News: Arkadia Moon Updates

Back at the end of January we got an update of how many deeds remained on the webstore, a total of "54,209" out of the original "200,000" deeds are left to purchase.

Since then the Arkadia team have focused on content surrounding the moon, introducing quite a few extra hunting missions including a small expansion pack to the smuggler story line.

New level 4 and 5 iron missions have now been added have been added to Oompa Warhounds, GMC_03_Gammas, Oompas, Sicarius Brutes, Sicarius Commands and Sicarius Workers.

There is also new story driven content for Smugglers and for PTECH Industries. The Arkadia team has stated that this is only part 1 of 4, so many more missions are coming in the next update.


Smuggler Missions

The smugglers have now opened one of their HQ's to members who joined their ranks and proved themselves. You will be required to discover an agent that is watching the movements of the cities but is hidden somewhere on the moon. They will tell you what you need to do get your access pass to enter HQ. Keeping in mind that this HQ is well hidden, only those who are worthy will be able to enter.

Once you gain access to the smugglers, you will be able to see the start of a complete new story line that will hint what they have been up to and require you to obtain a certain series items to be able to get the Smuggler Hazmat suit. This suit will be required for a deep undercover mission. Discover it and find out what lays ahead. There might be a backpack hidden in there somewhere, but it depends... if you answer correctly... Ned will be watching.


Civilian Missions

The communications on the moon have had some serious issues of tampering and weathering. PTECH needs your help in repairing the connection and discovering the issues. You will be required to report to the PTECH engineer located at the communication center in assisting them at discovering what might be the problem.

PTECH will also require you to assist in helping the repairs of the extractors but be warned, it might be a bit radioactive, but hey, nobody complains about extra body parts right?

Oratan Attacks Are Back

Intel has shown that the Oratan have started to move around the bases and plan attacks that will happen randomly, so be prepared, their attacks are as savage as their nature 

Whats coming in the next VU...

Firstly, the Arkadia team wants the members of the Imperial Federal Navy (IFN) to know that they will be working on the expansion of the story line, including missions that will take you to new locations and start working to smite the Smugglers. This will require your advancement in PVP skills.

Secondly, after countless requests, the Arkadia team will be working to bring Gold Rush 2019 later this year. The team will be working on a new set of prizes as well as new ways of engaging with this content.

Currently the Arkadia team is working on a complete series of events that will be player driven and controlled. These events will include hidden passages, new lairs and new creatures.

News: MindArk Q&A Speculation

Entropiazine News Update
Entropia Universe News Report

In this issue:
> MindArk Conducts Q&A
> Suspected Auction And Society Interface Update
> Hunting, Mining, Crafting & Space Updates.
> MindArk Hiring in 2019




Last month MindArk conducted a public question and answer session on the Calypso Forum, a lot can be speculated from these posts about updates we might expect in the futures.

I have highlight some of the responses to these questions which would indicate the current future of Entropia behind the scenes.

More Interface Updates And Tweeks

One response to a general auction question about copying links on the auction has lead me to suspect that auction window will likely be updated. MindArk official Dennis responded with:

"This is a good suggestion and something we plan to include in a more general update to the auction interface."

MindArk official Magnus stating to a response to the question "What would you be asking for if you were on our side of this?"

"With the auction system being such a central part to EU what are your plans in modernising it?"

These comments by MindArk have led me to believe that a part of this interface update currently ongoing, we are likely to see a change in the auction interface, and maybe even changes in how the auction process is conducted.

Many may have noticed that the society terminals have been removed and have been replaced with the F11 key (Current Default). MindArk Official Dennis said,

"We do have quite a few plans to implement new features for the Society system, several of which were inspired by suggestions from the community. Unfortunately we cannot give any time projection on when those might be implemented."

MindArk Goals

MindArk Official Henrik discuses plans to expand in 2019 with the hiring in new staff:

"We plan to increase the number of employees at MindArk during 2019. This will allow us to focus on more projects and delivery them more quickly and at a higher quality." 

With many of the side projects developed by MindArk, being put on hold or cancelled and refunded, like Deep Tokens and ComPets, Henrik has stated,

"MindArk has renewed its commitment to focus its resources exclusively on Entropia Universe for the foreseeable future."

On further questioning about the ComPets Deeds and the state of ComPets, if it is actually suspended and still capable of producing revenue for ComPet Deeds holders in the future, Kenrik said,

"As stated in the message to all ComPet Deed holders, there is no ongoing development with ComPet; any revenue it does generate is being accumulated for a later payout but this is expected to be quite small."

All plans involving Arkadia Moon Deeds is set to continue with its current status. MindArk has maintained that they will continue sell Arkadia Moon Deeds on the web store, and only when they have all been sold via the web store, the Deeds will become trade-able among people in Entropia.

Currently a few players have been asking if the MindArk had any intention of updating the game engine, Henrik responded with

"There are no immediate plans to move Entropia Universe to a new game engine, but we do of course keep ourselves informed of the latest developments in the game engine scene."

With the last major graphics engine update leaving many people behind on hardware compatibility and with the intense internal changes to the code that would be required as they adapt Entropia for the new engine, this would not be a viable option for MindArk. The cost and time involved could be spent dealing with current issue, and am personally glad they have responded this way.

