Rarity of items out of control

[Smoot]

Somthing thats been on my mind for a while.

theres stuff in UO that no one wants to do. boring stuff. so its scripted. i get that, tho i do frown upon it i realize its reality.

what i dont get is that this stuff is sooooo hard to get, that the only realistic way to even achieve it is scripting.

Runic mallets come to mind.
The first "Slims Shadow Veil" comes to mind.
http://community.stratics.com/threads/slims-shadow-veil-1-fc-mempo.324080/
no one should have to submit theirself to that kind of torture. the items not even that good unless you have a legendary bracelet or absolutely need 4/6 casting (how many people play pure pallys or have full casting on a weaver nowadays?)

I like a hard game, i usually say most things in UO are too dumbed down. But this is just the type of item that actually is a good lowish - mid range option that would be good alternative to an orny, or of course sourrounded by legendaries it could be part of a high end suit.

The average player has basically 0 chance of getting this.

btw im not crying because i dont want to pay for one, i had ruled this out for my setups before it even went live cause it just kills too much in a suit for me to personally use.

 

[MalagAste]

I ruled myself out of ever getting one either because I'm not about to pay that much for stuff.... and I'm also not going to go do a Fel quest and wind up dragged into the VvV crap either... So... not going to be turning in things to slim the fence.

 

[Smoot]

please dont bring any "VVV / fel" is why this item is so hard to get stuff into this discussion. the fact that this quest is in a fel area that is periodically a combat zone is not the problem at all. its simply the numbers.

I dont see how the devs could rationalize putting something in the game with much less than a .01 percent drop rate that takes up a casting focus slot, can only put 2mr 2hpr on, still have to have 2 artifact pieces to account for the very low resists.

I could see if it had a bunch of other mods, or 4 casting focus as well as the fc1 but the rarity of this item is not in line with its overall usefulness.

I give Mith credit for publically admitting this item was scripted btw. It brings transparency to the state of UO.

 

[Vexxed]

I ruled myself out of ever getting one either because I'm not about to pay that much for stuff.... and I'm also not going to go do a Fel quest and wind up dragged into the VvV crap either... So... not going to be turning in things to slim the fence.

You know what? The way you feel about VvV stuff is the same way I feel about your attitude. I know you want to cross heal with impunity at EM events but it's not that hard to simply NOT heal VvV people.....

Back to topic...... Yea 3800 quests is nuts. I find the most amusing part that he straight up said....
"Hit play go to work"
...LOL.

 

[The Old Man]

...he straight up said....
"Hit play go to work"
...LOL.

Who he? and if you mean who I think...You jest?

 

[Vexxed]

Who he? and if you mean who I think...You jest?

Post # 16 in the thread Smoot linked above.

 

[Cetric]

Its actually a killer piece for a lot of templates, but I totally agree where ur going with this

 

[Picus of Napa]

You know what is the real lesson to be learned in that thread? Mith did it all in fel as have his other friends, if the VvV issue was real that was the proving ground.

Grind Grind.......Grind

 

[Tjalle]

Anyone who admits to cheating on Stratics should be banned from Stratics. We don´t need cheaters' input here.
And we definately don´t need them to sell their ill gotten wares here.

And even if they were just kidding they have no one to blame but themselves.

 

[Captn Norrington]

Personally, I've always thought UO should only have 3 levels of rarity for non EM event items. #1 so common the items are pretty much worthless, that way everyone can have them. #2 medium level of rarity where it's significantly harder to get than the worthless items, but still not hard to get for most people, like a tangle. and #3 items that are somewhat hard to get, but still possible for the average player to get with a few hours of gameplay each week, like a slither or crimson cincture. Some of the items lately like the slim's veil seem to be so incredibly impossible to get that no normal person has even the smallest chance of ever getting one, which means the people who use scripts and 3rd party programs are the only ones with any chance at getting them.

 

[Captn Norrington]

Anyone who admits to cheating on Stratics should be banned from Stratics. We don´t need cheaters' input here.
And we definately don´t need them to sell their ill gotten wares here.

And even if they were just kidding they have no one to blame but themselves.

