Trial Accounts and You

[greatpumpkinator]

My 2 cents:

*Skill cap limit. 75-80 sounds good.
*Gold limit. Account cannot have more than so much gold on the entire account. Lets say...5 mil or so? Whatever the amount...keep it small. Maybe even just 1 mil. Seriously, you don't need that much gold that quick.
*No powerscrolls, stat scrolls, SoTs, or SoAs.
*No house placement or trades, or co-ownerships.
*No vendors.
*Maybe even stop players from trading to other players. Trading to a trial account player will flag the trader as to the fact that once the item has been traded, it cannot be given back... Or just stop trades altogether. Dropping items on the ground will immediately destroy them.
*You know how guildies show up green, npcs show up yellow, criminals are grey? How about making trial account characters purple or something, so there is a visible flag on them?


WOW has a skill cap, a level cap, no trading, and a gold limit (atop soo much more)....so, it's not like other MMORPG's aren't doing such things...

 

[Wenchkin]

Firstly, allow new players full access to everything on test centre, in fact when a new player logs in, how about popping up a gump that explains the restrictions in place for trial accounts and directs them to the test centre to try out the full game features. Perhaps even look at making up even more marked runes for TC so the new player can easily get to the areas of the game and get involved.

Secondly, is it possible to allow chars to visit areas of the game to visit areas (not champs), but block them from fighting mobs, looting corpses, collecting resources etc etc while they're there? That might let new players explore a production shard without being troublesome.

Some things I'd like to see:

1) A really good all round newbie experience playing in Haven - make it so for 15 days you can taste plenty of game experience in safety.

2) Trial accounts couldn't sign up to join a faction.

3) No access to housing, but ideally tell the new player what they can do with housing and show them a few examples. Maybe the subject of a decorating/customization contest you guys could run to pick the house designs to showcase for newbies. A little tutorial about housing would be great too. Perhaps allow players to rent a room in an inn or use some of the NPC houses when they get started?

4) No access to BODs, but maybe newbies could get a very basic type of bods that just yielded newbie friendly items. Let them try out the mechanics of the system, but without the rewards of the main system.

5) Access to basic resources only, either plain wood and iron or the 2-3 most common resources etc. Unable to fill commodity deeds.

6) If the ghost cam fix doesn't work out, restrict newbies from entering champ spawn areas.

7) Quests would also need to be restricted eg Heartwood. Or change the rewards for these to newbie type gear.

8) I don't know how, but could you stop newbies from looting corpses from mobs they didn't attack? I'm thinking about the newbie looters during evets etc.

Wenchy

 

[aavie]

You can not treat every trial account as if it belonged to a scripter. If UO ever decides to sell box editions again, it will be drawing in new players that will see them and buy the game on a whim. As my husband and I did a few years back.
Trial account players don't particularly need a house. If they aren't allowed to attach an advanced char token to a trial account, it will make them have to work thier char. They can aquire all the gold they need from selling the not so good armor and items they loot. Let them hunt the first level of the virtue dungeons with out worries. If they are smart enough to attack a greater dragon fresh off the mill, they die and should be teleported back to New Haven. If they try to enter lower levels of a dungeon, they should recieve a message along the lines, that by entering they revoke there protection of "young" status and can be attacked with out having to initiate the battle. Upon death, they should always be teleported to the New Haven healer's shop.
I was one of those bull headed people that wanted to see everything while I could. Needless to say, I spent alot of time in the old Haven healers.
With a decent restriction to stat and skill caps for free trials, who really cares if they go watch a spawn and walk out with small pile of 10K or less in gold. They can't really attack anything in the spawns and live to awful long. When they die, they get teleported back to New Haven.
Give them some access to BODs. If they are starting a crafter, BODs are an important factor. Just limit trial accounts to normal small bods. Allow them access to Heartwood. Just place decent limitations.
I know several of you are tired of the abuse of free trials, but please put that aside. Instead, think of ways to show new people the intire world of UO and its meaning. I loved being toted along to the spawns. I was brought to the alters and told not to attack anything, just watch and learn, by my first guild. So I would stand by and cast heals on the other participants. It was a good time and a great way to learn and prepare for the day I got to fight my first spawn.

 

[MorganaLeFey]

Commodity Deed Box!

My two accounts are 7 and 8 months old, and I want to use this box because it's too useful for every player in this game, veteran or not.

Thanks.

Sorry but I disagree.

All told, I have been playing UO off and on for a total of 9 years. Those 9 years include 2 breaks in between. Should I be entitled to a 9th year reward? Hell no, I didn't pay for 9 years straight so why should I be entitled? Further, I don't think its fair to all the players who have "paid their dues" all those 9 years of loyalty.

Moreover, loyalty should be rewarded but I hardly think that after a few months a player should be entitled. If you made it through a year, that shows your true intent and therefore you should be rewarded. As vet rewards are based on years, any change to make it less than that would only serve to demean it. IMHO of course.

 

[MYUO]

A simple and straight forward way of handling the trial account may be:

During trial period, player can not renounce their "young" status unless they start paying for the game time. Remove the 40 hour young timer so players will stay as "young" until either their trial account expire or they start paying subscription.

The "young" players will have a skill and stat cap of 80% of a regular player so they can't farm resources effectively. They can not obtain BODs nor can they place/accept houses. After they are aggroed by NPC monsters for more than for example, 200 times, they will be teleproted to nearest town. This way, they can neither go into any dungon nor stay long at an overland spawn. Since they are young, they can't go to fel either.

Don't worry about the extent of the restrictions. If a player likes UO as a young player, he/she won't get turned away for paying $13 to give it a more serious try. The focus should be on making the rule simple, effective, and with least affect on regular players.

