I was thinking about checking this game out but I see so many conflicting posts.  I was interested in the mining portion and would like to try mining but I also hear that costs lots of RL money.  Can I mine at all without spending $20?  I am not looking to make any money from the mining, just looking at having some fun as a galactic prospector?

Im going to say YES and NO.

YES :

You can sweat and get few buck to try out and use the trade terminal tools i think you will be ok whith 20 peds ( this is just try our dont hope to impruve whith that kind money )!

NO:

Before you start thinking to be serius minner ( mid lvl ) you will need mid lvl tools the 103 series ( if i remember corectly names, i dont play any more ) the tool value ( finder + extractor is about 80+ peds, so that 8 dollars ).

Probes cost 1 ped each, and enmater 0.50. So every time you will drop one bomb will cost 1 ped + litle decay from the tool.

But i will be honest whith you if you dont deposit at least 10 dollars to start it will be hard ( inspect those 10 dollars to go away the first day ), to play you will need about 50/100 dollars per month i think is honest figure.

Read the entropiaforum and you will see that average player deposit about 100/week to play. Alot ppl are in 1000 dollars figures.

If any one tell you that it dont cost money to play Entropia he lie to you.

I believe ilum is a bit off on his average deposit figure by over a factor of 10. There are huge amounts of players that play at the low end of the EU economy. They sweat, collect dung, & fruit for resale. They hunt when they can afford it and sometimes they even deposit some RL funds.

In the mining department, he fails to mention the tools for this vocation that are available in the in-game trade terminals. They aren't the best by any means, but they will do the job and get you started. They are just fine for the beginning player.

Here's the cost breakdown on TT mining equipment. Remember there are 10 PEDS to the US dollar:

Enmatter:
Ju 10 matterseeker 1.8PED
EE/01 Extractor 2.4PED
EnProbe 0.5PED

Ores:
Z1 Oreseeker 2.4PED
ME/01 Excavator 2.0PED
Seismic Bomb 1.0PED

So for a beginners sortie of mining, the equipment costs would be...

29.2 PED for a 50 probe Enmatter run (subesquent runs are less as you simply repair the tools. Probes are one shot though and would need replinishment each run

54.4PED for a 50 bomb Ore run (same rule applies above... bombs can't be resued after they blow up... go figure!)

You'd likely want a weapon to provide some defense. The Solomate Opalo isn't a bad beginners weapon and costs 3.8 PED from the TT. Ammo is .02 PED per shot with the Opalo, IIRC.

Armor? Ok if you want it. A nice set of Pixie is the staple of beginning players and runs about 23 PED including average markup. Don't bother with the Settler armor in the Trade terminal, it's made from old rusty lunch boxes and costs only 3-ish PED less than Pixie.

What's the total outlay then?.

29.2+54.4+3.8+5.0+23 is

115.40 PED for a complete kit for a budding miner including armor, a weapon, and bombs and probes for your first run.

That's $11.54 in good old American Dollars. So yes you can begin mining without spending 20 dollars.

Don't expect to get rich and quit your day job, though.   :)

AG

Just dont forget to tell him that those 12$ will last 24h or at best 48 the rest of the month you will sweat or not play.
While 4$ more will get you 30 days game play in any top rated MMO :)
PS. The title of the post is do you need to spend money to have funn, pls tell him that you can play Entropia absolutely for FREE !
 

Well, you can sweat, explore, and utilize the social networking aspects for free.  The community of players is one of the things that really sets EU apart. If it weren't for the friends I have made in game and the compelling backstory, I probably would have quit at VU 7.x instead of organizing a sweat strike.

EU enjoys a more mature player base than many other MMORPGS. The average player is beyond their teenage years.

That being said, you will not become an uberplayer without spending some cash.  The game is more complex than many and you actually do have to plan your finances. Because of the nature of the RCE, many undisciplined players end up putting more cash into the game than they can afford. Not the fault of the game though.

---

Originally posted by AlphaGeek

Well, you can sweat, explore, and utilize the social networking aspects for free.  The community of players is one of the things that really sets EU apart. If it weren't for the friends I have made in game and the compelling backstory, I probably would have quit at VU 7.x instead of organizing a sweat strike.
EU enjoys a more mature player base than many other MMORPGS. The average player is beyond their teenage years.
That being said, you will not become an uberplayer without spending some cash.  The game is more complex than many and you actually do have to plan your finances. Because of the nature of the RCE, many undisciplined players end up putting more cash into the game than they can afford. Not the fault of the game though.

---

The part with the Mature playerbase VS other MMO:S playerbase is a very used argument by the EU-community, the sad part is, that its tells more of the EU-community then it says about any other community.

