Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Misson Creature Spawns Update

To assist Calypso participants wishing to complete Iron Challenge missions before the mission rewards rebalancing takes effect, the following temporary creature spawns have been created and will be active until July 10, 2012:

 - Atrax - East of Fort Zeus (87200, 94400 Eudoria)
- Neconu - Land Area 6 (31400, 34000 Amethera)

 After which time two different mission creatures will be spawned in those areas. This procedure will be continued every two weeks until the Planet Partner release scheduled for August 21, 2012.

 Happy Hunting!

Awesomium coming to Entropia Universe

Kim, one of the developers of Planet Calypso just anounced that they are in the process of integrating web-browser into the Entropia Universe client. He is personally pushing for the ability to have integrated flash games that can be intertwined with the quest system etc. Like actually have to pick a lock to open some treasure chest or perhaps do some coding on an in-game computer to open a locked door. The possibilities are endless. And Bjorn from MindArk added little more information revealing that the Awsomium framework being implemented into Entropia has nothing to do with the recent addition of Sometrics, and will not be used for any sort of external marketing or advertising. Awsomium is a very powerful and flexible framwork for implementing all sorts of cool features. MindArk plan to use it for displaying in-game videos, as well as for improving tutorials and help screens for new participants.
It's powerful framework supports the latest in web standards: HTML5 semantics, JavaScript, and CSS3, as well as Flash and Silverlight plugins. Awesomium is a branch of Google Chromium. Render web-pages to any graphics surface, 3D texture, or otherwise. Perfect for use in games, multi-touch simulations, and more. Create custom web-pages that integrate with your application. Pass data to/from a page via JavaScript, register callbacks, or send custom HTTP headers to your web-server. Uses a multi-process architecture for crash isolation, security sandboxing, and premium load-balancing across multiple CPU cores. The Resource Interceptor system makes it easy to monitor HTTP requests and/or use your own custom resource-loader. It has a clean, readable API with plenty of documentation and samples so you can get going in a matter of minutes.
This web browser is already used in EVE Online

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Calypso Migration 2012

Each year the enormous and majestic Calypso herbivores known as Eomon migrate to their summer grazing grounds. The massive herds that result from this migration attract all manner of predators and other wildlife, including many very rare and reclusive creatures, and in turn the attention of poachers and professional hunters.

Based on high pheromone readings collected at observation posts across Eudoria, experts from the Imperial Exobiology Institute expect the annual Eomon migration to begin around the 29th of June in the area north of Nymphtown.
Unarmed colonists are advised to use caution when travelling through areas near the migration trail, since the normally docile Eomon have been known to become much more aggressive during migration season.
Here is big version of that picture you can use for wallpaper:

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Entropia Universe Partners With Sometrics For Amazing Offers

Players Now Have Access to New Ways to Get Currency Into the Game

GOTHENBURG, Sweden, June 20, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- /MindArk/ - Entropia Universe, the largest real cash economy Massively Multiplayer Online Game, announced today a partnership with Sometrics. This new deal will bring alternative revenue streams to colonists on any participating partner planet within the universe.

"Entropia Universe is happy to offer an alternative payment option to allow users to add funds to their in game account without actually dipping into their own pockets, said David Simmonds, CEO of MindArk. "By using the Sometrics revenue optimization platform our users can generate PEDs without even being logged into Entropia Universe. There are so many different offers I'm confident our users can find a benefit from this payment solution."
Through targeted offers on homepages and splash screens players can earn Entropia currency simply by signing up for something they already wanted. The currency is then deposited directly into their Entropia Universe accounts for them to purchase better equipment, customize their load-out or even purchase a new spaceship. Sometrics is a global leader in providing in-game payments and revenue optimization solutions for free-to-play games. The company has seen over 3.3 trillion individual units of currency processed through its payment processing platform since it first started working with publishers in 2007 and serves an audience of 225 million gamers in 180 countries.
For more information on Entropia Universe or to download the free game please visit www.entropiauniverse.com .