 

[MorganaLeFey]

Drac,

A couple of things. Great post by the way. Trial accounts have a purpose and that is to introduce players to the game of UO. That should be your mantra and purpose for the trial accounts. They should be geared toward tasting all the candy in the store but not becoming the candy maker.

1. Because it is a trial account the bank boxes should not be able to be abused for holding items such as (dare I say) 124 valorite hammers. A mechanism to wash the bank boxes is needed.

2. Why do you use a trial account? To learn the game. When dead on a trial account the ghost and belongings should be wisked away. See number 3.

3. A trial account needs to be restricted on characture developement. A trial account shouldnt be able to be maxed out in a few days. You can easily get the sense of UO if you like it or not with a basic level of skills.

4. BOD running. Never on a trial account. A great decision.

5. Mining. Never on a trial account beyond a 10 minute period to get the feel. "You have mined ore and are tired. This may become you livelyhood in the future."

6. Can not be friended or use a house in anyway.

7. Can not use containers in anyway except bank box and backpack. This will prevent them from dumping scripted items into containers.

8. Can not use secure trade windows. Remember its a trial account. Let it pop up but say this secure window is not available for trial accounts.

9. Absolutely hue trial account characters yellow. As a vet, I would want to help them out. It would also be easy to see abuses. Think about it.

10. UO is a great game. Restrictions on trial accounts will NOT prevent new players from coming ever.

Good post. I likes, I likes it!

 

[jack flash uk]

to Draconi

does this mean then, I BUY a job lot of 45 day codes PAID FOR WITH MONEY, not a trial, i can use these accts to place houses so i can generate enough space in plots to build a castle for 855k instead of paying 500m for one

this will allow this, I think i am NOT exploiting the game mechanics as i PAY for the codes

at present i am hit with the 30 day rule

so with the anti trial code rule, my PAID codes will be allowed to place again???

GREAT NEWS THANKS

 

[DHMagicMan_1]

to Draconi

does this mean then, I BUY a job lot of 45 day codes PAID FOR WITH MONEY, not a trial, i can use these accts to place houses so i can generate enough space in plots to build a castle for 855k instead of paying 500m for one

this will allow this, I think i am NOT exploiting the game mechanics as i PAY for the codes

at present i am hit with the 30 day rule

so with the anti trial code rule, my PAID codes will be allowed to place again???

GREAT NEWS THANKS

Provided you keep finding enough small house spaces next to each other so that eventually you can build a castle in that spot? I'm thinking it could take you 2 years or more to collect the space to have your castle in that way... meanwhile you will be paying for some accounts for 20+ months to keep small houses while you add more small houses as spaces become available.

Is that what you are saying?

 

[jack flash uk]

Nope

this is what i used to do

buy the codes create a few chars

find a site and place the first house, then wait for others to fall, or buy them out (offer a bigger house in better, diff location always helps to get a deal agreed)

then when the 45 days are nearly up, activate another char and trade (using 2 machines)

so accts still paid for, and as you say it can take a while, so i buy more accts and hold the plots until i get my site


it took me a few months to get a castle i had for a while, this is how i would like ot get another oh and 855k aswell

of course i will also have my main accts active with my real chars, tamer, archer etc


so i am not abusing the trail system as i am a paying customer ofr the acct codes

 

[sablestorm]

What's the status of the Refer a Buddy promotion? Has it been disabled? I gave a friend one of my 8th age codes and they get an error when clicking the referal link.

 

[MorganaLeFey]

All unpaid accounts are trial accounts. Most are those created using the new player account registration code come with the box you used to buy in Best Buy or Wal-Mart. (You paid the box but not the subscriptions.) You got 30 or 45 trial period using these registration codes.

Not true. One of my accounts should be 9 years old if it weren't for the fact that I took breaks in between. So no, all unpaid accounts are not trial accounts.

 

[MalagAste]

I could see limiting trial accounts to say 70 or 75 skill points in any particular skill.... by the time they hit that they should know if they like the game or not and want to pay for it.....

I also like the idea of not letting them own a home .... but you have to watch them being friended to homes..... while you don't want to exclude them entirely from the housing experience I can see being able to be friended as a possible exploit....

Also may want to think about restricting them to say 80 items in their bank box and only allowing them to get 125 after they pay for their account... Maybe even 80 items in the back pack..... restricting also pack animals... to weights of 425 or so.... instead of 1600.... Just a thought.... would cut down on cheating I'm sure and on farming.

 

[Pfloyd]

*Agrees* Removing age restriction would render the vet system moot in my humble opinion. I'd rather have to deal with a minor inconvenience than lose it.

Besides, I view the vet system as a reward for each year of loyalty to UO, what better way to be recognized?

Anyway, just my two-cents.

I've said it before when this was suggested...I wouldn't mind someone paying an "upgrade fee" to allow them to use a higher reward. $100 per year sound about right?

 

[Wenchkin]

Nope

this is what i used to do

buy the codes create a few chars

find a site and place the first house, then wait for others to fall, or buy them out (offer a bigger house in better, diff location always helps to get a deal agreed)

then when the 45 days are nearly up, activate another char and trade (using 2 machines)

so accts still paid for, and as you say it can take a while, so i buy more accts and hold the plots until i get my site


it took me a few months to get a castle i had for a while, this is how i would like ot get another oh and 855k aswell

of course i will also have my main accts active with my real chars, tamer, archer etc


so i am not abusing the trail system as i am a paying customer ofr the acct codes

I don't think any 30 day account should have housing. Until a payment is made on that account a player should not be able to grab a plot or trade one. Especially while there's a whole 3 months of time before that closed account's house will decay. Then be replaced with yet another trial account house. Houses should belong only to accounts which are paid for, and by that I mean the monthly subscription. A true newbie doesn't need a house before 30 days have passed, and I doubt many camp for castles either.

