New EM Event Change - Needs feedback from the UO Community

[Sauteed Onion]

I don't think there's anything wrong with how event items have been handled previously, although, in my opinion I do like the click the clickable thing at the end method where people get an item commemorating the event style. The downfall of that is the x- sharder's who will stealth on into the "prize" area and click away at the statue and ferret away the Event goodies to sell to their prospective audiences or whatever they intend to do with it. That being said, I propose, that if it is truly possible to gauge how much a person heals and reward them for that effort, and we know it's possible to gauge how much damage a person does to X mob, then why not make it so that only the people that deal x amount of damage throughout the event and heal x amount of life or status effects throughout the event are the only ones who have privileges to click the reward clicky at the end? Or is that just askin to much?

Honestly, in current form, I don't feel there is anything wrong with event rewards as they have been.. and don't see why it's in dire need of changing, save for the people upset that people are selling them for lots of gold in game. If it is changed, I hope the method I described above is the method that is implemented, and everybody can get a chance as long as they are putting forth serious effort.


This was a post by me in a previous thread pertaining to the same subject.. Kudos

I've quoted myself because I think this is a pretty solid Idea and I really think this is a good solution.

Ultimately, these events are for multiple reasons. They break the monotony of killing Navrey over and over, and farming peerless keys for hours on end, just to get no drop off that peerless etc.. They are designed to be interactive and FUN for the people that show up! Yes, they are catered to role players! Yes, slime balls show up and insult the EM's! Yes people who transfer whatever to and from whatever shard will be there! But, being that it is an interactive event, and you are free to act in whatever manner you choose, shouldn't some consideration be given to those who show up and ROLEPLAY their character? I think the main reason these changes are being discussed is because people have lost sight of the original purpose of the event which is just to show up and have fun! In the current form of bickering and code altering, it seems you'd almost be better off just not saying anything at all at an event, and just -kill- stuff. I kill enough crap with no talking at all as it is. What about people who say stop people from sending in their pets to poroxymus 'esque mobs through the em chat channel, and form cohesive strategies for the success of the people involved in the combat in an event? If devising a means that makes everyone "happy" is the ultimate goal, you're just begging for failure right there, cause you've got the crowd that says "Things should be on the corpse" or yadda yadda I played the game longer than you this is how it should be and of course the "I have got better gear and more experience dealing with this kinda stuff" types that all think everyone else's views stink except for their own. I could go on for hours and hours, but I don't feel like it, and who ever is reading this probably doesn't want to read all that..

Ultimately, EM events are designed to be an Interactive Experience. Punishment should be dealt to those who show up and try to crash people's clients and pixel party everything into oblivion, in the 2 hour sit in jail variety, while the event happens, and people should all have their chance at whatever the experience was supposed to provide, whether it be a cool rare token to commemorate the event, or just some News Reporter featuring your cool quotes out of an event and posting it on stratics for those who like that kinda thing to read! Regardless, my original statement being "I don't think there's anything wrong with how event items have been handled previously, although, in my opinion I do like the click the clickable thing at the end method where people get an item commemorating the event style" stands. I choose to role play at the events I attend, and don't expect anything extra out of it.. I happen to do ALOT of damage, and do not expect anything extra out of it. I also happen to rez a lot of people who either 1 dc'd due to pixel party jerks trying to get event items by keeping people locked up or dc'ed, or 2 gave it their best shot and died to some really nasty event creature. I also pull as many bars as I can and keep people alive to the best of my ability. Anyhow, I hope somebody can at least see where I'm comin from and hopefully these events can become less obsessing over "GIMME GIMME GIMME", and more about the interactive aspects of the event. If you're in it for the gimme gimme gimme, go kill medusa, get a Statue or floor tile, and sell it. If you don't have friends to do that with or a guild.. you are playing the game for all the wrong reasons most likely, and probably just trying to make some USD off gold. Which is bad, don't do it!

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

The short version of my thoughts:

This proposal is a bad idea. It will favor the high-damage PvM template of the month (which for several years running now has been the Sampire template), and will further-promote these events as a competition between players for the item, rather than as a competition between the players as a team against objective obstacles (monsters, puzzles, etc.).


