No Economy? lol

Back in my haydays in SWG, before the NGE, I played a second account who was a Shipwright/Arch. Not to mention lot traded with about 28-30 harv's in a static field by our city. So I had a rather generous resource income and availability. It gave me a way to find the best resources and make some of the best ship parts (specially POB, those sold like hotcakes all the time) on the server.

But none of this was possible in my mind when I first started playing that game. I never knew how to work the mechanics, and the way the stationary (25limit) Bazaar terms and unlimited (within reason) personal Bazaar terms worked.

But, once I found out and discovered a way to make money in game via the player made economy, and along with finding ways to create a steady static income from resources, money wasn't a problem.

Now, granted Fallen Earth doesn't have the deep dynamic systems that SWG had, nor does it have an established item price level like wow (since FE's is so new). But I have already started to see sales trends and found ways to pin down certain places where low cost, high gain items move like hot cakes.

I started to get the feel for it when my crafter had excess parts from grinding vehicle components for my book lists (upgrades) and for xp. But 90% of the items I used to level up from say 11 to 14 were bought from vendor, or scavenged in digg marathons while I watched movies.

Once I decided to move my crafter to New Flagstaff at 14, it seems I was able to see the benefit of two things. Everything, including the VIP vault is in once place, by the lake pretty much. Less Running around town moving stockpiles and vendor purchases. And two, S2 gives me the ability to vendor buy items I was needing to get to higher levels of crafting.

My Crafter alt is now almost 17, and hasn't quested or killed a living thing since I completed the Pass Chris ATV quest chain.

Now as for the income, playing the AH in a similar mindset as I have done before, looking for lower prices on items that sell higher etc, not to mention being able to craft items that when listed, sell within two hours almost on cue. I have been able to create a steady income for these routes to almost a 1r50b a day now. The last two days, since I have stayed on top of a majority of my sales, when I need a break from my combat toon, have seen a great increase of money potential.

I will be expanding as my crafter levels up slowly, but I still need time to flesh out how the mid level economy works. And what items move faster than others. Hopefully we will see the same percentage of product movement while all these teen leveled toons hit their twenties and need new items and supplies. I am a little worried about the trial key drop offs, but that might be a non issue, since I am not trying to cater to every single soul in the wasteland.

A few notes so far:

Fallen Earth does have an economy. I will only be able to prove this more each and every day I learn more about how this one works, and why it is DIFFERENT then your usual economy everyone that complains is used to.

Having the vendor set the lowball price on all scavenged goods is a good thing in this economy I have experienced. Besides, there are ways to manipulate this very aspect of the game to make money. Keyword here is Charisma. This vendor lowball also sets the minimum an item should be listed for (something to keep in mind also, taking into account individual component prices for the item build worth)

Impatience and the "need it now" mentality that has been drilled in players mindsets from previous MMO's will make you a ton of money. Learn what they need, then offer it for sale. Slow and steady income here if you are patient and list right.

Previous MMO's gave us addons and even in game utilities that let us track price trends on items. Time to break out the pen and paper. Things you notice you need, write down and start tracking how the price fluctuates. As you do this you will even notice players sale prices and be able to label each seller sometimes based on how an item is put up for sale. With this trend in prices from day to day, you can average the items market worth, see how that looks versus the item cost to you and set your price.

List items correctly. Most don't, and you can manipulate this sometimes to a point where you almost feel bad. IE: I list an item for 1 hour at peak play times that isn't listed at all for 4-500% your intended sale price. You could get two people list under you within that time who undercut you, but list for 48 hours. Your item expires, or you don't even have to wait for it to expire, you should have items ready to put up at a way lower price than those two listed for, but still sitting at 2-300% higher than your intended sale price. But you list for a way shorter time then they did. Your item appears as a deal to viewers, yours sell. Since there is no cancel auctions, those higher priced items sit there and set a unintended market high cap on that item for 48 hours. Lots of time to move product faster and cheaper. I have done this dance a bunch of times, watching the price slowly move down in amount, all the time, still moving way more product then the max time listers.

Be patient.

Always set a lowball price that you will not go below to list your item. I usually do a 2x vendor pricing on materials. This covers the AH listing fee and if I actually list the item that low, I am still making a size able profit for my effort.