Hunting

In the not so distant future expect to see more events and missions based around the lore of Entropia, Henrik stated

"We do indeed intend to put more emphasis on lore and storyline. In fact, we have a dedicated Game Writer and all-around loremaster (James|MindArk) who has been heavily focused on the Calypso storyline for quite some time now."

Dennis goes on to describe in a number of replies the details of changes that was applied during the loot 2.0 update and the flexibility that it will provide the content team.

"Our development team was focused on big structural changes and design for the Mayhem events, as well as the release of Loot 2.0 along with general stability improvement for the client and platform. Now with those projects in place our team will have more time for content development. We have also added more resources to the content team and this is something you will notice in 2019."

This update will allow easier implementations of new equipment and new events in future updates

"In the past there were technical limitations to shared mission progress when teaming, however this is now possible for new missions with the contribution-based features seen in recent dynamic events and Mayhem quests. Our plan is for new missions to utilise this system. Loot 2.0 also gives us more flexibility with item and creature parameters, so look forward to some exciting new items and content in the future."

Mining And Crafting

Loot 2.0 was stated by Dennis does not deal with mining or crafting, and only deals with hunting loot, but mining and crafting stability is constantly being updated.

"We also later made adjustments to reduce volatility in the crafting and mining systems, but that was not directly related to the Loot 2.0 system. Those adjustments were in general very well received by the community, based on feedback received via support cases and forum discussions. The Crafting and mining systems are constantly being monitored and tweaked."

As already mentioned, a number of new things are expected to be released for crafting in the near future, that is clear, but we are also likely to see more mining events.

"We are actually currently working on a mining event that will happen alongside Easter Mayhem, stay tuned for more info soon!"

Space Updates

Henrik mainly answered questions pertaining to space, starting off by apologising for premature announcement of features,

"Development of space in Entropia Universe has certainly progressed much slower than we have wished or anticipated in the past, which led to premature announcement surrounding potential space features or other design plans. We understand that this has led to frustration within the community, and we apologize for that."

With the current camera update, any further development might be delayed due to the tweaking of this, as this is currently the main thing that effects most of the users currently, but MindArk is likely to be looking into updating space drastically in the future.

"Our vision for space is one in which there is a healthy and vibrant interplanetary economy between the various planets and space entities. We also envision space-specific content, but we are not prepared to share specific plans at the moment."

Even though specific plans are not publicly outlined, Henrik did let slip some information,

"We do plan to ultimately add space ships within different classes and with additional functionality, but that would be part of a larger Space release."

News: Catch up on 2019 (First Quarter)

Entropiazine News Update
Entropia Universe News Report

In this issue:
> Deep Token Project Dropped By MindArk
> Swedish Loot Box Laws
> Announcement Of Crystal Palace Deeds
> User Interface Update

Deep Token Project Dropped By MindArk

Earlier this year MindArk developed and promoted DeepToken, a type of crypto currency token offering with the ambition of raising funds to create an intellectual property and digital asset bank, as well as improving Entropia Universe.


With time it has become evident that the ambitious project of DeepToken will not be able to be fulfilled. Therefore, the MindArk Board of Directors has decided to suspend the project and refund all the investments made to MindArk related to DeepToken.

Swedish Loot Box Laws

On the first of January 2019 a new Swedish law which affects lootbox systems that is used in many computer, mobile, and console games will go into effect. MindArk’s legal representatives has advised them on this new law and therefore MindArk need's to take the necessary steps to comply with this new regulation.

The consequences of the new law will be that users located using Swedish IP will no longer be allowed to purchase Strongboxes or Strongbox keys in the Entropia Universe web shop from this date.

It will still be possible for anyone in Entropia Universe to find boxes within Entropia Universe, but users with Swedish IP will not be able to open them unless they have Strongbox Keys acquired prior to January 1, 2019.

Strongbox Keys acquired prior to January 1, 2019 will continue to function even for users in Sweden, but they will not be able to purchase new Strongbox Keys from this date.

If you do not reside in Sweden or use a Swedish IP Strongboxes and Strongbox Keys will continue to work like previously, this change only affect users in Sweden or with a Swedish IP.

Announcement Of Crystal Palace Deeds

A hardly mentioned announcement was made back in December by MindArk, that a possible  500,000 available shares equal to 100% of the Crystal Palace's land area and will be sold for 10 PED or $1.00 USD each.

The now 13 year old Crystal Palace consists of four different dome locations, featuring two unique creature to hunt. When the Crystal Palace was originally sold to the current private owner in 2009, it was one of many times a Guinness Book of Records title holder. Shareholders will get a proportional cut of the total loot collected across all four domes. in 2018, the Crystal Palace earned an approximate return on investment of 17% for its current owner.

Buzz Erik Lightyear the current owner of Crystal Palace has made a public statement on the matter,

"In the beginning of 2018 I had been thinking about the idea to sell Crystal Palace. It has been a great honor and it has been very exciting, fun and rewarding to have owned it all these years. But it was on my mind that perhaps I needed to move on from Crystal Palace, as owning such a large investment didn't make as much sense anymore for me due to real life issues."

Buzz continues to talk about his interaction with MindArk,

"I asked Mindark again about this issue and what can be done. After these discussions they suggested to me the idea to turn Crystal Palace into a Deed sale. I felt very optimistic about this new idea! A new evolution for Crystal Palace. It was not only a great solution to selling Crystal Palace as I had been thinking about all year... But it really felt like a win-win situation."