About Mindark

MindArk is the developer and publisher of Entropia Universe, a game space that encompasses multiple planet partners each with their own unique setting and gameplay style. As the largest real economy Massively Multiplayer Online Game in the world Entropia Universe offers players the ability to participate in a unique virtual world where they have no monthly costs. Its innovative real money economy uses a virtual currency which has a fixed exchange rate with the US dollar. This allows players to deposit and withdraw real funds for their adventures on any virtual planet or in the real world. Planet Calypso uses a state of the art graphics engine to deliver the highest quality visuals in an MMO today.

The statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. The Company cautions readers of this press release that a number of important factors could cause MindArk's actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in any such forward-looking statements. MindArk and the MindArk logo are registered trademarks of MindArk. All other company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

For more information on MindArk please contact us at the email below or go to our website at http://www.mindark.com

For further information, please contact: MindArk Media: David Tractenberg (310) 453-2050 x111 david@tractionpr.com

Entropia Universe 12.7 Release Notes

Planet-Specific Patches
Integrated minor fixes for planet content into Entropia Universe:
Calypso
ROCKtropia
Arkadia
The Thing
Cyrene
Next Island

Visit each planet page for more information.

Mindforce Update & Rebalance
Mindforce Implants now have a new parameter - Implant Deterioration - which determines the percentage of Mindforce Chip decay that is absorbed by the Mindforce Implant. The former static decay amount for Mindforce Implants has been removed.

The decay of the Payn-Inc Implant Inserter has been reduced from 2 PED per use to 2 PEC.

Several new Mindforce effects and Mindforce Chips have been added.

Fixes
The objective marker for quests has been changed from a simple arrow to a more visible marker with name and distance, similar to the marker used in the PvP forts.

A new “Place” context menu item has been added when right clicking on an item.

Several audio improvements have been made, including Increased water sound distance and separate sound effects for male and female avatars, as well as for vehicles.

The dialog texts shown to group leader when re-entering dungeons has been adjusted.

Item restrictions are now properly enforced when in a restriction zone.

Known Issues
Mindforce charge-up animation effects are not correctly displayed for female avatars.

Several new Mindforce chips are missing charge-up animation effects.

MindArk and the Planet Partners strive to ensure a smooth and problem-free Version Update. Nevertheless, even after extensive testing some issues may arise after release. Such issues are often addressed via mini-patches directly after a release and in subsequent patches. If you feel that the possibility of encountering minor issues or bugs directly after a Version Update affects your gameplay to an extent that Entropia Universe is not enjoyable, please wait until the mini-patches have been released and any last minute issues have been resolved.

Developer Notes 3

This Entropia Universe Buzz article is part of a new series of Developer Notes where the development team at MindArk will share various tips and bits of information about Entropia Universe with our participants. Some Developer Notes will address important issues that we have noticed being discussed on community forums, while others will be prompted by feedback and questions received via support cases. Our goal with the Developer Notes series is to help participants better understand MindArk’s goals for Entropia Universe, and hopefully correct several misconceptions that have arisen within the community that we feel might help participants make more informed decisions for their avatars. We hope that you find the Developer Notes article series interesting and informative.

Hunting Efficiency Examined - The last Developer Notes article sought to stress the importance of efficiency in Entropia Universe, but did not provide a clear definition of what is meant by the term efficiency. We would like to offer a bit more insight for the benefit of the community, and in this article will focus on ways to become more efficient in Entropia Universe’s most popular profession, hunting. Efficiency tips for the mining and manufacturing professions will be covered in a future article.

Efficiency in hunting has several components, the most vital of which is Hit Ability (sometimes abbreviated as HA). Hit Ability is a measure of how accurate you avatar is with a weapon. You can view your avatar’s Hit Ability on a weapon by right-clicking on the weapon and viewing the item’s information panel. Based on your avatar’s skills and the requirements for the particular weapon, a number between 0.0 and 10.0 will be calculated and displayed. The single most important effort a hunter can make in becoming more efficient in his or her hunting activities is to always use weapons which are “maxed” -- weapons with which your avatar has 10.0 Hit Ability. The importance of this cannot be stressed strongly enough.