Not sure if you saw it or not, but a few weeks ago when all those felucca New Magincia houses were burned down by the devs on Atlantic, the owner of all the houses and the duped stuff inside them came onto Stratics and proudly posted on the thread that it was his stuff, and he applauded the dev team for finally catching him. Then hinted that he has much, much more duped stuff they did not catch. I completely agree with you, once someone admits to cheating they waive their benefit of the doubt privelages and should be held accountable for their actions.

 

[Tjalle]

Yeah, I saw that post. Afaik that was just smoke and mirrors done by an alt Stratics account...

 

[Smoot]

Its actually a killer piece for a lot of templates, but I totally agree where ur going with this

it is, if your going all out. but im assuming this was put into the spawn of the game to "balance" the fc1 prepatch weapons, which would probably be easier to aquire than this item. As a spawning item, i was expectfully hoping this would be a rare, but generally achievable item for those who wanted to experiment with those templates, but couldnt afford one of the pre-patch weapons. It would make sense given the overall loot change that this item would be rare, but not so rare that it was seen as un-attainable by normal means. I was expecting this item to be in the rarity range of 20 - 100 mil. I still wouldnt personally use it, but i think that range would make sense for the overall games benefit.

and this thread isnt just about the mempo! its about runic mallets too! no one gets those by normal "approved" game mechanics. it just doesnt make sense that a very needed and useful item like the mallets would be in a system that was so impossible normal players give up on it.

 

[Eärendil]

I finished over 400 trips to Slim now. All with my own hands. A horrible grind. Especially, when you have to wait for hours because the needed stuff isnt on the vendors and you dont want to do it with your worker.

Personally, my plan was to continue til I get one. But now I will only do occasional quests for SoT. The item is so poor and absolutely not worth my attention. And when I have to compete with scripters, I get sick while doing it. I hate this kind of competition: You get bleeding fingers and the others just hit a key and go to bed. No thanks.

 

[MalagAste]

You know what? The way you feel about VvV stuff is the same way I feel about your attitude. I know you want to cross heal with impunity at EM events but it's not that hard to simply NOT heal VvV people.....

Back to topic...... Yea 3800 quests is nuts. I find the most amusing part that he straight up said....
"Hit play go to work"
...LOL.

In the middle of a crowd of 70 people I'm not going to check who the devil is VvV. And I'll be damned if they will force me to. And the last thing I want in this game is another stinking pop-up to lag me out and block up my screen at a critical moment costing me a drop.... And I KNOW I won't be the only one who would be pissed as hell to have that crap in Trammel.

Infact I'd be so pissed that would be it for me with UO. I'll say that right now. If I want to PvP which I do sometimes... then I know where to do that. FEL.... or if I want to spar I can do that in Trammel with people I know and trust... not some kindergarten smack talker who can't spell or type. Not saying I'm great at all that but if you are going to insult folk at least you ought to do it properly. At any rate I am not the only one who would close my acccounts for good if they started putting that sort of crap in Trammel... that's why we left Fel.... that's why I don't live there... except on Siege.

There is enough problems plaguing the EM events we sure as hell don't need a bunch of PvP crap going on when trying to concentrate on the EM's. They put a lot of hard work into their events and they DON'T need to have them plagued by a bunch of freaking brats acting like children who have ADHD and are strung out on sugar highs.

It's one thing to hold a PvP style event and have PvP at it... but trying to hold a decent event and RP and tell a story with a bunch of freaking brats spamming and crying and carrying on is just not cool... and having a big VvV fight break out in the middle of all that would be an utter cluster **** no one would want to be in.... If people were really that stinking interested in all that then there would be constant VvV crap going on with dozens of folk 24/7... but it seems that the "novelty" has worn off quite quickly as I rather thought it would... Allowing it all over isn't going to promote anything but disgust with UO.

 

[Captn Norrington]

It's one thing to hold a PvP style event and have PvP at it... but trying to hold a decent event and RP and tell a story with a bunch of freaking brats spamming and crying and carrying on is just not cool....

The thing that amazed me about this, is that if you get to know the people that grief the events, they are surprisingly completely normal alot of the time (with some exceptions of course). For some reason they just go totally berserk during events, like it's some sort of uncontrollable impulse. I have no idea why semi-normal people feel the need to act like crazy animals at events....just the attention craving I suppose.

