Mike Euphoriac's Dairy

[Mike Euphoriac]

Ok, where to begin...

Well, first how i spent today on PE.
It was a slow day, didn't get much of a chance to play due to rl commitments . When i finally did get on, it was only to hunt for about an hour.
However, the Major News of The Day came from the fact that i was able to break even during hunting . The reason this is big is simply because after 3 months (or so) of playing PE, this is the FIRST time thats happened. Another surprising thing is that this was done by hunting Daikibas, SnableSnots and Exsarosaurs! And here i was hunting nothing but Cornundacaudas for the last few weeks and gaining nothing but wool :/

Why was i hunting those lower end mobs you say? Well, about 3 days ago, i did one of my rare Mining Hunts. I soo love to mine (i actually gain money most of the time), but it's usually too big an investment in PED's to do as often as hunting, so i have to contend myself with only the occasional expedition. On this occasion, my usual mining area was SWARMING with said mobs. I took this as a sign that there must be pretty good ore beneath them, so i went back to the nearest TT and bought about 50 PED's worth of bombs. To put a long (and potentially boring) story short, i had a pretty good ore return (i broke roughly even), but the main high-point of this expedition was the fact that i was suddenly gaining much more exp per kill. A quick enquiry to my Soc informed me that this was because the mobs in question were obviously my Ideal Experiance-Gaining Mobs. Since then, i have been hunting these mobs whenever and wherever possible. My Longblades skill has been increasing faster than ever

So that was my last few days in PE.

Next Time: My thoughts on PE in general, starting with why this is the only MMORPG i'm still playing (other than my first ever MMORPG, which you never forget and which i'm still playing after almost a year with it) and my new philosophy and goals in PE. See you then.

[Mike Euphoriac]

Well i haven't been very busy on PE, just been spending my time skilling up with the method described above. It's still a very good method, not to mention VERY relaxing after a hard day; mostly because the area i'm doing it is SO beautiful!

Now to the issue i've been thinking about for some time. Even though this game is FAR from perfect, and can (if i'm not careful) cost me FAR too much money to play, why am i still playing?

It's taken a while for me to figure this out. But the reason has changed over time. I'll be honest; the main reason i bothered to start playing this game in the first place was for the possibility of earning money :/
After i found out that this just wasn't possible, i was angry and frustrated at myself for falling for such an obvious marketeting ploy. Let's all be honest here and admit that the idea of earning any real amount of money in PE is like saying that you can earn a living by betting in a casino. You COULD, but it's way too dependant on luck and risk-taking to be worth taking part JUST for the money. With that in mind, i found myself with about 200 PED in-game, and no desire to withdrawal that amount (couldn't be bothered frankly ), so i decided to continue playing till i had none left; then i would simply cancel my CC, uninstall the game and move on.

Of course, that never happened. Once i was free from the stressful constraints of trying to earn money from this game, i was able to look at the game proper. And i actually found the game to be quite alot of fun. Also cool was the fact that i wasn't limited in what i could do. I did a bit of hunting, which was sedate and peaceful. I tried mining, which i still found cool and now was less dis-heartening whenever i got nothing (it still annoyed me, but didn't send me into a tizzy) although it's still too expensive to do often, as i said before. And i finally tried crafting which was also cool and compulsive ('oooh i just failed to make some filters, just one more go' ).

The fact is, i STILL haven't ran out of those original 200 PED's a full month after i decided that i didn't want to play anymore. In fact, i think i've GAINED a few Of course, i still lose PED's in everything i do, but i have had good loots, good mining finds etc that have kept me pretty much breaking even.

And now i've decided to only deposit $10 once i run out of PED's or $10 once a month.

As for my in-game philosophy and goals? I intend to take things slowly, to stop worrying about making PED's or even breaking even. My goals include getting my own Home (apt or house) and getting enough skills to actually break even!

Next Time: Progress on my Simple and Quick Skilling-Up Project and What i Hate About PE (I just spent ages telling you what i love, so it's only fair )

See you then.

[Mike Euphoriac]

Okay, so it's been a while since i last posted here, shame on me

The reaon is i simply haven't been on PE much lately. But i'm now going to be more active, especially as i can now deposit again

I realise i said last time that i was going to describe what i hate about PE, but i realised that this would be too much of a rant and whine post.

So instead, i'm going to describe what i have decided to do in PE, what i intend to bring to PE as a whole.

Lately, i've been following ToolMan's attempts to improve the Inter-Soc relations area of PE, with mixed results. Well i think that the only barrier to his endeavors is simply that MA need to introduce a Chat Creation feature. Simply, you can create a chat room/Tab, and invite people to it, make a password and name it. This would mean that people can form long-term groups and maybe alliances within the game. This would bring people together more readily in-game.
However, no matter how intrepid people like ToolMan are, the primary problem exists; a vast majority of people in PE are here simply to earn money. They don't want to join in on team events if there's nothing in it for them. They want to earn lots of money with no risk.

I personally would like to further the state of technology and wealth for all in-game. I would love to see more of a solid, workable economy for all. A multi-tiered system where every profession is linked to every other profession in some way. For example, miners sell to crafters, crafters make weapons, hunters buy weapons. I realise this already happens, but there isn't enough of an emphasis on this sort of thing happening, and it can all happen without anyone meeting anyone face-to-face. Lets face it; mining and crafting are generally money-losing, often lonely professions, and hunters can essentially remain totally independant without needing anyones help (except to hunt the bigger mobs, which they don't need to do if they're strong enough). There needs to be far more emphasis on needing other peoples help and seeing each other whilst conducting sales and purchases. Again, this depends almost entirely on MA introducing features and changes to the game that would move it in that direction. Hopefully the next VU will indeed be the beginning of this trend when the crafting changes come in. I intend to do my part by trying to make contacts for sales and purchases. Nothing like having particular people you always come to to sell and buy things.

Oh, and my skilling up continues to go well. My longblades skill rises very fast and i'm getting more efficient at killing.

Next Time: My progress in-game, any new projects of mine etc.

[Mike Euphoriac]

Typical, 20 lvl's below Able Longblades, and the mobs i've been using to skill up seem to have all but stopped giving me ANY skills at all, perhaps 2-3 lvls every 2 axes IF i'm lucky. This has basically forced me to change my tactics. I'm gonna have to either keep going; hopefully this is just a temporary problem, or find new mobs to hunt (hopefully i don't have to buy different armour).

More on this later, once i figure out what i'm going to do next

[Mike Euphoriac]

Just a quick heads up (to anyone who's interested). I have been away from PE due to heavy RL commitments, but they appear to have become less of a life-dominating problem. So expect to see me around more often, with a renewed interest in all things PE-related (except crafting...*shudder*) and more meaningful entries in my diary/blog/whatever this thing really is