Young Pup! I got kids older than you.I'm 31 and found UO myself at age 13I know I'm one of the youngins on here
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Hey the misses tells me that you are only as old as the one you are feeling up.
25, started playing (very poorly) around 6
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UO isn't life. It's a game. When games aren't fair, people on the less advantaged side will be dissatisfied. No one is complaining that you need however many years for a certain title or color robe or particular type of ethereal mount because those do not affect gameplay. Shard shields do.
Cross shard trade has dramatically changed shard economies in UO. That is a fact. It probably wasn't the intent of shard tokens and shields, as Petra pointed out, but that's where we are. Systematically making the people who need the most access to goods that they haven't had 14+ years to accumulate either wait 14 years, pay out the nose, or rely on what amounts to in-game noblesse oblige is illogical at best.
Old vets HAVE a huge advantage--their time, experience, and knowledge playing the game and the mountains of stuff they've collected along the way. I don't think vet players need an extra special artificial advantage over everyone else, and I would extend this philosophy to ALL vet rewards that have actual function that cannot be acquired through normal game play: Davies' Locker, the lighthouse, seed boxes, weapon engraving tool, etc. Knock those all down to one year.
Restricting functional items based on account age is nothing but frustrating and discouraging to people who can't use them. Frustrating and discouraging new and returning players is the opposite of what UO should be doing. (There needs to be a coherent and logical strategy for item addition and acquisition in general, especially in light of the growing presence of the UO store, but that's a whole other topic.)
No one paid 14 years FOR SHIELDS... they paid for access to the game. The only people who paid specifically for shields are the ones who bought their accounts from third parties, which is the most economical way to go if you really want full, secure participation in the larger UO economy and don't have an account old enough. If that makes sense to you, and you're okay with that, then we'll just have to agree to disagree.
Cross shard trade has dramatically changed shard economies in UO. That is a fact. It probably wasn't the intent of shard tokens and shields, as Petra pointed out, but that's where we are. Systematically making the people who need the most access to goods that they haven't had 14+ years to accumulate either wait 14 years, pay out the nose, or rely on what amounts to in-game noblesse oblige is illogical at best.
Old vets HAVE a huge advantage--their time, experience, and knowledge playing the game and the mountains of stuff they've collected along the way. I don't think vet players need an extra special artificial advantage over everyone else, and I would extend this philosophy to ALL vet rewards that have actual function that cannot be acquired through normal game play: Davies' Locker, the lighthouse, seed boxes, weapon engraving tool, etc. Knock those all down to one year.
Restricting functional items based on account age is nothing but frustrating and discouraging to people who can't use them. Frustrating and discouraging new and returning players is the opposite of what UO should be doing. (There needs to be a coherent and logical strategy for item addition and acquisition in general, especially in light of the growing presence of the UO store, but that's a whole other topic.)
No one paid 14 years FOR SHIELDS... they paid for access to the game. The only people who paid specifically for shields are the ones who bought their accounts from third parties, which is the most economical way to go if you really want full, secure participation in the larger UO economy and don't have an account old enough. If that makes sense to you, and you're okay with that, then we'll just have to agree to disagree.
I just love how the vets with less than 14 years blame the vets with more than 14 years for the shard shields when it was a gift from EA/UO for 14+years of loyalty, priceless. Here is a suggestion get off you fannies and write EA/BS/UO and ask them to allow you to pay the difference between you current age and 168 months at $10 a month to make your accounts total 168 months (14 years).
Well, I started playing 1999 but since then had major "ups" and "downs". Although I had especially after 2011/12 long periods when I did not play, my account age is now 12 years. Picked an ethy hiryu this week
I come from Germany, and my "home shard" always was Europa. However, in 2010 to 2012 the shard became deserted, and what was even more sad to me was the loss of almost any social background on this shard I had, especially a guild where I was member vanished. So I was in a real crisis concerning this game; I grew tired of all this boring cheating and duping and blatent scripting that was going on that times, even in pvp; the shard was dramatically going down, my guild was gone. Therefore, I quit.