ALWAYS have your crafting cooking something. Any time your craft cue is sitting empty, specially at night, that is potential money lost, not to mention xp. Lately I have been having my Combat and crafter cues cooking 24/7, with some downtime of course. I cant keep enough long cue items overnight and when I work. But if you try to at least keep the cue full or crafting something when you are offline/not playing that character, your mind is in the right place.

Sub component sales are a good way to build an increasing cash flow, but you won't be able to sustain yourself with the amount of time, and the amount of competitors in that market if thats all you rely on. I usually list a few ten or twenty stacks of items to hypothetically eat my AH listing fees for the day if they sell. If those components don't sell, cool, I can use them to make something that will.

Stay in HELP chat. Watch for the items being asked about in help. Even offer information on places in the region that you know they spawn in. Most of the time those locations are way out of reach in distance time alone that forces the query to the AH immediately. I do this sometimes, but most of the times I have HELP up for the general feel of what new and seasoned vocal players are looking for.


Fallen Earth isn't like other MMO's, you should know this by now Mr. No Economy Naysayer. You need to find out the limits and rules of your available economy. Find where your you cant go and what you can't do. And then take that knowledge and apply it in ways that you can move product.

This can only get more fun. Not to mention actually questing in S2 tomorrow on my Combat toon. YAY.

Pretty much sums up

All the reasons why I fell out of love with WoW. Plus a few more that I don't care to go into detail right now. But from the less personal aspects, this pretty much sums up how I felt about my time spent in game, and the developers marketing it to maximize their cash flow. Damn Activision and their B Team :)

Controlled Gated Content

Headway in the Wasteland

So I figured I would give some heads up as to where my characters are at. Yarp, I said plural. I now have three characters I am keeping track of.

After I finished my motorcycle, I realized that if I were to continue vehicle crafting and crafting in general... I would be limited near cap with what I could craft. Since I wasn't maxing out INT/PER. So I rolled a crafter. And with that, I also needed to  get another character in the mix who was out on the scavenge, and hitting all the spots I had bookmarked. So I created a third character. This third dude, hasn;t killed a living thing yet, and is only a salvager. Using him for his vault space and vehicle space makes it easier to stockpile items I am needing for vehicle components.

So, as it stands right now I have the following:

Steel Toe: lvl-17 390ap - Melee
Happy Hour: lvl-9 - Int/Per
Reach: lvl-5 Dumpsterdiver

Here is an updated progress map. Yellow is in progress for Steel. Green is completed for Steel - in progress for Happy. Blue is completed for Happy. Reach is forgotten, he seems to like to play in garbage rather than do errands for townsfolk.

Other than that, Here is some screens I have taken in my travels. More to come for sure, as i seem to be addicted to the hide-ui/kodakmoment.

Nice shot of Embry Crossroads from the north.

Steel enjoying a nice nap as some of his Motorcycle parts craft themselves

OPEC eat your heart out...

Google Maps what? East Coast maybe?

Not mine, yours?

lol...

I'm a doctor, not a pool man!!

Yeah, I am totally blown away at the detail, and attention to detail for the small things. Having a blast in the dustbowl that was known as the Grand Canyon. Wish you were here!

Saints Inc. & The Shop Car Show

TOTALLY WORTH THE GAS I SPENT GETTING UP THERE AND BACK.

So this weekend I had a chance to plan for and attend the in-game event up at Spider Hill in north Sector 1. The awesome thing about this is I was planning on attending the show, but was dreading the gallop up there on my horse. lol. So I buckled down and started crafting towards a goal of getting my motorcycle done in time. It finished crafting literally 20 minutes before I wanted to get on the road.

How awesome is this game? The one major thing I totally dig about this game, and what makes me want to buy a round for the developers... Is everything has importance. Crafting a faster mount means A LOT. Especially since there is no fast travel, and the game world is incredibly huge and wide open. If your planning on attending a player event that is located in the northern part of the Sector your in, you actually need to plan for it. Do I have the correct feed, or gas to make it there, and back even? I am so glad that there is a game out there that pretty much says "Hey, you want this? You are gonna need to invest some time and effort to get it buddy". This even applies to something so simple as traveling across the game world to get to a destination.

