A frank discussion about rares in UO
I want to start by saying I know that this is a sensitive topic and there is 99.9% chance I will pee in someone’s Post Toasties. Too Bad. Part of having a frank and opening discussion means you have to be willing to hear out all points of view. That includes the ones you do not agree with or like.
Okay I think ALL previous event Items should be available for a limited time in the UO Store. For example all of this month items would be available for the month of April. During the holidays the previous holiday items would be available. The same for all of the other holidays. Also for items like the stuffys, snowfluff plants, and amaryllises your color would be random so you’d have a chance at a the rare colors.
The reason I came up with this idea is that I am sick of 1% of the player population runs and controls the game. We ALL pay the same subs and deserve to be treated equally. It chaps my butt everytime the Devs go to introduce anything new this group of players screams “MY RARES! MY RARES!” I found it egregious that a member of this group claimed to be betrayed by Mesanna and the EMs. Why? Because they dared reuse a rare she owned. I say SO WHAT?!?! Its the devs game to run and they can hand out whatever they please.
Rares have done nothing to help UO and everything to hurt it from RMT transactions to the great Clops debacle. I think its time to level the playing field.
I’m done and I will don my NASCAR regulation fire suit and prepare for an imminent flaming.
Okay I think ALL previous event Items should be available for a limited time in the UO Store. For example all of this month items would be available for the month of April. During the holidays the previous holiday items would be available. The same for all of the other holidays. Also for items like the stuffys, snowfluff plants, and amaryllises your color would be random so you’d have a chance at a the rare colors.
The reason I came up with this idea is that I am sick of 1% of the player population runs and controls the game. We ALL pay the same subs and deserve to be treated equally. It chaps my butt everytime the Devs go to introduce anything new this group of players screams “MY RARES! MY RARES!” I found it egregious that a member of this group claimed to be betrayed by Mesanna and the EMs. Why? Because they dared reuse a rare she owned. I say SO WHAT?!?! Its the devs game to run and they can hand out whatever they please.
Rares have done nothing to help UO and everything to hurt it from RMT transactions to the great Clops debacle. I think its time to level the playing field.
I’m done and I will don my NASCAR regulation fire suit and prepare for an imminent flaming.
Comments
I am not part of any 1%, I probably don't even fall under the 50% when it comes to dabbling in rares. I get a slow and steady collection from attending maybe 1 idoc a month, and going to EM events, when I am forcefully dragged to them by a friend or guild member maybe once every 4 months.
Now with all that said, I think requesting or demanding that all rares ever be available for a limited time is just silly. Sure, there are many rares I would like to get my hands on, but I also know and appreciate the time and effort people have put into obtaining those rares. I feel like your entire idea is geared around pure greed as well as hurting an entire playstyle, for no reason other than your frustration. There are people waiting in line to exploit every playstyle, and try to use it for personal gain. That does not mean that every person who enjoys that playstyle should be attacked and punished. What you are proposing is rather unnecessary and cruel if you ask me.
If you are referring to this thread of mine, IMO you missed the points. The points of it are (or, better, have become during the discussion, after the first emotive posts of mine: I was REALLY pis... ehm irked to have been swindled by the original seller's Vendor...
To sum it up: if I respect the TOS rules of the game, I believe that it is reasonable for me to expect consistency. If today I have (and expecially in my BB!) an item, i believe it is reasonable to expect that tomorrow it will be that same item, Rare or Mundane that it is.
We have had many examples of retroconning in UO during the years. An example of, IMO, GOOD retroconning is the way in which Placed Houses has been handled: the old Huoses stayed in place even if the Placement Rules changed, but if you tear down or try to resize an House placed with Grandfatherd Placement Rules you very probably cannot place it in the same place where the old one were. A BAD example, always IMO, of retroconning is the way in which House Deeds was handled: ex abrupto massively transmutated in HPT. And the list of either good or bad retrocon examples goes on and on.
