Dear Mesanna, "Reward the players that pay the FULL Year" ? HALLO ?

[claudia-fjp]

OK CLUELESS
Xfer tokens DO NOT take any gold out of the game.
EA DOES NOT make RL GOLD, they collect RL MONEY at their store that has ZERO effect on the amount of gold in the game.
Come back when you understand why the reserve takes money out of the market before you post anything, go back to school and stop making yourself look silly.

They are correct though and they even spelled it out where in their post. Gold does leave the game in the form of vendor fees. It removes 300k per xfer token per day at a 50m price. A minuscule amount to be sure but it does add up over time. If the current amount of 11 tokens for sale is an average then over the course of a year 109 million gold would be removed just by vendor fees on xfer tokens.

 

[Tabby Kapak]

300k per day?! Ouch! That's like a full champ spawn, what a waste! (I know, not my money but still I hate waste...)

 

[railshot]

Give a shout out to people on your shard and ask if anybody is heading off shard and would they be willing to help you out, now how hard is that.

Shouting is not hard. Finding people to do it on a regular basis is.

 

[Lord Frodo]

They are correct though and they even spelled it out where in their post. Gold does leave the game in the form of vendor fees. It removes 300k per xfer token per day at a 50m price. A minuscule amount to be sure but it does add up over time. If the current amount of 11 tokens for sale is an average then over the course of a year 109 million gold would be removed just by vendor fees on xfer tokens.

109M in a year is a joke and has zero effect when you are talking about understanding econ.

 

[claudia-fjp]

109M in a year is a joke and has zero effect when you are talking about understanding econ.

So what you really meant to say to them was:

"Xfer tokens DO NOT take any MEANINGFUL AMOUNT OF gold out of the game."

That way your argument has less flaws and carries more weight because the statement isn't untrue.

 

[popps]

Accounts that aren't paid don't age. Therefore folk doing the 90 gamble take much longer for their accounts to age a year? We who keep our accounts active year round get new vet reward choices every year - they don't.
At current time accounts 1. - 4 years get 1 pick per year. Accounts 4 years + get 2 picks per year.
One idea might be that one extra pick may be added for every 5 years? so at 9 you'd get 3 per year, at 14 4 per year etc? Of course that may just play into the hands of those who see vet rewards as a 'get rich' scheme and only claim them to sell them.

"Of course that may just play into the hands of those who see vet rewards as a 'get rich' scheme and only claim them to sell them."

I frankly do not see the problem.

Veterans spent their money to earn that active status, real money and, sometimes,did not log in their account a sufficient number of times, perhaps, to justify that expense and yet, they did keep supporting Ultima Online by not cancelling their account.

So, even if they got to benefit a little in the game from selling a Veteran Reward what would be the big deal ? I do not see any especially considering what has been going on for years and years with Events Moderators' items selling, sometimes, in the upwards of 100 millions of UO gold.....

Veteran Reward get sold ? I see no big deal..............

 

[HoneythornGump]

Yes it works both ways, IF YOU HAVE SHARD SHIELD, if you don't you have to shell out 50mill pr trip.
And this is EXACLY WHY SHARD SHIELDS ARE GAMECHANGING.

Tnx for showing your understanding of how basic economics works. (or lack off)

Here is the kicker Kaio...

What do yo think was the number 1 selling item (biggest revenue generator) at the gamestore prior to shard shields being introduced?

How many players who have shard shields do you think purchased Transfer tokens from the game store since since shard shields were introduced?

Shard Shield introductions rank near the very topic of worst decisions EVER made regarding the UO franchise.

If I was the CEO I would have fired the entire team just for the loss of revenue, not to mention the unbalancing effects on the game (players have to pay 50M while others don't=players can have a greater advantage in terms of commerce), and as we've all seem...the damage to the community: Players who don't have shields have been forced to move to Alantic to set up shop, because the overhead to pay for transfer tokens all the time is way too high. So what is the end result?

Most shards have become ghost towns and wastelands.

I certaintly have more choice words for the powers that be who made that the decision, but I can't state them here. The bad news is those who made the decision are still in charge of the game.

Lastly, I'd save your breath trying to argue with some of the members posting in this thread. They've posted the same nonesense for years, and will post and post and post in ad nauseam.

Trust me...they're not worth the time.

 

[kaio]

OK CLUELESS
Xfer tokens DO NOT take any gold out of the game.
EA DOES NOT make RL GOLD, they collect RL MONEY at their store that has ZERO effect on the amount of gold in the game.
Come back when you understand why the reserve takes money out of the market before you post anything, go back to school and stop making yourself look silly.

EA did make RL

109M in a year is a joke and has zero effect when you are talking about understanding econ.

Tbh i think you are the one who looks silly Frodo.
No matter how much you cry, scream, smash your keyboard...
EAs shop does remove ingame gold when certan items are placed on a vendor.
EA is making alot of $$$ selling thise items, when they made the choice of giving people shard shields, they also said goodbye to a nice goldsink ingame, and alot of RL Cash..
@claudia-fjp tried to explain it to u also, maby read her post again.
@HoneythornGump has a great post explaining it.

 

[kaio]

Here is the kicker Kaio...

What do yo think was the number 1 selling item (biggest revenue generator) at the gamestore prior to shard shield being introduced?

How many players who have shard shields do you think purchased Transfer tokens from the game store since since shard shield were introduced?

Shard Shield introductions rank near the very topic of worst decisions EVER made regarding the UO franchise.

If I was the CEO I would have fired the entire team just for the loss of revenue, not to mention the unbalancing effects on the game (players have to pay 50M while others don't=players can have a greater advantage in terms of commerce), and as we've all seem...the damage to the community: Players who don't have shields have been forced to move to Alantic to set up shop, because the overhead to pay for transfer tokens all the time is way too high. So what is the end result?

Most shards have become ghost towns and wastelands.

I certaintly have more choice words for the powers that be who made that the decision, but I can't state them here. The bad news is those who made the decision are still in charge of the game.

Lastly, I'd save your breath trying to argue with some of the members posting in this thread. They've posted the same nonesense for years, and will post and post and post in ad nauseam.

Trust me...they're not worth the time.

I so agree, its the same as the players who deny that any cheating exists. And when u then point to a vid on youtube showing that people do cheat. then they claim its only a minor cheat, that is not worth using, but everyone and his grandmother is using it, and it dosen't have any impact on the game

 

[HoneythornGump]

I so agree, its the same as the players who deny that any cheating exists. And when u then point to a vid on youtube showing that people do cheat. then they claim its only a minor cheat, that is not worth using, but everyone and his grandmother is using it, and it dosen't have any impact on the game

At this point you'd have to be blind in terms of denying the impact shard shields have had on the game. And I'm talking about negatives ones..