I haven't planned this much and experienced this type of immersion in a game since SWG, leaving my player house in Talus to go stock my store outside Theed city limits with newly crafted items. Going to the shuttleport in town, flying to a starport, taking the starport, getting on my speeder and driving to my vendor house etc...

I honestly think this immersion is deeper for me. Since I took it steps further to plan ahead and finish my motorcycle craft for the long distance. Checked and stocked up on gas. And then actually planned my route to a place I had never been before. Not to mention on the 30+ minute drive from Odenville (weakbotanical farming lol). Stopping along the way to car salvage, muliple salvage spawns. Killing the annoying BladeDancer shooting me in my back. Man. I literally felt like I was on a road trip. Listening to PostApoc radio on the way too. lol. I am literally having a blast with this game. More on this in a later post today.

The only thing I cringe on about this game lately is usually not the game itself. But constantly reading the player reactions to this immersion. The I want the PRIZE NOW, or how is end game? or how do I store my mount, or how do we travel bweteen towns faster? (after being told that you have to actually travel, they retort LAME, this game sucks). I really am saddened at the trouble that the instant gratification kids who come from games like WoW are having with this game. If they would only slow down. Read. And enjoy this fantastic and different atmosphere of a game. They might just actually enjoy the journey and events they experience in the game.

Now, onto some pictures of the car show. I had to bail early since I didn't quite plan ahead and bring enough materials out of my barter vault to keep my crafting cue going... Next one of these shows, I shall have my buggy completed. Thanks for putting this on. And in all honesty, I have never been into actual roleplay in any MMO to date, and I had a tough time RP'n anything fantasy with my old pen and paper group back in the day. But I can totally see myself opening up to some wasteland RP. It just appeals to me on so many more levels. But who knows.

the NOMAD GAMER mentality...

(and a bit of a respec rant)

So, I got this name from a reply by someone on the Fallen Earth forums. And I actually think this can and should be coined a term now. At the end of this blog, I will post some snips of some forum posts that brought me to talk about this and show this mindset in motion.

I would like to define the Nomad Gamer as one of two types of gamer.

• The first type would be the "My way or I'm on the highway" Nomad Gamer. Which would usually be first noticed by their constant forum posts when their overpowered class or talent or skill point selections were brought down to a more balanced medium with the rest of the class/talent/skillpoint selections.

This type of gamer is the one who usually follows Forum of the Month (fotm) builds. Which is usually a community gathered and discussed build of talent/class/skillpoint selections that ultimately gives the player and extreme advantage in PVP mostly, although PVE usually is Included. Sometimes these builds remain a unspoken, passed by word of mouth etc. secret for as long as they are able to. This is usually because the players who follow these builds know that not only are they overpowered, but that they will most likely be hit with a developer nerf bat because the rest of the player community in game are now under this unfair advantage. This certain build usually is one that the developers of the game system never had intended to see the light of day. Which, usually is the reason why the developers alter the way the selected builds work together in a way to make it less appealing to the "1 button I win" type players.

The problem with this type of Nomad Gamer is that they have no loyalties. The problem truley lies where this type of gamer is constantly catered to by game developers. Which in fact turns it into a vicious cycle of Nomad Gamer vs Balance vs Developer Vision.

Developer makes game. Player buys game, pays monthly fee for game. Player finds a class/talent/skillpoint selection that either gives them an overpowered edge, or falls in love with that particular play style. Developer starts to see a trend that a majority of players are using a certain build and investigate why. Or developer starts to see an influx of complaints by other players at the business end of this type of build netting the wielder an unfair advantage. Developer decides to balance the build by decreasing its effectiveness. Nomad Gamer goes apeshit that their time and money was wasted since their build is no longer as effective. Which basically is the player reverting into a 8 year old "you stole my tonka" tantrum via words and insults on a web forum. Which most of these forum rants are usually filled with sayings like "my time", "I deserve", "I'll leave", "refund" and the most popular "respec".

This is where the developer gets into trouble. They either see the Nomad Gamer naively, and honest, and worry about losing each and every one of their subscriptions, or they try to incorporate a game design around giving the player the ability to go back and redo their choices in their build. Which, just promotes the player into finding the next overpowered and or "FotM" build. Which puts the developer into an endless cycle with this type of Nomad Gamer.