However, as all of you know I think, UO has a magic that is strange and difficult to describe. I really like the game! I don't know why, but it is a nice place to be sometimes and doing things. That said, at some point I wondered about returning, and re-activated my account. I recalled to Europa Luna and got a shock; it was empty. And the status of the vendors clearly indicated that the population was down.
At that point I really thought about quitting forever, since I thought the game was dead. Then I went to stratics and did some reading and learned that Atlantic was the shard for most of the players with a dense and still vibrant community. I logged into Atl and saw that this was true. So I sadly decided that I would leave Europa and my toons and made one shard transfer with my most precious stuff and started there my new uo. So I really, in 12 years, bought one shard transfer token to get to Atlantic.
However, besides that I could do some nice things there, a lot of my "emotions" are not linked to Atlantic at all. I think that this fact is most responsible for my long "vacations" I had from the game in the last years. I am happy that there is this shard and that you can do things there, but my toons alone (those with "history") are sitting in Europa. Also my ping to Atlantic is not comparable to Europa. Therefore I would really like to have the possibility to somehow "bind" those 2 shards (or even Drachenfels, where I started in 1999 and where I was killed over and over by blue noto's) together, in easily switching toons between them and also taking stuff with me. I will now spare on the shard shields to realize this, I will certainly never ever buy a transfer token again (the price is a joke, sorry). This means I will have to wait another 22 months for something I would like to have NOW and what means A LOT to me. This is sad. If they would find any solution to it, this would be very interesting for me and might also decide over keeping me as player.
Regards, Fizzle
I come from Germany, and my "home shard" always was Europa. However, in 2010 to 2012 the shard became deserted, and what was even more sad to me was the loss of almost any social background on this shard I had, especially a guild where I was member vanished. So I was in a real crisis concerning this game; I grew tired of all this boring cheating and duping and blatent scripting that was going on that times, even in pvp; the shard was dramatically going down, my guild was gone. Therefore, I quit.
However, as all of you know I think, UO has a magic that is strange and difficult to describe. I really like the game! I don't know why, but it is a nice place to be sometimes and doing things. That said, at some point I wondered about returning, and re-activated my account. I recalled to Europa Luna and got a shock; it was empty. And the status of the vendors clearly indicated that the population was down.
At that point I really thought about quitting forever, since I thought the game was dead. Then I went to stratics and did some reading and learned that Atlantic was the shard for most of the players with a dense and still vibrant community. I logged into Atl and saw that this was true. So I sadly decided that I would leave Europa and my toons and made one shard transfer with my most precious stuff and started there my new uo. So I really, in 12 years, bought one shard transfer token to get to Atlantic.
However, besides that I could do some nice things there, a lot of my "emotions" are not linked to Atlantic at all. I think that this fact is most responsible for my long "vacations" I had from the game in the last years. I am happy that there is this shard and that you can do things there, but my toons alone (those with "history") are sitting in Europa. Also my ping to Atlantic is not comparable to Europa. Therefore I would really like to have the possibility to somehow "bind" those 2 shards (or even Drachenfels, where I started in 1999 and where I was killed over and over by blue noto's) together, in easily switching toons between them and also taking stuff with me. I will now spare on the shard shields to realize this, I will certainly never ever buy a transfer token again (the price is a joke, sorry). This means I will have to wait another 22 months for something I would like to have NOW and what means A LOT to me. This is sad. If they would find any solution to it, this would be very interesting for me and might also decide over keeping me as player.
Regards, Fizzle
And then with 22 months to go, you might even consider waiting this ~2 years out.
For someone 5 or 10 years away from it, it is nothing but a joke that rather drives players away than to engage them.
So for everyone who says EA will lose money if they drop the price of transfer tokens, how can you prove this? They don't tell us how much money they make selling transfer tokens.
There's an awful lot of players who say they don't, can't or won't buy them because they are $20. Hell, I don't buy them because they are $20. I've bought one in 19 years.
