Congratulations to 13 year Veterans!!

[jradar71]

Wow!! How lucky are you guys to be the proud owners of an Armored Boura. After seeing this reward I did a few calculations and this is what I came up with:

Released Sept 1997 - $9.95/Monthly
Subscription raised June 2003 - $12.95/Monthly

This is a rough figure because some things can vary the cost (ie... paying 6 months for cheaper rate or monthly billing which costs more), but you have paid "roughly" $1,852.05 in subscription fees alone. This doesn't include each expansion you have purchased with the company over the years or take into account if you are loyal enough to have multiple accounts.

So $1,852.05 = Armored Boura!!! I clearly have put more thought into this than the developers, because anyone/everyone at EA should 1) See that a 13 year veteran is a seriously loyal customer 2) see that a 13 year veteran has helped this game to survive as long as it has 3) see that this is a slap in the face.

Mounts in the game are already plentiful. They didn't come up with something new. It is a creature already in the game so all they did are some small modifications with very little thought / effort on their part.

Hey ... let's give other players a rare drop on merchant ships! Great idea... what should it be. I know!!! A dye tub... **intern raises hand** don't we already have a lot of those in game? Shut up "intern" what do you know! Again... not real thought / effort.

I am sure there is a developer reading this and yelling "these people don't appreciate anything". Well...you would be wrong! You probably are yelling that we sound like a broken record and that might partly be true. But... to finally drive my point home I will now show you a broken record.

Year after Year:

Mounts and more mounts... more xmas trees... every holiday (candy...cards)... pumpkins and more pumpkins... dye tubs and more dye tubs... bug after bug... Statues and you guessed it... more statues!! Do you see the pattern here DEVS? Very little thought... Very little effort!!

 

[Widow Maker]

Wow!! How lucky are you guys to be the proud owners of an Armored Boura. After seeing this reward I did a few calculations and this is what I came up with:

Released Sept 1997 - $9.95/Monthly
Subscription raised June 2003 - $12.95/Monthly

This is a rough figure because some things can vary the cost (ie... paying 6 months for cheaper rate or monthly billing which costs more), but you have paid "roughly" $1,852.05 in subscription fees alone. This doesn't include each expansion you have purchased with the company over the years or take into account if you are loyal enough to have multiple accounts.

So $1,852.05 = Armored Boura!!! I clearly have put more thought into this than the developers, because anyone/everyone at EA should 1) See that a 13 year veteran is a seriously loyal customer 2) see that a 13 year veteran has helped this game to survive as long as it has 3) see that this is a slap in the face.

Mounts in the game are already plentiful. They didn't come up with something new. It is a creature already in the game so all they did are some small modifications with very little thought / effort on their part.

Hey ... let's give other players a rare drop on merchant ships! Great idea... what should it be. I know!!! A dye tub... **intern raises hand** don't we already have a lot of those in game? Shut up "intern" what do you know! Again... not real thought / effort.

I am sure there is a developer reading this and yelling "these people don't appreciate anything". Well...you would be wrong! You probably are yelling that we sound like a broken record and that might partly be true. But... to finally drive my point home I will now show you a broken record.

Year after Year:

Mounts and more mounts... more xmas trees... every holiday (candy...cards)... pumpkins and more pumpkins... dye tubs and more dye tubs... bug after bug... Statues and you guessed it... more statues!! Do you see the pattern here DEVS? Very little thought... Very little effort!!

Laziness and extreme lameness would be other appropriate descriptors. LOL..the 2010 Thanksgiving cornucopias gave out wine dated 2009...for pity's sake.

 

[Victoria Navarre]

If you don't want it,can I have your dye tub and boura mount?

EDIT: I usually am not one that will defend the Devs here but if anyone thinks they can make a better and more involved game than what we have in UO then show us what you can do.