Then of course there's the people who don't care either way, and only grief events to make people leave so they have a greater chance at getting the item. Which is pathetic.

 

[popps]

and this thread isnt just about the mempo! its about runic mallets too! no one gets those by normal "approved" game mechanics. it just doesnt make sense that a very needed and useful item like the mallets would be in a system that was so impossible normal players give up on it.

My dream in Ultima Online ?

That the developers finally found a way to block scripting FOR GOOD and made items require much less grinding and farming for players to get.

It would be a blast of gaming time, finally.......

But it requires that they find a way to make it NOT possible for players to script nothing in the game.

But it would be a dream come true for me......

 

[startle]

My dream in Ultima Online ?
That the developers finally found a way to block scripting FOR GOOD and made items require much less grinding and farming for players to get.
It would be a blast of gaming time, finally.......
But it requires that they find a way to make it NOT possible for players to script nothing in the game.

But it would be a dream come true for me......

They could just force everyone into the EC.... Then "that's that".

But they'd lose a bunch of accounts if they did "that", which is why they haven't...

I mean, think about it... They'd have many fewer headaches if they had only a single client to support... Why do you suppose they haven't done that yet?

 

[MalagAste]

Honestly I agree with a bunch of my friends and I challenge the DEV's to spend 1 full month playing UO everyday in the EC and NOTHING but the EC.

I'm betting that if they did spend that much time in the EC they would certainly start to fix many of the problems that plague it.

 

[BrianFreud]

They could just force everyone into the EC.... Then "that's that".

But they'd lose a bunch of accounts if they did "that", which is why they haven't...

I mean, think about it... They'd have many fewer headaches if they had only a single client to support... Why do you suppose they haven't done that yet?

That'd be when I and at least some others quit, my friend. Classic runs perfectly with wine on Linux. EC barely even starts under wine, and having taken 10 minutes just to log in, it takes me another 5 just to walk from one side of my house to the other. Plus, humans just look so... utterly terrible in EC.

 

[Cetric]

After seeing that a few people scripted over 10k trips to slim and only one dropped... well... i'm not gunna do that by hand. If i'm like anyone else, i also won't compete with that and won't bother anymore.

 

[Eärendil]

No, Sir. Thats no alternative for me. I stop doing these quests or I will do them occasionally for a SoT. I will not script. Never. And by the way: I would not be able to do that as I am still playing CC without Assist. Even Assist is too complicated for me. I am an absolute IT-legasthenic ;-)

 

[Smoot]

They could just force everyone into the EC.... Then "that's that".

But they'd lose a bunch of accounts if they did "that", which is why they haven't...

I mean, think about it... They'd have many fewer headaches if they had only a single client to support... Why do you suppose they haven't done that yet?

i dont script, but dont see why EC would make a difference. its actually easier to script in EC becuase you dont need an outside program. some say this is "legal" one very successful house placer posted one time here that hes "big secret" was simply lua scripts placed into the EC macros. So i disagree that EC is a solve-all.

again, this thread isnt about whether or not scripting is right, its about the rarity of particular items in the first place.

 

[Uvtha]

Somthing thats been on my mind for a while.

theres stuff in UO that no one wants to do. boring stuff. so its scripted. i get that, tho i do frown upon it i realize its reality.

what i dont get is that this stuff is sooooo hard to get, that the only realistic way to even achieve it is scripting.

Runic mallets come to mind.
The first "Slims Shadow Veil" comes to mind.
http://community.stratics.com/threads/slims-shadow-veil-1-fc-mempo.324080/
no one should have to submit theirself to that kind of torture. the items not even that good unless you have a legendary bracelet or absolutely need 4/6 casting (how many people play pure pallys or have full casting on a weaver nowadays?)

I like a hard game, i usually say most things in UO are too dumbed down. But this is just the type of item that actually is a good lowish - mid range option that would be good alternative to an orny, or of course sourrounded by legendaries it could be part of a high end suit.

The average player has basically 0 chance of getting this.

btw im not crying because i dont want to pay for one, i had ruled this out for my setups before it even went live cause it just kills too much in a suit for me to personally use.

