Vet Age Token...

[popps]

Have you not read this entire pathetic thread?

Every person in this thread that is against the current vet reward system is supposedly only trying to help out new players.p

As I see it, the purpose of the Veteran Program is to help out the game as a whole, not any specific type of player be them new or long time players.

How so ?

I tried to explain it in my posts in this thread. Having accounts maintained as active even during those periods of time, whether short or long that a player may not be playing the game, is not only good because it provides a revenue for the game, but also, and perhaps most importantly, because, over time, showing a trend over a number of accounts maintained as active even though not showing significant logs in, those who manage the game can make an estimate of what resources (the subscriptions) to count on over a time period where they may be wanting to work on a longer term project and to add new content to the game lasting some time.
Burst of income like from sale of game items or if ever veteran age was made as purchaseable (which I hope it will not...) even at the same monthly cost of subscriptions would not be, IMHO, of the same value as an information of accounts showing as maintained as active even when not logging in significantly.

Trends are important as an information to assess the probability of available resources over a time period, sudden sales while nice because they are still added resrources, cannot give this type of information and are totally unpredictable thus not making it as possible to be used for an assessment over a time period of the probabilty of what resources the game might be able to count on.

That is why I see the current Veteran Program of Ultima Online as a good program, well thought, well assorted and maintained in the best interest of the game, because it does what it is intended to do, contribute to provide to players more reasons to maintain their accounts as active even during those times when they cannot or do not want to log in to play the game. Some will some won't, the important thing is that, statistically, the information about those players who keep their accounts as active even during those extended period of time when they may not log in can not only provide resources to the game which would otherwise get lost but also give important informations to those who manage the game on what amount of resources to realistically be able to count over a time period to then invest on longer term projects, new additions to the game and so forth.

As I said, if there might be a problem with shard shields, rather than messing up with what I think is a very good Veteran Program, I'd much prefer to see different solutions (which would be also easier and faster to be reached) like simply reduce the cost of regular, purchaseable transfer tokens, significantly like add promotions of buy 5 for the price of 2 or something like that so as to make them more cheaply available also to those players whose accounts are not yet old enough to be able to use Veteran Shard Shields.

That's at least the way I see it.

 

[Lord Frodo]

As I see it, the purpose of the Veteran Program is to help out the game as a whole, not any specific type of player be them new or long time players.

How so ?

I tried to explain it in my posts in this thread. Having accounts maintained as active even during those periods of time, whether short or long that a player may not be playing the game, is not only good because it provides a revenue for the game, but also, and perhaps most importantly, because, over time, showing a trend over a number of accounts maintained as active even though not showing significant logs in, those who manage the game can make an estimate of what resources (the subscriptions) to count on over a time period where they may be wanting to work on a longer term project and to add new content to the game lasting some time.
Burst of income like from sale of game items or if ever veteran age was made as purchaseable (which I hope it will not...) even at the same monthly cost of subscriptions would not be, IMHO, of the same value as an information of accounts showing as maintained as active even when not logging in significantly.

Trends are important as an information to assess the probability of available resources over a time period, sudden sales while nice because they are still added resrources, cannot give this type of information and are totally unpredictable thus not making it as possible to be used for an assessment over a time period of the probabilty of what resources the game might be able to count on.

That is why I see the current Veteran Program of Ultima Online as a good program, well thought, well assorted and maintained in the best interest of the game, because it does what it is intended to do, contribute to provide to players more reasons to maintain their accounts as active even during those times when they cannot or do not want to log in to play the game. Some will some won't, the important thing is that, statistically, the information about those players who keep their accounts as active even during those extended period of time when they may not log in can not only provide resources to the game which would otherwise get lost but also give important informations to those who manage the game on what amount of resources to realistically be able to count over a time period to then invest on longer term projects, new additions to the game and so forth.

As I said, if there might be a problem with shard shields, rather than messing up with what I think is a very good Veteran Program, I'd much prefer to see different solutions (which would be also easier and faster to be reached) like simply reduce the cost of regular, purchaseable transfer tokens, significantly like add promotions of buy 5 for the price of 2 or something like that so as to make them more cheaply available also to those players whose accounts are not yet old enough to be able to use Veteran Shard Shields.

That's at least the way I see it.

Lets go with your thinking on this. 2 players and they have both played 2 yrs are thinking about leaving. Now if one of those players paid to age thier account don't you think it would be harder for that person to leave UO cosidering the extra money they have invested in UO. IMHO I do. The more you Play/Pay the harder it is to walk away.

