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EM Event Drops

Should they change the way drops work?

  • Top 10 - 20 damagers should get a drop

    Votes: 8 10.4%
  • Leave it random

    Votes: 49 63.6%
  • Other (explain)

    Votes: 20 26.0%

  • Total voters
    77
  • Poll closed .

THP

Always Present
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Reading all the posts its obvoius to see as many players are happy as players that are unhappy...So its obvoius there needs to be a major system change to balance things out....in my mind....i know mesanna said they were working on a home shard bonus.....something along the lines were u have to swear a shard alliagence .....to a home shard .....but its gonna have to be be like 40-50% better chance to even the field and keep the home shard players happy and interested in the events instead of being driven away all the time
 

Flutter

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I'm not asking for a ride. I'm criticizing the lopsided access to a game mechanic that, by the assertion of yourself and many other cross-sharders, has become a fundamental part of the game. I am pointing out that this is problematic and increases the friction and hostilities between cross-sharders and home sharders.

And for the record, if I do want a ride, I know where to go. I just got some stuff moved a few days ago in fact. Not the point. One chunk of the population shouldn't have to either spend a lot of money (whether it be real money or in game gold) or rely on the charity (and trustworthiness) of the other chunk of the population to access what the latter group keeps insisting is a fundamental part of the game now.

If it's not a big deal, why did everyone with shields blow a gasket when they changed them briefly a while back? It is absurd to insist that limited access for some people isn't a problem after everyone lost their minds when access was suddenly more limited for everyone.



I don't know what events you've been going to, but that's hilariously inaccurate for my shard. I guess I need to start recording events and posting transcripts. I think that would be VERY telling, especially with a glossary of which character represented which Stratics poster.



Again, not the point, and not a reasonable comparison. A title is a vanity item that you only have to buy once. By your own assertion, cross-shard travel is a basic part of gameplay, and the reality is that it is used quite frequently by those who can. A more apt comparison would be if only certain players could include their vendors on the vendor search. What, you could just get your friend to put your stuff on his vendor, right? There are plenty of great people who would happily run your vendor for you for free or maybe a small fee! It's not really that much of an advantage anyway! Heck, I know a guy who has seventeen vendors and never uses them!



This seeming offer of friendship rings a bit empty since I'm already on your ICQ list and I send you event reminder messages frequently... and in fact sent you one just a few hours before you posted your reply here to me. o_O I know you get them because you replied once... to complain about my shard EMs.

I mean, seriously? Is that your idea of being nice to people... completely forgetting they are in regular contact with you? (Unless they can move stuff for you, I guess.)

Yeah, not feeling very familial here.
Yes I know who you are. That was kind-of my point. Instead of being angry and feeling excluded and bitter you have enough people on your list that you can choose to be happy and have fun. The chunk of the population you speak of isn't as big as you imagine. Most of us know each other, and it's quite easy to find out who the "trustworthy" people are by simply chatting with friends on your list who know.
People "blew a gasket" when they changed them a while back because for many of us cross shard players it is a playstyle we choose. I know someone who occasionally will go to an Asain shard to do idocs. I know one of my friends found friendship and fun on a trip to Drachenfels and now that's his "primary" shard. I know people who transfer a character to Oceania for fun events. Would you like characters on certain shards? I'd be happy to transfer soul stones with skills on them and whatever else you'd need to play (ie: suits scrolls etc) I have done this several times for shards I don't have shields for.
Instead of complaining about it and being unhappy why aren't folks just doing what I do and catch a ride with someone. It's almost as if people would rather complain.
I've been on Chessy for almost every event. I don't try to hide who I am on any shard. In fact I have made my guild [Flut] on most shards and my guild title "I am" so people will know it's me! Aside from some complaints at how very long the events are I hear (see) very little complaining on your shard. I usually like to role play along with the EMs. When it gets into hours of the EMs role playing back and forth to each other however yes people start to get restless and complain. But that subject is for another thread entirely.
If you want to do what the xshard crowd does it isn't very hard. It doesn't take much. Again my ICQ is 95129146. Folks can even PM me here. Presently I have so many GL tokens (I hardly ever use them) I could transfer a whole bunch of times! GL is really fun for events and is the shard I suggest everyone start on for xsharding EM events.
 

The Craftsman

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Whilst shard mergers would = more active shards, its the thin end of the wedge. If it ever happens then the end is nigh.

However UO doesnt need shard mergers, it needs more players. Only F2P can save UO and give it a long term future.
 

SpyderBite

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
how about just no drops?
I suggested this during the "gimme!" spamming era back in 2002-2004.

Didn't go over so well unfortunately.

Now during insta-drops that people demanded based on stats; people are still crying. No matter what system is implemented it will always be vulnerable to people who can take advantage of it because it is being introduced with 20 year old code.

If you want fair; play a newer game with more advanced programming. But don't complain about fairness in a game that any kid with access to Google can exploit.
 

SpyderBite

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Whilst shard mergers would = more active shards, its the thin end of the wedge. If it ever happens then the end is nigh.

