What has imbueing done to magic item market?

[UOKaiser]

I'm not missunderstanding anything here UOKaiser.. Seriously, go through all those insurance, cheating and what-not debates and you'll see this is just like them.

As for your opinion about imbuing I just don't share the same views, don't fret over it and seriously DO NOT assume I'm not agreeing simply because I do not understand. That's cheap.

The skill allows you to build items. That's all there is to it. You're stretching this beyond its limits if you know what I mean. It had an impact in the game, and if AOS was done properly I'd say it could have been a negative impact. As things are now, imbuing IMPROVED just about everyone's game experience. Do certain templates dominate because of easily-obtained items? Yes.. That's a fault in templates' mechanics, not in items or imbuing.

I'd like EA/M to expand on this system and maybe try to enhance it with mechanics that will "force" players to interact more, but that wouldn't be right. And as it is, imbuing does absolutely nothing towards what you're saying.. And honestly, PVP crafters and PVM crafters? What exactly are you on about?.. And where did I ever bring up Felucca/Trammel issues or mentioned you being "forced" to play in Felucca due to scrolls?

Get it straight, I don't care. I only want to play. If I'm champ-hunting it's because it's fun to be there with my friends as there are occassional fights. And that's the reason I play obviously. What's the reason you play? To feel NEEDED? Well, tough luck. I am not paying EA/M to NEED anyone, as far as equipping my characters goes. If the game is fun, I'll interact with other players having fun. Some of them are able to enjoy the game through crafting- Some through healing others. And some through farming. If I want something they have I interact with them, as I refuse to build an imbuer, as an example. But I don't need a nerf to imbuing or to sell power scrolls to draw everyone around me and most of the players I've met, don't either.

As for PVP guilds not building community and such.. Sorry, got to disagree. If that was so I'd have to revive my PVMer, crafter, build an imbuer and finish up my tamer in training. Come to think of it, even then I'd still enjoy simply playing with my friends regardless of the template. But for now I can simply rely on them and it feels more comfortable doing it out of personal CHOICE than it being forced on me. I hope I'm giving you an example you can understand with all this.

All in all I can't help but tell you once more that you appear to simply be whining out of feeling lonely and bored in Ultima Online, which is your problem, not the game's. And the same goes for your opinion that the game's become too fast-paced. After a decade and more I want some things FAST, it's natural. It takes absolutely NOTHING off my enjoyment. So each to their own I guess.

You misunderstand the kill switch theory. You are PVPer you don't have a kill switch. We are PVMers we do have a kill switch. The kill switch in our end is not that we press a button and everything dies it's that we have a ending. PVPers goal is to kill and win against other players. This in turn you want your armor and weapon quickly to play your game. Test center is great for this.
For PVMers and trammel classes the end result is not what we looking for. We are not going to use our advance items to kill other players. Our enemies are repetitve,respawning,and always at the same spot. They don't think,they don't counter attack,they don't taunt us and if we taunt them they have no clue what we saying. So our game begins when we loot our first monster. From there on out we strive to find better loot to get stronger to find better loot to kill stronger untill we kill the strongest of all and concentrate on finding better loot to increase our power to kill the monsters faster to find better loot.

The game for us is the journey through this. Test center is boredome incarnet for us. Because the quest is done as soon as you enter the game. Imbuing because it was not thought out with all the consequences have made this journety short for us. We reach our end game in mere months insteread of years. PVP players begin there play from the end of our journey. This is why PVP love it and non-PVP will eventualy hit the brick wall unless they decide to engage in PVP afterwards.

I would think you would want the game to survive for much longer than try to condem the obvious. PVP cannot survive without the subscriptions from trammel players. Hell trammel can't survive with subscription from fel players. You want pvp players to stay and you want Trammel players to continue there quest.
I never suggested a nerf to imbuing. I don't like any nerfs for anything. I suggested a increase in caps and stats that can only be gained by random items and craft items while imbuing stays at 500 intensity. While PVP players have there perfect items to fight with agaisnt each other. The Trammel players will continue there quest to find better items that cannot be achieved through imbuing. And because the items are by using the random system this quest will last many many years. The items has to be able to break the cap not just reach the cap quicker that would make no sense. it has to be able to give 70 dci 70 hci 80-85 ressit 190hp,mana,dex and so forth. This will be balnced ofcourse by the random mods and that it's as rare as farming high end monsters like before.

If a pvp player gets a hold of enough items to increase all his cap which would extremly difficult. He will still have to deal that they are all random mods.

 

[Llewen]

For PVMers and trammel classes the end result is not what we looking for. We are not going to use our advance items to kill other players. Our enemies are repetitve,respawning,and always at the same spot. They don't think,they don't counter attack,they don't taunt us and if we taunt them they have no clue what we saying. So our game begins when we loot our first monster. From there on out we strive to find better loot to get stronger to find better loot to kill stronger untill we kill the strongest of all and concentrate on finding better loot to increase our power to kill the monsters faster to find better loot.

The game for us is the journey through this. Test center is boredome incarnet for us. Because the quest is done as soon as you enter the game. Imbuing because it was not thought out with all the consequences have made this journety short for us. We reach our end game in mere months insteread of years. PVP players begin there play from the end of our journey. This is why PVP love it and non-PVP will eventualy hit the brick wall unless they decide to engage in PVP afterwards.