Outside of the veterans that get a free ride, while others have to pay through the nose the impact of shard shields has been nothing but negative:

Here is a short list, feel free to add to them.

1) The UO franchise loses money due to less sales at the game store.
2) Mass exodus to Atlantic. As a result of players have migrated to Atlantic there is even less demand for transfer tokens because now there parked there permanently, which results in even more long term loss of revenue.
2) Players have a HUGE advantage over others in terms of controlling commerce. Players have to absorb losses of roughly 100 million in gold, or shell out $39.98 to have an level playing field in terms of selling/buying wares.
3) Shard have become deserted & now look like ghost towns more so than ever.
4) Players on small shards close up shop because they couldn't sell an item if they're life depended on it. See #2 & #3.
5) New players coming to a shard other than Atlantic can't buy diddly squat because players have closed up their shops because they incur too much loss on their vendor due to being unable to sell their items as everyone is gone.
6) New or Returning players come to a shard other than Atlantic, and it's friggin' dead so they decide to quite the game : there no one there to help or talk to you, they can't buy any gear, because everyone is now on Atlantic...been forced to move in order to "compete".

Don't worry one of our astute members will be along shortly to deny, spin, rebuke the negative effects of shard shields, even thought they are SO obvious, that even those browsing stratics in their underwear could figure them out.

The franchise would have been way better off in so many ways had shard shields never been introduced.

 

[HoneythornGump]

It is too late too add to the list of negatives? I hate when people follow up on their own posts....

7) Players (like myself) have animosity toward the Dev Teams, because they put a portion of the UO Community at an extreme disadvantage, and not on a level playing field with those that have shard shields.

8) Shard Shields have created discord amongst the UO community (have's vs. the have nots) as is evident by this thread. Can't we all just get along!?

Lastly, and I know this may very well be way over the top. I was going to jump in the Memorial Thread to see if any of those who have passed on got their shard shields, but I knew that would have been in very poor taste.

But the point is absolutely valid. The reality is some of us will drop dead before we get access to shard shields.

So this idea of the OP which he brings up time and time again, to add even more rewards I'm totally against it.

I think they need to reverse course even more so, and remove restrictions on the current rewards because I may well be 6 feet under by the time I qualify for shard shields.

 

[Tina Small]

When reading threads like this, I sometimes wonder what UO would look like today if all of the more desirable items in the game had been made account-bound from the time they were each added to the game.

 

[HoneythornGump]

I don't have so much a problem with account bound items, it's the waiting 10,15 and now some people advocating 20 years.

Really!?

Waiting 15-20 years to get access to game content?

This is wrong on so many levels I don't know where to start...

 

[Tina Small]

I don't have so much a problem with account bound items, it's the waiting 10,15 and now some people advocating 20 years.

Really!?

Waiting 15-20 years to get access to game content?

This is wrong on so many levels I don't know where to start...

Trust me, I understand what you are saying, since I didn't start playing until late 2004 and still don't qualify for transfer shields and probably never will. However, at this point I generally avoid trying to take a position here on Stratics regarding the issue because it seems to be such a divisive one. I don't think any of us will ever know for sure how many people have continued paying for UO because of the shields and other vet rewards for older accounts and how many people have given up on UO because of them. Only EA and Broadsword have the data to attempt to figure that out.

 

[Lord Nabin]

I have a shield for pretty much most shards, However I still frequently but transfer tokens.

You only get one shard shield token once a month and it is limited in what you can take across 250 items or so. When I am moving things from shard to shard I need a lot more transfer space than that.

A transfer token allows me to xfer 850+ items plus plus plus.

I really do not feel that shard shields have had such a negative effect as a lot of folks say. Sure its another system that can be worked by someone who has had their account for 14 years plus and paid $1,680+ over that time to get there. They did spend the money and a 5 year account having to buy a transfer token instead is a lot cheaper.

People still buy tokens and offset their cost regularly by selling the xtra transfer space to people who need rides for their items.

I would disagree that these caused a huge move to Atlantic, or provided a huge advantage at commerce, or devastated a shard, Etc.

If your game play isn't to be the richest person in the world, Who cares. If your happy with your shard, don't move to Atlantic.

You can't move your account of 10 years from a shard to Atlantic with a shard shield effectively. 1 token per month 250 items at a time. Come on seriously. We all love our loot, deco, and junk. This is not a real argument.

A limited transfer of 250 items just isn't going to break or make any ones bank, and the ability to buy some space and get a ride for your items from someone with a xfer token has been around for years.

Really these shard shields do not and have not made a substantial difference.

 

[HoneythornGump]

Really these shard shields do not and have not made a substantial difference.

I really have to bite my tongue when I read posts like this...it's hard...boy it's hard...

Really 'friend' !? Shard shields haven't made any difference? I think you've been drinking too much moonglow red.

If that's case, that shard shields haven't had any impact then let everyone have access to them. Make them a 1st year reward, and non-account bound.

Get ready folks, for more crazy posts, as to why some players should be allowed access to an item in game that creates and unfair advantage, and the rest of us should just be okay with it and understand.

This will be entertaining if nothing else..

 

[Lord Nabin]

I really have to bite my tongue when I read posts like this...it's hard...boy it's hard...

Really 'friend' !? Shard shields haven't made any difference? I think you've been drinking too much moonglow red.

If that's case, that shard shields haven't had any impact then let everyone have access to them. Make them a 1st year reward, and non-account bound.

Get ready folks, for more crazy posts, as to why some players should be allowed access to an item in game that creates and unfair advantage, and the rest of us should just be okay with it and understand.

This will be entertaining if nothing else..

I understand friend an alternate opinion can be hard to swallow at times. I am fine agreeing to disagree.

Looking back at my spending I am buying about the same number of transfer tokens as I usually do despite the fact I have shields.

I do not feel that shard shields put anyone at a disadvantage. Before them we would just post Hey I am xfering to X and have room for 100 items or so. Let me know if you need a ride.

OR

I have 50 items I need moved from Origin to Napa and need a ride.

Guees what,

Today we still do the same thing. There is always a ride somewhere from someone who can transfer.

That being said. No one is at a disadvantage.

Most of those ride these days are free.

I would say that garden sheds which increase storage and anyone can use probably had I bigger effect, for that matter anything that increased storage in your bank box or house did.

One of the main reasons for a second and third etc account is housing and storage. You can do just about everything you want with a single account, 7 character slots, and a ton of Soulstones.