If a 30 day account is going to be allowed to place or hold a house, I want to see any houses on a closed trial account decay as soon as the account is closed, not 3 months down the line. From your side of things there is one perspective, but having a castle squatter in the middle of a RP town wasn't particularly fun for me. Players shouldn't be inconvenienced for months because of real estate traders.

Wenchy

 

[Fluffi]

Better to restrict trial accounts on production shards and no restrictions (allow anything) on TC only.

Perfect solution!

Trial accounts are limited to Haven Island.
Trial accounts cannot collect BODs.
Trial accounts have free access to TC.

 

[Mordocuo]

Hello everyone!

The design team has recently been provided with better tools to identify paying accounts versus free trial accounts once a player has logged in. Up until now content and systems within UO have not been designed in a way that discourages exploitative behavior, treating both types equally.

As you can imagine, this has led some very negative consequences. Resource farming, scripting, house placement exploits – these are all things taken advantage of by unscrupulous individuals abusing trial accounts. In turn, we’ve had to put hard caps on usage of various game features; for instance, having to wait an artificial thirty days after making a character before you can do certain things.

We now have the tools in place to accomplish two major things: restrict usage of some features to paying subscribers, and release the “character age” restrictions in others.

Some examples would include:

• Only letting paying subscribers create/trade houses
• Make BODs only available to paying subscribers
• Remove character age requirements for placing houses

Those aren’t the only things we’re looking at, but before we get too ahead of ourselves, I’d like to solicit your feedback.

I strongly believe this new ability will make the game healthier, and reward loyal players while removing the ease with which our systems are exploited. I should reiterate that this is only an effort to fix a gaping hole in the way we design our systems. This isn’t a change to the way UO’s subscription model works in any way.

Our definition of trial accounts does *not* include the free game time associated with buying an actual release of the game. That first month of paid subscription entitles you to *all* the benefits of a regular subscriber. These restrictions will only be applied to the free trial accounts.

We’re currently targeting these changes for Publish 58.

I’m opening this thread to discuss:

• Discussion on the impact of being able to restrict trial users from some systems
• What systems you feel are meant for paying subscribers
• What current “age related” restrictions you’d like to see removed

Thank you,

Tim "Draconi" Cotten

Draconi:

I may not be a rocket scientist but it seems that all of your concerns and player concerns can be accomplished very easily.

Why not Maintain a "Test Server" all of the time and limit Trial accounts to the Test Server?

1) Players can experience the entire game there.

2) They can go to Felucca all decked and skilled out and try pvp.

3) They can do Champ Spawns all skilled up

4) They can build and own a home

5) They can try all the crafting they want

6) They can do plants all they want

They really get to experience all UO has to offer. Friends of thiers can create characters on the Test Server and spend time with them and show them the ropes.

The best thing is there is absolutely nothing they can do to effect normal shards. It ends all the exploits related to "Trial Accounts". If they are not paying for the account they can't go to a production shard.

I really see no issue that can't be argued effectively with the limit to a Test Server.

 

[Sweeney]

Draconi:

I may not be a rocket scientist but it seems that all of your concerns and player concerns can be accomplished very easily.

Why not Maintain a "Test Server" all of the time and limit Trial accounts to the Test Server?

1) Players can experience the entire game there.

2) They can go to Felucca all decked and skilled out and try pvp.

3) They can do Champ Spawns all skilled up

4) They can build and own a home

5) They can try all the crafting they want

6) They can do plants all they want

They really get to experience all UO has to offer. Friends of thiers can create characters on the Test Server and spend time with them and show them the ropes.

The best thing is there is absolutely nothing they can do to effect normal shards. It ends all the exploits related to "Trial Accounts". If they are not paying for the account they can't go to a production shard.

I really see no issue that can't be argued effectively with the limit to a Test Server.

This would only work if there were no wipes during the trial period. This would be ingenious if there was a set time for a pwipe, such as 30 days after character creation. But you do end up screwing over people who honestly want to develop a character.

Maybe a disclaimer.

 

[Mordocuo]

This would only work if there were no wipes during the trial period. This would be ingenious if there was a set time for a pwipe, such as 30 days after character creation. But you do end up screwing over people who honestly want to develop a character.

Maybe a disclaimer.

How? Last time I was on test you Set your skills--you dont have to work them. So if there was a wipe and you had "worked" skills to say 60--you could just reset them to 60 and go forward. It would also wipe houses and give people that could not find room for one the chance to place one. Besides aren't trial accounts only to be good for like 30 days?

 

[Nibblets]

I apologize in advance for the lengthiness of this post, but I just wanted to accurately portray my thoughts in one coherent(hopefully ) lump.

Trial accounts should automatically start with a disclaimer saying something along the lines of:

This is a free trial account given to you to decide if Ultima Online is a game that you would enjoy playing. Some aspects of the game will not be available to you until at what time you decide to become a paying member of our online community. If at any time during your trial you would like to tinker around with some of the aspects not currently available to you, please feel free to visit our Test Center, where you are able to access all of the game's content. *note: any items/houses/skills gained on the Test Center are non-transferable to production shards. Test Center is merely a shard to "test" out ideas/combinations before committing to them on regular shards.*

You can even put an option in the help menu that allows them to see what certain things are restricted to them for being on a trial account.