I would think you would want the game to survive for much longer than try to condem the obvious. PVP cannot survive without the subscriptions from trammel players. Hell trammel can't survive with subscription from fel players. You want pvp players to stay and you want Trammel players to continue there quest.

I understand what you are saying, even though I didn't the first go round. What you are talking about is what is more commonly called "the end game". The thing is in a game like UO there are almost as many different "end games" as there are players. For some it is pvp, for some it is rp, for some it is peerless, for some it is rares collecting, for me it is many things, pvp and finding the perfect pet are two of them.

You are telling us that imbuing has killed your "end game". It's hard to respond to that. I've played for over seven years now, and I certainly haven't done everything there is to do in game. If you feel you truly have, maybe it is time for you to go do something else for a while. And I say that with respect and kindness. Obviously I don't want people to quit the game, but sometimes you need to take a break, and maybe that is what you need to do.

From my perspective there always has been an awful lot more to UO than finding an amazing piece of loot on a high end mob, so imbuing didn't even come close to killing my "end game". I talked before about "burn out" and I think that is still what we are talking about here. Different people flame out at different rates. Some will have done everything there is to do in the game in a year or two, or at least everything that interests them, for some it can take a life time.

It all depends on your personality and your playstyle. And while the devs can offer new content, and try to improve various aspects of the game, at some point there is nothing they can do to prevent a player from finishing her or his "end game".

You did mention one thing though that I agree could use some major work, and that is the mob a.i. Mob a.i. needs to be less predictable, and less exploitable, and in every way more "intelligent". A few simple things could be done to start, and one of them is increase the movement speed for mobs. Right now they are so slow my grandmother could outrun the fastest of them on a ten year old pc.

And you are right about another thing. In light of what can be done with imbuing the mob loot tables, and the random magical items especially, need to be reworked. There needs to be a reason to sort through loot again looking for that perfect piece. That was a lot of fun, and I think many miss that.

How exactly they should be reworked, I don't know, but removing the 450 point cap for high end loot would be a place to start, if indeed it exists.

 

[UOKaiser]

I understand what you are saying, even though I didn't the first go round. What you are talking about is what is more commonly called "the end game". The thing is in a game like UO there are almost as many different "end games" as there are players. For some it is pvp, for some it is rp, for some it is peerless, for some it is rares collecting, for me it is many things, pvp and finding the perfect pet are two of them.

You are telling us that imbuing has killed your "end game". It's hard to respond to that. I've played for over seven years now, and I certainly haven't done everything there is to do in game. If you feel you truly have, maybe it is time for you to go do something else for a while. And I say that with respect and kindness. Obviously I don't want people to quit the game, but sometimes you need to take a break, and maybe that is what you need to do.

From my perspective there always has been an awful lot more to UO than finding an amazing piece of loot on a high end mob, so imbuing didn't even come close to killing my "end game". I talked before about "burn out" and I think that is still what we are talking about here. Different people flame out at different rates. Some will have done everything there is to do in the game in a year or two, or at least everything that interests them, for some it can take a life time.

It all depends on your personality and your playstyle. And while the devs can offer new content, and try to improve various aspects of the game, at some point there is nothing they can do to prevent a player from finishing her or his "end game".

You did mention one thing though that I agree could use some major work, and that is the mob a.i. Mob a.i. needs to be less predictable, and less exploitable, and in every way more "intelligent". A few simple things could be done to start, and one of them is increase the movement speed for mobs. Right now they are so slow my grandmother could outrun the fastest of them on a ten year old pc.

And you are right about another thing. In light of what can be done with imbuing the mob loot tables, and the random magical items especially, need to be reworked. There needs to be a reason to sort through loot again looking for that perfect piece. That was a lot of fun, and I think many miss that.

How exactly they should be reworked, I don't know, but removing the 450 point cap for high end loot would be a place to start, if indeed it exists.

My end game is various. yes many of my end games have finished especially within the last year. Though I still have 1 or 2 of my end game not affected by imbuing,pvm or crafting. So am still here for a while longer. The problem is we do not want other players end games to finish. We do not want pvp players to kill everyone, we do not want PVM players to get every item in the game, We don't want roleplayers to run out of imagination, we do not want a realstate player to own every house in the game,we do not want a museum to collect all the rares there are, we do not want merchants to run out of items to sell, we do not want decoraters to run out of homes,we do not want so many people to end there game quickly and just quit cause they finished. We want these journeys to last years and years. this is why UO is still around. It was consider a power gamers game. Nothing was easy from skill building to item collecting. It took players a very long time to achieve there goals.

Imbuing is 1 system that didn't just effect crafting but it effected so many other systems in such a way to easyly achieve the goals. i came to the realisation of this when i realise multiple goals that i worked on for years ended within a few months. I was like what the hell. I asked around on multiple shards and others also had the same problem. Many people taking long breaks afterwards more than usual. With more research and some inside connections i saw what is and will happen unless something is done. I am for the first time in a very long time worried for UO's future. This is why I try my best lately for people to hear and open there eyes at what is slowly happening. I am but 1 person and I don't expect to make a difference but as more people come to the same inevitable conclusion I have there voices might also be heard.

 

[Smoot]

Well... imbuing is here, and everyone's dealing with it. Yes it removed a huge part of the game, that some players hated, and some players loved. But whats done is done. When i burn a barbed kit, and leave the pieces on the ground in Have, yes 9 times out of ten they are picked up by a gargoyal (i dont make gargoyal armor) only to be unraveled.