The longer version of my thoughts:

In performing my analysis, I make the following assumptions.

• This proposal is going to be used for every EM item drop that isn't a clickie; and
• "Top Healer" will be judged similar to how, in the now-stalled Faction Revamp, Faction Points were assigned for healing and support activities.

Either assumption being wrong can change my view to at least some degree.

I can say with some authority, as a long-time player and long-time attendee of these events, that such a proposal will have the following negative, and significant, effects.

1. "Gaming the system" to appear to be top healer when one is not. Examples could include spamming healing spells, healing only guildmates repeatedly (while ignoring other players), etc. Anyone remember how during the Faction revamp one could get Faction Points for healing one's self? It'll be like that.

2. Sampires will get the vast bulk of the items. There is simply no way to duplicate the damage output, and survivability, of the Sampire. What's more is that that damage output and that survivability are inexorably linked. Putting the anti-sampire code on EM monsters won't help much, because it hurts survivability but not damage output, and because it makes it easier for griefing guilds to heal the monster up, thus making the monster un-killable until they decide to make it killable. (The way the anti-sampire code works that I've seen, for example on Corgul, is by reverse-leaching: You leach health, but the monster is healed up, either instead of or in addition to you. This has great griefing potential.)

(I'm aware that I've said repeatedly that Sampires aren't the only way to solo high-end monsters, and that's correct. But the official Stratics article on the Sampire templates states that the Sampire is the "most efficient" PvM template, and that's also correct.)

3. The events will become a competition to get the most damage, because it'll be known that doing the most damage is by far the most-reliable way to get an item. This means that other activities, such as rezzing other players and finding event content (books and clues and the like), will be at-best secondary goals.

4. What's more is the competition will be between the players, thus by definition hurting the group as a whole doing the event, rather than between the players and the event content. There is no better way, to be blunt about it, to ensure that you will do the best than by making everyone else suck. For example, by never resurrecting or healing them. This kind of competition will thus, by definition, lower the standards and hurt the group effort. Pushed to its logical endpoint, you won't even have to be a good sampire anymore to get an item. You will just have to suck less than everyone else around you.

5. What's more, the Sampire template is tailor made for such a competition for yet another reason: It is one of the least-receptive templates to helping other players. The only way to heal someone else is through the Close Wounds spell (which not all Sampires have) and the only way to rez someone else is through the Noble Sacrifice spell (which even less Sampires have).

I'll just stop there, I guess.

-Galen's player

 

[Tina Small]

Quick question: Do EMs have the ability to drop something in someone's pack without using the trade window? The only reason I ask is that the other night, someone on Siege was urging people to go to Legends. I showed up and somehow a bottle of crafted liquor appeared in my character's backpack. There was no trade window, it just showed up there. I don't know if it got there through something that was added when stills were added and other changes were added that affected drinking/liquor, or if it was an EM that placed it there. There was a lot of strange gray text appearing at the time, so I really wasn't sure what had happened.

Just curious and would appreciate some clarification on whether there is any way for someone other than a developer/producer or a GM to make something show up in your backpack without using the trade window.

 

[Sauteed Onion]

Galen's Player, you hit the nail on the head every step of the way with your post.

Does this mean Nerf Sampire yet AGAIN? No! Does this mean alter code so that high damage dealing people get the best chance at getting an item? NO! Should this even be up for discussion? Probably not, but now that it is, positive ideas and constructive theories could be tossed out there to make EM events more agreeable with the vocal peeps on these boards.

 

[Crysta]

When you're drunk on a new liquor you might randomly toss a bottle into another player's pack, if I remember right.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

When you're drunk on a new liquor you might randomly toss a bottle into another player's pack, if I remember right.

No, clearly this is some EM power for favoritism to work against smaller shards and exclude people.

*plays spooky music*

-Galen's player

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

Giving items to those who RPed their characters would result in endless screams of favoritism. Sadly, most people don't bother to RP in UO anymore.