The one thing you can't do with that account is hold multiple houses or have unlimited storage. (yes I know you can have multiple houses if they are grandfathered but those are limited and not readily available)

The storage increases over time it could be argued had a direct effect against monthly account revenue.

As a result I now have about half the houses I use to use. Paying for half the accounts I use to need for those houses. While achieving the same amount of storage or better.

 

[MalagAste]

As someone with a shield to every shard (not Siege or Mugen)... I can say that for my friends I always let them know when I'm transferring to or from somewhere and I have room. I always feel like it's almost a waste not to come back full. And if you have all the added space upgrades that's 175 items in your bank box and 125 in your backpack so long as you don't exceed the weight limit of your pack. Also you now have to remember to put gold in your transfer to or from somewhere... I've already had many issues with that. I have no idea how many times I've gone somewhere and forgotten to bring my gold back or forgot to take gold there. I wish the transfer thing was part of the transfer process.

 

[railshot]

I do not feel that shard shields put anyone at a disadvantage. Before them we would just post Hey I am xfering to X and have room for 100 items or so. Let me know if you need a ride.

How would you know? You have a shield to every shard. You offer your services to your friends. How would you know that do not have shields and are not your friend are not at a disadvantage?!
Even assuming every player out there is close enough friends with a shield holder (hint - many are not) to ask them for this favor, a favor is not the same as having full access to the service. It's like saying that hitchhikers out there are just as mobile as any car owner, because you don't mind giving them a ride.

 

[MissEcho]

The ONLY people who say shard shields don't create an imbalance in game are those that HAVE them.

Those that don't either
1. don't care as they aren't full time merchants and probably never want to transfer anything anyways, or
2. are like the rest of us merchants, vendor mall operators who do not have them and see full well the impact they have had on the game and now need to find people to hall their stuff to Atlantic to sell or stock locally for more often than not a loss, and who can't even consider selling any high end items locally anymore.

I have been a merchant for over 10 yrs, I don't have transfer shields, I have to rely on other people to shift stuff back and forward for me, which is always a 'risk' when I spend 30+ million on some items and need to rely on the honesty of other players to move them, etc.

Yes you can generally find someone to 'move' your stuff, but it is NOT pleasant saying hey take this 100mil cash for me and here, haul these rares worth 250 mil back to my home. You shouldn't have to rely on other people to do this sort of thing, what happens if the person logs out and for whatever reason never returns. Prior to shard shields I never transferred a single item I didn't need to, my shop on my home shard made me plenty of money, not any more.

Have shard shields totally borked the economy in UO, darn right they have. Anyone who says different obviously HAS them.

 

[Eärendil]

If you are tired of UO-economy, come to Siege Perilous! The last great adventure!

 

[popps]

I don't have so much a problem with account bound items, it's the waiting 10,15 and now some people advocating 20 years.

Really!?

Waiting 15-20 years to get access to game content?

This is wrong on so many levels I don't know where to start...

There is no waiting. It is players looking at it from the wrong perspective, to my opinion.

Veteran rewards are awarded for a whole lot of Years and, infact, 1st Year if I recall it correctly probably is the single Veteran Year that has the most prizes attached.....

Those "top" years Rewards would be intended for those players who, after 16 or 17 or 18 or 19 Years or even 20 Years are still here, with an active account which supported the game month after month, year after year fot that entire extraordinary and incredible long time.

They are not intended to players who start playing the game now, to wait 16,17,18,19 or 20 years before they can get them....
They are intended as a recognition of extraordinary loyalty to those players who, after 16, 17, 18,19, 20 Years are still here putting their money into Ultima Online.

That said, those players starting the game now but wanting "so much" those Veteran Rewards which they are not eligible to claim for themselves, can well get them from those who can asking a friend or buying them. Get to some Event Moderator's event, get items and either trade these for a wanted Veteran Reward or sell them to earn the game gold to buy a Veteran Reward.

Why on earth, should actual players who actually stayed loyal to the game for so long have to be penalized because of the "thought" of the long wait for someone starting to play the game now before they can qualify to earn those same Veteran Rewards themselves ?

Personally, I think people are looking the issue from a wrong perspective.

Top Years veteran Rewards should not be looked with the eyes of those who did not earn the active years to claim them, but with the eyes of those who actually did , remaining extraordinarily loyal to Ultima Online for such an incredible long time, no matter what................

The compromise to meet the needs of hose players not having those top end Veteran active account age is the ability for all accounts' ages to use the rewards (but the Shard Shields) so, it is not like younger years would be entirely precluded from them, they would still be able, one way or the other, to try get those top years Veteran Rewards even though they are a long way off from getting them themselves, and get to enjoy them just like everyone else.

I would see no problem with that and it would only look fair to me, seen from the eyes of those players who actually did stay loyal, no matter what, to Ultima Online, for such an extraordinary long time.

That's at least how I see it.

 

[Uvtha]

I would see no problem with that and it would only look fair to me, seen from the eyes of those players who actually did stay loyal, no matter what, to Ultima Online, for such an extraordinary long time.

I'm looking through those eyes and I feel the opposite. I care about the game and it's pretty hard to argue that adding things to the game that offer a real and substantial benefit to only a small group of people, regardless of the reason is a good idea. I've gone over my feelings about the use of dev team time, even on decorative items, but when it comes to functional game changing items like shard shields, being behind a potentially unbreachable wall, thats just a horrible idea.

The thing that most makes me as a vet happy is the game, in general, getting development, and people keep playing, so the game doesn't shut down. If I'm a new player or even a newer player seeing dev time go to stuff I won't ever see or get to use, even if it doesn't actively make me feel like a second class citizen, it certainly doesn't doesn't encourage me to keep playing. Thankfully the dev team recognized this, and removed the use caps for most items.

I think vet rewards as a whole were a bad idea, because of topics like this one. It just causes segmentation, bitterness (whether justified or not) entitlement, elitism... just a mess, with a very small potential payback in terms of actual game health.

 

[Smoot]

There is no waiting. It is players looking at it from the wrong perspective, to my opinion.

Veteran rewards are awarded for a whole lot of Years and, infact, 1st Year if I recall it correctly probably is the single Veteran Year that has the most prizes attached.....

Those "top" years Rewards would be intended for those players who, after 16 or 17 or 18 or 19 Years or even 20 Years are still here, with an active account which supported the game month after month, year after year fot that entire extraordinary and incredible long time.

They are not intended to players who start playing the game now, to wait 16,17,18,19 or 20 years before they can get them....
They are intended as a recognition of extraordinary loyalty to those players who, after 16, 17, 18,19, 20 Years are still here putting their money into Ultima Online.

