High Seas: I want my $15 back

[Skrag]

My buddy and I resubscribed after this last round of Return to Britannia, planning on getting a ship and being pirates. Then High Seas hits, and we find out...

1) The entire thing is a GIANT crafting grind. Ridiculous crap like three different steps to craft a match that doesn't require any serious ingredients or add anything to the game, but just adds more steps to a tedious process.

My buddy has a mule with some of the requisite skills. I don't have any mule at all. So far other than a few insanely overpriced cannonballs, I haven't found any player vendors selling any of the 300 different bits of junk you need either.

Alchemists making gunpowder and blacksmiths making cannonballs was a good idea. Piling on garbage like needing swabs to clean the cannon and needing to cook wood into charcoal into bla bla bla was just a waste of time.

2) Once you've gathered all that crafted garbage YOU DON'T MAKE ANY MONEY. The whole thing is a giant net loss according to even the people around here who think it's great. Once you jump through all the crafting hoops you earn the right to THROW MONEY AWAY.

If it doesn't make money, no one will do it. If no one does it, no one will bother to sell the materials on vendors. If no one sells the materials, no one else CAN do it.

What sort of garbage is this? You added this whole giant system to the game and then gave no one a reason to bother. Three months from now no one will remember this expansion exists.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

My buddy and I resubscribed after this last round of Return to Britannia, planning on getting a ship and being pirates. Then High Seas hits, and we find out...

1) The entire thing is a GIANT crafting grind. Ridiculous crap like three different steps to craft a match that doesn't require any serious ingredients or add anything to the game, but just adds more steps to a tedious process.

My buddy has a mule with some of the requisite skills. I don't have any mule at all. So far other than a few insanely overpriced cannonballs, I haven't found any player vendors selling any of the 300 different bits of junk you need either.

Alchemists making gunpowder and blacksmiths making cannonballs was a good idea. Piling on garbage like needing swabs to clean the cannon and needing to cook wood into charcoal into bla bla bla was just a waste of time.

2) Once you've gathered all that crafted garbage YOU DON'T MAKE ANY MONEY. The whole thing is a giant net loss according to even the people around here who think it's great. Once you jump through all the crafting hoops you earn the right to THROW MONEY AWAY.

If it doesn't make money, no one will do it. If no one does it, no one will bother to sell the materials on vendors. If no one sells the materials, no one else CAN do it.

What sort of garbage is this? You added this whole giant system to the game and then gave no one a reason to bother. Three months from now no one will remember this expansion exists.

you need a crafter.

I made 23 million off it. Buying and reselling the new stuff.
Got a nice lava trap.
Now Im off to land in vesper

And off to fight the boss monster later.

 

[Uvtha]

Hah thats funny. I remember you making a topic about you post return to brit impressions and they were universally quite negative. But for some reason you went ahead and decided "hey this game stinks, but ill re open an account and buy the booster anyway!".

Interesting.

 

[Skrag]

One can buy and resell crap without going through a three-page flowchart to figure out how to make potash to make matchcord to make matches to bla bla bla etcetera.

 

[Skrag]

Hah thats funny. I remember you making a topic about you post return to brit impressions and they were universally quite negative. But for some reason you went ahead and decided "hey this game stinks, but ill re open an account and buy the booster anyway!".

Interesting.

Cool story, bro.

I'm sure everyone will still be doing all this ship stuff a couple months from now when the novelty wears off, because they'll just love throwing money away. You convinced me.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

One can buy and resell crap without going through a three-page flowchart to figure out how to make potash to make matchcord to make matches to bla bla bla etcetera.

hirer a crafter to make you stuff. Trade them some of you other stuff.

Grab a friend. Build relationships. Party like a pirate.

 

[Skrag]

If there were a point to any of this, I wouldn't need to. People would be trying to sell me the stuff I need. Anyway I just got back to the game and don't have cash to throw away on money-losing novelty hobbies.

 

[Uvtha]

Cool story, bro.

I'm sure everyone will still be doing all this ship stuff a couple months from now when the novelty wears off, because they'll just love throwing money away. You convinced me.

Weird. I didn't even mention the quality of the booster, in fact I've been openly critical about it in other topics.

I was just commenting on how you signed up for a game you had nothing but bad comments about.

 

[kelmo]

*shrugs* I am 75 some odd dollars into it. I feel it is so cool I buy it for friends.

 

[Lord Frodo]

My buddy and I resubscribed after this last round of Return to Britannia, planning on getting a ship and being pirates. Then High Seas hits, and we find out...