(Leet speak, SMS speak, and griefing are not part of RP...regardless what some say.)

Case in point...

On GL we have weekly spy missions. For every 3 missions a character participates in, they earn a "rank" (there are 10 main ranks). Every six months the spies are rewarded with a piece of clothing titled with their current rank. So after 30 missions, you attain the highest rank. When you reach 60 missions, you get a special title affixed to your character (this title overrides your professional title on the paper doll, and makes your name over your head rather long).

Sounds pretty cool, right? Two nice ways to reward those who participate regularly.

Malag-aste and I were the first two on GL to earn the title. It was a complete surprise to both of us when Mesanna appeared to bestow them on us. We thought it was fun.

Enter reality.

A few people whined and complained during this part of the event, but most people thought it was cool. After the event, however, some people were downright nasty about it. They said we were suck-ups to the EMs and we were just being rewarded for it.

Two years later, there are at least 7 players on GL with the title (I expect there to be a few more from the upcoming promotions) and accusations of favoritism are pretty much a non-issue. Everyone knows, or can easily find out, the expectations to earn the title.

Four of the people with the title are active in the RP community, the rest aren't avid RPers. If EMs started being subjective in their determination of what 'participation' is, the door to hours of whining and accusations is flung wide open. Sadly, "RPing" can't be a criteria - as much as I'd like to see more of it at events.


Items, when they are part of an event, need to be handed out in the fairest, most inclusive way possible.

 

[Sauteed Onion]

I'm totally trackin on what you're saying Martyna, but I'm not saying items should be specifically awarded because a person RP'd there character or whatever else, but rather if they're gonna use a mathematical equation to break things down, it kinda just craps on the face of a person who showed up to roleplay at an event..

What I'm kinda bothered by is that all the bickering and gnashing and finger pointing everyone and their uncle is doing here is basically making it to where yes "People no longer rp in UO" which is a Massively Multiplayer "ROLEPLAYING" Game.. because of all they want something they aren't getting or whatever started this whole groovy discussion. My vote remains, leave the system alone. It was fine the way it was/is. There will never be a method that makes everyone here happy. If it is changed, I'd like a consideration for the RP'ers at these events as well as the killers, and if the RP'ers happen to be awesome at killin, then whatever method of calculating an item drop (if there even is one for said event) that yields the highest chance should be used, not both. I'm not even sure that's possible, but whatevs. I just think it's a shame that infighting and bickering needs to happen over something like Events. Eventually, so much griping and naysaying will happen they'll just remove the whole darn system and all this arguing will have been for naught!

Seriously though.. if it's going to be all mathematically calculated by healing and damage done.. I think having a reward clicky at the end of the event should be implemented and your "right" to click that statue or clicky or whatever it is is determined by how much you heal people or pets for, and or how much damage you dealt during that event. This amount doesn't need to be astronomically high so as to alienate people who just CAN'T seem to do a lot of damage, but it should be a good enough amount to show that person did put serious effort in the event. Then you've got some seedy type who'll show up at an event with more than 1 account and have multiple toons in the same guild who'll ebolt and heal eachother over and over in hopes of reaching that point where they can click it, so Sadly that's an extra thing an EM would have to look out for and nip in the bud as he or she sees it happening; but so far, I think these suggestions are up there in the right direction. They may not be PERFECT suggestions, but at least I'm trying to at least put out serious and quiet possible methods that seem reasonable to me, and hopefully whoever is in charge of these matters.

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

Items, when they are part of an event, need to be handed out in the fairest, most inclusive way possible.

Nice points. To me it's really about balancing both the rewards for someone following the plot line and keeping an active community like the rares community running. I don't think every event item should be put on the vending machines, to me that would likely be the death of adding new people to that community, or at the least would drive a nail in the coffin of it .

To me EM Bennu {Atlantic} strives to maintain that balance. I don't know about other EM's because I am not a shard hopper when it comes to events. As far as I can remeber, he has included at least one vending machine item during each plot line. I don't think a switch to one way or the other is the right way to go. No sense in pleasing either end of the spectrum 100%, find a middle ground and call it a day.

