and real life commitments were preventing me from putting in any long hours. Something pretty drastic was going to have to happen to bail me out of this bad patch in time for the end of the experiment, I even considered using the beacon money to bail me out, but the urge to cheat eventually passed...
I was distracted for a little while by Pole of NBK who had put on a free Opallo PVP event for all NBK members. The event was held at Zychion which I didn't have the Teleport for, so I had the society give me instructions on how to get there from Camp Phoenix. Amazingly, I did it without encountering a single creature which made a nice change!
Turns out I couldn't make the event as it was after the experiment was due to end, but it was nice to see so many differently skilled people all with a common interest. I held various conversations with some high skilled NBK members such as Firemaiden who offered to take me on the Beacon Mission if I sold it to an NBK member and who also offered to pass on any shogun pieces she looted for TT value.
DAYS 29-30:
I think at this point I finally realised I was not going to graduate within the 30-day experiment. The skills were still slow and the loot terrible. There's not really much else to tell... with the exception of a little advice for all those new players out there: Just because you find invisible solid ground high in the air, it is not a good idea to try mining it!
I finished off Day 30 by wishing my fellow NBKers good luck and explaining that I wouldn't be playing for a couple of weeks as I was going on holiday. I think that's what gave me away to Ender, but as it was the final day, I wasn't too worried
THE END
Apologies for the final two days, but literally nothing happened. Anyway, down to the important stuff. Did I graduate - nope,
did I profit? Well let's take a look....
At the end of the experiment I sold everything I had, and ended up with 79.17 PED in cash - I told you loot was bad the during last week!
I also had 86.70 PED of skills (according to CareBears
www.entropiatools.com). Now, I know I can't cash them in as I didn't graduate, but they still form part of the final valuation of the character when it comes to assessing its value at the end of the experiment. The idea of course being to see what was achievable in a month, not to see if someone could play for a month and withdraw. A normal new player would at this point (hopefully) continue and eventually graduate. So, the grand total of "worth" is 165.87 PEDs. My total deposit amounted to 183.16 so I lost only 17.29 PEDs in total.
I estimate the total playing time to be in excess of 50 hours, so I think (at least in my experience) the life of a newbie is extremely good value for money! The biggest difference between me and a genuine new player I think is the fact that I was dedicated in skilling with few interruptions, whereas I would have liked to socialise a little more - god knows there were enough opportunities to do so in NBK!
The positives I experiences were so many - there were lots of free events, both
MA organised and player organised. There were numerous people giving away free stuff frequently and there were always lots of people willing to help out and offer advice.
The negatives were few - it could be very boring, but I think a lot of this was down to the fact I did not socialise very much, partially through fear of recognition, and partially due to the fact I was on a skilling deadline. Obviously the mentor has to feature as the main negative and I asked Marco if he would like to comment on this...
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Marco|MindArk
Hello Ms Moomin.
We will take steps to make the mentor system better. I don't have an ETA but it is a priority area to us.
-Marco
|
It's good to know this is being treated as a priority by MindArk, and I am confident when this is improved upon, it will take out one of the biggest negative areas that affects the enjoyment of new players.
In summary, this has been one of the most positive experiences of my Entropian life. I always seem to see the negative posts about scammers and kill stealers etc, but in reality, from my experience I found that the good far outnumber the bad.
Now, all that is left is to thank the people who set out to make other's experience of Entropia a better one. As I mentioned before, I only have 79.17 PED in cash as the skills remain locked, however as I am sure most of you will remember I also have the beacon money - it sold for 565 PED which brings the total PED I have to give away to 644.17 PED and 30,000 EFD (from 711).
And with that, I would like to thank the following people:
Joshua Jot Avarius &
T R Pant Pant: You both spend so much time in the New Arrivals Zone, making a lot of new players first experience of
EU a positive one! You get 50 PEDs each.
Alice: Your guides are invaluable to all new players, and with so many people recommending them to new players, it assures they help many, many people. EFD are pretty useless to you, so you get 50 PEDs.
Simon & Emma The
MA Guides: EFD and PED are useless to you, but I still wanted to pass on my thanks for doing such a great job in
EU. You newbie events are an inspired way for new players to get to know each other.
Marco|MA: For giving me the chance to write this series - it was great fun!
Xander Zan Catman: For your generosity in giving away your duplicate Blueprints I have 15K EFD for you.
Denachron Cron: You too spent time and money giving away items 15K EFD for you too!
Mel Mel Pwn,
Andy Blaise Crook and
Hearse Hearsedrv Driver: Without your help, that beacon would never have been collected from the spaceship! You all dropped what you were doing in an instant and came running to help, and for that you get 50 PEDs each.
Kev Ginger Aslin &
Sweety Ice Phoenix RESCUE 50 peds each total (100)
And finally,
The NBK Legion Society: The amount of help, support and companionship you gave was remarkable. I only hope every New Player finds their way to you. I give to you as a group the remaining 244.17 PEDs. Maybe you could run an event or something with it - I only wish it could be more!
Could you all PM me and we can arrange a meet between you and the Snorkmaiden to hand over the PEDs
(I suggest a Leader of NBK Legion PMs me rather than the entire society!
)
With that done, all is finished. The Snorkmaiden has left the building - but Entropia Forum Undercover will be back - so watch out who you PK - it might come back to bite you in the ass!