DoA's weekly log

[DaughterofAnarchy]

Some initial context

Now that I returned to the game and settled on here, I decided to resume logging my activities, just in case they can inspire any other casual, low-level player, like me. Initially, I wanted to post in my old thread, but since that one kinda died more than one year ago when I had left the game, I decided to just start a new one.

In the past I deposited a total of about $200, then when I sold out and quit the game I managed to withdraw about $250, so I thought that I should just put back the extra $50 that I previously booked as profit from the game, which together with the few leftover assets I had left on my account (pretty much small avatar bound items) which I valued to another $50 or so should make my return a bit easier. From this point forward I decided to deposit $10 every month, which is pretty much the equivalent of any other subscription based MMO out there and see how far this can get me.



About me, my playstyle and my rules:
cyreneforum.com/threads/doas-monthly-log.7647/#post-26957

Where I'm starting from and what's the plan:
cyreneforum.com/threads/doas-monthly-log.7647/#post-26958



Entry Log #1 (June 19th):
cyreneforum.com/threads/doas-monthly-log.7647/#post-26964

Entry Log #2 (June 25th):
cyreneforum.com/threads/doas-weekly-log.7647/#post-27028



While I definitely appreciate a lot any feedback you might give me via a private message, please try to keep my clean thread and don't derail it - I want it to remain a log and just that, not a place for debates and discussions, so any off-topic post would be reported.

 

[DaughterofAnarchy]

About me and my playstyle

1) For a start, I treat EU as a game, not as an RCE; while I'm very well aware that RL$ can be converted in PEDs at any time and also that PEDs can be converted back into RL$ at any time, I decided to remove the pressure from me and don't treat the game like that, but instead look at PEDs just like any other in-game currency that is not tied to a real life value.

2) That's exactly the reason why I'm going with a fixed monthly deposit of $10 which I consider as a subscription and don't ever intend to just deposit more if funds run dry. Also, I don't intend to make withdraw any money from the game; sure if someday I'll quit the game, I would probably sell out and withdraw whatever I'll have at that point, but don't plan to do that ever before.

3) I'm a rather casual player, sticking to a maximum of twenty hours per week (four hours per day during business days and not logging at all during weekends) unless there's any special event going on; I'm well aware that even that may seem not very casual, but considering that a big part of this time will be spent semi-AFK sweating while at work, I think it can easily qualify for this.

4) I'm a low-level generalist player, sticking with the newbie activities (and enjoying them!), so not really aiming to "grow up" and "outgrow" my current level. So, unlike in real life, on here I can say that I have quite a zen approach of taking my time and enjoying the journey, instead of focusing on (any) destination.

5) I play in a "single player mode", trying to limit my interactions with other people to a bare minimum, which for me means chatting and selling my loot; besides that, I don't intend to do any grouping, provide any services or get involved in any trading. Also, another rule of mine is to not buy any item that is achievable via normal in-game mechanics (like hunting, mining or crafting) but aim to loot it or craft it myself.

6) I play in a "hardcore mode", like revive terminals would not exist, so for me, death isn't free, but it costs me one H-DNA every time I would have to otherwise meet Mr. Mayhem. Now I'm very aware that this doesn't make any sense, but it's just a personal challenge of mine that makes the game more interesting and drastically increases my immersion, so please don't judge.



My five golden rules (pretty much the same thing as above, just in different words)

1. Except for an initial deposit of $100, stick with a budget of $1 per active day ($5 per week), which is pretty much the equivalent of a premium account in any other game.

2. Don’t accept any gifts (neither in RL$, PEDs or items), provide any paid services or generally get involved in any group activities with other people.

3. Don’t buy any items that are still achievable via normal in-game mechanics (like hunting, mining or crafting) from other people, but gather or craft them myself.

4. Stick with an effective game time of maximum 120 hours per month, which means a maximum of four hours per day, unless there is any special event or activity going on.

5. Play in a hardcore permadeath mode, like the revive terminals would not exist, but deaths caused by bugs or other players’ actions are not counted but are ignored instead.

 

[DaughterofAnarchy]

So... where I'm starting from?

Starting inventory: pastebin.com/i0h7tRLf
Starting skills: pastebin.com/g5XiZPf1



So... what's the plan?