That said, those players starting the game now but wanting "so much" those Veteran Rewards which they are not eligible to claim for themselves, can well get them from those who can asking a friend or buying them. Get to some Event Moderator's event, get items and either trade these for a wanted Veteran Reward or sell them to earn the game gold to buy a Veteran Reward.

Why on earth, should actual players who actually stayed loyal to the game for so long have to be penalized because of the "thought" of the long wait for someone starting to play the game now before they can qualify to earn those same Veteran Rewards themselves ?

Personally, I think people are looking the issue from a wrong perspective.

Top Years veteran Rewards should not be looked with the eyes of those who did not earn the active years to claim them, but with the eyes of those who actually did , remaining extraordinarily loyal to Ultima Online for such an incredible long time, no matter what................

The compromise to meet the needs of hose players not having those top end Veteran active account age is the ability for all accounts' ages to use the rewards (but the Shard Shields) so, it is not like younger years would be entirely precluded from them, they would still be able, one way or the other, to try get those top years Veteran Rewards even though they are a long way off from getting them themselves, and get to enjoy them just like everyone else.

I would see no problem with that and it would only look fair to me, seen from the eyes of those players who actually did stay loyal, no matter what, to Ultima Online, for such an extraordinary long time.

That's at least how I see it.

why should a player be rewarded for 20 years loyalty for a game they play for enjoyment to begin with. if you work at at an actual job for 20 years, your lucky if you get a mug. i just dont see your point here.

in my opinion the vet reward system to begin with is a failure. that content, those rewards would keep more people playing if they had been added to static daily content.

 

[Uvtha]

why should a player be rewarded for 20 years loyalty for a game they play for enjoyment to begin with. if you work at at an actual job for 20 years, your lucky if you get a mug. i just dont see your point here.

My sentiments exactly. My reward for being a vet is clearly the fact that I played a game I enjoy for a long time, or at least something I felt was worth my money. Otherwise why would I have spent that money? To get vet rewards in a game I don't like?

 

[Lord Nabin]

How would you know? You have a shield to every shard. You offer your services to your friends. How would you know that do not have shields and are not your friend are not at a disadvantage?!
Even assuming every player out there is close enough friends with a shield holder (hint - many are not) to ask them for this favor, a favor is not the same as having full access to the service. It's like saying that hitchhikers out there are just as mobile as any car owner, because you don't mind giving them a ride.

Because there are posts regularly on the boards offering free rides to places.

When there is not one you can post that you need one and usually get a ride to where you want to go.

Quit playing the victim and reach out to the community and engage.

Lots of people out there willing to help you get your stuff where you want to go. A lot of times for free

 

[Lord Nabin]

The ONLY people who say shard shields don't create an imbalance in game are those that HAVE them.

Those that don't either
1. don't care as they aren't full time merchants and probably never want to transfer anything anyways, or
2. are like the rest of us merchants, vendor mall operators who do not have them and see full well the impact they have had on the game and now need to find people to hall their stuff to Atlantic to sell or stock locally for more often than not a loss, and who can't even consider selling any high end items locally anymore.

I have been a merchant for over 10 yrs, I don't have transfer shields, I have to rely on other people to shift stuff back and forward for me, which is always a 'risk' when I spend 30+ million on some items and need to rely on the honesty of other players to move them, etc.

Yes you can generally find someone to 'move' your stuff, but it is NOT pleasant saying hey take this 100mil cash for me and here, haul these rares worth 250 mil back to my home. You shouldn't have to rely on other people to do this sort of thing, what happens if the person logs out and for whatever reason never returns. Prior to shard shields I never transferred a single item I didn't need to, my shop on my home shard made me plenty of money, not any more.

Have shard shields totally borked the economy in UO, darn right they have. Anyone who says different obviously HAS them.

Friend, that's what building community is all about. You've been a merchant for ten years now and I am sure have built up a list of people you know you can count on to transfer your goods. In a pleasant manner.

Your vendor on your home shard that use to make you lots of money and now does not is probably more a function of a smaller community in the over all UO system not shard shields.

If I wasn't spending about the same on transfer tokens from the origin store. I might be inclined to agree with you. However a limited transfer token to a specific shard holding a fraction of the items of a real transfer token that you get once a month just doesn't make that difference.

 

[Fridgster]

Because there are posts regularly on the boards offering free rides to places.

When there is not one you can post that you need one and usually get a ride to where you want to go.

Quit playing the victim and reach out to the community and engage.

Lots of people out there willing to help you get your stuff where you want to go. A lot of times for free

That reminds me. Heading to atlantic tonight from napa. Will be returning monday/tuesday. About 50 free spots to atlantic ~25 spots for return to napa if anyone needs some things transfered. No fee first come first served. Just send pm here.

 

[Smoot]

Because there are posts regularly on the boards offering free rides to places.

When there is not one you can post that you need one and usually get a ride to where you want to go.

Quit playing the victim and reach out to the community and engage.

Lots of people out there willing to help you get your stuff where you want to go. A lot of times for free

you have to admit tho, its still a great inconvenience for players that dont have them. having a friend works for items, but not characters. and the difference of waiting a few days to arrange something vrs immediate transfer can be hundreds of millions (pvpers dont like to wait on gear, rares collectors will buy whats available first)

all in all, i think shard transfer was a terrible idea for a high year vet reward. especially in the situation where we have many dead shards with no plan of shard merger. it should be a first year vet reward at this point in the game. or available on UO store for low cost.

 

[Lord Nabin]

you have to admit tho, its still a great inconvenience for players that dont have them. having a friend works for items, but not characters. and the difference of waiting a few days to arrange something vrs immediate transfer can be hundreds of millions (pvpers dont like to wait on gear, rares collectors will buy whats available first)

all in all, i think shard transfer was a terrible idea for a high year vet reward. especially in the situation where we have many dead shards with no plan of shard merger. it should be a first year vet reward at this point in the game. or available on UO store for low cost.

It's just as convenient, Buy a transfer token if its that important to you and sell some rides for other peoples stuff to pay for it.

Someone with a five year or ten year account paying the highest price on the market for a transfer token is still a much smaller expense than the game time bought for a 14 year+ account that earned a vet reward.

That token they bought has a tremendous advantage over a shard shield token.

I bought 10 tokens last month to move some things around. Would have taken me forever to accomplish the task with Shard Shields.

 

[Smoot]

It's just as convenient, Buy a transfer token if its that important to you and sell some rides for other peoples stuff to pay for it.