Never have i played a MMO where a community are so unaware of what other games/mmo:s there is existing in the world of gaming. And therefore belive that EU is tha champion of any game out there, would be nice if people tested more games and than looked at EU. I think they would be in for a chock of how horrible MA and FPC are at taking care of theier creation.

But this is one way that makes MA continue to butfu*k us, couse people think that MA/FPC is THE gaming company and what they are doing is always for the players best. So noone(untill recentley) actually steps up and putting MA against the wall and demands them to step up 6-7 notch and wake up from the fuc*ing coma they are in and start to develop the game we where promised to have by now. Whe the players are still beta testing this crap for MA.

After 6 years we still dont have:

1: CashCards(even though MA Advertises it)
2. The hole part of Amethera opened up
3. Vehickles
4. Actuall gameplay, not just picking a weapon and go klicking.
5. A third continent?

What we do have is:

1: Skillnerfs
2: Amp and weapon nerfs
3: Lies right in our faces(still the cashCards the we where supossed to have)
4: Buggs that costs us Peds in form of missed shots(for example)and therefore more decay to MA.
5: We got an 7:th part to our armors in form of footguards, so one more part to buy and one more part to pay for decay. And, not enough footguards in loot to cover everyones armor.
6: We got an fee in form of paying for equiping and unequiping armor and cloths! MA told us it was to prevent lagg in crowded places...lol!!

VYou are right on the gaming part the comunity dont play when i talked whith many 80% ( ruff number ) say they only play Entropia.
You post is realy good not becose you flame but becose you speek the truth !
Cars and stuff like that was promess becose MA cant devlop but can tell lies well ( AFTER 4 YEARS THE EGG IS LOOTED NO FRIKING ONE KNOW WHAT IT WILL DO ) how is that for game story!
Alpha is obvous that you are EU fann ( is ok i dont mind i was to… i was lucky to sell out at the right time that all ) what realy upset me is when i see guys like you coming to this web site and posting news about EU while you never speek of the FAIL promess and game devlopement part ( that why i try to keep it even ).
And Alpha EvE on line is one of the most mature comunity out ( but you just need to download and play the game to find out ).
Is funny i never see Scal, Archangel, Ah, and many more on line even Buzz and Cobra almost never log in any more dont know what youre friend list is made of but is not refleting mine and i know from fact that those did not sell out ( so if even ubers dont log any more i start to think that ther is nothing left in it.
It was frst RCE and ppl surfed on the hipe it is not any more just accept it and move on…
 

LOL.. just LOL dude.

I was once banned for organizing a players strike. Don't give me that fanboi crap.

So what game company do you work for anyway? I'd think they would hire someone with a better command of English to come in here and speak ill of a competitor...

Keep on trolling me…

First post you say im banned, this one i cant speek englesh (did you find that alone or someone hlped you) ?

I let you read this guy, he is well educated and im shore even higly inteligent man like youre self can understand him :

http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2006/05/mindark_im_sorr.html

I let the link speek for me :D
 

Originally posted by AlphaGeek

LOL.. just LOL dude.

I was once banned for organizing a players strike. Don't give me that fanboi crap.

So what game company do you work for anyway? I'd think they would hire someone with a better command of English to come in here and speak ill of a competitor...

I merely asked questions.

Since you seem by your own admission to be banned from the game,  I guess you're taking the "sour grapes" approach, eh?

That would explain your tirades here instead of trying to be constructive in something you are actually participating in.

When did I say I was ever banned from the Entropia service?
Don’t call it game is in EULA’Entropia is service’ so not game and i think MinDark know what is game and what is service.
But wonder what make you think im banned?
No i can log in any time i like; yes i sold skills and weapons so i don’t own any goods that the reason i can actually speak in free manner and not being scared to be banned.
 

Originally posted by Dahlifyr

 

---

Originally posted by AlphaGeek

 

Well, you can sweat, explore, and utilize the social networking aspects for free.  The community of players is one of the things that really sets EU apart. If it weren't for the friends I have made in game and the compelling backstory, I probably would have quit at VU 7.x instead of organizing a sweat strike.
EU enjoys a more mature player base than many other MMORPGS. The average player is beyond their teenage years.
That being said, you will not become an uberplayer without spending some cash.  The game is more complex than many and you actually do have to plan your finances. Because of the nature of the RCE, many undisciplined players end up putting more cash into the game than they can afford. Not the fault of the game though.

---

 

The part with the Mature playerbase VS other MMO:S playerbase is a very used argument by the EU-community, the sad part is, that its tells more of the EU-community then it says about any other community.