In the past, I have relied on sweating to finance my various goals, like 20,000 sweat bottles for my [S.I. HK-110], 50,000 sweat bottles for my first (and only) AUD or 80,000 sweat bottles for my [Fido pet]. Yet, this time I want to take the challenge to the next level and sweat my way to a CLD. I'm lucky enough to have a very generous constant buyer for my sweat bottles at a preferential price of 2.5 PED/bottle, so doings some basic math it looks like I would need about 1,000,000 sweat bottles to reach my goal. By sweating 1,200 bottles per working day, I'll make 6,000 bottles per week (remember that I don't play during weekends), which means that I'll need 167 weeks (a bit more than three years) to reach my goal. Pretty crazy stuff isn't it? But, well, I actually enjoy sweating and I never claimed to be a sane person, so yeah... challenge accepted! I'm really curious how high my sweat gathering skill will be by then.

I also intend to do the free jumping jack instance (that's the name I gave to the M.A.R.I.O. instance) and the free maze run every day so I don't feel guilty for missing my freebies. Other than that? I honestly don't know, that's something I'll still have to figure, but I'll probably start by slowly working my way towards the Ultimate N00b Challenge! quest.

 

[DaughterofAnarchy]

Reserved.

 

[DaughterofAnarchy]

Occasional extra deposits

June 19th, 2017

Bought 10 * [Summer Strongbox] and got:
- 744,900 (74.49 PED worth of) [Universal Ammo]
- 10 * [Red Heart Fireworks] - 2.00 PED value
- 40 * [Yellow Heart Fireworks] - 2.00 PED value
- 1 * [Neurobiotic Booster A1 1mg] - 0.01 PED value
- 1 * [Neurostim-C] - 1.00 PED value
- 4 * [Neurostim-Y] - 20.00 PED value
- 1 * [Loot Collection Pill Adjusted] - 0.50 PED value

 

[Paul Jetman Masters]

GL with your plan, 1 & 3 & 5 are pretty much me too, except i will buy gear, i did the same at the start but as you approach mid level, your gear starts to suffer.
just curious would do you do if you die without HDNA to your own error? just be annoyed or have a enforced break?
its good to see a laid out plan and the deal for sweating is good, plus if your sweating weak paneleons you may loot a Xent x2 too

 

[DaughterofAnarchy]

Entry log #1
June 19th, 2017
Planet Cyrene

I'm weird, I know it, everyone kept telling me that ever since I was a little child. I'm so weird that the thing I actually enjoyed most in Entropia Universe and that made me return to the game was sweating... sweating and chatting... or better said chatting and sweating... well, sweating while chatting... you probably got the idea far now. It's relaxing and it allows me to either zone out and be alone with my thoughts or chat with the (very few) people I actually like and practice my social skills (which, truth being said, are lacking quite a lot). But not group sweating... that one can easily turn in a mess and end up causing more stress than relaxation... also for group sweating you have to rely on other people and I really don't like that.

So I had to decide on a good mob for solo sweating... I considered Haters and Forum Trolls on Rocktropia, which would have probably allowed me to AFK for more than 30 minutes at a time, and Caraboks from Arkadia, which would have probably gave me most possible defensive skill gains. But, truth being said, I had a love-hate relationship with both those place (I love Arkadia as a planet, but I kinda hate [most] Arkadians, and I love [most] Rocktropians, but I kinda hate Rocktropia as a planet), so I decided to settle on the one place in universe where I actually like pretty much everything - planet itself, community and devs, and that is... yeah, you guessed it... Cyrene, which, luckily for me, has its own mob that is great for solo - the weak paneleons.

Normally, the paneleons are falling in the best spot, right between haters and caraboks... they have quite a lot of sweat (80) that you can semi-AFK sweat them while you're also doing other things (either that we talk about chatting in game, checking the forums on the other display or just do your chores around the house), but since you still have to switch them ever 10-15-20 minutes, they still give more defensive skills than the haters or the forum trolls. Problem is that since I dropped my Aeglic Ring Adjusted in favor of my Ares Ring (L) sweating them dry became quite a challenge and in most cases, I have to stop mid-action, drown the mob, wait for regen then switch to a new one; well, hopefully this will get easier as I'll get some more skills.

I also started doing the free jumping jack instance (that's the name I gave to the M.A.R.I.O. instance) and the free maze run every day so I don't feel guilty for missing my freebies; to be honest I don't know if I'll ever make a use out of the token rewards, but they're free and easy to get, so figure that why not even try to do them.