I think the previous posts have all established already that imbuing has killed the market for magic items.

Even 4/5 of the new artifacts are pretty worthless. Alot have pvp properties with the one new property being pvm. Battlelust, casting focus i see as basically pvm, damage eater somewhat usefull in pvp.
Take cavalry's folly for example. Yes its the fastest dismounting swords weapon in the game (its stats are mostly pvp, the hp regen is useless) but how many swords dismounters are there? *shrugs*

Basically, the only thing that has survived the changes in my opinion is role playing, its still the same, and is really the only reason i still play the game. PVP also has, but personally ive just gotten tired of the hacks. After pvping for years, i guess ive also just gotten bored of it. Although i still pvp on occasion.

Now to get totally off topic. A huge part of UO was and is community. Guilds and alliances being the backbone of this. Even that has changed. The global chats make it perfectly possible to be in no guild, and only actually have to meet a person/character in person for a few seconds for a trade. Also, i know ventrillo is totally seperate from UO, but it does get frustrating when theres 15 people from your guild online, but guild chat is empty. Just a pet peeve of mine i guess.

Like in all aspects of life, times change. I play UO because its a nice break from the dominant "leveling games," from online mmorpgs, to consoles fps games, etc etc. While ive accepted the new changes in SA, and there many flaws, it doesnt mean i have to like them. But i still have a fun with the game, find reasons to play, get enjoyment out of it. So i still play, if someone doesn't, all i can say is quit and find something else to do.

 

[Tina Small]

Kaiser, I think you're making a giant leap in trying to link the multitude of empty vendors around the game and the empty Abyss and Underworld to the introduction of imbuing.

Were all those empty "SA ingredients" vendors even around before SA was introduced? I doubt it.

Were the game's dungeons crammed with players before SA was introduced? Nope.

The expansion got a few people to come back to UO to check things out. It also got some people to put up vendors and visit the Abyss and the Underworld because the items and the places were new. Once the novelty wore off a bit and the returnees got their fill, everything has subsided back to where it was before the expansion happened. Maybe the population is up a tiny bit, but overall I don't think it's up considerably from where it was a year ago.

UO is not dying at a faster rate than it was before SA just because imbuing was introduced. Among other reasons, it's dying because:

• It's not advertised anywhere.
• Too much of the game's budget is spent on maintaining two clients instead of one newer one and thus fewer dollars are able to be spent on adding content and fixing problems. I don't know the best solution for this problem. As someone who has a laptop computer that isn't that old but still has problems running the enhanced client for any length of time and that can't have any more RAM stuffed into it, I tend to mostly use the legacy client. However, I'd switch to only using the enhanced client if that was all I could use because I think it has much greater potential for attracting new and returning players. But that's just the way I see things. Maybe dumping the enhanced client and sticking to just the old legacy client is the best way to present the game. "Here, come play this game that looks like it hasn't changed in 12 years. You'll just love it!"
• The economy is in a mess and any kind of gaming, including UO, is a luxury for many.
• Too many current players have become blind to the fact that their continued use of illegal third party applications is driving away other players and discouraging former players from returning.

I could go on and on, Kaiser, but I won't. Imbuing isn't killing off UO. The game's population is STILL down because the game is faced with some pretty big issues that have nothing at all to do with imbuing. Imbuing has the potential to level the playing field for a lot of players whose #1 goal in the game is NOT to get to the top of the biggest heap of gold but rather to go out and have fun and quit feeling quite so inadequate because they haven't played for 12 years and/or don't have the luxury to spend many hours per week playing UO.

If imbuing is making the fat cat merchants in the game squirmy and concerned, that's a good thing and way overdue, in my opinion. Maybe it means we're finally on the road to UO being a game that feels like it offers a world of possibilities to new and returning players. Maybe it won't feel to them quite so much like a place where they will always be perceived as second class citizens. That is, unless they sell their soul to the devil and cave in to the pressure to become full- or part-time merchants and spend their UO days "buying low and selling high" and everything else that often goes with that gaming style (e.g., looking the other way when dealing with possible scripters and dupers or perhaps engaging in those activities themselves). UO needs to become a game that offers a robust range of possibilities for all players, Kaiser. It cannot continue to exist by going down the road where virtually all activities in the game are evaluated by players for what they wield in salable items. It has to change so that most activities in the game are evaluated for whether or not they are actually FUN to do.

 

[Diggity]

First, I’ll agree imbuing has changed the dynamics of PVM loot farming. 99.99% of PVM loot is only going to be good if you need elemental damage weapons or items to unravel for residue/enchanted essence and the rarer relic frags. But I have to point out that PVM loot has the potential to be much better than anything you can imbue – plus it won’t ever break. You CAN loot a 1/3 FC/FCR, 15 DCI, 15 HCI, 15 skill jewel or other items with weighted intensity >> 500 and better than anything you can imbue. Very unlikely that you will and/or that the property combo will be useful, but it is possible.

At this point, if you say that the likelihood of getting something better thru PVM farming is too low and it kills PVM for you – you have a sense as to why imbuing came about in the first place. Playing the PVM RNG lotto has always been tedious and unrewarding for many players who just want to play the game. For PVP and higher end PVM – good equipment is needed just to play the game. For those that PVM for stuff to resell, the game has changed – tho I don’t think it is dead. The higher end/rarer stuff – tangles/slithers/lt sash/gladiator’s will still sell. At the low end – imbuing ingredients still sell well for the effort it takes to get them.