So, wouldn't it make sense that if they lowered the price to $5, then a lot more players would buy them? I know I'd buy about 20 to move developed, scrolled characters to another shard, but that are on accounts too young for shard shields. So how is making nothing, because I don't buy them, better than making $100? It's not.
There's an awful lot of players who say they don't, can't or won't buy them because they are $20. Hell, I don't buy them because they are $20. I've bought one in 19 years.
So, wouldn't it make sense that if they lowered the price to $5, then a lot more players would buy them? I know I'd buy about 20 to move developed, scrolled characters to another shard, but that are on accounts too young for shard shields. So how is making nothing, because I don't buy them, better than making $100? It's not.
Another very underrated point in those discussions.
Would those people also ask $120 for an ethereal horse and $960 for a Davies’ Locker? I sometimes really wonder
I agree. Lots of the tokens not sold thru VS are duped. Lower price to 5$ and I'll buy them constantly from the official store!
The shields themselves are one of the most apparent failures in understanding your business. Probably UO'best selling item is the transfer token... and they decided "hey players that clearly are dedicated to playing this game anyway [hence 14 years of subscription], have my highest selling item, in an unlimited quantity, and then annually let the issue compound further when you have more reward points!"
"..vanity mount unique to you? no no, vanity hairstyle? vanity anything? no no, dilute my income stream.. because you're a vet!"
The proper play would be to just pull the shard shields all together, as they aren't sound economically, and at the end of the day that is the #1,2,3,4,and 5 reason Broadsword is in place to manage UO. Tell the vets "hey, these didn't make any damn sense, I hope you got a lot of joy out of them" and then compensate some vanity or usable item for those so horribly wronged.
"..vanity mount unique to you? no no, vanity hairstyle? vanity anything? no no, dilute my income stream.. because you're a vet!"
The proper play would be to just pull the shard shields all together, as they aren't sound economically, and at the end of the day that is the #1,2,3,4,and 5 reason Broadsword is in place to manage UO. Tell the vets "hey, these didn't make any damn sense, I hope you got a lot of joy out of them" and then compensate some vanity or usable item for those so horribly wronged.
Because your math is wrong.
You are bragging about how special you are bc you played since day one and how much you payed till now.
Obviously you forgot that you paid 14 years without having even a clue that there will be shields in the first place.
Also we don't pay for earning veteran points but for using the game.
Veteran program is nice and so.but you cannot give some persons a benefit like that and others not. - > vanity items....
Solution. Give them to everyone or no one.
I got UO for my 32nd birthday back in '97 and yet I am amongst the youngsters on Catskills.I'm 31 and found UO myself at age 13
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actually my math is spot on.
math, that thing i did with the numbers, its spot on.
either you have Vet Rewards or you don't.
it says right in the name what they are.... Veteran Rewards.
lets break that down for the low hanging fruit in the crowd shall we.
Veteran = a person who has had long experience in a particular field.
Reward = a thing given in recognition of one's service, effort, or achievement.
Veteran + Reward = a person who has had long experience and given a thing given in recognition of one's service.
in smaller more bite sized words = if you hang out for a long time we will give you nice shiny things to play with!
good lord Finley, it says it right in the bloody name!
Giving everyone shard shields will hurt the UO store, and will not happen due to revenue loss for EA.
Taking the shard shield off the game, would be CRIMINAL and a definite act of defiance against people who have been loyal and supported the game for no less than 14 years! I look forward to getting my shard shields. It would be very disappointing to lots of people if they were disabled-gone.
The shields and other high-end Vet or non vet items are just that : High End. Why do we think that high end items should be available to ALL?
Its like in real life : You want the mansion, the expensive home, car, etc. But you need to put in the TIME and effort and commitment to very hard work and personal sacrifice to be able to accomplish that.
Also: It is NOT all that clear that the shard shields have hurt the economy. It is likely that they may have helped a lot of people get BETTER prices than on low pop shards, we see that all the time, just make a newby char in Atl, GL, Europa, other shards and see what some items cost, also you can hardly find items in low pop shards.
People have left the game, period. Different reasons for different people. Some people moved to the "Mall" shard. Also the "Mall" seems desolate at times, people have gone from there also.