Just my .02 tho

 

[Sauteed Onion]

Well, another thing to mention, devs are just gonna do whatever, and the hope being that they actually glean some input from what the people that actually pay their salaries suggest or are saying, so aside from just saying "Hey this is a stupid idea to do X" put in some suggestions that hopefully they'll read and base their development ideas around. I'm sure every single one of you that have posted in this thread and the several others like this have some kind of useful thoughts/ideas/suggestions to toss into the mix! So please share them!

 

[RaDian FlGith]

Nah, I agree with you here 100%. I have always been partial to 10 or less

Excellent job of ignoring the entire rest of Malag's post and quoting the part that you could twist into something you agreed with.

/golfclap

Well played.

 

[RaDian FlGith]

Malag is in favor of clickies, meaning WAY more than 20 items... It was just worded poorly

Wasn't worded poorly at all.

 

[Lady Storm]

With the item in the top 10 dammage causing players grasp i see a very quickly deminishing atendance to the EM events of players with lesser skilled or underskilled templates. Which seems that if the top guys duplacate their winning characters they can whip up the same characters on every shard and own the EM event.... where is the fairness in that??

I go to have fun and get a chance of an item... not to watch the same people every time walk off with 100mill items just because they can over power the event croud with their character.

Id like to see a different system... perhaps one that has a click on that rotates the gift chance the majors would be varied in the numer given so its totaly random this way no one skill would dominate the event and give the lower skilled a chance of getting a good item.

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

Excellent job of ignoring the entire rest of Malag's post and quoting the part that you could twist into something you agreed with.

Was using it to illustrate that even when people are at total opposite ends of the spectrum there are always points they can agree on. That's how compromise comes about, and finding out what works best overall. Even if Malag and I compromised our opinions and met on middle ground it would never end the debate over how items should be distributed. This age old debate will continue as long as the game lasts, or as long as there are items.

This side wants clickys on everything, the other side wants 1 of 1 and 1 of 5 all the time. Like I said in another post, imho balance is what is needed. Balancing out both ends of the spectrum. Neither side getting their way 100%. Both sides win some and both sides lose some.

 

[Sauteed Onion]

No one with some other thoughts and ideas? *sad face .jpg*

 

[Tina Small]

When you're drunk on a new liquor you might randomly toss a bottle into another player's pack, if I remember right.

Thanks, Crysta.

 

[popps]

By making it the highest DPS on the outside might seem fair, however the whole idea of EM events is to draw in everyone young and old (skill wise) If you limit the prizes to the top DPS then you really do take away from that concept. I agree with the above statement... it's just not a good idea.

This............

Not a good idea at all, IMHO. Actually, a very bad idea, IMHO..........

 

[MrNiceMNC]

Bad idea, will discorage alot of people from getting involved.

 

[red sky]

Just make it like it should be. The EM items spawn on the corpse of the monster (NOT INSIDE A CONTAINER) and have to be found by the people who earn looting rights and look through the corpse. Loot scripts don't work for this and it's the FAIREST and NOT THE LAMEST (vending machines) idea that works. Take it or bake it.

That way everyone can enjoy events (FOR THE PEEPS WHO DON'T GIVE A F ABOUT THE ITEMS SUPPOSEDLY) and the one's who have that craving for rare event items can continue to log in for the main reason that they play the game.

P.S. It is the Event Moderators responsibility to try and make this method fair for everyone. If they do it correctly then it will be. The MAIN complaint I'd see thrown at this is the LAGGED and CROWDED events like the ones on Atlantic. Not only are too many peeps on one screen to visualize a monster or its corpse but lately the EMs have come up with the bright idea to spawn a CRAP LOAD of monsters in one area. Thus you get a massive cluster uck and it's nearly impossible to find a particular corpse.

Solution: Spread out the monsters and don't put so many one area. Especially if it's in a dungeon with spawn already existing. (Yes, this would seem like common sense, but obviously some peeps aren't gifted with this ability. Reference the EM who was kicked for giving out a robe.)