Restrictions:

1: Trammel/Felucca mainlands only....no T2A/Ishelnar....perhaps limiting them to Luna/Umbra/Zento town limits only

2: No Bods....or if the devs feel like it limiting them to small bods only of footwear and minor weapons....no bods that would give a runic/powder.

3: Heartwood Quests: Let them in Heartwood, view the quests(for future knowledge), but don't let the trial accounts accept them. Just say, "Oh, you might be a little too young to be helping us out." (or something similar)

4: No House placing/co-owner/friended....if you're bringing someone to try out UO there's no need for them to be able to own a house right away on an account they're not paying for. Houses are a perk for people who pay for the game, just as veteran rewards are perks for the people that have played/paid for this game for "x" amount of years.

5: Resources should be limited on trial accounts. If you're just raising skill on crafting there's no need for you to have all the different types of ore/leather/wood. Personally if I'm working skill I'm going to use the cheapest and the most highly available resources. And if you're a new player and unsure of this info, I'd be rather pissed to find out that I blew through a ton of valorite ore to raise blacksmithing only to find out that I would've gotten the same gain using iron.

6: Holiday gifts....now trial accounts shouldn't be removed from getting holiday items altogether, but maybe only give them the option of getting one of the lesser items. ie Christmas Tree, Cake, Holiday Cards etc... This way the new people will get an item, but it won't be one of the collectibles that people are hunting for, and they won't feel left out.

7: Trial Accounts shouldn't be able to use any of the scrolls. If they try to use them a simple gump appears explaining their use and to upgrade if you wish to use them.

8: Skill caps around 80 or lower depending on the skill(mining stopping just before being able to mine shadow iron...they'll still be able to see that they can get colored ore and dull copper really isn't that much of a high demand ore, same with lumberjacking), remember this is a free trial. The person is not going to have a full working knowledge of how to raise a skill from 0-100 in a day.

9: In game events restricted to observation only. They can wander through, see how things are done, but no looting, dragging monsters etc...if this isn't a viable option then simply they cannot participate..."You are not yet a member of our online community."

10: Dungeons - I say give them full access to any dungeon in the areas they're allowed to wander through (unless it's a champ spawn area or peerless), but no arties/powerscrolls/etc... Once they pay for the account and wander back into one of these dungeons and an artie drops in their pack it'll be a nice surprise for them. If they die teleport them and their stuff back to Haven healers (with a prompt telling them that under normal circumstances they would have to find a healer/player to res them and then return to their corpse to retrieve their belongings.)

11: Gold should be limited as well, not that a new player will accumulate that much but anything over a certain amount should be put into "savings" so that when they pay for the account they'll receive a check for however much they saved. So say the limit was 100k....and the player managed to get 200k before deciding to pay for the game...when the account goes active a check for $100k is deposited into their back account.

12: No trading/commodity deeds/vendors....anything dropped to the ground would be destroyed. And no picking stuff up from the ground, unless it's a single reg (like you find wandering around) or part of a quest that you are allowed to do. Though one small hole would be dropping an item into a corpse and another person removing it, but a simple fix would be to not allow any player to drop something into a monsters/players corpse. And of course not allowing a trial account to loot another players corpse in felucca (yet again a gump saying that it's an option but not available at this time).

13: Cap fame/karma, no virtue/justice....and no factions....they should learn how to pvp first before joining factions, too see if it's something that they're going to be interested in here.

14: There should be a newbie donation program....where certain items common to most new players would be able to be turned in for mediocre items, that to a newbie would be a nice addition, but not something so spectacular that it would be farmed for....something to help the newbie but to an established character would be nothing more then an item to add as a collection piece or an interesting bit of deco.

15: When their trial is over suspend the account for a month if not paid for...do not allow them access, but if they try to log on simply state "Your characters and items will be saved for 'X' days, if you wish to subscribe please go to 'blahblahblah'.

Remember this is the trial account for "NEW" players. People who do not know how the game works or the tricks-of-the-trade....Not the new account codes for established players who wish to add on an additional account. New accounts should in my opinion be given a month "credit", but not necessarily a free 30 days right at the start. Example...you pay for the first two months and get a credit added to your bill for the third.

This won't necessarily stop people scripting, but at least it will cause them to pay for the accounts they do it on. And until scripting can be fixed permanently, it's a step in the right direction by cutting off some of their profit.

Sorry if I repeated anything that's been posted while I was typing out this monster. And now time for a drink.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

AH DRAC,

Please prevent trial accounts of any sort from having the ability to use books. It sound strange. NO TRIAL ACCOUNTS can use books.

1. You cant scribe but scrolls.
2. You cant write in a book or copy books.
3. You cant carry books in your pack.
4. You cant CARRY THEM ON A PACK HORSE belonging or friended to you.
5. BOOKS cant be touched or use in any way.


Anyone want to guess why? Scroll Down.






















I am sick and tired of seeing UOBLAHBLAH websites for resources or guild BS. They use trial accounts and run no risk of being banned for advertising. IN THE NAME of all thats Holly attach real accounts to a printed book while you are at it, so you can find and ban the damn advertisers.

Thanks

 

[Luc of Legends]

Great start Draconi..

i have another idea.. limited the number of trial acct. that can be logon to a server at one time. i borrowed this idea from another game i like AdventureQuest. Yes was very annoying at times to have to wait for some to logout but was worth it to get to play for a little bit. (worse when i was on dialup cause about the time that some had loged and i try to log someone higher speed got the slot.) hey that the roll of the dice.