What you need is not gutting the shields or high end stuff, you need to put varying degrees of intensity content back in the game that can give some chance at low-end rewards, and make them FUN for a change, not super-super grindy.
Make a central consignment selling-buying App, and attach it to ALL shards, and see what happens.
Allow people to do spawns without the fear of being PKd, etc.
Bring back a modified version with modified rewards of : Tokuno, Khaldoun, others..
Taking the shields out will greatly offend lots of people, the loyals that stuck around for 14 years. Their accounts will be lost from the game. I suspect they are many. Would that help the game economy and EA/BS?
Doubt it very much..
Taking the shard shield off the game, would be CRIMINAL and a definite act of defiance against people who have been loyal and supported the game for no less than 14 years! I look forward to getting my shard shields. It would be very disappointing to lots of people if they were disabled-gone.
The shields and other high-end Vet or non vet items are just that : High End. Why do we think that high end items should be available to ALL?
Its like in real life : You want the mansion, the expensive home, car, etc. But you need to put in the TIME and effort and commitment to very hard work and personal sacrifice to be able to accomplish that.
Also: It is NOT all that clear that the shard shields have hurt the economy. It is likely that they may have helped a lot of people get BETTER prices than on low pop shards, we see that all the time, just make a newby char in Atl, GL, Europa, other shards and see what some items cost, also you can hardly find items in low pop shards.
People have left the game, period. Different reasons for different people. Some people moved to the "Mall" shard. Also the "Mall" seems desolate at times, people have gone from there also.
What you need is not gutting the shields or high end stuff, you need to put varying degrees of intensity content back in the game that can give some chance at low-end rewards, and make them FUN for a change, not super-super grindy.
Make a central consignment selling-buying App, and attach it to ALL shards, and see what happens.
Allow people to do spawns without the fear of being PKd, etc.
Bring back a modified version with modified rewards of : Tokuno, Khaldoun, others..
Taking the shields out will greatly offend lots of people, the loyals that stuck around for 14 years. Their accounts will be lost from the game. I suspect they are many. Would that help the game economy and EA/BS?
Doubt it very much..
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I just can't see why someone thought they were a good idea in the first place, surely shard transfers were a good earner for them so they scuppered themselves, they could have reduced the cost of the transfers slightly and made even more as more people would have used them. I still think they should run a scheme to get people off Atlantic, with some kind of incentive package, one way trip. Of course it won't happen because Atlantic is special and the other shards are like the red-haired step-children....*sigh*
Yea, like this. I also believe moving forward would be the way to go.
Personally I think they should just open a shard moongate somewhere. Everyone gets one free daily use. Vets maybe a second at 5 years and a third free daily at 10 years. Additional use with tokens from store. Vets can on top have shard shields at home like it is. Uhm, yea, hypothetically...
It takes just a few minutes to transfer a character from one shard to another.
They could easily just make a moongate that does exactly what a transfer token does. Everybody could go wherever they want whenever they want. No bias at all.
EA has already made a fortune off of us. I don't care if they would lose a few dimes by not selling transfer tokens. They still sell Sovereigns, and charge us a monthy fee $10-13 to play a 22 year old game. They would probably make more money anyway by bringing back vets and bringing in new players to enjoy the newfound freedom of having all the servers joined so.
Imagine, all you red PK guilds could go check spawns on every server. No room for houses or castles on Atlantic, so what, build one on any server.
They could easily just make a moongate that does exactly what a transfer token does. Everybody could go wherever they want whenever they want. No bias at all.
EA has already made a fortune off of us. I don't care if they would lose a few dimes by not selling transfer tokens. They still sell Sovereigns, and charge us a monthy fee $10-13 to play a 22 year old game. They would probably make more money anyway by bringing back vets and bringing in new players to enjoy the newfound freedom of having all the servers joined so.
Imagine, all you red PK guilds could go check spawns on every server. No room for houses or castles on Atlantic, so what, build one on any server.
