EM Event Drops

[Varrius]

They way events work now, if there is an event item, it will randomly drop to any player who has done enough damage for looting rights ie one word of death or an "all kill/switch to another tamer/all kill/ switch to another character/ rinse and repeat"

People are taking 3 - 5 accounts to every event which almost guarantees them of getting an item and in a lot of cases gets them 2 or 3 drops per event. I feel as if the people who get the most drops shouldn't be the people that take 3 - 5 accounts to every event.

The way events worked before was that it went to the top 10 damagers which pretty much guaranteed only 1 drop per person since it would be difficult to control multiple characters while getting redlined/dying to 1 or 2 monster hits. It might not have been the best or most fair system to casual players who didn't have time to craft suits or train characters only for events but it is a lot better than the system now in my opinion.

I think the best solution would be to make it only 1 possible drop per ip, but I'm not sure that UO would put the resources into that ( I have no idea how hard it would be, only assuming it's not easy). Which leaves the top 10 damagers as a better system than taking 3-5 accounts to events.

Any thoughts?

 

[DJAd]

I think the current system seems to work pretty well as it is myself. I've had a few drops recently and sold them for a nice chunk of gold. I'm sure there are people arriving with multiple accounts and using 3rd party programs to control them etc etc. This is nothing new. Its been going on for ages. I agree with the "1 drop per IP address" but I can't see the dev's adding this. It sounds like to much work. I mean they can't even get grass and snow tiles to stack properly!

This is the only fair way to deal with it (in my opinion)

1. At the end of the event there is some kind of clicky thing. Double click this to get an item. EVERYONE gets it. 1 per account or 1 per IP address.

2. Remove the items completely from EM Events.

 

[Riyana]

The same people who get multiple drops now did so under the old system too. At least with the current way everyone has some kind of chance, even if not a great one due to the multiboxers and piles of last minute gated in newbie alts.

DJAd is correct. Everyone or no one is the fairest. What we have now is an improvement game mechanics-wise... the problem now is players being too greedy and using any advantage, legal or not, to get a drop. Unfortunately, I doubt that will ever change. It's just going to get worse too because greed and grief seem to be the playstyles most consistently rewarded.

 

[James Moriarty]

You cant stop people with multiple acounts getting a drop. They dont even need to be doing any damage. I went to one not long ago with 2 accounts 1 for doing damage and another for res me if i died and got i got a drop on my second char for res'ing my dead char thats all he did was a single res and got a drop. There is nothing you can do to stop this. So rather than cry about it open a second or thrid account and do the same as everyone else. Simples

 

[Smoot]

Id like to see a system that encourages improvement of characters and gameplay rather than stagnant looting rights characters. Even under the old system, we would have seen very powerful characters right now, especially with the gear the devs have worked so hard to provide. Thrower / greater dragon combo, or spellweaver 100sdi archer. An amazing bard / damage template. We'll just never see characters improve now for anything other than pvp because its just not needed. makes for a boring game, but people like easy / boring. Ive suggested a random drop system scaled towards top damager / healer before. More damage/healing you do the more points you get towards the random drop.

For this system to be fair to everyone, all bosses should have more hp and be more difficult, so they dont die in 20 secs or less in some cases.

that being said, for non-competitive players a mix of drop styles should be possible. clicky, stealing, contest, puzzel, damage/healing.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

The old system, as had been explained before, repeatedly, by myself and many others, rewarded solely those who set up templates solely for the event and, quite often, also were those who ignored the plot or sought actively to disrupt it. Under the new system anyone who gets rights under the system (which incorporates healing and taking) has a chance. So those who always got the drop before now still have the best chance, but a chance is all it is.

The best chance, I guess, wasn't enough, because, since that change was made those folks have used every excuse to attempt to reset the system back to the one that more or less ensured they'd get every drop. Multi-boxing is now the latest excuse.