Someone with a 5 year or ten year account paying the highest price on the market for a transfer token is still a much smaller expense than the game time bought for a 14 year+ account that earned a vet reward.

That token they bought has a tremendous advantage over a shard shield token.

I bought 10 tokens last month to move some things around. Would have taken me forever to accomplish the task with Shard Shields.

i dont think your getting my point. take games like wow. they have regular server group mergers so all areas are active / healthy. UO does not (because of players' attachment to houses) the fix to this was transfers. by only having shard transfers available to vets, your telling the non-vet player that they dont deserve a healthy thriving game (something that SHOULD come standard) in essence, your saying that a non-vet should have to pay extra, in a game that already has a subscription fee, to gain access to basic game standards in an mmo (the other people playing it) because the games foundation has failed by design at maintaining basic mmorpg standards.

Sorry, im just not buying that a player should have to go out of his way and pay extra for something that should be provided as a basic need for an mmo. If we had shard mergers, or if population was high and transferring was a luxury rather than a necessity my thoughts would be similar to yours.

for the record, my account is very old with plenty of shields. im saying this for the players who dont have even one. it shouldnt be a subject of entitlement / loyalty / $$ spent to get to 14 years, rather it should be whats best for the current game in its current state.

i would suggest at a minimum a 6month vet reward of 2 shard shields that will transfer the chracter and about 50 items. at this point in the game that seems very fair and smart thing for the devs to do.

 

[Lord Nabin]

i dont think your getting my point. take games like wow. they have regular server group mergers so all areas are active / healthy. UO does not (because of players' attachment to houses) the fix to this was transfers. by only having shard transfers available to vets, your telling the non-vet player that they dont deserve a healthy thriving game (something that SHOULD come standard) in essence, your saying that a non-vet should have to pay extra, in a game that already has a subscription fee, to gain access to basic game standards in an mmo (the other people playing it) because the games foundation has failed by design at maintaining basic mmorpg standards.

Sorry, im just not buying that a player should have to go out of his way and pay extra for something that should be provided as a basic need for an mmo. If we had shard mergers, or if population was high and transferring was a luxury rather than a necessity my thoughts would be similar to yours.

for the record, my account is very old with plenty of shields. im saying this for the players who dont have even one. it shouldnt be a subject of entitlement / loyalty / $$ spent to get to 14 years, rather it should be whats best for the current game in its current state.

i would suggest at a minimum a 6month vet reward of 2 shard shields that will transfer the chracter and about 50 items. at this point in the game that seems very fair and smart thing for the devs to do.

I hear what you're saying friend. I don't feel Shard Shields had the overall devastating effect that was outlined above. I do feel that a full transfer token purchased from the store has a lot of benefits above a shard shield.

I feel its ridiculous for someone to state that shard shields made for a mass exodus from all the shards to Atlantic killing the game and then turn around and complain that they were for a very small group of a select few of 14 year+ vets.

If they were for a such a small group, How do they facilitate a mass exodus.... They don't and it doesn't.

While I feel the systems are totally fine as they are and there is opportunity for everyone, with and without some effort or expense. I would not and am not opposed to some sort of transfer for each character.

Like when they did tokens in your gift bag.

Make it a personal transfer token. Go ahead and let them have the same benefits of a transfer token. Only the character that gets the token can use the token. let's see what happens. maybe put a 60 day timer on them so they are not around forever. My bet is a lot of people are going to just stay right where they are enjoying the community and history of their shard. Otherwise they would have left long ago.

 

[Uvtha]

It's just as convenient, Buy a transfer token if its that important to you and sell some rides for other peoples stuff to pay for it.

Well, that's obviously not true, transfer tokens cost real life money, shard shields don't. If it were just as convenient it wouldn't be one of the most popular vet rewards. I get what you are saying, but there absolutely has been an impact. A segmented portion of the population has control over the free rides. In a world of frequent shard transfers, that's not nothing.

 

[Lord Nabin]

Well, that's obviously not true, transfer tokens cost real life money, shard shields don't. If it were just as convenient it wouldn't be one of the most popular vet rewards. I get what you are saying, but there absolutely has been an impact. A segmented portion of the population has control over the free rides. In a world of frequent shard transfers, that's not nothing.

and that small population has spent hundreds of $$$ in RL money maintaining their monthly subscription fees above an beyond for 14+ years.

No one has control over free rides. Anyone can get a transfer token via the origin store or with gold in game and create free rides as well.

Control over free rides would indicate that there was no other way to get a ride.

A 5 year account has spent about $600 in subscription fees.

A 10 year about $1200 in subscription fees.

A 14 year account $1,680 in subscription fees.

A $20 transfer token with out limits is a heck of a lot cheaper than maintaining a 14+yr account and getting a severely limited free token.

If anything the impact has made it easier for everyone to get their items moved around since you can always catch a ride for them. I don't think the impact over the last several years has been a negative. I find it funny those that complain they have to work with other players to accomplish their personal goals. You are playing in an mmo with a community. That's part of the point. Working together and helping each other so that you can enjoy what you love to do and let others help you with the things you don't want to do.

The Community and sharing each of resources is what builds and strengthens the community as a whole. If everyone had the same abilities it really would not be all that fun and you just wouldn't need the community. Then why even be in a MMO.

Working together and sharing your resources is half the fun.

Like I said, Let's give every character a one time use free character bound transfer token that has to be used within 60 days and see what happens. My quess is you'll have a few people move or spread their characters out across several shards but at the end of the day most will stay where they are. 6 characters able to move 5600+ items is plenty to move an entire account from one shard to another.

We can call it the Great Shuffle of 2016

 

[Uvtha]

and that small population has spent hundreds of $$$ in RL money maintaining their monthly subscription fees above an beyond for 14+ years.

That's my problem. The idea that because people played a game they liked for 14+ years, that its ok to give them a special advantage. I disagree with that. It's glorified pay to win mentality. To me, a MMO should be 100% egalitarian, everyone should have the same footing, there should be no "special" people, except the people who make themselves special. I hate seeing spending money as some kind of accomplishment. I get that I may be in the minority there, but that's my feeling about it.

I feel that unless a game is f2p everything should be available in game, and by the same means to everyone. The idea of an item store in a game with a subscription really irks me. It's like "hey I know you pay for the game mothly... but hey pay some more!" Then on top of that create a subsection of players in game who are allowed to side step this money barrier, at least for this one item, it seems like a terrible way to do things.

No one has control over free rides. Anyone can get a transfer token via the origin store or with gold in game and create free rides as well.

