All I know is I am only pvm, and most of my hunting now is not based on the monster, but the ease of getting loot out. I don't even 'need' the gold, as I have plenty, however I just find no point in pvm if you don't loot. I have played UO for over 5 yrs, and everything I have obtained has been due to many hours of pvm, getting gold, buying and selling, doing the dungeons and crafting the ml crafted artis, running a large vendor mall etc.
Yes I know the arguments about what did you do 'before' the bags of sending etc, but the main point is before the bos you didn't have to pay 15 mil for a 120 mage and other ridiculous amounts for other items. The change to the bos has not induced a reduction in the cost of these items at all, but has just made it even more difficult for new players, or casual players to have any hope of attaining this kind of gold without actually encouraging them to either 'cheat' or to buy gold off those who 'do cheat'.
I would of thought the game should be doing everything to assist these kinds of players rather than make it more difficult for them to 'compete' in a game full of 10 yr vets.
For those like me who are only really interested in pvm, crafting, fishing, player events, running vendors etc the only result this change has resulted in is a lack of variety and enjoyment in what I kill. Again, the game should be encouraging me to enjoy things, not make them tedious.
As for the scripters, as predicted, they just altered their scripts and so we have them in 'different' areas doing the same old thing, painted caves, dojo etc and the gold just keeps racking up as it did prior to the change.
The huge amounts of gold in this game are created by these players, normal players doing things legitimately take a long time to amass lots of gold, if ever. A lot of players in my guild get so frustrated as being mainly newer or returning players they find the cost in insurance often actually 'depletes' their bank accounts while fighting in areas difficult to get in and out of, ie most of the peerless dungeons and any no recall areas. This is totally frustrating because as we fight we have 50k gold or more on the ground rotting while their banks empty.
I know the odds of a revert on the change are slim to none, as the devs seem to never actually 'understand' what it is to be a newer player in a game full of vets. I doubt they have any comprehension of how 'impossible' it is for a genuine new player to 'compete' with those of us who have been around and already 'have everything'. Yes, I could give them items or gold to help them along, however I know that this in the long run would take away all challenge for them as individual players, so I generally make sure they have a good suit to play in so they may actually 'live' long enough to make gold and prefer to help them train their skill to where they can make their gold. If only they had a way to actually go to those areas that are most 'rewarding' in terms of loot and get the damn stuff out easily instead of it being so much messing around that it becomes a pain to even bother.
In my view, changing the bos to a fully charged 'throw away' item, which would need replacing after it expired, would have been sufficient, especially if you were only allowed to hold 'one' bag on a character at any time.
This would result in making it extremely lucrative to actually 'provide' bos for sale on vendors, when 'farming' them would need to be done one at a time, so legitimate players could charge up to around 90k-120k per bos, ie 3000-4000 gps per charge. This would still be good for those using them as rather than leave gold on the ground they could still send it but pay a little more for the 'freight costs'. I would pay that if it meant to send 17k would cost me 3k. It is certainly better to enjoy fighting all things in the game rather than those i can loot with recall or have a beetle/packy able to be along. It would also mean those quests totally 'nerfed' by the change would be made viable again, and those players wishing to vend bos's would again have the opportunity to make gold this way.
Sure the scripters will still script, but they are doing it anyway, the change to bos has made no difference to them. In fact to be a gold scripter now is even more lucrative, as the legitimate player has less and more players are being forced to 'buy gold' to compete rather than get it themselves. This coupled with the 'randomisation' of ore and wood spots, again "aimed at scripters" but resulting in another 'nerf' to the average players ability to mine or chop to get reward points for items to use or sell for gold is just another hindrance for the new or returning player, not only that has forced the price up of all reward items, if you can even 'find' them for sale now as the time taken to get them has resulted in a huge limitation on those available to 'buy'. Another quasi nerf aimed at scripters who are basically unaffected while reducing the ability of new players to compete or even obtain these items the vets already have.
Until the devs actually 'STOP' the rampant scripting, duping and other cheating then the huge flow of gold will continue. The ONLY result to the above changes has meant that the legitimate player is the only one affected to the detriment of their game enjoyment and ability to compete with the scripters.
