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Wasteland Diaries: Player-run economy

Edward Marshall — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Fallen Earth, Economy, Patches, PvP, PvE, Opinion, MMOFPS, Wasteland Diaries, Post-Apocalyptic

The economy in Fallen Earth has been stagnant for a while. The auction house has been just a place for trader clones (with maxed social skill) to post wares with a small markup from the NPC vendors prices. In some cases, these traders would post mats that could only be bought in PvP conflict towns or found in secret or dangerous scavenging spots. It was hard to be competitive in a market like that. Every resource had an unlimited supply thanks to the vendors. There were a few items that actually worked on the supply and demand principle, like vibrant and volatile chemicals and pre-fall tech. These items had prices that were dictated completely by the players. Through competition, the prices got pretty reasonable (and I even bought a few pre-fall techs to allieviate the Citadel grind).

All that has changed now, and the Fallen Earth team has made some massive changes to the way the economy works. In this post, I'll take a look at what has changed. I'll try to give my best guess about what will happen to the economy in the coming weeks. A great many players are already freaking out about this concept on the forums and in global chat. While I admit it's too early to tell what will become of us in the near future, there's no need to panic. People were rage-quitting the game mere hours after the changes were made. If you ask me, it's a bit premature to make a decision like that. Nobody really knows what will happen, but click past the cut to see my best guesses.

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Wasteland Diaries: Player-run economy originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 07 Oct 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wasteland Diaries: Scavenger's guide

Edward Marshall — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 19:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Fallen Earth, Economy, Game mechanics, MMOFPS, Wasteland Diaries, Post-Apocalyptic, Guides

The economy in Fallen Earth is due to get a major overhaul in the next month. The devs have been pretty tight-lipped about what exactly is going to change. They may do something as bold as doing away with NPC vendors altogether (unlikely) or maybe just tweaking the rarity of materials (confirmed). Since we aren't exactly sure what is going to change, we can't really prepare ourselves properly, can we? We can guess which materials are going to become rarer with the revamp by looking at the recipes, but they will be undergoing changes as well. So trying to figure out what to hoard for the new economy is purely a guessing game.

I don't want to get into theorycrafting on what may or may not change economy-wise. I'll leave it up to your best guess as to what materials you think you'll need to stock up on. My purpose in this post will be to help you get said materials. I can't think of a single material in the entire gameworld of Fallen Earth that is out of my grasp. I'm pretty sure I can find anything. I have compiled a list of useful materials and the best places that I know of to find them. There are some things that I will not divulge, but I'm going to be very generous considering most of the loot tables will be drastically altered very soon. Click past the cut and have a look at the list.

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Wasteland Diaries: Scavenger's guide originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 16 Sep 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wasteland Diaries: Apocalypse DIY

Edward Marshall — Fri, 27 May 2011 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Fallen Earth, MMOFPS, Wasteland Diaries, Post-Apocalyptic

A few weeks back I did a piece on crafting, covering the basics of Fallen Earth's crafting system. In this article I want to focus on the early part of a crafter's career. If you only play one clone, I strongly suggest you make that clone a crafter. If you are an altaholic like I am, you should have a dedicated crafter, and that dedicated crafter should have his Social skill maxed out (eventually). If you don't have a crafter and you have an empty character slot, you need to create one post-haste. It's a little extra work that will pay off a lot later. In Fallen Earth, if you put in the time, you can make everything.

If your crafter and your main happen to be the same, be sure to grab every resource within reach while you run missions. If you find a good spot, mark it with a waypoint (ALT+P) for future reference. Scavenging profusely will help keep you from being perpetually broke. If you have a dedicated crafter, don't bother running missions with him; just harvest and craft. He should level slowly but surely by simply harvesting and crafting. Send all of the materials that your other clone(s) harvest if you have the vault space. That covers the basics. The road to self-sufficiency continues after the cut.

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Wasteland Diaries: Apocalypse DIY originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 27 May 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wasteland Diaries: So you want to be a crafter?

Edward Marshall — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Fallen Earth, MMOFPS, Wasteland Diaries, Post-Apocalyptic

Fallen Earth has a complex, robust crafting system. The vast majority of the items in the game can be crafted from things you find lying on the ground. I am not exaggerating when I say "vast majority" because it's well over 90%. You can literally level your way to the cap simply by scavenging and crafting. It used to be much easier, but it is still possible. Tradeskills are different from other skills in Fallen Earth in that you raise them through use rather than spending AP on them. The system itself can be quite daunting when you are first starting out, but once you have a basic grasp of how it works, the rest is pretty intuitive.