Mesanna should never have implied that multi-boxing is allowed now especially since it's my understanding that it's done with a third party scripting program that we're not allowed to use with the game. If that's the case, then just because they find it hard to enforce a rule doesn't mean that the rule literally doesn't exist, and I'd suggest that that's the distinction Mesanna should have made, if I'm understanding things right. Something like: "multi-boxing is done with programs that you're not allowed to use by the rules. If you're doing it attended it's hard to detect because we allow multi-clienting now. But it's not allowable just something we have a hard time enforcing." If I'm understanding that transcript right, then that's the case, and she should have said so explicitly.

But, that's a side issue.

The main issue in this post, rather clearly, is "restore a system which was a guaranteed drop for certain templates." I say no. A system that's exploit-able but is fair when implemented properly by definition is far better than a system that was unfair when implemented properly and ALSO was exploitable. Which it was.

-Galen's player

 

[Sunseri]

I voted 'other'. I am against the view that EM events are nothing more than an inconvenient chore to get a drop. Always hearing "When's the drop? Can I get the drop now? Why hasn't the drop been given out yet?" when the EM is roleplaying out a storyline. That comes across as very brat-ish to me. I would have voted 'ramdom' but why do we need drops at all? Oh, right. So the rares guys can make their billions(and some cases real cash from the items).

 

[Larisa]

The way it worked before, even I got drops sometimes! I got the mysterious piece of control panel and the big bad wolf action figure...now for you rares people you know that those 2 alone are worth $$$$$$$$

And those aren't the only 2....

These are my most prized EM event items....and all of these I got BEFORE they changed the system.

And I just used fireballs and healed the people/pets that were attacking...that system worked just fine in my opinion ...as you can see

 

[Smoot]

Under the new system anyone who gets rights under the system (which incorporates healing and taking) has a chance.
-Galen's player

healing / damage taken was also in the equation of the previous system. a well played bard could get top healer just as easily as an archer could get top damager. just wanted to clarify.

 

[Varrius]

Under the new system anyone who gets rights under the system (which incorporates healing and taking)
-Galen's player

I think that is one of the main issues here. A former EM didn't even know how the system worked for the items he dropped. There is no problem with rewarding people who can figure out which templates do the most damage to monsters and spent time and gold to make the characters for that.

 

[Smoot]

The main issue in this post, rather clearly, is "restore a system which was a guaranteed drop for certain templates." I say no. A system that's exploit-able but is fair when implemented properly by definition is far better than a system that was unfair when implemented properly and ALSO was exploitable. Which it was.

-Galen's player

Its interesting to me to what some people define fair as. Is fair working hard for no better payoff than if you did nothing? To me, Fairness is about opportunity. I think people who live in America or a democratic nation can understand that. The current system is not fair in that there is no opportunity to better ones character or gameplay in hopes of a better chance at a reward. A totally fair system in the standard American sense would be one that provides the Opportunity to advance to all, while providing charity for those who absolutely can not advance because disability or other problems. If your playing the game, its a fair assumption that the goal should be to play the game more effectively.

Its not fair that people who do not utilize their opportunities and freedom to be given the same things in life as those who excel at something by understanding and hard work.

If your from a communist country and are used to that type of life, than yes i can understand how the current system may seem fair.

 

[Longtooths]

Its interesting to me to what some people define fair as. Is fair working hard for no better payoff than if you did nothing? To me, Fairness is about opportunity. I think people who live in America or a democratic nation can understand that. The current system is not fair in that there is no opportunity to better ones character or gameplay in hopes of a better chance at a reward. A totally fair system in the standard American sense would be one that provides the Opportunity to advance to all, while providing charity for those who absolutely can not advance because disability or other problems. If your playing the game, its a fair assumption that the goal should be to play the game more effectively.

Its not fair that people who do not utilize their opportunities and freedom to be given the same things in life as those who excel at something by understanding and hard work.

If your from a communist country and are used to that type of life, than yes i can understand how the current system may seem fair.

