Idocs are obsolete

[Bobar]

As someone who did idocs for years I support this in general. Certainly it would be preferable to the present system where the only ones who really profit from idocs are the cheats. I have seen some beautifully built and decorated houses fall and the game is poorer for it when they do. The houses would necessarily have to fall otherwise not only would the well designed and built house remain but the land would be covered with small houses erected by those who only stayed for a short time. It is a fact that many players do return and for them to find their possessions intact would surely be an greater incentive to stay?. The details would need considerable thought on how best to achieve this but in my view the basis of this idea is sound.

 

[Uvtha]

I say do away with them completely, or create a new lootable item "IDOC key". Stop showing the status of idocs, instead when a house enters decay status make it create a key that's placed into the random loot tables. Get a house key, win a house. Having the key in your possession simply allows you to open the locked door. Opening the door automatically sets you as a co owner free to take what you want. This can be tweaked , but you get the idea.

Little ideas like this is what would keep this game alive. Yeah idocs are fun if you like standing there (if you're honest) for 15 hrs. Killings monsters and checking for a key....way funner. The keys of course should be "shard only", or maybe not idk.

I always thought it would be cool if there was a special loot system that took all the items from an IDOC and distributed them like ToT's. So you may be out gathering leather and find something interesting on a lizardman corpse or something.

 

[Uvtha]

After lots of discussion of Mesanna's intervention at a recent idoc to save a players soulstones it made me finally post my views about the need for an idoc change.

Why were idocs originally made to drop all loot to the ground?
--- because the servers couldnt handle storing that many items.

But that function is obsolete. with the current playerbase, every single house/castle/etc could have all those items stored in the system waiting for the player to return.
This is just a plain fact. i dont think there is any risk of the player base increasing tenfold to overflow the servers anytime soon.

What this would accomplish:
--- players whos houses fell would be much more likely to return to the game rather than never come back.
--- it would give daily game content higher value, and more of a reason to play. right now we have a flood of items from 20 years of players because very few of them are left to decay, or ever even temporarily leave the economy (such as would be the case if they were stored in the players bank until return)

In short. we dont need items from idocs. theres plenty of items, and new ones spawning every day.
It would make doing content more worth doing, and keep more people playing rather than just buying cheap idoc loot to get those items. I would rather see players whos houses fell come back to the game than maintain an outdated system for sake of tradition.

Yes, the hardcore idocers would not be a fan of this. but lets face it, idocing was never "game content" but rather a side effect created to solve a problem of server limits. Yes a few might quit if idocing is all they do, but if a player cant find something else of enjoyment in all of UO than that person probably should find a different game anyway. Theres plenty of other things to do to have fun, and plenty of other ways to make gold. It would be worth saving the remaining veterans we have left in the game.

Now i know this wont be a popular topic, most people who agree with me never post on UOhall and will never see this post. Im sure those who left UO forever because they lost all their stuff would surely agree with me.

Before anyone starts about it, the "preserving history" reasoning is rubbish because those items could be returned if the player came back. and all in all, its the nature of all history, real life included that much of it is lost. thats the way of the world.

and yes, many people do come back to uo after losing everthing. but thats happening less and less. that arguement may be true for some, but much much less true than even 5 years ago.

I can not think of 1 good reason why we need idocs anymore or 1 reason they are not bad for the game in its current state.

I think it would just end up costing them money. I feel like there are probably a lot of people who still at very least occasionally pay for their subs just to keep their stuff how they left it, incase they want to play again. I personally would let my house idoc if I knew it would all be in a crate for me if I ever felt like coming back.

 

[Smoot]

I think it would just end up costing them money. I feel like there are probably a lot of people who still at very least occasionally pay for their subs just to keep their stuff how they left it, incase they want to play again. I personally would let my house idoc if I knew it would all be in a crate for me if I ever felt like coming back.

UO and EA have never been good at updating payment methods or re-analyzing a changing game environment, and updating whats best for the game. that being said, i have to disagree that it would cost them money if it were done correctly.

the added benefits, healthier economy etc would make for a better game meaning more subs, more store items sold etc,

Then possibly a "storage mode" fee that was about the same per month as playing the 90 day game (but not have to worry about keeping up with that 90 day game) so maybe about 4 dollars a month.

And you would also still have the people who did also want the actual house, and not want to deal with storage / moving / redeco so would just keep the account open anyway.

