NEWS [UO.Com] Contest Housing Pricing

[TB Cookie [W]]

For all those cheerleaders who think they are listening to the playerbase, if this doesn't make you jump ship you are probably in collusion with them to make real money.

If you look at the Test process over the last few weeks alone, I believe you can find a lot of evidence they have listened to the playerbase.
I can list a few.

The problem being of course, the player-base don't agree with each other on one single topic.
The 2 of us are both PvPers, you'd think we have a fair amount in common - yet you are some Dexxer newb, and I'm an Elite Mage?

There is no consensus, you cannot keep everyone happy, there is no stereotypical generic playerbase person - the best they can do, is review the feedback, work it through, and try to do what seems right logically.

 

[TB Cookie [W]]

oddly enough the price of gold went up last night on a site or two or so i heard from the guy behind brit bank

I can believe...

 

[Uriah Heep]

Selling pre-patch gold!!!


Nah, just kidding guys
lol

 

[Shiranui Renn]

I wouldn't care to spent that much gold if that would be a plot I could build my own stuff. I definitely not going to spent a single coin on these designs because I don't like them.

 

[Great DC]

If you look at the Test process over the last few weeks alone, I believe you can find a lot of evidence they have listened to the playerbase.
I can list a few.

The problem being of course, the player-base don't agree with each other on one single topic.
The 2 of us are both PvPers, you'd think we have a fair amount in common - yet you are some Dexxer newb, and I'm an Elite Mage?

There is no consensus, you cannot keep everyone happy, there is no stereotypical generic playerbase person - the best they can do, is review the feedback, work it through, and try to do what seems right logically.

UMMM what?!!? I have played a mage for over a decade, I can also play basically any template you can imagine. What I want in pvp in balance for all types of gameplay, what you want is mages on top forever and everyone else gets the shaft. You have a very bias outlook and you shouldn't be involved in any decision made about the game. The only difference between you and I is, I can see the bigger picture and you cant cause you sight is blocked by your shield on your mage.

 

[TB Cookie [W]]

UMMM what?!!? I have played a mage for over a decade, I can also play basically any template you can imagine. What I want in pvp in balance for all types of gameplay, what you want is mages on top forever and everyone else gets the shaft. You have a very bias outlook and you shouldn't be involved in any decision made about the game. The only difference between you and I is, I can see the bigger picture and you cant cause you sight is blocked by your shield on your mage.

Haha, mistaken identity.

I love how would up you get when someone questions you re something PvP based.

 

[Trip2017]

"Twenty one years of ultima online and it is the second time I say this...
"Dear devs, you can kiss my elven..."
---
Bad move introducing a rich vs poor, special vs common battle in a uo core system... the housing tool.
---
It only makes you... you the devs, look more and more like aristocrats... much like the current monarchic system in Trammel "

Signed: Pitr, Gentle Rest Inn, Catskills

PS: The first time was when Queen Dawn was murdered and I understood the story arc would not allow for a commoner to be a ruler... a sad trip into the developers minds (so we took New Magincia Felucca and created our own Democracy)

---
.

 

[Great DC]

No winding over here bud. I just enjoy pointing out how ridiculous a statement you just made, and I do this to anyone who says stuff that makes no sense. If the devs were listening to us, we'd still have factions, governor's wouldn't exist, patches wouldn't be pushed through with bugs and other issues, global loot wouldn't have jumped 10x over what it was, crafting would still be relevant, etc, etc, etc...…. I could go on listing things but I'm tired of pointing out whats wrong with the decisions they make.

 

[TB Cookie [W]]

No winding over here bud. I just enjoy pointing out how ridiculous a statement you just made, and I do this to anyone who says stuff that makes no sense. If the devs were listening to us, we'd still have factions, governor's wouldn't exist, patches wouldn't be pushed through with bugs and other issues, global loot wouldn't have jumped 10x over what it was, crafting would still be relevant, etc, etc, etc...…. I could go on listing things but I'm tired of pointing out whats wrong with the decisions they make.

I don't think my statement was ridiculous. You are entitled to your opinion, I'm entitled to mine, we differ in opinion here, who represents the playerbase? One of us, both of us?