About the point of "Its the devs game to run and they can hand out whatever they please."... well, legally speaking obviously yes. But a game a without paying players is moot. And, IMO, for a S.B. kind of game as UO is, being without consistency ---> loosing said kind of players.
Clearly I don't have hard data to support it, but I have the strong suspicion that, beside the ones lost by "natural" "age attrition" (people getting... *GASP*.... a life outside UO - Shame on them!!! - or starting play OTHER GAMES - Wrong for them!!!
Personally I find (for now, at least...
This said, what I think of the NEGATIVE influence on the game of the "Inter-Shards-Trade-Oligarchy" (I.S.T.O.) that control most ot the Rares market (and, unfortunately, non only of those) you can read it in almost all my posts on this Forum, if you have nothing better to do. But I think that re-offering the SAME Rares of an Event for sale in the Official UO Shop, is not so good an idea, and that, in the case, maybe one better way could be the one they used for the [REPLICA OF] Items.
Cheers
Ivenor
If you want to buy some rare items, do so.
I don't have an issue with rares that have no use. I do have an issue with the way the rares drop. More should be done to make them as available as reasonable for participants. Of course the guy that just shows up in the last 10 minutes shouldn't get one, but the newbie that has struggled the whole time should get one.
I don't agree they should be put on the store, because, like you said, we already pay for the sub. I also don't want them to balance the amount of drops for monetary reasons.
My advice - Keep going to events and if you are lucky enough to get a drop, don't sell it on.
Simples.
Luc, and I, want everyone there and participating to get it. Not just doing damage. Everyone pays the sub. The way the drops work now favor pigeon holing players into a template that does a lot of damage and removes the liberty that comes with a skill system like this game has.
Now, some may make the argument that those involved in RMT would "get would they deserve", or something like that. I see this as a moot point, however, because the result is the same either way: a lot of closed accounts, which in my opinion, wouldn't be very good for the game's future.
I will say though, I wouldn't mind seeing access to more graphics made available through in-game means. For example, it'd be nice to be able to use a scaffold as decoration in my house without paying 5 plat or whatever ridiculous price one would cost. I guess this would apply more to server births though, so it may not be on track with your point.
Plants VS Zombie...Limited Pinatas, Plants, etc.
Disney's Magic Kingdom - limited characters, buildings.
I could go on forever. The plus side of this argument is more revenue to make the game better for the players.
It does not have to be EVERY rare but starting say in 3-6 month time. Rare from event happening and some select rares from past.
Also this could be a used as a check and balance system to police EM System. After all if a rare shows up in game and there was not one set to be sold in the store. The Dev team would be mad aware earlier that there is possibly a rogue EM. Yes this not perfect and someone could find a way around this system but this just one possible scenario.
Here is example of possible scenario:
Mesanna can cross reference the submitted store rare to event story submissions for that shard. Yes, a rogue EM will not submit rare to go into store. But a small search could be done using this as a database or spreadsheet.
Yes makes more work for her and the dev team but this might prevent past events from happening again.
Again just another possible positive.
(about to get cynical) After all most if not all rares get duped at some point. Why not let BS reap the benefit.
Personally, im the opposite side of the spectrum. i value a challenging encounter, that requires a well thought out and specifically designed template and gearing for best chances of success. That was mostly done away with in favor of the random points system, where everyone gets an item if you meet the lowest threshold. Which also led to the situation we have now, people abusing that system using third party programs to have the best chances of multiple drops. Which also makes it harder for the average, 1 account player to get a drop. Wheras the old merit-based system wasnt abused, many casual players just werent good at it. The aswer isnt to totally kill the idea of rares, but to make a system that works. the current system is a nice balance between merit and charity IF we dont have complications caused by abuse of the system.
Plus, we also had no public outlet for oppostion of abuse of the system for years. Posts and players calling out those abusing the system on stratics were given warnings or banned from that forum. The personal connections of the some of the staff, to the largest abusers didnt help that issue.
