This post is originating from the "why I unsubscribed" thread in general, however I did not read the whole thread, only enough to see Inc wanted feedback, so if I repeat anything I apologize in advance.

Those of you that know me would know me as the_ratt. My levels are 10/10/10/12/9. When I first started playing 2 or 3 years ago (wow, it's been that long) I was immediatly attracted to the game because it's approach as a space game. What kept me going through my first levels was the fact that there were always more ships that needed higher levels and more factions to impress. Once I had achieved most of that I had a couple million. Then I heard tales of traders that had amassed literally billions of credits. I then started trading. It was a moving benchmark; 10mil, 15mil, 20mil.

Once I started trading and had relatively uneventful flights I began really getting into the community, and that in turn drew into the PvP scene. During my twilight hours I split my time between trading/mining and fighting about 50/50. The old economy let me do that. I could run off to UIT territory and spend a couple hours trading and mining to fund a day or two of PvP.

I'm having a hard time expressing what in particular was so much more fun about the old economy, but I think it is this. It was easy to make money. If you wanted to spend more time PvPing and not trading you just had to take a few missions and you'd be set for a day or two. If you wanted to trade then it was easy to make yourself feel rich by making a couple million in a day or two. I know this is exactly why the devs changed the economy to what it is, so that it was harder to make money, but as many people have said before, PvP and combat is the best aspect of Vendetta. Having the "easy money" economy let players focus more on the strong points because less time was spent making money and grinding, and more time was spent blowing people up, dying, and in general just having fun.

I'm not sure I can find anything at all i disagree with there.

Thanks, that's useful perspective.

can you link to that "why I unsubscribed" thread? I'd like to read it. I'll never unsuscbribe regardless of my activity because the game will never get better without our support.

hmm my conclusion is unpoclo whatever his name is doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. But I do agree somewhat with theratt10.

Hell, I loved the game in 2003. Quite possible more than I love it now. There were different elements then that also made the game fun (secret sectors, mining stations, CTF without bots being the big one, etc.) But like Maalik said in the other thread, things change. Eventually it will change for the better. Over the last couple of years I think we have seen the most changes to gameplay in the course of the game. People bitched about conq. stations, now we have them, people bitched about more trade in grey, I happened to make a crap load of money running stuff from Latos to Bractus..... I think people are going to bitch and complain no matter what happens. The devs could make playable capships tommorow and someone would still have some comment blahblahblah about this that waaah waah fucking waah. Now Im just getting angry so im gonna stop typing.

I'm kind of wondering why you think it's hard to make money now. Sure, it may be *harder* than before, but currently it's easy to keep yourself in ships for PvP. A decent Vult+neut setup might run you 40k. A single decent escort mission can net you 300k. Hell, even mining in a capital system can get you a good million in one day.

If your actual argument is "I should be able to fly and lose the most expensive ships in the game ten times a day and not have to spend any time making money" then we're in *serious* disagreement.

I do 2-3 escort missions and easily make a couple mil

I find it easier to make cash now than years earlier but that is because I refuse to trade and it was hell on earth making a living as a combat plot that wasn't a pirate

It isn't now which is why I love the game more than ever, with the recent battles over Bractus m14 it is almost feeling like 2003 combat (which was the only thing we had back then and then lost for YEARS)

So, sorry its crap being a trader but my life as a combat player seems to be entering a new golden era

CrazySpence, could you describe the m14 battles in more detail? How often are they happening?

typically twice a day missioncreek2, but not all are big battles.

The one to which i was referring to was last sunday ITAN had a force of 6-8 and the banded together serco guilds had about 3 or 4 at first and got up to 7 or 8 by the end as well

The station was in a storm so we all had storm extenders then! we had someone come in with the group radar which worked for me but not everyone, i could see people 3000m away in a storm and we battled it out there for a bit

Then some people were fighting/being killed in odia, bractus c5, bractus/odia WH and then the serco popped some of our guys bringing in crafting goods and the battle moved to bractus e2 where it turned into an ffa itani/serco battle as we tried to scoop the cargo out.

It was fun.

Another battlefield? I wanna try!

One more reason towards Guild-owned stations...

Battles sound great!

Ya, we were at a serious disadvantage because we couldn't bring a group radar extender, and the small ones only had a range of 1000m, so we gave up and decided to blockade, which turned into a 7-9 v. 7-9 furball in bractus e2 :) all the vets were thrilled.

There are several trade routes throughout the universe that are a static 400k profit/jump. A little while ago I bought a Vulture MkIII, Fast Charge Powercell, and two Neutron Blaster MkIIs for a net price of about 21,000c. A CorVult with two Gauss MkIIs and a Heavy Powercell costs around 80,000c. Money isn't _too_ hard to make at present, but making billions _is_ hard now, because I think 400k profit/jump is the best there is. The last big economy update balanced things out a bit.

Or ye could pop the right Voy thx to the hound : )
500k to 1,5mil in 3-5mn : )