My 2Gps

Luc

 

[Kelline]

If I started a trial acct now &

Only able to mine iron
Only able to chop normal wood

Id be extremely bored within minutes & quit

Why would a true new player be bored within minutes if he couldn´t do those things?

only being able to mine or chop would was what i was saying

I say let them do the quests, but limit them to once like the dreadhorn is. that would give them an idea what the quests r like, but cant farm it.

one of the bonus's of playin a real shard verse tc is that soemtimes u'll have RL frinds that can help u a little & give u a tour.

no house
limit bank storage
limit what they can wear
limit skills to about what u could get if u used a token

Id say that they cant renounce young, but then they couldnt go to fell & experience the PVP or spawn sceen. Yes tehy could go to dungeons in tram, but that doesnt comapir to tryin to pull off a spawn or raid & pvp based.

as I said before, check out Runescape. its kinda similar to uo's 3d version & there is a diff between free play & membership. But it allows enough freedom for players to get an idea if they want a subscription. Trust me, my duaghter is begging me to get her sub back lol. I just ask if shes worth the $5 a minth lol

 

[AirmidCecht]

The main goal of trial accounts is to see if you like the game. Some of us pride ourselves in showing new players around Sosaria. There was another thread on these forums about what keeps/brings people back to UO. Freedom to do anything upon log in and be able to jump into the game with little skill was one of the main replies.

In the interest of keeping that feeling alive in UO and after all this discussion I'm diggin on the simplicity of some suggestions I've read:

Let trial accounts see all of Sosaria but if they enter champ/peerless/event areas they cannot loot. If they die they teleport out.

Cap skills and storage. Someone already mentioned there should be enough time in that trial period to decide if this is the game for them without having to max out their skills.

No house placing. Also works as an incentive to stick around past the trial period once they see the cool housing.

It's a good start without being so complex it takes forever to implement.

 

[Gheed]

I am sick and tired of seeing UOBLAHBLAH websites for resources or guild BS. They use trial accounts and run no risk of being banned for advertising. IN THE NAME of all thats Holly attach real accounts to a printed book while you are at it, so you can find and ban the damn advertisers.

Thanks

Ah good one! /signed Not related but I do want folks to be allowed to mark runes... maybe not change the name. I haven't paid for a rune in ages. Always more than enough lying around.

 

[Lord Drakelord]

What systems you feel are meant for paying subscribers
What current “age related” restrictions you’d like to see removed

During the Melissia event we saw alot of 'Young' players there, I felt this was a play on the mech's of the game using those buddy codes you have to allow you to get a free account to do the event. So I would think that 'Young' should be blocked from such events, unless its a "PAID" account!

Something I like to see remove is the age requirement for the leather tub, accounts less then 2 years of age cannot use them.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

Sorry but I disagree.

Hi...Love the name!

 

[Crysta]

There's a problem with saying that the ones that come with purchases are fine to use though.. if you remember, one of the anniversary boxes (seven was it?) came with one for each year of the box (IE; if it was actually the seventh anny box, it came with 7 codes)... that's a hell of a lot of "purchased" codes floating around out there. I'm sure if you did some digging you could find the number of ones that have as yet not been claimed in your data, and i'm sure its anything but small.

Might be a good idea to put the trial restrictions on codes from that box if possible (and it very well should be if i'm interpreting the nature of the system changes you're making correctly), since they were intended to be "show a friend how good the game is" gifts anyway.

 

[Aurelius]

I could see limiting trial accounts to say 70 or 75 skill points in any particular skill.... by the time they hit that they should know if they like the game or not and want to pay for it.....

Not sure about that - skills like Focus where you get gains by the bucketload by simply walking around a bit, would need excluding from the cap for a start!

 

[Chiera]

No Transcendence Scrolls
No PowerScrolls
No Quests beyond Haven
No Housing
No Vendors
BOD limitations, similar to what Kellgory expressed
No Commodity Deed Creation
No Holiday Rewards
No Factions
No Guilds
No Shard Transfers
No access to most recent publish 'desirable' (Replica Drops currently, as example)
Auto Exorcism back to Haven upon Death, ghosts cannot roam beyond Haven
Virtue Level gain cap at first tier

pretty comprehensive list But a good and reasonable one imho. Would like to add a few things though:

No advanced chars on trial accounts
Limit trial period to 14 days (should be enough to get enough of a sketch from the game to decide to invest 13$ or not)
Make bods unlimited but char specific just like the holiday gift deed and let them work as a kind of char specific alc scroll as reward.

 

[Harlequin]

Char specific bods mentioned by Chiera would be good too. Perhaps even simpler to implement than the "young" kind of bod system I suggested earlier.

 

[MorganaLeFey]

Hi...Love the name!

Thank you! Your's and your sister's aren't so bad either!

I should state here also that I am not you or your sister Abigail. I've actually had people stop me in game to ask that.

 

[NewThunder]

No house placing. Also works as an incentive to stick around past the trial period once they see the cool housing.

Perhaps a trail account could be given and apartment in haven, where they could play with the customizing options and decorate, but not have any storage that could be used to store scripted resources and the like. This way true new players could experience the fun of owning a home.

 

[UOKaiser]

I believe people here are confusing what draconi meant. There is a difference between 30 day free code (which was payed for by buying the box), kr 14 day trial account (which can't place homes because you need to be 15 days), and young status in general. And then others are just totally of the mark.
I beleive alot of people in this forum are just insane :gun:
(it's what happens when you played UO too long)

 

[Demonous]

i dunno how this fits into the thread at all.... but there is a keep on Ice Island Felucca, Chesapeake owned by Ian Stormbringer. The owner of this keep was Todd Pratt, a catcher in major league baseball, his picture was on the box for UO Renaissance if anyone remembers, i was actually friends with him in game but the guy hasnt logged on in atleast 6 years... can you get rid of the house or something its kind of a waste.... he has all special things that gms put for him in there, stone furniture before it existed for players and such

 

[jack flash uk]

I don't think any 30 day account should have housing. Until a payment is made on that account a player should not be able to grab a plot or trade one. Especially while there's a whole 3 months of time before that closed account's house will decay. Then be replaced with yet another trial account house. Houses should belong only to accounts which are paid for, and by that I mean the monthly subscription. A true newbie doesn't need a house before 30 days have passed, and I doubt many camp for castles either.