Now, someone post a counter-argument that can actually knock this out of the water. Otherwise, I think this thread has been solved.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Manticore has posted his understanding of how the change will work:

http://vboards.stratics.com/2057717-post35.html

Here is his post, copied and pasted in its entirety:

A few things to clear up.

This is how the patch will work.

The event item drop would appear on one MOB. The top # of combination of attackers and healers will each get one item.

# of items is dependent on the crowd, i.e. say Atlantic where 100+ people attends most likely 20 rewards will be created vs smaller shards with 50 or less people attending will share 10 rewards.

But each of those who qualifies for an item based on attacking or healing will receive 1 item ONLY.

Mesanna wanted to explain this last night but the crowd got nasty real quick and since it was a celebratory event of handing out new shrouds for the EMs she didn't want to ruin their moment.

I hope this clears all confusions. But gotta love a healthy debate

Whether we like it or not, I tend to believe that debates should be carried on with reference to reality.

Assuming Manticore is correct, we can now have the debate based on what the policy actually is.

-Galen's player

 

[Crysta]

And.. if what he's said is correct... it hasn't changed any of the arguments against it at all? Still going to be just the "top" people, which is very bad. In fact, its techincally worse since this change would pay those people to attend en-masse... meaning an even larger crowd of people acting badly and not helping each other out.

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

Honestly, what else can we expect from the Team more than an ill-conceived reactionary response to an issue they haven't even bothered attempting to discuss with the players.

Granted, such a discussion would be as divergent as the last few threads on this topic have gotten, but it'd be really nice to see them try to proactively communicate with us before such a potentially divisive change.

Hmm.. Since this new code must be on Origin...presumably to be tested...I really hope it gets more than one event's worth of prodding...

 

[Phoenix_Mythic]

What Mesanna was talking about is an alternative system for awarding monster loot for event bosses. It is a modification to how the current Top Attacker system works. Currently, that system simply awards loot to the top X number of people who did damage to the boss mob. The change she mentioned is that the event bosses will begin to award loot not only to the top attackers, but also to those who focus on healing instead of dealing damage.

The actual way it works is fairly involved, and it awards credit for dealing damage to the creature, taking damage from the creature, and healing the damage it deals. The idea is to reward all who assist in the fight, and not just those with the highest damage output. It intelligently assigns credit in a way that should minimize exploitation.

I'm not going to discuss the system in full detail. It's set up so that you can't end up #1 in the list if you restrict yourself to one role, but if you do a good job in one role then you'll likely end up somewhere in the top of the list.

Now, the EMs are not going to change how they give out rewards. They will still give rewards based on participation via the objects that you double-click, and they will still give rewards as loot from monster kills.

The only difference here is that the loot from monster kills will also become available to the top healers as well as the top damagers. If you prefer to play the dedicated healer role, your efforts will now be rewarded.

 

[Storm]

That's cool thanks for clarification!

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

That is exactly the kind of communication we crave, Phoenix.

Thank you!

 

[Crysta]

See, now if THAT is the actual case, that indeed does sound good.

 

[olduofan]

What Mesanna was talking about is an alternative system for awarding monster loot for event bosses. It is a modification to how the current Top Attacker system works. Currently, that system simply awards loot to the top X number of people who did damage to the boss mob. The change she mentioned is that the event bosses will begin to award loot not only to the top attackers, but also to those who focus on healing instead of dealing damage.

The actual way it works is fairly involved, and it awards credit for dealing damage to the creature, taking damage from the creature, and healing the damage it deals. The idea is to reward all who assist in the fight, and not just those with the highest damage output. It intelligently assigns credit in a way that should minimize exploitation.

I'm not going to discuss the system in full detail. It's set up so that you can't end up #1 in the list if you restrict yourself to one role, but if you do a good job in one role then you'll likely end up somewhere in the top of the list.

Now, the EMs are not going to change how they give out rewards. They will still give rewards based on participation via the objects that you double-click, and they will still give rewards as loot from monster kills.