 

[popps]

Wow!! How lucky are you guys to be the proud owners of an Armored Boura. After seeing this reward I did a few calculations and this is what I came up with:

Released Sept 1997 - $9.95/Monthly
Subscription raised June 2003 - $12.95/Monthly

This is a rough figure because some things can vary the cost (ie... paying 6 months for cheaper rate or monthly billing which costs more), but you have paid "roughly" $1,852.05 in subscription fees alone. This doesn't include each expansion you have purchased with the company over the years or take into account if you are loyal enough to have multiple accounts.

So $1,852.05 = Armored Boura!!!

Well, I think that the 13th Year Veteran Reward can still be a winner.

How ?

It all depends what comes besides the fact that it is an "armoured" Boura which, as of now, is all we know.

1.
"What if" the Developers have made the "armored" be a good defense bonus that outdoes the bonus provided by a Swamp Dragon ? While I agree that if the armored Boura has an equal or lower defense bonus than a Swamp Dragon I would be surprised to see anyone that will use a 13th Year Veteran Reward pick to claim one, things could greatly be different "if" the defense bonus provided by the "armored" Boura is significantly greater than that of a Swamp Dragon.......

2.
"What if" the Developers will surprise us making this 13th Year Veteran Reward mount a "0" followers mount ? That would change the opinion on the worthiness of this long time loyal account reward, wouldn't it ?

3.
"What if" the Developers will surprise us giving to this "Armoured" Boura mount some special and unique ability besides it being armored and, perhaps, provide a defense bonus to its owner ? For example, this mount could have the ability to resurrect its owner, or heal the owner when needed, or it could do something else cool and special.

I mean, all we know for now is that it is an "Armored" Boura.

But the Developers said (at least I recall reading it somewhere...) that it would have been "cool". I would like to imagine that "cool" refers not merely to the looks but more to special abilities and handy features to the advantage of the 13th Year Veteran Account owner who will choose to pick it.

I guess we need to know more of all that there is with this 13th Year Veteran Reward.

Of course, if it will only be a Boura Mount that is "armored" and provides no real usefullness I would be the first in line being disappointed....

 

[Skrag]

"Slap in the face" = I am a whiny MMO forum warrior. It's seriously like a cliche. The Death Knight quests in WoW have whiny peasants saying it as you murder them. I don't know why you tards think THIS is the vet reward that should suddenly make you more powerful.

 

[I Play UO]

Wow!! How lucky are you guys to be the proud owners of an Armored Boura. After seeing this reward I did a few calculations and this is what I came up with:

Released Sept 1997 - $9.95/Monthly
Subscription raised June 2003 - $12.95/Monthly

This is a rough figure because some things can vary the cost (ie... paying 6 months for cheaper rate or monthly billing which costs more), but you have paid "roughly" $1,852.05 in subscription fees alone. This doesn't include each expansion you have purchased with the company over the years or take into account if you are loyal enough to have multiple accounts.

So $1,852.05 = Armored Boura!!! I clearly have put more thought into this than the developers, because anyone/everyone at EA should 1) See that a 13 year veteran is a seriously loyal customer 2) see that a 13 year veteran has helped this game to survive as long as it has 3) see that this is a slap in the face.

Mounts in the game are already plentiful. They didn't come up with something new. It is a creature already in the game so all they did are some small modifications with very little thought / effort on their part.

Hey ... let's give other players a rare drop on merchant ships! Great idea... what should it be. I know!!! A dye tub... **intern raises hand** don't we already have a lot of those in game? Shut up "intern" what do you know! Again... not real thought / effort.

I am sure there is a developer reading this and yelling "these people don't appreciate anything". Well...you would be wrong! You probably are yelling that we sound like a broken record and that might partly be true. But... to finally drive my point home I will now show you a broken record.

Year after Year:

Mounts and more mounts... more xmas trees... every holiday (candy...cards)... pumpkins and more pumpkins... dye tubs and more dye tubs... bug after bug... Statues and you guessed it... more statues!! Do you see the pattern here DEVS? Very little thought... Very little effort!!

