~New Gold Sink Idea~

[Freelsy]

Me and a friend were talking to each other at work the other night about online games, their economy, inflation rate and how people are actually "hired" to collect whatever it may be, ex: gold, resources, BOD's... or those scripters that simply kill the same monster over and over and over again.

We were thinking of ways to make it harder to collect gold, thus drive prices done in the online economy (of course theres already trillions out there, but its got to start sometime). We thought of a neat idea that not only decreases the amount of gold earned, but forces players to fight in new areas. Our idea was to decrease the amount of gold given after the same creature is killed multiple times.

Most of you remember the Trogglyte script that was going around for weeks, possbily still around today? not sure, but imagine that the loot got smaller and smaller after so many kills. Say the first 20 kills give you 1200 gp, then after the first 30ish it drops to 1000 gp and so on. To the point where after farming for a good hour you have to move on and hunt other monster....thus making it tougher for scripters. Also, include a RNG for the refresh rate of the monster that was just slain to further prevent scripting.

I see posts on this forum all the time about getting the scripters and killing them constantly. In the end, the scripter always wins. Why not make it much tougher for him to aquire his massive amounts of gold. This will inevitably make it tougher for the honest players as well, but may bring more joy and excitment into the game and maybe force people to start doing the peerless boss's again and other fun things.


Just a neat thought, feel free to throw in your rants, oppinions or whatever it may be.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

Except that is not a gold sink. A sink is something that removes existing gold for some non-gold benefit (i.e. Insurance removes gold to protect your belongings from being looted).

Secondly, such a move would do nothing to hinder scriptors. If they already have scripts that take them from their house to the scripting spot, then to the bank or their house to drop off and back, they can simply add in a couple more spots.

Also, if you know what to fight, looting gold is one of the slower ways to build wealth.

 

[Coppelia]

No regular mob should give 1,200 gp to begin with. A nerf on gp drops would have been far better than BoS nerf.
And cap/removal of LRC to actually have a gold sink.

 

[Extra Value Meal]

Halve everything that monsters drop and double everything that NPCs charge except for simple things such as regs and food.

 

[Capricious]

Gold and item drops need to be reduced. I would rather hunt and get a few quality items and a small sack of gold than having to make umpteen trips to the bank and search through hundred of absolutely crap magic items.

 

[Lord Sir Scott]

To many people hoard the gold, the problem imo is where to spend it. Drop it in a Collection thats the best way to lose gold now a days. Or just go spend some at vendors they will spend it on the things they need.

When i camp a miasma i run about 50-70 k off of it in about a hour or 2
Thats a lot of gold to some and to others nothing.
i have found piles like that in spots where some one camps Bloods or some other such. Go Buy Ingots. the idea is to spend it at places where the gold goes back to limbo.
I personaly collect the glasses, 12m a pop and yes i paid cash for 95% of it.
You can alway go buy some gems and have you tinker craft with them. thats a great way to dump gold for items that may or may no be useful to you...
There are not enough people needing items that could be made by spending the gold. thats also imo a prob...

 

[Ender]

And cap/removal of LRC to actually have a gold sink.

Will never happen.

 

[Zy'ana]

Now a good Gold sink idea, would be things like new uber neon hair dyes to buy off the neon hair vendor, for like 5m or so!

 

[Uvtha]

I always liked the idea that a monster gets more money/loot the longer its alive. Thats the way it used to be. We had a some mage lords trapped in a room of one of our guild houses for resist training (back when monsters didnt disapear and would stay in your house for months stuck behind boxes), and when we decided to kill them to upgrade to wisps they had like 200 scrolls on them.

Its a good plan over all I think. It promotes "hunting" rather than camping, which is more fun, and leans more toward cooperation, and friendship, and would breathe life into some currently abandoned places.
You could still camp, you just wouldnt make as much gold as someone who went through a whole dungeon floor by floor.

 

[Fink]

And cap/removal of LRC to actually have a gold sink.

Will never happen.

How about change "Lower Reagent Cost" to "Reagent Channelling"?

RC would take reagents from your bank box when you cast. That way LRC-using people still don't have to carry reagents - or risk losing them upon death - but it reintroduces the gold sink. Arcane clothing still works/has its use, LRC suits are still viable, etc, but reagents are once again in demand.

