Soulstones should always be recoverable
Soulstones change the way the game is played in a major way. They are "game changing", and are account bound. They have no value to other players, and you sale them for actual money. It the event that a soulstone is accidentally lost, wouldn't it make sense that it should be recoverable? Maybe add a new button to the help gump, "Recover Lost Soulstones"? If not that, then atleast let them be recovered through a GM page? For players who either purchase these through the store, or gain them through vet rewards, it really stings to not be able to recover these. If they were usable by other players like most of the vet rewards are, it would be one thing - but these are things that matter only to the players they belong to. Shouldn't they be recoverable to those players?
Bring variation back to the armor system
Currently the only armor in the game worth wearing is leather. All other armor in the game is worthless...Nobody wears anything other than leather because leather currently does everything better. This is difficult to change, however, because players already have their "perfect" suits. As such, if you were to "nerf" leather armor, everybody would be upset. I see a few ways to handle this:
- Increase the resist cap to 80. Make it to where the max possible resist attainable using leather armor is all 70's. "Heavier" armor such as plate should be able to max out at 80.
- Offer unique "set" bonuses to armor. These would function similarly to weapon specials, but would be passive, not on-use abilities. For instance, in full leather your character gains a bonus to stealth, a bonus to hiding, and can meditate. In full plate, a character gains a bonus 5% reduction to damage in addition to his current resists. If this were done to each armor set, it would make each one unique and valuable.
Bring reagents back to spell systems
Since having 100% LRC is so easy, nobody uses reagents for spells anymore. It seems wrong that reagents are no longer used. Make a system to where using reagents gives a slight bonus when casting spells. For instance:
When carrying reagents, these will be used for spells even if the player currently has 100% LRC. When these reagents are used, they offer a bonus of 5% LMC ( the spells are easier to cast since physical materials are being consumed )
Allow players to create "empowered" reagents that function similar to enhanced bandages. For example:
- Add an item similar to the fountain of youth to the game that functions in the same way, but for reagents as opposed to bandages. This "box" converts x20 reagents a day into "empowered" reagents.
-Empowered reagents are consumed regardless of 100% LRC. They provide a bonus such as 5% LMC or 5% SDI.
Put in-game gold sinks
Everybody knows that gold needs more ways to be removed from the game. Add items to the game which are bound to a players account. This removes the item from the economy. Items that are freely trade able do not remove gold from the game.
- Uniquely colored hair dye that fades over time
- charged items that are bound to account
- mounts that are bound to account
Too many shards, not enough players
There are a ton of shards, but on most of them there are few players. Shutting down servers are not an option, because some players have a lot of history and memories that they will never leave behind. For some players, though, it's just too expensive to move. Offer free shard transfers from lower populated shards to more populated shards. This allows players that actually want to move to a more populated shard to do so without penalty. The opposite is usually offered in more traditional MMOs to even out population. Here, however, shards are not very well populated, so something should be done to encourage players to move to a shard with a higher population.
Remove time limit from trial accounts, make them F2P
This is a controversial proposal for sure. Some people are in favor of the idea, some are against the idea. In my opinion, it would be a good thing. The trial accounts are fairly limited in what they can do; for a list of what they can and can't do, check here:
Publish 58 - UOGuide, the Ultima Online encyclopedia
These accounts are so limited that they would have a low impact on economy, no impact on housing space, etc. It would, however, offer higher player interaction, and more potential customers. Several MMOs out there are already experiencing huge success with similar models.
Enhanced client:
Allow access to the "zoom" variable.
- Because the SA client does not automatically zoom to a 1:1 pixel ratio, the graphics are fuzzy and pixelated. It's possible to manually correct the zoom level, but this requires users to edit by hand files outside of the game. Currently, this cannot be changed by a mod because the variable is not accessible within the game.
- Further, access to this variable would allow the creation of additional mods, such as a visual spell-range system that would show within tiles how far away you can cast spells.