By free ride I meant the shield tokens. Of course, anyone can buy a token from the store, at which point the ride is no longer "free" in a very tangible sense rather than the incidental sense of the shard shields being paid for by years of subs..

I find it funny those that complain they have to work with other players to accomplish their personal goals. You are playing in an mmo with a community. That's part of the point. Working together and helping each other so that you can enjoy what you love to do and let others help you with the things you don't want to do.

It's not up to you to decide how people play the game, and how they enjoy it. Have you considered that not everyone has the same social skills that you might have? I don't really disagree that you should play an MMO because of the other people, but there are more than one way to enjoy the benefits of other players than directly making a lot of friends. Trading, running a vendor stuff like that. Regardless, if someone wanted to play UO just for the game, and not for the people, that's none of my business. There's no right way to play the game, in my opinion.

This topic is, of course, to me more a philosopical one than a practical one since I play siege, but still, that's how I feel about it. You can take my outsiders view on transfer tokens ast you wish.

 

[railshot]

Because there are posts regularly on the boards offering free rides to places.

When there is not one you can post that you need one and usually get a ride to where you want to go.

Quit playing the victim and reach out to the community and engage.

Lots of people out there willing to help you get your stuff where you want to go. A lot of times for free

Again, owning a car vs hitchhiking. But then, I see you have a financial interest in the current arrangement, which explains why you are arguing against the obvious.

 

[HoneythornGump]

Again, owning a car vs hitchhiking. But then, I see you have a financial interest in the current arrangement, which explains why you are arguing against the obvious.

He's got his own little personal business going...

If you head over there, notice he makes it a point to list what shard shields each account has. Curiously though, he doesn't mention any other veteran rewards!

Interesting, huh?

It's really tough to swallow his posts...

Meanwhile, a good portion of the UO community continues to suffer, and is not on an equal footing.

 

[Lord Nabin]

That's my problem. The idea that because people played a game they liked for 14+ years, that its ok to give them a special advantage. I disagree with that. It's glorified pay to win mentality. To me, a MMO should be 100% egalitarian, everyone should have the same footing, there should be no "special" people, except the people who make themselves special. I hate seeing spending money as some kind of accomplishment. I get that I may be in the minority there, but that's my feeling about it.

I don't disagree exactly with what you are saying here. There is a benefit for a company to have a rewards based loyalty system. There are lots of business models out there where people pay a monthly subscription in order to be able to purchase something else at a discount or receive benefits for longevity of paying for a service.

Transfer tokens are available to everyone and can be purchased if needed. A very limited version of a transfer token has been provided to someone who has 14+ years or more loyalty in paying for their subscription.

It was also announce that a random reward for being subscribed to the UO Newsletter would be a Grandfathered Castle. I was not able to set time out of my schedule to get to the last UO get together and receive a special code for an anniversary robe and a very few did. These would also not be egalitarian in nature should we dump them as well? There are and will always be some sort of uneven footing just by the nature of the game. A 4 year account with multiple characters designed to cover various needs has a significant advantage over a 6 month account that's just getting going.


[QUOTE="I feel that unless a game is f2p everything should be available in game, and by the same means to everyone. The idea of an item store in a game with a subscription really irks me. It's like "hey I know you pay for the game mothly... but hey pay some more!" Then on top of that create a subsection of players in game who are allowed to side step this money barrier, at least for this one item, it seems like a terrible way to do things. [/QUOTE]

Fair enough. That's a choice each individual will make for themselves right? I have no problem buying items from the origin store when I need them. Pens of Wisdom, Garden Beds, etc.



[QUOTE="By free ride I meant the shield tokens. Of course, anyone can buy a token from the store, at which point the ride is no longer "free" in a very tangible sense rather than the incidental sense of the shard shields being paid for by years of subs.. [/QUOTE]

Sure someone buys a token. My point is that in itself the act of doing that often creates free rides all over the place. This existed well before transfer shields existed and now after.



[QUOTE="It's not up to you to decide how people play the game, and how they enjoy it. Have you considered that not everyone has the same social skills that you might have? I don't really disagree that you should play an MMO because of the other people, but there are more than one way to enjoy the benefits of other players than directly making a lot of friends. Trading, running a vendor stuff like that. Regardless, if someone wanted to play UO just for the game, and not for the people, that's none of my business. There's no right way to play the game, in my opinion. [/QUOTE]

I agree there is no wrong way to play the game. I encourage all kinds of game play. Don't complain that you have decided to solo play and can't beat a champ spawn by yourself and that it should be set up so that you could in fact work a champ spawn or boss. Don't complain when you are in Fel and a small guild provides you with a 3v1 dirt nap experience. The sandbox idea about UO is wonderful as it provides you endless choices and you do in fact have to live with those as a consequence. If you choose not to work with people to transfer your stuff for free, well then you buy an xfer and do it yourself just like it has been done for over a decade. That is your choice.

[QUOTE="This topic is, of course, to me more a philosopical one than a practical one since I play siege, but still, that's how I feel about it. You can take my outsiders view on transfer tokens ast you wish. [/QUOTE]

I know and I appreciate your input. A lot of good points and fair opinions in there.

 

[Fridgster]

Guess I'll step into the fray here. First lets take a look at some made up numbers, since in reality no one knows the real numbers. Lets say 30% of players have access to shard shields. I'm sure it is lower but lets go with that. Now lets say 30% of those bought shard shields on a monthly basis. That would be ~9 users out of 100.... less than 10%. Now the claims are that it unbalances trade... by looking at the numbers I don't see that as possible. Do some take advantage of it? Sure and well they should. They've earned that right.
As far as making shards more of a ghost tow I disagree. As a matter of fact I can argue they do the exact opposite. They allow those such as myself to stay on my home shard and still once a month be able to shop for necessities.

On a side note Lord Nabin doesnt exactly hide that he is a very good trader. I dont know him personally, however I was aware of that....

 

[Mina_Lino]

I recently returned to UO...to Europa to be exact.

I have the impression that anything decent is shipped to Atlantic.

I admire the people who still run vendors on shards other then Atlantic.

I currently have a few vendors in my house...in attempt to lure some people to my tavern.
And provide the people of europa with resources. (since new magincia is a place full of empty brokers)
So it's more attractive to stay in Europa.

And they've been standing there for quite some while now.
mostly 2k a day/per vendor to keep my vendors up....and i'm close to giving up aswell...

 

[Rand Althor]

First off... I have every shard shield available.

