Q&A Answers (Aug-Sep 06)

[dr_udi]

well buuhuu about the egg.

I was only intrested in one question and obviously it got rejected by Marco

Sarah asked:

When will the web interface for the ATM cards be available? You charge 10 PED fee for over-charging, but there is no way to check the current balance.

yawn...

[DarkFire]

It's a good start Maco, thumbs up for you

now keep it updated with new questions you come across, and if possible, give more detailed answers

[AJack10600]

Thx for the effort, though you could have said a bit more on some topics without giving away any major secrets.

Please don't let this be a one off

[Marco|MindArk]

Originally Posted by AJack10600

Please don't let this be a one off

My plan is to have the next one in a month or so. And then it will be one Q per person. ,-)

[Look]

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* Participants asking for a long time for the implementation on a lending system. Can we expect this in the near future ?

No. We don't believe a general lending system will be beneficial to Entropia Universe, and the security around it is very complex. The indications we have are that if a lending system is introduced it will create monopolies and remove a large part of the fun factor from Entropia Universe.

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Sorry, but do you imply that introducing operational leasing to the real economy in 20th century created monopolies ?

[DarkFire]

Originally Posted by Look

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* Participants asking for a long time for the implementation on a lending system. Can we expect this in the near future ?

No. We don't believe a general lending system will be beneficial to Entropia Universe, and the security around it is very complex. The indications we have are that if a lending system is introduced it will create monopolies and remove a large part of the fun factor from Entropia Universe.

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Sorry, but do you imply that introducing operational leasing to the real economy in 20th century created monopolies ?

I fail to understand MA's logic on this point also

[phrozenRa]

Originally Posted by DarkFire

I fail to understand MA's logic on this point also

I see it this way. Why would you need to buy an imk2, when you can lend one and go hunt for 24hour and make proffit with it ....?

Lending system = less money deposited... aka not good for the business

[DarkFire]

Originally Posted by phrozenRa

I see it this way. Why would you need to buy an imk2, when you can lend one and go hunt for 24hour and make proffit with it ....?

Lending system = less money deposited... aka not good for the business

But isn't that breaking the monopoly rather than making one?

EDIT: and will it make the game less enjoyable?
If MAs reason for not implementing this is their own profit, then they could just say so, and it would be fair enough... MA is a buissness and i respect that...

[Faustian]

Originally Posted by Marco|MindArk

* Will MA start treating its player base with a bit more respect in terms of our feedback and wishes? Communicating openly and effectly.

Yes, MindArk already have the greatest respect for the player base and pay attention to all feedback and suggestions. Unfortunately the staff here cannot instantly implement all the wishes and suggestions that come in from such a large player base. We are forced to sort and prioritize community wishes. We will never be able to accommodate every wish and have to reflect upon every idea in light of the greater good and how such suggestions will affect the virtual universe itself.

No, but we got time to build ships

Sorry I couldn't help my self

[AkiranBlade]

Firstly, thanks for providing the community with responses on their questions.

Here are some points and questions in response to your post.

Originally Posted by Marco|MindArk

* What is MA going to do to stop the 70% of the players leaving in the first month of joining?

First of all, the churn rate of 70% isn't as bad as it sounds considering that Entropia Universe is free to download and many people do that without any idea of what to expect. Many then discover that Entropia isn't for them and leave quickly. That being said, we still want a higher conversion rate into active participants and we hope to improve that statistic during the coming season. On a side note, the Entropia Universe has quite a high number of long-term participants, many whom have been with us for years, compared to the ordinary MMORPG-mean of 5-6 months.

I think it is a severe oversight to think of such a failure rate to be 'not that bad.' This could be easily avoided by providing a multitude of videos of in-game footage ranging from merely showing the landscapes to video based tutorials showing new and potential users how to do certain things. A picture speaks a thousand words, a video can do soo much more.

A huge chunk of mentoring time goes into telling the user how to use the UI, which could be made simpler by having a tutorial on the website. This could then leave Mentors with the job of teaching the new people how to get on in EU.

Originally Posted by Marco|MindArk

* Will MA start treating its player base with a bit more respect in terms of our feedback and wishes? Communicating openly and effectly.