You are assuming that the rules are designed to be as fair as possible. What if I told you they are designed to keep as many paying customers happy as possible? What if I told you that giving an item to a person that is just starting out will retain that customer and thus generate revenue for six months? As opposed to the one that shows up and gets nothing that only stays for one month. What if I told you that with the current system there is an influx of new accounts (multi-boxers) that are generating more revenue for the company? Changes your perspective a bit no? It’s a company after all….



**Disclaimer: I do not support or Deny any of these ideas, just offering a different perspective.

 

[Smoot]

You are assuming that the rules are designed to be as fair as possible. What if I told you they are designed to keep as many paying customers happy as possible? What if I told you that giving an item to a person that is just starting out will retain that customer and thus generate revenue for six months? As opposed to the one that shows up and gets nothing that only stays for one month. What if I told you that with the current system there is an influx of new accounts (multi-boxers) that are generating more revenue for the company? Changes your perspective a bit no? It’s a company after all….



**Disclaimer: I do not support or Deny any of these ideas, just offering a different perspective.

Yes Longtooths thats a totally different way to look at events that has nothing to do with this "fairness" What i am tired of seeing is that people tend to assume that "fair" is equatable with "easy" That just doesnt make sense to me. Yes, the devs effort to keep multibox accounts at the risk of losing accounts of disatisfied legitimate players does make sense to me, albeit thru a very disappointed understanding of EAs distorted profits perspective. Having a noob character be able to get drop also makes sense from a customer base perspective like you said, but has nothing to do with fairness.

 

[Warpig Inc]

Random number of locked chest appear spread about secured to the ground after the bosses death. Common reward and a few rare rewards all of the same weight. Everyone that did damage get a story related quest from a placed NPC that will take about on average 30 minutes to complete. Quest gets you a key that can open one those chest that have an hour life span. SO go ahead and show up on 3+ more accounts. Some random run about quest like the obsidian statue quest with a scavenger twist should do the trick. Taking on the quest shuts down the ability to recall or gate about. Multi cliented EM could stealth observe the run of the quest at points. Any shortcuts to cheat the clock and pretty sure they will find in their chest has "all I got was this shirt" shirt.

 

[Larisa]

Random number of locked chest appear spread about secured to the ground after the bosses death. Common reward and a few rare rewards all of the same weight. Everyone that did damage get a story related quest from a placed NPC that will take about on average 30 minutes to complete. Quest gets you a key that can open one those chest that have an hour life span. SO go ahead and show up on 3+ more accounts. Some random run about quest like the obsidian statue quest with a scavenger twist should do the trick. Taking on the quest shuts down the ability to recall or gate about. Multi cliented EM could stealth observe the run of the quest at points. Any shortcuts to cheat the clock and pretty sure they will find in their chest has "all I got was this shirt" shirt.

Interesting idea...but most events take upwards of an hour or more...I don't think anyone is going to spend another hour doing this..but it is an interesting idea.

 

[Longtooths]

Yes Longtooths thats a totally different way to look at events that has nothing to do with this "fairness" What i am tired of seeing is that people tend to assume that "fair" is equatable with "easy" That just doesnt make sense to me. Yes, the devs effort to keep multibox accounts at the risk of losing accounts of disatisfied legitimate players does make sense to me, albeit thru a very disappointed understanding of EAs distorted profits perspective. Having a noob character be able to get drop also makes sense from a customer base perspective like you said, but has nothing to do with fairness.

You are looking at fairness based on your level of play time. Do this for me:

We have the great Smoot's, conqueror of all that is UO, with goo goobs of gold at your disposal, opinion of fair. Now put yourself in the shoes of a 2 week old player....what is fair to you? How about a month old player or someone who enjoys crafting only...what is fair from all of their perspectives?

 

[Smoot]

You are looking at fairness based on your level of play time. Do this for me:

We have the great Smoot's, conqueror of all that is UO, with goo goobs of gold at your disposal, opinion of fair. Now put yourself in the shoes of a 2 week old player....what is fair to you? How about a month old player or someone who enjoys crafting only...what is fair from all of their perspectives?