However UO doesnt need shard mergers, it needs more players. Only F2P can save UO and give it a long term future.
With custom housing, merging servers is not an option. They shot themselves in the foot when it was implemented unlike eq2 who saw the error and introduced instanced housing/guild halls instead.

Regardless, f2p is the obvious route for uo to go. However EA/broadsword seems content to milk the drones who pay $14/month to keep their virtual homes from dropping. And I don't blame them.

On a side note. I can log in to any game with instanced housing 10 years or more after playing and my home is just as I left it without paying a dime. Funny how that works.
 

Speranza

Slightly Crazed
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I suggested this during the "gimme!" spamming era back in 2002-2004.

Didn't go over so well unfortunately.

Now during insta-drops that people demanded based on stats; people are still crying. No matter what system is implemented it will always be vulnerable to people who can take advantage of it because it is being introduced with 20 year old code.

If you want fair; play a newer game with more advanced programming. But don't complain about fairness in a game that any kid with access to Google can exploit.
I would happily continue going to EM events even if there were no drops, but I fully recognize that the drop is a major draw for a good portion of the people that attend. I'm not convinced that this is a good or bad thing yet. I just know that I do several player run events that are advertised outside of my circle of friends and nobody shows up unless there are big rewards announced. *shrug*
 

MalagAste

Belaern d'Zhaunil
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I would happily continue going to EM events even if there were no drops, but I fully recognize that the drop is a major draw for a good portion of the people that attend. I'm not convinced that this is a good or bad thing yet. I just know that I do several player run events that are advertised outside of my circle of friends and nobody shows up unless there are big rewards announced. *shrug*
I too would attend if they never gave a drop at all. Infact in the beginning when they returned they said there wouldn't be any..... Now there all all too often IMO. And I agree no one shows to a player run event if you don't advertise big huge prizes.

Greed IMO is killing this game.
 

SpyderBite

Lore Master
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Meh. Events in other games such as gw2 are fair and ai driven. Of course that's unfair cause it's based on a game based on 20 12 technology.

Not a lot you can do to improve the fairness of technlogy from 1997 except make it free to play or keep taking your money and laughing at your posts.
 

Goldberg-Chessy

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
yeah I agree Atlantic and Yamoto are to big we need to do away with the shards and let them find a new home.

Why don't you leave the little shards alone! I like my shard as it is.
Honestly the little shards are SO much better then the big shards.
I don't know why anyone plays on the big shards

Thank you
Yeah...
Why would anyone want to start playing or continue playing a MMORPG with a minimum of a few other players present?
Your soloist/dead shard mentality can only mean great things for the future of the game, thanks!
 

Goldberg-Chessy

Crazed Zealot
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Stratics Legend
45M is not measly to many players.

I'm well aware that people will shuttle things for cheap or free, and that you can probably buy a token on Atlantic with game gold. That's not the point. The point is that the fact that some players have to pay and some don't represents a serious access disparity that contradicts the privileged assertion that we are all one big uni-shard now. We're not. The walls aren't gone just become some people have ladders.
Uh oh.
The have nots have spoken.
45 million is a very easily obtained amount of gold for anyone that has been playing long enough to seriously need or want a shard transfer.
There is no access disparity as far as shard transfers are concerned.
There is only petty jealousy or foolish liberalism that has no place in the virtual world except on forums populated by hopeless addicts (myself included)
*shakes head*
 

Speranza

Slightly Crazed
Alumni
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Uh oh.
The have nots have spoken.
45 million is a very easily obtained amount of gold for anyone that has been playing long enough to seriously need or want a shard transfer.
There is no access disparity as far as shard transfers are concerned.
There is only petty jealousy or foolish liberalism that has no place in the virtual world except on forums populated by hopeless addicts (myself included)
*shakes head*
News Flash: Not everyone plays the game like you do.
 

Ox_AO

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Yeah...
Why would anyone want to start playing or continue playing a MMORPG with a minimum of a few other players present?
Same reason why small towns are quite where everyone knows each other.
It's nice.

I like the way the shard I play on has turned out.
 

THP

Always Present
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
News Flash: Not everyone plays the game like you do.
Indeed that is the void of the problem...everyone may play different... but the main balls of the em events is 2 mainly fold....

1 .the shard casual players that on quieter shards kinda know whos who...like to do there shard events when they are free but normally end up disappointed on no drop and having to then buy it from the ''mother shard atlantic'' and transfer it back to there home shard...

2. and the elite collectors that want to get all drops/all shards/ all events and /sell / sell /sell....

my thoughts... okies...great thread guys and gals btw....great thread....keep it coming...
 

Goldberg-Chessy

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
News Flash: Not everyone plays the game like you do.
You are correct.
That is why there are a multitude of quick and easy ways to earn 45 million gold if you need a shard transfer.
What is your point again?
Or is it some nonsensical new player nonsense that has no bearing?
The first month I started playing UO 16 years ago I did not own the equivalent of 45 million in todays market. So what?
The topic at hand was shard xfers. You really should use facts or examples when you try to make a point darling. It goes a long way
 

Speranza

Slightly Crazed
Alumni
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Stratics Legend
You are correct.
That is why there are a multitude of quick and easy ways to earn 45 million gold if you need a shard transfer.
What is your point again?
Or is it some nonsensical new player nonsense that has no bearing?
The first month I started playing UO 16 years ago I did not own the equivalent of 45 million in todays market. So what?
The topic at hand was shard xfers. You really should use facts or examples when you try to make a point darling. It goes a long way
You too, "Darling"
 

THP

Always Present
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Stratics Legend
bump!! any news devs on the new homeshard changes yet??
 