The problem with the developers facilitating this type of Nomad Gamer is that they spend more time listening to the vocal minority min/max player base, and designing systems around pleasing this type of gamer that has no loyalty to their creation only as far as they can still find a way to play with an edge.

Most notable developer creations that facilitate this is WoW's respec feature. Allowing this type of game system to dominate their game design, they also actually promote this, by implementing a dual build system that the player can switch between at ease. And taking this one step further, WoW's developers actually promote this by creating talent selections in each build that are effective in PVP, but not PVE and vice versa. Meaning the player is actually gated into playing this way, even if they don't want to, or were never this type of player in the beginning. You can also say that WoW's creators take it yet a further step, and create PVE Boss Encounters around a certain build/talent/spec choice that is required to complete the encounter.

Which brings me to the most notable portion of the mindset of this type of Nomad Gamer. Their ability to drop everything and cancel their game subscription upon the very second their overpowered game status is revoked, and they are not compensated for it, or allowed to follow yet another path for "1 click I win" status. Thinking that the "I will speak with my pocket book" action will make the developers think twice about taking away their cookie.

In fact, it is this gamers right to do that. And I fully support any gamer who no longer enjoys the game they are playing to leave or quit. The problem I have with this type of Gamer, and one that I think the game developers need to take notice of and stop catering too... Is this type of player only does this when their unfair advantage is taken away. I won't spit made up statistics, but I would have to guess that the ratio on the "you took my cookie" vs "not enjoying the game anymore" is HEAVILY one sided towards chocolate chip cookie dough.

Once the game developers actually stand their ground and develop their game they way they set out to, and put this type of fly by night gamer on notice. We can one day start to enjoy a game in the way the developers initially created it, not the way the vocal minority wants the game to be developed.

• The second type of Nomad Gamer is the less vocal, lesser known step child of the two. One who goes from game to game only based on their personal preferences. Perhaps this gamer has a reason for this, who knows.

A good example of a probable reason behind this type of Nomad Gamer is one who fully supported and enjoyed a game for a long period of time. One who might plan to play until no foreseeable end even. But one day is informed that the game they enjoyed playing is being shut down, no longer supported by an active development team or might be changing dramatically soon etc. Resulting in sending the gamer into a mindset of never fully trusting the game system they are playing and just finding small, single serving parts of fun from each game they play from there on out.

One of the most tragic types of these events that can create a Nomad Gamer of this breed is the SoE Star Wars Galaxies debacle. Where the game went through not one, but two complete game overhauls with an active and growing player base on the direct business end of these changes.

The entire problem with either of these types of Nomad Gamer is their lack of sustained longevity for any game they play. Developers need to realize that spending time, money and creativity on catering to this type of player and customer is less fruitful in the long run.

I truly hope that Icarus Studios not only sticks to their guns on their game balance decisions, but keeps their original creative process of Fallen Earth in mind while doing so. I stopped playing WoW because I wasn't actually playing the game I installed anymore. I was playing the "re-balance heres a new game mechanic to help with the adapt to re-balance game play" game. Not only is Fallen Earth enjoyable, but so far it doesn't have those signs that the developers are catering to and hoping to cash in on the Nomad Gamer player base.

The first screenshot is a snip that exemplifies the Nomad Gamer mindset perfectly:

The second snip is the same person, pulling out the Cancel Card. Funny thing is, this player isn't even max level and is so adamant about a respec now. What happens if the developers do in fact allow a respec ONE TIME, and he ends up fucking up his spec AGAIN? lol

This is a brilliant reply that I think pins the term "Nomad Gamer" down perfectly.

And this is a brilliant icing on the quit crying cake

I personally am looking for a game to play with the enjoyment, passion and self connection that I appreciated in SWG (preCU and even CU). I have found temporary places to park my mind and wallet since then. Only finding certain parts of the games I was currently playing worth a login each day. One of these things I personally am searching for in a game is an actual development team that has a vision and a direction in mind. And keeps that in mind the entire time the game is live. I get tired of games that change continually based on "FotM" and respec crybabies. I dealt with that for 3 years in WoW. And I honestly was there only because it was the only thing left available, and a majority of my friends ended up there too. So here is my challenge to you Icarus. Follow your vision of this game because you want to, not because people cry for you to change it during its lifespan. You will retain my subscription more by sticking to your guns, sticking to your initial creation and remaining the diamond in the rough, rather than catering to what might make a few fly by night gamers happy, or what "might" make you billions of dollars with 12 million subscribers... I like where your going so far.