EA did not put a gun to their head and force them to keep their account active. They're lucky they get anything.

 

[canary]

EA did not put a gun to their head and force them to keep their account active. They're lucky they get anything.

I disagree with this mentality. There should be in game incentives to continue your accounts.

As I've said in other threads, I like the boura. I think its cool. Others don't. I didn't find the polar bear mount very interesting, choice wise.

Still, I would hope they'd, you know, actually give more than just one option to 13 year vets.

 

[jradar71]

EA did not put a gun to their head and force them to keep their account active. They're lucky they get anything.

This is true... but they are the ones that developed the whole reward system. Shouldn't a reward actually be commensurate of the effort / value the customer has put forth?

 

[Skrag]

I think the 14 year vet reward should make you invincible. Because OMG it cost (14 years x 12 months x subscription fee) dollars!!!

 

[Trebr Drab]

Wow!! How lucky are you guys to be the proud owners of an Armored Boura. After seeing this reward I did a few calculations and this is what I came up with:

Released Sept 1997 - $9.95/Monthly
Subscription raised June 2003 - $12.95/Monthly

This is a rough figure because some things can vary the cost (ie... paying 6 months for cheaper rate or monthly billing which costs more), but you have paid "roughly" $1,852.05 in subscription fees alone. This doesn't include each expansion you have purchased with the company over the years or take into account if you are loyal enough to have multiple accounts.

So $1,852.05 = Armored Boura!!! I clearly have put more thought into this than the developers, because anyone/everyone at EA should 1) See that a 13 year veteran is a seriously loyal customer 2) see that a 13 year veteran has helped this game to survive as long as it has 3) see that this is a slap in the face.

Mounts in the game are already plentiful. They didn't come up with something new. It is a creature already in the game so all they did are some small modifications with very little thought / effort on their part.

Hey ... let's give other players a rare drop on merchant ships! Great idea... what should it be. I know!!! A dye tub... **intern raises hand** don't we already have a lot of those in game? Shut up "intern" what do you know! Again... not real thought / effort.

I am sure there is a developer reading this and yelling "these people don't appreciate anything". Well...you would be wrong! You probably are yelling that we sound like a broken record and that might partly be true. But... to finally drive my point home I will now show you a broken record.

Year after Year:

Mounts and more mounts... more xmas trees... every holiday (candy...cards)... pumpkins and more pumpkins... dye tubs and more dye tubs... bug after bug... Statues and you guessed it... more statues!! Do you see the pattern here DEVS? Very little thought... Very little effort!!

Pht! That's less than a ONE year membership at a decent golf club.
And that's for a single, not family.
And there's no requirement for board approval. heh

MMORPG's are a great bargain for your entertainment dollar.

 

[Babble]

At least nothing you must have

 

[popps]

EA did not put a gun to their head and force them to keep their account active. They're lucky they get anything.

Rewarding consumers' loyalty to a given product or a brand is a common business practise.

There are marketing studies and money spent on studying how to earn and maintain consumers' loyalty to one's own product or brand.

That's one of the tools used by companies to survive business competition.

So, at least as I see it, it is not much of a gift from a Company's perspective but an "investment" to cherish and maintain one's own customer's loyalty so as not to have them migrate to competitors.

Of course, the longer the loyalty time the higher are the consumer's expectations that the Company has to meet.

But, at least to my opinion, loyalty rewarding is no freebie......

 

[Apetul]

The real reward is:

UO is still Online



Please stop whining about everything guys.

 

[Coppelia]

$2000 for 13 years multiplied by hours played a year, that's pretty uncompetitive for other hobbies requiring service from a staff. Have you tried converting a tenth of these hours of play into movie theater places? Golf courses? 8ball games?