Buzz also shared his vision for the the future of Crystal Palace,

"This would give many players, hunters, and investors the opportunity to own a part of Crystal Palace! I love the idea of that. The future of Crystal Palace could be great. Having large amounts of people who invest in it would mean more would want it to be successful. This could bring new opportunities for events or other exciting things that could happen in the future. And all of these positive things would increase the revenue for all of the future deed holders."

Buzz even goes on to say what we can expect,

"Mindark would be taking care of the deeds, sale and everything they need to do in order to implement and make this a reality. They have valued Crystal Palace and they will share the sale revenue in order to accommodate this change and costs associated with such an endeavour. After the announcement many people have been asking me for more information about it. I hope MA will be able to give some more details for all those who had questions about it all in the near future."

User Interface Update

On the 19th of Feb, version 16 was one of the most major updates to Entropia Universe's user interface since version 10, the CryEngine update in 2009.

This update introduces a number changes and enhancements to the controls, the movement, the camera and the targeting systems. To anyone picking up the controls for the first time will quickly handle the new controls, but older player will find it a struggle.

One of the major improvement to the system is the abilit
y to quickly access the auto use tool, threw a mouse click or a single key press, with no need to toggle. The auto targeting, auto using tool and the auto move to targets have been highly improved and has been stream lined into one simple process.

Camera movement and manual WSAD movement with the camera is still something that needs a little more attention, MindArk in following updates addressed some of these concerns, adding more camera control in the options window.

Older players instantly notices a number of useful feature and control have also been removed from the action library, one of which is the ability to grab someone or something status/health bars. Auto use tool has now been replace with interact or use tool and vehicle up is now jump.

Overall the update has been received well in the community among the newer players, the older players are still adjusting with a mixed bag of opinions.

Two updates have been briskly released by MindArk with more updates to be expected soon speculated to be focused more around the camera controls and movement.

If you are an old player trying to learn the new controls, or a new player wanting to learn about the new interface, click here for an up-to-date interface guide for Entropia!

Issue 12: Loot 2.0

Entropiazine

A Monthly Entropian E-Magazine.

In this month's publication of Entropiazine:
Compet: Notice to deed holders
Long awaited: Loot 2.0
Hogglo Diablos Attack: Fort Argus!

Author: [Felix Zell Shallow]

---

Hogglo Diablos Attack: Fort Argus!

Hogglo Diablos have been rampaging around near Fort Argus! The super-sized creatures are the result of a series of genetic experiments performed by deranged criminal Gareth.

Even though Hogglos have once again been pushed back! Attacks so far have occurred near an abandoned outpost. The outpost and surrounding area are covered with white vents that protrude from the ground, indicating the presence of some kind of underground facility.

The door to each vent bears the Omegaton logo. When questioned about their connection to the outpost, Omegaton replied that they simply built the doors and did not assemble the outpost itself. Furthermore they said they had never owned the outpost. All entries regarding the building and ownership of the outpost are currently missing from official records.

---

Compet: Notice to deed holders

Compet is available is on a number of systems, excluding any mention of windows mobile OS. Compet is now currently still awaiting on the release on iOS, a statement from creators say that the release of Compet on iOS is in its final phase and should be available shortly although no release date has been stated.

Many things have been implemented since the last time we had a detailed look at Compet, like recent addition of adding in PECs, just like Entropia PEDs and PECs, this will allow people to have battles at a lower prices and the new front page menu which allows you to jump strait into a battle, along with a loads of the new creatures to own.

A small comment to the Compet deed holders indicates that the revenue payment system will be implemented after a number of tasks have been completed.

Assuming that deed payments start when the final product is being marketed to the general public, It has been stated that a number of things are to still being developed before marketing can begin. The Tournament and eSports system is currently in development which should widen the audience and appeal of Compet. Another major part of the concept is the “cross-platform” trading aspect. This feature is currently in development both in Entropia Universe and Compet. Additional language support will also be added for worldwide players and general optimization and fine tuning of game play.

In addition to all of this expect to see strongboxes and buff items called Trinkets. Not much was mentioned about this, but assuming them to be like Entropia Universe's strongboxes, we have an idea on what to expect.2

Deed revenues is already currently being accumulated and payments will begin once ComPet is fully functional. So expect the first payment to be a few months worth's of payments. To back track on the value of the compet deed in Entropia, the original price on the web store was priced at 100 PED per deed, then just as before the web store stopped offering compet deed's the price went up to 120 PED per deed. Since the web store has closed the value of the compet deed declined slowly over time, the average of over 800 sales this month on auction 93 PED per deed. Some deeds going for as low as 88 PED per deed.

---

Long awaited: Loot 2.0

"MindArk has been monitoring the community discussions concerning so-called 'loot waves' and will implement changes in the Loot 2.0 and subsequent Version Updates that will address this issue by improving the distribution of resources and items, with the goal of ensuring that loot opportunities are more interesting, dynamic and fair for all participants"

This month MindArk has released a long awaited loot update that overhauled the way in which hunting loot is calculated and distributed, which will significantly improve overall loot returns for the vast majority of participants in the hunting profession. Although the current looting system has been released, there are some changes still being finalized and tested, therefore expect subsequent patches or version updates.

The loot calculations will be optimized and improved to better factor in the various costs associated with hunting activities, this includes healing, ammo consumption, buffs, tool and armor deterioration, attachments, and more.