I dont think its fair that we dont have crafting events. However if we did, i think it would be fair that someone with a 30percent bonus crafting tally, and 120 skill w/gm armslore would have at least a slightly better chance than 50 skill and no tally who had just made the character that day.

i also dont think its fair that i can make a character in an hour with junk armor and have the same chance as someone who has been playing a character on their home shard for years.

 

[whiterabbit]

how about just no drops?

 

[DJAd]

What if I told you they are designed to keep as many paying customers happy as possible? What if I told you that giving an item to a person that is just starting out will retain that customer and thus generate revenue for six months? As opposed to the one that shows up and gets nothing that only stays for one month. What if I told you that with the current system there is an influx of new accounts (multi-boxers) that are generating more revenue for the company? Changes your perspective a bit no? It’s a company after all….

This ^^

 

[Sunseri]

how about just no drops?

This. Sashes handed out only when a new EM joins a shard.

 

[Larisa]

Thing is...with no drops you're excluding an entire community...which is not a good idea.

 

[Picus at the office]

So those who pay for more accounts than the OP should be hindered because they pay for more accounts? If they want to bring 60 paid for accounts why is that a issue?

 

[Smoot]

So those who pay for more accounts than the OP should be hindered because they pay for more accounts? If they want to bring 60 paid for accounts why is that a issue?

its an issue because you cant get looting rights on 60 accounts without a "grey area" / "technically illegal" program, which mesanna has recently said the use of won't be enforced. and people realizing the state of the devs stance / inability to enforce the tos is causing many more people than those actual subs gained from allowing it, to consider cancelling their accounts.

this has been one of the major problems with UO over the years, is one of the main issues Steam users have with the game when it was going thru the greenlight process, and one of the reasons our playerbase is declining overall. In my general experience for every 1 player using a cheat program to play the game, there are 5-10 people who have quit UO specifically because of unenforced cheating.

 

[Picus at the office]

I wouldn't argue with you that more have left from issues with the Dev team vs any other aspect of this game. I was just saying that if some ****** wants to pay for a bunch of accounts just to farm EM items I say have at it. Frankly if I could be bothered into seeing how these multi programs worked I'd do so on my three accounts, but I don't want to.

 

[Angel of Sonoma]

If I want to know what the drop was after a Sonoma event, I go to the Stratics Rares Collector forum the next day b/c inevitably there are 3 or 4 of the drops for sale for millions being sold by non-Sonoma players. I have also never seen a Sonoma player selling an event drop.

IMO, the drops need to be shard bound. Since the devs have stated they are not willing to make the drops shard bound, the drops need to be de-valued. This could be accomplished by giving all attendees a drop or set up a clicky or make the drop a momento that only holds its value to home shard players.

If the drops weren't so rare, the multiboxers might go elsewhere.

 

[Picus at the office]

Why should the drops be shard bound and why do they need to be de-valued? This game became a global shopping market the day that shard tokens went live and doing stuff like the above post would just piss people off who have invested the time into this side of the game.

I don't do it but the last pair of items I got on Napa I sold for alot of gold to some jokester who wanted to have them, why should I care if he wanted to pay me 1.5 billion gold for a item I don't care about? And what is a home shard player when nearly everyone has been somewhat forced to make chars on ATL because shard tokens moved the collective majority of the game there?

This bitterness towards other players is amazing and unwarrented. If you want to place anger somewhere think of what changed such that the game has become this way.

 

[Hazel868789]

Its time to make new accounts just before the event, give them all death robes and heal heal heal.

 

[Peekay]

Sneaking on in here... Put it back to top damagers or keep it random. Doesn't really matter imo. The only people who were truly spearheading this "issue" previously and currently were/are, 1. the people who lost their top damage spots when events got more popular and decided atleast they'd have a chance if it was random. 2. People who stopped getting as many drops after it was changed to random. And then I suppose 3. People who never got drops to begin with.