If a 30 day account is going to be allowed to place or hold a house, I want to see any houses on a closed trial account decay as soon as the account is closed, not 3 months down the line. From your side of things there is one perspective, but having a castle squatter in the middle of a RP town wasn't particularly fun for me. Players shouldn't be inconvenienced for months because of real estate traders.

Wenchy

ok lets try again 45 yes 45, not 30 or trail 45 DAY ACCTS, ie bought with the box, not free PAID FOR these should have full privilages(spelling?) these are what i use, i buy them, not free, not given PAID FOR, yes????ok

why should these codes that HAVE BEEN PAID FOR have lilimitations on them?


clear as mud?

 

[Cogniac]

Hopefully this post doesn't get utterly lost in the 10 pages of suggestions so far.

I'm seeing lots of posts which seem to advocate more or less the complete chastisement of the trial account system. Whether these recommendations arise out of individuals being personally burned by people abusing trial accounts, or just the usual vitriolic momentum of UHall, I won't conjecture.

Yes, trial accounts are abused in their current state, and yes, the system needs to be changed to prevent such actions. However, it must be remembered that the central purpose of the trial account system is to provide new players with a taste of the wide array of activities that are available in Ultima Online, thus allowing them to decide whether to continue to play as paying subscribers.


There are obviously certain things which should not be accessible to trial accounts at all:

• Siege Perilous
• Factions
• Champ Spawn dungeons and Felucca T2A
• Peerless dungeons and boss encounters
• The ability to place houses
• Etcetera...

But there are also systems which are abused by trial accounts, but should be accessible on a limited basis, such as:

• BoDs: Institute a cap on the number of BoDs that a trial account may complete for each skill (Blacksmithing and Tailoring, for now), say 10 or 20. Then, when and if they reach the cap, bestow on the player a reward similar to the New Haven newbie items.
• Quests: Institute a cap on the number of quests that a trial account may complete, such as 10 or 20. Disallow access to certain quests such as the ones that grant a player access to peerless dungeons. When and if the player reaches the cap, bestow on them a reward similar to the New Haven newbie items.
• Cooperative Collections: Institute a cap on the number of points that a trial account can accumulate in any one collection, say 1-2000. Perhaps disallow access to all but one NPC in the library (the Trader), and possibly prohibit access to the collections in Felucca entirely. Come up with three (3) newbie rewards (one for each collection) that can be acquired for the exact amount of points of each cap.
• Felucca: Trial accounts should have access to Felucca to get a feel for the possible risks and rewards offered there. They should not, however, be allowed access to anywhere but the mainland, and should not be allowed to join Factions. This allows trial accounts to observe Factions and other PvP-related enterprises in action, while not allowing them to be abused to farm Faction points or camp champion spawns.

A careful balance must be achieved between the desire to punish trial accounts for their history of abuse and the need for the trial account system to act as a way to attract and interest new players, and I'm sure the developers have this in mind as well as in their requirements specs.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

I should state here also that I am not you or your sister Abigail. I've actually had people stop me in game to ask that.

Really?

Do you play on Atlantic?

 

[Lord_Puffy]

Hello everyone!

The design team has recently been provided with better tools to identify paying accounts versus free trial accounts once a player has logged in. Up until now content and systems within UO have not been designed in a way that discourages exploitative behavior, treating both types equally.

As you can imagine, this has led some very negative consequences. Resource farming, scripting, house placement exploits – these are all things taken advantage of by unscrupulous individuals abusing trial accounts. In turn, we’ve had to put hard caps on usage of various game features; for instance, having to wait an artificial thirty days after making a character before you can do certain things.

We now have the tools in place to accomplish two major things: restrict usage of some features to paying subscribers, and release the “character age” restrictions in others.

Some examples would include:

• Only letting paying subscribers create/trade houses
• Make BODs only available to paying subscribers
• Remove character age requirements for placing houses

Those aren’t the only things we’re looking at, but before we get too ahead of ourselves, I’d like to solicit your feedback.

I strongly believe this new ability will make the game healthier, and reward loyal players while removing the ease with which our systems are exploited. I should reiterate that this is only an effort to fix a gaping hole in the way we design our systems. This isn’t a change to the way UO’s subscription model works in any way.

Our definition of trial accounts does *not* include the free game time associated with buying an actual release of the game. That first month of paid subscription entitles you to *all* the benefits of a regular subscriber. These restrictions will only be applied to the free trial accounts.

We’re currently targeting these changes for Publish 58.

I’m opening this thread to discuss:

• Discussion on the impact of being able to restrict trial users from some systems
• What systems you feel are meant for paying subscribers
• What current “age related” restrictions you’d like to see removed

Thank you,

Tim "Draconi" Cotten

Tim "Draconi" Cotten, when are your plans for finally trying to do something about this out of control speedhacking/scripting that has been running rampid for the last 11 years. I mean its pushed away alot of players and its also held back this game from really growing. Fix speedhacking/scripting before you fix anymore pixel crack, IE taking one items code and just tweaking it a little to change the color. Seriously you dont got any resources to put towards cheating? Its ridiculous.