All in all, i think they would actually make more money in the long run. If it were done correctly.

UO has had huge opportunities over the years for inovation and could have made huge profits, but its things like this. refusing to change, lack of insight or initiative, that will eventually lead to OSI uo closing its doors leaving UO to the free shards.

 

[Uvtha]

Then possibly a "storage mode" fee that was about the same per month as playing the 90 day game (but not have to worry about keeping up with that 90 day game) so maybe about 4 dollars a month.

THAT is a good idea, and one I have suggested in the past.

 

[Silentfury]

How about this Idea.
The Game Store could sell a Storage Token, where your house is "packed up" and everything in the house is basically put into a House Crate. The value of the House is credited to your Bank Account and the Plot becomes available again. It could be as simple as Click on the Token to activate it and target the House Sign (must be the owner of the house to use it). So while the owner may loose their house plot, they retain all there possessions. When the player returns and places a house, his items appear in that houses Moving Crate. Then he/she can unpack and re-deco at their own pace.
This would be a huge help to people who loose their jobs and cant afford right now to maintain their account, as well as Military Personnel who go on extended deployments. It's wrong that they must loose all that they've worked for for so many years due to circumstances beyond their control.
I know in my Guild, we've had 2 members have to close their accounts because they live in Brazil and that Countries Economy is in the dumps. Both were avid players and very active in our Guild. Both lost their jobs and had to close their accounts, but luckily for them, our Guild is big enough to help them re-start when they come back. Not everyone is that lucky. So for the cost of maybe 20-30 bucks, you could have your stuff waiting for you when you are able to return.

 

[Thrakkar]

But that function is obsolete. with the current playerbase, every single house/castle/etc could have all those items stored in the system waiting for the player to return.

Better than the current system for sure. Any character- or account-bound items could be stored. But any other item could be auctioned:
Imagine a similar gump like vendor search, where you can browse all running auctions and place bids. Once a house falls, the system creates all the auctions, running i.e. a week. Starting price 1gp. Self-adjusting minimum bid-increase i.e. If the highest bid is over 100, minimum bid increase is 10, over 1000 it is 100, over 10000 it is 1000, etc... capped at 10 mil maybe.
I'd imagine a similar system like ebay. The actual bid isn't shown, instead you only see the second highest bid + current bid increase, which is also what the winner would have to pay. Also with sniper protection: Any bid within the last 5 minutes of the auction would prolong the running time, so it ends 5 mins after the last bid the soonest.
Items in containers could be put up as separate action plus the empty container auctioned as well. Or they could even go the "storage wars"-approach, where the full container gets auctioned and the bidder can only see the label, the graphics, total weight and total item count.
Paying transactions would happen immediately upon bidding for the full amount you bid. You get a full refund, if being outbid. If you wind you get the difference refunded between your full bid and the second highest bidder + bid increase. Should be no problem after the currency conversion.
Once an auction is won, the winner has another week to claim the item. If he fails to do so, the item and his bid are gone. Same for items on which noone did bid -> deleted.
This would also be a full fledged gold sink, removing the gold effectively from the system. With rares hunters trying to outbid their competitors, some serious gold could be flushed out that way.

 

[Lord Frodo]

No to auctions because the RICH will just win and stay RICH. This would not help the regular player base one iota.

 

[Riyana]

I would expect people to use a change like this to close paid accounts while keeping the storage. Not as accessible, but potentially much cheaper.

I'd support something like this for account- and character- bounds only. Everything else in IDOCs should go into tmap and mib loot tables, killing IDOC scripting and finally making tmaps and mibs interesting again. This would also still allow for new/returning players to find good stuff by doing actual game content rather than by sitting around for 5/10/15 hours in the terrible new system and hoping to snag something out from under the scripters.

 

[Uriah Heep]

IDOCs used to be fine, then they decided to fix em.
Just drop the house and delete the stuff.

 

[THP]

Idocs used to be great... then someone decided to fix something that didnt need fixing??? and the result is the shambles we have today

I do like the storage mode/token ideas..think that could work....

 

[Thrakkar]

No to auctions because the RICH will just win and stay RICH. This would not help the regular player base one iota.

How exactly would the rich stay rich?
Because the whole point of the thing is to attract the rich and reduce the amount of cash they have dramatically...

