Both guys you have pictured are still training, neither one is fully trained.
Kolbjorn is less then 2 months old(if im wrong on that he will correct me)
You cant even begin to compare the non-faction version of those arties to the Faction Versions. From what ive seen of our guild there are mainly a few cursed arties or a few blessed Sammy Helms.
My suit is only Runic, and Id say that we have a lot more Runic then arties.
Having People logging in that want to fight in this War is far better then not having anyone to fight in factions.
LOW is pretty much gone, weve lost quite a few due to Factions, KoC/420 has only come back recently, JSV is here and there, mainly on Blues these days, V is around but not very many.
The Shard is Dead for Factions most Nights, but its been fairly lively in the Wars. You can dis the War PvP, but it seems to be fun for most, and a lot that wouldnt normally PvP.
Getting those people out and fighting and having fun to log in more often is what matters to me, otherwise this shard is gonna fall asleep and not wake up.
I do not think Kage got what he was trying to say out. The point being, it's technically harder to stock up on cursed arties, minor arties, and major arties being the spawn rate on marties are so slow and cursed arties/tots don't spawn anymore. I'm pretty sure Neo was out messing around in Luna, because we were surely about to gank him if someone didn't scare him back in the house with efields.
My .02, faction arties just made it to where everyone was able to have it. But now, people are disliking this due to not being able to obtain them as long as others, let alone afford to buy them back.
Which is understandable, but you guys said it yourselves, you can wear all the cursed arties, marties, runic armor that you want in this non-faction server war. The only difference is, majority are saying "we're not looting suits", so it makes everyone participating, happy.
*shrug* Why not have faction server wars and do the same thing? As in, I'd be down for no looting suits, but all pvp supplies such as; regs, bandages, apples, petals, pots, etc are free game to try and keep them out of the fight. Just because someone is in stat, doesn't mean they're useless either. A mage can still help cross heal, dexers can surely get their specials off still, TnT did it all the time while in stat, not to mention a bola or two.
Just my .02, which is like .04 now in this post.
So, regular game play is free game. But, if we coordinate fights and a specific place and time, the rules apply and no looting of suits. I can do this, and people in 420 would abide by this.
Let me know if this is something people would do down the line *After your non-faction server wars of course*. Because like I said, the items are here, this is UO as it is today, you might as well enjoy them and I think this would be a GREAT and FUN way for people to learn, have fun, and maybe get to know your enemy in vent/ts.