 

[blust4]

I believe people here are confusing what draconi meant. There is a difference between 30 day free code (which was payed for by buying the box), kr 14 day trial account (which can't place homes because you need to be 15 days), and young status in general. And then others are just totally of the mark.
I beleive alot of people in this forum are just insane :gun:
(it's what happens when you played UO too long)

There is no difference between 30 days free code and kr 14 day trial account regarding housing. Everyone needs to wait 15 days.

I just used the 30 days free code from 9th anniversary box. I still need to wait 15 days to place a house. (I saw 3 18x18 plots on one expedition. Lucky for me, after 13 days they are still available there. Tomorrow I will be able to place a house in one of them. But this also indicates the dire situation of UO status. A lot of players are leaving. Leave their 18x18 houses to fall.)

 

[UOKaiser]

There is no difference between 30 days free code and kr 14 day trial account regarding housing. Everyone needs to wait 15 days.

I just used the 30 days free code from 9th anniversary box. I still need to wait 15 days to place a house. (I saw 3 18x18 plots on one expedition. Lucky for me, after 13 days they are still available there. Tomorrow I will be able to place a house in one of them. But this also indicates the dire situation of UO status. A lot of players are leaving. Leave their 18x18 houses to fall.)

The difference I was refering to is it's impossible to place on a 14 day account while in a 30 day account you can after it hits 15 days of course. Though as it's being stated 30 day accounts arent free as the box had to be bought one way or the other to get the code. So you pay for the box and get the 30 days and upgrade code. Even though the client is free by just a download you are really paying for the 30 days and upgrade code when buying the box. Just clarifying my previous post you are absolutly right on yours.

 

[King Frankie]

I'm glad you brought this up!

I don't think restricting trial accounts from Felucca is in line with what UO's all about. PvP is part of UO, and there's a portion of new players who have a strong interest in it.

Instead, we're putting together a tentative fix (not exorcism) for ghost cams at champ spawns for P58. Depending on how solid and how effective it is, it may be delayed, but its at the top of the list.

Draconi pvp "was" a big part of uo now cheat is more part of uo like the suggestions thou... clearly some things for the better.

 

[agpga]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Teeshy
Does limiting trial accounts mean we could get BoS back to working how they did? Maybe not for gold, but for resources?

Yes
__________________
i hope you include gold again in the BoS as it really sucks leaving all that gold behind after a harrower

 

[Lia]

Hello everyone!

The design team has recently been provided with better tools to identify paying accounts versus free trial accounts once a player has logged in. Up until now content and systems within UO have not been designed in a way that discourages exploitative behavior, treating both types equally.

As you can imagine, this has led some very negative consequences. Resource farming, scripting, house placement exploits – these are all things taken advantage of by unscrupulous individuals abusing trial accounts. In turn, we’ve had to put hard caps on usage of various game features; for instance, having to wait an artificial thirty days after making a character before you can do certain things.

We now have the tools in place to accomplish two major things: restrict usage of some features to paying subscribers, and release the “character age” restrictions in others.

Some examples would include:

• Only letting paying subscribers create/trade houses
• Make BODs only available to paying subscribers
• Remove character age requirements for placing houses

Those aren’t the only things we’re looking at, but before we get too ahead of ourselves, I’d like to solicit your feedback.

I strongly believe this new ability will make the game healthier, and reward loyal players while removing the ease with which our systems are exploited. I should reiterate that this is only an effort to fix a gaping hole in the way we design our systems. This isn’t a change to the way UO’s subscription model works in any way.

Our definition of trial accounts does *not* include the free game time associated with buying an actual release of the game. That first month of paid subscription entitles you to *all* the benefits of a regular subscriber. These restrictions will only be applied to the free trial accounts.

We’re currently targeting these changes for Publish 58.

I’m opening this thread to discuss:

• Discussion on the impact of being able to restrict trial users from some systems
• What systems you feel are meant for paying subscribers
• What current “age related” restrictions you’d like to see removed

Thank you,

Tim "Draconi" Cotten

I just wanted to say THANK YOU!! for this! Great leap forward, and a good way to start getting things back under control from the cheats and hacks.

 

[HD2300]

Not allowing trial accounts to collect BODs will be pointless.

An account can collect 7 chars x 23 hrs x 30 shards = 4830 tailor bods (or 19 BRKs) and 4830 blacksmithing bods per account per day. 19 BRKs per day. A scriptor will just pay the monthly fee for the account because in 6 hours of scripting they can pay monthly fee.

One solution would be to put a hard cap on bods collected per account per day for both trial and paying accounts.

Another solution would be to sue the company that distributes the scripting program. Blizzard recently won a case against a scriptor and got 6 million.

 

[blust4]

Hello everyone!

The design team has recently been provided with better tools to identify paying accounts versus free trial accounts once a player has logged in. Up until now content and systems within UO have not been designed in a way that discourages exploitative behavior, treating both types equally.

As you can imagine, this has led some very negative consequences. Resource farming, scripting, house placement exploits – these are all things taken advantage of by unscrupulous individuals abusing trial accounts. In turn, we’ve had to put hard caps on usage of various game features; for instance, having to wait an artificial thirty days after making a character before you can do certain things.

We now have the tools in place to accomplish two major things: restrict usage of some features to paying subscribers, and release the “character age” restrictions in others.

Some examples would include:

• Only letting paying subscribers create/trade houses
• Make BODs only available to paying subscribers
• Remove character age requirements for placing houses

Thank you,

Tim "Draconi" Cotten

By your definition that trial accounts are those 14 days free KR clients, not 30/45 days codes from retail boxes, we have no housing problem from trial accounts since you can place houses after 15 days under current system if you really mean that box buyers have already paid first month subscription from the purchasing price.

