Mesanna... I kneel in the long shadow of your Excellence.
I must first say that I agree with AirmidCecht on a few points. Most people no longer know what the Mage Towers are/were, and I too am afraid it will be looked at in a negative light.
As for the Tower owner, he is gone for a few days, but I will of course talk to him about all of this. He no longer plays UO, but does want to see the tower restored. Man, when/if the time comes to drop the mage tower in fel, can we maybe have a small gathering to wish the tower luck in the next life? because it's going to be hard to see it go after 12 years!
Sorry for rambling, my mind is just racing. I also like the idea that the new tower will not be in a players name. That's the reason most towers are now gone... due to the actions of the owner.
and as far as what the Shard wants, we will have to see. IMHO we have to make the tower look,feel and BE a community thing. Everyone likes points of pride on their server to brag about to other people on different servers. So the more the Tower feels like it belongs to all of LS, the better received the whole thing will be.
-Derium
I'm sorry but this is a travesty. Fel has few things as it is, and the mage tower is one of them. Moving it to tram is a subversion of all that is good and holy. This falls into the "Leave things the way it is and create new ones that achieve your specific goal" thing.
First a) Why should any private owner get pref treatment? I say they should if they pay for it. I think one of the services that EA/Mythic needs to implement is that of real estate. Set aside a team (small at first) that responds to customization requests. Allow players to make a spec (or better yet create a tool so they can set it up the way they want, including outside of their house) and then give us a price in US Cash that we can pay along with a customization code that is associated with the design (think saving plot designs on houses). We go to the uogamecodes site, click customize location and then enter the number we got in game. Then pay.
I for one would pay 500 - $1000 to do this. I am sure there are many players that would do it. I've been playing for 13 years, a few grand on something I enjoy playing is not out of the question, I've already spent that much on real LT sash's, castles, rares, etc...
b) Why is it that we have to trammify everything?
c) If you are going to build a version in Tram (of his mage tower) and boot him from being an owner, then why does he have to drop his fel house at all? He should sell it to someone like me if he isn't interested in keeping it. I'd love a special house (as I indicated in letter a). I feel cheated because I can't have one at any price. That sucks.
d) Duels in Rivendell are great, and if there is fighting outside it's not relevant because the house that controls the pit can be made private and access controlled. Rivendel is _not_ inactive, the only house that has an owner that is inactive is the dueling pit. The rest are owned by Weedling who plays everyday in fel and tram. I see him on several of his characters all the time.
e) Rivendel has expanded considerably, there are loads of towers, a castle and 18x18s/keeps in that area that are newly placed and active. All who consider themselves denizens of Rivendel and use the arena, the stable and other areas regularly.
and finally....
Here you are talking about giving this guy the opportunity of trammifying his mage tower (ONE GUY that doesn't even play and has to have his friend post for him) and you turn down a request for a refresh on an ENTIRE COMMUNITY that represents about 50 players that are active in game and paying for their play.
This represents everything (in a nutshell) that is wrong with UO. You cater to tram and not fel. That sucks. It makes everyone in fel want to just leave we are always ignored. I feel like you just said:
"Lol poor little fel killer, please refrain from asking for some fresh material, it should be enough that we allow you to roam the facet with a foaming mouth killing whomever you run across, we will do nothing for you because we are busy catering to some guy that doesn't play so we can move his landmark fel killer house to tram as he has decided to come to the light and allow the tamers and the people that wear the completely useless sorceror's suit as their main suit to enjoy the splendor of pretty shiny sparkles and a dock of a magic tower on the water"