A new economy rating parameter has been introduced on the item information screens of weapon, attachments and mindforce attack chips, on a scale of from 1 to 100, that indicates the efficiency of a tool and which influences loot calculations. This change from the once dominant damage/pec model will provide the design team at MindArk with more freedom to release exciting and interesting items with a wider range of damage output and special effects.

Since the update general loot return has improve from creature to creature, no more no loots, ammunition has been removed from hunting loot has been replaced with shrapnel. Expect the price of Nova and Blaza fragments to rise, as none as seen yet has been dropped.

Armor has also had a bit of an update, Armor now decays significantly less per point of damage absorbed, and no longer has a minimum decay based on total protection, it will now always decay proportionally to the amount of damage absorbed. Armor and armor platings now decay independently based on the amount of damage they each actually absorb, rather than both decaying as if absorbing the full amount of received damage. Armor can now absorb all incoming damage down to a minimum of 0.1 point of damage taken, instead of the previous 1.0 points of damage.

A profession level requirement will be introduced for unlimited armors. Meeting the required level results in the armor offering full protection at all condition values. If the profession requirement is not met, armor works as before, with protection decreasing relative to condition.

Many of the changes seem to be well received by many, but a few are saying they miss getting more globals and would like to see more loot other than shrapnel.

---

First Laser Sniper Master!

A landmark moment occurred this month with “Gaina Messi91 Cristi” became the first ever avatar to reach the skill level of Entropia Master, attaining level 200 in the Laser Sniper (Hit) profession.

Issue 10: Back Again

Entropiazine

A Monthly Entropian E-Magazine.

In this month's publication of Entropiazine:
Goodbye Fort Isis: New land developments
The robot war: Persistent attack!
Arkadia Deeds: Major price rise

Author: [Felix Zell Shallow]

---

Goodbye Fort Isis: New land developments

Over the last year further land developments for player housing have taken place with a number of new empty allotments ready for player to purchase popping up across Calypso.

These new allotments are only obtained with the ownership of 9 or more Calypso Land Deeds, once claimed the Calypso Land Deed will display an (X) and will no longer be able claim again but will still continue to earn weekly revenues. Although most of the prime land areas are now taken.

There is a total of 60,000 Calypso Land Deeds. Fifty percent of the gross revenue from Planet Calypso is divided evenly among all Calypso Land Deeds.

The new Gardening System is also now available to estate owners. The Omegaton Acorn gardening box was introduced in October, allowing fruit growing capabilities to land owners.

In the development we say goodbye to Fort Isis as new teleporters appear. Roughly in the same area where Fort Isis used to exist we now see Fort Lahar, and to the north Hestia, one of the many allotted places reserved for player housing popping up around Calypso.

---

The robot war: Persistent attacks!

Earlier last year MindArk implemented a new dynamic event system, which has been used to create a number of Robot Invasion events on the planet Calypso, almost a year later we now we have seen the further implementation of this across Calypso...

The robot war continued to rage on with more aggressive attacks on outposts and forts. Attacking such locations as Fort Pandora and Fort Medusa. Just like the other Forts, Fort Lahar had a nearby robot spawn which triggers a pre-event after enough robots have been destroyed.

Currently the robots have been pushed back and now the CDF forces are interrogating an RX scout imprisoned at Cape Corinth to discover the locations of hidden RX Caches containing powerful technology.

The RX scout has been nicknamed 'Silent Stan' by CDF soldiers because of his strong resistance to interrogation. Currently Cape Corinth residents are deeply worried, fearing the capture will cause robot reprisals as the RX forces are gathering outside Cape Corinth and are preparing to attack the city!

The CDF suspect the RX forces are preparing to remove and re-conceal RX caches, in case 'Silent Stan' reveals their secret locations whilst under interrogation. Groups of RX are also gathering in desert areas surrounding Fort Medusa and Fort Pandora.

The CDF has asked citizens to help push back the attacks on Cape Corinth and continued aid in locating and retrieving the RX caches.

---

Arkadia Deeds: Major price rise

Over the last few months a number of Arkadia Underground Deed owners have noticed a massive rise in not only daily deed payouts but also market prices. No longer than 3 months ago deeds prices on the market was 60 PED, currently the market price is just dropping from a peak price of 90 PED. That is a 50% raise in less than 3 months.

A number of sources have speculated this is down to new high markup treasure existing on Arkadia, which has led to a number of miners migrating to Arkadia, in which case I speculated that the deeds will not hold this new high prices for long as this new loot starts to dissipate into the public's hands, which the signs are already showing.

---

ComPet: Trading

MindArk has announce a new system enabling Entropia Universe players to supply pets to ComPet players in return for PED will be available soon.

The first tradeable cross-platform pets will be ‘level-up pets’: pets that can only be used for leveling up existing pets in ComPet. ComPet players will be able to level up their pets faster using this method, so this will create a market for trained ‘level-up pets’ within Entropia Universe.

The ability to transfer ‘regular pets’ to and from ComPet will be introduced in future releases.

ComPet has now been fully released on Android, and is planned for release on iOS and Steam within the next few months. With huge anticipation a number of people are waiting on the first ComPet Deed payment, with no current indication of when the first payment will start and no current knowledge of the deeds paying daily, weekly or monthly.