Regarding Factions, I was the Ultimate Factioner, my guild and faction owned all 8 towns for almost a year solid at one point, way before it died out.
But even I can get why they killed factions, it was my life - as my Stratics name even indicates, but there wasn't the player-base to sustain it.
VvV is geared to a lesser player-base, but it has its own flaws.

Regarding Governor's - I see no real issues with this game system.

I agree with you on the global loot bit, but a majority of players wanted more and more properties on items. I agree with you on the crafting - you see me fighting for this cause often.


The bit I do understand about all of this is - A lot of players got involved in this, and it has hit them as a shock, they didn't expect this.
I agree with Anon, maybe bringing players into the loop earlier may have helped, but since when has that ever happened.
Sometimes they deliberately don't, because it can influence the outcome.
I do believe though, players will get over this shock, this is just an initial outpouring of shocked emotion, it happens all the time, then players adapt and get used to it.

 

[Anon McDougle]

Indeed already over it I've done the math i only have to kill 300000 Hyirus @ 1K GP each or if i can farm PS (they sell on average 5 million on Orign) i only need 60 120s so i will return to complain more in oh say 3 years

 

[Great DC]

Yeah but they say the purpose of the price is to be a gold sink. There is only so many places you can put a castle per shard, so even if everyone that has one upgrades its completely limited in the gold it removes. A "sink" is endless in how much gold it take in which is completely the reverse for this situation.

Factions had some issues with long stat timers and sigil corrupt timers, but those things could have been just adjusted instead of completely removed and replaced.

Governor's have all kinds of issues, no one in UO should have control for months of what the buff can be that others use for any reason whatsoever. Politics and UO don't go together. I can understand them having something like this as a title for voices to be heard at meeting and things but other then that its useless. I mean politics and stratics isn't allowed, LOL.

When it came to global loot all we wanted was gear to be a little bit better then what could crafted so it was worth it to go out and hunt things, but they took it and upgraded 5-6x higher then that for no reason and destroyed crafting in the process. I mean how many times does someone have to say the sun is hot for you to agree with them.

 

[Pawain]

This is the absolute DUMBEST idea any team in the history of UO has ever come up with!!!

Right up there with nerfing pets in PvP.

For all those cheerleaders who think they are listening to the playerbase, if this doesn't make you jump ship you are probably in collusion with them to make real money.

I saw no players asking for 300M gold castles. But it will make some Avatars happy.

Governor's have all kinds of issues

Yup I wont be running again. Have to save my crumbs for a custom Keep.

 

[uokings7]

Go on any server besides Atlantic and they are filled with keeps and castles who are owned by people like me who don't have hundreds of millions in gold to just drop like that. Id have to sell nearly all my items or spend a year farming that much gold. If I would have known I couldn't use one of the designs after the contest was over I would have never participated. I don't care if you disagree with me. It's wrong for them to do this. If they keep it this way, I'm going to be getting rid of my accounts and leaving the game.

 

[ShriNayne]

I don't even know what to say any more, this has to be the most depressing few days of news for a long time, I honestly just can't believe it, who actually came up with all this nonsense? When I first heard about this contest I was so excited and now I just feel depressed, how many people would have bothered spending time making their entries if they knew this was going to happen? I wonder if all the 'winners' can even afford to place their own designs? Please can the Devs stop thinking of everyone being on an equal footing or smaller shards being like Atlantic, even those who played for a number of years may not be super wealthy.

 

[Effort]

They are dipping their toe into active gold sinks. The game needs these. What are you complaining about? You have to agree that there's way too much gold in the game right now, and this will help with inflation. Hopefully this is the first of many luxury focused gold sinks

 

[Danpal]

Who has 300 million on Siege Perilous?

I just want to know who i need to make as my new BFF or to make my new suger mama or suger daddy.

Really i think my toon would look pretty in a dress. This would not be the drist time a guy acts like a girl in a mmo to get something. Lol

 

[Pawain]

They are dipping their toe into active gold sinks. The game needs these. What are you complaining about? You have to agree that there's way too much gold in the game right now, and this will help with inflation. Hopefully this is the first of many luxury focused gold sinks

So I have been playing the game wrong. Giving away or selling things cheap to new players or co players.

Players who duped things played the game correctly. They get the luxury items.

Good to know. Hopefully I can get in on the next gold making exploit so I can play correctly.