THP

Always Present
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Stratics Legend
You expected that to happen this soon?....That's cute.
Well ive no idea how long theve been tinkering with this.....they certainly didnt go to town for valantines LOLZ...we can all see that.....AND yes the sooner the better of course
 

Smoot

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
bump!! any news devs on the new homeshard changes yet??
i was at the meeting where this was touched upon. if i were you, i would make it clear to mesnna that an "xsharder" (pardon the slur) is not a character that transfers around from shard to shard doing events. from what she said at the meeting, it looked like she thought xsharders actually transferred and was going to see if a required length of time could be added after a transfer.

honestly, do yourself a favor and make some archers. tho it would be nice for the oldschool idea of a homeshard, i highly doubt this is actually a thing but rather just something mesanna said. Mesanna says ALOT of things ;) I think it was this same meeting she said they were looking into the mulibox problem, and then the next said it would be too hard to enforce that portion of the rules of conduct.
 

THP

Always Present
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Stratics Legend
U getting worried??? pretty sure it will be easy for us all to proclaim a home shard for each account!!.... and get the advantage form doing so...

I curent run 2 accounts so would proclaim europa and one other...maybe hokuto or chessy...not sure...

;)
 

Smoot

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
U getting worried??? pretty sure it will be easy for us all to proclaim a home shard for each account!!.... and get the advantage form doing so...

I curent run 2 accounts so would proclaim europa and one other...maybe hokuto or chessy...not sure...

;)
why would i be worried... i also play 2 accounts, and am not really concerned about it. i attend EM events for fun, alot of them, but dont really care to compete with the multiboxers running many accounts for best chance at drops. if i did, id invest the time/$$ to have the best chances. but i dont. im not putting that much time into a game. if it isnt fun anymore ill just stop playing. any changes i would embrace. not sure what shard i would choose, honestly id probably just go with the one with the storyline i like best.

really tho, if your actually interested in this being a viable change, i would draw out a plan and email mesanna directly. i dont think she would even know how / what to implement at this time given her misconceptions about what a character referred to as an "xsharder" actually even is. she thinks it has soemthing to do with transferring.
 

THP

Always Present
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Stratics Legend
why would i be worried... i also play 2 accounts, and am not really concerned about it. i attend EM events for fun, alot of them, but dont really care to compete with the multiboxers running many accounts for best chance at drops. if i did, id invest the time/$$ to have the best chances. but i dont. im not putting that much time into a game. if it isnt fun anymore ill just stop playing. any changes i would embrace. not sure what shard i would choose, honestly id probably just go with the one with the storyline i like best.

really tho, if your actually interested in this being a viable change, i would draw out a plan and email mesanna directly. i dont think she would even know how / what to implement at this time given her misconceptions about what a character referred to as an "xsharder" actually even is. she thinks it has soemthing to do with transferring.
i did email mesanna direct and she responded direct with the news they are working on the above...i resent my own thoughts how it could be achieved aka ....via the proclamation of a home shard per account... and that homeshard players should have at least a 30-40 even 50% chance of getting a drop at there home event to others [not that shard] players....Then the same advantage would be enjoyed by the [ others]....when they play there own home shard...Very simple concept indeed!!;)
 
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Smoot

Stratics Legend
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Stratics Legend
i did email mesanna direct and she responded direct with the news they are working on the above...i resent my own thoughts how it could be achieved aka ....via the proclamation of a home shard per account... and that homeshard players should have at least a 30-40 even 50% chance of getting a drop at there home event to others [not that shard] players....Then the same advantage would be enjoyed by the [ others]....when they play there own home shard...Very simple concept indeed!!;)
i dont think 50% would be high enough. considering the chances for a 20 drop w/100 players at an event is 20 percent, a 50 percent increase would still be 30 percent. only one third greater than it is now. i suppose it would be a decent balance, a small buff to homeshard declaration players. if it were easy to code sure why not, however if that were easy to code, i would also like to see a code change to give fully trained characters some benefit over insta-make looting rights only characters.
 

Merlin

The Enchanter
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i dont think 50% would be high enough. considering the chances for a 20 drop w/100 players at an event is 20 percent, a 50 percent increase would still be 30 percent. only one third greater than it is now. i suppose it would be a decent balance, a small buff to homeshard declaration players. if it were easy to code sure why not, however if that were easy to code, i would also like to see a code change to give fully trained characters some benefit over insta-make looting rights only characters.
50% is too high. Lower it to 25-30%. They should only do drops every 4th or 5th event and keep the 20 item drop, or lower it to 10 total drops.
 