Other than that? I honestly don't know, that's something I'll still have to figure, but I'll probably start by slowly working my way towards the Ultimate N00b Challenge! quest. I have 500 PED locked in Universal Ammo, so I will probably try to shoot at least these and depending on returns see if it's worth to cycle the returns and keep pushing forward, switch to something completely different or just stick with sweating only. Next question was which of the four mobs from the Atlas Island to pick for this... and while I was really tempted about the sea wraiths, because of the mission overlap with You Are Poseidon, I decided to start with the Tree Dragons, at least 'till I'll get my 200 bones for the Refurbished H.E.A.R.T mission (presuming that will happen before my PEDs run out - lol).

 

[DaughterofAnarchy]

GL with your plan, 1 & 3 & 5 are pretty much me too, except i will buy gear, i did the same at the start but as you approach mid level, your gear starts to suffer.
just curious would do you do if you die without HDNA to your own error? just be annoyed or have a enforced break?
its good to see a laid out plan and the deal for sweating is good, plus if your sweating weak paneleons you may loot a Xent x2 too

Hey Jetman!

To answer your questions:

1) Well, you are probably right that once you approach mid level that may no longer be feasible, but as I already said, I don't really intend to (ever) reach mid-level; I'm happy with sticking with being a low-level hunter, since even if one day my skills would allow me to hunt higher mobs, my bankroll will definitely not follow the suite.

2) I will never get out of town with an H-DNA; if I would exhaust the ones I have, before heading out in wilderness I'll just buy others, either from other players or from auction (since they're shop items, and not achievable via in-game mechanics, I have no problem with buying them).

3) I just sweat (and drown) panelelons, not swunt them.

 

[Paul Jetman Masters]

Entry log #1
June 19th, 2017
Planet Cyrene

I'm weird, I know it, everyone kept telling me that ever since I was a little child. I'm so weird that the thing I actually enjoyed most in Entropia Universe and that made me return to the game was sweating... sweating and chatting... or better said chatting and sweating... well, sweating while chatting... you probably got the idea far now. It's relaxing and it allows me to either zone out and be alone with my thoughts or chat with the (very few) people I actually like and practice my social skills (which, truth being said, are lacking quite a lot). But not group sweating... that one can easily turn in a mess and end up causing more stress than relaxation... also for group sweating you have to rely on other people and I really don't like that.

So I had to decide on a good mob for solo sweating... I considered Haters and Forum Trolls on Rocktropia, which would have probably allowed me to AFK for more than 30 minutes at a time, and Caraboks from Arkadia, which would have probably gave me most possible defensive skill gains. But, truth being said, I had a love-hate relationship with both those place (I love Arkadia as a planet, but I kinda hate [most] Arkadians, and I love [most] Rocktropians, but I kinda hate Rocktropia as a planet), so I decided to settle on the one place in universe where I actually like pretty much everything - planet itself, community and devs, and that is... yeah, you guessed it... Cyrene, which, luckily for me, has its own mob that is great for solo - the weak paneleons.

Normally, the paneleons are falling in the best spot, right between haters and caraboks... they have quite a lot of sweat (80) that you can semi-AFK sweat them while you're also doing other things (either that we talk about chatting in game, checking the forums on the other display or just do your chores around the house), but since you still have to switch them ever 10-15-20 minutes, they still give more defensive skills than the haters or the forum trolls. Problem is that since I dropped my Aeglic Ring Adjusted in favor of my Ares Ring (L) sweating them dry became quite a challenge and in most cases, I have to stop mid-action, drown the mob, wait for regen then switch to a new one; well, hopefully this will get easier as I'll get some more skills.

I also started doing the free jumping jack instance (that's the name I gave to the M.A.R.I.O. instance) and the free maze run every day so I don't feel guilty for missing my freebies; to be honest I don't know if I'll ever make a use out of the token rewards, but they're free and easy to get, so figure that why not even try to do them.

Other than that? I honestly don't know, that's something I'll still have to figure, but I'll probably start by slowly working my way towards the Ultimate N00b Challenge! quest. I have 500 PED locked in Universal Ammo, so I will probably try to shoot at least these and depending on returns see if it's worth to cycle the returns and keep pushing forward, switch to something completely different or just stick with sweating only. Next question was which of the four mobs from the Atlas Island to pick for this... and while I was really tempted about the sea wraiths, because of the mission overlap with You Are Poseidon, I decided to start with the Tree Dragons, at least 'till I'll get my 200 bones for the Refurbished H.E.A.R.T mission (presuming that will happen before my PEDs run out - lol).