MindArk has stated, "Entropia Universe is the primary product and focus of MindArk, and will continue to be so. In developing ComPet as an alternative gaming experience, MindArk has added an offering to complement and promote Entropia Universe. This is an effort that MindArk would like to continue, expanding and complementing Entropia Universe with new projects and experiences, thereby creating interesting and exciting growth opportunities in the upcoming year and beyond."

---

Unicode: More languages available

You have may have noticed a change in the font on your sticky notes as you type onto an older sticky note, this is due to an update in Entropia's font.

Even though this is just a small snippet of an update, it has huge implementations. While the old font still exists, the newer font (Arial Unicode MS) allows the support a wider range of characters and languages, such as Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Hindi, and more. This opens up Entropia to countries where the font was previously unsupported.

---

Battle Simulator: Arcade action!

The Battle Simulator is for everyone and will be instantly accessible via the Entropia Universe event list under global instances. Players will compete under identical conditions, with standard skill levels and weapons/ammo which are applied upon entering the simulator.

It is a stripped-down, old-fashioned arcade action assault course where finishing and getting the fastest time is all that counts. Only your reflexes and strategies will determine your place on the leader board and the prizes you win.

Completing the Battle Simulator course gives access to a special loot crate. Unclaimed loot from other players uncompleted runs may also increase the total value of the loot crate. Completion times will also be entered into the Battle Simulator weekly leader board, where participants compete for additional rewards.

After testing the simulator myself, I can tell the simulator is still in its early phases and a few bugs exist, so I have come up with a few tips for anyone trying the battle simulator out to avoid bugs and have a better experience:

1. Before you start, zoom into first person view, and make sure you have a targeting cross hair.
2. Avoid pressing space bar! You will automatically flip to mouse mode when the game starts, normally the space bar flips the controls between mouse and cursor mode, but in the battle simulator it turns the controls to cursor mode without being able to turn it back to mouse mode and it gets replaced by a jump button. This glitch will ruin your game.
3. Aim the cross hair slightly above your. The aiming is slightly off.
4. Keep moving! Health is very hard to restore in the simulator and you only get one chance.
5. Be fast! The game is all about trying to finish before everyone else does, so kill fast and keep moving forward.

I wish good luck to everyone who takes part in the battle simulator!

---

Teleporter Tokens: No Go!

MindArk officially announced that the Privatization of the Teleporter System will not go ahead in Entropia Universe.

The MindArk management team has reviewed the proposal made by the President of Virtual Reality and owner of Rocktopia "John Jacob Neverdie" concerning teleporter fees, and has stated that such a system does not complement the current development plans for Entropia Universe and therefore will not be implemented.

However, the proposal was very interesting, and aspects of it may find their way into future planned systems and features where participants would be more receptive to optional fees that provide enhanced convenience and utility, although it is not states what this enhanced convenience could be.

This has made a lot of people sigh in relief as teleportation tokens will make it very hard for people to get about, especially traders who travel about to advertise wares and new exploring players with very little but a pack full of sweat.

Issue 7: More Daily Tokens

Entropiazine

A Monthly Entropian E-Magazine.

In this month's publication of Entropiazine:
New Daily Token Mission: Lost Equipment
Explosive Projectiles: Explosive Debate
Sweat reaching a PED

Author: [Felix Zell Shallow]

---

New Daily Token Mission: Lost Equipment

Stronger characters know that the gauntlet rewards lower level players with daily tokens, and being above a certain level yields none. On the Argonaut Island north of Camp Icarus at the Research Outpost there is a new daily mission.

The first mission is a simple mission, kill 25 Argonauts then the leaders above ground, then rescue the scientists from the cave on the island.
These Argonauts are a lower level of 3 to 4 and quite easy to dispatch, the mission reward is a small amount of universal ammo.

The next mission found here will be for the daily tokens and can be taken every 24 hours, It is recommended that a person is armoured and has a decent gun if going solo or a small team. You will find that the Argonauts will now be level 5 and a lot harder to take down.

The goals of the mission is to clear the cave of Argonauts and find some lost research equipment.

---

Explosive Projectiles: Explosive Debate

Lets have a look at the explosive projectile blueprint, I have been avoiding this article for months, mainly because it is already currently a big debate in the community for a long time.

For the last few years the explosive blueprint has not contributed to the general player based economy of Entropia, at one point in history these blueprints required materials acquired by the miners of Entropia, today you will find that the blueprint only required Nanocubes brought from the trade terminal.

Even though the explosive projectiles hits the hall of fame quite often which seem to draw new player to try hit the big one, the actual chances of this is very slim, leaving a lot of newer players in dismay.

I recommenced to use the explosive blueprint to grind skills and acquiring low level blueprints more than to make a profit. I have seen people with 90% success rate gets an actual return of about 70% at trade terminal value. With explosive projectiles never selling for above 101% this leaves a ton of people losing out.

Explosive weapons are also in a short supply, leaving hardly any demand for the ammo type.

---

Sweat reaching a PED

The lack of demand for vibrant sweat is causing the prices to constantly hit a new low every few weeks, this is one of many topic which is over discussed within the community for years, even I myself remember the sweat prices drop from 12 PED per K to 6 PED almost overnight after the mind force was removed temperately to today where prices can be just over a PED for a K. Even though the amount of sweat acquired per "Grab" has been lowered to alleviate this with no success.

The main reason for this is down to the fact that new players are constantly arriving creating more supply without an equal raising demand. An new players are the bread and butter for a games survival.