Never have i played a MMO where a community are so unaware of what other games/mmo:s there is existing in the world of gaming. And therefore belive that EU is tha champion of any game out there, would be nice if people tested more games and than looked at EU. I think they would be in for a chock of how horrible MA and FPC are at taking care of theier creation.

But this is one way that makes MA continue to butfu*k us, couse people think that MA/FPC is THE gaming company and what they are doing is always for the players best. So noone(untill recentley) actually steps up and putting MA against the wall and demands them to step up 6-7 notch and wake up from the fuc*ing coma they are in and start to develop the game we where promised to have by now. Whe the players are still beta testing this crap for MA.

After 6 years we still dont have:

1: CashCards(even though MA Advertises it)
2. The hole part of Amethera opened up
3. Vehickles
4. Actuall gameplay, not just picking a weapon and go klicking.
5. A third continent?

What we do have is:

1: Skillnerfs
2: Amp and weapon nerfs
3: Lies right in our faces(still the cashCards the we where supossed to have)
4: Buggs that costs us Peds in form of missed shots(for example)and therefore more decay to MA.
5: We got an 7:th part to our armors in form of footguards, so one more part to buy and one more part to pay for decay. And, not enough footguards in loot to cover everyones armor.
6: We got an fee in form of paying for equiping and unequiping armor and cloths! MA told us it was to prevent lagg in crowded places...lol!!

 

I agree over the years they just nerf thinks and dont add any thing to it.
I mean when you cant devlop story of egg for 4 years how creative is that ?

If you look at it all improvements are made to take more money :

1, PPl used to hunt whith opalo + amp 104/105, the peds lasted long time MA realysed it and nerfed the amps
2, Then they made armors look beter but in same time introduced foot guards so you decay more ( i remember when ppl masivly quited becose they spand years on geting rare parts and in one day the armor was not full any more)
3, They introduced decay on cloths (if you change them) by telling us is becose of bug that made ppl DC ( guss what that bug is old as the bug whith the amps that made you tp from any place to every tp in the game) but they not going to say wait we did bad programing so let try to find what wrong and fix it NO they say let make players pay and let them DC ppl but if they do so they will pay fee for it.
4, They made atrox and aurli ( and more mobs reg HP like nutc ) i know of aurli hunter that almost quited when they did that, now they made you spend much much more money to hunt something and in retourns you can always get the ‘this creature did not carry any loot’ message. Do you remember when we played and ther was always loot ?

It is cristal clear that all nerfs were made to get youre money faster, ppl that did see it then walked away as, Pham did, authers invested alot of money in it and now are scared as they see the investement go down the drain. Look at how many posts on EF from scared entreproners even ENTROPIA called ppl to promote EU.

EU will never rise to what PE was (great social place to be, ppl standing at the oil rig in lines, sweating atrox on space ships, skilling med whith mod fap in that red asid and selling skills for nice chunk of money ^^).

This define EU to day :

" well, again: why the game now has to be 100 times more expensive to actually play it, than it was between 2003-2004? Its not like it became 100 times better. "

cant say it beter that he did right on the money.

Originally posted by Talonsin

I was thinking about checking this game out but I see so many conflicting posts.  I was interested in the mining portion and would like to try mining but I also hear that costs lots of RL money.  Can I mine at all without spending $20?  I am not looking to make any money from the mining, just looking at having some fun as a galactic prospector?

well technically you can get by without depositing rl money in the game but it takes a lot of effort.   rl cash helps a lot heaps. The only way u can do is learn to trade through AH by reselling stuff and sweating. Fun...if you want fun afraid u have to spend some money...well 20 dollars...if you know how to spend it well can last for some time, even better if u hit a hof/global which depends on luck. Please remember tho you cannot just associate it with other mmorpgs since this is a real cash economy. so its an apple/orange comparison.

 Myself i withdraw like 1k usd when i quit the game  (after spending like 900 usd for the whole year)to my bank a/c and i still have around 500 usd inside the game after playing for around 1 year :). It all really depends on your trading skills if you want fun however, u have to spend some money on it.

Another plus is the community is one of the nicest i have seen in the game, i still have some friends in the game till this day even when i quit.  If you want to start find a new mentor to help you through the game as this game may be a bit hard for new players and also since u want to mine, might need a mentor to help u kill the monsters for u to safely mine. Bear in mind tho there are some terrible mentors who does absolutely nothing so if that happened after a few days just kick him/her.