Engel

Visitor
Stratics Veteran
For my part a drop for all is the best ! I'm so sad for all the new players presently the system give more chances for the olds and rich players . I got my part of drop and i prefer to see all happy !

sorry for my English .
 

Herman

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UNLEASHED
i dont think 50% would be high enough. considering the chances for a 20 drop w/100 players at an event is 20 percent, a 50 percent increase would still be 30 percent. only one third greater than it is now. i suppose it would be a decent balance, a small buff to homeshard declaration players. if it were easy to code sure why not, however if that were easy to code, i would also like to see a code change to give fully trained characters some benefit over insta-make looting rights only characters.
I think if the number of items is constant and you increase the chance to get a dropp for some all others chance have to go down it is just like adding in more people for them

It can become a big different fast for ex if there are 20 dropps and 50 out of 100 is home sharders with a 40% chance to get a dropp everybody else have 0% chance to get a dropp

So a 50% increase for home sharders is a bit on the high side
 

Alex"Drake Iron Heart"CS

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
I am against people taking multi accounts to events, But the problem here, is not people having 2-3 accs at the Em Event, its the programmes used to keep them chars alive. Every paid Acc had the right to be anywhere, so for instance , you can have 20 accs active at one given time, but you cant run the clients unattended, but that dosnt mean you can host a party in your house and have 20 accs active.

Please clarify if I am right or wrong? Just some food for thought
 

THP

Always Present
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
even if it was 100% better chance.....like above figures 20 drop and 100 folks is a 20% chance of a drop.....so that would make it 40% chance of a drop for hommmies.....it would even itself out... as that homeshard players will have 40% better chance on the home shard but then likewise 40% less chance on a different shard they donr call there home...
 

Dethsius

Adventurer
Stratics Veteran
Here is my problem...

I play on Pacific. We have an event going on here shortly. I stopped going to them! Why?.... Well, let me explain.

Problem 1

I play every other week, for a full week at a time (yeah I have no life) and around probably 12 hours a day at no set time starting and ending. I have a lot of friends on this shard and in probably one of the most active and largest guild on Pacific. I see a handfull of people outside my guild on a daily basis. JUST a handful. Pacific isn't much of a player active shard, but it's not the most dead either. Yet, the people I see on pacific on a daily basis are NOT the majority people seen at events. This is the first problem I have. Out of say 15-20 people in our guild alone who play almost daily, there might be 3 people who go to these events, and maybe 2-3 people from our alliance. Most of the people I see at events are people I NEVER see playing on pacific.

Problem 2

I have two pure role toons. What i mean is, I have 2 toons who's skills are capped and are very decent and high damaging roles that are not gimped. The problem with me going to these events is simple. I'm NOT a TAMER! When you go to these events, you will see a mass of people (see Problem 1). So many that the fights are laggy as hell, with a really nice rig and an 18meg connection. Not only that, but you have to Ctrl Shift just to see the boss or mob beneath a SEA of dragons!! You realise how much more laggy it becomes when you have to do this just to see a boss's name so you have at least a target? What happens is, the screen freezes up for 10-20 seconds because it has my CPU working overtime trying to get all the names up on the screen. And even if you're lucky enough to be able to get past the lag issue, you have a hell of a time trying to see the name aside from every blasted dragon and person in one tight ball of death. That's another problem in itself.

Problem 3

With so many people, who dont even play your shard, and so many tamers/dragons, the chances of you being able to target and do damage to the mob is nearly impossible.. Even if I DID have a tamer. Tamers simply send their pets to do their damage while people like me who have no pets, have to get up close and personal to a boss who will kill you in one hit/special move. So it's OooOOOOooOOooOo then run like hell to find a healer, or someone to heal, which these people who dont play your shard know, if you're dead, more loot for them, so no rez. Then if you can get a rez.... Here comes the next special move from the boss and you're dead again. Aside from that, you have hell finding your body. If you can find your body... Guess what??? It's next to the boss where you died before and then suddenly.... OoooOOooOOooO all over again. I walked out of an event with one boss I didn't even get to touch because I couldn't find him in a sea of people, with over 20 death robes. That was due to a healer being so close to the damn mob in the first place, but at least I had a rez. Just instant constant death and no way to heal because my bandages were on the first body lost in a sea of dead bodies, dragons and people.

Problem 4

I've done so many events in the last year and I've not gotten one bloody drop.. EVER. You would say I suck... I say it's unfair. I've gotten to beat on these boss mobs a bit, but I can't compare with someone who has 6 accounts and 6 dragons. Random you say? I say total BS. Why? Because... Oddly enough, ALWAYS the same people are in chat bragging about the drop they just got. ALWAYS THE SAME people. One of which thinks she's the gods gift to the shard and is a governor, yet acts more like a 16 year old child in heat on chat all day and night long. Somehow, she ends up with a house full of event items that she brags about constantly. How is this possible? I say she's shmoozin with the GM.