Yes, MindArk already have the greatest respect for the player base and pay attention to all feedback and suggestions. Unfortunately the staff here cannot instantly implement all the wishes and suggestions that come in from such a large player base. We are forced to sort and prioritize community wishes. We will never be able to accommodate every wish and have to reflect upon every idea in light of the greater good and how such suggestions will affect the virtual universe itself.

I think, if I'm not mistaken, the point here was pertaining to the lack of communication about issues that we recieve more than often. Simply saying 'we have no plans for this at this time' is not the same as saying; 'we are looking into the feasability of this, although it is low priority to us.' My point being, a one liner retort is not enough to satisfy the audience on a given subject.

Originally Posted by Marco|MindArk

* What will MindArk do to improve the negative feelings from the playerbase towards the company.

Without meaning to be trite, it is difficult to please everyone all the time. We know that we do have many satisfied customers and we will work steadily to improve the situation for less satisfied customers because that is in everybody’s interest. We can guarantee that we do read the forums and note everything. It is also important to understand that the happy participants in the Entropia Universe are busy enjoying themselves and that the majority of the negative feelings come from a smaller group of people who are vocal about their dissatisfaction. Entropia appears to bring passion into the mix, we even have people who no longer partake in the community or experience that still like to bash us – for whatever reasons.

It's fair enough that you can't please all the people all of the time, but what you have to recognise is that when so many people are displeased over a number of issues, something needs to be done about it in favour of your customers and not of yourselves.

Originally Posted by Marco|MindArk

* Will attributes ever be chippeable?

Never say never, but we have no plans to add attributes to the skill implant system at the moment.

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

This is the only true way to see if someone is truely a dedicated and highly skilled participant.

Originally Posted by Marco|MindArk

* Why is CND subjected to "Other Zone" auction fees, but Crystal Palace is not?

I don't know, actually. =)

I, and many others probably, would like to see a cap on the amount to be charged on this. Currently those who mine for resource on CND end up having to sell to people in the control room at a lower price, and sometimes are unable to as there aren't any traders in the CR, in an effort to get round the exorbitant fees in auction. These fees should not exceed a reasonable value.

Originally Posted by Marco|MindArk

* Will there be more possabilities to create new (non-existing) mobs from DNA?

Remember the Globster? More such DNA's will surely be found with more never before seen creatures.

Again, forgive me if I misunderstood this point but I believe the originator might have meant a system by which you can mix and match DNA parts and possibly make hybrids and new mobs. Something which was suggested on this very forum some months back. This also would have scope for a skill based profession of Geneticist.

Originally Posted by Marco|MindArk

* When will we get an "opalo" blp gun?

Soon. The same goes for plasma guns

Please can we have a sensible reload time for the Plasma weapon. And on that note can we get a minor adjustment to the Large Thorifoid, 5 seconds is too ridiculous for skilling.(I won't hold my breath though )

Originally Posted by Marco|MindArk

* Will the map system be improved soon ?

It is not in the pipeline right now.

I would like to see something done on this, maybe an option to have a larger map in operation that the user can define either in the options window or on the map window itself.

I would also like to suggest the creation of a GPS-Satellite device (non Limited item - Limited BP) which utilises Batteries (Limited item - both types of bp) so that a player can set a way point and actually see in real time who is in a particular location by 'zooming' in on the satellite. Obviously the decay on this would be fairly pricey. (View would be top down only though).

Originally Posted by Marco|MindArk

* Is a "pack item" auction will finally come.Its specially whanted for sell Full armor set.

Maybe, but not likely.

While creating 'packs' might not be something likely to implement, I thoroughly believe the ability to sell armour as a whole set would be beneficial to the Universe. It could also provide certain trader elements an area in which to operate as an honest business buying up armour pieces as they find them to create sets and sell them complete with a reasonable markup for their efforts. Another thing to help reduce chat spam and lag in certain towns (Twin and PA)

Another thing that I could not see mentioned was the suggestion by 101 regarding being able to set locks/time locks on your items to prevent them from being TT'd. This would a fabulous tool for participants to help prevent costly mistakes in TT'ing items, but also aid hacker protection as a time lock means a hacker could not trade, drop or sell an item because it has a time lock on it.

I hope my comments help you to make EU a better place for all.

By the way, anyone with a link to any information about any other real cash economy mmorpg's please PM me them. It's clear the real advantage is to get in early on such systems as despite my ped throughput I've yet to loot something really nice