 

[TheGrimReefer]

First off, they need to get rid of the timers. All this does is give scriptors an exact time to start running scripts. Second, the items shouldnt fall on the ground. The items should be loot on MOBS such as Harbringers and Dark Fathers. People will have to kill these creatures to get any loot at all. Now how long do you think scriptors would do Idocs if this was to happen. Most scriptors are running 10+ accounts and most are newbie chars so they would not stay and fight. This solves both the scripts and mulitboxing 10 accounts

 

[Lord Frodo]

How exactly would the rich stay rich?
Because the whole point of the thing is to attract the rich and reduce the amount of cash they have dramatically...

Look at all these auctions on stratics and you think this will put a dent in the open tap gold flow of UO, I don't.

 

[Lord Frodo]

First off, they need to get rid of the timers. All this does is give scriptors an exact time to start running scripts. Second, the items shouldnt fall on the ground. The items should be loot on MOBS such as Harbringers and Dark Fathers. People will have to kill these creatures to get any loot at all. Now how long do you think scriptors would do Idocs if this was to happen. Most scriptors are running 10+ accounts and most are newbie chars so they would not stay and fight. This solves both the scripts and mulitboxing 10 accounts

Then they will just run the Chars they have built that takes out EM MOBs in 2 seconds and the Boss in what 2 minutes, the scripters/multiboxers will just adapt and overcome.

 

[claudia-fjp]

I pretty much quit playing the last time they decided to screw up IDOCs a year or two ago so I don't care as much as I once did. I've been steadily downsizing accounts as I get rid of houses. If I could store all the crap for all my houses that would be great! I'd close the rest of them on patch day and could stop giving EA money. I tried to warn people what they were asking for would be disastrous, told them people who loved to IDOC would quit and many I know did. Told them many IDOCers are the ones running vendor houses on servers other than Atlantic and when they were forced to quit IDOCing the vendor houses would dry up. Low and behold there was a thread whining about it a few months ago. I laughed in a sad way and muttered I told you so at the screen. Peoples Stratics crusades have consequences. Bad ones. No one thinks the things they ask for through. I used to love playing UO. No longer.

+1 to hair-brained ideas that let me close accounts faster! or reverting most but not all the idoc changes so people don't have to make it their full time job to do them. Either way.

 

[Scribbles]

i went from 12 accounts to 4... 20 friends with multiple accounts each to about 5 friends with less accounts each.... thats what happened the last time @Mesanna decided to mess with idocs.

@Smoot I absolutely get what you are saying. However i disagree with your solution.

Idocs have long been a play style for a great many people. sadly its become one of the easiest ways to make money (like EM events) and is heavily scripted for this reason.

Im absolutely for giving soultstones and personal items back to the account in a bank box. However, I wouldnt dare ruin another part of this game for the people that love doing idocs. We need more subscriptions not less. Lets fix the real problems instead of the consequences of those problems.

Its time for the devs to stop making decisions that obviously benefit scripters and screw over the regular joes. THe only people that win at sitting around for 15 hours are afk scripters. But hey what do i know i still cant figure out why a sphinx is vendorable...

 

[Eärendil]

@Smoot: Great ideas
@all others: Fantastic thread, very serious, very competent, solution-oriented. We need more of this style.

My 5 cents: I loved and still love doing IDOCs. However, what is people making mad is the feeling of injustice. Normal folks like me, who are working and have kids, will never be able to compete with the Pros. Thats not the biggest problem - but it gets intensified by scripting. Scpripting is what makes things worse. At the moment, its close to impossible to get a large share of stuff and/or the house placed if you just play with CC and no tools. And thats the way how my wife and I are used to play the game for over 10 years now. On a populated shard you can try to camp the place with the one single toon you got or maybe the other one from your second account - and some packhorses. But the GOOD stuff and the GREAT locations go to the people camping there with x accounts and scripts.

Alternatives: Try to IDOC on lesser populated shards. We all know the alternatives - stuff gets moved to Atlantic, we dont have an economy or even vendors left on the other shards. Dead end for most places, abandoned wasteland.

I would suggest the following:

(1) NO announcement of a falling house. No information on the house sign. Random timer. Spot gets free for placing, to waiting time. Nobody would be able to know THAT the house is falling or WHERE it will fall.