The only difference here is that the loot from monster kills will also become available to the top healers as well as the top damagers. If you prefer to play the dedicated healer role, your efforts will now be rewarded.

so what about those of us that dont have even close to good armor or the latest template and spend most of their time running and healing them self and rezzing others. some of us really try to just enjoy the story but never never get any thing at all while other will get 3 or more items because they have the best of the best and have the latest template of the month. Really is disappointing to always walk away with nothing at all. I guess the haves will always rule over the have nots in UO. new players should just stay home as well...

 

[Shamus Turlough]

What Mesanna was talking about is an alternative system for awarding monster loot for event bosses. It is a modification to how the current Top Attacker system works. Currently, that system simply awards loot to the top X number of people who did damage to the boss mob. The change she mentioned is that the event bosses will begin to award loot not only to the top attackers, but also to those who focus on healing instead of dealing damage.

The actual way it works is fairly involved, and it awards credit for dealing damage to the creature, taking damage from the creature, and healing the damage it deals. The idea is to reward all who assist in the fight, and not just those with the highest damage output. It intelligently assigns credit in a way that should minimize exploitation.

I'm not going to discuss the system in full detail. It's set up so that you can't end up #1 in the list if you restrict yourself to one role, but if you do a good job in one role then you'll likely end up somewhere in the top of the list.

Now, the EMs are not going to change how they give out rewards. They will still give rewards based on participation via the objects that you double-click, and they will still give rewards as loot from monster kills.

The only difference here is that the loot from monster kills will also become available to the top healers as well as the top damagers. If you prefer to play the dedicated healer role, your efforts will now be rewarded.

*hearty applause*

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

*hearty applause*

Agreed. Thanks for taking time out of your weekend to clear up some confusion Phoenix. It is greatly appreciated

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Many thanks for the clarification.

-Galen's player

What Mesanna was talking about is an alternative system for awarding monster loot for event bosses. It is a modification to how the current Top Attacker system works. Currently, that system simply awards loot to the top X number of people who did damage to the boss mob. The change she mentioned is that the event bosses will begin to award loot not only to the top attackers, but also to those who focus on healing instead of dealing damage.

The actual way it works is fairly involved, and it awards credit for dealing damage to the creature, taking damage from the creature, and healing the damage it deals. The idea is to reward all who assist in the fight, and not just those with the highest damage output. It intelligently assigns credit in a way that should minimize exploitation.

I'm not going to discuss the system in full detail. It's set up so that you can't end up #1 in the list if you restrict yourself to one role, but if you do a good job in one role then you'll likely end up somewhere in the top of the list.

Now, the EMs are not going to change how they give out rewards. They will still give rewards based on participation via the objects that you double-click, and they will still give rewards as loot from monster kills.

The only difference here is that the loot from monster kills will also become available to the top healers as well as the top damagers. If you prefer to play the dedicated healer role, your efforts will now be rewarded.

 

[Apetul]

The actual way it works is fairly involved, and it awards credit for dealing damage to the creature, taking damage from the creature, and healing the damage it deals. The idea is to reward all who assist in the fight, and not just those with the highest damage output. It intelligently assigns credit in a way that should minimize exploitation.

Sounds like it will be easily exploitable (for healers). 2 characters constantly xhealing (credits for healing the damage dealt by creature) and taking tons of damage (credits for taking damage from the creature) will always get more credits than a normal player helping others casting greater heal when needed. If needed, the xhealers could be archers contantly attacking the boss (credits for damage the creature).

Anyway, is this about monster loot or is about event items? if it isnt about event items, dont worry, no one will ever try to exploit it.

 

[Zosimus]

Well then there will be about 10 sammy's and 100 healers @ the EM events. I should say more mages/mystics/spellweavers since healers are not a true class system in UO.

 

[SugarSmacks]

What Mesanna was talking about is an alternative system for awarding monster loot for event bosses. It is a modification to how the current Top Attacker system works. Currently, that system simply awards loot to the top X number of people who did damage to the boss mob. The change she mentioned is that the event bosses will begin to award loot not only to the top attackers, but also to those who focus on healing instead of dealing damage.

