Now I have seen it all -

[Bobar]

We all know that scripting has become more blatant because little or nothing is ever done and when checking at idocs at the Greatly stage I am used to seeing the same chars regularly there for hours before it might be expected to change. Today I went to one which was Somewhat yesterday to see if it had gone to FY - It had not yet changed and while there out of long habit I checked for hidden - Lo and Behold there is. Now as it still at Somewhat, this bot?, will be there for probably 3 DAYS. This really is something new in my experiences at idocs and is a potent demonstration of the contempt scripters hold for the policing of our game. Ho Hum.

 

[Eärendil]

Aye. Disgusting. One of the reasons why I left prodo and went to Siege. We usually kill those. Easy and clean. Only thing I really regret is, that I didn't go there 10 years earlier. Would have been a good therapy for my high blood pressure. It's 10 times less annoying getting killed by a PK ( what rarely happens ) than watching the cheaters and scripters and dealing with the fact that nothing can be done. And what still really annoys me is, that many of those scripters are long-term members of stratics we all know, who sell the results of their cheating on another website for real cash. Good thing is, we can kill them on Siege, too...

 

[Blackie]

Don't forget to use tracking to find humans, animals AND monsters. One guy in particular brings in a character to watch every idoc he finds to get a 'timer'. He has at least 5 accounts with nice homes and at least 5 more just to sit at idocs and place houses next to them if possible. No, it's not Atlantic Realtor that is most prolific, this guy doesn't care if the idoc is big, small, possibly empty... he watches them all.

I don't idoc much, perhaps 5-6 a month, but after he lured monsters onto my pack horse I took the time to figure this guy out and stake out his house which led me to more houses, more accounts etc. I have confronted him and he denies, of course, but that's hard to do when a unique item comes up like a named wedding scroll which magically appears on his vendor or at his house a short while later

I took some fraps videos of the guys operation, he's slipped up a few times, but at least he's paying for all those accounts which keeps the game active so... grain of salt. I hated it at first but not anymore, unless he starts actively trying to get something I have by luring... that's just lame(and greedy).

 

[Longtooths]

It goes much deeper I'm afraid. There are people with 25, 30, 50 accounts even that IDOC. They use scripts and numbers to totally dominate an IDOC. The scripts target select item types (boxes, chests, rares etc) and move faster than humanly possible to scoop them up. Once you see them in action and see what you are up against, its a real kick in the gut.

They are also the reason I do not do IDOCS, my blood pressure is better for it.

 

[Uriah Heep]

And the recent changes to idocs really benefitted the scripters. That script can stand there for days...whereas the real player cannot sit at the keyboard for 15 hours...because regardless of what anyone says, unless you were already sitting it and SAW it turn idoc, you have no idea when 15 hours is up-and just coming back and checking once in a while (hit and miss) is usually miss, cause if you're not there as soon as it falls, you missed it.

 

[Prince Erik]

I always wished that I could set my houses health status to "friends/co-owners" vs. public so if something happens to me unexpectedly that only people I cared about would know my houses were about to go poof. I know it's selfish but giving all my stuff to these bots to be sold for profit bugs the crap out of me. I guess I have to put a line in my will called "online asset distribution procedures"

-P.E.

 

[Bobar]

Just as a matter of interest, there is now another idoc at Somewhat and one again there is a happy camper. All this proves to me is just how much the present idoc system favours the scripter. Under the old system a player could work out the times as they moved along and arrange to be there at the fall if they were prepared to put the effort in. Now with these variable times that no longer applies only the scripter benefits. It really does make me wonder why this system was adopted and insisted upon when this was pointed out. Aint it great to live in an ivory tower?.

 

[CovenantX]

After the house goes IDOC - a Life-span should be added to the house sign, Once it hits 0, the house decays. Even if the timer stayed at 5-10-15 hours, atleast you'd know when it's going to fall if it doesn't get refreshed before hand. That would fix it and it would get more people interested in IDOCs. It would also make a script not necessary to get fall times.

I might actually go to IDOCs for something other than pvp if they changed it to something similar.

 

[MalagAste]

It goes much deeper I'm afraid. There are people with 25, 30, 50 accounts even that IDOC. They use scripts and numbers to totally dominate an IDOC. The scripts target select item types (boxes, chests, rares etc) and move faster than humanly possible to scoop them up. Once you see them in action and see what you are up against, its a real kick in the gut.

They are also the reason I do not do IDOCS, my blood pressure is better for it.