So in a way, imbuing HAS killed the magic item market for anything but the most uber items. When the alternative was 3-4 prop items going for millions and/or tedious farming to get maybe 1 usable item – I think this is a good thing.

 

[UOKaiser]

Kaiser, I think you're making a giant leap in trying to link the multitude of empty vendors around the game and the empty Abyss and Underworld to the introduction of imbuing.

Were all those empty "SA ingredients" vendors even around before SA was introduced? I doubt it.

Were the game's dungeons crammed with players before SA was introduced? Nope.

The expansion got a few people to come back to UO to check things out. It also got some people to put up vendors and visit the Abyss and the Underworld because the items and the places were new. Once the novelty wore off a bit and the returnees got their fill, everything has subsided back to where it was before the expansion happened. Maybe the population is up a tiny bit, but overall I don't think it's up considerably from where it was a year ago.

UO is not dying at a faster rate than it was before SA just because imbuing was introduced. Among other reasons, it's dying because:

• It's not advertised anywhere.
• Too much of the game's budget is spent on maintaining two clients instead of one newer one and thus fewer dollars are able to be spent on adding content and fixing problems. I don't know the best solution for this problem. As someone who has a laptop computer that isn't that old but still has problems running the enhanced client for any length of time and that can't have any more RAM stuffed into it, I tend to mostly use the legacy client. However, I'd switch to only using the enhanced client if that was all I could use because I think it has much greater potential for attracting new and returning players. But that's just the way I see things. Maybe dumping the enhanced client and sticking to just the old legacy client is the best way to present the game. "Here, come play this game that looks like it hasn't changed in 12 years. You'll just love it!"
• The economy is in a mess and any kind of gaming, including UO, is a luxury for many.
• Too many current players have become blind to the fact that their continued use of illegal third party applications is driving away other players and discouraging former players from returning.

I could go on and on, Kaiser, but I won't. Imbuing isn't killing off UO. The game's population is STILL down because the game is faced with some pretty big issues that have nothing at all to do with imbuing. Imbuing has the potential to level the playing field for a lot of players whose #1 goal in the game is NOT to get to the top of the biggest heap of gold but rather to go out and have fun and quit feeling quite so inadequate because they haven't played for 12 years and/or don't have the luxury to spend many hours per week playing UO.

If imbuing is making the fat cat merchants in the game squirmy and concerned, that's a good thing and way overdue, in my opinion. Maybe it means we're finally on the road to UO being a game that feels like it offers a world of possibilities to new and returning players. Maybe it won't feel to them quite so much like a place where they will always be perceived as second class citizens. That is, unless they sell their soul to the devil and cave in to the pressure to become full- or part-time merchants and spend their UO days "buying low and selling high" and everything else that often goes with that gaming style (e.g., looking the other way when dealing with possible scripters and dupers or perhaps engaging in those activities themselves). UO needs to become a game that offers a robust range of possibilities for all players, Kaiser. It cannot continue to exist by going down the road where virtually all activities in the game are evaluated by players for what they wield in salable items. It has to change so that most activities in the game are evaluated for whether or not they are actually FUN to do.

Theres alot here for me to rebuttle here. But it's me really just stating the same thing i did in previous post. We both have our opinions. Though one thing to learn about me. Im not the type of person to go cry nerf or try to get a system change to Benefit a small number of players including myself. You can see this from many of my previous post these years. Also i am not one to lie about situations or go with the crowd. The data that i have on the situation of things is pure numeric data and i do have some sources that well are unique. My information is pretty accurate. I do offer my logic take on this though. If imbuing did enhance more than it destroy i wouldn't even mention it. There is a situation arising that is slow to pick on. Before things were still bad but we still had a good estimate of viable life. Now things are much funner and I don't deny it. Imbuing is great! Unfortunetely from a company perspected it's viable life has shorten dramaticaly. Many players will not realise this till later and still others never will. We players cannot have everything we want. Once again another analogy I will make. It's like dating a loose girl just to sleep with her and then after ending up doing it you are satisfied but are thinking about what you going to eat the next day. Once thats done you might still call her for booty but you not going to make her your wifey. The wifey will be the girl thats hard to get and not loose at all. Thats where you appreciate your hard work. Now the analogy for women is harder as I am not a women so maybe somethig with shoes or purses lol they always after one of these things and once they get it they never wear it again and go and get another pair.

Now the merchants this must be realise how my position is. I have gold alot of gold as do many other people have. But rich player hate me right now because am fighting for the poor. Ive said it before pvp players only want to afford there items they need to PVP. For some reason most PVP players are pretty rich im not sure how they make there gold purhaps power scrolls? It's a ludicrive and controled market. this is why they don't want it in trammel. The control will be lost the prices will drop to gold pieces and they will lose there income. I will put this in Bold so it stands out. When prices go down on items rich players get richer cause they can afford more! Poor players get poorer cause the work they try to do to make gold is worth much less! When you have a billion gold and a castle cost 400k you can afford to buy 2. if prices go down to 200k you can afford 5!.
If your a poor player when you have 100k total in your bank account and you sell a orny that you got from doom and took you 3 weeks to get for 20mil you now have 20,100,000 when prices go down to 8mil for orny and you only have 100k to your name you end up with 8,100,000 for 3 weeks. The rich player can buy alot more at 8mil than they can at 20mil. The poorer stays poorer and the richer gets richer. This is why rich players have trouble with me cause I try to make a market for poor players by lowering the amount the rich can buy. Then i have poor players accusing me of being a monopolising rich player. There is no win for me. I want what is best for UO and not what is best for me or best for my friends or best for groups of players. We need UO to survive so we have a game to play properly. If this means sacrifices then that is what must be done to safeguard the bootm line of UO. But I do not want to safe guard UO and also make it a horrible expereince to players either. This middle ground is what I am searching for some have to give and some have to take to properly balance the game system with the most minimum of pain.
I hope this allows you and others to understand me and my intentions just a little better.

