Changes to item Tier Increase Rate (TIR) All items now have a single TIR value, instead of one for each tier level. For non-(L)imited items, the TIR value is always in the range of 1-200. For (L)imited items, the TIR value is usually in the range of 1-200 but can reach as high as 4000. Each point of TIR increases the base chance for an item to gain a minor tier increase by 0.5%. This means that an item with a TIR of 0 will gain tier increases at normal base speed, an item with a TIR of 100 gains tier increases 50% faster, and an item with a TIR of 200 gains tier increases 100% faster. All existing items have had their new single TIR value set to the item’s highest remaining (unreached) TIR value. The result of this change is that all existing items have had their TIR value increased overall. For example, a Tier 5 item with the following remaining TIR values: Tier 6: 45 Tier 7: 80 Tier 8: 120 Tier 9: 75 Tier 10: 50 will now have 120 as its new single TIR value. Changes to tier increase probability It is now possible to gain a minor tier increase of more than 0.01 from a single item use, if the chance of gaining an increase is higher than 100%. However, items cannot tier past a major tier in this way. For example: a (L)imited item with 4000 TIR, gaining 0.90 minor tiers on each use will go from 0.00 to 0.90 to 1.00, and can then go to 1.60 to 2.00 and so on. (note that the probability of gaining a minor tier decreases the higher the current tier of the item). (L)imited items no longer trigger a sound effect when they gain a minor tier increase. (L)imited items have had their difficulty curve for minor tier increases smoothed out. This change makes it easier to gain increases at higher item tiers, but slightly more difficult at lower item tiers. This change provides a more smooth and predictable item tiering progression. Tiering progression for non-(L)imited items has been adjusted in a similar way, but to a lesser extent. (L)imited items no longer have a decreasing probability of gaining a minor tier increase as their Trade Terminal value decreases. (This was never the case for non-(L)imited items) The base probability for gaining a tier increase for all items is now more proportional to the relevant parameters of the item type, and better accounts for reload speed. This results in items of the same type having more similar tier increase speeds and removes many of the extreme outlier items. This will also make it much more viable to tier many historically difficult-to-tier items, especially low level items. The tier increase probability for non-(L)imited armor parts is now based on how likely each armor part is to get hit, resulting in all parts of a set of armor tiering at approximately the same base speed instead of having certain parts lag behind. Each armor part of course still has its own TIR, so the tier speed of any individual part may still be faster/slower than that of another. Note: this change does not apply to (L)imited armor parts, as their maximum tier potential is determined by their Trade Terminal value rather than the speed at which they gain tiers. The probability for an armor part to gain a minor tier increase is now based on the amount of damage absorbed when hit. The closer the amount of damage absorbed is to the total protection of the armor part, the higher the chance to gain a minor tier increase. This change makes it faster to tier armor parts versus tougher enemies, while the total armor deterioration would remain the same against weaker enemies, making both options economically viable. non-(L)imited excavators now gain minor tier increases at the same rate as weapons, (e.g. faster than they did in the past). Enhancer changes The chance for enhancers to break is now directly and linearly proportional to the benefit provided. Similar to how the old tier increase rate system resulted in many outliers that made some items very slow to tier up, the enhancer break chance calculation resulted in several strange outliers. While the break chance was always influenced by the benefit provided to the item being enhanced, it has now been changed to be exactly proportional to the benefit provided, for all items. This means that a damage enhancer inserted into a low-damage item such as the Sollomate Opalo will have an extremely low chance of breaking, compared to one attached to a high-damage item such as the Unique Dub & McCormick Terminator. This change also means that different items will have differing break rates for various enhancer types. For example, a high-damage, short-range shortblade will consume range enhancers much more slowly than damage enhancers. Manufacturing Changes Shrapnel has been added as a backfill resource for manufacturing, with a lower priority than residue. This means that manufacturing attempts on blueprints with very low Trade Terminal value inputs that previously would result in a “Failed” attempt if the resulting value was lower than 1 PEC (and therefore unable to loot 1 unit of residue) will now result in a “Near Success” and provide Shrapnel instead. Small amounts of Shrapnel will also be included in manufacturing attempts on all blueprints that result in “Success” or “Near Success” for any remaining value below 1 PEC. These changes will result in slightly better returns for manufacturing in general, and will be most noticeable for manufacturing attempts set to maximum quantity on blueprints with very low Trade Terminal value inputs. Changes Buff effects are now displayed in item tooltips. Classified Strongboxes purchased from the webshop are no longer tradeable. It is now possible to turn in attribute tokens in quantities that do not award a full attribute point, removing the need to keep these items in inventory or storage. Heal per second information has been added to tooltips for healing tools. Skill Increase Bonus (SIB) items are now completely maxed at the max level indicated in the item info panel, including maximum use speed. Adjusted rewards and thresholds for the Ambulimax Codex. Fixes Fixed incorrect energy burn value for the M91 Stalker Augmented weapon. Fixed an issue causing unexpected “This person cannot be a disciple” and other related error messages. Fixed an issue causing boss mob damage deflection buffs not to deflect damage in all situations. Server performance improvements and optimizations to better handle increased numbers of simultaneous participants. MindArk and the Planet Partners strive to ensure a smooth and problem-free Version Update. Nevertheless, even after extensive testing some issues may arise after release. Such issues are often addressed via mini-patches directly after a release and in subsequent patches. If you feel that the possibility of encountering minor issues or bugs directly after a Version Update affects your gameplay to an extent that Entropia Universe is not enjoyable, please wait until the mini-patches have been released and any last minute issues have been resolved. Source
Wow it's almost like the tiering system, far from being a nice reward perk for playing the game and actually having some minor use/benefit, was needlessly over complicated, slow, expensive and, as a result, was hardly used by anyone leading to all the related items ending up as TT fodder. I was doing quite well at reading the details of the "simplification" (To quote the Red Dwarf "Heck if that's gotta make sense... I don't WANT to be sober"), but sorta lost the will to care half way. Still... no doubt someone will be super happy about this. Like so much in Entropia, it could have been some harmless cheap fun but nooo.... MA had to miss the point entirely. Maybe the upshot of this change is that these issues will be at least in part addressed. I won't hold my breath though. Wistrel