(2) House owner will keep all his shard bound items as well as stuff he/her has decided to store via a "storage option". Of course, people can still die or get sick. I have to think about this problem. But the other two groups - people who plan to come back and those who deliberately dont want to keep their stuff - can decide.

(3a) All stuff that hasnt been stored via a "storage option" will become loot in the corpses of critters on ALL facets, all kind of critters (mongbats and slashers...) based on RNG, one item per critter. No info about this, no announcement. And no difference - you can find a Slither in a mongbat and a steward deed in a Primeval Lich. Imagine how funny this would be! And folks: YOU WOULD ACTUALLY HAVE TO LOOT EVEN THOSE CORPSES, YOU NEVER LOOK AT. *giggles*

(3b) Alternative to 3a: All stuff drops at random into a backpack of a player who enters the game - just like a giftbag. One gift for all active players.

I prefer 3a, because it encourages hunting!

Problem: I would become even more addicted to playing, would abandon my kids and my wife, quit my job - and I would not be able to pay my accounts. In the end, my stuff would fall into the backpack of others (...just kidding)

Best wishes!

 

[Alex"Drake Iron Heart"CS]

Horrible Idea, hope it never gets implemented!!
One of the worst I ever heard!!
My point for IDOCs is rather different to most, IDOCs made me want to stay ingame when I came back....
3 years ago, nearly 4 now, I came back, after seeing all the changes the game had made, it was near enough impossible for me to get a decent level, people with billions could control whole markets, and prices in items where just stupid.
I started to do IDOCs to make money, to be able to buy good gear, above average, before all the legendaries arrived..... I made enough money from selling items from IDOCs and also made my 1st 100m from an IDOC . If they wouldnt of had IDOCs, I and many other people who were starting would of left, well 80% of people who I know started in the last 3 years, dont play anymore and the reason is the price and inflation of everything.
People are not going to dedicate any time for a game if they dont get returns that are decent and having to spend months and months to get gear and stuff is not acceptable in todays critria of gaming, and then also them poor people start to hear from people using scripts and such and they get more dishearted with the game, so you tell me if we going in a good direction??
IDOCs is a lifeline for the people who dont have money and have to scrounge into other people belongings to make cash, happens in real life too with the people who collect metal for the scrapyards.
If IDOCs were to be taken out, the other way to get money quick is going to a website, as we all know without good gear, you wont be getting the top drops, so its a cycle that never stops, You need good gear to get good drops. and with no money from IDOC sales, well there is no chance and people quit!! Best thing for a newbie is to do IDOCS, the more the better!!
People shouldnt be rewarded for leaving the game and keeping their stuff, if they decided to stop playing and stop paying their accs, is becasue they dont care for the items in their houses or castles, cause if they did and loved what they had, they wouldnt of stopped playing and paying their subs. So if people cry they lost it all because they took a break, well its their loss, paying a sub with game time codes is not too expensive a year, so theres no reason not to do so. They dont pay, its their loss, how it should be, same as in the Real world, dont pay your house bills, you get evicted, simple as!!!

If they want to change anything in IDOCs, make it so it always falls at the 5 hr, so everyone has the same chances to be there.
Ofcourse the bots will always have a advantage, they dont need to be manned but if they were to make all idocs have a certain fixed time, say 5hrs, doesnt matter if you havnt camped the house, just sit around for a while and you will have the same chances as the bot, although they can pick up stuff 1000s time faster but that is something else entirely.



LONG LIVE IDOCS AND THE NEWBIES RICHES!!

 

[Alex"Drake Iron Heart"CS]

No to auction idea, only rich will be able to play then

 

[elster]

I would expect people to use a change like this to close paid accounts while keeping the storage. Not as accessible, but potentially much cheaper.

I'd support something like this for account- and character- bounds only. Everything else in IDOCs should go into tmap and mib loot tables, killing IDOC scripting and finally making tmaps and mibs interesting again. This would also still allow for new/returning players to find good stuff by doing actual game content rather than by sitting around for 5/10/15 hours in the terrible new system and hoping to snag something out from under the scripters.

This is an awesome idea. I'm not sure how likely it would be to happen, but adding items from IDOCs as loot would really make a lot more content worth doing.

 

[Thrakkar]

Look at all these auctions on stratics and you think this will put a dent in the open tap gold flow of UO, I don't.