 

[TB Cookie [W]]

I wonder if all the 'winners' can even afford to place their own designs?

What would be a nice touch, would be if the winners got to get their own castle converted for free to their design if they wanted?

That gives something more tangible to the winners, and to all the rest who entered, to want to be a winner.

 

[Fridgster]

They are dipping their toe into active gold sinks. The game needs these. What are you complaining about? You have to agree that there's way too much gold in the game right now, and this will help with inflation. Hopefully this is the first of many luxury focused gold sinks

It's a dismal attempt at a gold sink. I'm not even sure it qualifies as a gold sink. what is 9.6 plat in comparison to the TRILLIONS of gold in this game. It's not even a continual gold sink. Once it's used up it's done. That 9.6 plat is if EVERY castle converts to the new designs. Obviously not even close to that will. So please stop claiming gold sink. It's not.

 

[TB Cookie [W]]

It's a dismal attempt at a gold sink. I'm not even sure it qualifies as a gold sink. what is 9.6 plat in comparison to the TRILLIONS of gold in this game. It's not even a continual gold sink. Once it's used up it's done. That 9.6 plat is if EVERY castle converts to the new designs. Obviously not even close to that will. So please stop claiming gold sink. It's not.

I can get this.

Maybe they bring in the customisation tool which everyone seems to want, and price that really highly?

 

[Great DC]

If they wanted to control gold inflow to the game they would fixed the ability to dupe years ago. Duping is the only reason why inflation is out of control PERIOD.

 

[ShriNayne]

@TB Cookie [W] But what if they didn't already have a castle? The new designs are a replacement item, you can't place one from scratch, or so people have been saying.
It's all very well to say there is too much gold in game, but I would guess that a very large percentage of that gold belongs to a very small percentage of players.
They did so little to stop cheating, duping and scripting and now the people who made so much gold doing those things are being rewarded with more goodies to show off.

 

[Keith of Sonoma]

This is one of the STUPIDEST ideas ever. Right up there with making previous years Halloween points not usable at the new dungeon. At least football season is here, so I can spend time with my FFB teams instead of bothering with UO as much. The current state of UO, combined with the asinine ideas being put forth, not to mention the Devs unwillingness to deal with cheaters/scripters/RMT people, make me not even want to log in to UO. I really wonder just how much longer this game will be around. *wonders to self* "Maybe it's time to start closing some of the accounts before they auto-renew for 6 more months." @Mesanna @Kyronix @Bleak

 

[Fridgster]

I can get this.

Maybe they bring in the customisation tool which everyone seems to want, and price that really highly?

Still would be a bit high, but at least at that point the designer actually gets to design what they want.

 

[Mrsbug]

maybe it's time we all learn those duping tricks?

 

[Fridgster]

This is one of the STUPIDEST ideas ever. Right up there with making previous years Halloween points not usable at the new dungeon. At least football season is here, so I can spend time with my FFB teams instead of bothering with UO as much. The current state of UO, combined with the asinine ideas being put forth, not to mention the Devs unwillingness to deal with cheaters/scripters/RMT people, make me not even want to log in to UO. I really wonder just how much longer this game will be around. *wonders to self* "Maybe it's time to start closing some of the accounts before they auto-renew for 6 more months." @Mesanna @Kyronix @Bleak

Unwillingness to stop rmt??? Christ they are literally forcing people towards that route!!! I really can't believe how irritated I am about this. I don't even want a castle. This just seems like a slap in the face to the whole community and to be honest, for the first time in 17 years I am actually truly considering shutting it down. Just... wow.

 

[Flagg]

It is a really brutal move to restrict such a huge, new and fun feature exclusively for those with hundreds of millions to dispose in vanity.

Castle in Fel, Europa is..what, 200 mils++. Buy one and throw a new design on it and you've sunk another 300 mils. That's half a bil burned in housing. How large amount of playerbase is able and willing to throw that much away? Guess we'll see.

Even for most players who already own a castle/keep and can in theory afford it, this will be all about the value seen in the new designs. It will -not- be about feeling huge delight over there being gold sinks to sink gold into. Am I going to burn 200 mils to turn my keep into something that basically looks like a stone crafted keep of old? Hell no. I'd pay such an insane amount for a castle customization tool..maybe. But for a static design by somebody else? Yeah no ty.