In this post, I'll touch on the basics of crafting. I'm no expert, but I do have a completely maxed-out social/crafter that has most of the game's recipes in his repertoire. You may know what you are doing, but I think even the most learned of crafters might learn something from this piece. The novice crafter will learn a few simple tricks (tricks that I wished I had known when I was just starting out) that will make his life a little easier out there. It's tough when you just want to make something with your hands and there are legions of bloodthirsty miscreants trying to kill you. So grab your toolkits and click past the cut for more.

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Wasteland Diaries: So you want to be a crafter? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 29 Apr 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lost Pages of Taborea: Finding time to play Runes of Magic

Jeremy Stratton — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Opinion, Free-to-play, Runes of Magic, Lost Pages of Taborea, Guides

Ever since my semester started up, I've had to learn new ways to budget my time. My schedule cuts right through the middle of every day, which is both good and bad. I don't have to get up at an obscene hour for class, and I'm not in school through the night. It still makes it hard to play Runes of Magic and other MMOs, though, as it chops my free-time up into short, interspersed chunks. I initially found some ways to satiate my gaming addiction by -- gasp -- playing Perpetuum.

Games like Perpetuum -- and I suspect EVE Online -- have some nice pacing that allows me to go semi-AFK while I work on homework, articles or whatever. I can find safe places with large ore deposits, lay down a large container, and mine for 30 minutes at a time or longer. I'm still visiting the world of Taborea on weekends, and I make quick pit-stops during the week to check up on my fellow guild members, but I realized during my last visit that there are some nice ways for the returning college student to get in some game time and get his or her school-work done.

If you find your having trouble balancing work, school and life with RoM, you might find some satisfaction in the long term pet, guild, crafting, and skill-building goals.

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Lost Pages of Taborea: Finding time to play Runes of Magic originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Translated interviews offer more insight into Final Fantasy XIV's world and playstyle

Eliot Lefebvre — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Game mechanics, Interviews, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV

We're just coming off of a holiday weekend here in the US, and Japan had their own recent stretch of holidays, so news on Final Fantasy XIV has been a little bit slower of late. But a recent group of interviews in the June 11th issue of Dengeki have been translated thanks to the team over at FFXIVCore, and they cover topics from materials of armor to the game's not-always-praised battle system. The first part of the interview talks testing and systems with Hiromichi Tanaka and Nobuai Komoto, while the second part discusses visuals and worldbuilding with planner Kenichi Iwao.

Tanaka and Komoto confirm that the next phase of testing is set to begin soon, as well as dropping the news that the next test will likely feature an almost totally redesigned battle system. It's even hinted that players were never meant to experience the current system, that it was there almost as a placeholder. By contrast, Iwao discusses the lore and visual aspects of the game, talking about how items will be made from different materials, and how players who want to play a male Mito'qe shouldn't give up hope just yet. All Final Fantasy XIV fans are encouraged to read both interviews, since there's a lot of information available in both -- just the thing for the post-holiday doldrums.

Translated interviews offer more insight into Final Fantasy XIV's world and playstyle originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Making/Money: My value chains are broken

Alexis Kassan — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 10:30:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Economy, Crafting, Professions, Making/Money

There's a person out there who claims that all they need to know about business can be learned from World of Warcraft. A fine sentiment, to be sure, but I take issue with its accuracy. Today we are discussing the first of their eleven business topics: value chains - and why they don't work.

In brief, value chain analysis states that for any good requiring multiple stages of production (meaning you don't just rip it out of your backyard and eat it), value is added at each level of refinement. Therefore the price should increase along its path to becoming a finalized product.

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Making/Money: My value chains are broken originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 27 Apr 2008 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Making/Money: Newbs at Auction

Alexis Kassan — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, Economy, Crafting, Making money, RuneScape, Making/Money

... And we're not talking about selling accounts on eBay.

One of the most frustrating aspects of being a new player in an established game, to my mind, is the cost of start-up crafting materials. Hit up any public market area, auction house, trade square or similar as a newbie and you will see what I mean. Even low-level items of any use (i.e. not vendor trash) are sold for seemingly absurd amounts given the time that would be required at early levels in order to generate the money. It can make the start of a new character infuriating and the game too taxing (pun fully intended) to continue. Why does this happen? What makes these things so costly? Why can't we all just get along...? (Oh wait, that's another column entirely)

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Making/Money: Newbs at Auction originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 13 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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