What exactly do you talk about?
Stratics: Auction between players. Gold flows just from one player to another. Of course this won't put a dent into it.
My suggestion: Noone gets the gold, because no player is selling it. -> Gold is effectively removed. The rich buyer won't be so rich anymore. (in terms of cash)
Sounds like you didn't really understand, what I was suggesting.

 

[Lord Frodo]

What exactly do you talk about?
Stratics: Auction between players. Gold flows just from one player to another. Of course this won't put a dent into it.
My suggestion: Noone gets the gold, because no player is selling it. -> Gold is effectively removed. The rich buyer won't be so rich anymore. (in terms of cash)
Sounds like you didn't really understand, what I was suggesting.

I knew exactly what you thought you were saying but did you understand that there is an open tap where gold is still pouring into UO and until the DEVs turn it off your ides will not work and if you don't think there is still open gold taps in UO then you are kidding yourself.

 

[Thrakkar]

I knew exactly what you thought you were saying but did you understand that there is an open tap where gold is still pouring into UO and until the DEVs turn it off your ides will not work and if you don't think there is still open gold taps in UO then you are kidding yourself.

I've never been a rich player (with rich meaning 10+ mio; except that one 50 mio deal I managed to pull off, but that gold was spent rapidly for a few +20 PS), but to my knowledge there are only two ways of getting gold:

• loot it (or pick it up from gold explosions)
• sell items to vendors

So what exactly are you trying to tell me? That check duping is still a thing or people script the above mentioned sources 24/7?
I honestly don't know. You might write a lot, but it hardly contains any information...

 

[OREOGL]

I knew exactly what you thought you were saying but did you understand that there is an open tap where gold is still pouring into UO and until the DEVs turn it off your ides will not work and if you don't think there is still open gold taps in UO then you are kidding yourself.

This is accurate. When people are hoarding billions and billions of gold, a small gold sink seems pretty irrelevant at this point.

 

[Lord Frodo]

I've never been a rich player (with rich meaning 10+ mio; except that one 50 mio deal I managed to pull off, but that gold was spent rapidly for a few +20 PS), but to my knowledge there are only two ways of getting gold:

• loot it (or pick it up from gold explosions)
• sell items to vendors

So what exactly are you trying to tell me? That check duping is still a thing or people script the above mentioned sources 24/7?
I honestly don't know. You might write a lot, but it hardly contains any information...

do you understand that there is an open tap where gold is still pouring into UO unchecked. If you can not understand that then I am sorry.

 

[Thrakkar]

but did you understand that there is an open tap where gold is still pouring into UO

do you understand that there is an open tap where gold is still pouring into UO unchecked. If you can not understand that then I am sorry.

You're repeating yourself.
I understand that you want to tell me, that you think, there is this super secret tap, which pours gold into UO.
I cannot comment on that, when you don't want to tell me, of what tap exactly you're talking about. Or don't you even know yourself? Or is it something, which would violate the forum TOS and you can't mention it here?

 

[Lord Frodo]

You're repeating yourself.
I understand that you want to tell me, that you think, there is this super secret tap, which pours gold into UO.
I cannot comment on that, when you don't want to tell me, of what tap exactly you're talking about. Or don't you even know yourself? Or is it something, which would violate the forum TOS and you can't mention it here?

OMG what secret, take off the rose colored glasses. Do you understand that it is against the rules to say more. Where do you think all this GOLD is coming from, Fairy Land.

 

[Thrakkar]

Obviously so illegal, that it is even against the rules to write a PM...
But yeah, I got it, that you don't want to tell me.

 

[Lord Frodo]

Obviously so illegal, that it is even against the rules to write a PM...
But yeah, I got it, that you don't want to tell me.

 

[UNKNOWN of Atlantic]