I'd purely guesstimate you need to be a castle owner with at least 600 mils in raw gold til notion of burning 300 mils into something like this turns into something to consider. How many players is that?

What I'm guessing has happened is...Various "pillars of community" who sit on hundreds of billions of gold acquired though.....various means have devs ear in various matters small and large. Through this interaction, devs have kinda gotten jaded when it comes to who an average player is. Typical UO vet does not sit on a hundred billion in gold.

 

[TB Cookie [W]]

@TB Cookie [W] But what if they didn't already have a castle? The new designs are a replacement item, you can't place one from scratch, or so people have been saying.
It's all very well to say there is too much gold in game, but I would guess that a very large percentage of that gold belongs to a very small percentage of players.
They did so little to stop cheating, duping and scripting and now the people who made so much gold doing those things are being rewarded with more goodies to show off.

Hi ShriNayne,

I do understand, it's me who has been complaining about the lack of action for years in these areas.

I guess on one hand, I'm happy they have tried something, on another, I don't see those values of gold as being that high or hard to get in todays economy.
To me, it is like when we had to get 10m for the Ornament of the Magician, we just put our heads down and went for it - and were extremely proud when we got one.

I guess I do get the point you are all making, that maybe this isn't the best way to do this, for various reasons.

 

[Lady Michelle]

Welcome to the game for the rich and not so famous dupers/scripters once again these kinda players win again.

 

[Larisa]

@TB Cookie [W] But what if they didn't already have a castle? The new designs are a replacement item, you can't place one from scratch, or so people have been saying.
It's all very well to say there is too much gold in game, but I would guess that a very large percentage of that gold belongs to a very small percentage of players.
They did so little to stop cheating, duping and scripting and now the people who made so much gold doing those things are being rewarded with more goodies to show off.

You actually can just place one of the new designs if you had the gold..it's been added as a permanent choice on the house placement tool.

 

[Larisa]

For those of you who might happen to have 300 Mil on Origin There's a nice big spot open right behind me on Dagger Isle!

 

[ShriNayne]

I just think that it's mean, they know how desperately people waited for this, then the last 18 months of still being hopeful, it's like they gave us something with one hand and snatched it away with the other.
Owning a castle does not automatically make you rich, many people give their castles to friends or guild-mates when they leave the game, also on quieter shards there are still spots.
Many of us have Keeps because there are no castle spots on our home shard and I actually felt quite lucky to have one in a nice area.
How many people are going to change to the new keep design for 180 million, it's a serious question, I would guess not very many, it's not really an upgrade.
It's getting harder and harder to see any justification or logic in so many decisions in god knows how many years now, I'm just getting to the end of my tether here.
I hope that didn't sound ranty, I don't want to argue with anyone or hurt anyone's feelings but lately I think they have made some very questionable game decisions.
I better go to bed now.

 

[Pawain]

Even for most players who already own a castle/keep and can in theory afford it, this will be all about the value seen in the new designs. It will -not- not about feeling huge delight over there being gold sinks to sink gold into. Am I going to burn 200 mils to turn my keep into something that basically looks like a stone crafted keep of old? Hell no. I'd pay such an insane amount for a castle customization tool..maybe. But for a static design by somebody else? Yeah no ty.

I'd purely guesstimate you need to be a castle owner with at least 600 mils in raw gold til notion of burning 300 mils into something like this turns into something to consider. How many players is that?

A lot of players have multiple castles. I feel bad for them.

I like this answer better than the one I had.

I just think that it's mean, they know how desperately people waited for this, then the last 18 months of still being hopeful, it's like they gave us something with one hand and snatched it away with the other.

 

[Marquis de Sade 209]

One of the dumbest ideas ever. It ranks up
There with not being able to put BODs in locked down BOD books. I know it will be a waste of time to get the devs to change their minds about this. When they get a lousy idea they seem to run with it.

