It is with a heavy heart that I leave UO yet once again. As many of you know I am a long time player. 12+ years long. Of course, there have been a few breaks from the game. I came back last December after being gone for 2 years.
As you can see, I did not even stay for a full year. I would like to take this opportunity to share with the rares community why I left. Last December I came back with hardly anything. A 1/2 way decent suit on 3 of my characters and some skill. I did have a few low end rares that I sold right off to get things going.
You see, I am now and have been since the beginning a rares collector. Every character with every template was created and built with the simple idea to make money to buy rares. At one time or another I have owned every true rare in the game save horse dung and barbers scissors and maybe one or 2 other items.
I have also attended my fair share of events and received my fair share of event items. Since December of last year I amassed a great deal of items of substantial value. I just got done with a 4 week campaign to sell all of those items. The grand total? just over 4 billion in gold. And let me just say a large portion of the items could have gone for a lot more than I sold them for.
That works out to just a little over 400 Million a month made from playing events, buying and selling rares and in general getting lucky with a couple of idoc's. I never had to misrepresent an item, I never had to pressure a deal nor did I ever have the feeling that I was taking advantage of anyone. This is also represented in my 12+ years with no single negative mark on my account.
So, why am I leaving you might ask? Well, there are many reasons. 1st and foremost is I have a lot going on in real life and just do not have the desire to play any more. I have a great life outside the game and the game has always kind of been a crutch for me when things in life got bad. I don't need the crutch anymore.
Next reason is that is has become far too easy to play the game. I mean really? 400 Mil a month average income? Have I really gotten that good or lucky? Perhaps I should learn real life that well! I went to one event, the one that the golden lotus of the heavens was the reward, playing on 2 computers on 2 accounts, I was able to get 2 of the petals. I sold one a week after the event for 150 mil and one a couple of weeks ago for 300 mil. I wish I had one item in real life that would double in value in 6 months!
Another reason I am leaving is the economy of the game. Though the economy never really affected me, it is just something that I have seen go to the dogs over the years. Before shard transfers started back in the day, UO gold was worth $7 to $10 US dollars a million. That was selling it to a broker. Now? You'd be lucky to get $.35 a Mil from a broker. (I am only using this as an example and I am in no way suggesting the selling of goods for real money.)
Last reason I'll mention for leaving is the "cookie cutter" events. Hear me out on this one. There have been many nice unique shard specific events, I agree, but if you play events across many shards you will see the following more often than not:
Meet at specified location.
EM gates you to almost instant death.
You fight hordes of "super strong" minor bosses.
You get to the main boss and everyone dies multiple times.
Along the way a few people pick up event items off the corpses.
The main boss has one event item.
Usually a total of 11 or so event items per event.
Usually 100 or so people at an event.
Average 10% of participants getting an item.
Average of 90% of participants crying that they deserved it more.
Someone Transfers the items off shard and gets rich.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
I attended a lot of events and my average was 20% to 30% of events I would get an item. But I learned the ways of each EM and made sure to wait around and loot the minor mobs and make sure I got looting rights on every high level boss. I would not say I was an expert but I did manage to snag a lot of event items.
Anyhow, those are some of the main reasons I am leaving. I would also like to share that when I came back the last time someone had been parading around using my good name for their benefit. There is only one Rowan Elizabet that wears AOS Sandals that say "To Lady Rowan Elizabeth, for helping to usher in the Age of Shadows" A Personal Bless Deed can be changed with a name change token, the sandals cannot be faked. If you think you are dealing with me look at my sandals.
I would like to share some words of experience before I depart.
1. If the deal seems to be too good to be true, it is, no probably about it.
2. Check the boards for the number dropped before you buy something.
3. If someone is pressuring you to make a deal fast, be leery.
4. If someone says they have an item that cannot be duplicated through normal means find out if it is true. (dye an item to see if color is unique)
5. Friends can become enemies over very small amounts of gold.
6. A true friend will never try and take advantage of you.
7. Names in UO are NOT unique! Make sure you know who you are dealing with!
8. Having a good reputation can take years to achieve and seconds to lose.
9. If you think you have something rare, ask on the boards.
10. Be nice, it gets you much further than being mean.
And with that, I am done. Well, I have 10 days left on my account so I may log in if something cool is going on but other than that you may never see my character again. Anyone who wishes to keep in touch with me can email me at [email protected]
Fare the well my friends and enemies!