 

[popps]

Lets go with your thinking on this. 2 players and they have both played 2 yrs are thinking about leaving. Now if one of those players paid to age thier account don't you think it would be harder for that person to leave UO cosidering the extra money they have invested in UO. IMHO I do. The more you Play/Pay the harder it is to walk away.

And so, if a player decided to maintain his/her account as active also because of the Veteran Program even though they are not planning to log into Ultima Online for a given time, still Ultima Online would receive needed resources from the monthly subscription fee of the account maintained as active.
Not only that, those who manage the game, matching the data about accounts maintained as active over a time period with the data about the logins of those same accounts over that time period, they could make a reasonable estimate of what resources might be available for the game to plan projects spanning over a time period or the addition of new content. What I am trying to say, is that when it is possible to tell with a reasonable estimate that accounts not logging in are still paying for the monthly fee and this not just for a month or two but over several months or perhaps even more, they can make good guesses whether those resources are or not worth to be counted on, even though those accounts are not significantly logging in.

If the Veteran Program, with well thought out rewards moreless for all years and increasingly as the veteran age years get older, can contribute to motivate players to maintain their accounts as active so as to qualify for higher tiers of active account age even at times when they cannot or do not want to play, well, then this, to my opinion, is good for Ultima Online because, as I tried to explain, not only it may help keeping up resources to the benefit of the game, but also may provide a valuable analysis tool to make reasonable guesses whether the subscriptions from those accounts not logging in (or rarely logging in) can still be counted on for longer term planning of the use of those subscription resources for projects to the benefit of Ultima Online as well as for the addition of new content spanning over a time period.

So, rather than seeing the Veteran Program to the exclusive benefit of players, whether they may be young or old players, I personally see it more to the actual benefit of Ultima Online itself, for the reasons I tried to explain.

 

[Njjj]

Lets go with your thinking on this. 2 players and they have both played 2 yrs are thinking about leaving. Now if one of those players paid to age thier account don't you think it would be harder for that person to leave UO cosidering the extra money they have invested in UO. IMHO I do. The more you Play/Pay the harder it is to walk away.

Seems the opposite to me. If you can always catch up with a token, theres little reason not to cancel sub.

I think there are other solutions mentioned in this thread that make more sense than pay to age.

 

[Lord Frodo]

Seems the opposite to me. If you can always catch up with a token, theres little reason not to cancel sub.

I think there are other solutions mentioned in this thread that make more sense than pay to age.

TY for your honest answer.

 

[Wenchkin]

If the token costs 20-30 dollars or pounds, you'd be silly to pay the subscription And it seems few here are willing to pay much more than that for said token, so basically you're paying a few months gametime rather than 15 years of it. In total you'd pay the same as you might on just 1 console game. Of course you can walk away from that.

Wenchy

 

[Lord Frodo]

If the token costs 20-30 dollars or pounds, you'd be silly to pay the subscription And it seems few here are willing to pay much more than that for said token, so basically you're paying a few months gametime rather than 15 years of it. In total you'd pay the same as you might on just 1 console game. Of course you can walk away from that.

Wenchy

%100 agree but as I stated the only way I would agree to this is if cost the same, there are no discounts and as you have pointed out they want it at a discount so it no longer has my support. It's kind of funny that this thread has reminded me of all the fun we have had all these yrs and all the RL$/time it has taken us to get this far.

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

%100 agree but as I stated the only way I would agree to this is if costed the same, there are no discounts and as you have pointed out they want it at a discount so it no longer has my support. It's kind of funny that this thread has reminded me of all the fun we have had all these yrs and all the RL$/time it has taken us to get this far.

I am sorry Frodo but there is no way in the world that anyone can get me to believe that a new/potential player or existing player of any account age is quitting over vet rewards. It is just plain insulting that people in this thread are basing their entire arguments on this false premise.

But since everyone in this thread seems to like creating their own little vet reward scenarios I guess I will throw one out there also:

A longtime UO vet been having fun and playing the game for years is maybe getting a bit bored with the game and thinking about the possibility of moving on or shutting down his account/s
Same vet then realizes that he has a nice little selection of vet rewards coming up soon and decides to maybe hang around awhile and collect the rewards and go from there. Is this the best incentive for someone to continue game play? Maybe not but it sure doesn't hurt.

I am willing to bet a lot of gold that my above scenario has in fact happened.