Let's face it, devs don't know what to give you, because the veteran reward system in its current form is wonky and exhausted. If we had a pool of rewards and each year you would get a number of tickets equal to the number of years you subscribed, it would still work year after year without searching for twisted rewards from nowhere. They could add rewards to the pool from time to time, nobody would be frustrated not to be able to get that deco item before 10 years.
Even the +total skill points the first years is unfair. It's not a reward if it's a requirement.

 

[Radugast]

I have been asking them to give veterans an extra house per 6 years of loyalty that would function passively. There are already a few old veteran accounts out there with more than one house on them (pretrammel). Why not balance things out and give newer generations the chance to get extra houses and give the veterans with multiple houses a chance to resize or replace those little 7x7's. This would be a passive function and wouldnt have to be activated through the point system, I think this would really give people an incentive to continue subscribing for years.

 

[Jhym]

*shrug*

I somewhat agree -- only in the sense that the upper level awards tend to be slightly disappointing and more "status" than anything else.

I don't want something that makes me super special, but it should be something that I value (and perhaps others value.)

I tend to prefer things that both give you status and that tend to guide you into DOING something (like helping others/causing trouble.) Perhaps things that give you ways to start quests for folks, or help out those that are "younger" than you. Not just ways to make more money. Perhaps an "aura" that you get from a special bracelet or hat that improves skill gains or luck for others.

A new mount tends to be... blah. But whatever, people will complain either way and on all sides on this board.

 

[Smoot]

Pft everyone should be happy. I love getting new mounts. Yeah i guess if you complain about a mount... you must still be riding a horse from the pet shop guy. My one account just turned 7 years... i get a cannon that can only shoot blanks, and, a tree stump, not even the whole tree. 6th-8th year is a pretty sorry gap, i wish every year came with a new mount. I hope 14th year is a mongbat that i can ride.

 

[Xalan Dementia]

well lets look back at house teleporters, they add them as higher vet rewards and the crys began. So they make rechargeable versions theyll sell you. So even if they made the 13th year items truly desirable then the devs have to listen to the crying of people who will never have an account that old.

Vet rewards are perks, the devs have no requirement to give us anything for playing another year. If its somethin youll use then great! if its lame then choose another reward. Honestly Id like to see them spend thier developing time working on stuff thats broke or already in game, not adding new stuff thatll prolly just break even more code.

 

[Metalstorm]

I'm holding out for an ethereal orc ship

Seriously though, Popps has a good point. We know nothing yet about the armored boura except that it is a mount.

Maybe it has special bonuses and maybe it's just another normal mount.
Until it arrives it's all speculation.

Either way, I'm just happy and grateful that UO is still alive & kicking.
I don't have the time or means to play a bunch of different games. I can choose only one and I hope that UO stays around for a very long time because the others out there just don't intrigue me the way UO does.

So every year UO stays active is a reward in it's self

 

[G.v.P]

Mounts in the game are already plentiful. They didn't come up with something new. It is a creature already in the game so all they did are some small modifications with very little thought / effort on their part.

If you've never animated something before you ought to try your hand at animation before you belittle the introduction of a new rideable, even if the base graphic has been drawn already. Very tedious process.

As for the repetition of Holiday content, well, I'm not sure other stuff would fit. I wouldn't, for example, expect to get an Ostrich for Thanksgiving, plus there are always different things for each Christmas/December Holiday. It's fine to complain, but you don't offer any ideas for different content, either.

 

[Tjalle]

If I had a 13 year old account I would love to have a rideable Boura!

 

[Harlequin]

Multiple the subs costs by 5 or more for some who have multiple accounts.

I would have loved a ridable drake or dragon more, but will still claim at least 1 boura for my avatar that's named after a starwars character. Probably will imbue a set of platemail and dye it white. Stormtrooper!

As to Poop's suggestions, 0 slot mount might be a bad idea considering the problems with GDs. Damage reduction, not that bad, but should be based on paraoxy's swampy's 10(12?)% rather than gm barding's 20%.