Cancelled all my subscriptions finally - 4 of em. Yes you can have my stuff, should be an IDOC with a boatload of stuff on Atlantic NE Malas in the Snow, and look for a Castle on Sonoma in a few months South of Yew Gate.
Anyways..Shard Shields has been a major point of contention for me e.g. why I am disgusted with this game, and is a major reason for me closing down my accounts.
It's hard to support a game where it allows for such an advantage over other players. And I'm close to getting Shard Shields but I no longer care...another year maybe on my account, and I could get them.
After playing the Witcher 3, and Red Dead I just don't ever see myself coming back to UO.
The advancement in games is absolutely phenomenal, and with limited time it's hard to put any effort into this 2D Dionosaur. If they ever upgrade graphics to high res I'd consider coming back.... For those of you who are strictly UOers, should check out those 2 games just to see how far the games have come...it's simply amazing what they've been able to do.
I guess my main point is that if shard shields had been available to everyone to level the playing field I would have much less resentment against the Dev Team, and probably I would have continued to support 'my first love' via a 90 day rotation, instead I shut down all my accounts for good.
The Team that has been in charge of this game for the last 10 years, has been an absolute nightmare.
Yes good riddance and all that. Been a great ride!
Long Live the Avatar!
Anyways..Shard Shields has been a major point of contention for me e.g. why I am disgusted with this game, and is a major reason for me closing down my accounts.
It's hard to support a game where it allows for such an advantage over other players. And I'm close to getting Shard Shields but I no longer care...another year maybe on my account, and I could get them.
After playing the Witcher 3, and Red Dead I just don't ever see myself coming back to UO.
The advancement in games is absolutely phenomenal, and with limited time it's hard to put any effort into this 2D Dionosaur. If they ever upgrade graphics to high res I'd consider coming back.... For those of you who are strictly UOers, should check out those 2 games just to see how far the games have come...it's simply amazing what they've been able to do.
I guess my main point is that if shard shields had been available to everyone to level the playing field I would have much less resentment against the Dev Team, and probably I would have continued to support 'my first love' via a 90 day rotation, instead I shut down all my accounts for good.
The Team that has been in charge of this game for the last 10 years, has been an absolute nightmare.
Yes good riddance and all that. Been a great ride!
Long Live the Avatar!
Can you just trade me all your items instead?
You should junk all your stuff. These people have enough as it is!
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Not really. From what I've been told, moongates work by just picking up and moving your character from point A to point B on the map, which is why it's so fast, nothing happens but getting thrown to a new place. Transfers on the other hand don't actually move your character. They delete the character entirely on the original shard, and then rebuild it exactly the same way on the destination shard. So instead of just moving from point A to point B it's actually cataloging, copying, destroying, and rebuilding your character and all the items they have while also making sure nothing goes wrong like an item not copying over and disappearing, which is why it takes much longer than a moongate (30 minutes to an hour, not just a few minutes usually). That's why some items can break or become unvendorable through transfers but not moongates, the original item is destroyed, and a flawed one replaces it due to some glitch when it gets rebuilt on the new shard.
Think of a moongate like a door, you just walk through back and forth as much as you want - but you can never use a door to go upstairs to the next floor which is entirely separate, you need a staircase for that, which is the transfer - moongates can go from place to place on one map but can never reach the other map on a new server.
Yeah I realize all that but a moongate is nothing more than a graphic onscreen. It can be programmed to be whatever you want it to be, to do whatever you want it to do. They could put in a moongate or a sleigh bed. It doesn't matter. Put something in an Inn in Britain in both Felucca and Trammel. You enter it and the transfer process begins. All the programming at that point already exists.
I just got my shard shields a few days ago and so far I've been able to login with my transferred character about 5-6 minutes later. I understand what is happening. It's just bits and bytes. At today's equipment speeds a few minutes should be expected most of the time. For servers located in differing geographical locations maybe a little longer. Not really that big a deal.
I just got my shard shields a few days ago and so far I've been able to login with my transferred character about 5-6 minutes later. I understand what is happening. It's just bits and bytes. At today's equipment speeds a few minutes should be expected most of the time. For servers located in differing geographical locations maybe a little longer. Not really that big a deal.