But I really wonder about other scenarios such as this one by another poster in this thread - "Having the power to make millions or save millions by transferring via shard shield to haggle and do business on other shard with no cost"

Does anyone really believe that someone wealthy enough to be in the business of xsharding to regularly deal is quitting because a few random other players can do it for free? Lol at that.

 

[weins201]

I cannot belive such a Lame , off kilter idea has 6 (&*)&( pages of replies, Iy you want to rewards for playing longer stay with the *)(* game if you dont like it go play a ^*& care bear game or a facebook game that lets you buy your way to the top.

Uo has been around for AGES because of its diversity and what it has done for long time players. Sorry Newbs - but again you true newbs arent really at fault it is just stupid long time player that want other accounts they have to give them the same stuff their account their eithe bought that are older or they actually have been around a while and are just expanding now.

Either way they are pathetic and whinny.

If you are really a new player welcome and look forward to the day when you can actually get rewarded for long time play.

Toodles - some of you might not bother to reply as you went on the Ignore list 10 minutes ago - poof.

 

[Lord Frodo]

I am sorry Frodo but there is no way in the world that anyone can get me to believe that a new/potential player or existing player of any account age is quitting over vet rewards. It is just plain insulting that people in this thread are basing their entire arguments on this false premise.

But since everyone in this thread seems to like creating their own little vet reward scenarios I guess I will throw one out there also:

A longtime UO vet been having fun and playing the game for years is maybe getting a bit bored with the game and thinking about the possibility of moving on or shutting down his account/s
Same vet then realizes that he has a nice little selection of vet rewards coming up soon and decides to maybe hang around awhile and collect the rewards and go from there. Is this the best incentive for someone to continue game play? Maybe not but it sure doesn't hurt.

I am willing to bet a lot of gold that my above scenario has in fact happened.

But I really wonder about other scenarios such as this one by another poster in this thread - "Having the power to make millions or save millions by transferring via shard shield to haggle and do business on other shard with no cost"

Does anyone really believe that someone wealthy enough to be in the business of xsharding to regularly deal is quitting because a few random other players can do it for free? Lol at that.

:loser:

 

[Lord Frodo]

I cannot belive such a Lame , off kilter idea has 6 (&*)&( pages of replies, Iy you want to rewards for playing longer stay with the *)(* game if you dont like it go play a ^*& care bear game or a facebook game that lets you buy your way to the top.

Uo has been around for AGES because of its diversity and what it has done for long time players. Sorry Newbs - but again you true newbs arent really at fault it is just stupid long time player that want other accounts they have to give them the same stuff their account their eithe bought that are older or they actually have been around a while and are just expanding now.

Either way they are pathetic and whinny.

If you are really a new player welcome and look forward to the day when you can actually get rewarded for long time play.

Toodles - some of you might not bother to reply as you went on the Ignore list 10 minutes ago - poof.

:loser:

 

[Madrid]

Does anyone really believe that someone wealthy enough to be in the business of xsharding to regularly deal is quitting because a few random other players can do it for free? Lol at that.

The fact remains that the Devs have made an item exclusive that saves 15 year Veterans 500M a year per Shard Shield! Meanwhile the peasants continue to starve! Get out your pitchforks folks! The Devs are catering to the rich pezzonovante and sticking it to the little guys!

500M per shard shield...this is a fact...that's just savings on the cost of the transfer tokens a player would have had to buy. Add to that the money they save by buying items cheaper on other shards as well as profit from buying items and reselling them and it's absolutely ridiculous such an item of immense power was made exclusive. It's on par with making Soulstones exlusive to 15th Veterans only. Thee most imbalancing item introduced in years.

Blood Ghoul your bring up many good points and I agree with almost all of them except one i.e If a restructuring was ever to occur 10-15 years is just too long. Look at the thread we had today pop up "An Open Letter to EA". The future of this game is an unknown. I hope UO is around for another 50 years but there is an uncertainty about it's future as UO has a difficult time drawing in new players. You are spot on about the fact that Shard Shield never should have been introduced and if they are made available they tokens produced should no way be tradeable.

No item in the game like this should be exclusive.

Dear Devs with threads like "Open Letter to EA" about the uncertain future of UO please do all in your power to sell items at the UOGameStore that will continue to ensure UOs survival. The Shard Shields if made available will sell like hot cakes as would a Veteran Token.

 

[Blood Ghoul]

Blood Ghoul your bring up many good points and I agree with almost all of them except one i.e If a restructuring was ever to occur 10-15 years is just too long. Look at the thread we had today pop up "An Open Letter to EA". The future of this game is an unknown. I hope UO is around for another 50 years but there is an uncertainty about it's future as UO has a difficult time drawing in new players. You are spot on about the fact that Shard Shield never should have been introduced and if they are made available they tokens produced should no way be tradeable.