To also retalirate my point again. PVP end game is PVP so they need items to compete and that is boring the fun is in PVP. PVM end game is having the items after killing all the monsters over and over again the fun part is aquiring said items UO after pub 16,diablo,WOW,pretty much all pvm games that ever existed. Single player games like final fantasy,ultima,dragon quest,wizardy,etc. Once all items are recived and all monsters are killed they move on and ended PVM part of the game most will never pvp. PVM is the highest subscription base model in the game. Once goals are achieved they will move on. Games like doom,resident evil,fear,left4dead are not item intesive and are story driven till you end the game and maybe go back to find what you missed. Army shooters,vs games are equilivent to PVP as the goal has nothing to do with items and all to do on the killing and barely any story at all.

 

[Llewen]

Among other reasons, it's dying because:

• It's not advertised anywhere.

• 
  
  This right there is the single biggest reason in my opinion.

 

[Connor_Graham]

That is, unless they sell their soul to the devil and cave in to the pressure to become full- or part-time merchants and spend their UO days "buying low and selling high" and everything else that often goes with that gaming style (e.g., looking the other way when dealing with possible scripters and dupers or perhaps engaging in those activities themselves).

*pokes Tina*

Hey now, some of us merchants come up with everything we sell legitimately. I know we're few and far between, but we're out here. In my case I've kicked many of the merchants you describe right where it hurts by providing things at a lower price than anyone else (and seriously **** some of them off, but then that just means I'm succeeding at my goal), and do so long enough that prices across the shard drop because of it. As with most things, there are the good, the bad, and those that don't give a flip.

And now.....back to the boycott. I was just here seeing if the event had gone live yet. *gives a one finger wave to the asshats on the way out the door*

And no Tine, you're not included in the "asshat" category.

 

[UOKaiser]

This right there is the single biggest reason in my opinion.

Even advertising will not help it. They tried and they lost more on advcertising than retaining new accounts.
The biggest disadvantage is it's over 13 years old. Still with a old platform system and it cost pretty much the same as WOW. Runescape is infinitely much cheaper and has almost the same graphical interface.
If I was born in teh 90's I sure would not pay to play a game made in 1970's.

 

[UOKaiser]

*pokes Tina*

Hey now, some of us merchants come up with everything we sell legitimately. I know we're few and far between, but we're out here. In my case I've kicked many of the merchants you describe right where it hurts by providing things at a lower price than anyone else (and seriously **** some of them off, but then that just means I'm succeeding at my goal), and do so long enough that prices across the shard drop because of it. As with most things, there are the good, the bad, and those that don't give a flip.

And now.....back to the boycott. I was just here seeing if the event had gone live yet. *gives a one finger wave to the asshats on the way out the door*

And no Tine, you're not included in the "asshat" category.

Some? Make that most.It's easy to know which ones are scammers and they usually get booted out of every mall they try to set up a vender at. And conner when you send that poor newbie out to cut 10k pieces of spine leather for you with only a bow and a dream don't undercut him now. Give him top dollar for his work .

 

[Connor_Graham]

Some? Make that most.

Nope. I meant "some". My experience is most of the Luna vendor houses are filled with cheaters that script to get what they sell, or use 3rd party programs to achieve their ends.

It's easy to know which ones are scammers and they usually get booted out of every mall they try to set up a vender at.

Not when the house owners themselves are just as guilty of cheating. And who said anything about scammers?

And conner when you send that poor newbie out to cut 10k pieces of spine leather for you with only a bow and a dream don't undercut him now. Give him top dollar for his work .

I obtain what I sell by myself. I don't use "newbies" to do anything. I'm not even sure where you think you were going with this.

 

[UOKaiser]

Nope. I meant "some". My experience is most of the Luna vendor houses are filled with cheaters that script to get what they sell, or use 3rd party programs to achieve their ends.




Not when the house owners themselves are just as guilty of cheating. And who said anything about scammers?




I obtain what I sell by myself. I don't use "newbies" to do anything. I'm not even sure where you think you were going with this.

I havent seen that. Most of them are resellers. The others do combinations of things. I myself have at maybe 3 dedicated and about 9 Occasional players that i buy from for doing special jobs for me. Resell the rest and when I have time gather everything myself but thats usually for my own use or relaxation and fun. Reselling covers my hobbies. People can script for a month straight and still can't get the amount that is sold on many of those venders. Resellers buy from many sources that keeps them self stocked year round. Dupes occur once in a blue and it's noticeble when they do. I categorised scammers as cheaters don't you? Scammers cheat other people the very essence of cheating.

I might of thought you might help players that need money for there work. I know rich players that pay some of these players only a fraction of what it is worth. I feel sorry for these players they stuck there gaining skill thinking hes making money to sell to someone else and he gets peanuts for what he worked for. I personaly give them top dollar and make a very tiny little profit or no profit if am using it for myself untill they get on there feet and support themselves well. Not many pure newbies. Mostly just returning vets.