Anyways, it doesn't matter what it's changed to. People are still going to find some way to cry about it.

Edit: @Picus for President. A vote for Picus is a vote for the righteous.

 

[Goodmann]

Just stop giving event items out or make them shard bound. Still do the events and people can have fun.

 

[Longtooths]

Just stop giving event items out or make them shard bound. Still do the events and people can have fun.

If you removed items from EM events, there would be a succinct decline in participation. I would also venture to guess revenue would dip a bit as well.

 

[Uvtha]

They way events work now, if there is an event item, it will randomly drop to any player who has done enough damage for looting rights ie one word of death or an "all kill/switch to another tamer/all kill/ switch to another character/ rinse and repeat"

People are taking 3 - 5 accounts to every event which almost guarantees them of getting an item and in a lot of cases gets them 2 or 3 drops per event. I feel as if the people who get the most drops shouldn't be the people that take 3 - 5 accounts to every event.

The way events worked before was that it went to the top 10 damagers which pretty much guaranteed only 1 drop per person since it would be difficult to control multiple characters while getting redlined/dying to 1 or 2 monster hits. It might not have been the best or most fair system to casual players who didn't have time to craft suits or train characters only for events but it is a lot better than the system now in my opinion.

I think the best solution would be to make it only 1 possible drop per ip, but I'm not sure that UO would put the resources into that ( I have no idea how hard it would be, only assuming it's not easy). Which leaves the top 10 damagers as a better system than taking 3-5 accounts to events.

Any thoughts?

Everyone or no one.

 

[Uvtha]

If you removed items from EM events, there would be a succinct decline in participation. I would also venture to guess revenue would dip a bit as well.

If peeps are just in it for the rares, then just shut the system down. Just put up a stick someplace that every account gets one click at with a 1 in 100 chance of getting and item, and after 20 items are gone, the stick disappears. Stupid? Yes. Unfun? Yes? But if that's what people want its a much easier way of giving it to them.

I always thought it should be mostly about the fun, the story, the experience, whatnot, and then everyone should get a little souvenir for showing up to put in their chest of memories, or on the mantle-place... Those kinds of items still end up rare anyway, eventually, just not billions of gold rare.

Maybe its just me, but I think rares lust has really sucked a lot of life out of this game over the years, and helped to cultivate an air of unfriendliness in a lot of players.

 

[Longtooths]

If peeps are just in it for the rares, then just shut the system down. Just put up a stick someplace that every account gets one click at with a 1 in 100 chance of getting and item, and after 20 items are gone, the stick disappears. Stupid? Yes. Unfun? Yes? But if that's what people want its a much easier way of giving it to them.

I always thought it should be mostly about the fun, the story, the experience, whatnot, and then everyone should get a little souvenir for showing up to put in their chest of memories, or on the mantle-place... Those kinds of items still end up rare anyway, eventually, just not billions of gold rare.

Maybe its just me, but I think rares lust has really sucked a lot of life out of this game over the years, and helped to cultivate an air of unfriendliness in a lot of players.

Where as I think rares has saved it. Which thread is most active on these forums? Rares....

 

[THP]

multiboxing sucks..but the devs say it ok...so pretty much everyone will be doing it soon

Mesanna also said they were working on a new system were the home shard players would stand a better chance of a drop than anyone from another shard....kinda guessing we will have to announce each accounts legion to a shard for this to work....sounds good though...

 

[Scribbles]

Ill admit, i have gotten drops off of a 60 skill level mage, and a 90 level thrower. As easy as it was it kept me coming back for more. I like the current system however would like to see an everyone drop at each event as a memento for all of us. something simple like a sash.

As much as i would love to see top dmg and top healer stuff come back, I dont think the game can actually calculate any of that stuff accurately. Back when it was top dmger i watched several people die over and over and still get the drop. I wont mention names, but it lead me to believe the system was corrupt. At the very least with this system i feel everyone has a chance at getting something, so we are focused more on the story line and not competing to get a prize.

