I have been lending at Prosper for a couple months. I've invested $1600 over 32 loans at $50 each. I have been choosing my loans carefully based on specific risk criteria I set up for myself. My average interest rate is 16.67%, and my default rate is estimated to be 1-2% (based on years of accumulated data from credit agencies). This means that I am very likely to have one of my loans default. At the end of 3 years, I'll walk away with $1980 after taking out the defaults and the fees.
That's equivalent to a 7.9% annual interest rate at a bank, and doesn't even take into account any additional money that would be made if I reinvested the interest into new loans. Which I do.
Plus I like the fact that my money is helping other people - it's not just sitting in an account making banks richer. That's added value you can't tag with an interest rate.
I completely agree. After trying out the test server, I was surprised to discover that every single entry level player gets to be rescued from the Imperials by Han Solo. That Han sure is a busy guy. Aside from the unrealistic aspect of the Solo Taxi Service, what about people who wanted to stay with the Imps? Han's rescue doesn't make sense for them.
Your original "refugee" storyline was much more believable and less "glamorous". Thanks for the cool intro and all, but maybe people could choose a reb, imp, or neutral intro at character creation?
This isn't Battlefront or KOTOR, this is a player's first introduction to a Star Wars universe. It sets the tone.
In an interview dated 7/29/2003, Julio Torres was quoted as saying: "When Sony and Lucas set out, we said, 'How can we do this and not make another EQ?' We didn't want it to be all about Luke, or combat, or lock our players into a class. So we created a system that would allow players to switch professions during the game, and there would be a lot of gameplay around making that change. If you want to go from architect to scout we've created a system to make that happen."
Now with the new system, you are locking players into their classes, making it all about combat, and making oversimplified "iconic" classes like Luke (Jedi). The person who announced these new changes to the online community was none other than Julio Torres.
In your FAQ on the new changes you announce that crafters are not being phased out. Quoting: "...Galaxies has one of the deepest and most engaging crafting systems of any game that offers one. We are still supporting crafting, but as a profession unto itself included in the nine iconic professions (Trader). What is really fantastic about crafting now is that we are allowing for skill branching within the crafting profession so that crafters can specialize in certain skills and thus help maintain the diverse Galaxies economy."
Let us ignore the obvious fact that specialization is possible under the current ruleset thanks to the ability to mix and match professions, and move on to note that in the very same FAQ the following was revealed: "Item decay has been completely removed from the game." The only inference I can draw from that simple statement, is that as soon as there are enough items created on the server, no new ones will be necessary since nothing decays. Leaving traders with nothing to do but buy and sell used goods. Leaving this essentially just another combat game.
My question to you, Mr. Smedley, is what justification do you have for recreating the game completely contrary to its initial formula, if that formula is what gave the game the degree of success it has achieved up to this point? Most of us players are agreed that the combat system is in serious need of an overhaul (especially after the botched disaster of the first combat upgrade), but that doesn't explain the reasoning behind dumbing down the game to the point at which it no longer appeals to the type of player that it was originally intended for. Please enlighten us.
Slashdot Mirror
I have been lending at Prosper for a couple months. I've invested $1600 over 32 loans at $50 each. I have been choosing my loans carefully based on specific risk criteria I set up for myself. My average interest rate is 16.67%, and my default rate is estimated to be 1-2% (based on years of accumulated data from credit agencies). This means that I am very likely to have one of my loans default. At the end of 3 years, I'll walk away with $1980 after taking out the defaults and the fees.
That's equivalent to a 7.9% annual interest rate at a bank, and doesn't even take into account any additional money that would be made if I reinvested the interest into new loans. Which I do.
Plus I like the fact that my money is helping other people - it's not just sitting in an account making banks richer. That's added value you can't tag with an interest rate.
I completely agree. After trying out the test server, I was surprised to discover that every single entry level player gets to be rescued from the Imperials by Han Solo. That Han sure is a busy guy. Aside from the unrealistic aspect of the Solo Taxi Service, what about people who wanted to stay with the Imps? Han's rescue doesn't make sense for them.
Your original "refugee" storyline was much more believable and less "glamorous". Thanks for the cool intro and all, but maybe people could choose a reb, imp, or neutral intro at character creation?
This isn't Battlefront or KOTOR, this is a player's first introduction to a Star Wars universe. It sets the tone.
In an interview dated 7/29/2003, Julio Torres was quoted as saying: "When Sony and Lucas set out, we said, 'How can we do this and not make another EQ?' We didn't want it to be all about Luke, or combat, or lock our players into a class. So we created a system that would allow players to switch professions during the game, and there would be a lot of gameplay around making that change. If you want to go from architect to scout we've created a system to make that happen."
Now with the new system, you are locking players into their classes, making it all about combat, and making oversimplified "iconic" classes like Luke (Jedi). The person who announced these new changes to the online community was none other than Julio Torres.
In your FAQ on the new changes you announce that crafters are not being phased out. Quoting: "...Galaxies has one of the deepest and most engaging crafting systems of any game that offers one. We are still supporting crafting, but as a profession unto itself included in the nine iconic professions (Trader). What is really fantastic about crafting now is that we are allowing for skill branching within the crafting profession so that crafters can specialize in certain skills and thus help maintain the diverse Galaxies economy."
Let us ignore the obvious fact that specialization is possible under the current ruleset thanks to the ability to mix and match professions, and move on to note that in the very same FAQ the following was revealed: "Item decay has been completely removed from the game." The only inference I can draw from that simple statement, is that as soon as there are enough items created on the server, no new ones will be necessary since nothing decays. Leaving traders with nothing to do but buy and sell used goods. Leaving this essentially just another combat game.
My question to you, Mr. Smedley, is what justification do you have for recreating the game completely contrary to its initial formula, if that formula is what gave the game the degree of success it has achieved up to this point? Most of us players are agreed that the combat system is in serious need of an overhaul (especially after the botched disaster of the first combat upgrade), but that doesn't explain the reasoning behind dumbing down the game to the point at which it no longer appeals to the type of player that it was originally intended for. Please enlighten us.