The actual way it works is fairly involved, and it awards credit for dealing damage to the creature, taking damage from the creature, and healing the damage it deals. The idea is to reward all who assist in the fight, and not just those with the highest damage output. It intelligently assigns credit in a way that should minimize exploitation.

I'm not going to discuss the system in full detail. It's set up so that you can't end up #1 in the list if you restrict yourself to one role, but if you do a good job in one role then you'll likely end up somewhere in the top of the list.

Now, the EMs are not going to change how they give out rewards. They will still give rewards based on participation via the objects that you double-click, and they will still give rewards as loot from monster kills.

The only difference here is that the loot from monster kills will also become available to the top healers as well as the top damagers. If you prefer to play the dedicated healer role, your efforts will now be rewarded.

I try to read this without thinking ...o boy...a whole bunch of new healing scriptors.

As if to say events dont already have this massive problem with loot scripting when a body goes public, you really want to take it to the next level with healing?

Lets face it UO has a poor policing of it and this wont help
Healing items = stupid ....sorry... it is
Items to the backpack (at all) i think is a argument in itself but probably most people will be for since some of our ems like to play kill everyone 25 times games and looting can be a hassle.
Items to top damager are silly but most ppl already have said that.

 

[AirmidCecht]

Well then there will be about 10 sammy's and 100 healers @ the EM events. I should say more mages/mystics/spellweavers since healers are not a true class system in UO.

I'm wondering myself the right balance here for events and I gotta say this is darn near the closest we've had to a better solution.

People get upset about the players who log in simply to click that totem for their free prize to sell as a 'rare' and it pisses a lot of people off. Especially when you wait in line behind those who don't even make bones about it as characters named XxxX or ABC. It's disheartening when you are on your own shard with your own event and multiple death robes for the effort you put into it.

Then there is the random loot option where a [young] tag wanders around and loots all the dead monsters no one else can quite get to yet after killing them. Oh joy right?

Then the top damage option where only the one king kong template of the year factor in while the rest pretend they are there just for the fun of the event. For most of us that is true, I have to say and I try to look at it attendance wise. If a lot of players show that's supposed to be a good thing right? We're there to advance the story line and silently cross our fingers that we'll walk away with the pur-prise.

It sounds to me like this is another step towards giving those who attend a leg up over those who are more interested in trading for uber gold. That is one aspect of the game that has been fun for those who like to rares trade. It's the, "look what I got, what do you got?" part of their game. So maybe now they can pay a bit more from real attendees who decide to make a profit off the monster they killed

 

[Petra Fyde]

No matter what system is used someone, somewhere, will find a way to exploit it.
This complex system obviously took some time to work out, given the number of variables it addresses. I believe it's as close to fair as anyone can get.

Anyone who thinks he can do better, here's the relevent link
https://jobs.ea.com/

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Well then there will be about 10 sammy's and 100 healers @ the EM events. I should say more mages/mystics/spellweavers since healers are not a true class system in UO.

Since the game has existed there have been those who, in big fights, have dedicated themselves to healing over doing damage.

Without them, many big fights would be functionally impossible to win.

Sounds like a true class to me.

Also, you do realize that mages and mystics and spellweavers all have ways to do damage and heal damage.

-Galen's player

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

I try to read this without thinking ...o boy...a whole bunch of new healing scriptors.

You mean totally different from the Ninja-scripters we have now, who have that Ninja spell that doubles their weapon's stats set to recast as soon as it runs out? To the point where they run around the Luna Bank with it perpetually cast?

Healing items = stupid ....sorry... it is

You mean like potions?

-Galen's player

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

I have looked over this several times and, unless I'm missing something, I find nothing to object to.

Thanks again.

May I submit that learning about such changes in greater detail than the one-liner "top damager" and "top healer" is generally a good thing, because then, if nothing else, we get to react to the policy changes as they are in actual fact rather than to the places our jaded minds immediately go to?