I actually agree with you 100%.

BG

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

The fact remains that the Devs have made an item exclusive that saves 15 year Veterans 500M a year per Shard Shield! Meanwhile the peasants continue to starve! Get out your pitchforks folks! The Devs are catering to the rich pezzonovante and sticking it to the little guys!

500M per shard shield...this is a fact...that's just savings on the cost of the transfer tokens a player would have had to buy. Add to that the money they save by buying items cheaper on other shards as well as profit from buying items and reselling them and it's absolutely ridiculous such an item of immense power was made exclusive. It's on par with making Soulstones exlusive to 15th Veterans only. Thee most imbalancing item introduced in years.

Blood Ghoul your bring up many good points and I agree with almost all of them except one i.e If a restructuring was ever to occur 10-15 years is just too long. Look at the thread we had today pop up "An Open Letter to EA". The future of this game is an unknown. I hope UO is around for another 50 years but there is an uncertainty about it's future as UO has a difficult time drawing in new players. You are spot on about the fact that Shard Shield never should have been introduced and if they are made available they tokens produced should no way be tradeable.

No item in the game like this should be exclusive.

Dear Devs with threads like "Open Letter to EA" about the uncertain future of UO please do all in your power to sell items at the UOGameStore that will continue to ensure UOs survival. The Shard Shields if made available will sell like hot cakes as would a Veteran Token.

Wow. Based upon this thread alone I knew you were completely clueless about the vet reward system but your endorsement of just another one of Llewens well documented rants is just off the charts.

You are petitioning the devs based upon his "Open Letter to EA" ??
"ensure UOs survival"

I am willing to bet that you were/are in your high schools Drama Club?

That is too ridiculous for words to describe.

 

[Lady CaT]

A longtime UO vet been having fun and playing the game for years is maybe getting a bit bored with the game and thinking about the possibility of moving on or shutting down his account/s
Same vet then realizes that he has a nice little selection of vet rewards coming up soon and decides to maybe hang around awhile and collect the rewards and go from there. Is this the best incentive for someone to continue game play? Maybe not but it sure doesn't hurt.

I am willing to bet a lot of gold that my above scenario has in fact happened.

You just won a lot of gold. Cause what you described is happening to me right now! ...lol

And for whatever reason I can't explain why I care about an anniversary date. I've literally trashed binned chest fulls of 15 years worth of items in the last week. Thinking after 15 years, my accounts come due in April, I'm finally gonna call it quits! But like you said for some reason bizarre reason in back or my head is this (yeah but September is anniversary date and that only a few more months...lol) So damn addicting!!

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

You just won a lot of gold. Cause what you described is happening to me right now! ...lol

Nice

But unfortunately it may not make a difference as Madrid nailed it right on the head when she said "UO please do all in your power to sell items at the UOGameStore that will continue to ensure UOs survival"

Apparently Madrid has just discovered that something needs to be done in the gamestore asap to ensure UOs survival. Lucky for all of us she found this out just by reading an "Open Letter to EA"

I just hope the devs have enough sense to listen and start selling items right now so that the game does survive for a few more months.

And to think. All of this could have been averted if everyone had just been given shard shields. Who knew?

 

[Madrid]

My only concern about selling the Shard Shields and Veteran tokens at the UOGamestore involves the bigwhigs at EA. Once they see the sales skyrocket through the roof they're going to wonder why the selling of Shard Shields and Veteran Tokens at the store hasn't happened sooner. "Why didn't we do this years ago!?"

So someone from the Dev Team could get in trouble!

 

[Lady CaT]

Nice

But unfortunately it may not make a difference as Madrid nailed it right on the head when she said "UO please do all in your power to sell items at the UOGameStore that will continue to ensure UOs survival"

Apparently Madrid has just discovered that something needs to be done in the gamestore asap to ensure UOs survival. Lucky for all of us she found this out just by reading an "Open Letter to EA"

I just hope the devs have enough sense to listen and start selling items right now so that the game does survive for a few more months.

And to think. All of this could have been averted if everyone had just been given shard shields. Who knew?

Yeah that will help...lol. Because the items flooding the game right now have done so much to ensure that up til now. Another one sold in the store will clearly change everything! We should have seen it earlier! *slaps head* How could we have possibly missed that! Some one needs to get some business people working in that 4.1billion dollar gaming company to figure these things out! I mean come on for goodness sake!