Still Level 11?

First time I have ever been stoked about getting stuff done and having a good time in a MMO and not been max level, or worried about grinding to max level. Did I lose ya there?

All day today in game, I have been working on crafting, running all over southern Sector 1, and doing as many of each towns quests that I can. I started at level 11 this morning, and when the servers went off tonight (a.m. lol), I was still level 11, but made a ton of progress.

Got turned onto another cool podcast via the guys at Lifenet, Through the Aftermath. A generalized podcast about everything post apocalypse. Just listened to two casts, and love their discussions. Totally going to make me pickup and read "The Postman" book now. THANKS LIFENET!

Figured before I worked on some personal stuff, and then actually sleep, I would do a update of sorts. This is some snips of some pretty funny shit in game I have come across. That, and some pretty stupid player verbage also.

3 years in WoW will make you very jaded with stupid people. That and will make it so easy for me to facepalm, wtf, retard D10 roll check. I usually 99% of the time keep my mouth shut when idiots spread ignorance in a game chat channel, or any medium that allows them a soapbox. I just quietly do the above and they remind me of:

Yes, you can pretty much say anything you want. No, I don't think your funny, well most of the time your not. I like that Icarus has been pretty vigilant about keeping the /help clear of WoW's trade chat banter. And I like that the Keyboard Audience Masterbater's are usually the players having the most trouble with even the simplest of game mechanics, and might not stay long. Does that make me an asshole to think that way? You betcha. I don't really care if it makes me look like an asshole either. Because this is the one type of player I hope either pulls their thong out of their crack and humanUP, or goes back to WoW where their trolls get responses and no moderation.

I am not an elitist, just someone quietly putting up with your spreading of stupid in games for a long time. Here is where I spread my opinion, quietly too. So without further banter from my hands, here is some snips:

The more you eat, the more you fart!

HAH! I used to chant this as a kid when my mother informed me we were having my least favorite side dish for dinner.

Developers seem to have a funny bone. lol, nice one!

lol

Anyone ever play WoW in Wrath might have done that "oh noes the tadpoles" quest. I remember this quest, not because I did it 5 times since release, but because one of my female guildies used to say this all the time after the first time she did the quest. I like Icarus's touch on the ingredients. lol

Another mutation skill is about to be nixed. Teleport/Stun/Moltov/stabstabstab lol.

I didn't get the screen cap of her(?) questioning the reason for downtime prior to this. Oh Lolly, ignorance is such a bliss huh?

In a galaxy far, far away, Yoda is crying Brutallus.

Granted, some of these might make me look mean spirited, so be it. I just think they are kinda funny and /palm worthy. Now onto two shots I thought were post worthy. The first is some pretty nice detail work and the second is one of a new type of NPC I encountered today. Shiva's Favored. I can't wait to get deep in the lore on these guys.

Now, I had an uncle who used to have a passion about model railroading. And something he said to me when I was a kid has stuck with me, and has helped me in my design creativity throughout my life. He was working on his HO scale railroad, and he would let me quasi play with things a lil while I visited. I would drive the cars very carefully on what little amount of roads he had created on his train layout. I asked him one day, "uncle, how come you don;t make the roads hug the side of your layout, so you can see traffic?" He replied with a very thought provoking response. He told me that in order to give the appearance of an environment, you had to make someone believe it was there before they saw it. Hence the road he created going off into a direction that brought it to the edge of the layout, implying that it went somewhere beyond. He told me about how he liked to use that mindset when being creative. To add illusion and depth to a limited space. He also said that when making a tunnel, you have to give the illusion that the people making the road or laying the track could not have saved money by going around a hill, and that a tunnel was the only option. When I happened upon this very nicely done tunnel south of South Burb, this popped into my mind immediately. Look at my direction facing on the minimap, and how the mountain with the tunnel just seems to pop up in the landscape. :) These Post Apocalyptical road pavers just needed a tunnel huh? hehe.

