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I saw yesterday someone sold a 120 magery scroll for 30 mil. I know Inquisitors rez go for around 40 mil, orny 30, etc. I believe the average player simpy can't compete any more in this game. I play about an hour a day weekdays and 2 hours on the weekends. I have no where near this kind of gold. Items like these IMO should not be out of reach to the average player and I also believe this kind of inbalance drives away new players. So how about this. When an item becomes outrageously expensive the devs should have a Tokuno type event where we kill, say brigands, and for a short time period there could be a high drop rate of the items. In this way the average player could have a chance of getting these items, the value of the items would drop and sell for less, and the economy would not be so out of whack. I know there are a handful of players who work hard to make their hundreds of millions of gold, but does'nt it make sense to keep people playing so your gold is worth something? flame away

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I agree that the ToT is a nice "leveller" - go, play for an hour or so, get something. When I think about this question, what I find myself asking is what a "casual" player should expect from the game (I would consider myself a casual player were it not for having counted the number of hours I spend either playing or reading stratics). Should a casual player care about having maxed out stats? If you're not playing PvP, you don't need a PS120 (they're very nice I hear, but the game is still playable without them). If a person is a casual PvP player then what does casual PvP mean?

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Just turn every shard into a test center. That way no one would actually have to DO anything to HAVE anything.

I didn't mean to imply that things should be easy, only available to the average hard working player. The stat scroll guys and champ spawn folks should definately be rewarded for their efforts. I went to one champ spawn and was very impressed by the organization and effort that went into it. I just don't think many players can afford 60mil for items and I think this turns alot of players off the game.

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CatHat UO Character/Environments Artist




Me - i just shop around - still plenty of places for the casual player if he/she looks about hard enough. Finding good vendors is about as important to me as finding good spawn points to hunt.

Some folks seem to be able to sell things for just about any amount in Game and in RL. In Hollywood clelebrites drink 47$ bottled BLING labeled water. My personal opinion is all the more power to someone if he/she can sell blackrock or arties or dyes from thier quests and hunting for ourtrageous amounts of gold and then turn around and buy whatever is the apple of their eye.

Me personally - in game and RL - I don't posess vast sums of gold so i like to snoop about and find shops off the beaten path for things cheap. On LS I've found 120 scrolls, including Magery - anywhere between 50,000 and 500,000 K out in the boondocks. Things i could afford - 115 and 110s in the 1-25K range and pretty reasonable for the casual player, and like guys have said, are still good for pvp.

There's especially a lot of inflation in game in places that are high profile shops - Luna Bank area in particular comes to mind - the "they've got everything there" location as i think of it. But there's a lot of shops and people who still don't bother to sell things for MEGA amounts of gold or goto Bank of Britian to bark out high prices for an artie or whatever their wearing and selling.

I often find folks there Barking out prices for a bow in hand for 2 million - and its similar to one i've picked up in some back woods locaton for 50K and even sometimes picked up in the botom of a backpack discarded by a wealthier player while i was banksitting.

Hmm - anyway - my 2 cents. I live pretty well, even being a "have not"


Cathat




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Um..How long has it been since you've actually played UO?

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CatHat UO Character/Environments Artist


Last night, about midnight




CatHat

There will always be those who have and those who have not. Everyone has the same opportunities to be rewarded for their efforts, but few fail to give it a try. Doom is there for anyone to earn their artifacts, as well as Felucca Champ Spawns for scrolls.

You know, that is my thoughts exactly about doom. Everyone has the opportunity to go to doom and get themselves ooodles of ornys. We as pvpers are not completely setup for pvm and do it a small %% of the time, whereas the pvmers do it 100% of the time. I know on Baja, the doom arty market is very controlled by the biggest pvm guild, a guild full of tamers. They horde them and very seldom does one slip through to get sold. So if you think about it, we as pvpers control the scroll market, the pvmers control the arty market. There is your balance right there!

Doom is hardly a good answer IMO. In principle sure, everyone has the option of going there and trying to earn themselves their own artifacts. Emphasis on the "trying" part.

Doom is so random that there's no guarantee any amount of work put into it will ever reward you in any way. Add to that the amount of artifacts that are absolute rubbish these days, getting something worth your wile just isn't as simple as "go there and earn it".

Now if they'd instate a points system similar to ToT into the gauntlet, I'd happily shut up and agree everyone can go and work to get their stuff.

I think the points system would be an EXCELLENT idea in doom. I know there are guilds that time everything out and know when stuff is going to drop. I know people that live down there and horde stuff. By saying its easier for pvmers to get these, I mean that a pvper's main focus is not on a pvm environment, so they have to weigh out their time and divide it between the 2 playstyles, whereas a pvmer has nothing but pvm time to devote to doom. They could stay down there for a week straight and not miss anything because they are focusing on their primary style. Scrolls are the same in my book, you can do 10 spawns and get 1-2 scrolls worth a crap. There are times where both the protector and the champ hitters got a total of 12 110s. And then there are times where you may get 2 120s at the same champ. I see alot of crap way more often than I see good scrolls dropping. I know it is nowhere near as scarce as a doom arty. But if you think about it, both playstyles depend off eachother.

Pvmers go and do the ToT events and get the majors, and sell them. Pvpers buy. Yes, some pvpers go and get the majors, but I would say a giant majority are pvmers.

Pvpers do the spawns and sell the scrolls, pvmers buy.

Equal system in my book. Both playstyles need eachother and honestly, I think the pvmer makes out better in the end. He sells a HoM or an Orny for what now, HoM-30m, Orny-upwards of 80m I've seen, Crimson Cinctures which are obtained by peerlesses, which most pvpers dont do, 40m right now. Hottest possible scroll to sell is usually 120 mage and usually doesnt go for over 20m.

The idea of a points system doesn't mean folks could pick their reward, just that by killing the gauntlet champs they'd gain "kill points" which in turn increase their chance of receiving an artifact. This way it's not a waste of time and if you keep working at it, you WILL eventually get an artifact.

Unlike how it is now, where your chance of getting one is just as rubbish every time a champ dies and you could easily go a year and get nothing.

I'm not disputing the whole balance thing with artifacts and scrolls at all. But in regards to the original post, inflation has indeed made it so casual players can't amass the kind of gold needed to buy higher end items, and getting them through other means is hardly possible.

For the record, I've played about 4 years and the most gold I've ever had at one time was around 30 million. I did get my own pile of arties from the first ToT, and have gotten a whopping 4 Doom artifacts myself - but at the time I played stupidly much as I was unemployed. This time around I don't think I've pulled even 10 Tokuno minors yet.

The way the current guantlet system is, if you keep working it, eventually you'll get something. By making things too easy, we will inadvertantly lower the value of scrolls and arties, and keep an excessive amount of gold on the uo economy.

I vote NO.

On top of that, just make items decay or cost more to insure.

No Decay!!! I would take a substancial loss on my current inventory and bank balance if that was the case.