Source = http://boards.stratics.com/php-bin/u...d&sb=5&o=&vc=1

Poster:
I read them and then think back to the out cry that flooded the forum over how the profs were toing to make everyones Items worthless........

no insurance is going to be worse for everyones precious items... its going to make them go bye bye totally instead of just toning them down...


funny how one thing is bad yet this no insurance is good..... weird

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Cathat:
Yeah- Toning back the insurance system so you add a small amount of risk/reward back into the game is certainly one way to deal with the problems insurance that has made it so different from UOs 'olde glory days'

Its just been a theory i've been batting around - no need to panic or anything.

But if we only allowing a few items to actively use/benefit insurance at any one time on a player adds to the 'gambling' factor of gaining and losing rushes you get in victory and defeat wheither your in PVP or PVM. Obviously stakes are higher in PVP - not only is the threat/risk greater - but the rewards are also.

Limiting Insurance/blessed items you can have active at any one time (say 3 to 5 items you have active on your paperdoll slot)

This way the change doesn't hamper your performance - only puts a little pain on you when you die and offers a bit more opportunity for gain and loss- thats assuming you lose a bunch of your uninsured stuff when you die, which actually happens very little in PVM for the trammie folk, and less in PVP than some Trammies might think.

I've actually run around a lot with very little insurance, sort of simulating how this might go for a while. Been killed by paragons and monsters, and managed to still get 95% of my stuff back each time even if it meant chasing the looting monster for a long time and killing it. Sometimes after being bushwacked in Fel i've had stuff just passed over and in a few occasions tossed back to me - minus gold - fair is fair i guess. And on one or two occasions i've royally gotten into jams unable to get my stuff back except for the insured/blessed bits and that was mostly due to my stupid solo activites.

Still - the whole experience just added more risk and tension in the day to day combat, which is the idea. I don't want anything too complex or too unfair - trying to follow the old addium - 'keep it simple stupid'. I believe systems and things too uncomprehendable are prone to becoming problematic, you more prone to bugs, exploits and imbalance.

Like i said - just a thought of one way on how to deal with the insurance problem a lot of folks have with the game.

CatHat [/b]

Ack!!!!!

I think they should keep insurance, but, base the cost of insurance on the item that's insured.
Artifacts for instance should be alot higher than standard stuff.
If items with high intensities are more expensive to insure, it'd level the playing field, as more people would no doubt use GM crafted stuff.....
Then again, what would I know

That sounds better at least than limiting the number of items that can insure.. OR *shudder* removing insurance!

Since items are so much more important than they used to be I'd rather see UO do death like most games do now. No insurance but everything stays with you when you die.

Do what you want with Fel but leave Tram alone.

Why does death have to suck in a game? I've never understood it.

I will actually have to agree, I do like the challenge of getting your body back but sense items DO have stats on them now and are "needed" for your character I think they should either "leave the insurance" or do what other games are doing now as Tuk said.

OR

Have to get items off body but leave it for a MUCH longer decay rate like WoW or EQ does... taking away insurance off items like that after the items are now "needed" in game is going to be pretty bad because I die alot unfortnatlly =( I try not too but... hehe this is going to suck...

Oh well if this is thier change I will give it a try but I am going to grantee I will loose everyone of my items here soon >_<

-RMS Carpathia-

Yeah - we couldn't expect to go without it. Not after this long.. The problem with just raising the rates for insurance is so many people just have such large fat stacks of gold lying about or so many blessed items that raised rates doens't matter to them a whole lot.

I think maybe we see Items with too much pernanence in UO. If a body is worried about stuff getting stolden or lost - limit the amount of the uber goodies you're going to carry on your person. And if you don't, well you'd better keep part of that super suit or whatever it is from getting lost.

Might be one way to keep folks from going out with everything maxed out on their suits - a big complaint folks have about items having too much effect on us in game.

Just turning a problem over and over and trying it out myself in practice.

CatHat

Insurance is a way of UO life, but rates can be upwardly adjusted for those murderers and individuals with short and long term murder counts. Criminals shouldn't have the same insurance premiums as law abidding citizens. Insurance rates in Felucca should be higher than trammel due to "Risk & Reward" atmosphere.

I like the idea of limited # of items insured used at any given time. Blessed items should not be limited due to the fact that you can put on more than 3-5 blessed pieces on and it wouldn't be right to either take the blessed property off or not allow any other blessed piece to be worn.

Insured items could be un-insured if the limit of insured items are worn, or an option gump showing all insured items proposed to be worn comes up and you choose which items you want insured.

But if limiting items insured does come into effect, they will need to add a couple items to make up for the properties that people are accustomed to, i.e. LRC.

By this I mean because all items won't/can't be insured, individuals that rely on LRC will need compensation, therefore a blessed reg bag would be needed, also first-aid kits (bandies) would be needed(some rely on the new talisman of bandage summoning to get a few bandages after death), and maybe even going as far as making all quivers blessed or not be included in the # of insured items too.

Do forgive me, as my views are probably a bit more radical than most others, but I'm saying them anyways.

Insurance is needed these days because of the way that items exist in UO. But if items weren't so overpowered/unique/hard-to-get/and so on then you wouldn't necessarily have such a strong need for insurance, especially when one's items are easily replacable. And if they were easily replacable that might give crafter's a boost and... - well I'll stop there.

My point is - the items are the problem, not the insurance. Insurance is just an unfortunate side effect. Toning down the items should be the first step in balancing the entire game.

Insurance is a convience. It doesn't matter how powerful the item is, insurance keeps us from running out and having to replace it. Nothing in the real world is balanced and UO mirrors that effect in game.

Much as some of us would gladly throw out insurance along with all the safer aspects of UO like Trammel ruleset, thing is folk are used to them now. I'd gladly dive back into UO if stuff like that was taken out, but I know many would scream then quit, so it won't happen The mindset of taking time to decide what you were safe to carry is mostly gone, as with the realisation that you can actually survive without a gazillion weapons, 3 kegs of potion and a suit of artifacts. I'm surprised some folk can move with all the kit they carry!

I do think items should be less permanant and that insurance needs to be curtailed drastically. One or two items insurable or make it based on the value of your item. Say you decide said item was worth x amount, you'd pay a % of that in insurance, then the item could still be lost to looters or thieves, or on the corpse, but you'd get back the value you said the item had to insure it. A very rough and top of the head idea, but there it is.

These days, we have a situation where items which should have been rare don't decay or get lost, and become common. And one where people would sooner throw gold at items than take the risks us older folk took to retrieve belongings.

Oh and maybe just maybe a little indirect thief love I know folk get very precious about their backpacks, but while there's a skill called stealing in game it would be nice if it had a purpose

Wenchy