So let me get this right.

#1 You checked out UO on the Return to Britannia program.
#2 You and your buddy decicded to renew your accounts because you wanted to be Pirates and you bought the booster.
#3 Now you are whining about it and want your money back.

Did you know that during the Return to Britannia you could have downloaded the client that let you into the testing of the High Seas Booster and checked it out for yourself. Did you even bother downloading the test client and trying out the test shard? NO

Did you know that during the testing of the High Seas Booster that there was a special forum added to UOStratics for everybody to read. Did you even bother to read that forum? NO

UOCamecodes 20% House/bank Storage Increase sells for $20
EA just gave you a $5 auto-discount and let you up-grade your storage for $15 and threw in a bunch and I mean a bunch of free content for you to play with and you are still whining.

 

[Spree]

*shrugs* I am 75 some odd dollars into it. I feel it is so cool I buy it for friends.

Kelmo when are you on i want to shoot cannon balls at you once i figure out how to get a boat.

 

[Miss Smoocher]

i think its cool and i got it for all 4 of my accounts. if you dont likr it then go find a off line mindless game you can play tell your sick of it so you can come back to tell us how unhappy you are

 

[Babble]

For quick seafighting try pirates of the burning sea (soon f2p) or uncharted waters.

Funny thing is that a friend also complained about the time and itemsink. It gives crafters though something to do and removes some of the items people have gathered.

Is a decent time- and itemsink

 

[Arcus]

Whats your paypal, Ill send ya $30 just so you simmer down.

 

[kelmo]

Whats your paypal, Ill send ya $30 just so you simmer down.

*laughs*

 

[Skrag]

So...

"You should have known it would be this way!"
"Skrag sucks, he made this other post, bla bla..."
"It's a good item sink!"
"Go play some game that lets you have fun, newb!"

But no one willing to say "No you're totally wrong, it's worthwhile and people will totally still be doing it a couple months from now!"

They need to ditch about half the crafting garbage. Not the important parts that some skilled-up crafter with a vendor could actually make money from, just the stupid crap like making matches and fuses that take almost no skill and just add steps to the process.

Then they need to up the reward for killing pirates and stuff SUBSTANTIALLY. If it makes less money than farming freakin' ettins, it doesn't matter how much or how little crafting it takes, it will be forgotten in a couple of months.

I love how the UO Defense Squad has leapt into action but can't actually tell me I'm wrong.

 

[Uvtha]

I agree with you, if they don't change things no one will be doing these quests this time next year.

But honestly, that said you are clearly from your posting history someone who will only focus on the negative. They dropped the ball with what we were given on release in terms of quests, and things to do at sea, but the boats are great, the new fish/crabs, and rare fish are all nice, as are the new cooking items.

If they take a publish and dedicate it to adding in some more sea content, and revamp the quests, it will have been a good expansion well worth 15 dollars. But I agree, as it sits, its been a disappointment for me.

 

[ziggy29]

Actually one thing I do like about this model is that it gives smiths a new way to become highly profitable again, after imbuing largely ruined their livelihoods.

 

[Galad]

My buddy and I resubscribed after this last round of Return to Britannia, planning on getting a ship and being pirates. Then High Seas hits, and we find out...

1) The entire thing is a GIANT crafting grind. Ridiculous crap like three different steps to craft a match that doesn't require any serious ingredients or add anything to the game, but just adds more steps to a tedious process.

My buddy has a mule with some of the requisite skills. I don't have any mule at all. So far other than a few insanely overpriced cannonballs, I haven't found any player vendors selling any of the 300 different bits of junk you need either.

Alchemists making gunpowder and blacksmiths making cannonballs was a good idea. Piling on garbage like needing swabs to clean the cannon and needing to cook wood into charcoal into bla bla bla was just a waste of time.

2) Once you've gathered all that crafted garbage YOU DON'T MAKE ANY MONEY. The whole thing is a giant net loss according to even the people around here who think it's great. Once you jump through all the crafting hoops you earn the right to THROW MONEY AWAY.

If it doesn't make money, no one will do it. If no one does it, no one will bother to sell the materials on vendors. If no one sells the materials, no one else CAN do it.

What sort of garbage is this? You added this whole giant system to the game and then gave no one a reason to bother. Three months from now no one will remember this expansion exists.

Good review. Just saved me some money.