With that said, perhaps the ems could draw up some competitions for the near future, for those of us that thrive on beating someone.

 

[Uvtha]

Where as I think rares has saved it. Which thread is most active on these forums? Rares....

Right, but that's sort of all anyone cares about, that's what I'm saying, the game used to be MUCH bigger than who has the most discolored statue of a gorilla.

And like I say, if that's all anyone cares about lets just do away with the pretense that events are for people to get together and have fun, and just get directly to padding peoples fake wealth/prestige directly.

 

[The Zog historian]

If peeps are just in it for the rares, then just shut the system down. Just put up a stick someplace that every account gets one click at with a 1 in 100 chance of getting and item, and after 20 items are gone, the stick disappears. Stupid? Yes. Unfun? Yes? But if that's what people want its a much easier way of giving it to them.

I always thought it should be mostly about the fun, the story, the experience, whatnot, and then everyone should get a little souvenir for showing up to put in their chest of memories, or on the mantle-place... Those kinds of items still end up rare anyway, eventually, just not billions of gold rare.

Maybe its just me, but I think rares lust has really sucked a lot of life out of this game over the years, and helped to cultivate an air of unfriendliness in a lot of players.

Drops have been part of game events since the early days, but those were meant as mementos. They did get some value because not everyone on the shard showed up, but nothing like only a handful of participants.

 

[TandaBSK]

This whole event item thing to me seems a lot to balance, It for lack of a better term sucks all the way around for everyone involved at some level. If your the Producer and/or a Dev you have corporate on one side driven by profit, margin, subscribers and players on the other side. Trying always to keep the scale in balance. For our poor EMs who do this as a part time gig and are the front line with all of us players it has to be one of the greatest sources of frustration about the job. For those of us who play and attend it divides us all up into categories, warriors, mages, tamers, bards, rare collectors, role players, merchants, casual player verses professional player. Newbie vs. Veteran.
Everyone tossed onto a merry go round balanced on a needle point.

Mechanically I don't know if all their formulas etc. for calculating and making things "equitable" or "reward based on X" do as much as their suppose to. It at best seems questionable. I do know you will NEVER rid the populace of exploits or cheats. Those who are inclined to find the easiest path to the most gain will always exist. You will NEVER get rid of the mouthy rude groups who have no respect or care about anyone but themselves.

Best I can see here is we find some sort of compromise that requires give and take on all our sides, it is the only way to keep the merry go round spinning and the scale balanced. Every shift across the circle has to be balanced or the whole thing tilts and slides off into a pile. While every time there is a drop at an event, this topic pops back up, I think we have made ourselves abundantly clear that not all the populace is happy. Mesanna and her team have to weigh, measure, and plan, things that have been learned over years of costly errors when things were NOT so well thought out before they were implemented.

What we need is to find the right mix that allows Corporate to generate revenue, keep us paying and brings in new blood, can be done within the budget allowed for labor etc., AND rewards here and there some from each play style and group. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy???

I hate seeing friends leave, in 14 years most of them have, a handful left from 1999 that I played with, and that's fading fast. I don't envy those who are trying to manage this. I was once told that you think of marketing as a horn of plenty, you shove 100s of new prospect in the large end and hope that the small end yields enough loyal customers to stay afloat. It seems sadly in UO there aren't the numbers to present at the large end, where loyalty begins in the middle of this travel through the horn, many get lost, and those of us who made it out the small end of this funnel, and have been here years and years are fading out. I don't know the numbers, it is merely how it seems on the player side. Trust/truth, loyalty, branding, satisfaction, word of mouth, increased customers and longevity.

 

[MalagAste]

Rares Saved it? Give me a Break. To me the Greed that has come on since the EM programs have begun has made it nearly unbearable to play anymore.