Problem 5

Hey, I'm all about people from other countries, other ethnic groups and what not, but how is it fun when you cant even understand what the GM is saying half the time? When he takes on the role of one of the main characters in the event, you can't understand anything he says because the english is so broken it's just silly. For some reason events are always seeming to be lead by governors which is ok by me, but when you put a "look at me" person running around, barking rules at the common folk, it gets just a little too pathetic for my taste. With the exception of a couple, most of the governors are asses to people who are around them daily, yet they some how get the votes to fill those roles, when everyone I know distance themselves from those same people. Who are voting for these people?

Final Problem

It's pointless to go "eventing" when all you get out of it are piles of death robes, piles of lag, and more than your fill of eating humble pie from those that brag constantly about how many event items they get who would gladly sell them to you for not millions but billions of gold. I mean the ones that actually play on the shard, who always seem to have way more castles combines than all the people who actually play the shard and are treated like their own personal peasants.

Yeah i may be a lil jaded, but what I dont have is all the stress dealing with those same greedy people who always seem to come out on top during these events and always walking away from an event feeling less than a loser because I feel like I've done my part in an event that I walk away from with more busted up armor, death robes and "haha I got another event item... You can have it for 1 billion gold. Go look... it's on the floor of one of my castles", since I've decided to stay far away from them. I don't even go to see what it's about anymore.


My suggestion... How about an event where everyone can participate. How about mobs that are plenty enough where it doesn't take 20 dragons to kill it, more people can split up some and take on their own mobs, get a chance at an item by those mobs that wont kill you in one attack, instead of drops from one master mob that kills everything and everyone in seconds. It's stupid and pointless going against something you have to solo when most of the people there are sending their pets after it to do the damage for them and walk out with maybe a dead dragon, but a real chance of getting something melee types don't havea chance in hell for. Even mages without pets suffer the same because they have to be close enough to hit the bloody thing, who also have less defence and lower hitpoints. So it's even worse for them.

Another suggestion... How about event participation tokens. Cash them in for random event items. Or even a point accumulation for a random chance of actually getting an item. At least that way it'll be fair all the way around.

Till you guys come up with a better way of participation, I honestly could care less for events. I rather my attraction to the game remain friend based, being around good people, newbies because most are not selfish and people who actually care about one another rather than what they can sell and show off to you. Of course, the attraction gets less and less each day, but hey, I'll stick it out till I loose all interest all together and GIVE my stuff away to those fine decent people around me.


Well that's my rant. I'll goto bed now. One more event passing without the ability to frustrate me and make me hate the game just a lil more.

Thanks for listening!
 

MalagAste

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Quite the rant but I do understand the sentiment. I know I've had many of the same feelings.
 
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callum_fitzhugh

Sage
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Stratics Legend
Another suggestion... How about event participation tokens. Cash them in for random event items. Or even a point accumulation for a random chance of actually getting an item. At least that way it'll be fair all the way around.
Interesting idea
 

Capt. Lucky

Grand Inquisitor
Stratics Veteran
Sorry I didn't read all this if it's already been said. But I'd like to see as many events as possible happen at the same time. Many shards like Atlantic, Legends, Great Lakes, etc could all have their events like Saturday at 8 eastern (just saying, pick a time) and it would really cut down on cross sharders and a lot of the other nonsense. People currently start disrupting events if they take more than 10 minutes so they can move on to the next one. Let EMs off the leash and let them mute people again!
 

Lady CaT

Sage
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Stratics Legend
Here is my problem...

I play on Pacific. We have an event going on here shortly. I stopped going to them! Why?.... Well, let me explain.

Problem 1

I play every other week, for a full week at a time (yeah I have no life) and around probably 12 hours a day at no set time starting and ending. I have a lot of friends on this shard and in probably one of the most active and largest guild on Pacific. I see a handfull of people outside my guild on a daily basis. JUST a handful. Pacific isn't much of a player active shard, but it's not the most dead either. Yet, the people I see on pacific on a daily basis are NOT the majority people seen at events. This is the first problem I have. Out of say 15-20 people in our guild alone who play almost daily, there might be 3 people who go to these events, and maybe 2-3 people from our alliance. Most of the people I see at events are people I NEVER see playing on pacific.

Problem 2

I have two pure role toons. What i mean is, I have 2 toons who's skills are capped and are very decent and high damaging roles that are not gimped. The problem with me going to these events is simple. I'm NOT a TAMER! When you go to these events, you will see a mass of people (see Problem 1). So many that the fights are laggy as hell, with a really nice rig and an 18meg connection. Not only that, but you have to Ctrl Shift just to see the boss or mob beneath a SEA of dragons!! You realise how much more laggy it becomes when you have to do this just to see a boss's name so you have at least a target? What happens is, the screen freezes up for 10-20 seconds because it has my CPU working overtime trying to get all the names up on the screen. And even if you're lucky enough to be able to get past the lag issue, you have a hell of a time trying to see the name aside from every blasted dragon and person in one tight ball of death. That's another problem in itself.