 

[Skrag]

focus on the negative

I don't come to the forums over things I'm happy about. When I'm happy I'm in the game being happy. /shrug

Actually one thing I do like about this model is that it gives smiths a new way to become highly profitable again, after imbuing largely ruined their livelihoods.

Yeah, having cannons and ammo be player-crafted was good idea. But I have NO IDEA what they were thinking when they went "Yeah and then you can use 15 alchemy skill to make matches out of this and that and this!"

The skill requirements are low enough that you can do some of it with just Jack of All Trades or a newly made crafter newbie. But if that's the case, why bother? No one is making money off it, it's just additional clicking.

All I really want is to be able to equip a ship without having a crafter mule myself (totally willing to buy stuff, but so far very few are even selling) and then go kill pirates and merchants and make some money. Not giant huge money, but maybe what I would make if I had spent the same time beating on daemons or something like that.

Don't fill those holds on enemy ships up with cannonballs and supplies. Fill them up with loot. I'm happy to go buy my cannonballs and stuff from people if there's loot at the end to pay for it all.

 

[ziggy29]

Yeah, having cannons and ammo be player-crafted was good idea. But I have NO IDEA what they were thinking when they went "Yeah and then you can use 15 alchemy skill to make matches out of this and that and this!"

Yeah, they did go overboard in the number of crafting steps needed to fire a cannon. Crafting matches and charcoal and potash as separate steps just seems silly.

 

[MalagAste]

Oh cry me a river..... and go soak in it.

Go back to some other MMO and cry about it.

UO is for the big kids. Either put on your big boy pants or go play Farmland with the rest of the kiddies.

 

[Lord Frodo]

There is a forum on UOStratics called, of all things. UO Beta Test Forum. If you go there there is a sticky thread, of all things, called CANNONS. In that thread (Post #23) there is a good write up all about cannons and how to make everything needed to shoot one. Guess what it is dated 09-24-2010, 11:05 PM and it was writen by G.v.P.

WOW that was 18, let me repeat that, 18 days before this went live. OMG

I love how the UO Defense Squad has leapt into action but can't actually tell me I'm wrong.

YOU ARE WRONG
Is that better?

 

[HD2300]

I think the OP has legitimate concerns.

Do people want to play a game that is fun or is a massive grind/time sink?

Systems can always be improved, and one that maximizes fun, is good for all.

 

[Uvtha]

Yeah, they did go overboard in the number of crafting steps needed to fire a cannon. Crafting matches and charcoal and potash as separate steps just seems silly.

It is silly. I don't even know why they felt the need to add matches and fuses. We could just assume it happens. Prime cannon, add powder, add ball, would be plenty of steps. So just balls, powder, and cloth on a stick to to prime.

Make people have a regular torch in hand to fire.

 

[the 4th man]

Hey kiddo, it's in game gold, not money....there's a hell of a difference.
If all you're intrested in is making gold, why do you play UO.....try Ninja Trader, and use ficticious $$$.......either way, If you're going to rant and whine, do it shamelessly in Spiels n Rants.

 

[Skrag]

Still waiting for someone to tell me how ship combat is more rewarding than... oh let's just say... newbing it up in a legacy dungeon for an equal amount of time.

*crickets*

Thought so. Yeah you're a highbrow MMO connoisseur who loves content that provides no benefit, bla bla bla yawn. Your defensive fanboy rants about "Go back to some game with fun and rewards newb!" are totally devastating.

 

[Taylor]

Some folks play games for entertainment, not for profitability. It's fine if you don't feel that way, but you need to understand that some people play UO for different reasons than you.

You can stay, you can quit, or you can moan some more. However, you're boundless condescension will not change what some people find fun.

 

[Skrag]

So I guess we can just take all the artifacts/loot/gold out of... say... Doom while we're at it, right? You'll still farm up a gold skull and run the gauntlet for hours on end, because you're above petty things like gold.

Uh huh.

A bunch of bored players with money to burn will toy with this for a few weeks until the novelty wears off, and then it will die off completely. Unless the economics are changed substantially.

 

[Taylor]

It didn't replace doom. You can still go to doom. You can acquire arties and gold from a variety of places, but not all places. One place where you can acquire artifacts in the current expansion is from the new champs.

Some folks enjoy fishing and ships, even if it doesn't lead to gold and arties. They get their gold and arties elsewhere.

 

[Viper09]

Didn't you just come here complaining about how bad this game was during the most recent RTB? And yet you re-subscribed?