Part Two of this would be some sort of tithing type gold sink for other casting skills that are currently free (Ninjitsu, Bushido, Spellweaving) to balance things across the board.

 

[jelinidas]

How about change "Lower Reagent Cost" to "Reagent Channelling"?

RC would take reagents from your bank box when you cast. That way LRC-using people still don't have to carry reagents - or risk losing them upon death - but it reintroduces the gold sink. Arcane clothing still works/has its use, LRC suits are still viable, etc, but reagents are once again in demand.

Hmmmm...I kinda like this twist!

 

[Oriana]

Fink I agree, I think you're on to something there!! We need to get the gold out not put more in. It's a balancing act for sure. It's all going to come down to items that people want in the long run that aren't so rare as to have all the rich have the market, but the average Joe could afford and use as well, oh and making things more breakable and bringing back craftsmen is a good start too.

Oriana

 

[ZippyTwitch]

We don't need a gold sink. I been playing for years and I'm still dirt poor. Making it harder to get gold only hurts the poor people and helps the rich. Hmm sounds just like the government.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

It is not a gold sink, but a good idea nevertheless. Loot should be more randomized. You shouldn't be able to expect a certain loot on a certain creature. This way, farming certain places would vanish. Instead, people would have to explore dungeons until they find a random monster with good loot, and hunt that down. High levels monsters would not always yield the same high level loot. At the same time, worthless items should be removed from high level monster loot.

 

[Fink]

It is not a gold sink, but a good idea nevertheless. Loot should be more randomized. You shouldn't be able to expect a certain loot on a certain creature. This way, farming certain places would vanish. Instead, people would have to explore dungeons until they find a random monster with good loot, and hunt that down. High levels monsters would not always yield the same high level loot. At the same time, worthless items should be removed from high level monster loot.

I like all these ideas.

Regarding worthless items on high-level mosters.. I'd rather see the occasional good-item drop (and the frequent no-item drop) from high-end critters rather than a ton of junk on every single corpse. From an immersive/fictional perspective it makes little sense for them to carry so much crap. Low-end stuff is for low-end mobs.

Generally concerning loot, I'd prefer to see resources/ingredients taken from corpse than gold/items, and market forces determine the worth of those resources. UO doesn't appear to work that way, though.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Everyone....

There is not enough to buy in UO. Thats one reason there is so much gold.

There are dupes or were dupes that made billions if not trillions in gold. This is the main reason for the inflation.

But remember prices reflect the amount of gold in game. Youre kidding yourself if you think a 5 million gold items is going to drop because there is less gold in game.


As gold gains in value because its harder to get... prices of items will go up not down.


So...

Create wheels of prizes. Gold Sink.
Create intelligent spawns. The more the same group gets pelted. The more monsters or dangerous monster come.

Its not hard to fix.

Oh... did anyone mention if the same player does the same thing 50 times. Put up freaking pop up box that has to be answered by a player. Its not hard.

 

[Remy_of_GOR]

As gold gains in value because its harder to get... prices of items will go up not down.

that is not how economics works, even in virtual worlds.

 

[Setnaffa]

My personal thought on Monster Gold is that all creatures should start with 0 gold.

The longer they stay alive and the more players they kill, the more gold they will have. Each creature would be assigned a gold rate (the rate their gold increases) and gold cap (the maximum amount they could ever carry). Both would depend on their size/strength and fame level.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

that is not how economics works, even in virtual worlds.

Remy,

What you are missing is the MASSIVE amount of gold out there. This is a vitual economy true but its a virtual economy that has no way to know how much gold is out there.

Granted you are right when gold is controlled across the board. In the UO economy Gold really has nothing to do with what monsters drop know a days. It has everything to do with how much gold is with the players.

Cutting gold down on monster spawns and increasing NPC prices as some have suggested will raise prices on lower end objects. I know its odd but you have to realize many many players dont event bother with gold loot on creatures, its worthless in the sense that you can vend items and make more.

A stronger dollar gives you more buying power. Thats why oil prices goes up when the dollar goes down and oil goes down when the dollar strengthens. I think thats what your saying.

Luckily the Feds regulate dollars. In UO to much has been duped and exists without the virtually economy really knowing whats out there. Therefore, you wont get the decrease in price by just cutting gold from monsters.