 

[Olahorand]

The fact remains that the Devs have made an item exclusive that saves 15 year Veterans 500M a year per Shard Shield! Meanwhile the peasants continue to starve!

single sided arguing (and wrong, since the shard shields are 14th year reward).
While I agree, that the normal transfer token should be cheaper in store (these prices give sometimes a feeling, that money has no value any more), there are some other facts:

500 Million per year - maybe or may not be - not every veteran having a shard shield or more travels for each of his tokens back and forward.
(I have made maybe 4 transfers since the introduction of shard shields and one of my accounts was in the first ones to receive the shield.)
Also you always can pay cash for the transfer token.
For younger accounts this is still much less than the 14 year old accounts player has already spent for this account in total (not only game time, but also expansions, boasters, items from store including transfer tokens). So it's hardly understandable why for the youngsters it must now all be cheap, cheaper, free, now.

 

[Madrid]

single sided arguing (and wrong, since the shard shields are 14th year reward).
While I agree, that the normal transfer token should be cheaper in store (these prices give sometimes a feeling, that money has no value any more), there are some other facts:

500 Million per year - maybe or may not be - not every veteran having a shard shield or more travels for each of his tokens back and forward.
(I have made maybe 4 transfers since the introduction of shard shields and one of my accounts was in the first ones to receive the shield.)
Also you always can pay cash for the transfer token.
For younger accounts this is still much less than the 14 year old accounts player has already spent for this account in total (not only game time, but also expansions, boasters, items from store including transfer tokens). So it's hardly understandable why for the youngsters it must now all be cheap, cheaper, free, now.

Olharand whether or not you use the tokens is irrelevant to the net results a shard shield produces. So your stock piling transfers...good for you. I envy you as I'm sure do many others.

Explain to me how logic it's single sided when there are no other options for players. Owners of Shard Shields get a free ride 12 times a year whereas your average player has to shell out 540M or $240 at the gamestore to net the same result if they were to make 12 transfers. That's the reality with the current options available to players being that there is only one transfer token available and your either pay $20 for it or 45-50M.

Something is wrong when an item is made exclusive to players and other players have to pay $240 a year or 540M in order to net the same results. That's just one shard shield mind you. Next year here we go again.

It's an item that never should have been introduced because it provides too much of an advantage over other players.

Possible solutions:
1) Restructure Veteran Reward Program and create 1 Veteran Status or Break it into Tiers that are reasonable (None of this 10-15 year ********)
2) Veteran Reward Token at UOStore (Choose any reward of your choice)
3) Shard Shield Token at UOStore
4) Lower the cost of current Transfer token by at least 50%
5) Create another Transfer Token limited to Bank and Backpack Items (No Packies) similar to shard shields and price them at $3.99
6) Wipe Shard Shield completely and credit people back there rewards.

 

[Olahorand]

You claim that daily monthly shard transfers are a necessity to survive in UO.
I claim, they are not - and the mass of the players shares this opinion (don't count the number of people discussing in this forum, those are only a split of the players we have in the game).
(And its not really a mass who have even an account old enough for this reward, so the real effect is low - and from those few I know who are doing regular transfers often almost free service to transfer a few items are offered to the "younger" players.)

Plus the free ride is for one specific shard you had to select, not for any shard you choose or just need in that moment.

This said, some of the solutions shown up by you like reducing the price for the tokens I can go with.

 

[Lord Frodo]

You claim that daily monthly shard transfers are a necessity to survive in UO.
I claim, they are not - and the mass of the players shares this opinion (don't count the number of people discussing in this forum, those are only a split of the players we have in the game).
(And its not really a mass who have even an account old enough for this reward, so the real effect is low - and from those few I know who are doing regular transfers often almost free service to transfer a few items are offered to the "younger" players.)

Plus the free ride is for one specific shard you had to select, not for any shard you choose or just need in that moment.

This said, some of the solutions shown up by you like reducing the price for the tokens I can go with.

I agree %100 that it is not a necessity to survive in UO. But you have to admit it is one hell of a benefit for those of us that have them, used or not. There are shards out there that love to gather resources or just about anything you can think of to make your UO life easier and do not charge you an arm and a leg for their goods. I really thought that these Shard Shields would balance out the cost of items on all the shards but it appears to of had the opposite affect.