Btw, for the ridable polar bears, are they going to revert to the non-dirty version?

After the publish that added a toggle to make ethereals look real, if you dismount/remount from your polar bear, it turns to a dirtier version.

If you have never gotten off it, it still looks clean.

There's also an additional problem with polar bear mounts, whenever you mount it, other people can see the words "polar bear" on their screen and in the journal (could be due to UOA). Unlike other ethereals, it gives away my stealther's presence. So I had to revert back to using a traditional ethereal mount for my stealthers.

Both are just minor issues though.

 

[SDA1A]

The real reward is:

UO is still Online



Please stop whining about everything guys.

This...........i couldn't agree more

 

[G.v.P]

Ah made a 13-yr vet reward sig while we wait to see what the bouras actually look like ;P.

 

[Shelra]

Well done Lyc! Do you take orders? ;p

Be part of the solution instead of the problem.

 

[Goodmann]

Best Rewards yet1 Great Job Dev Team. Metal dye tub is sick

 

[WildWobble]

the vet system should be redone. It is a joke!

 

[Sevin0oo0]

maybe they're gonna make a change and consider the strength of your mount to help determine 'push-thru' ?

 

[Uvtha]

If the armored boura is actually armored ala paroxy's swamp dragon, but in the same form as an ethy... thats completely a worthy 13 year gift. It would be super useful, especially for my sampire.

I for one actually like bouras. I always wanted a rideable one, but if its JUST a mount, its kinda disappointing.

 

[Lord Chaos]

You are not FORCED to select the 13 year reward, you can select any of the other new rewards too.

Its counterproductive for the dev team to release powerful items as high end vet rewards, because new players will never really be able to get them. Who will continue playing if your reward only will come after 13 years?

 

[KoolAidAddict]

You are not FORCED to select the 13 year reward, you can select any of the other new rewards too.

Its counterproductive for the dev team to release powerful items as high end vet rewards, because new players will never really be able to get them. Who will continue playing if your reward only will come after 13 years?

Who will?
I did!!
Im sure Im not the only one either!
They release 13th year vet rewards as a thank you for staying with UO for 13 years.
Want one?
Wait your time like I did.
PS....house teleporters ring a high end newbie able to use bell ?

 

[hawkeye_pike]

So $1,852.05 = Armored Boura!!!

This is a very naive assessment.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

"What if" the Developers will surprise us making this 13th Year Veteran Reward mount a "0" followers mount ? That would change the opinion on the worthiness of this long time loyal account reward, wouldn't it ?

This will never happen because it would unbalance the tamer PVPers greatly.

 

[Lord Chaos]

Who will?
I did!!

No, you didn't. It didn't exist back then at all.

Besides, again, just select one of the other new rewards if you don't want the armored boura. At least you have a new reward slot to select with.

 

[a slave girl]

Anyone seen the MSNBC documentary Talhotblonde?

2 guys and a girl meet on one of EA'a other gaming websites, Pogo.com. They engage in online romance, the 2 guys one in his 20s one in his 40s work together in real life, the girl is a beautiful 17 year old living in the backwoods.

Old guy lies to her and says hes 18 irl, long story short old guy shoots his young guy coworker in the head over the young girl, who turns out to be the young girls middle age mom irl, never was a young girl at all. It airs again this Sunday night at 10 pm Eastern on MSNBC I think I read.

The reason I mention this real life event is that UO has some people who have been playing since they were 11 and are now 24 and they are still playing UO every Friday and Saturday night.

In my opinion that is unnatural and certainly shouldn't be rewarded.

I personally would give all 10+ year UO vets a lifetime account to Warhammer and a perma ban from UO, rather than new vet rewards for them to pancake and moan about.

People who have been in UO too long sometimes pick on others who have been ingame for lesser periods of time.

Newer players are less knowledgeable about UO and can be easy targets for Jaded UO vets.