I have trade aqreements with PVP guilds that need certain supplies like potions,apples,etc. by myself i cant handle such large orders so i have to recruit help from others.

 

[RaDian FlGith]

Hey now, some of us merchants come up with everything we sell legitimately. I know we're few and far between, but we're out here. In my case I've kicked many of the merchants you describe right where it hurts by providing things at a lower price than anyone else (and seriously **** some of them off, but then that just means I'm succeeding at my goal), and do so long enough that prices across the shard drop because of it. As with most things, there are the good, the bad, and those that don't give a flip.

Then, no offense, there must be some very stupid merchants on your shard if they've told you they're upset about it. Most of the ones I know would simply buy out your inexpensive stock and then turn around and sell it at their going price and make money on your efforts.

And now.....back to the boycott. I was just here seeing if the event had gone live yet. *gives a one finger wave to the asshats on the way out the door*

And no Tine, you're not included in the "asshat" category.

Connor... you've become nothing but a troll, and I hope that Stratics shows you the door. This kind of behavior is inappropriate, and if someone did it to you, you'd be all over reporting them and asking them to be banned. Why you think your behavior as of late is somehow acceptable is beyond me, but if you're going to boycott Stratics for asking you to post in the same manner they ask everyone else to, please avail yourself of the huge glowing red X in the upper right hand corner of your screen.

Otherwise, please quit with the melodramatics.

 

[Smoot]

It's like dating a loose girl just to sleep with her and then after ending up doing it you are satisfied but are thinking about what you going to eat the next day. Once thats done you might still call her for booty but you not going to make her your wifey. The wifey will be the girl thats hard to get and not loose at all. Thats where you appreciate your hard work. Now the analogy for women is harder as I am not a women so maybe somethig with shoes or purses lol they always after one of these things and once they get it they never wear it again and go and get another pair.

This is the PERFECT analogy describing what how imbuing has affected the game / magic item market.


Nuff said. No need to add more to this extremely long thread

 

[Tina Small]

It's like dating a loose girl just to sleep with her and then after ending up doing it you are satisfied but are thinking about what you going to eat the next day. Once thats done you might still call her for booty but you not going to make her your wifey. The wifey will be the girl thats hard to get and not loose at all. Thats where you appreciate your hard work. Now the analogy for women is harder as I am not a women so maybe somethig with shoes or purses lol they always after one of these things and once they get it they never wear it again and go and get another pair.

This is the PERFECT analogy describing what how imbuing has affected the game / magic item market.


Nuff said. No need to add more to this extremely long thread

Perhaps if your primary goal in UO has been to accumulate the most gold and the most "leet" items, the analogy (offensive as it is) might fit your situation. However, if you have had other goals in UO, imbuing is just another addition to the game that you take in stride as you continuing working toward your goals.

Heck, I would think that some of you people who claim to have so much gold already still have shards you've never really played. So why not readjust your goals and just work your way down the list of shards and try to become the wealthiest player on each one? If some of you are the oh-so-munificent billionaire resellers you claim to be, the whole game should prosper as you go about hiring poor struggling players throughout the game to acquire the resources you need to achieve your goals. Right?

Don't even need houses on all those shards. Just take your own advice and rent vendors from the starving Luna house owners.

 

[UOKaiser]

Perhaps if your primary goal in UO has been to accumulate the most gold and the most "leet" items, the analogy (offensive as it is) might fit your situation. However, if you have had other goals in UO, imbuing is just another addition to the game that you take in stride as you continuing working toward your goals.

Heck, I would think that some of you people who claim to have so much gold already still have shards you've never really played. So why not readjust your goals and just work your way down the list of shards and try to become the wealthiest player on each one? If some of you are the oh-so-munificent billionaire resellers you claim to be, the whole game should prosper as you go about hiring poor struggling players throughout the game to acquire the resources you need to achieve your goals. Right?

Don't even need houses on all those shards. Just take your own advice and rent vendors from the starving Luna house owners.

Tina am looking at your comments and you seem that you don't play the game to gain anything or for any reward? Sorry for the offensive analogy but thats as true as it gets. If your female thats a peek into the male mind. Im trying to classify your type of game playing. It's not PVM in the traditional sense. You are more of a role player I beleive. I have to ask what do you find enjoyment in UO that keeps you coming day after day week after week month after month year after year paying the high monthly fee in this recession? This is for my personal curiosity.

 

[Smoot]

It's like dating a loose girl just to sleep with her and then after ending up doing it you are satisfied but are thinking about what you going to eat the next day. Once thats done you might still call her for booty but you not going to make her your wifey. The wifey will be the girl thats hard to get and not loose at all. Thats where you appreciate your hard work. Now the analogy for women is harder as I am not a women so maybe somethig with shoes or purses lol they always after one of these things and once they get it they never wear it again and go and get another pair.

This is the PERFECT analogy describing what how imbuing has affected the game / magic item market.


Nuff said. No need to add more to this extremely long thread

Perhaps if your primary goal in UO has been to accumulate the most gold and the most "leet" items, the analogy (offensive as it is) might fit your situation. However, if you have had other goals in UO, imbuing is just another addition to the game that you take in stride as you continuing working toward your goals.