The atlas mobs all have their own charm

Sea Wraiths, double mission, loot is uninteresting except chance of RSB S1X1
Tree Dragons, annoying to hunt but loot is nice, jagged teeth and bones
Weeds, good mob to sweat if you can cope with the damage and you get dodge skills, plus dire flaxen has good MU
Scout Bots, hit hard for a small mob, but can drop Basic Targetting Chip and other little bits

 

[Paul Jetman Masters]

Hey Jetman!

To answer your questions:

1) Well, you are probably right that once you approach mid level that may no longer be feasible, but as I already said, I don't really intend to (ever) reach mid-level; I'm happy with sticking with being a low-level hunter, since even if one day my skills would allow me to hunt higher mobs, my bankroll will definitely not follow the suite.

you can reach it, but just carry on as you are, i have days/weeks where i slip back into killing Monura's or Jellyworms, its kinda relaxing. i sometimes swunt the Paneleons
most of my gear is self earnt like Refurb Fap, Stolen Imp, Viceroy, Xent X3 the only things that where beyond my reach was amps, plates and Ark knives.

 

[DaughterofAnarchy]

Entry log #2
June 25th, 2017
Planet Cyrene

It proved out that sweating the paneleons was not so hard, even without my [Aeglic Ring Adjusted]; I mean yeah, sure, I have to wait to regen after every mob and on some of them I also have to stop before they are dry out because my health bar becomes red, but most often than not that doesn't happen. Also, my average sweat per hour hasn't got much lower either, still staying somewhere at 240-320 sweat per hour, so it looks that, indeed, my goal to gather 6,000 sweat bottles per week (1,200 per work day) was a realistic one and I had no problem achieving it.

Also got used with both the free jumping jack instance and the maze run so I could do them with my eyes closed (well, almost) at any time of day (and still get three maze certificates every time) so all's good about this. The only thing that actually su**s is that due to some RL issues I failed to log in one evening and I missed doing one jumping jack instance, so I'm now on [Cyrene Mission Token] short... so I have to either find a creative way to get an extra one or just try to take advantage of the 21 instead of 24 hours cooldown and try to sneak an extra run somewhere.

Hunting, on the other hand, was rather terrible. Considering the constraints of my available time, but mostly of my budget, I realized that cycling around 50 PED per week is pretty much the most I can afford, so with the 100 HP mobs from the Ultimate N00b Challenge, that's about 125 mobs per week. And since next weeks will probably be quite busy IRL, I decided to double my quota for this week so I have the next week covered too, so I ended up hunting 250 mob. As previously said, I decided, at least for the time being, to focus on the tree dragons, so I can gather my 200 bones for the Refurbished H.E.A.R.T. mission. I also hunted 1,000 of them last year, before I left the game (when I had a cost to kill of 43.37 PEC per mob, 2.31 effective DPP and a terrible 81% return rate), so I kinda knew what to expect.

Still, the 78% return rate that I got at the end of the week was definitely not a pretty sight. Now don't get me wrong, I don't blame the game or anything; I clearly understand the reasons of this... I have too low DPS (5.68), so I give them a lot of time to regen, regen that I have to cover for doing more damage and though drastically increasing my cost to kill (which was 42.21 PEC per mob this time) and drastically decreasing my effective DPP (which was 2.37 this time). So is quite obvious that I would need a higher DPS setup, but the problem is that with my rules getting such a setup is pretty much impossible at this time, so I have to either man up, decide to eat the loss and keep pushing forward or just stop, try to do something else (eventually return to Arkadia's punnies for a while) and return to this later when (if ever) I'll have a better weapon. For now I'll sure going forward at least 'till I get my 200 bones (sitting at 49/200 at the moment), but I honestly don't know what I'll do after that.

Anyway, here are the raw numbers (summed up for both weeks):

Ammo: 75.31 PED
Offensive costs: 30.22 PED
Defensive costs: 0.00 PED
Healing costs: 0.00 PED
Other costs: 0.00 PED
Total costs: 105.53 PED

Looted shrapnel: 41.47 PED
Looted mats: 40.47 PED
Looted items: 0.00 PED
Total loot: 81.94 PED

Total loss: -23.60 PED
Return rate: 78%

Total loss after MU: 16.77 PED
Return rate after MU: 84%

Cost per kill: 42.21 PEC
Effective DPP: 2.37

Gear setup: [Initiate's Laser Pistol (L)] + [ZX Sinkadus] + [ZX R-Dod] (65.6% eco rating) as main weapon and [S.I. HK110] (56% eco rating) as finisher, [Ares Ring (L)].