Trial Accounts and You

[jack flash uk]

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.

thanks i will check Draconi's post

however YOU ARE WRONG as my codes ARE subject to restrictions, and i was relpying to Wenchkins post

so please READ MY POSTS and MY QUOTES to others, this has been a problem for me for A LONG TIME and still is as MY 45 DAY CODES have said restrictions on them

i thank you

 

[Gwendolynne]

Easiest way to regulate trial accounts is to make a Trial Account shard or restrict access to test shard only for trial accounts. Nothing on trial account shard/test shard to remain after trial is over. If a regular account is purchased before or at the end of the test time include, at no additional cost, an advanced character token to be used on the shard of their choice. No character transfers to or from trial account/test shard.

This way the "new" player can enjoy full game play but only on the trial account/test shard. Place house, go to felucca, craft - no matter what because it is all only temporary until trial account is over.

Also you could allow existing players to make a character on this shard if they so desire to assist new players but they must make a new character at each log in so that they do not build up skills and take advantage of new players. A new player being ganked by an experienced and skilled up player will most likely not want to pay for that privilege. Also, existing account holders could be restricted to one character only on the trial account/test shard.

 

[AesSedai]

- Hi OP ~ Draconi,
Groovy addition, looking forward to it, & I'm in agreement with your last post too ~ 'I agree as well [that it is not the magic bullet]'
(even if the few hundred other replies hate it ).

Build UO foundation; others will arrive; burninate the vile; UO will excel
Save UO - Save the cheerleaders

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

After reading several posts, I think the best way to deal with trial accounts is as follows:

- Limited to New Haven on all production shards
- No access to Siege/Mugen
- No access to BODs
- No housing
- No Vet reward usage
- Limit placed on skill advancement (85)

But...

- Full access on Test Center

This would more or less eliminate the use of non-paying accounts to farm resources and gold...while still giving new players a chance to experience all aspects of the game.

As for new players that have friends that want to have them join them in the game:

Bring back Buddy Codes. I am not sure how these worked exactly, but here is how they should work...

If you have a friend that wants to play UO, you issue them a Buddy Code from your account. NO INFO from your account is shown to them. They just get a code in an email that allows them to access UO, with FULL access, for 30 days. This should be a ONE TIME thing. Buddy Codes should only be available to players that have paid for at least 3 months of service. Any infraction of the TOS by the Buddy account should result in permanent banning of BOTH the Buddy account, and the player's account that issued it.

Beyond this, any new player wanting full access needs to pay their subscription fee.

Just my opinion.

 

[Wenchkin]

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?

Yes, I see exactly what you mean, I just see the potential for abuse here, while players who don't use trial after trial have to pay the full rates. And if they're honest and say they live in the UK, they're being charged WAY too much LOL.

See you're saying you paid for them and want to get the benefits, but I'm coming from the perspective of someone who uses normal accounts for the house holding thing and doesn't get 1p off the normal price. I don't expect to either, much as it would be nice to have accounts on the same card get a reduction *hint, hint* If I'm not able to get a reduction after years of paying for those multiple accounts, I don't see that it's fair for other vets to get the same. It would be fairer IMO if we got a reduction on multiple account subscriptions (as we do for paying 3 and 6 months) and it came about that way.

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????

Well I run a RP town, so speaking for myself I've had up to 6 accounts holding houses at any given time, and they were fully paid up. Which is quite a good comparison, because most of those little houses were within a castle plot sized clearing. If I'd wanted a castle after all this time, I dread to think what it would've cost me. Dreamstone started off about 9 years ago But it wasn't about the money, it was what I wanted to do and I'm very happy with the result. And IMHO castles are much the same. They're a big expensive status symbol. It's not meant to be cheap. if they were cheap and easy to acquire, would there be any real satisfaction in placing one?

Wenchy

 

[lucksi]

If you have a friend that wants to play UO, you issue them a Buddy Code from your account. NO INFO from your account is shown to them. They just get a code in an email that allows them to access UO, with FULL access, for 30 days. This should be a ONE TIME thing. Buddy Codes should only be available to players that have paid for at least 3 months of service. Any infraction of the TOS by the Buddy account should result in permanent banning of BOTH the Buddy account, and the player's account that issued it.

I´m sorry, but that is the stupidest idea ever. Why should someone get banned if a buddy of theirs cheats? Or are you thinking only the scripters will use a buddy code?

That said, the idea is so stupid, it will probably be implemented. Goes well with the banning of people who bought duped items of vendors without their knowledge.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

I´m sorry, but that is the stupidest idea ever. Why should someone get banned if a buddy of theirs cheats? Or are you thinking only the scripters will use a buddy code?

That said, the idea is so stupid, it will probably be implemented. Goes well with the banning of people who bought duped items of vendors without their knowledge.

Well, the idea is to prevent people from issuing a buddy code to get an account to script with.

But, I suppose some people actually want to do that...so they would consider my idea stupid.

Oh well...

 

[laurlo]

glad to hear this has/is being worked on

 

[Dragonchilde]

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.

this is actually a good idea; there is a skill cap limit on this... there's no warning it's coming, and with the accelerated skill gain quests, it's nearly impossible to maintain your young status long. I earned this the hard way testing a new account (yes, I used a trial account, gasp.) While poking around, testing out a few new things... I lost young status. In the midde of the Moonglow cemetary.