Heck, I would think that some of you people who claim to have so much gold already still have shards you've never really played. So why not readjust your goals and just work your way down the list of shards and try to become the wealthiest player on each one? If some of you are the oh-so-munificent billionaire resellers you claim to be, the whole game should prosper as you go about hiring poor struggling players throughout the game to acquire the resources you need to achieve your goals. Right?

Don't even need houses on all those shards. Just take your own advice and rent vendors from the starving Luna house owners.

Tina, i think you misunderstood why i thought UOKaiser's analogy was a great description. (yes i know its a bit politically incorrect, but thats besides the point)

Imbuing has made most things relatively simple and easy. You can throw together a "perfect suit" within an hour or two of crafting the base pieces. A pre-imbuing suite, even a starter one, was always unique. There was never one that was identical to another. After playing a character, be it a week, or years, adding to your suit, making it just a bit better, made you come to be attached to it, as it was something unique to you that you had spent time to find each individual piece and getting everything to fit right. It might not be the most elite suite, but it was yours and unique to you. Imbuing has ended this for the most part.

I say for the most part because the "leet" items are still there. There just different. The perfect swing speed increase ring, wooden armor that has been max imbued (a Massive gold dump btw) I myself have some of this, but not all by any means, but i still work on it JUST to be able to have something unique in the game. The fact that it has to be "better" now is just a bi-product of the imbuing system. Crafting weapons for elemental damage types is another way i try to make my characters unique, while becoming more effective also. That's not to say every unique piece i make is of perfect functionality. Ive imbued wearable event items just so my character would have something that made him a bit more individual. They are by far not as strong stat wise as if i made an imbued item from scratch, but its one way to make your suit a bit more of your own.

I'm not a billionaire and never have been. I farmed all of the ingredients for all my suits. However, i do sell most the ingredients i get now, until i suit up another character. So i guess i am now the "poor struggling player hired to acquire resources."

Im not trying to belittle you in anyway, im sure you love the game for many of the same reasons i do, i just think you might have misunderstood me.

I was just saying that imbuing has made it alot harder to make a unique suit that is individual to a character. And that's why i thought the analogy very fitting.

 

[Tina Small]

Tina am looking at your comments and you seem that you don't play the game to gain anything or for any reward? Sorry for the offensive analogy but thats as true as it gets. If your female thats a peek into the male mind. Im trying to classify your type of game playing. It's not PVM in the traditional sense. You are more of a role player I beleive. I have to ask what do you find enjoyment in UO that keeps you coming day after day week after week month after month year after year paying the high monthly fee in this recession? This is for my personal curiosity.

Kaiser, here are the two main reasons I play UO:

• To spend time with some great friends I've made over the years.
• To eventually build up a fairly self-sufficient crew of characters on most of the English-speaking shards and perhaps a couple of the Japanese shards. By self-sufficient, I mean a couple of characters that cover all the crafting skills; a miner/LJ/fisher/bard; a peace tamer; a t-hunter; a pally archer; a pally macer; a pally swordswoman; and a faction thief/tracker/detector/trap remover.

Why the second goal? Because I love the challenge of training characters and everyone in the guild I belong to enjoys checking out new shards or randomly and unexpectedly showing up where they are least expected. They enjoy the PvP and I enjoy the PvM and crafting to support them, along with a smidgeon of PvP.

Every time I start working on a new character with a template I've used before, I try to be a little more efficient at it. I enjoy trying to figure out if there's a way to train up a skill on one character while gathering things I need for training a skill on another character. Suits always start out made up of looted items and I swap out pieces as I find better loot. About the only items I usually end up buying to start with, and only as I have actually earned the gold to do it, are a boomstick, some full spellbooks, empty rune books, some taming jewelry if I can find it, maybe a pendant of the magi, some butcher's war cleavers, a robe of the equinox, 110 and 115 power scrolls for the tamer, the t-hunter, and the dexxers if I can find them (120s for the tamer at some point), +10 or +15 stat scrolls for the tamer, miner, and dexxers if I can find them, and cheap fast weapons for the dexxers. If I stumble across a vendor selling cheap full LRC suits or cheap resist suits, I might buy some if I have the gold.

When the tamer is sufficiently skilled to tame a greater dragon (cu sidhe's are not an option because they're rarely ever elves), I usually have to look for some barbed kit or, these days, imbued armor to beef up the suit's resists and try to get luck in the 300-600 range. The tamer does the quest to donate to the library and kills a ton of stuff to be able to donate leather to get the Birds of Britannia talisman.

I collect BODs very irregularly and fill them with even less regularity. The BODs I pick up on various shards get stuffed in books and maybe after the books have sat around for a year or two, someone in the guild decides to fill some of them to get powder of fortification or runic tools or a 120 smithing or tailoring scroll. Or maybe someone in the guild gets a wild hair to dress like a clown (kidding), so some tailoring BODs get filled to get reward cloth in some bright color.

So yes, I do work for some rewards, but compared to what other people go after, I don't think I'm after very much. When I do participate in events that give you stuff like the robes or cloaks or talismans, more times than not, those items end up in a chest or I give them to a friend that can utilize it more effectively than I can. And because most of the houses I own in the game are shared with 3-6 other people, depending on the shard, I lost interest in collecting deco items. There just isn't room for it in the houses or in my character's bank boxes. I've tried running vendors a couple of times and found out I hated it. So between hating it and most of the houses being in Fel now, running a vendor just isn't something I'm interested in. Renting a vendor also isn't of interest because I doubt I'd spend enough time on any one shard in a week to ever keep a vendor consistently stocked.