The original idea of vibrant sweat was to allow people to set their own value on the item itself, and with no demand and an over abundance of vibrant sweat it is relatively easy to acquire for a small price.

As the future goes on, unless there are major implementation for a higher consumption of vibrant sweat in the general populous, vibrant sweat prices will continue to fall... as for dropping below a PED in price, who knows, I think we may see that sooner than you think.

Issue 6: Eomon hunting season!

Entropiazine

A Monthly Entropian E-Magazine.

In this month's publication of Entropiazine:
Eomon: Pheromone Reading Peaking Across Calypso
Building The Future: The next stage of Plot Ownership
ComPet: Approaching Open Beta

Author: [Felix Zell Shallow]

---

Eomon: Pheromone Reading Peaking Across Calypso

Current CDF readings of the Eomon pheromones are peaking across the northern continent of Eudoria leading in to the migration of Longtooth and Eomon. The annual Eomon migration period is here and the current CDF map of the migration pattern has been released.

The data predicts that the Longtooth Migration Path will be slightly altered this year. Aside from these small changes, forecasts indicate that the Longtooth migration will continue as normal. The Eomons are the giants of Calypso. Their annual migration pattern on the continent of Eudoria has been recorded since at least 2005 but Xenobiologist's are yet to conclude further information about this event or the purpose of this migration.

The RDI Xenobiologist at the Minopolis Science tent is accepting Eomon Blood Samples in exchange for limited weapon amplifiers, to help in the further research the Eomons and the cause and effects of the migration process. New Iron, Bronze and Silver missions are now available for Eomon and Longtooth and can be found at Iron Mission Terminals at cities, settlements and outposts all around Planet Calypso.

Click here for the official web comic

This year Entropiazine will be tracking and reporting on the migration as it happens, visit http://entropiazine.blogspot.co.uk/p/migration-watch.html for the daily reports.

---

Building The Future: The next stage of Plot Ownership

Within the last 48 hours we have had an exciting development for the plot holders on Planet Calypso, information has been released on how the possibility to become virtual land developers and build their own centres of production and supply!

Currently 3 settlements exist and can be found at Southern Ithaca (70886, 85778), Livas (66449, 85449) and Isle of Troy (80232, 66387)

Construction:

The user interface will let you choose, preview and place your constructions on a grid. At this point you’ll be able to review all building costs. Once you’re totally happy you can proceed with the transaction, at which point you’ll be shown the construction time. Constructions are can be upgraded, outlying walls may boast elegant arches, gates and pillars, allowing you to modernise and improve your builds! Currently only one type of house is available, but this is merely the beginning.
You can also start again at any point by demolishing the building and regaining roughly 50% of your initial investment, which can then be used on your next build!

Grow Your Business:
Another feature to be added will be the possibility of creating a vegetable garden after building your house. This will enable you to become a producer of organic goods and a major player in the supply chain. You will literally be able to ‘grow’ your own business!

Village Development:
As a property owner you are also a citizen of a village and the development of village life will be the focus of future. Being a responsible village citizen will have a positive effect on the village community as a whole. This communal dimension will be a new aspect on planet Calypso.

We are now certainly reaching the end of the colonisation phase and even though Calypso will always be getting new colonists, we are now moving into the a whole new settlement and civilisation phase on Calypso.

---

Calypso Summer Strongboxes 2016!

It is start of the summer time in Calypso, with the usual summer time hunting buzz and all new summer strong boxes available on the web store. The summer strongboxes contain the same as the classified strongboxes plus a few extra new rare rings will be available. Unique Rings will drop only once ever, so buy your Classified Strongbox at the Entropia Universe Webshop now!

---

ComPet: Approaching Open Beta

Since the ComPet Closed Beta period began it has provided the ComPet development team with a wealth of valuable testing data and user feedback. This has resulted in significant improvements to the overall stability and game play of the ComPet experience.

ComPet is scheduled to transition to an extended open beta phase within a matter of weeks, with an eye toward further design and balance refinements, the further testing and polishing will be in preparation for the full release. This phase will be open to the general public meaning the system will no longer be wiped and transactions in the ComPet Shop will be open. There is still currently very little information about how this game will be linked to the pet system in Entropia, but I would assume that we will soon find out.

The product development and marketing budgets for ComPet were fully financed via ComPet deeds.

Unexpectedly is has been released that nearly all of the coding of the ComPet infrastructure and client was outsourced, meaning that MindArk’s developers have continued to focus on improving Entropia Universe threw this time, and acording to MindArk's press release the Entropia Universe and Calypso teams have even grown since the ComPet project began.

It would be expect that ComPet development will continue long after this phase, so expect the future of ComPet's to have a ton of new pet's lined upped in future releases.

Issue 5: Compet Beta.

Entropiazine

A Monthly Entropian E-Magazine.

In this month's publication of Entropiazine:
Compet: Deed prices and beta released.
President of Virtual Reality: Complaints about the election.
Hunting Season.

Author: [Felix Zell Shallow]

---

Compet: Deed prices and beta released.

This month has been a mixed month for the Compet game. The release date was held back seven days before the beta testing period of the game, although it is not the first time the date has been held back. In the last week deed prices went up on the web store from 100 to 120 PED per deed, a number of shop owners not knowing would of been a bit slow in reacting resulting in flash sales and at a loss compared to the new market price. Currently the deeds can not be brought from the web store while the close beta is running, the deeds can still be brought on the auction currently around 130 PED each.