A second and very important part of efficient hunting is to consider the relative cost of using a particular weapon, often referred to as weapon economy, usually measured as damage per PEC. This measures how efficiently, in terms of weapon decay and ammo consumption, a weapon produces each point of damage. An avatar will enjoy much better overall hunting results over time when using weapons with higher damage per pec. Many community websites, such as www.entropedia.info, offer detailed statistics on the economy of nearly all the various weapons available in Entropia Universe. The MindArk development team is also considering including more detailed economy statistics on the item information panel in an upcoming release to improve the availability of such information.

Another important part of hunting efficiently is making sure that your avatar has achieved the full damage capability of the weapon being used. Like Hit Ability, damage capability is calculated based on the avatar’s skills and the weapon’s requirements, and is shown in the format Actual_Damage / Maximum_Damage on the item information panel. For example: 10.0-20.0 / 10.0-20.0. To be the most efficient as possible, make sure to hunt with weapons on which your avatar has reached the weapon’s maximum damage potential.

Finally, be sure to hunt creatures within your avatar's skill level. Creatures within Entropia Universe are designed with avatars of varying skill levels and equipment in mind, and each creature type has different attack speeds, regeneration rates, hit probabilities and damage potential. It is a good idea to avoid excessive armor decay and healing costs when trying to hunt as efficiently as possible.

One of the wonderful things about Entropia Universe is its very knowledgeable and helpful community of participants. There is a wealth of information available to newcomers and veterans alike on the various Entropia Universe community websites and forums, and participants are encouraged to seek out the accumulated wisdom and tutorials available there. There are also many helpful mentors and societies that can be found in major cities on each planet, or contacted through the Mentor Register and Society Terminals.

We hope that this article has provided some valuable tips for your future hunting expeditions.
Happy hunting!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Developer Notes 2

This Entropia Universe Buzz article is part of a new series of Developer Notes where the development team at MindArk will share various tips and bits of information about Entropia Universe with our participants. Some Developer Notes will address important issues that we have noticed being discussed on community forums, while others will be prompted by feedback and questions received via support cases. Our goal with the Developer Notes series is to help participants better understand MindArk’s goals for Entropia Universe, and hopefully correct several misconceptions that have arisen within the community that we feel might help participants make more informed decisions for their avatars. We hope that you find the Developer Notes article series interesting and informative.

Efficiency Matters - One issue that we have noticed being discussed quite frequently on community forums such as PlanetCalypsoForm.com is the concept of efficiency (sometimes referred to as economy), especially with regard to hunting tools such as ranged and melee weapons. A growing number of participants seem to have adopted an approach based on the theory that “economy does not matter”, a theory apparently based on (faulty) field tests or other experiments. We would like to state here very clearly that avatar skills and efficiency on the tools used do indeed matter a great deal, and have a very significant effect on overall returns in all Entropia Universe professions. Any playtest experiments, theorycrafting or other analysis you may be presented with which indicate or suggest that efficiency does not matter are thus flawed either in their conception, data collection, data analysis or conclusions.

Personal Lootpools - Many of the theories which suggest - inaccurately - that efficiency is unimportant will often employ the concept of a “personal lootpool”, claiming that the “system” will eventually provide a sort of compensation to avatars who have been operating in an inefficient manner. Such theories are very much misguided. There is no such thing as a “personal lootpool” for individual avatars, and there is no system in place which tracks each avatar’s returns over time, or which provides compensation to individual avatars. As a result, long-term results in Entropia Universe are directly related to the choices made by each participant, and those who approach their chosen profession in an efficient manner will find more success than those who do not. Overall this is a very positive thing and an important part of the Entropia virtual universe concept, as it allows those participants who spend the time and effort to approach their activities within Entropia Universe in a smart way to improve their chances of becoming successful, just like in the real world.