 

[Cetric]

And let me guess.... The next contest if you enjoyed the next design... Another 300m, and another, and another

 

[Khaelor]

I just think that it's mean, they know how desperately people waited for this, then the last 18 months of still being hopeful, it's like they gave us something with one hand and snatched it away with the other.
Owning a castle does not automatically make you rich, many people give their castles to friends or guild-mates when they leave the game, also on quieter shards there are still spots.
Many of us have Keeps because there are no castle spots on our home shard and I actually felt quite lucky to have one in a nice area.
How many people are going to change to the new keep design for 180 million, it's a serious question, I would guess not very many, it's not really an upgrade.
It's getting harder and harder to see any justification or logic in so many decisions in god knows how many years now, I'm just getting to the end of my tether here.
I hope that didn't sound ranty, I don't want to argue with anyone or hurt anyone's feelings but lately I think they have made some very questionable game decisions.
I better go to bed now.

Here is the thing about me, I love quality. I love thoughtfulness of design. If the designs were truly exceptional, thoughtful and useful, I would be working my arse off right now to have all the plats needed to convert all my properities to them. But all of them miss the mark for me, some alot more than others. 300m is just a lot of money to spend on an "okay with some (or a lot) of work" design.

I think we should begin a discussion on what we use our keeps/castles for and what spaces we actually do need. And then determine a need vs would like. This way we could find better common ground for the next round and get castles people might actually want to hustle for. I also think a discussion needs to be opened on aesthetics and good design choices (ei: no wire gate windows, no unmovable fire places, neutral floor tiles)

 

[uokings7]

I'm one of the keep owners who do not have millions lying around. I also spent two weeks designing houses every night after work, fully dedicated to this contest. I defended the uo teams decisions throughout and stuck by them. I agreed that the top 3 SHOULD be the winners even though I wasn't thrilled with the designs. And I researched each and every house before voting to be sure I was being completely fair. I helped (as much as I could) to upload pictures of the designs to post on stratics. I really dedicated myself to this. Now I won't even be able to use the Damn winning design because I don't spend my time in game hoarding gold. Just a complete let down after all this.

 

[Nexus]

@Mesanna if you want to do an effective gold sink.... Ban the RMTers, Dupers, and other cheaters. This happened in 2006, and you guys wiped 15,000,000,000,000 gold in the process, that's 15 trillion for those who don't want to count zeros. That's the equivalent of ~46,012 of the highest priced castles. How about starting off by doing this again and seeing where it gets you, rather than spending over a year raising expectations only to once again disappoint.

 

[ThulsaDoom]

The haves versus the have not's, such is life.

 

[Freelsy]

I understand that. But as many know siege gold is worth about 10x that of regular shards due to their economy being... well healthy.

It's actually 25:1 and jumps to 30:1 at times. I don't know anyone that actually has 300+ mill in gold. I know people that have items, homes, and gold that combined brings them over the 300 Mill mark... But the buy and sell game on Siege is dead.

 

[Riyana]

This is not an effective gold sink. Even if it was intended to be a gold sink from the very start (which I doubt, as there has been no evidence of a plan at any point) then that should have been announced UP FRONT.

A gold sink should be a repeated but unnecessary for play consumable, ideally vanity (especially at higher ticket prices). It should NOT be a one off adjustment to something that has been hyped and anticipated for a year and a half with no mention of it being a gold sink. A gold sink needs to target the richest players, and castle owners are not necessarily they on any shard with the possible exception of Atlantic. The devs know this perfectly well since they have used castle giveaways multiple times for various contests.

If Broadsword wanted to make money off this, they could have made conversion a store item, with winners getting a free one. Again though, that information should have been UP FRONT, not suddenly revealed after a year and a half of enduring a multitude of missteps and disappointments.

But as it stands, Broadsword won't be making money off it if--the only true winners here, as with so many things any more, are the cheats and the third party RMT sellers who might get a windfall from castle/keep owners looking to convert or be able to charge premiums on certain housing sales.

I don't know whose input has been going into this full process, but whoever it is needs gone from any further decision making. No part of this contest has been anything but a big middle finger to the majority of the interested playerbase, and somehow it keeps getting worse. Unless they are going to pull a magnificent rabbit out of a hat at the last possible second, this has been nothing but an exercise in getting players' hopes up over and over again and dashing them every time. Whoever is making these calls needs to put down the shovel they are digging this hole with and put some serious thought into how we got here and what can be done to correct course. There are very clearly people being listened to whose opinions are based entirely on personal profit and greed. It needs to stop. It needed to stop years ago. There needs to be a logical strategy and a reasonable plan, and it should not be informed or influenced by anyone with their own real personal profit at stake.