And last but not least, two snaps that hopefully might give ya some insight into actually how LARGE and OPEN this game is. The first one is me looking into the distance and seeing the Radar Dish that is located just outside the city of Embry. The second picture shows that same Radar Dish, from inside Embry. Fricken HUGE distances in this game.

Well, I just got to the end of listening to #8 of the Lifenet podcast again. Lots of good info in there. See you all in the desert, and here later.

Where the Hell am I?

FALLEN EARTH?

So, I finally took the plunge. I had been on the fence for quite a while. I did apply to the beta, but I have a feeling I wasn't that appealing to their selection process. All dust trails now tho.


This game has been on my radar for some time. But I never gave it the due I should of. I might have saved a bunch of time in my previous mmo experience the last two months+. The number one thing I love about this game, and the thing I hope that stays the same... Is it's Indie Developer feel. The whole CCP thing comes to mind.


The way this game feels is something similar to Pre-NGE (even preCU) SWG. With people at the helm like Raph Koster with his out of the box thinking. To create a game world. Let the players learn the toolset, and then have them shape the world. It was sad that the design was tied to the IP that was Star Wars. Because it was that very reason the game was changed dramatically in my opinion. It was taken away from its creative roots and pushed into a hyped up Corporate Money Making Mold. I find it kind of funny, that its been Corporate America in general that has let more people down in the last decade than any other group of people. All because of greed. Profit. Corporate paper pushers and bean counters wanted WoW type results with a time tested IP like Star Wars. So they forced the creators hands. I know what I am saying here is speculation, but ask yourselves... How many of the launch developers of SWG still work for SOE?


Back to Apocalypse!


So, when I finally started to do some research on this game, since it has been live for less than two months. I was pretty much blown away. But I wasn't convinced until I was able to check out a few of the podCasts from LifeNet. These guys pretty much gave me the incentive to get off my ass, shell out the $50 and load the game.


The screen shot above was the first character I created, Twelve Pack. Thought it was a fitting name, for my idea of a rebooted society. I sure as hell would expect to meet some crazy named wastelanders. I got him to level 4 I think. But I was trying out the different aspects of the game, and wanted to see the benefits of a solo leveling experience from a melee, or a ranged perspective. So I put points into Rifle, Melee and Pistol. Once I got the info I wanted, I shelved him and restarted.

This is Steel Toe. He's of mixed Indian decent I think, cause thats what the random generator ended up with in body style. Although I did remove a majority of the vanity tat's and crap. This is him on his long trek back from Pass Chris in Sector 1, heading to Mumford to finish that town off. I left from Kingman at level 10 hoping to get to do the last part of the ATV questline. Nope. Not old enough lol. So the long haul back to knock out that towns quests.

So tonight, here is where I sit in North Burb. Level 11 w/220AP. I am maxing my crafting tradeskills as I can each level. But I am going a melee build. High Armor, Dodge, Melee and Strength, Endurance, Coordination. I plan on using this guy to get to max level, and be able to craft items usable to speed up my other character. Who will be a max Crafter/Healer/Support build. I will use The melee dude to PVP and to farm farm farm farm farm farm farm farm...

With the screenshot above, What is in green is the areas I am 90% sure I have scoured for every available quest and AP Quest. What is in yellow is what I plan on knocking out tomorrow and Thursday. A majority of the quests are lower level, so its making for a quick clear of them in each town. Since most are starter towns. I have a feeling Embry Crossroads will be between 10-15mob level quests in the later questlines. So I think it will be the last town I clear out before clearing up to Linewo

I know I will be going into a lot of detail about my excitement for this game, and my previous MMO experiences. And my ideas and opinions I have about the game industry in general. So I need to ask you to be patient. I am a retarded music loving beer guzzling NERD. And I am just so fucking stoked I found a game that doesn't have elves, magic and a hurry up and grind to max level atmosphere. The best part of this game right now is watching players stumble over things, that even without handholding are possible to figure out with a little bit of forward thinking, problem solving and research on their part. This game is not spoon fed design that is WoW. And the minute it starts down that road. I am OUT. Easy and profitable games aren't as fun as this game is. Period.