Basically I am saying that under current system, only paying subscribers can create/trade house.

 

[Maplestone]

Basically I am saying that under current system, only paying subscribers can create/trade house.

You missed the part where it was suggested that once the trial restrictions were decided upon the age restrictions (such as the one for housing) could be dropped.

I suspect they are loosing out on some of the impulsive open-account-to-grab-a-nice-open-plot secondary accounts that people would be opening if they could place immediately upon registering.

 

[Wenchkin]

ok lets try again 45 yes 45, not 30 or trail 45 DAY ACCTS, ie bought with the box, not free PAID FOR these should have full privilages(spelling?) these are what i use, i buy them, not free, not given PAID FOR, yes????ok

why should these codes that HAVE BEEN PAID FOR have lilimitations on them?


clear as mud?

Calm down, 30 days to 45 days isn't exactly a huge leap. It's still a trial account. Being able to plonk down a house on day 1 then leave it for 45 days, then 3 months before it'll decay and *need* to be paid for (assuming it isn't replaced with another trial account's plot) is even more crazy than the 15 or 30 day account would be.

I think the reason you're so against what I'm suggesting is more along the lines that you don't want to pay out the full monthly sub to place one of these houses, you want a much cheaper trial account code to achieve the same thing.

Nothing is stopping you from keeping a supply of non-trial accounts that you can re-activate as necessary. Just stop buying new codes and use the accounts you already have. I've done that for years without making any money on sales of castles and the like. Nothing is preventing you from doing the same.

If the trial codes must have houses, I hope EA will implement a system where credit cards have to be billed successfully before a house can be placed. Then the player gets their remaining free days added back so they get free days before payment 2 is due. Then a veteran player can still get a free month of house ownership on that account, but they can't string trials together to evade the monthly fees other players pay for.

Wenchy

 

[jack flash uk]

Calm down, 30 days to 45 days isn't exactly a huge leap. It's still a trial account. Being able to plonk down a house on day 1 then leave it for 45 days, then 3 months before it'll decay and *need* to be paid for (assuming it isn't replaced with another trial account's plot) is even more crazy than the 15 or 30 day account would be.

I think the reason you're so against what I'm suggesting is more along the lines that you don't want to pay out the full monthly sub to place one of these houses, you want a much cheaper trial account code to achieve the same thing.

Nothing is stopping you from keeping a supply of non-trial accounts that you can re-activate as necessary. Just stop buying new codes and use the accounts you already have. I've done that for years without making any money on sales of castles and the like. Nothing is preventing you from doing the same.

If the trial codes must have houses, I hope EA will implement a system where credit cards have to be billed successfully before a house can be placed. Then the player gets their remaining free days added back so they get free days before payment 2 is due. Then a veteran player can still get a free month of house ownership on that account, but they can't string trials together to evade the monthly fees other players pay for.

Wenchy

i have always thought there is a conflict with regards to accts

1 FREE download acct, to get a feel for the game

2. 45 day acct codes that come with a SHOP BOUGHT BOXED GAME

i feel these are NOT trials and HAVBE BEEN PAID FOR

i run 2 normal accts (when i play)
and buy up 45 day accts, not free downloaded trials

see the conflict?

now seeing as i only use them to place houses, and lets be honest (europa) the housing market it DEAD, i'd like to think i was pretty good at it and know what i am talking about, THP will agree i am sure, over 500 plot/house sales to my credit(and at least 100 placed for others i regard friends or needy, ie new players that need a helping hand etc, and over 800 idocs blah.blah, i even gave a castle site to solaris wraith in the snakes pass, fel, the ultimate castle spot i must add!!!!!!!!!!

now, i want to place and have a castle, not to sell, although i have done, but to keep, no castle (bad joke)

i don't want to pay the "going rate" i want to use 45 day paid accts to get the space

however, if there was a system that did not allow me to sell these plots well ok, np

i know from friends, and indeed i have SEEN bod runners etc using trial accts to bod run, i have no idea if these are downloaded accts or paid 45 day accts, i see them as different as i stated above

of course there is soooo much to be sorted to make the game what it was (to be fair i am a 6 year player, loved it back then, i have no idea about the "good old days")

maybe if it was impossible to sell a castle for more than the 855k it cost to place it would help, i dunno. also i know for a fact, as i have placed 5 castles that you need more than my 2 accts to get the footprint for it, and to wait for other houses to fall, or buy out etc, so are you suggesting i open more accts just for this, even though i have 2 accts full of chars already?

Wenchkin what do you think????

 

[It Lives]

Personally a trial account does not need Housing or bank storage.
They should be viewed as an incentive to pay for the account.

If resources(wood, ore, monies, houses, items of value) are continued to be allowed to be stored and transferable with trial accounts they will be abused..

Its not a stop all as I said earlier but it will make a huge difference...

It will narrow the window making it easier for the ban hammer to hit the proper targets.

Any how...... anything that can be viewed as lost revenue for the company at this point is going to be under the microscope.

YaY for the team.

 

[blust4]

i have always thought there is a conflict with regards to accts

1 FREE download acct, to get a feel for the game

2. 45 day acct codes that come with a SHOP BOUGHT BOXED GAME

i feel these are NOT trials and HAVBE BEEN PAID FOR

Clearly you did not read all the posts here. Draconi_EA who started this thread has stated on #125 that accounts using boxed game codes are not free trial accounts and are not subject to restrictions we are discussing here. So keep doing the good job and help your Europa fellows on housing placements.