The general reception of the game in beta is quite good overall, and if Mindark marketing goes well, Compet can become a great pet fighting game in years to come. Currently the game has inactive moment when it comes to battling other players, but this is due to the game being in beta and will have a limited user base. There has been a few small complained about equality of battle for newer creatures and the speed it takes for a player to level up their creatures.

Originally it was intended that Compet would be a close beta for the deed holders only, but anyone with the link to the beta game currently has access to it, as it is not currently not linked to Entropia anyone can sign up and play using an email account or Facebook, and a number of places have posted its download link location publicly.

In the ComPet Shop, players have the ability to increase their PED balance through real-cash deposits. Deposited PED can then be exchanged for gold and diamonds in ComPet. Gold and diamonds are ‘soft currencies’: they do not represent real-world monetary value. It is perfectly possible to play ComPet using only the soft currencies.

---

President of Virtual Reality: The people's thoughts.

This month has been a hard month for Jon Jacob Neverdie, many have slammed him and the election process in Entropia, leading many to think this was a self proclamation. Many people in the forums of Entropia have complained about the process of election, complaining that originally all voting process should of been handled in game with the old voting booths and that it was originally intended for deeds holders. Many people question the process and authenticity of the election and many people have complained about the fact that they could not put their money forward themselves to be apart of the process, along with the other two contenders having effectively zero information about their own campaign.

Jon Jacob Neverdie created an open post on Entropia forum to be slammed by the many people and their view on the teleporter charge along with other complaints about Entropia economy in general. Neverdie has........ A number of the older Entropians have even talked about boycotting Rocktropia altogether. The small amount of player who have decided to boycotting Rocktropia would have a very small to no effect on Rocktropia economy.

Other than talking to the Entropians, Neverdie has been on a press tour around about his campaign for creating jobs in virtual reality, a small amount of press has appeared about this, but not much in the way of headlining. A number of press articles exist just equally dismissing his claims for virtual jobs as a pipe dream at the cost of the average player.

---

Hunting Season.

This month Icarus was overrun by Marcimex deep from underground. The subterranean terrors have never been seen above ground! Sightings have even been reported from as far out as Jurra Plateau and around Twin Peaks. Many people hunted these creatures until they have now returned to their underground lair.

It is just over a month away until the migration season and many people are getting geared up to hunt the Eomons and Longtooths while they migrate. Keep a close eye on CDF pheromone reports of the migration paths.

Here is a recap of 2015 migration:

Longtooths:
67912, 83266 - Young.
67564, 83554 - Old.
66972, 83944 - Providers
66456, 83972 - Guardians


Eomon youngs
87767, 79922 - Young.
87877, 79833 - Young, mature and old.
87864, 79937 - Provider and guardian.
87854, 79846 - Old alpha.
87879, 79794 - Stalkers.



Within the next month we are expecting CDF pheromone report, and if anything is made public within the next month, you will hear about it here.

Issue 4: Guess whos back

Entropiazine

A Monthly Entropian E-Magazine.

In this month's publication of Entropiazine:
Entropia Market: What can happened in the year?
Compets: Ten days way from release!
Robot wars: What has happened to Orthos oil field?
President of Virtual Reality: The future of Entropia.

Author: [Felix Zell Shallow]

---

Entropia Market: What has happened in a year?

The Deed Market:

The last year has been and interesting year for the market prices of some of the items in the Entropia Universe. The webstore have finally sold out of Arkadia underground deeds (AUD) this year, and as expected the prices went up.

It has been two years since the web store opened for the sale of 200,000 deeds to the general public, originally each deed would of cost 50 PED on the web store, offering the ability to earn 5% of Arkadia Undergrounds profits divided between 200,000 deeds. After the final deeds were sold, the price instantly went up on the auction over night to 75 PED. Since then the price has slowly dropped back down to a steady 60 PED.

Arkadia is not the only deed to do well this year, Calypso land deeds have gone up in value by 130 PED since last year due to the land grab on the original deeds. Once a player has 10 Calypso land deeds, they can claim a property on calypso, adding an (X) on the end of the deed. These deed will still continue to produce revenue but will be lower in price on the auction by about 100 PED.

As for Compets, we are yet to see the pricing and payout times, the speculation is that it will be weekly payout just like the Calypso land deed. Just like Arkadia and Calypso before, the price on the auction will only be a two or three PEDs above the web shop price, and I would assume just like the other deeds before it, that when the web shop runs out, I expect the price to rise up to about 120 PED.

The Consumer Market:

Force nexus, mind essence, and sweat have remained a steady price over the year. The current acceptable average price for swear is 1.7 PED per K among the sellers, but remember that anyone who sweats for a few PED is always looking for a few pec extra. A few people take advantage of desperate players looking for a quick sale to resell, and some players are willing to pay 2.0 PED per K.

Here is a bit of advice from an older player who remembers when sweat was 12 PED per K, this market is all supply and very little demand. If you sweat enough the buyers will come to you, older players looking to buy sweat know where the newer players hang out, so keep you eye out for the best buying price when sweating and sell for that price. The more you have from waiting, the better the PED you get over all from sweating.

Nutrio Bars have been sold the 260%-300% markup, costing almost 3 times the TT price, we are yet to see what happens after the android app is released in 10 days, currently everyone is stuffing their pets to have a funky companion anticipating whats to come next. The street price of fruit can be between 13ped - 15.5ped per K. The sweetstuff markup has remain very steady around 116% on auction over the last year.