I agree %100 that UOStratic is a fraction of the player base, at least I sure hope it is or we really are hurting. But I think you will find out that there are a lot more players with these than you think. These items are a Rares Trader/ Commodities Trader dream come true. You also have to admit that being able to transfer 300 items/300M gold every month for free to different shards and bring back 300 items/300M gold to home shard is one huge benefit for Trades, 2 Shard Shields just saved them $480 a year and the only bad thing is they can’t take 5 packies with them every trip. I know people with more than 1 Shard Shield to selected shards and home so this just increased their value even more.

Please do not try to convince us or insult our intelligence that

I claim, they are not - and the mass of the players shares this opinion

that this statement is even close to being true because YOU and I know that is a load of BS. Shard Shields and Soulstones are a HUGE benefit to the players.

 

[Lady CaT]

This said, some of the solutions shown up by you like reducing the price for the tokens I can go with.

Question for the group

Essentially by either giving everyone access to shield tokens or reducing price for shard transfer tokens we are talking about allowing more movement between shards. So a hypothetical...if any moongate on any shard allowed you to transfer to another shard freely would that be a good thing for UO?

 

[Lord Frodo]

Question for the group

Essentially by either giving everyone access to shield tokens or reducing price for shard transfer tokens we are talking about allowing more movement between shards. So a hypothetical...if any moongate on any shard allowed you to transfer to another shard freely would that be a good thing for UO?

It would depend on the limits were placed on that gate. Gear worn for PvP NP, other than that NO

 

[popps]

Question for the group

Essentially by either giving everyone access to shield tokens or reducing price for shard transfer tokens we are talking about allowing more movement between shards. So a hypothetical...if any moongate on any shard allowed you to transfer to another shard freely would that be a good thing for UO?

Ultima Online as a game needs resources to keep going. Rather than having Mongates to transfer for free across shards I'd prefer to see regular transfer tokens, which have MUCH LESS limitations that what Shard Shields have (thus justifying at least to me that it makes sense that they should cost something as compared to shard shields because they can be used way more widely....), be reduced in their cost as to what they cost now.

Like for example, make them cost 10 dollars with promotions of buying 3 for the price of 2 (thus making the cost little less than 7 dollars each...). Or something like that. If Shard Shields have lots of limitations and regular transfer tokens don't, then I do not see it as wrong to see the regular transfer tokens have a reasonable cost more affordable, so as to allow more of them to be used.
And perhaps, if more regular tokens will be used because their price will become significantly cheaper, the overall revenue for Ultima Online from the sale of this particular item might not change much as to what it might be now.....

 

[Lady CaT]

It would depend on the limits were placed on that gate. Gear worn for PvP NP, other than that NO

I was more wondering if more cross sharding was even a good thing for the health of UO. Like popps and alot of others have stated it could certainly bring EA more revenue which presumably would help the health of the company. But implementation of cross sharding on a wider scale may have detrimental effects on the playing of the game for some of the population which may lead to more quitting the game which certainly wouldn't help UO's longevity. Certainly Pvpers might benefit from cheaper crossing making it easier to find that fight! But for example players who enjoy making gold in game might experience less profit opportunity as more people start doing same thing and certainly make the game less appealing. Everyone has there own competing desire for what they like in UO and what drives them on. After all I'm sure there are lots of ideas for items that EA could implement to sell for revenues, but they don't have to necessarily be something that could have possible detrimental impacts on the game overall.

 

[Irulia Darkaith]

Explain to me how logic it's single sided when there are no other options for players. Owners of Shard Shields get a free ride 12 times a year whereas your average player has to shell out 540M or $240 at the gamestore to net the same result if they were to make 12 transfers. That's the reality with the current options available to players being that there is only one transfer token available and your either pay $20 for it or 45-50M.

So, really this thread is quickly becoming less and less about the vet reward system as a whole and more and more about shard transfer shields and the cost of transfer tokens.

 

[Madrid]

What detrimental effects...name them?

Player A on a deserted shard has no access to high end gear to he shoots over to another shard and buy the items he needs and returns home. (Positive)
Player A sees an item on sale on his homeshard for 50M but it will on cost him 30M on (Enter Shard Name Here) so he shoots over and buys the item saving 20M and returns home (Positive)
Player A can't sell items on his homeshard because it's empty so he shoots over to another shard and sells his wares there and returns home (Positive)
Players on Shards know they can't gouge players and if price an item higher than another shard...player will just go to that shard to buy. So it creates equal competition throughout the entire game (Positive)
Player B has been bragging about how he's working this particular spawn so player A joins him on that shard to learn the ropes and see how Player B is completing the Boss/Spawn (Positive)

I could go on and on.