1. I rarely use them.
2. I've played since I had to send $1.00 for the CD to play beta, way back in 96/97..
3. Anyone can transfer shards - just buy a token, like I had to for many years before Shard Shields came out - why should I have had to pay and not you?
4. I've paid every day since I received my first account, I've never cancelled, dropped out or put on hold - I don't cheat, I don't whine
5. I've been a good vet all those years - and I get a reward for that. Yes it is a good reward but I've paid my dues, and yes I've already paid a significant amount for transfer tokens - and I don't think some newbie should come here and get them for free. For someone that had the analogy of Work.. the person who said you don't get anything after 20 years is incorrect in most cases.. most companies improve benefits, you get better/larger pension, and more paid holidays..
6. I wonder how many of the people complaining about these shields and the inability to get them are people who play the housing game - opening/closing their accounts. Honestly - anyone playing that game has done sooooo much to hurt UO, they shouldn't even be talking in this thread. We should be going back to ... what was it 5 or 7 days after you account ended - your house fell..

Anyways.. I don't usually get involved in this type of drama, but honestly, the entitlement is killing me.. and while you say you should get these "great rewards"... I say, why shouldn't you have to pay what I had to pay those many years before I received these.

 

[Fridgster]

As far as the financials goes I'm not entirely sure EA/Broadsword is losing money on these. Think about it, how many people in the 11-13 year range are at least mindful of the potential benefits of keeping his/hers account open (IE:Shard Shields). Sounds like some pretty good marketing to me.

 

[Lord Nabin]

First off... I have ever shard shield available.

1. I rarely use them.
2. I've played since I had to send $1.00 for the CD to play beta, way back in 96/97..
3. Anyone can transfer shards - just buy a token, like I had to for many years before Shard Shields came out - why should I have had to pay and not you?
4. I've paid every day since I received my first account, I've never cancelled, dropped out or put on hold - I don't cheat, I don't whine
5. I've been a good vet all those years - and I get a reward for that. Yes it is a good reward but I've paid my dues, and yes I've already paid a significant amount for transfer tokens - and I don't think some newbie should come here and get them for free. For someone that had the analogy of Work.. the person who said you don't get anything after 20 years is incorrect in most cases.. most companies improve benefits, you get better/larger pension, and more paid holidays..
6. I wonder how many of the people complaining about these shields and the inability to get them are people who play the housing game - opening/closing their accounts. Honestly - anyone playing that game has done sooooo much to hurt UO, they shouldn't even be talking in this thread. We should be going back to ... what was it 5 or 7 days after you account ended - your house fell..

Anyways.. I don't usually get involved in this type of drama, but honestly, the entitlement is killing me.. and while you say why should we get these "great rewards"... I say, why should you not have to pay what I had to may those many years before I received these.

The Dragon Reborn speaks and as usual is right on track with the proficy.

 

[Uvtha]

Anyways.. I don't usually get involved in this type of drama, but honestly, the entitlement is killing me.. and while you say you should get these "great rewards"... I say, why shouldn't you have to pay what I had to pay those many years before I received these.

It always seems to come down to people who are for such items accusing people who are against them of acting "entitled" (yeah yeah I get that it's a common buzzword recently), despite the fact that the reasoned out arguments (accurate or not) are clearly not based on "wha wha I want this item!!!" I mean many of those with a negative opinion about it are vets.

On the other hand, the argument FOR these items IS almost always "I have played this game for a long time, I deserve special treatment." if that's not a sense of entitlement, I don't know what is. Of course, the only reason people have this notion is because they were basically told so when the game introduced vet rewards. Had they not, I doubt vets would be angry that they weren't getting exclusive items. The vet reward system generates a sense of entitlement on one side and a sense of exclusion on the other, and that's ignoring any other practical effects the items may have on the game. Exactly why it was a bad idea, IMO.

To be clear I really don't even think its the fault of people who think they deserve special treatment, because clearly that's the impression the designers have given.

 

[Uvtha]

. There are lots of business models out there where people pay a monthly subscription in order to be able to purchase something else at a discount or receive benefits for longevity of paying for a service.

That's true, but in this case, I think it's different. When you are a phone service subscriber or something like that, it's just kinda, you and your provider, no other people are really involved, and usually you don't get any special service, you just get a lower price. In a game everyone is doing the same thing together, and the provider is creating the space in which you do it, so people with a privilege are getting it in the same space as the people who aren't which is going to cause animosity.

Anyway, I'm probably just being repetitive at this point.

 

[popps]

I'm looking through those eyes and I feel the opposite. I care about the game and it's pretty hard to argue that adding things to the game that offer a real and substantial benefit to only a small group of people, regardless of the reason is a good idea. I've gone over my feelings about the use of dev team time, even on decorative items, but when it comes to functional game changing items like shard shields, being behind a potentially unbreachable wall, thats just a horrible idea.

The thing that most makes me as a vet happy is the game, in general, getting development, and people keep playing, so the game doesn't shut down. If I'm a new player or even a newer player seeing dev time go to stuff I won't ever see or get to use, even if it doesn't actively make me feel like a second class citizen, it certainly doesn't doesn't encourage me to keep playing. Thankfully the dev team recognized this, and removed the use caps for most items.

I think vet rewards as a whole were a bad idea, because of topics like this one. It just causes segmentation, bitterness (whether justified or not) entitlement, elitism... just a mess, with a very small potential payback in terms of actual game health.

I do not think, personally, that Shard Shields might be a good example to use because they are account bound.

When I talk about Veteran Rewards, I do mention that I would like to see 16th, 17th, 19th 19th and soon to be 20th Years Rewards being claimable only by those Accounts which reached the pertaining active age, but I also indicate that a good compromise towards meeting the needs and desires of those who are far away from reaching that age, would be by having those Rewards be usable by all Accounts active ages which would cover the issue, for example, of a 1st Year player wanting to use and enjoy, for example, a 19th year Veteran Reward without having to wait some 18 years to do that.....

And that does not happen for Shard Shields being them account bound.

Besides, with so many and many good rewards available throughout all of the Years, and most of them also, for 1st Years and in general claimable by low years below the 10th, I do not think I could agree on seeing the entire Veteran Rewards Program just on the basis of 1 veteran Reward, Shard Shields.

Overall, is my opinion, the Veteran Rewards Program has been very good in acknowledging, and rightfully so IMHO, the loyalty of players to Ultima Online by maintaining their accounts as active, no matter what, over so many years.

The only one complaint that I have, is the stopping of issuing "new" Top Years Rewards at 15 Years even though Veteran Accounts might have accumulated a much higher active age like 16, 17, 18,19 and soon even 20 Years, hopefully.