Soulstones change the way the game is played in a major way. They are "game changing", and are account bound. They have no value to other players, and you sale them for actual money. It the event that a soulstone is accidentally lost, wouldn't it make sense that it should be recoverable? Maybe add a new button to the help gump, "Recover Lost Soulstones"? If not that, then atleast let them be recovered through a GM page? For players who either purchase these through the store, or gain them through vet rewards, it really stings to not be able to recover these. If they were usable by other players like most of the vet rewards are, it would be one thing - but these are things that matter only to the players they belong to. Shouldn't they be recoverable to those players?
Bring variation back to the armor system
Currently the only armor in the game worth wearing is leather. All other armor in the game is worthless...Nobody wears anything other than leather because leather currently does everything better. This is difficult to change, however, because players already have their "perfect" suits. As such, if you were to "nerf" leather armor, everybody would be upset. I see a few ways to handle this:
- Increase the resist cap to 80. Make it to where the max possible resist attainable using leather armor is all 70's. "Heavier" armor such as plate should be able to max out at 80.
OR
- Offer unique "set" bonuses to armor. These would function similarly to weapon specials, but would be passive, not on-use abilities. For instance, in full leather your character gains a bonus to stealth, a bonus to hiding, and can meditate. In full plate, a character gains a bonus 5% reduction to damage in addition to his current resists. If this were done to each armor set, it would make each one unique and valuable.
Bring reagents back to spell systems
Since having 100% LRC is so easy, nobody uses reagents for spells anymore. It seems wrong that reagents are no longer used. Make a system to where using reagents gives a slight bonus when casting spells. For instance:
When carrying reagents, these will be used for spells even if the player currently has 100% LRC. When these reagents are used, they offer a bonus of 5% LMC ( the spells are easier to cast since physical materials are being consumed )
OR
Allow players to create "empowered" reagents that function similar to enhanced bandages. For example:
- Add an item similar to the fountain of youth to the game that functions in the same way, but for reagents as opposed to bandages. This "box" converts x20 reagents a day into "empowered" reagents.
-Empowered reagents are consumed regardless of 100% LRC. They provide a bonus such as 5% LMC or 5% SDI.
Put in-game gold sinks
Everybody knows that gold needs more ways to be removed from the game. Add items to the game which are bound to a players account. This removes the item from the economy. Items that are freely trade able do not remove gold from the game.
- Uniquely colored hair dye that fades over time
- charged items that are bound to account
- mounts that are bound to account
Too many shards, not enough players
There are a ton of shards, but on most of them there are few players. Shutting down servers are not an option, because some players have a lot of history and memories that they will never leave behind. For some players, though, it's just too expensive to move. Offer free shard transfers from lower populated shards to more populated shards. This allows players that actually want to move to a more populated shard to do so without penalty. The opposite is usually offered in more traditional MMOs to even out population. Here, however, shards are not very well populated, so something should be done to encourage players to move to a shard with a higher population.
Remove time limit from trial accounts, make them F2P
This is a controversial proposal for sure. Some people are in favor of the idea, some are against the idea. In my opinion, it would be a good thing. The trial accounts are fairly limited in what they can do; for a list of what they can and can't do, check here:
Publish 58 - UOGuide, the Ultima Online encyclopedia
These accounts are so limited that they would have a low impact on economy, no impact on housing space, etc. It would, however, offer higher player interaction, and more potential customers. Several MMOs out there are already experiencing huge success with similar models.
Enhanced client:
Allow access to the "zoom" variable.
- Because the SA client does not automatically zoom to a 1:1 pixel ratio, the graphics are fuzzy and pixelated. It's possible to manually correct the zoom level, but this requires users to edit by hand files outside of the game. Currently, this cannot be changed by a mod because the variable is not accessible within the game.
- Further, access to this variable would allow the creation of additional mods, such as a visual spell-range system that would show within tiles how far away you can cast spells.
Those are great ideas. I can't think of anything that would need to be changed/different.
Seriously, soulstones have no purpose to players who don't own them. If you want deco, buy a soulstone fragment. 