That's another thing the Shard Shields if sold at the store could finally put and end to: Shard Merger and Gates...but yeah if they want to put a gate to allow interstellar travel then "#$%^ Yeah" I'm all for it. They won't make a dime off it like they would with Shard Shields which isn't good for the game. The game needs to introduce items at the store that will bring in revenue and keep it going. I'd rather pay to buy shard shields and support this game than I would have them plop a cross-shard moongate and see the game close somewhere in the near future.

 

[Irulia Darkaith]

I just realized, the more I read on the forums, the less I like UO - or more specifically, what UO has become.

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

I just realized, the more I read on the forums, the less I like UO - or more specifically, what UO has become.

I hear ya. I often find myself getting too caught up on the boards

Too many fools here that quite obviously prefer to whine about their issues with an MMORPG company instead of just play the game.

Thank god the boards are only a tiny, tiny % of actual players.

The funny part is that your statement nailed it right on the head as too often you see longtime, supposed loyal UO vets on the boards doing nothing other then pancakes about the game and the company. Do they think that anyone new thinking about playing the game needs or wants to hear either? Lol

 

[Lord Frodo]

I was more wondering if more cross sharding was even a good thing for the health of UO. Like popps and alot of others have stated it could certainly bring EA more revenue which presumably would help the health of the company. But implementation of cross sharding on a wider scale may have detrimental effects on the playing of the game for some of the population which may lead to more quitting the game which certainly wouldn't help UO's longevity. Certainly Pvpers might benefit from cheaper crossing making it easier to find that fight! But for example players who enjoy making gold in game might experience less profit opportunity as more people start doing same thing and certainly make the game less appealing. Everyone has there own competing desire for what they like in UO and what drives them on. After all I'm sure there are lots of ideas for items that EA could implement to sell for revenues, but they don't have to necessarily be something that could have possible detrimental impacts on the game overall.

That is why I limited it to PvP and only gear being worn. SP and TC for the West Coast is not really an option so maybe a way for PvPers to get together on say Pac IMHO wouldn't really hurt anything as they could not Xfer anything back and forth. I couldn't see anything else unless you wanted to go to EM Events too but couldn't bring back anything with you.

 

[HD2300]

Shard Shields = Another stupid decision
If I save $240 every year using Shard Shields, over 4 years EA will lose out $1,000
I would not be surprised if the revenue from sales of Transfer Tokens has significantly decreased, maybe even as much as the salary of 1 or 2 developers.

 

[Madrid]

Shard Shields = Another stupid decision
If I save $240 every year using Shard Shields, over 4 years EA will lose out $1,000
I would not be surprised if the revenue from sales of Transfer Tokens has significantly decreased, maybe even as much as the salary of 1 or 2 developers.

Your one hell of a trader if you'd be transferring over 10,000 items in a year. I've just presented in theory what a shard shield could possibly save given the current options (there are none besides the 1 token).

If a 'Shard Hopper' token identical to the shard shields was introduced and priced at $3.99 then everything changes. We'd be looking at $48 a year, which is still revenue nonetheless.

What I know from personal experience is this:

A year ago I paid 17M each for 3 transfer tokens on Europa. Since the introduction of shard shields a year ago transfer tokens are now going for 45-50M essentially tripling in price.

It's been almost a year since I transferred because I'm just better off creating characters on a shard and setting up shop there. Paying 50M gold or $20.000 is just too expensive.

I transfer way less just because I refuse to pay these outlandish prices. What double or triples in price in one year while the vast majority of other items don't increase nearly at the same rate?

There seems to be a driving force that continues to price items higher and higher (most likely the illegal 3rd party sites want items to cost more so they can sell more gold)but inflation is through the roof on many items particularly the tokens available at the store.

I rarely buy transfer tokens anymore because the price is just absurd. You better believe I'll be buying Shard Shields or Veteran tokens if they became available.

At this point I think more revenue could be generated sellings Shard Shield vs. the selling of standard transfer tokens. 14 Year Veterans would be buying the shields as would everyone else and their brother. I don't think many people are keen on buying transfer tokens because the value just isn't there anymore.

 

[Olahorand]

What double or triples in price in one year while the vast majority of other items don't increase nearly at the same rate?

I think this is the common inflation. Less players share almost the same and continuously increasing amount of gold. So the monetary value of gold sinks - which makes items which need to be paid with real money like the tokens more expensive than items gained directly ingame.