Yep pretty much the reason I quit doing them... And anymore it's getting to be the reason I quit doing more and more things in UO... now there is very little I log in for. Cheaters have won. I give up. Can't compete with them and I refuse to join their ranks. I'm fairly fed up with the measures put in to "curb" the blatant cheating, scripting, multi-boxing and everything else because it makes normal gameplay without those things a serious grind, which I find extremely dull and boring.

I've found of late that everytime I log into UO I become increasingly tired. As if the years of grinding now is like Pavlov's dogs and salivating to the ringing of a bell... logging into UO puts me to sleep. I suppose if I suffer from insomnia again and really want to go to sleep I should just log into UO for a few moments. Sadly that's sort of where I am right now and there is nothing that I have seen lately to change my mind.

Either things are just too irritating and raise my Blood Pressure... either because they are broken still and need fixed or it's such a grind it bores me to death, or watching the greedy cash hungry cheaters just disgusts me and I log. And it would seem the DEVs don't care about anyone else... if you aren't a rares dealer you may as well just give up as it seems to me the whole game is now geared to them. Making things so sickeningly rare it's such a grind that the only ones with enough fortitude to do it are the cheaters. I mean really who in their right minds waits 15+ hours at an IDOC??? Who does 10,000,000 quests to get some rare drop??? Not any normal players. Maybe someone with more time on their hands than the average working stiff... but certainly not the average Joe.

 

[the 4th man]

As of late, I have called on a GM to check a blatant situation, and nothing gets done. Why, and I do not expect an answer, why must we follow the Terms of service, the rules, and those running the service we pay for, do not? Come on, a character that is in position for 3 days on end.....I been playing way to long to be told otherwise.........it's not right, and seriously uncool.

 

[Uriah Heep]

And sorry to say it Kyronix, but it does seem like most of the changes favor the scripters- random ore, random wood, random (and too long) idoc times, etc etc. Real people with limited time and jobs and families no longer have the time to spend that we did 20 years ago, when this was all a glorious adventure in a new age we were helping to create and usher in. Those days are gone, now we have time to log in, but we want to play. Idoc times are silly, 7 hours was long, but now its crazy...quit the 10 and 15 and just make em go in 5 hours...help the 'player' out, the bots really don't care how long it is.

 

[drcossack]

And sorry to say it Kyronix, but it does seem like most of the changes favor the scripters- random ore, random wood, random (and too long) idoc times, etc etc. Real people with limited time and jobs and families no longer have the time to spend that we did 20 years ago, when this was all a glorious adventure in a new age we were helping to create and usher in. Those days are gone, now we have time to log in, but we want to play. Idoc times are silly, 7 hours was long, but now its crazy...quit the 10 and 15 and just make em go in 5 hours...help the 'player' out, the bots really don't care how long it is.

This, 1000x. Last few IDOCs I did were in Fel, with maybe one in Tram. I went for the fighting, not for the house - I knew they'd be up too long, so there was no point in waiting for them to drop. In fact, the first thing I do for each one is ask in gen chat how long it's been IDOC.

@Kyronix - what exactly was wrong with the previous IDOC timer, besides nothing? Random drop somewhere between 5/10/15 was an AWFUL change.

 

[Alex"Drake Iron Heart"CS]

I always wished that I could set my houses health status to "friends/co-owners" vs. public so if something happens to me unexpectedly that only people I cared about would know my houses were about to go poof. I know it's selfish but giving all my stuff to these bots to be sold for profit bugs the crap out of me. I guess I have to put a line in my will called "online asset distribution procedures"

-P.E.

I hope I dont get sanctioned for this, but you can still benefit your friends, give it to them or sell it to them, or worse of all, if you cant beat them, then join them and sell your items to the website.

 

[Prince Erik]

I hope I dont get sanctioned for this, but you can still benefit your friends, give it to them or sell it to them, or worse of all, if you cant beat them, then join them and sell your items to the website.

Don't see why you'd be sanctioned for that, honestly.

I'm not worried about what happens if I decide to leave (highly unlikely, I'm the perfect UO addict - no matter what EA/BS screws up I'll keep paying and playing) this is more for the blue bolt from the heavens / hit buy bus / don't wake up in the morning kind of worry. Now that I'm older and seeing it happen to friends and family I get these little thoughts of what should I be preparing for.

In reality, though, digital game asset distribution is so far down on the list that it's not worth worrying over but if there WAS an "inheritance option" I'd sure take advantage of it. For example, if I could designate a beneficiary if my account gets closed for any reason (save banning) which gives to that person full control over all my houses for a week. They couldn't be transferred or refreshed but only the inheritor could enter and remove contents. Of course if my friends decide to then sell off my stuff, hey, their call!

 

[Lorddog]

how about a checkbox on your house sign GUI that allows you to set friends to be able to loot your house upon the last decay phase?