Last year sometime after reading some thread where people were talking about all the gold they have in the game, I added another sheet to the spreadsheet file where I keep track of my characters' skills. This sheet keeps track of bank balances for characters in training and gives me a total for each shard. There are about 175 characters in the spreadsheet and all together they have about 190 million gold in the bank. Peanuts, I suppose, compared to many other people who have played 5 1/2 years.

I don't know what else to tell you, Kaiser. I really don't focus any more on collecting stuff other than the basic necessities needed to get characters up and running and protected so that 75% of the mobs in UO don't knock them over by just glaring at them. I don't roleplay at all. It just isn't my cup of tea. I enjoy just doing a lot of really mundane stuff in UO to equip my characters with the basics and to support the other people in my guild. I know what I enjoy doing in UO and that's what I try to spend most of my time doing. Chasing after deco items or spending weeks and months killing the same thing hoping to get an arty that isn't just another piece of junk are NOT things I enjoy doing, so I just don't do them. At one point a few years ago, especially when I first got involved with factions, I bought gold from brokers to do things like acquire gear for dexxers that I wanted to try to PvP with. Turned out that I didn't enjoy the PvPing that much and I also found that acquiring things in that way just wasn't satisfying and it just felt "shady" and "illegal." After a while, I just couldn't make myself do it again.

If other people want to always have the most perfect and up-to-date gear at all times and a castle stuffed with rares and all sorts of deco items, fine. Those things just have no appeal for me. I like to keep things simple, achievable, flexible, and fun.

 

[Smoot]

Tina, i think the fact that alot of what you love about the game negates most of what has been said here about imbuing. I have 17 characters (on 2 accounts), only 3 on shards other than my main shard (atlantic) (can only have one per account on siege, or id have more) and id say i only play maybe 5 not regularly (not counting the crafters). And ive been playing for 13 years (with a few short breaks here and there) I think most people only really play on one shard, maybe a few shards if they pvp or have friends on another server. So basically, its inevitable that those characters are going to be "end-game." I think most of the people here were assuming this when posting about how imbuing has effective UO. This is what the wife / booty-call thing was referring to. Ill give one example. If someone is really playing a pvp mage, they are going to need a mage weapon. Before my mageweapon was something i loved, i found an almost perfect combo, loved using it, and loved it being unique to that character. Now everyone has almost exactly the same mageweapon, (planesword or twinkling scimitar / machete of defense) and they are all the same, if you dont count the pre-patch ones you could make with fc1. So that virtually wiped out individuality there. You can make a great weapon and suit of armor, it works, you can kill stuff with it, but your no longer really attached to it because its just another cookie cutter item in the game. Hence why the Wife / booty-call thing Kaiser said is in my opinion what the majority of players experience. Some may be satisfied with "easy fun," but i miss the gear i was "married to." This doesnt really apply to you tho if you play over 100 characters and don't spend alot of time on only a handful of characters.

 

[Tina Small]

Tina, i think the fact that alot of what you love about the game negates most of what has been said here about imbuing. I have 17 characters (on 2 accounts), only 3 on shards other than my main shard (atlantic) (can only have one per account on siege, or id have more) and id say i only play maybe 5 not regularly (not counting the crafters). And ive been playing for 13 years (with a few short breaks here and there) I think most people only really play on one shard, maybe a few shards if they pvp or have friends on another server. So basically, its inevitable that those characters are going to be "end-game." I think most of the people here were assuming this when posting about how imbuing has effective UO. This is what the wife / booty-call thing was referring to. Ill give one example. If someone is really playing a pvp mage, they are going to need a mage weapon. Before my mageweapon was something i loved, i found an almost perfect combo, loved using it, and loved it being unique to that character. Now everyone has almost exactly the same mageweapon, (planesword or twinkling scimitar / machete of defense) and they are all the same, if you dont count the pre-patch ones you could make with fc1. So that virtually wiped out individuality there. You can make a great weapon and suit of armor, it works, you can kill stuff with it, but your no longer really attached to it because its just another cookie cutter item in the game. Hence why the Wife / booty-call thing Kaiser said is in my opinion what the majority of players experience. Some may be satisfied with "easy fun," but i miss the gear i was "married to." This doesnt really apply to you tho if you play over 100 characters and don't spend alot of time on only a handful of characters.

And I guess you guys totally missed the post way back up in this thread where I said I'm not the only person playing UO that plays multiple shards. I am NOT unique in being someone who plays UO who still has many characters that don't have the perfect suit or perfect weapons. (See http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?t=178214 regarding some of the people who play multiple shards for factions. Someone should do a poll to see how many do it to participate in EM events or for roleplaying across shards.)

There are still people playing UO now that will be using imbuing for a long time to fix up their gear. It has not killed the game for them. If anything, it's giving more of them plans for totally dominating the game....someday...after they make an artificer on every shard or find reliable ones for hire.



You guys who think imbuing is killing the game just need to get out more. A lot more. Plan a world tour of your own or something. I promise you'll never be bored or run out of things to do.

 

[Smoot]

I didn't say at all that imbuing killed the game. I said i liked Kaiser's analogy because it described very well how imbuing has Effected the game.

If you don't get the analogy, then don't worry about it. To me Kaiser just perfectly exemplified how i and many players feel about how imbuing has changed the game.