People who have seen it all and done it all amusing themselves at newer player's expense isn't good for the game.

UO vets also know all the exploits and tend to use them.

Some UO vets are gold sellers who know all the exploits and use them, among other illegal ingame ways to make money in real life.

I vote we give 10+ year UO vets a nice swift perma kick from UO with a dirty old steel-toe boot.

 

[Kas Althume]

I like the idea of a second house

The second house must be 7x7, the first can be any size. There are so many cool spots out there but arnt taken, because of the lockdown limits a 7x7 has. I miss the look of my 7x7 brick house back from '99.

 

[popps]

"What if" the Developers will surprise us making this 13th Year Veteran Reward mount a "0" followers mount ? That would change the opinion on the worthiness of this long time loyal account reward, wouldn't it ?

This will never happen because it would unbalance the tamer PVPers greatly.

I don't know about that. I mean, I do not know the statistics, but how many accounts can really claim to have been active throughout all of the 13 years that Ultima Online has been in existance ? Perhaps 1% ? Or maybe 2% ?

We are probably talking about really a handfull of accounts which perhaps are not even online every single day.

Therefore, if a "0" followers' slot mount was released as a 13th Years Veteran Reward and not be tradeable, but only usable by the account that claimed it (though any and all characters of that account will be able to use it....) chances are that we'd see them in the game only seldomly and rarely.

Most likely not so much to really be that big of a deal or of an unbalance.

 

[G.v.P]

long story short old guy shoots his young guy coworker in the head over the young girl, who turns out to be the young girls middle age mom irl

Best long story short ever, lol.

In my opinion that is unnatural and certainly shouldn't be rewarded.

That's what she said.

 

[popps]

If the armored boura is actually armored ala paroxy's swamp dragon, but in the same form as an ethy... thats completely a worthy 13 year gift. It would be super useful, especially for my sampire.

Well, as I see it, it will all depend on how much defense protection it will grant to the owner.

Let's not forget that we are talking about players having to make a choice to burn a 13th Year Veteran reward pick.......

"If" the armored boura will grant a defensive protection that is lower, equal or only slightly superior to that of a Swamp Dragon, chances are that players will not burn their 13th Year Veteran Reward Pick and keep using the Swamp Dragons instead and save that pick for the future, for something more worth to pick.....

This will effectively make the Developers' work go pretty much wasted, IMHO.

Nope, in order to make it meaningfull and worthy for players to burn that 13th Year Veteran Reward pick, the defense bonus granted by the armored Boura should be considerably better than any Swamp Dragon that players could use.

That's how I see it.

 

[popps]

Who will continue playing if your reward only will come after 13 years?

I disagree.

The Veteran Reward Program has rewards for all years, moreless.

We do not have to see a 1st Year player looking at a 13th Year Vet Reward and feel it as a far, unreachable goal, but at a 1st Year new player looking at 2nd Year Veteran Rewards choices as definately a reachable goal for them (or a 4th Year Player looking at 5th year Vet choices... and so forth).

The Vet Reward gift selection, in order to really work as an incentive to players to help convince them to maintain their accounts as active should work in "steps" of 1 year per step (as it is....).

That is, every year should have something nice, appealing and worth wanting for players so that they will be helped to convince themselves also by the veteran reward choices of the year next to theirs, to maintain their account as active thus helping Ultima Online to better secure its revenues.

So, it can help motivate customers but it all depends on how it is well assorted, IMHO.

And, definately, as I see it, the higher the year the more appealing and worthy to have should be the Reward choices.

 

[Metalstorm]

If the armored boura gives same protection as a swamp dragon I will definitely pick it.

Protection equal to a swap dragon with out the need of barding and with out the worry of getting it killed in battle sounds great to me.

My sampire (I prefer the term 'Alive challenged samurai' ) is my only char that uses the swap dragon and I'd like to find a better alternative. They look cool naked in the EC but once armored they lack a certain style. This Bora may be a good compromise.