As you can see, I did not even stay for a full year. I would like to take this opportunity to share with the rares community why I left. Last December I came back with hardly anything. A 1/2 way decent suit on 3 of my characters and some skill. I did have a few low end rares that I sold right off to get things going.
You see, I am now and have been since the beginning a rares collector. Every character with every template was created and built with the simple idea to make money to buy rares. At one time or another I have owned every true rare in the game save horse dung and barbers scissors and maybe one or 2 other items.
I have also attended my fair share of events and received my fair share of event items. Since December of last year I amassed a great deal of items of substantial value. I just got done with a 4 week campaign to sell all of those items. The grand total? just over 4 billion in gold. And let me just say a large portion of the items could have gone for a lot more than I sold them for.
That works out to just a little over 400 Million a month made from playing events, buying and selling rares and in general getting lucky with a couple of idoc's. I never had to misrepresent an item, I never had to pressure a deal nor did I ever have the feeling that I was taking advantage of anyone. This is also represented in my 12+ years with no single negative mark on my account.
So, why am I leaving you might ask? Well, there are many reasons. 1st and foremost is I have a lot going on in real life and just do not have the desire to play any more. I have a great life outside the game and the game has always kind of been a crutch for me when things in life got bad. I don't need the crutch anymore.
Next reason is that is has become far too easy to play the game. I mean really? 400 Mil a month average income? Have I really gotten that good or lucky? Perhaps I should learn real life that well! I went to one event, the one that the golden lotus of the heavens was the reward, playing on 2 computers on 2 accounts, I was able to get 2 of the petals. I sold one a week after the event for 150 mil and one a couple of weeks ago for 300 mil. I wish I had one item in real life that would double in value in 6 months!
Another reason I am leaving is the economy of the game. Though the economy never really affected me, it is just something that I have seen go to the dogs over the years. Before shard transfers started back in the day, UO gold was worth $7 to $10 US dollars a million. That was selling it to a broker. Now? You'd be lucky to get $.35 a Mil from a broker. (I am only using this as an example and I am in no way suggesting the selling of goods for real money.)
Last reason I'll mention for leaving is the "cookie cutter" events. Hear me out on this one. There have been many nice unique shard specific events, I agree, but if you play events across many shards you will see the following more often than not:
Meet at specified location.
EM gates you to almost instant death.
You fight hordes of "super strong" minor bosses.
You get to the main boss and everyone dies multiple times.
Along the way a few people pick up event items off the corpses.
The main boss has one event item.
Usually a total of 11 or so event items per event.
Usually 100 or so people at an event.
Average 10% of participants getting an item.
Average of 90% of participants crying that they deserved it more.
Someone Transfers the items off shard and gets rich.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
I attended a lot of events and my average was 20% to 30% of events I would get an item. But I learned the ways of each EM and made sure to wait around and loot the minor mobs and make sure I got looting rights on every high level boss. I would not say I was an expert but I did manage to snag a lot of event items.
Anyhow, those are some of the main reasons I am leaving. I would also like to share that when I came back the last time someone had been parading around using my good name for their benefit. There is only one Rowan Elizabet that wears AOS Sandals that say "To Lady Rowan Elizabeth, for helping to usher in the Age of Shadows" A Personal Bless Deed can be changed with a name change token, the sandals cannot be faked. If you think you are dealing with me look at my sandals.
I would like to share some words of experience before I depart.
1. If the deal seems to be too good to be true, it is, no probably about it.
2. Check the boards for the number dropped before you buy something.
3. If someone is pressuring you to make a deal fast, be leery.
4. If someone says they have an item that cannot be duplicated through normal means find out if it is true. (dye an item to see if color is unique)
5. Friends can become enemies over very small amounts of gold.
6. A true friend will never try and take advantage of you.
7. Names in UO are NOT unique! Make sure you know who you are dealing with!
8. Having a good reputation can take years to achieve and seconds to lose.
9. If you think you have something rare, ask on the boards.
10. Be nice, it gets you much further than being mean.
And with that, I am done. Well, I have 10 days left on my account so I may log in if something cool is going on but other than that you may never see my character again. Anyone who wishes to keep in touch with me can email me at [email protected]
Fare the well my friends and enemies!