Problem 3

With so many people, who dont even play your shard, and so many tamers/dragons, the chances of you being able to target and do damage to the mob is nearly impossible.. Even if I DID have a tamer. Tamers simply send their pets to do their damage while people like me who have no pets, have to get up close and personal to a boss who will kill you in one hit/special move. So it's OooOOOOooOOooOo then run like hell to find a healer, or someone to heal, which these people who dont play your shard know, if you're dead, more loot for them, so no rez. Then if you can get a rez.... Here comes the next special move from the boss and you're dead again. Aside from that, you have hell finding your body. If you can find your body... Guess what??? It's next to the boss where you died before and then suddenly.... OoooOOooOOooO all over again. I walked out of an event with one boss I didn't even get to touch because I couldn't find him in a sea of people, with over 20 death robes. That was due to a healer being so close to the damn mob in the first place, but at least I had a rez. Just instant constant death and no way to heal because my bandages were on the first body lost in a sea of dead bodies, dragons and people.

Problem 4

I've done so many events in the last year and I've not gotten one bloody drop.. EVER. You would say I suck... I say it's unfair. I've gotten to beat on these boss mobs a bit, but I can't compare with someone who has 6 accounts and 6 dragons. Random you say? I say total BS. Why? Because... Oddly enough, ALWAYS the same people are in chat bragging about the drop they just got. ALWAYS THE SAME people. One of which thinks she's the gods gift to the shard and is a governor, yet acts more like a 16 year old child in heat on chat all day and night long. Somehow, she ends up with a house full of event items that she brags about constantly. How is this possible? I say she's shmoozin with the GM.

Problem 5

Hey, I'm all about people from other countries, other ethnic groups and what not, but how is it fun when you cant even understand what the GM is saying half the time? When he takes on the role of one of the main characters in the event, you can't understand anything he says because the english is so broken it's just silly. For some reason events are always seeming to be lead by governors which is ok by me, but when you put a "look at me" person running around, barking rules at the common folk, it gets just a little too pathetic for my taste. With the exception of a couple, most of the governors are asses to people who are around them daily, yet they some how get the votes to fill those roles, when everyone I know distance themselves from those same people. Who are voting for these people?

Final Problem

It's pointless to go "eventing" when all you get out of it are piles of death robes, piles of lag, and more than your fill of eating humble pie from those that brag constantly about how many event items they get who would gladly sell them to you for not millions but billions of gold. I mean the ones that actually play on the shard, who always seem to have way more castles combines than all the people who actually play the shard and are treated like their own personal peasants.

Yeah i may be a lil jaded, but what I dont have is all the stress dealing with those same greedy people who always seem to come out on top during these events and always walking away from an event feeling less than a loser because I feel like I've done my part in an event that I walk away from with more busted up armor, death robes and "haha I got another event item... You can have it for 1 billion gold. Go look... it's on the floor of one of my castles", since I've decided to stay far away from them. I don't even go to see what it's about anymore.


My suggestion... How about an event where everyone can participate. How about mobs that are plenty enough where it doesn't take 20 dragons to kill it, more people can split up some and take on their own mobs, get a chance at an item by those mobs that wont kill you in one attack, instead of drops from one master mob that kills everything and everyone in seconds. It's stupid and pointless going against something you have to solo when most of the people there are sending their pets after it to do the damage for them and walk out with maybe a dead dragon, but a real chance of getting something melee types don't havea chance in hell for. Even mages without pets suffer the same because they have to be close enough to hit the bloody thing, who also have less defence and lower hitpoints. So it's even worse for them.

Another suggestion... How about event participation tokens. Cash them in for random event items. Or even a point accumulation for a random chance of actually getting an item. At least that way it'll be fair all the way around.

Till you guys come up with a better way of participation, I honestly could care less for events. I rather my attraction to the game remain friend based, being around good people, newbies because most are not selfish and people who actually care about one another rather than what they can sell and show off to you. Of course, the attraction gets less and less each day, but hey, I'll stick it out till I loose all interest all together and GIVE my stuff away to those fine decent people around me.


Well that's my rant. I'll goto bed now. One more event passing without the ability to frustrate me and make me hate the game just a lil more.

Thanks for listening!

A universal rant for a lot of fellow players that Mesanna and the EM staff can't seem to wrap their heads around! One of your last sentences really says it all about why I think the EM program has failed. "I'll goto bed now. One more event passing without the ability to frustrate me and make me hate the game just a lil more."
 

THP

Always Present
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ksara most people are not happy....i only hope mesanna inplements the homeshard advantage and makes it a big advantage....like i said b4 its swings and roundabounts and everyone will have the same advantage on the designated home shard for that account...hell of they run/pay for 3 accounts they can choose 3 shards to have the home advantge...BUT this home advantage needs to be significant....at least double a non-home shard player if not greater...
 

Blood Ghoul

Sage
Stratics Veteran
While I only play 1 account I do seem to get a drop 85% of the time. While I shouldn't give out any hints :) I will say two things. 1- dying to the boss is a good thing! 2- do NOT be dead when the boss dies. If the boss is at 10% life and you just res'd do not run up in your death robe and engage. That works for me and hopefully will help you

On a side note I am finding my dragon to not be as helpful. The last couple bosses on Atlantic have ripped thru the dragons like hot knives thru butter.
 