If it's just a rideable like the rest, with out any uniqueness other than looks I'll will choose differently because even after all these years my preferred ridable is still the horse, ethereal and/or real so there'd be no point to it.

 

[popps]

If the armored boura gives same protection as a swamp dragon I will definitely pick it.

Protection equal to a swap dragon with out the need of barding and with out the worry of getting it killed in battle sounds great to me.

Bah, how many players with acounts eligible to claim a 13th Year Veteran Reward will agree with you ?

I mean, with a bonded Swamp Dragon how hard is it to get it ressed now that even NPCs at stables can res them ?

And if one has a crafter making a stock of barding to grab on the fly ain't much of a big deal.

I mean, the convenience to have a Boura Mount that does not need be ressed or use barding really outdoes the burning of a 13th veteran Reward pick ?

Not sure how many will agree with that and, if the defense bonus equals that of the Swamp Dragon or is only marginally better, I think many will just save up their 13th year veteran reward pick and keep using Swamp Dragons.......

 

[Harlequin]

Bah, how many players with acounts eligible to claim a 13th Year Veteran Reward will agree with you ?

I mean, with a bonded Swamp Dragon how hard is it to get it ressed now that even NPCs at stables can res them ?

And if one has a crafter making a stock of barding to grab on the fly ain't much of a big deal.

I mean, the convenience to have a Boura Mount that does not need be ressed or use barding really outdoes the burning of a 13th veteran Reward pick ?

Not sure how many will agree with that and, if the defense bonus equals that of the Swamp Dragon or is only marginally better, I think many will just save up their 13th year veteran reward pick and keep using Swamp Dragons.......

Don't really want to sabotage your efforts here, but I would would pick it. The reason I don't think it should give as much as GM barding is because I think something that takes resources to make and can wear out should give more benefit.

Remember, paroxy swampy's barding will never wear out. And unlike an ethereal boura, cannot be turned back into a figurine. The latter is very nice for my stealthers.

Not to mention the most impt point, I have a smith vendor that sells barding

So it's not just about how easily barding can be replaced, it's about losing some of my customer base. You have to consider the impact to merchants too.

 

[Uvtha]

Bah, how many players with acounts eligible to claim a 13th Year Veteran Reward will agree with you ?

I would. I wont hit 13 till feb, but if its like the paroxysmus swampy in armor, but ethy in use, I would absolutely pick one.

My sampire dies... a lot. Each time he dies, if he rides a mount, it dies as well. So I have to run all the way back to town from where ever I am and get it ressed, then run back. Its a pain, so much so I don't use live mounts anymore.

So you can bet I would pick this thing easy choice. I don't know how many other old timers are out there, but I'd guess a fair amount would agree. The idea is very appealing especially to those of us who solo most of the time.

 

[popps]

The reason I don't think it should give as much as GM barding is because I think something that takes resources to make and can wear out should give more benefit.

I do not think that something that a fresh brand new player can get in the game should be even remotely comparable to a Reward to the loyalty for an account that has been kept as active for so many years. If this happened, I would see this as a slap in the face of the Veteran and a hint that being loyal to the game, over the years, is not valued much when anyone can pretty much get the same thing or even something better just by paying 1 month of subscription.....

Not to mention the most impt point, I have a smith vendor that sells barding

So it's not just about how easily barding can be replaced, it's about losing some of my customer base. You have to consider the impact to merchants too.

You really expect that there are that many 13 years active Veteran Accounts and that all of them will get the armored Boura and, moreso, you also think that someone who has been playing for that long still does not have already a paroxy Swamp Dragon or has a crafter to make one's own barding ?

I do not think that it would make even a dent into current merchants business for dragon barding.....

 

[popps]

I would. I wont hit 13 till feb, but if its like the paroxysmus swampy in armor, but ethy in use, I would absolutely pick one.