Good data icytear!  Agreed, it's pretty unlikely to become uber for free, but how many games offer the chance at all, combined with the possibility of getting some fnds back if you do decide to quit? Nevertheless, there are fun things to do for free in Entropia.

The mentor thing is important to know, because there are some predatory types out there that will swoop in on noobs sign them up as a disciple, then dissapear never to be seen again. If the disciple doesn't ick the mentor in a few days, they wil be essentially handcuffed together till the disciple has enough skill to graduate, then the deadbeat mentor gets a prize with real cash value for no effort.

In Entropia, it's good to do some homework before starting. Here are two ways, I'm sure there are others.

The largest forum for the game, entropiaforum.com has lots of information for newcomers. Before others weigh in on the subject of that forum, be aware that entropiaforum is privately held, unaffiliated with MindArk or First Planet Corp, yet has rules prohibiting much in the way of saying anything other than Entropia is the greatist thing since sliced bread. Even with that policy in place, there is a huge amount of data to pull from, and lots of friendly people.

Another great resource for newcomers is Alices guide, located here in PDF form.

I've been playing EU (on and off) for few years and so far my total expenses have been less than 0.00 EUR (I live in Europe). Well, I HAVE deposited something like 100USD, then withdraw a bit more after a great loot last December.  But my original intention was not to pay anything at all.

I could go on like this apparently indefinitely, but certainly it will be more fun if I deposit at least a little. So I am currently rechecking my plan. Considering I willingly pay like 14EUR monthly when I am in WoW, why would I not do the same here?

Originally posted by Torschen

 

I could go on like this apparently indefinitely, but certainly it will be more fun if I deposit at least a little. So I am currently rechecking my plan. Considering I willingly pay like 14EUR monthly when I am in WoW, why would I not do the same here?

Like many people, you're comparing it to other MMORPG's - Entropia Universe is an adapted MMO, its pretty much the future of gaming really.  With most other MMO's, especially pay2play ones the expense that you pay per month is covered by all the initial excitement over the game you may have - so you're blinded by the enjoyment that may only last a few months and the payment that you pay isnt apparent.  Ultimately, you may quit playing the game someday and when you quit, you will realise that all the monthly fees you've been playing has just lead to you quiting the game, so basically all those months of payment is just money wasted as it has just lead to you quiting.  However, you don't realise that until you start getting bored of the game and end up quitting.

With Entropia, theres is so much more enjoyment out of the game - every creature you kill you will be at the edge of your seat, as every creature can loot money that has actual real value in the form of $.  So say after a few years of depositing and playing the game, you decide to quit for some reason - you won't feel like the game used and abused you like other mmo's, as you can simply withdraw the cash that your avatar is worth and you feel much better for it.  With games like WoW, all the money you pay to them you will never see again (and over months it adds up), with EU at least you get at the least some of your money back.... but in most of the cases if you u play long enough you will either break even or even make money.

I've actually done a survey with people i know ingame, and people who know the people i know - out of 46 players who had played over 1 year (not casual players, i'm talking players who play at least 10 hours a week), 45 of them said off the top of their head, they'd say that their avatar value was about the same as they deposited or more!  That 1 odd person, she was inactive for 5 months cuz she had a baby, so it doesnt completely count.

End of the day, just deposit how ever much you can, regularly and after a couple of months you will see the beginnings of what the entertainment you can get out of this game.  And when you deposit into the game, the money hasnt gone like P2P subscription based games where you wave bye bye to all the money you give them - think of Entropia as when you'd transfer money when you go to another country with foreign currency.  The reason why i'm comparing it to real life, is because the game has factors which are similar to real life - Primarily the Real Cash Economy.

To Renton81:

Yes, I am aware of that, though I don't usually think of that for I have no intentions (as of now) to quit and withdraw. So at present it is feels lost money to me. But of course you are right.

I have played EU for long time, and last time I checked, if I sold out all my skills and items, I would get back real money many tens of times the amount I have ever deposited.
 

In my opinion, the game is a fairly well thought out scam.  I personally suggest you avoid it, but the choice is ultimatly up to you.  Try out the free aspects, if you feel inclined to sink money into it, that is your choice, just keep in mind that almost everthing you do in the game costs money, and at the end of the month you will notice it costs alot more ( monthly ) to be productive than most mainstream MMOs.

To the Op

Thanks.  I was also curious as to how it all worked in a virtual universe like Entropia.  I'm reading the replies and Entropia  sounds intersting, possibly rewarding, but if you have no self control expensive.   I'm impulsive in RL, I couold not imagine the trouble I could  get myself into playing in a virtual world.  Sounds very interesting though....