Speranza

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While I only play 1 account I do seem to get a drop 85% of the time. While I shouldn't give out any hints :) I will say two things. 1- dying to the boss is a good thing! 2- do NOT be dead when the boss dies. If the boss is at 10% life and you just res'd do not run up in your death robe and engage. That works for me and hopefully will help you

On a side note I am finding my dragon to not be as helpful. The last couple bosses on Atlantic have ripped thru the dragons like hot knives thru butter.
I've gotten drops when dead, it shows up when you rez, but it's still a good idea to try to be alive!

We had an event recently where a stat was requested incorrectly, and the boss was one shoting Greater Dragons. Best part? Boss some how re-spawned and wandered the woods outside of town the next day killing people!!
 

Goldberg-Chessy

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ksara most people are not happy....i only hope mesanna inplements the homeshard advantage and makes it a big advantage....like i said b4 its swings and roundabounts and everyone will have the same advantage on the designated home shard for that account...hell of they run/pay for 3 accounts they can choose 3 shards to have the home advantge...BUT this home advantage needs to be significant....at least double a non-home shard player if not greater...
Some people seem to have forgotten what MMORPG means.
No such thing as home shard advantage.
The only reason anyone seems to want a silly home shard advantage is because they are unable to create a character strong enough to be a factor and that's a joke imo
 

Angel of Sonoma

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i'm all for declaring a home shard and allocating a percentage of the drops to go to the home sharders. funny thing, at the last 2 sonoma events it was easy to spot the multi-boxer who was controlling 3 accounts. if i can spot them then why can't broadsword?
 

Tina Small

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i'm all for declaring a home shard and allocating a percentage of the drops to go to the home sharders. funny thing, at the last 2 sonoma events it was easy to spot the multi-boxer who was controlling 3 accounts. if i can spot them then why can't broadsword?
You might not want to complain about multi-boxing. The ham-fisted solution could end up being that you can only log into UO once per machine or maybe even once per IP address.
 

Smoot

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You might not want to complain about multi-boxing. The ham-fisted solution could end up being that you can only log into UO once per machine or maybe even once per IP address.
and that would be a problem why? (sorry i have no sypathy for the "i play on a dead shard and need 2 characters to solo content" argument)
 

Keith of Sonoma

Grand Poobah
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UNLEASHED
Some people seem to have forgotten what MMORPG means.
No such thing as home shard advantage.
The only reason anyone seems to want a silly home shard advantage is because they are unable to create a character strong enough to be a factor and that's a joke imo
I disagree. I Used to take my SW/Tamer/Mage to the events and NEVER failed to get looting rights, and have gotten a good amount of "drops". I like the "home shard" idea because it MIGHT keep the X-Sharders away a bit, and the EM events can get back to what they are supposed to be. A shard event, with RP and shard camaraderie. NOT just a greed motivated, get a drop and take it back to ATL to sell, how fast can I get it sold, to heck with the story, monstrosity they have become.

I wish the drops would disappear completely. It would be much more fun for the shard "players". It sucked being outnumbered 5:1 by people you ONLY see for the events, and watch them have 3-5, or more chars doing EXACTLY the same thing all at once. And spamming, "was there a drop, what was the drop, etc..."

I feel badly for the EM's who, try to put together a storyline, knowing that 95% of their "audience" cares NOTHING about it, and is only there for the greed. With changes it can return to what it is supposed to be, and I know for a fact, at least on my shard, that "home shard" participation would AT LEAST double, if not triple. Which, in my opinion, is how it should be.
 

Smoot

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I disagree. I Used to take my SW/Tamer/Mage to the events and NEVER failed to get looting rights, and have gotten a good amount of "drops". I like the "home shard" idea because it MIGHT keep the X-Sharders away a bit, and the EM events can get back to what they are supposed to be. A shard event, with RP and shard camaraderie. NOT just a greed motivated, get a drop and take it back to ATL to sell, how fast can I get it sold, to heck with the story, monstrosity they have become.

I wish the drops would disappear completely. It would be much more fun for the shard "players". It sucked being outnumbered 5:1 by people you ONLY see for the events, and watch them have 3-5, or more chars doing EXACTLY the same thing all at once. And spamming, "was there a drop, what was the drop, etc..."

I feel badly for the EM's who, try to put together a storyline, knowing that 95% of their "audience" cares NOTHING about it, and is only there for the greed. With changes it can return to what it is supposed to be, and I know for a fact, at least on my shard, that "home shard" participation would AT LEAST double, if not triple. Which, in my opinion, is how it should be.
First off im not going to try to hide the fact that 95% of my gameplay in UO now is EM events, and ive worked hard to build characters on 14 shards, attending many events a week. Obviously, while i feel for the players who play only 1 shard, many other players have done the same. Its a change that seems to have been one of the devs solutions to low pop shards, especially since shard shields were introduced by them.

What you have to realize tho, is that for the EM program to be a viable investment, it has to serve as many people as possible. Some low pop shards might only have 3 - 5 home shard players attending the event, however Broadsword employs an EM for the shard. Its a tricky thing, because if events are tailored more towards only those home shard players, they will lose players like me who only play UO for events, and also might not think its worth having an EM at all for shards with low population.