My sampire dies... a lot. Each time he dies, if he rides a mount, it dies as well. So I have to run all the way back to town from where ever I am and get it ressed, then run back. Its a pain, so much so I don't use live mounts anymore.

So you can bet I would pick this thing easy choice. I don't know how many other old timers are out there, but I'd guess a fair amount would agree. The idea is very appealing especially to those of us who solo most of the time.

I guess it all depends on the defense bonus. I mean, already a regular Swamp Dragon outdoes a Paroxi one 20% to 12% (if the barding is exceptional...).
Sure, with the paroxi ones saves up a few gold coins for replacing the barding but that comes at the expense of renouncing to almost 50% of the defence bonus (down from 20% to only 12%....).

If the armored Boura has low defense bonus then I think that it will be less likely wanted as a pick and not worth the burning of such a high end Veteran Reward since all it will do is ease the burden of having to res the mount but that handiness might be too costly for players to want to bear with it.

 

[Coppelia]

People who have been in UO too long sometimes pick on others who have been ingame for lesser periods of time.

Newer players are less knowledgeable about UO and can be easy targets for Jaded UO vets.

People who have seen it all and done it all amusing themselves at newer player's expense isn't good for the game.

That's why players should be rewarded for bringing true new players and not for rooting (or rotting) for years with several accounts.

 

[Harlequin]

I do not think that something that a fresh brand new player can get in the game should be even remotely comparable to a Reward to the loyalty for an account that has been kept as active for so many years. If this happened, I would see this as a slap in the face of the Veteran and a hint that being loyal to the game, over the years, is not valued much when anyone can pretty much get the same thing or even something better just by paying 1 month of subscription.....

Whatever happened to the popps that always stood on the side of new players, who championed the causes where he says never should new players be denied advantages that veteran players had?

What happened to fairness, balance and closing the gaps between the haves and have nots?

Consider your arguments of asking for a summonable mount that performs better than any summonable mount that new players won't be able to get for 13 years. Because you are asking for something you have fought against.

You really expect that there are that many 13 years active Veteran Accounts and that all of them will get the armored Boura and, moreso, you also think that someone who has been playing for that long still does not have already a paroxy Swamp Dragon or has a crafter to make one's own barding ?

I do not think that it would make even a dent into current merchants business for dragon barding.....

I can't speak for others, but at least 5. I never had a paroxy swampy. None of my 5 accounts have a paroxy swampy.

Granted, I do make my own barding, so it might not make much of a dent as you said, but vets are normally the folks with multiple accounts that abhor mining and use their time to farm for the gold, faster to just farm gold to buy the barding.

I'm weird because I actually like mining...

 

[Babble]

Definitely weird

 

[jradar71]

So... the rewards now have hit Origin and you have all had the opportunity to see that the boura mount has no special abilities or enhancement to help the player. I will admit that the mount looks nice, but not 13 year vet nice. Oh... and yes it was the only reward.

There was a part of me that was hoping something new would come up. Maybe something the devs was leaving out that would make me eat my words. Didn't happen!

My point that I was trying to make in the OP is that there is a serious lack of effort these days. As someone had mentioned earlier even the Turkeys from this year's Thanksgiving still drop the bottles labeled 2009. LMAO

I will agree that 12.95 a month is a great price for the amount of time put into this hobby compared to others. For those of you that made that argument I say this "There are lots of MMOs out there these days that charge similar prices. But you don't find many that show this level of laziness." Bottles still being labeled 2009 is not a bug... it shows the unwillingness to care and the same lack luster performance displayed in their live meeting.

This is a great game and has been labeled the grandfather of MMO. I wish they would at least attempt to climb back into the rankings. I look for the effort that says "yes... 13 year veterans we thank you for your unwavering support" or that we hear your complaints and promise to do better. Sadly it only appears as though they are spinning their wheels along making what money they can until the plug gets pulled.