Oil had a week of low sales, as low as 40.47 PED sold in one week this month causing the 110% price hike a few week ago, the price has returned to the usual 104-105%, with the robot invasion at Orthos oil field having very little to no effect on the market price compared to last year.

---

Robot wars: What happened to Orthos oil field?

After hearing a few whispers from here and there about there being no more oil line at the small rig without killing robot, I just had to investigate...

When I departed from Entropia last year, there only was the odd scouting robot attacking the famous line at the oil rig, before that, only other players attacked now and again, with the older and stronger characters protecting the line, it was no problem at all.

Suddenly the oil rig was attacked by a swarm of a slightly heavier class of robot. The robots built their own rigging structure, and today oil is only acquired from the rig by killing these robots. The protecting player and the riggers could not hold off the robot invasion leaving the oil field to the robots.

This major change has not had any effect on oil prices, and as with the flux of new colonist that will be arriving from Compets, new player will have to go back to earning skills and sweating.

---

 President of Virtual Reality: The future of Entropia.

You may not know it yet, but "Jon NEVERDIE Jacobs" has set into motion a number of plans to be implemented by 2020!

"Jon NEVERDIE Jacobs’ Plan to Create 3 Million Jobs with ‘Public Transport’ IPO. Job Creation Strategy Includes Revolutionary Model to Recruit Gamers to Combat Artificial Intelligence, Introduce Minimum Wage Standards in Virtual Worlds, Privatize the Public Transport System and Launch a VR Stock Exchange."

- http://www.presidentofvirtualreality.com/ -

So what does these implemented jobs entail you may ask? As far as details, we do not know, but here is what we do know. NEVERDIE wishes to make a privatized transport system and in doing so by 2020 all free teleportations via the teleporters scatter across Entropia must be paid for in transport tokens, which will be constructed. This will open some opportunities, a new crafting item, more chanced for private transport hire, and a public transport system, paid for by via a minimum digital wage provided from the transport funds.

Things start to get a bit hazy over info behind the construction and conscription system. 25% of the funds will used to support the war against AI, which to me sounds like a funky addition to the hunting system, where you can get paid per hour to do protect teleporter constructor and repair teams and kill robots invading the area.

That is not all, NEVERDIE intends to also bring out a public transport share for the new transport system, and to usher in an old concept that was never quite implemented before on Entropia, the stock exchange! People will be able to buy and sell stock in Entropia, and not only in game but in another new app. The details on this are also vague, and it will be interesting to see if this will make an improvement over the already existing auction.

Finally, and the most complicated of all, NEVERDIE wishes to make Entropia cross platform by creating plug ins for games and worlds developed on a variety of graphic engines, including Unreal, Unity and Lumberyard and emerging Augmented Reality applications using HoloLens or Magic Leap that might otherwise stand alone.


I do not know about anyone else, but feel sorry for the other unknown contenders. I knew for sure that NEVERDIE would win the votes, he is the most well known avatar in Entropia, ever since NEVERDIE became a legend in 2008 for mortgaging his house to buy 'Club NEVERDIE' now known as 'FOMA' and entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the most valuable virtual item ever owned costing $635,000. After a year he had profited on his investment and paid back his mortgaging. NEVERDIE later sold FOMA and established NEVERDIE studios and which is the owner Rocktropia.

---

Compets: Ten days away until release!

With the release of Compets in just 10 days, everyone is very eager to find out what the game will be like. Mindark have made quite a few comments about Compets during its development, and a ton of information about the game can be taken from the screen shots of the gameplay footage.

This is the information I know about what we should be expecting. Each player will own their own village which can be raided by other players as stated by Mindark. In the screen shot above we can see the set up and speculate what we can expect. Along the top from the center to the right, we have 3 forms of resources, gems, PEDs and gold. In the top left we have the players rank or level with the protection time from the next raid, under that I would assume to be pets and max pets. The bottom left looks like quests, achievements, and battle. The bottom right looks like statistics, friends and a prize or shop button. Behind this building we can see a building icon in the village, plots can be built. I can assume that one of the buildings will be used to generate gold because of the maximum gold resource at the top.

Here we can see 3 types of battle modes, we already know about raiding and arenas, I am going to take a guess that forest mode is like training, fighting wild animals. There is not much I can say about the battle sequence itself, other than it looks to be a turn based arena style game. We have yet to see raid mode and forest mode. 

From this image we know that we will be able to buy combat skills from the library in game. We can not tell if this will be a building constructed in game or a menu. But what we can tell is a few of the statistics that the creatures will have in game. Each skill will have a cool down time and some skills will cost mana. There will also be stamina, which seems to be one of the factors to victory.

One thing I do know for sure is there are quite a lot of people looking forward to fighting their pets which have followed them around in Entropia for a while. There is not much news about arenas within Entropia but hopefully as soon as the app is released, the arenas should open too!

---

The social stuff...

I set up a Facebook page ages ago and never mentioned it, share, subscribe, like, jellybean:

https://www.facebook.com/entropiazinemagazine/

I know some of you have missed me, and its thanks to the people who have spoken to me in game and left comments that I am back here. It is good to be back, and I look forward to writing next months issue and battling some people with spike my pet sapphire devil!