Honestly I don't mind there being a handful of uber rares. Of course when you can just cheat it, the value of these items is diminished. I feel like they should always be an alternate award like the mempo is with slim and they should come right out and call things mega rare or whatever, and not to expect to ever get one, just so poor people don't spend months trying to grind one out. I like the idea of little lottery tickets floating around. I don't like things like the gypsys and thier moonstone jewels... because that was the ONLY reason to kill gypsies, so you really were always just wasting time. I don't mind slim though. You get other rewards that are cool even if you don't get the stupid mempo.

Then again, almost everything they put in game is too much grind anyway. So you have to grind grind grind to get even the regular rares.

For instance I want Slim's other drops, but I really haven't bothered to work on it because even those seem like they will probably take hundreds to trips, and the activity simply isn't much fun. So no thanks.

 

[NuSair]

Really not any different than those moonstone jewelry things.

 

[Eärendil]

For instance I want Slim's other drops, but I really haven't bothered to work on it because even those seem like they will probably take hundreds to trips, and the activity simply isn't much fun. So no thanks.

I can sell you 2 x Statuettes and the Voucher. Location DF, payment on ATL...

*grins*

 

[Rolo]

I did just under 600 trips by hand to Slim and after seeing that it took a guy scripting non stop for 3k plus trips I will not do any more. look at quite a few of the loot spots in UO. The only ones doing them are scripters. I really could care less that people are scripting, its kind of annoying but it doesnt effect me playing the game. What does bother me is why people are scripting. Doing mindless repetetive things over and over just to be able to build a suit or a template gets real annoying fast. I wanna build new suits and pvp. While it shouldnt be ridiculously easy it shouldnt be ridiculously difficult either. One reason there has been no pvp lately is because everyone is grinding trying to build new temps, chars etc.

 

[Picus at the office]

Sadly even the scripting is a case of the haves and have nots. If you have the skill to write the script you are in a clear advantage of these tasks. I didn't bother to look at these quests as it had nothing of intrest for me but I could imagine that there is alot of effort needed make this work, both good job and sad at the same time.

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

Hey folks, you want the chance to kill scripters? Play on Siege, dungeons like Doom all have the Fel ruleset. Sure some folks still script, but it's usually never as blatant as on the the production shards...la

 

[Tjalle]

The linked thread is getting both funny and sad at the same time.
People say they hate scripters and then go and praise the scripter with a "Job well done!".

*shakes head*

 

[Rolo]

Hey folks, you want the chance to kill scripters? Play on Siege, dungeons like Doom all have the Fel ruleset. Sure some folks still script, but it's usually never as blatant as on the the production shards...la

I actually got enuff turn ins on GL from a guy that was scripting blackthornes all day and all night. Guy was using an expoit that i broke with my thief. All I had to do was check on him once an hour and he would have 5 or 6 in pack and id nab em all. Only down side was after robbing him repeatedlly he figured out what was going on and I didnt see him any more. Its sad but the poorly thought out nerf they put in to stop blackthorne scripting actually hurt my thief yet again as i havent seen scripters down there anymore.

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

I actually got enuff turn ins on GL from a guy that was scripting blackthornes all day and all night. Guy was using an expoit that i broke with my thief. All I had to do was check on him once an hour and he would have 5 or 6 in pack and id nab em all. Only down side was after robbing him repeatedlly he figured out what was going on and I didnt see him any more. Its sad but the poorly thought out nerf they put in to stop blackthorne scripting actually hurt my thief yet again as i havent seen scripters down there anymore.

Nice. We've had plenty of scripters try to make it on Siege, but most of them get fed up having to come back to their corpse every 30 minutes or so. I think most players that play Siege have GM'd luring. ...la

 

[Rolo]

Nice. We've had plenty of scripters try to make it on Siege, but most of them get fed up having to come back to their corpse every 30 minutes or so. I think most players that play Siege have GM'd luring. ...la

In my case the guys scripting were worth more to me alive than dead.

 

[Whitewolf of *VK*]

Ok i havent been back to UO for that long but when i left afk macoring or scripting was bannable, and this guy its here and admits to doin it and even brags about it, im guessing they dont ban for this anymore? if this is the case im goin to demand they give me one of my banned accounts back.