Regardless. Not everything in UO is about making gold. A lot of it is about having fun. So I guess that is completely contrary to your "If it doesn't make money, no one will do it." lol

But you can make money off this expansion as explained in the 2nd post here, make a crafter. Or you could fight the new bosses too. But I am guessing that doesn't matter, by now all you want to do is rant regardless of the answers given.

 

[Skrag]

It didn't replace doom.

Nobody said it replaced Doom. Basic reading comprehension failure. I asked if you would still run Doom if it had no gold or artifacts in it. Well, would you? Do you think many people would?

Do you think it's strange or out of line to expect loot from combat?

Do you think it's unusual to think a pirate-themed booster might have treasure?

"Ultima Online: High Seas, where you can expend the gold you've already made doing other things to finance ship-to-ship combat for no particular reason at all! Plunder merchants and pirates and make less money than a newbie farming Despise! Hell, you'll lose money in the deal! Order now!"

 

[Taylor]

I asked if you would still run Doom if it had no gold or artifacts in it. Well, would you? Do you think many people would?

I don't run Doom, even with artifacts. I find it boring. However, I do attend player events, even though they do not supply gold or artifacts. I find them fun.

Do you think it's unusual to think a pirate-themed booster might have treasure?

Apparently, you didn't read the patch notes vis-a-vis the new artifacts. You should read this webpage before posting further: Welcome to the High Seas! - Publish 68 Notes | Mythic Entertainment | Ultima Online.

 

[Skrag]

I don't run Doom, even with artifacts. I find it boring. However, I do attend player events, even though they do not supply gold or artifacts. I find them fun.

Apples and oranges. Or expensive combat-related content in comparison to socialization. Come on chuckles, tell me where you go to kill things. Then tell me whether you'd still go there if they stripped all the loot out.

Apparently, you didn't read the patch notes vis-a-vis the new artifacts. You should read this webpage before posting further: Welcome to the High Seas! - Publish 68 Notes | Mythic Entertainment | Ultima Online.

I read that there's an entire elaborate bounty system for tracking down and capturing or killing NPC pirates. A system that will basically go to waste because it's economically unviable right now.

If this is how it's supposed to work, if the developer intention is that we're all supposed to lose money for the privilege of shooting at a pirate, one has to wonder why they bothered.

 

[Vaelix]

As a PvPer.. (Red, Factions, Siege Perilous)

I find almost Zero incentive to buy this booster..

It seems like everyones argument against this guy is..

"Well just because you Dont have Fun/Incentive/Motivation doesn't mean its bad, Others do!"

Well... Wheres my fun?

Wheres a PvPers Entertainment?

**BTW** As a PvPer.. I have NO interest in Killing some Newbie on a Boat.. I am only interested in Fights where my Victim can Give me a good fight back...

 

[Taylor]

Then why did you buy it? You've both been Stratics members long enough to realize that all of the details of this expansion--from the average award for bounties to the specifics of ship-to-ship PvP--would be posted on UOForums, UOStratics, and UOGuide within a day or two of the release. Either of you could have waited to purchase the booster with no interruption to your normal gameplay.

You can gripe and moan all you want, but you made the decision to pay for it. In the end, you've no one to blame but yourselves.

 

[Skrag]

"You should have carefully read the patch notes in order to learn that the developers were adding a system for looting ships that wasn't actually intended to give you any loot!"

 

[Vaelix]

Then why did you buy it? You've both been Stratics members long enough to realize that all of the details of this expansion--from the average award for bounties to the specifics of ship-to-ship PvP--would be posted on UOForums, UOStratics, and UOGuide within a day or two of the release. Either of you could have waited to purchase the booster with no interruption to your normal gameplay.

You can gripe and moan all you want, but you made the decision to pay for it. In the end, you've no one to blame but yourselves.

I did not buy this Booster..

 

[Vaelix]

"You should have carefully read the patch notes in order to learn that the developers were adding a system for looting ships that wasn't actually intended to give you any loot!"

As they say in the Movies... QFT

 

[Taylor]

Then why did you buy it? You've both been Stratics members long enough to realize that all of the details of this expansion--from the average award for bounties to the specifics of ship-to-ship PvP--would be posted on UOForums, UOStratics, and UOGuide within a day or two of the release. Either of you could have waited to purchase the booster with no interruption to your normal gameplay.

You can gripe and moan all you want, but you made the decision to pay for it. In the end, you've no one to blame but yourselves.

I did not buy this Booster..

