Haha, damn, this thread delivers.

I remember my brief stint with UO fondly, (which was shortly after AOS had been released) but now i am somewhat frightened to return. I remember asking blacksmiths to craft me valorite and verite armours, i ended up with full sets of every metal in about 3 days
I ended up with full sets of dragonscale armor as well. Although this might not sound overwhelming, it was just amazing to see the kind of generosity that people possessed.

Something tells me that if these imbalances are so blatant that they will be addressed in one way or another. The problem is that the WoW mindset might ultimately prevail, even if some concessions are made. You have to realise that from a RP or even just logical standpoint, a piece of armor dropping off a 3000 year old demon is probably going to be better than something crafted by a 35 year old blacksmith. Does this mean that it has to be completely OP and make everything IMBA? of course not, but certain concessions must be made.

At this stage in the game, i am probably going to re-buy ultima anyways. The 9th anni is pretty cheap and im not 13 years old so i can easily afford the monthly fee. It would just be nice to see less logical complaining. At least in WoW the conversations rarely went beyond "x class is OP", this detailed list of greivances is a bit too well formed for my liking =/

Granted the critters in the game are way behind the talents that a character has with all the lovely "artifacts" that fall from the sky... but one doesnt have to be wandering around Sosaria like dressed up like a demi-god either....

Dare say many that voice issues with being able to kill this or that in the blink of a fairies eye are dressed from head to toe in things that should be ultra rare in any fantasy world and weild weapons that only the gods should carry...

and the simple solution is to go pack the uber gear away and use gm or even npc bought gear and weapons... dont use the specials that make many Conan on steriods....

Just a thought...

Peace

That's what I do from time to time if I'm looking for a challenge. Still the reason why I wish there'd be some way for items to break.

i agree with the breaking of items or just take off the insurance that would also help

To you and the bloke that posted after your comment on breakage.....

Blacksmiths can fix just about anything... in the real world and no matter the time period one cares to look at... (well maybe not when forging metal was first discovered)

Secondly a blokes weapon, armor was what kept them alive.. they didnt just trash it until it peetered out and oops snap pop crackle and oh my no more no more... much of a warriors time, no matter if it was a state military or private or just the bloke that wandered around joining the fun when ever they found it spent a heck of a lot of their time keeping their "stuff" up to snuff...

we are not playing in the bronze age or the iron age where metals were brittle and were prone to break.. heat treating, as in heating the metal up (be it sword or armor) then dumping it in water to change the structure of the steel has been around from the early centuries...breakage could occur if the user had no clue on how to deal with swordfighting in how to present the blade duing a engagement...

UOs issue is that... we have way to many smiths/tailors per those accounts without such... we have no way to produce anything that comes close tot he fall out of the sky minor/major artifacts...

Yep UO is a game but to force items to just pop and vanish is totally out in fantasy land..beyond killing dragons while reading the sunday comics....

Folks complain and claim UO is too Item this or that but when it comes down to walking the talk (as shown the two times EA proposed a way to limit the effects of items) folks back away like grease lightning.. and OH dont do anything to my million gold suit... but damn its too easy to kill things in UO...

Like duh...

There is no one twisting anyones arm to play the item game in pvm nor in pvp...but everyone has this need to be uber and do the get the crap in the blink of a eye...

Insurance? bah... the rich folks could care less... the massive guilds could care less and in fact to remove insurance would just make them even more powerful, in more control of supply and .....

Anyways...

Peace!

EDIT: btw.. it has been proven numerous times over the years that the only way one sword could cut/break another sword is if the one that breaks is seriously flawed from the forging... otherwise... your more likely to be struck by lightning a few dozen times before a sword would break ..

Not saying put RL effects in game. I'm sorry, but you can't say in RL swords don't break and people keep their crap no matter what because UO isn't RL and it never should be.

Items should break/poof not because it's realistic (or not, however you want to look at it), but because it would be better for the game (IMO). I don't care that a smith in RL can keep a weapon/armor pristine forever with repairs, the item in game should not because then there is no need for replacement. No need for replacement means no need for whatever it took to get it in the first place, which means part of what is in game is no longer used.

On insurance, there's no way to "fix" it but only try different things. I say make things cost more/less depending on certain mods it may have. Say a bracelet with both HCI and DCI would cost more (in insurance) than a bracelet with only HCI.

You never know unless something else is attempted, 600 gp per item in these days means nothing, but if you make it cost 6000 gp per item, it may make people think twice.

enough of quoting...hehe

How would it be good for the game for a player who has taken forever to save up the gold for one of those spiffy 22 or more million gold per things to break in a week or a few days or a month?

Im sure you are aware or maybe have a idea that most accounts have at least one do it all crafter yes? fine things break.. fine I may lost things because of no Insurance... big deal... go log my legendary smith/tailor in and spend a bit of time making up a slew of replacement stuff for if and when it breaks again or I lose due to deaths where I cant get back to the corpse or due to being looted by monster or by player...

Seriously.. think about it.. with so many crafters on any given shard... they only have the demand from what accounts dont have a crafter...

What needs to be done first is to remove all the do it all crafter toons.. do that by making them diversify.. want to make swords then a secondary skill is needed on the toon.. want to make just leather goods then the tailor needs one or even two secondary skills...(EDIT: Including the smith.. the more secondary needed the less everything they can make)

but as long as the supply will exceed the demand a crafter is not going to be like the early days... then lets go with the normal price things up thru the roof due to there being unlimited gold... forcing folks that dont want to farm gold to have to farm gold... its that way now.. but if lets say crafters could create uber stuff... you know folks will stick outrageous prices on the stuff and who is the one that is effected? the casual 3 or 5 hour a week player...