 

[drcossack]

You know what is the real lesson to be learned in that thread? Mith did it all in fel as have his other friends, if the VvV issue was real that was the proving ground.

Grind Grind.......Grind

I'm in his guild, and I can tell you why we do it there: because we'd kill anyone who'd get in the way. I'd do the trade quests myself, but I have no interest in it. However, if Slim's Mempo is that rare, perhaps I'll start.

As far as the people complaining about the scripting/macroing of it: get off your high horse. Scripting/afk macroing is quite common (and has been going on for years), especially where skills are concerned. As far as looting: I could very easily set it up so that I can go on my sampire, afk farm Balrons in Fel Hythloth all day while wearing 2k+ Luck (or do the same with my tamer in Wrong), and look for specific mods on the loot. But I won't do it, for one simple reason: The vast majority of the loot I'd get from doing that simply isn't worth the time, and there are better things to kill (that take much less time) for much better loot.

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

As far as the people complaining about the scripting/macroing of it: get off your high horse. Scripting/afk macroing is quite common (and has been going on for years), especially where skills are concerned.

To compare "macroing" to gain skills versus "scripting" for loot is just as silly as saying since it's been done for years you are somehow in the right. *sits up on his high horse*...la

 

[Picus at the office]

If I had known that there was a person looking to be griefed I would have been there not because I care but it would be fun.

I'm in his guild, and I can tell you why we do it there: because we'd kill anyone who'd get in the way.

 

[MalagAste]

Doesn't seem to me like anything is truly bannable anymore..... I have not seen nor heard of anyone getting a perma ban in ages. Sadly many deserved it but never got so much as the ole 3 day vacation...

But then when it takes 2 weeks to get a GM to fix your talisman after you page I guess I shouldn't be shocked.

 

[drcossack]

If I had known that there was a person looking to be griefed I would have been there not because I care but it would be fun.

By "get in the way", I meant someone who'd actually fight. In one vvv "battle" in Ocllo (where it was literally just me), I ran into one person doing what I think was a trade quest run (he had "the smuggler" title in his overhead name), and I killed him. After I did it, I offered a res, but wasn't able to because of bene. He wasn't a threat or even a challenge, but if the town's active, you're fair game. I absolutely hate doing that, but that's life in Fel - if I see someone farming in a dungeon, 9/10 times I'll leave them alone.

 

[cazador]

I ruled myself out of ever getting one either because I'm not about to pay that much for stuff.... and I'm also not going to go do a Fel quest and wind up dragged into the VvV crap either... So... not going to be turning in things to slim the fence.

Mith can afk get it with 0 work in fel..how is the get stuck in VvV even a remark? He did it completely afk and most likely didnt die. All you people do is whine I swear! This game is so pathetically easy minus a few grinds here and there. Go play FarmVille for ****s sake!


Not a shot at you at all MalagAste I promise, you do do very nice things for people including myself helping me setup EC. It's just irritating sometimes seeing everyone cry over the VvV instead of helping fix it

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[drcossack]

Mith can afk get it with 0 work in fel..how is the get stuck in VvV even a remark? He did it completely afk and most likely didnt die. All you people do is whine I swear! This game is so pathetically easy minus a few grinds here and there. Go play FarmVille for ***** sake!

Because it takes you into the vvv towns, and if people there fighting see you, you're gonna die. Which is an excuse, you can simply take another route and go where the fighting isn't, or wait until the vvv battle moves to another town.

 

[cazador]

Because it takes you into the vvv towns, and if people there fighting see you, you're gonna die. Which is an excuse, you can simply take another route and go where the fighting isn't, or wait until the vvv battle moves to another town.