Good for you. Because you do not intend to use the new content, you have saved $15 with no affect on your normal gameplay.

Skrag, did you see what Vaelix did? That's what you should have done.

 

[Vaelix]

Good for you. Because you do not intend to use the new content, you have saved $15 with no affect on your normal gameplay.

Skrag, did you see what Vaelix did? That's what you should have done.

I would love to use "New content", sadly this batch was developed without PvP in Mind, Therefore it cannot hold my interest..

 

[Skrag]

I just want to get on a damn ship and gank an NPC merchant and have that take the place of farming succubi or something. That's all. It wasn't too much to ask from an expansion that screamed "YOU CAN HUNT PIRATES!" and left out the part about them not having any gold.

Instead I get to listen to a bunch of "battered wife" forum suckups act like expecting to get loot for engaging in combat is some sort of scandalous greedy idea they've never seen in an MMO before.

Once you factor in the associated costs, a newbie doing Haven escorts is probably better off.

 

[Taylor]

I just want to get on a damn ship and gank an NPC merchant and have that take the place of farming succubi or something. That's all. It wasn't too much to ask from an expansion that screamed "YOU CAN HUNT PIRATES!" and left out the part about them not having any gold.

But once you factor in the associated costs, a newbie doing Haven escorts is probably better off.

Then dry your eyes and go do Haven escorts.

 

[Skrag]

Make me.

I think I'm going to sit right here until someone from EA comes in here and says "They're right, you're not supposed to get loot for doing this stuff! You're supposed to pay gold for the privilege of doing this content!"

Because realistically I think they just plain didn't consider the economics of it, and you guys are going "You expected LOOT? Why I never! *pops monocle*" over what amounts to an oversight.

I think it's the same myopia that led to "One saltpeter vendor is enough, right?"

 

[ziggy29]

Right now people are doing it because they think it's fun and something new to do, and perhaps they are sitting on hundreds of millions in gold and don't mind losing a hundred grand on each run. But when the novelty wears off, I do think there will need to be more reward to convince people to keep doing it.

 

[Taylor]

If you want boss-quality loot, Skrag, you have to fight bosses--not NPCs. That's how UO is.

UO is crawling with folks who want leet loot with no challenge. You are one of those people.

 

[jaraxlebaenrae]

The thing that everyone is missing is this.....we complained about lack of community, we talked about the good ol days of sitting around Brit Blacksmith, smiths repairing armor and weapons and the general fellowship. Now the Devs give us a way to bring it back in some ways, and all we can do is complain that it takes too much time...too many resources, we have to actually get out and either gather the resources for ourselves or find someone who is willing to do it. While I also think there is room for improvement, I see alot of good in the direction this booster is heading.

 

[Uvtha]

**BTW** As a PvPer.. I have NO interest in Killing some Newbie on a Boat.. I am only interested in Fights where my Victim can Give me a good fight back...

You know, this is why I was expecting a sea born champ spawn. I mean it only makes sense. There is TONS of room, and would give a really good reason for people to get on a boat and encourage sea bound pvp.

It would have been so much better for corgul to have been a regular champ spawn out on the sea rather than on an island.

As for the other comments about how it should be about the fun... I think thats silly. Yes its about the fun, but there are tons of fun things to do, and most of them are rewarding in terms of in game value. I think people are arguing with the OP because of his attitude, not because of what hes saying.

 

[Skrag]

If you want boss-quality loot, Skrag, you have to fight bosses--not NPCs. That's how UO is.

UO is crawling with folks who want leet loot with no challenge. You are one of those people.

Really?

I just want to get on a damn ship and gank an NPC merchant and have that take the place of farming succubi or something.

Not giant huge money, but maybe what I would make if I had spent the same time beating on daemons or something like that.

You may either:

1) Tearfully admit that you're actually illiterate
2) Apologize for lying

But thanks for playing.

 

[Uvtha]

If you want boss-quality loot, Skrag, you have to fight bosses--not NPCs. That's how UO is.

UO is crawling with folks who want leet loot with no challenge. You are one of those people.

Thats ridiculous. A person could make 10x the loot off of weak npc monsters with like a tenth of the challenge and none of the cost in comparison to pirate fighting in a similar amount of time.

He is right. The reward for pirate hunting was poorly conceived. I think they need to not only increase the gold reward, but also add in more rare treasure type items in the pirate holds. It doesnt have to be "boss quality" loot, nor should it be but 5k... come on... its really pretty pointless to even have that quest.