pretty Sure you would end up with people abusing that system as well ... load up max storage house with items & let it fall So UO Stores it all for me for free Till I reopen the account.
I have made all my wealth in game By doing Idocs from the start I don't PVM or PVP ....All I have done was Idocs. They was fun up till about 8 years ago when Scripting really started Now its just another Thing that Makes People Real life money Via Scripting for Loot & placing valuable homes. For some people its their Second job. I haven't really Done idocs like I used to for over 5 years ..Sure I find one here or there But I don't search the entire shard like I used to. Its not worth It. as all the good items are snatched by invisible sentinels told what to grab. Who ever game up with the 5,10,15 hour drop times In my opinion is an idiot. Only in the fact it should be taken into account People have lives & have jobs. Granted I understand why they redid it back from the old style that as soon as the house fell spot was placeable which meant house placer & their friend was loading new plot with all they could grab from under the sign. ( I know I was one that did that a lot) So they made the random open time to give players ample time to loot so everyone could get a piece of the pie. I used to know Vets that played this game from beta & the best house they ever owned was 18x18 & all they did was PVP or PVM ..While I was Idocing placing keeps & castles Wheeling & Dealing. So No I don't agree with Removing Idocs. As far as scripters are concerned they should set up when you can only snag 1 high valued item Per account @ an idoc (Granted that would be only décor items as stuff in chest would be fair game) LIke Vet rewards worth 20 mil etc. like I've said before Idocs Should be made more fun Not harder ..They should set up spawning factor around the house when it hits idoc Stage ..kind of like the invasion campaigns So its not a boring & when house falls it should be like a high level tmap spawn ..not crappy grubbers. Idocs should be fun for New players & vets alike Not the hassle it is today. as far as finding Idocs what is so hard about running around & reading signs ..back in my haydays of idocs it only took a few hours to do entire shard. 1 day per 5 days a few hours could reap more gold than 500 Spawn boss death gold runs.

 

[Dropkick Murphys]

All Solutions that should be found let Peeps like allways crying again.
Because for all Solution it gives a Solution

 

[Smoot]

still pertinent. wish i had asked about the possibility of this at the 20th live party.

 

[Tyrath]

still pertinent. wish i had asked about the possibility of this at the 20th live party.

Yep it is and yes you should have.

 

[Lady Michelle]

I would like to see the houses fall but once the house falls a auction stone appears in front of the plot where you are able to put a bid in for that location by having to put in your email address and 1 bid per email. If no one bids on the plot the auction stone goes poof, and the location is opened up to anyone who wishes to place

 

[Lord Arm]

no to auctions, the only thing that should be done is stop the cheating. of coarse, I know this will not be done. I still am amazed that the game I love has become a multi char using, loot scripting, house placing joke. its not just about idocs, some of the things that have been done actually helps the cheaters and hurts the honest players, amazing. its the main reason why people quit. just my opinions

 

[lineman]

You do realize that some people play the game solely for idocing?. There are idoc guilds. Idocing is part of the nostalgia of UO and a reason why allot of people still play this game. Honestly come up with a better idoc system but dont kill it.

 

[Smoot]

If you don't enjoy them don't go to them?

I love em. No touchey my IDOCS pls.

i would never do an idoc, because i dont have that kind of patience or time committment.

but thats not the reason i dont like them. i dont like them because of how it effects my own game, things i do enjoy.

because of the overabundance of 20 years of loot, theres little reason to go out and actually do things.

why would someone ever go out hunting in search of deco, or maybe an arty, if they can just buy it for pennies? why would a returning player do this content if its worth very little?

If people were able to sell things for much higher prices, that would be an icentive to actually do that content themselves. which sounds alot more fun, and in the spirit of what ultima online was meant to be than just sitting waiting for a house to collapse, or buying those cheap goods from a vendor.

 

[Lord Nabin]

i would never do an idoc, because i dont have that kind of patience or time committment.

but thats not the reason i dont like them. i dont like them because of how it effects my own game, things i do enjoy.

because of the overabundance of 20 years of loot, theres little reason to go out and actually do things.

why would someone ever go out hunting in search of deco, or maybe an arty, if they can just buy it for pennies? why would a returning player do this content if its worth very little?

If people were able to sell things for much higher prices, that would be an icentive to actually do that content themselves. which sounds alot more fun, and in the spirit of what ultima online was meant to be than just sitting waiting for a house to collapse, or buying those cheap goods from a vendor.

You could say the same for the following:

I would never do a bod, because I don't have that kind of patience or time commitment.
I would never do a quest, because I don't have that kind of patience or time commitment.
I would never train a pet, because I don't have that kind of patience or time commitment.
I would never join a guild, because I don't have that kind of patience or time commitment.
I would never do a champ spawn, because I don't have that kind of patience or time commitment.
I would never deco a house, because I don't have that kind of patience or time commitment.
I would never log in, because I don't have that kind of patience or time commitment.