Fortunately, I'm a GM runner.

That particular limit needs to be altered or limited, and your proposal actually fixes the problem. Young accounts need to remain young for a certain period of time. Regardless of how quickly they gain skills.

 

[gunneroforgin]

Yes

it would be a big plus to get the bags of sending back.

Now get in ther and see what is going on with not being able to recall off ship keys on origin! Please.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

One more thing to prevent spammers of websites advertising in game.


RUNES.

You have to make so a trial account can only hold ONE LOOSE rune in their back pack or on a PACKY.

No sweat. They can use rune books but can only have ONE LOOSE rune in their pack at at ime. Its To prevent naming 124 runes all "www.mystuffUO" and dropping them.

Because they can use rune books, they can put a rune book in their backpack and drop a rune in that. Now of course you have to limit packs for new accounts to 1 rune book.

Not a problem for a new player. You can swap books at a bank. No need to carry 15 rune books.


NO BOOKS AND NO MASS RUNES for new accounts. Will inhibit that garbage displays of websites in game.

 

[MorganaLeFey]

Really?

Do you play on Atlantic?

Oddly enough no. Like, I've always been a Valley girl. LOL

 

[Wenchkin]

NO BOOKS AND NO MASS RUNES for new accounts. Will inhibit that garbage displays of websites in game.

How about simply coding this instead: If a trial account player tries to drop either a marked rune or a book they get a message saying that they must use a trash chest/barrel or trade the item to another player until their account loses "young" status?

Wenchy

 

[WildStar]

Limiting trial accounts to New Haven would be a mistake IMHO. They should be allowed to go most places on all facets to get the feel for the landscape and depth of the game. The one place that trial accounts should not be able to go is Champion Spawn locations, which Draconi has already stated will happen. If they want to go to Doom and look around the first part, they should have that option.

No housing but should be able to be friended only to a house.

Perhaps there is a way to make a hard cap on the number of small low-end BOD's a character can get per day. This would only apply if the character didn't turn-in a BOD. If one was turned in, they would be able to get another. I am aware that the more experience tailor/smith could fill them, but the new tailor/smith would be turning them in and would get another low-end BOD. This would hinder the turning in of low-end BOD to get high-end BOD by the experience tailor/smith.

The restrictions on Trial Accounts need to be reasonable otherwise the player of the trial account will not be able to experience enough of UO to know if they want to pay for the game or not.

WildStar

 

[the 4th man]

After reading all these posts, I can see a trial shard as being the answer.
The player gets to go anywhere, drop a lil house if they want, and be confined to that shard only. After all, it's a trial.

One doesn't need 14 days or longer to figure out if they like the game or not...in all honesty, it takes but a few hours or less, like test driving a car....either you want it or you don't.

Hopefully that'll cut back on the cheating, I'm all for your actions T-man, keep up the good work pops!

 

[Draconi]

I'd like to take a moment and thank everyone for the hundreds of contributions to this discussion. It's been invaluable to us, and we truly appreciate it.

Eliminating cheating avenues is very important to the design team - we may not be able to fix every cheat as designers - but we'll use every tool at our disposal to make the systems under our control as secure as possible.

We've taken a lot away from this discussion: everything from leaving Test Centers unrestricted to reverting Bag of Sending changes. Once we have a definitive plan for the P58 trial account changes, we'll post it to garner further feedback.

Thanks again!

 

[Restroom Cowboy]

I'd like to take a moment and thank everyone for the hundreds of contributions to this discussion. It's been invaluable to us, and we truly appreciate it.

Eliminating cheating avenues is very important to the design team - we may not be able to fix every cheat as designers - but we'll use every tool at our disposal to make the systems under our control as secure as possible.

We've taken a lot away from this discussion: everything from leaving Test Centers unrestricted to reverting Bag of Sending changes. Once we have a definitive plan for the P58 trial account changes, we'll post it to garner further feedback.

Thanks again!

Gee...thanks mister!

....that sure is swell!

 

[Mayadevi]

Dang, I got the flu and missed the party

It really sounds as if a lot of you folks don't like new players. Honestly, trial accounts are to try out the game.

Not letting them place houses is in a way not letting try out the game, since housing is a big part of UO and what makes it so grand.

Now, I beta test and try out a lot of games. Several a month normally. Maybe it's just me, but any game where I am heavily restricted on a trail account. I don't subscribe too. I usually get irritated fairly quickly with that and don't even finish the trial. I certainly don't take the risk and spend money on a game I "might" like, when I haven't gotton to test it out fully.

The less restrictions, the better.

I'm also part of a guild that helps newbies. I like helping newbies. I leave stuff in haven and suit them out to the point where I often can't find a lrc tunic for myself if I want to make a new character. I've likely suited out several "not -so-new" players by accident. That is one thing that might help, if there was a way to tell if new players were actually NEW players. Don't think that's possible though.

It's sad that the trial accounts are being used for exploits. But panicking and restricting new players to the point where there is no game left to play is likely not the answer. Perhaps there could be limits on the amount of times one can do things, rather than the amount of things a new player can do? I really miss My BOS, but I'd gladly give it up for more newbies to play with ! And I'd really like to be able to continue to take those newbies to explore all that UO has to offer and all that makes it different from Wow and the other cookie-cutter games out there.

OverChanging at 2 cents,

Mayadevi