Right which idk. It's not like you can recall in by accident. And if you run into town you get a warning and have ample time to leave. And if you use the crystal portal you do NOT automatically turn orange you get a warning and a gump to the nearest moongate..I'm still befuddled on where all the confusion comes from


It's like the gump that says by committing this act you become a criminal and attack able..then complaining you shouldn't be grey, it's not fair

Unless which of course you can't read in a timely fashion..then idk what to say, you're screwed
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Smoot]

Because it takes you into the vvv towns, and if people there fighting see you, you're gonna die. Which is an excuse, you can simply take another route and go where the fighting isn't, or wait until the vvv battle moves to another town.

or just use stealth and dont get close to the alters : )

 

[Riply]

First off I agree with you Smoot concerning your original post and thoughts about the game and what it's become. I was going to write a bunch more comments of my own concerns and just my general take of the game and where it's at now. But TBH at this point i'm sorry to say I just have become numb to all thats going on and will leave my comments to myself. The real world has enough things to keep me well occupied as far as having concerns. I will continue to do what I enjoy doing when I have the time to do it. When they finally pull the plug on UO I will always have the best memories from the players I meet along the way and not the items that I acquired.

 

[drcossack]

or just use stealth and dont get close to the alters : )

On LS the fights have been all over town, whether the altars have been active or not. If they're active, they usually went unclaimed for several minutes at a time. Being a stealther helps, but the other guild that fought had a bunch of stealthers, so we'd spam EQ, fields, etc.

 

[Picus at the office]

I can't help but want to take advantage of those AFK bots, who wouldn't?

 

[Promathia]

There is grindy stuff like this in every MMO, lets not act like its unique to UO.

 

[MalagAste]

Mith can afk get it with 0 work in fel..how is the get stuck in VvV even a remark? He did it completely afk and most likely didnt die. All you people do is whine I swear! This game is so pathetically easy minus a few grinds here and there. Go play FarmVille for ***** sake!


Not a shot at you at all MalagAste I promise, you do do very nice things for people including myself helping me setup EC. It's just irritating sometimes seeing everyone cry over the VvV instead of helping fix it

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Because when your NOT in VvV you can't tell WTF town the crap is in... if you don't get the messages rather hard to tell what town they are in ..... and if you enter the town it seems to be buggy and instantly put you INTO VvV whether you wanted to participate or not..... you don't even have to do anything.... Also found that it effects crap while in TRAMMEL. During out event last evening in TRAMMEL many of us has issues while rezing folk who died... we had a house set up to help the dead and some of us healers who helped rez folk who were in VvV got thrown out of the house just for rezing folk. Now I don't know what the heck was going on ...... but what a pain. You try to help folk and that's what you get.

Now I wouldn't say anything bad at all about VvV if it didn't unwittingly drag you in. If I could say or do something in game to see where this crap was and I could avoid it I would.... but truth is if you aren't IN it you can't tell what the hell is going on and therefore you CAN'T avoid it. I don't want to be sailing around trying to complete quests in Fel only to find myself pulled into VvV because I sailed too close to VvV battle... Seems stupid to me that you can't avoid it. I have several friends who've been doing the quest by hand NOT cheating doing it AFK but actually playing... and they constantly had to sit out in the ocean waiting to go to town unable to be able to tell if the "battle" in this or that town was still happening because they couldn't get the messages.... and if they tried to check to see if it was over went orange despite not wanting to be involved not healing or helping or doing anything but getting close to a stupid battle.

This kind of crap is what pisses me off.... no one wants that ****. If you want to participate hey I'm cool with that .... go for it. But for those of us who don't want anything to do with it..... I'm not coming to heal folk that are battling and I don't believe folk should be allowed to do such things in the middle of a fight... but for those of us who have been trying to avoid the whole thing it's been extremely difficult... to actually play the game as intended without getting pulled in to something we want no part of.

 

[MalagAste]

As for the rarity of items I think that seems to be the par for the course to make crap stupid rare as they like to make kitchen sink bosses thinking that adding 10million hp and every special to the mob makes it more of a challenge rather than adding better AI ...... which all in all is a lie...

It only serves to piss off the players and make them loathe all the grinding and such. Sick of having crap be stupid rare and sick of having kitchen sink bosses with 10million HP and having to have 4 quivers of arrows to take one out... meanwhile they can 1 shot kill you and there is nothing you can do to defend yourself... just die rez and repeat till the boss finally dies so you can get NOTHING 99 times out of 100.

 

[The Old Man]

@Kyronix Just having a command that returned which town (if any) VvV is currently active in would solve a bunch of problems for non-VvV people.