And the same could be said about transfer tokens. Shard Shields are a great reward for vets. Problem comes up when something can be had ingame and from the store. Kinda puts a cash value to it. Any use of the term game economy is a joke considering how much of the gold out there was AFK farmed or duped. A player pays for an extra account for extra housing and to cover more templates without dealing with the skill stone suffle. The very reason stoning skills put a hole in EA's wallet. An extra house or range of character templates has not improved a players ability to win a fight. A player dressed and armed in enhanced gear that had a 1 in 1,000,000 chance to survive. I can see how that might go over your head in a PVP fight. The tool is only obtained through RL cash and the greatest reason UO would fail as a F2P game. The store stocking in a F2P relm would fail with their greed and complete lack of knowing how things work in the game. Shard shields only bring tears in the "I Win UO!" fight by who has the fattest museum or bankbox.
What you just did is make a second reason that transfer tokens should remain account-bound. The primary is that it would cut into revenue from the sale of full transfer tokens.
So you really believe that my suit or anyone else's is overpowered because it cost $5 to create, which anybody else and his uncle could (and often) do. I don't understand your fear, but now it's clear you have it. I use the tool for both PvM and PvP characters, which in the latter certainly gives me an edge, but not over someone who did the same thing.
Nope. Random shard generation would be the grounds to remove the tokens from being account bound. Once the gold is just a number tied to an account then getting gold from a bankbox from any shard is no longer an issue. Once the all shards linked auction house is up then moving/selling items is out of shard transfer hands. ("HEY!" money grubbers. Sell in the store vendor placement tokens for RL cash. Vendors that are the way the all shards auction house works selling/buying while making a profit in shard vendor token sales.) With the coming of the gold in bankbox and auction house. Shard transfer will be for vacationing and seeing new players in new lands. All that shard transfering now is good for is trying to take advantage of other players to make more gold.
You really should have stopped before digging yourself deeper. All you did was suggest an absurd change that requires even more absurd changes. Your "grounds" require an overhaul not just of gold storage, but how the servers store data. To prevent bugs and exploits, the solution would be a separate, central server just for storing gold information, which would then have its own bugs and exploits. Considering the current UO team having been cut back, I don't see them getting extra hardware in the first place.
Of course people selling on other shards are looking to make more gold, but they no more "take advantage of other players" than someone who opens a boutique in Beverly Hills versus Compton, or a densely populated East Coast city versus a Southwest ghost town. Why shouldn't a seller try to maximize the price?
But as I've pointed out, what transfer tokens actually do is stabilize things across all shards. I realize this is above
your head, but the "low transportation cost" derided by some forum denizens is the expected result of a few economic theories, particularly Samuelson's factor prize equalization. Sixty-five years ago it was groundbreaking, while today it seems obvious, and the predicted effects are in fact very apparent in UO. Someone from a small shard can transfer to Atlantic with something to sell, but the increased supply will drive down Atlantic's market price, and sellers looking to return home quickly might accept a price lower than Atlantic's norm but above their home shards' norm. The converse effect is that someone staying on a home shard might have to transfer to Atlantic or another shard to find something, thus paying a higher price, but it's not like wages vary among shards.
Right now a transfer token can be gotten ingame and out if you want and/or deserve it. The ability to transfer shards does not win a fight or kill Slasher faster. It just shuffles the market of goods at dealers risk. The enhancing tool is only gotten from the store and depends on how big your RL wallet is. The tool does effect the ability of a character to fight. They have gear that wouldn't be around without the tool. Now if the tool only worked with Oaken Wood, Golden Granite, Gold Ingots and Spine Leather then tamers would be accused of favortism. Instead only high end refinements are wanted for wood armor just as the tool sees mostly wood enhancement. I know only tamers are wanting the extra refinement bonuses on their lucky wooden suits. It is very unbalanced when a tool can only be had with RL cash and does what it does. When a thread is started about how shard transfering helped in overwelming others in a champ raid, then it can earn an imbalanced stamp. Are players really enjoying the game right if how much gold they have or how awsome their museum is, is all that drives them? Ahh yes, we are back to the players choice argument. And when it comes down to what makes You, ME and Them happy, there is no winner if Others are made the judges.
Again, you have this irrational fear of someone winning UO by spending a few more dollars than others, whose advantage is no different than paying for a second account with more bank and house storage, with either being something anybody else can do. What about the Seas expansion that adds 20% to bank storage, do you decry that as well? By your own logic, you might as well say, "It is very unbalanced when a second house can only be had with RL cash and does what it does."
It may be a "game," but it's still a business. Those who pay more into EA's coffers
should get more out of it. I buy several enhancement tools a year on top of paying for six accounts with eight houses. My reward for not letting one of the oldest accounts lapse is that it holds three grandfathered houses.
[quoteThey know where they want to go with the game. Want to make gold stop living in the moment. Gamble on the future and strike it rich or get bitten by the river. Either way. If your not having fun, your doing UO wrong.[/quote]
You've gone from prating to a non sequitur. What are you trying to say with "Want to make gold stop living in the moment," what is this "get bitten by the river" nonsense, and what makes you think I'm not having fun?
--I'm sure all of you have Shard Shields are fine with them as is everyone else who has them. Or if your so filthy rich in the game it doesn't mater. Buying and trading isn't a playstyle it's an integral part of UO. Very few players with the exception of Siege players, and even them, probably play on more than one shard. Because the playerbase is shrinking it's even more pertinent to cross shard trade if you want access to items and sell your goods. It's not by chance or choice I'm on Atlantic. If I could sell my wares on Sonoma and buy items I want there I would never step foot on Atlantic.