Now, at least we can talk about those issues in a non-biased environment. and Mesanna seems to have agreed that its time to clean up some of the consequences / abuses of the random drop system. (the worst offenders using 10 to 20 automated accounts) Hopefully in the coming months we'll see a bit of an improvement, but yes, you will still have to figure out the best way to succeed in an event scenerio. That character may be different than your favorite everyday character, but like i said thats just part of gaming.
In life, i wouldnt want a "participation trophy" it would hold no meaning to me. a large part of rares collecting, in UO and in real life is wanting to own something unusual, special, that very few other people have.
UO specially doesnt have the graphics, complicated pve encounters, or constant updates that other games do.
what we do have are systems that no other games have. Mostly housing, and the vast amount of collectable items.
Alienating that core of the playerbase would probably do more financial harm in the long run than any short-term gains from actual rares sold off the store. As it is now, its still possible to obtain EM drops via buying enough store items to exchange for the gold needed. Yes, the cost would be high. but a 1billion gold item probably wouldnt be cheap off the store either if the devs were taking that route to maximize profits.
Think of it less as a participation trophy and more as a "I paid to experience the game and deserve all content I participate in." Some would argue RNG is in all games, but I'd point out that there are multiple attempts available at those items, unlike EM events.
for
Treasure Hunters
1. Change your templates up, my archer used to be a paladin
2. Stygian Abyss came out over 8 years ago and is now(or shortly be) available to everyone. How do you not have a mystic by now?
3. I run one account at events and get EM drops, typically with a low end suit and less than GM magery. Sounds like a PEBKAC error on your end.
Feigr said:
What your are asking for IS a participation trophy. Honestly I would be ok with more vending machine items followed by 3-5 rare drops from the event.
How entitled do you have to be to say that you Deserve to win at everything you do?
UO has so many skills. The beauty of UO was the skill system. If you pigeon people into those skill templates it removes the magic of UO. If I wanted to go play a Barbarian, I'd just play Diablo.
Not everyone can win, somebody has to lose, that is life.
If I pay for content, I may not deserve to get it on the first try, but I do deserve the opportunity to get it.
You're contribution to the thread is that you think making rares more available is entitlement. I get it, I listened. I don't agree.
My contribution is that if I pay for a game, I deserve the opportunity at the content in the game. I also feel that RNG for that content, if it's there, needs to have more than one opportunity at it.
My rebuttal for your argument that false entitlement is bad is that I agree with you. Entitlement to content you pay for is not bad. If you pay for something, you're entitled to it.
I also feel that in a sandbox game like UO, the content should be based on more than just damage and healing. It should be about participation.
At no point have I witnessed any mention on any UO packaging or promotional material that explicitly or implies that you are even able to get a rare item from live events. It is an unadvertised feature, therefor you are not entitled to anything.
Again back to participation trophies. The event it self is content, I go to them with my crew from my Vent server, I contribute and enjoy myself. If I get a drop, cool. If I don`t, oh well.
comment was butchered let me try that again...
From the outside it appears you desire the world adapt for a level of players( that you belong to) for your own advantage. People make up a variety of characters specifically for certain bosses and events. Not every play style is as profitable and competitive as others. Not every criticism is a personal attack.
When I want or need something, I have to look at the situation to see what I need to get that something. Sitting there complaining about not being handed that item leaves me with nothing other than wishes.
I don't even understand the complaints about favoritism with rares in UO today. They mostly come from EM events which have been going on for 15 years now. What is different today from 10 years ago? Anyone can go to an event and get a drop. It is easier than getting a drop in Doom Gauntlet or a good Power Scroll from a champion.
I ended up getting a drop at 3 out of the first 4 events I went to (I didn't go after that, so much for being committed =p ). At one event with multiple bosses I got 2 drops. This was by myself, no multu-boxing. Look, my character even has wrestling! https://uo.com/myuo-2/#/char_info/v3rrqiZuKTQ
By the way, I play on Atlantic. Arguably the most competitive shard for event items. So if I could do it in such an unprepared way, surely anyone who tries hard could do it. It is not a surprise that the people who put in the most effort get the most rewards.
Maybe different templates would help some people?