Most average players don't play to collect rares they want to have fun... but it seems anymore that's becoming harder and harder as there are billions in gold out there now making it difficult for someone who is just starting or returned on a new account to get by... Most I know joining UO now are daunted by the prices of things. Add that up with they buy the game and already have to shell out 50 bucks to add all the stuff to play ..... SA and HS.... Then they go to an EM event and can't even stay alive for more than 5 minutes because every mob that spawns is now on such steroids the average player can't get anywhere near them... let alone try to hit one.... dragons everywhere they can't follow or see what is going on..... with the constant spell spamming 40 EV's and and another 10 RC being spammed every 2 minutes even if the event is just RP talking.... God forbid the EM should want to actually do a *gasp* story. Since that's highly frowned upon by the greedy shard hoppers who just want to grab and go with the prize to make their next billion in gold.

Can't read what is going on in the journal between the constant spellcasting and Crybaby whining because they have the attention span of a deranged fruit fly... they can't stop standing all over the EM with the Greater dragon in tow ....... or gargoyles who insist on flying the entire time and standing right over the EM. Folk who go for the event that actually want to participate and enjoy the story can barely piece it together between all the crap. Hence my use of the EC just to cut out the spellcasting so I can't see it... I don't see anyone spamming spells... What I do see is all the crying about the EM talking too much... So I agree either NO DROPS at all anymore or put it in a clicky for everyone, or everyone who is there when the boss dies gets a drop...

They need to take the value out of these things and return them to the shards they are given on. I don't attend any other events on other shards because quite frankly I don't live there... I could care less what they are doing there... I do live on my shard... I care about my shard... And I ENJOY the events on my shard and the fact that they bring life and a story to the shard I live on... They give me a reason to care and to log in... but the less and less enjoyable they are becoming the less and less I'm inclined to give a crap about the entire game. The more I have to put up with the constant BS at the events the more I want to just quit.

Back in the beginning of the return of EM's I used to get 2 and 3 drops all the time. I participated, I listened and I seriously enjoyed the events. I didn't sell the extra's for billions in gold... infact I gave many of them to my friends. Others who attended the events and didn't get a drop. Never cared about their "worth". I think of all the ones I got I sold 1 but I believe I'd gotten 3 of them that night. I miss that. Then they "changed" things to make it more "fair" to top damagers. Which meant NOT me. After that change I never saw another drop for years, unless it was an "everyone" drop or a clicky. NEVER. Then they made it "Random" damager/healer. Now I might get a drop once in a blue moon... But again very rarely. Mostly only when it's an "everyone" drop still. However rarely I get something nice. It's ok, but the crap I have to put up with to get that rare once in a blue moon drop just isn't worth it.

Then they changed the EC and borked everything. I put up with it because the EC base needed some SERIOUS improvement. But now I'm told that the high rez update I've been waiting YEARS for isn't going to happen.. which to me is one more nail in the coffin... I put up with months of not being able to function because my macro's are all screwy.... the EC is more buggy than a roach motel now and often is laggy and crashes..... I can't loot anymore so trying to take advantage of the new improved loot system is a joke. Anyone will tell you that more often than not the boss mob loot at an EM event can be totally AWESOME and you can get some seriously nice even clean legendary pieces off them.... well that's IF you can loot it. I can't even open the freaking corpse anymore because it totally crashes my client and often my computer. NOT fun.... certainly doesn't make doing the EM events enjoyable.

So I'm all for improving the game... Because at this point if it don't improve soon... I don't think I'm going to care anymore. I play UO less and less every week. At this point I'm more frustrated than at any other time... I always said and maintained that I would be here when they turned out the UO lights and shut down the servers. But I'm beginning to change my mind. The lights are going out for me and one of the biggest reasons is the BS at the EM events.