In short, the current EM program is sustained by multi-shard players. Tho very discouraging to players who only play 1 shard, at this point i dont really see an alternative.

what does upset me and looks very bad for the state of the game is Mesanna stating that using "illegal" programs to easily run 5ish characters with one set of keystrokes is not worth their time to manually enforce. this is by far the biggest problem with the system right now, and very detrimental to overall enjoyment of the program by the average player.

To be fair, id say only about 20 perecent of multi-shard players care nothing about the RP or story, however those are also the players controlling the most mulitple characters. Thats leaving out the "homeshard" players who are often the most disruptive / rude. (take Europas last event, those doing the griefing were all known homeshard players)
Theres at least 20 dedicated multi-shard players who attend events not just for the drops, but for the entertainment, story, and overall enjoyment of one of the last aspects of the game that is new and fresh on a regular basis.

Personally, if there were a way to encourage every player to play 1 character, and give a slight bonus to "homeshard" players i would be all for it. Until then, i will just try to enjoy events because they are one of the last things keeping me in UO.
 
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Tina Small

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and that would be a problem why? (sorry i have no sypathy for the "i play on a dead shard and need 2 characters to solo content" argument)
I don't do that because I'm not competent enough to fight anything on more than one screen at a time. If I can't take something down with one of my puny, ill-equipped characters, I simply don't bother with it. There's a whole lot of content in the game that I've missed doing as a result of taking that approach to playing. I don't run scripts, haven't even used UO Assist or even an outside mapping program in three or four years.

However, what I do use two log-ins on one machine for is doing things like (1) transferring pets between characters on different accounts, (2) handing items to a character on another account when the characters are on a shard where I don't have a house to just leave the items for another character to pick them up, (3) to co-own or friend characters on a different account to a house another one of my accounts owns, (4) to give my characters who aren't in the same guild as my fisher access to her boat, (5) to transfer a house to another account I own.

I know the answer someone is going to give is to have a friend help with all of these things. However, that's not always the correct answer for things like #4 and #5. And when your lifestyle has changed to the extent that you don't even play most of the time at the same time as the people you still trust in the game for doing the other things (e.g., they all play at 1 or 2 am and you have to be asleep at that time), well then you end up having to do some of that trading/swapping and entitlement stuff yourself with two log-ins on one machine.

Meh, not even sure why I bothered to answer you. I guess maybe it was to disabuse you of the notion that I play UO like most of the people you must know.
 

Keith of Sonoma

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First off im not going to try to hide the fact that 95% of my gameplay in UO now is EM events, and ive worked hard to build characters on 14 shards, attending many events a week. Obviously, while i feel for the players who play only 1 shard, many other players have done the same. Its a change that seems to have been one of the devs solutions to low pop shards, especially since shard shields were introduced by them.

What you have to realize tho, is that for the EM program to be a viable investment, it has to serve as many people as possible. Some low pop shards might only have 3 - 5 home shard players attending the event, however Broadsword employs an EM for the shard. Its a tricky thing, because if events are tailored more towards only those home shard players, they will lose players like me who only play UO for events, and also might not think its worth having an EM at all for shards with low population.

In short, the current EM program is sustained by multi-shard players. Tho very discouraging to players who only play 1 shard, at this point i dont really see an alternative.

what does upset me and looks very bad for the state of the game is Mesanna stating that using "illegal" programs to easily run 5ish characters with one set of keystrokes is not worth their time to manually enforce. this is by far the biggest problem with the system right now, and very detrimental to overall enjoyment of the program by the average player.

To be fair, id say only about 20 perecent of multi-shard players care nothing about the RP or story, however those are also the players controlling the most mulitple characters. Thats leaving out the "homeshard" players who are often the most disruptive / rude. (take Europas last event, those doing the griefing were all known homeshard players)
Theres at least 20 dedicated multi-shard players who attend events not just for the drops, but for the entertainment, story, and overall enjoyment of one of the last aspects of the game that is new and fresh on a regular basis.

Personally, if there were a way to encourage every player to play 1 character, and give a slight bonus to "homeshard" players i would be all for it. Until then, i will just try to enjoy events because they are one of the last things keeping me in UO.
All valid points to be sure. I agree especially with the "illegal program" one. Thank you for sharing them. Definitely some "food for thought".
 

Smoot

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Meh, not even sure why I bothered to answer you. I guess maybe it was to disabuse you of the notion that I play UO like most of the people you must know.
i wasn't directing the "solo argument" towards you specifically, all of features of mulitclienting you mentioned are very legitimate, and i use some myself (although i still also just drop stuff on the ground to transter it because its easier)

just saying that if a person is playing an mmorpg to mulit-client solo thats not really the point of the game.

honestly, i dont think the devs would / could prevent multiclienting. Even when the ability to do it in "standard" UO wasnt possible, there were pretty easy workarounds. So dont think it would even be possible to elimimate. if they tried, it would most likely just hurt legit, casual players like you and me.
 
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