As I have said before, this should have been an easy slam dunk for the team, but that ball has been dropped at literally every single step of the way. This dogged insistence on doubling down and making every little thing an expensive (whether that be in gold, cash, or time) and confusing ordeal is mind boggling. It's wearing me down. I don't expect perfection and I'm more than willing to give credit where it is due, but come on. NOTHING about this has made any reasonable sense, been remotely player friendly, or had any QA whatsoever.

At least give winners a free conversion. Amazing.

 

[Naitch]

And don't forget to factor in a 9.99 upgrade to the gothic booster if you don't have.
Will need if you plan on using some designs... right after you pay your 300+ Mil

Ha! what a joke

 

[DevilsOwn]

first, bravo Riyana, if for nothing else, for this line "No part of this contest has been anything but a big middle finger to the majority of the interested playerbase, and somehow it keeps getting worse."

second, the following published yesterday... yesterday

Publish 101 to Origin, Izumo & Baja & Castle/Keep Contest Winners – Ultima Online

and in the paragraph in the center you find this: The house will cost per tile such as the old prefab houses do.

seriously, is no one paying attention? and I'm horrible at math, but does anyone know if it somehow does work out to a misplaced decimal point??

 

[Murdok]

It's not even a good gold sink! Many of the castles can't be converted due to courtyard obsticles, many won't change necause the designs don't fit their needs, and a large portion of the player either can't or won't pay that obscene amount of gold for them. Even if everone converted (32 total castle spots per shard?) That's 9.5 plats. Is that amount worth pissing off the majority of players??? This is the absolute DUMBEST idea any team in the history of UO has ever come up with!!!

Im not sure where you got the 32 castles per shard number... there are WAY more then that! At least on LS there are!

I do agree that the cost for the updated castle is inflippingsane and I seriously doubt they will get more then a handful of players across all shards to update with those prices!

 

[Jynxx]

I wouldn't care to spent that much gold if that would be a plot I could build my own stuff. I definitely not going to spent a single coin on these designs because I don't like them.

+1

I have no problem spending 300 mil on a house....if it was my design. Not someone elses.

 

[MissEcho]

seriously, unless these new castke designs cost 5plat or something - who cares about a few mil

Ok Kojak come over to Siege and make 313,500,000 with no shard transfers, and no buying off npc's and no buying resources such as ingots and leather and just do it by fighting mobs and selling your rare EM item for say 6 mil ..... IF YOU CAN GET IT. Last few EM items I managed to get on siege you couldn't get 3 mil for em. Sheesh full soulstones on siege only sell for 2.5 mil, 15 yr vet rewards you MIGHT get 15mil for if you're lucky. Crimson cinctures sell for 1.7 to 2.5.

313 million on my shard is like 6 yrs playing full time or longer. Most people won't make that in 6 yrs.

 

[Khaelor]

And don't forget to factor in a 9.99 upgrade to the gothic booster if you don't have.
Will need if you plan on using some designs... right after you pay your 300+ Mil

Ha! what a joke

You actually dont need the gothic booster to place that castle. Don't give them ideas.

 

[MissEcho]

Im not sure where you got the 32 castles per shard number... there are WAY more then that! At least on LS there are!

I do agree that the cost for the updated castle is inflippingsane and I seriously doubt they will get more then a handful of players across all shards to update with those prices!

The problem is if ONE person upgrades at those prices then it will be set in stone. They won't refund if they find that the majority say up yours.

I say boycott until it is reduced, but you know some **** who wants to show his/her mega wealth will do it just for the ego trip of having billions to waste.

I note the comment that the gold sellers are now upping their prices, see @Kyronix @Mesanna you are encouraging people to pay the damn cheaters. Great.

50 million would of been a huge upgrade from the 865k and a decent gold sink. 300+ million is just there so gold sellers and cheaters can make a profit, way to go.

I designed one of the winners and can't afford it on Siege so I guess we were really suckered. Design the thing for free and not be able to actually convert your own castle how good is that?