I personally wish the stuff was shard bound. I'm tried of putting up with folk who come just for the drop and leave. They don't care about the history of the game or the shard. All they care about is getting their next billion gold item to sell and move on... Sure some are nice and participate... but the number that come strictly for the drop ..... ruin the event. I feel badly for the returning players coming to the events and trying to follow them. At one point I used to single out folk who seemed interested in the event and try to get them to join or Vent just so they could at least be with those of us who were actively trying to participate and help them follow the event. But there are very few of those folk left coming.... many of them have said ..... "well I would like to... but I'm not going to the events anymore." Why? Because they are tired of going and trying to participate and NEVER getting a drop. They got fed up with trying to compete with all the greedy SoB's and quite honestly I don't blame them. I'm tired of it too.

 

[Tjalle]

IMO, the drops need to be shard bound.

Shard bound items wouldn´t make much of a difference. The events would remain the same mess it is now.
Look at the threads on the "Rares" forum. They all look like this:

"Selling <insert item name>.
Located on <insert shard name>.
Payment on Atlantic."

 

[4runnersport]

If you removed items from EM events, there would be a succinct decline in participation. I would also venture to guess revenue would dip a bit as well.

How many complaints do you think they will keep dealing with on events and idocs before they just say screw it and pull the plug on both? People here seem to complain no matter what they do its a lose lose situation people are gonna complain. What if all those people bringing multiple toons just started bringing tamers instead just to set back to say all kill on 5+ toons? That's legal to do. The lag would even increase a lot for everyone as well

 

[The Zog historian]

Shard bound items wouldn´t make much of a difference. The events would remain the same mess it is now.
Look at the threads on the "Rares" forum. They all look like this:

"Selling <insert item name>.
Located on <insert shard name>.
Payment on Atlantic."

It would make a difference, simply because there would be less demand for shard-bound event items. There might still be requests for payment on Atlantic, but they'd find buyers only in those who are content with the item on its origin shard.

 

[Longtooths]

It would make a difference, simply because there would be less demand for shard-bound event items. There might still be requests for payment on Atlantic, but they'd find buyers only in those who are content with the item on its origin shard.

I try and do all shards....it would not deter me from going and getting items....just sayin'

 

[Longtooths]

How many complaints do you think they will keep dealing with on events and idocs before they just say screw it and pull the plug on both? People here seem to complain no matter what they do its a lose lose situation people are gonna complain. What if all those people bringing multiple toons just started bringing tamers instead just to set back to say all kill on 5+ toons? That's legal to do. The lag would even increase a lot for everyone as well

I think no matter what they do with anything, there will be people that complain, period.

 

[MalagAste]

No maybe not but if there is no one on the shard to sell it to.... might make a huge difference. .. or if those on the shard it's on aren't willing to pay extreme prices it would start to make a difference.

 

[Longtooths]

No maybe not but if there is no one on the shard to sell it to.... might make a huge difference. .. or if those on the shard it's on aren't willing to pay extreme prices it would start to make a difference.

Still would go. I hardly ever sell the items.

 

[Parnoc]

Thing is...with no drops you're excluding an entire community...which is not a good idea.

To me that's exactly the problem, UO is imitating real life tooooo much, a handful of billionaires with more gold than the other 99.9% of the paying population that is making the billions that the billionaires have possible.

This "community", how big is it really? A handful of people that control the whole game, at least one of the most important major parts and one of the most visible parts. sad sad sad

I pay for 12 accounts, have for years, how 'bout me? I don't count anymore because I don't cheat? How' bout the bunches of folks just like me, there are a lot of us. Give everyone who comes to the event a drop, stop this foolishness.

 

[Lady CaT]

Maybe its just me, but I think rares lust has really sucked a lot of life out of this game over the years, and helped to cultivate an air of unfriendliness in a lot of players.

Amen to that! But you can't tell the Producer her baby (EM program) is ugly. *whoops*

 

[whiterabbit]

Amen to that! But you can't tell the Producer her baby (EM program) is ugly. *whoops*

HUGS

 

[MalagAste]

Amen to that! But you can't tell the Producer her baby (EM program) is ugly. *whoops*

Agreed. *sighs*