UO is a sandbox. Focus on and do what you like to do. There are to many options out there to entertain yourself in this sandbox.

How exactly do Idocs effect your own game?

An idoc doesn't add items to the game. In reality it only ever returns them to play or removes them. If no one picks up the loot on the ground it gets deleted. Not everyone does Idocs because it is some magical way to get rich. Many in the community enjoy the hunt, enjoy the find of a few items. Hanging out and chatting with folks, Maybe they like to place a plot and sell them. Who knows.

I find it hard to believe that idocs get in the way of anyone's game play.

Sure there are a couple of nuts who cause a lot of frustrations. Really the Bots running around auto checking house signs are one of my dislikes.

You know maybe we should run a campaign with as many people that we can find to change their house sign to say "In Danger of Collapse" and see what happens.

I bet a few hundred of those out there would have an fun effect on the bots.

 

[lineman]

Well thats a little selfish of you I think. You wont do Idocs because you do not have the patience or time commitment. But the reason you dont do them because how it effects the things you enjoy?.. Your words. Ya screw the guy who enjoys idocs right?

 

[Smoot]

Well thats a little selfish of you I think. You wont do Idocs because you do not have the patience or time commitment. But the reason you dont do them because how it effects the things you enjoy?.. Your words. Ya screw the guy who enjoys idocs right?

i dont think either of you are seeing my point.

it comes down to any time its more cost / time efficient to buy something, people arent going to be doing that content. which is the point of the game. idocs are not the point of the game. they were a secondary effect never intended as a style of game play (if they were, the devs would be treating it like actaully game content - i have never seen an expansion for UO named "idoc")

Example: scripter idoc castle on Europa shard about 4 years ago. loaded with 60k deeds of imbuing ingredients. after that idoc, the abyss was dead. that one idoc killed an entire expansion and any reason to go to the abyss.

That was an extreme example, but the same goes for anything. idoc goods flood the market. to the point where items and resources are cheap enough that people just stop doing that once worthwhile content for themselves.

can you really argue that things wouldnt be more valuable if idocing didnt exist?

expensive does not mean people pay more, the idea is for people NOT to buy items, but rather get those items themselves. from intended gameplay. if idoc items were removed, or stored similar to bankbox items for a players return, stuff would cost more. alot more. hopefully enough more that people would actually get items they needed rather than just buy them.

I dont know how anyone can argue that getting people out and playing the content the devs designed, while also making it more likely that people will come back after a hiatus, is a bad thing for the game.

but you are both entitled to your opinion.

its hardly "selfish" to want to have a reason to do game content. to think otherwise is just absurd.

 

[lineman]

And I do not get how you dont understand that there is a group of people who's main purpose in this game is to idoc. Just like some people enjoy pvp, em events, bank sitting ect. Just because you do not enjoy it other people do. And you use examples and scenarios of people who have exploited this game like the Europa guy with 60k deeds. The problem isnt the castle that had the deeds that fell the problem is someone was allowed to exploit this game and create those deeds. You can remove the tumor but the disease still exists. What you propose makes no sense when the true cause of the problems in this game is that they decide to not do anything about the rampant cheating.

 

[Lord Nabin]

It's a sandbox. Meaning, you design your own style of game play intended or not.

Oh and I still wander the land on Siege looking for regents in the forest as I find it an enjoyable play style. Sure I could go buy a deed of regents but it really doesn't full fill for me the relaxing objective of enjoying the forest and running from the Mongbats. (often I don't make it, Darn Mongbats)

 

[Andrasta]

I always thought it would be cool if there was a special loot system that took all the items from an IDOC and distributed them like ToT's. So you may be out gathering leather and find something interesting on a lizardman corpse or something.

I love this idea!

 

[Thrakkar]

I don't really care about IDOCs, but noone should loose items just because the account is unpaid. It would be best, if all items would go into the moving crate, so the player can claim his stuff after resubbing.

 

[Polaris75]

Eh I was vague in what I meant.

The idoc system is broken not because some dude is selling it for RMT, but it allows the few benefitting the most from no one else being able to actually participate.

Particularly who has 15 hours to do an idoc outside of scripting or "using Pincos".

Agreed. I find it quite funny when people mention "using Pincos" to do this and that when everyone knows they are running custom programs that take a near scientist to program. Meanwhile others copy and paste... and run equivalent programs. Yea... the professionals just passed up that $100 and the guy with Pincos got it! So sad...