Originally posted by icytear83

Originally posted by Talonsin

I was thinking about checking this game out but I see so many conflicting posts.  I was interested in the mining portion and would like to try mining but I also hear that costs lots of RL money.  Can I mine at all without spending $20?  I am not looking to make any money from the mining, just looking at having some fun as a galactic prospector?

 

well technically you can get by without depositing rl money in the game but it takes a lot of effort.   rl cash helps a lot heaps. The only way u can do is learn to trade through AH by reselling stuff and sweating. Fun...if you want fun afraid u have to spend some money...well 20 dollars...if you know how to spend it well can last for some time, even better if u hit a hof/global which depends on luck. Please remember tho you cannot just associate it with other mmorpgs since this is a real cash economy. so its an apple/orange comparison.

 Myself i withdraw like 1k usd when i quit the game  (after spending like 900 usd for the whole year)to my bank a/c and i still have around 500 usd inside the game after playing for around 1 year :). It all really depends on your trading skills if you want fun however, u have to spend some money on it.

Another plus is the community is one of the nicest i have seen in the game, i still have some friends in the game till this day even when i quit.  If you want to start find a new mentor to help you through the game as this game may be a bit hard for new players and also since u want to mine, might need a mentor to help u kill the monsters for u to safely mine. Bear in mind tho there are some terrible mentors who does absolutely nothing so if that happened after a few days just kick him/her.

Well...don't know about the nicest I've seen. You have to admit it is a very confusing game to start out in...how to make money to buy your first supplies, how to build skills....and such. I've spent 3 hours in game and have yet to receive a "Helpfull" reply to any of my few questions...never received any in fact... Thought I was maybe doing something wrong in chat but...??

Anyway...I didn't find the community helpfull at all. Was expecting a little more from an MMO with a more "Mature" Player base.

Hey Baldy,

If you see folks standing around in the New Arrival zone with anything other than rags on, chances are they are there to help new folks out. Try chatting them up in public chat and you'll likely get  a response.

Also, during business hours for Europe, Simon or Emma, the Official Guides are often there. Look for the gold star above their heads.

I'll be happy to answer questions here on this forum, or over on entropiaforum.com

Thanks!

AG

Originally posted by BaldyMike

Anyway...I didn't find the community helpfull at all. Was expecting a little more from an MMO with a more "Mature" Player base.

 

Entropia Forum is the most important source of information, almost compulsory if you intend to dive into EU. There you will get fast and helpful information.

After all you cannot expect responses from experienced players ingame, for they spend most of their time in some very remote spots hunting or mining and are definitely not there near newbie zones to answer you.

I'll be honest here with regards to the original question.  For me, I do deposit to have fun.... but I go into it with my eyes wide open.  I don't expect freebies, I don't expect other players to throw gear at me and  don't expect to earn loot for free. 

It is possible to have fun I think without a deposit.  We now have people running ingame radio stations, running n00b tours using guards and guides that cost nothing more than time and knowledge, running events and shows. It's not maybe traditional gaming, but hell it certainly is a RCE in action.

If you want to make money from nothing then you better be very patient and also very talented in business :) 

For people that don't know me ingame  (no-one does tbh :D ) I have supported a mid level avatar,  the  primary gun cost us $2000, the FAP cost us $2000, the  armour cost us a bit :)  , I'm at about 190 health and 190k skills.  I know if I sell out I am in profit!  I am in an wierd position where someone else has played my avatar more than me, but I have helped pay for it.

I was bored and decided to give the game a go a couple months back. With time on my hands i thought i would just sweat mobs and sell it to players to buy upgrades (a gun, ammo, etc). Well after sweating for 4-5 days i had a couple thousand sweat so went to a city to try and sell it.

Couldnt find a buyer and found a couple other n00bs in the same situation. One of them had 20k sweat and no luck selling. A couple others with a few thousand each were trying to sell as well. Maybe i was online at the wrong time but there didn't seem to be much of a market for sweat or if there was supply was greater than demand.

Did i also mention that sweating is just about the most unfun thing i have ever done in a mmo. The failure rate for sweating is ridiculously high and raising your skills doesn't seem to increase success rate (thou i may have needed to raise it a lot higher to see a benefit). My worst run of failures was 19 sweating attempts before i finally got a success. In those 19 attempts i had 15 deaths which meant respawning, waiting for my health to build up a bit and running back to the mob. This took the best part of an hour.

So from my experience YES you do have to spend money to have fun in EU.

LOL

My first F2P game about 5 yrs ago.

I have said this before, you are setting at a computer thats telling another computer that you are making money so that it can figure out what it will do to COST you money and make money for the devs.