Maintaining an account as active for some 16, 17,18,19 or even 20 Years is not the same as doing it "only" for 15 Years and, therefore, such an extraordinaty Loyalty should be adequatedly, to my opinion, be recognized to appreciate those players who, no matter what, kept maintaining their accounts as active for so many, endured long years.

And as I said, allowing younger years active accounts to "use" those Veteran Rewards only claimable by those top Years I think would solve the issue of those players not wanting to wait that long before being able to enjoy them thus making it possible to reach an acceptable, as I see it, compromise.

That's at least how I see it.

 

[popps]

why should a player be rewarded for 20 years loyalty for a game they play for enjoyment to begin with. if you work at at an actual job for 20 years, your lucky if you get a mug. i just dont see your point here.

in my opinion the vet reward system to begin with is a failure. that content, those rewards would keep more people playing if they had been added to static daily content.

Over those many years, I would imagine, that, at least theoretically, it may have occurred to some players' minds to stop playing for a number of reasons and thus, stop paying for their subscriptions because not playing the game (the 90 days discussion, just as an example and 3 months of subscription can be worth some 30+ dollars depending how one pays.....).

Some have done it saving themselves some good real money, and, thus, as a consequence, stopping their accounts' active age to progress but others have not, they have perhaps not logged into the game for extended periods of time, sometimes even entire Years perhaps, who knows, but nonetheless, still have maintained their accounts as active regardless, thus, actively supporting Ultima Online with their real money paid even though they were not playing the game.

Personally, whether right or wrong that my thinking might be, I think that this Loyalty to maintains one's own account as active over so many many Years, no matter what, even during those extended periods of times when one was not logging at all into Ultima Online, should be recognized and the Veteran Rewards Program looks to me a good one at that other then for the CAP at 15 Years which I already explained my complaints with.

It is nothing about elitism, to my viewing, it is about recognizing the Loyalty of many players who, even though they may have stopped playing the game, whatever the reasons, for extended periods of time, still kept their Accounts as Active thus enduring their support to Ultima Online, no matter what. And as I said, allowing the "use" of Veteran Rewards (but the Shard Shields which are strictly account bound) to all active age accounts regardless of what Age might be limited to choose them, is a good compromise towards those who may not want to wait so long before being able to enjoy them, likewise.

It's a good Program, IMHO, and a rightfull recognition, to my viewing, to the Loyalty of players who maintained their accounts as active no matter what over so many Years. The only one thing that needs to be removed, IMHO, is the 15 Years CAP and Rewards should be released for 16, 17, 18,19 and soon 20 Years (hopefully) to exclusively choose but for all ages to be able to use and enjoy.

Rather then looking at the Veteran Rewards which top Years Veteran Accounts' players might be given and entitled to choose because of the Veteran Rewards Program, why not look at all of the "real money" which those other players who did not maintain their accounts as active saved ?

Different choices. Some chose to save real money, other players chose to maintain their accounts as active even during those extended period of times when they did not log into the game.
Since these players gave, sometimes, even significant amounts of money to Ultima Online and kept supporting it even though they were not playing it, personally, I think that the recognizing of this endured Loyalty by awarding them exclusive Veteran Rewards in relation to what Active Account Age they might have achieved is a good thing to do.

That's at least how I see it.

 

[Eärendil]

For me, the issue is quite easy. As I always said: Give the vets their rewards! Honor their subscritpion. Who has paid all those years deserves great rewards! No discussion. We have to say "Thank you" to those people because they helped to keep UO alive while we (people like me) had breaks for some years.

HOWEVER, don´t give out items that completely change game mechanics and economy. I never understood why EVERYBODY can ride a tiger now. Give the 15+ vets the cooles mounts, shiny robes, sashes, house deco. Whatever. Give them Elite-Items which are worth a billion and more. Let them ride a mongbat and give them neon golden everything. Give them the most wonderful deco you can think of. BUT NEVER EVER GIVE OUT GAMECHANGERS! I do profit from people using shields, because I can transfer stuff by my friends for free.

But UO cut their own revenues (sales of Tokens) - and the economy of ALOT of shards has been destroyed. You wanna see how a shard works that has a healthy and reasonable economy? Visit Siege!

Ok, in a nutshell: Those veterans DESERVE ALL of our admiration, support and ALOT of presents. BUT NEVER EVER GIVE OUT GAMECHANGERS to a small group.

I said that many years before - and I will repeat it forever: CETERUM CENSEO SHARDSHIELDS ESSE DELENDAM (Cato Major)

 

[Rand Althor]

"On the other hand, the argument FOR these items IS almost always "I have played this game for a long time, I deserve special treatment"

You misunderstand my post.... I had to pay for 14 years to get this... and you can do the same thing I did... but you don't want to. For those that choose to play the housing game and rotate accounts, for those that choose to close accounts then reactivate, etc... they choose not to get the time base reward. I'm not entitled... I had to wait and pay for years to get it, this was a reward for doing something with the game, you can achieve this too - but don't want to do what it takes to get it.. that's entitlement.

 

[Smoot]

"On the other hand, the argument FOR these items IS almost always "I have played this game for a long time, I deserve special treatment"

You misunderstand my post.... I had to pay for 14 years to get this... and you can do the same thing I did... but you don't want to. For those that choose to play the housing game and rotate accounts, for those that choose to close accounts then reactivate, etc... they choose not to get the time base reward. I'm not entitled... I had to wait and pay for years to get it, this was a reward for doing something with the game, you can achieve this too - but don't want to do what it takes to get it.. that's entitlement.

this is my opinion and analysis of this argument, take it for what you will.

things in life change. times change. things that were once worked extremely hard for (after a long time and overall environment change) are accepted later on as necessity. 20 years video game age is an extremely long time for a game, for changes to occur. i think a fair, equatable real life comparison would be 100 to 200 years.

the things people worked hard for 100 years ago, simple things like food, utilities, basic healthcare, even human rights, are accepted as basic needs today. The same thing goes for video games. You cant expect a game thats totally different than it was even 5 years ago to put the same value on "work and commitment" for things that have become commonplace and needed to survive in the modern game. Transfers, as were at now in the game are a necessity. if you dont have them, youll be relegated to playing your character, not being able to sell anything (unless on atlc) not being able to buy anything (unless on atlc) not getting full value for items, not being able to experience the game as you would have 10 years ago when the other shards were populated. thats my opinion on why such a drastic change in the game environment negates any rationality to the idea that since someone paid for 14 years they should be the only ones now to have thier basic gaming needs met easily and affordably.

if shards had been merged to 5 or 6, or if the population sustained economy on all shards, i would not feel this way.