-Galen's player

What Mesanna was talking about is an alternative system for awarding monster loot for event bosses. It is a modification to how the current Top Attacker system works. Currently, that system simply awards loot to the top X number of people who did damage to the boss mob. The change she mentioned is that the event bosses will begin to award loot not only to the top attackers, but also to those who focus on healing instead of dealing damage.

The actual way it works is fairly involved, and it awards credit for dealing damage to the creature, taking damage from the creature, and healing the damage it deals. The idea is to reward all who assist in the fight, and not just those with the highest damage output. It intelligently assigns credit in a way that should minimize exploitation.

I'm not going to discuss the system in full detail. It's set up so that you can't end up #1 in the list if you restrict yourself to one role, but if you do a good job in one role then you'll likely end up somewhere in the top of the list.

Now, the EMs are not going to change how they give out rewards. They will still give rewards based on participation via the objects that you double-click, and they will still give rewards as loot from monster kills.

The only difference here is that the loot from monster kills will also become available to the top healers as well as the top damagers. If you prefer to play the dedicated healer role, your efforts will now be rewarded.

 

[Cetric]

You mean totally different from the Ninja-scripters we have now, who have that Ninja spell that doubles their weapon's stats set to recast as soon as it runs out? To the point where they run around the Luna Bank with it perpetually cast?



You mean like potions?

-Galen's player

Its called focus Attack.. you toggle it on and off like lightning strike, armor ignore or deathstrike. It doesn't cast and doesn't have a timer to run out.

So annoying when people make random accusations of things they are ignorant about. No wonder they don't believe us when we say people cheat.

 

[olduofan]

clickies and account must be 30 days old to get item problem solved everyone is happy that went....

 

[Aurelius]

clickies and account must be 30 days old to get item problem solved everyone is happy that went....

It's UO, so nothing will ever make everyone (especially all Stratics posters) happy. Hell, I can almost guarantee nothing would make even a small majority happy... ... even your suggestion would raise complaints that people were bringing alts just to grab more of the maybe 'rare' thing that was the final item received from the clicky...

Essentially is seems to boil down to this - varying proportions of the playerbase DO and DO NOT want items to end up with players subject to one or more of the following :

Most damage inflicted.
Some damage inflicted.
Most healing done.
Some healing done.
Doing anything at all at an event.
Simply standing there with your character scratching it's backside.
Anyone with an account above or below some arbitrary age.
Any character that has or has not been active on that shard (criteria for determining this are purely subjective and personal).
Anyone who knows, knows of, has ever met or in any way interected with someone who may or may not be an EM/GM, EA/Mythic employee or any of their relatives or friends.
Anyone who might ever contemplate selling the 'rare' item.
Anyone who might ever trade the 'rare' item
Anyone who will keep and/or display the 'rare' item.

Whichever of those categories apply, it's guaranteed there will be somebody extremely vocal about their point of view. It's largely luck if their posts contain any reasoned information or thought, or not. Forums can be anywhere between a reasonable adult debate and a playground shouting match, and you never know where on that scale folks will decide to jump in at.

In summary .... whatever is done, you are guaranteed a ton of whining, pancakes and moaning before, during and after it happens. Whatever is done there will be people very keen to rush to the forum and damn it, praise it, complain it's 'meh' and anything else you can possibly imagine - and then some more options no rational person could ever expect. Following that, when whatever was the cause of the first fuss will, at some point be re-coded - and it will all begin again....

The explanation of what's planned seems very reasonable - of course, people are free to read, not read, imagine or prophesy anything they like about how it will turn out - but it's hard to disagree with the aim behind this

The actual way it works is fairly involved, and it awards credit for dealing damage to the creature, taking damage from the creature, and healing the damage it deals. The idea is to reward all who assist in the fight, and not just those with the highest damage output. It intelligently assigns credit in a way that should minimize exploitation.

I'm not going to discuss the system in full detail. It's set up so that you can't end up #1 in the list if you restrict yourself to one role, but if you do a good job in one role then you'll likely end up somewhere in the top of the list.

But of course, it's Stratics UHall - so some people will.....

 

[Petra Fyde]

Aurelius, I think I shall allow you to have the last word on this topic, I think your summation is masterly.