Dunno... but it boils down to this "worth it monsters" and the mentality to win no matter what at all costs ...

But honestly just making things break or removing insurance isnt going to bother the ultra rich nor the huge guilds...

and Im not trying to be a snot or domineering or this is the only way... been around too long and have seen way to much in human nature in UO to believe simple things such as breakage or insurance removal will help anything ...

I roleplay and use GM gear only. What I meant was that the general population of UO has become obsessed with the uber gear. I don't touch the stuff myself, It's like switching the difficulty to "super-simple". In my view, easy access to stuff like the Magi equipment has cost UO a great amount of it's original appeal.

Creatures like the Ancient Wyrm should be feared! They are monstrous beasts that will shred you into little strips of man-bacon (or elf-bacon)! Oh...wait...thats right. Joejoe the monkey-boy is busy soloing them for drops...nevermind.

I do agree that the game was much better back in the day. But to keep up with everyone else you have to pick up the new gear. So much has changed since I last played. It's crazy. They are making it so that the only way to expand this game will be by increasing the stats on the gear and making new layers have stats(earings, boots, etc..).

They just need to make a pre ren shard. Fel ruleset only. Bring back the bounty system. There would be as many Blues as reds. I've seen more people complain about pk's now than I did back then. You learned to play smart and pay attention. You didn't see people UM'ing then; did you? Not unless they wanted to die. There are a few new things I don't mind. House customization...it's great. I just miss the UO I fell in love with. The community...

Okay, so... my two cents.

I've been playing UO since 2000. Mostly on freeshard (this is Brazil, UO isn't even sold here. It's a miracle so many people even know the game), and let me tell you guys something, if you don't like the way UO is now, never EVER go play on freeshards. Really.
Anyway, the first time I played on OSI was in 2001, when they were giving 16 free days to anyone (there was no trail time then, so that was my chance to see how UO was supposed to be). A downloaded the game and, even with a TON of lag from connecting on dial-up from another country I was AMAZED. ASTOUNDED. And whatever more synonyms you can think of for "EXTREME JOY", and these things are in caps because they deserve it.
Coming from the amateur structure of freeshards, a massively populated, featureful and live world like OSI was a blessing.

So, the 16 free days ended and since I had no international credit card and the exchange rates were very prohbitive, I had to go back to playing on freeshards.

Then right after AoS was launched I got the game as a gift from an uncle who lives there in US. I got AoS, LBR and TD. and even found a way to buy gamecodes, so I played for nearly 8 months and got the chance to develop a char and get to know the places and the people. And again, amazing.

I can't say how much people helped me, took me adventuring, gave me items, explained things. There was always someone doing something somewhere, and every place I went there was something happening. It was a pleasure to login mainly due to the people.

This is gone now. I've been playing for a week and a half, on New Haven and Tokuno and I've seen 10 players, tops. Where did everyone go? Now i see these posts and I'm wandering where are you guys? Really, i want to meet you all and play until dawn, because you're the players I once knew a few years ago that made me love this game even more than I already did.

Now, away with the sensitive (but true) stuff and back to the feature discussion.

About items
Here's the thing, in my opinion the different item properties are awesome, really... it opens many strategic possibilities to combat (i'm talking about PvM since I've rarely PvP'ed). It was the thing I like the most on AoS.
But, as many have said, it's poorly implemented. I mean, my char is about 2 weeks wold and I already have a bag full of items that I'm saving to help out a few friends who'll be joining me next month. That's absurd, specially when I realize the strongest monsters I've faced are Orc Captains.
If these items were more rare, more well thought-out, and more well placed, it would be awesome... But when you can get a +11 Ninjitsu (well, i'm a ninja... sorry... OSI doesn't have pirates ) from an orc, something is wrong.
I miss the weapon titles. These IDC, IHC, multiple damage types and the likes should be used only on the Mighty ....... of Vanquising GM weapons. It would be oh-so-awesome.

About KR
Only one thing that summarize my view on KR:
I loved the initiative, it is actually what convinced me to start paying again, even thought I haven't downloaded the beta yet, and probably wont in the near future. But if you want to revamp the UI and graphics, and such... start with sailing, re-do it. It has sucked for ten years and our sailing friends deserve some love.
Despite, sailing remains untouched. This proves to me that the heart is in the right place, but someone is derailing the process. I'm looking at you, EA.

About professions, races, lands and other things
Basically the same thing as KR. They're all lovely ideas, but the game is full of ancient flaws, the players have old wishes that get overlooked in favour of things no one actually needs. "Eye-candy" and other things and takes the game away from it's community and make old players lose interest 'cause they feel they're beeing left out in the rain watching the game they've played and loved for many years turn it's back on them in a rather disrespectful way.


Putting it in short terms, UO keeps ignoring the players, and introducing many things that would be really awesome if many old problems had already been solved.

My guess is that someone is getting in the way of the development process *cough, cough* EA wants more money *cough, cough*, thus making UO slowly fade out.
the worst part is that I love this game, for the same reasons many have pointed out here.
I've made good friends, I've had wonderful evenings, I've had characters I loved to play, I have lots of memories of golden times.

Anyone knows where I can get them back?


(sorry for the bad english)