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Ya don't think an xfer has taken more then 10min for me, and I've a lot of them.
So you found a new game that is more fun for you. Why be a drama queen?
Yes. And you are leaving due to the "damage" that shard shields are doing in your opinion because you found other games with better pixels etc elsewhere.
And Yes, there are about 2,000 other players that will leave the game if the shard shields and other high-end Veteran content is nuked/nerfed. These are one more thing keeping people playing.
For a lot of people UO is not just Vet rewards and shard shields, but a lot more things.
GL to you.
Hell, if people leave the game just because they can't have their precious shard shields anymore, it sounds like UO IS just vet rewards and shard shields to them
So you're quitting because of an item that was introduced about 7 years ago? Fine example about trying to take your ball and go home.
Agree. This specific game is much more than that for the people that have stuck with it through thin and thick, for several decades as it looks. There is anxiety about the game folding, game becoming grindier and grindier, etc.. etc.. So pulling these shields out may be the straw that breaks the camel's back? Unless something else is added to the game, like a universal traders system, where you can buy things from anywhere without traveling to other shards. They can do this and leave the shard shields as they are. This last part will help low pop shards likely.
Technically he is leaving his ball
but yes I agree with your analogy.Why are we still beating this old horse ?
Those who have the shards claim that they only use them for good, and those who dosent have them hate those who have. EA aient gonna change anything and if they do, they proberly fck something up in the process.
So this leaves us with a broken local economy, less income to EA. but at least we got a nice shopping mall on atlantic
Those who have the shards claim that they only use them for good, and those who dosent have them hate those who have. EA aient gonna change anything and if they do, they proberly fck something up in the process.
So this leaves us with a broken local economy, less income to EA. but at least we got a nice shopping mall on atlantic
I closed all my accounts except 1, those 7 years ago. i used to buy at least 4-5 transfer tokens every month for my xshard trading business. I did also sell a lot of gold for RL $$$. i could't compete with free transfers so i closed my accounts.
I still believe today that i did the right move.
As iv'e stated before, EA is simply too stupid to make money, it's like they really try their hardest to shut down UO, with dumb moves over and over.
You lost me at "I did also sell a lot of gold for RL $$$". Your last account should be banned. You are part of the problem.
What problem is that exacly ? i didnt do anything illegal.
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Selling gold for $$$ IS a banable offense. Actually, Yes, you DID do something "illegal" (your word)
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Think that is what the kids are playing...if so, it is an awesome game and does have great graphics
Feel free to point where it says so in the TOS. Last time i read it, it didnt. So no i didnt do anything illegal
Here is one that comes to mind. There ARE others of course.
From Broadsword
Terms of Use Agreement
12. PROHIBITION ON ACCOUNT, CURRENCY AND ITEM TRANSFERS
Your Broadsword account is non-transferable. You may not sell, loan, lend, lease, barter, exchange, pledge, or hypothecate your online currency or Broadsword User account for any item of value unless expressly permitted by Broadsword. Any attempted transfer of your account, whether for consideration or not, shall be null and void and shall cause your account to be terminated without compensation. Under no circumstances shall you allow or permit any other person or third party to use your account as a means to loan, lend, or lease your account usage. Your account is valid only for use by the person who registered it, without exception.
One could argue that EA/BSs reufusal to ever enforce this rule in the entirity of it's existance would make this "rule" null and void. Just saying.
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So are you saying that "but everyone else is doing it so why can't i" will work in a court of law?
No but if you can point out that it has never been enforced against anyone even though it is done blantly all the time you could argue selective prosecution.
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agreed, but then again everyone agreed to it in the ToS And they could say that you were the very first one they could ever prove actually did it. and then there you are banned and never allowed to play again.
Do you really think that rule is there to actually prevent RMT? Do you think EA/BS really cares if joe blow is selling gold? The rule is there to avoid the headache of dealing with disputes that may arise from said actions. Nothing more nothing less.