@Smoot I feel you bro. I've said it before and I'll say it again: "IDOC Search Function WITH timing", so all can go, even returning players. I like going to Idocs, but never, ever do anymore. They were too much of a hassle to search for and impossible to get the time that other players seemed to always have. And since all of the "normal" people quit Idocing 3-4 years ago, it just hasn't been the same. What's left are about 3-12 bots at each Idoc with maybe a handful of controllers. It's truly sad... there IS NO community involved with Idocing anymore, aside from the fairly rare fel castle/keep....

@Mesanna @Kyronix @Bleak Please consider an Idoc search function so that new/returning players can at least TRY to take stuff away from the bots. I realize this may create a headache as the influx of new pages for help regarding bots will skyrocket... as new players wake up to the fact that bots run the game. But it would still be a start... and would help the vets like me a lot. I rarely make 100m now... and knowing that some people score 3p a week from Idocs... I have not been doing much in game content lately. It's just so hard to go grind out a "tinker legs" when someone who can't spell made 175 platinum last year (he claimed like 6 months ago.) So inevitably, I log in and deco what I have... but at the end of the day I'm left staring at vendor search, usually with about 7m gold in total like I have now... with no way to upgrade or buy anything. That's what people mean when they say they quit because of cheating. It's just coming to the realization that other people are doing stuff way, way too unfairly... and there is no point in trying to catch up. I won't and don't quit because of my ties to the game, family, and the item collection that I have built up. Others don't have those ties... and they disappear from our world forever. It would be a good idea to consider Smoot's ideas involving saving people's items entirely. That would increase the return rate of quitting players. I certainly would not come back if I did lose my house... all of those ties/memories would be gone. I can make a new character in 1 day flat... any character. But if you cannot, at least... finally... consider an IDOC Search function on the paperdoll that gives the locations of each shard's current IDOC houses and times... so that we may all go instead of the same 4-5....

 

[Rafman]

Hey OP. Fantastic idea. As soon as i finish writing this reply i'm going to go give you my first "like" ever on stratics.

By the way - expanding on your idea i don't get why there's pvp in the game. Initially it was meant so people can compete and "fight" each other - but there are less people who play now so there's incentive for us all to be friends. I think instead of killing and attacking people - whenever you face off against someone in-game, the only possible actions should be a hugging contest, or a game of duck duck goose.

Also - I think PVM is out of hand. Monsters are really scary and violent - I don't understand whose the sicko who ever through of introducing scary monsters into Ultima. I think UO should get rid of all dungeons/monsters, and revamp the land to include cities, and animals in the forest, and that's it. It would make for a better community.

Let's keep our thinking hats on people. OP is on a roll, I bet we can band together as a community and come up with some more amazing ways to improve UO.

 

[MalagAste]

Hey OP. Fantastic idea. As soon as i finish writing this reply i'm going to go give you my first "like" ever on stratics.

By the way - expanding on your idea i don't get why there's pvp in the game. Initially it was meant so people can compete and "fight" each other - but there are less people who play now so there's incentive for us all to be friends. I think instead of killing and attacking people - whenever you face off against someone in-game, the only possible actions should be a hugging contest, or a game of duck duck goose.

Also - I think PVM is out of hand. Monsters are really scary and violent - I don't understand whose the sicko who ever through of introducing scary monsters into Ultima. I think UO should get rid of all dungeons/monsters, and revamp the land to include cities, and animals in the forest, and that's it. It would make for a better community.

Let's keep our thinking hats on people. OP is on a roll, I bet we can band together as a community and come up with some more amazing ways to improve UO.

much?

 

[Seynix]

How are people searching for IDOCs? Running around checking the signs or something else? I mean what are the “legal” ways of finding them?

 

[Lord Arm]

I would run and check every house sign, mark, and wait to get a time on house, then come back at drop time. some have illegal programs that auto do this. the devs know about these programs. I feel I'm one of the stupid ones that the devs just dont care about. ever wonder with all the different kinds of cheating that occur daily that they cant / refuse to stop it. f2p will just open another door for excessive / ramped cheating. there are good / bad ideas but all of it means nothing and is a waste of time as long as cheating occurs / is allowed. auto banking of the soul bound items at idocs would be fine.