 

[Riyana]

first, bravo Riyana, if for nothing else, for this line "No part of this contest has been anything but a big middle finger to the majority of the interested playerbase, and somehow it keeps getting worse."

second, the following published yesterday... yesterday

Publish 101 to Origin, Izumo & Baja & Castle/Keep Contest Winners – Ultima Online

and in the paragraph in the center you find this: The house will cost per tile such as the old prefab houses do.

seriously, is no one paying attention? and I'm horrible at math, but does anyone know if it somehow does work out to a misplaced decimal point??

Even if it was initially a misplaced decimal, they doubled down on it today, so either it was intended or they decided to roll with it.

 

[uokings7]

This is not an effective gold sink. Even if it was intended to be a gold sink from the very start (which I doubt, as there has been no evidence of a plan at any point) then that should have been announced UP FRONT.

A gold sink should be a repeated but unnecessary for play consumable, ideally vanity (especially at higher ticket prices). It should NOT be a one off adjustment to something that has been hyped and anticipated for a year and a half with no mention of it being a gold sink. A gold sink needs to target the richest players, and castle owners are not necessarily they on any shard with the possible exception of Atlantic. The devs know this perfectly well since they have used castle giveaways multiple times for various contests.

If Broadsword wanted to make money off this, they could have made conversion a store item, with winners getting a free one. Again though, that information should have been UP FRONT, not suddenly revealed after a year and a half of enduring a multitude of missteps and disappointments.

But as it stands, Broadsword won't be making money off it if--the only true winners here, as with so many things any more, are the cheats and the third party RMT sellers who might get a windfall from castle/keep owners looking to convert or be able to charge premiums on certain housing sales.

I don't know whose input has been going into this full process, but whoever it is needs gone from any further decision making. No part of this contest has been anything but a big middle finger to the majority of the interested playerbase, and somehow it keeps getting worse. Unless they are going to pull a magnificent rabbit out of a hat at the last possible second, this has been nothing but an exercise in getting players' hopes up over and over again and dashing them every time. Whoever is making these calls needs to put down the shovel they are digging this hole with and put some serious thought into how we got here and what can be done to correct course. There are very clearly people being listened to whose opinions are based entirely on personal profit and greed. It needs to stop. It needed to stop years ago. There needs to be a logical strategy and a reasonable plan, and it should not be informed or influenced by anyone with their own real personal profit at stake.

As I have said before, this should have been an easy slam dunk for the team, but that ball has been dropped at literally every single step of the way. This dogged insistence on doubling down and making every little thing an expensive (whether that be in gold, cash, or time) and confusing ordeal is mind boggling. It's wearing me down. I don't expect perfection and I'm more than willing to give credit where it is due, but come on. NOTHING about this has made any reasonable sense, been remotely player friendly, or had any QA whatsoever.

At least give winners a free conversion. Amazing.

Want to know how I acquired my only keep? It all started back in 1999, playing on the Baja server. Me and my cousin played on the same account (I was like 13). I had one character that I played (badly I admit). But I worked incredibly hard to build that character up. I killed and skinned tons of animals, chopped tons of trees, killed tons of mongbats, all while dodging PKers who incessantly murdered me for my scraps lol, until I had enough to buy a small marble. Eventually I opened my own account for the first time and placed that house. Then I worked for months and months to save up to buy an L shaped. Bought that and kept working my way up until I got a keep. Then, I ran into my very first scammer. He tricked me into handing over my keep and I lost everything (yeah, it was totally my fault but I was 14 lol). At that point I quit playing. I was devastated. Go on a few years later and I decide I want to play again. By this time (2003ish), my cousin had moved to the Atlantic server so I joined him there. Little did I know that server was going to explode. My playstyle never allowed me to buy any house bigger than an 18x18. I've never been interested in the economic aspects of the game. I like to hunt. I like to craft. I like to gather resources. I like to deco with what I make. Anyways I lived in several 18x18s but keeps and castles were always out of reach on the Atlantic server. Whenever one dropped there was always a house sniper there and waiting to place and would beat us because of the hacking programs they used back then. Or they cost 400 million+ which to me seemed like I'd have to hit the lotto. So I went on about my UO life, enjoying the content and having fun. One day I was messing around on other shards and found a spot on Sonoma for a keep. So I sold a couple items from old gift bags and got just enough to place the keep. Then I ended up spending real cash to move my characters there one by one. Not one time in all those years did I have hundreds of millions of gold.