 

[Warpig Inc]

I just realized, the more I read on the forums, the less I like UO - or more specifically, what UO has become.

Also doesn't help arguing with posters that haven't had an active account in years.

 

[Warpig Inc]

Shard Shields = Another stupid decision
If I save $240 every year using Shard Shields, over 4 years EA will lose out $1,000
I would not be surprised if the revenue from sales of Transfer Tokens has significantly decreased, maybe even as much as the salary of 1 or 2 developers.

Shard shield token and store transfer token. Yugo and Porche. You keep counting 12 Yugos and multipling by the value of a Porche. No matter how many ways the math is argued the shield token generator was a dumbn ess ideal. Reenforced cluelessness on the game. They made it available only to players that have been playing so long they have no need to find greener pastures.

Have shard gates that allow empty backpack, bank box and no followers. Players looking for action really only need to cross with whats is on their back. Can't get the little things needed once there? Then ya need to stay at home.

UO needs to sell a vet reward token that chosen item has no age restriction for use. Pay $5 for a token, better be able to ride that polar bear or nail down that deco. True vet choices will keep the restriction and stand out from the store bought claim to fame. Turn off the shard shields and have a turn in for the shields for vet reward token. Or just keep the shield as deco that no longer can be gotten.

 

[Acid Rain]

Leave the shard shields alone. They're fine other then they seem to have the effect of making some players cry loud and often(close to 300 posts here already!). Get over it

No one is 'saving' or UO 'losing' any amount of money because of shard shields, that's a false claim scare tactic with absolutely no proof or ability to back up the statement. Theoretically, yes you can save money if you don't have to buy transfer tokens but theoretically the game could go free tomorrow. Possibilities often don't represent facts, something I'm sure those posting are well aware of when using these scare tactics.

I've never once transferred shards... ever... until I picked my shard shields. I saved no money and UO lost no money. If I didn't have a shard shield, I wouldn't have transferred. I would have just PLAYED THE SHARD and built up my characters like I had been for years. The shields are a thoughtful and nice way to thank vets, thats all. I'm sorry if this gets some of you butt sore. Unhealthy fixation of other's possessions isn't good (and in a online game its pathetic).

I'd bet the VAST majority of players that shard transfer NOT with shields are trying to make money off UO or involved in certain websites (yes, I know this is virtually impossible to determine but its still my bet because I know some of them that fit this category). Shard shields are understandably a major concern for these players because it disrupts their ability to price fix shard markets. Start messing with someones piggy bank and they'll cry long, loud, and hard.

If any DEVs do actually read this dribble, I'm sorry you have to be subjected to this level of cry baby antics, and thanks for the awesome old-timer vet rewards... past, present, and future

 

[Madrid]

Leave the shard shields alone. They're fine other then they seem to have the effect of making some players cry loud and often(close to 300 posts here already!). Get over it

No one is 'saving' or UO 'losing' any amount of money because of shard shields, that's a false claim scare tactic with absolutely no proof or ability to back up the statement.

If ******** was snow I'd be in a blizzard. Players are transferring for free while others pay through the nose.

Shard Shields are without question the most advantageous item currently in all of Ultima Online.

 

[Acid Rain]

I never said it wasn't advantageous. I never debated costs. I just stated MY experience of never having transferred shards UNTIL I got my vet rewards, hence no money lost or saved.

I will however say 'BLIZZARD' to all the cry babies.

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

If ******** was snow I'd be in a blizzard. Players are transferring for free while others pay through the nose.

Shard Shields are without question the most advantageous item currently in all of Ultima Online.

Pay through the nose? Wtf are you talking about?

Your whole rant is nothing more then you begging the devs for something you don't have. Something you knew you could not have from the first moment you learned of vet rewards btw.

Let me ask you a question. Why didn't you quit UO the day you learned of the vet rewards? You learned of what in your own words is this gigantic imbalance and great injustice yet you still have continued to play for how long since then?
Kinda makes everything you say now total BS no?

Everything boils down to you falsely trying to claim that shard shields hurt the game because other players cant xshard dozens of times a year just as cheaply. That is so ludicrous it is insulting. People are in the business of xsharding all year long but they will not continue to survive because a few random vets have access to shard shields? Lol at that.

After about 5000 posts though you finally did say one correct word; "advantageous"

advantageous
adjective
1. beneficial, useful, valuable, helpful

Shields are all of the above.
Funny though as nowhere do I see the words unfair or imbalancing in the definition.

 

[Blood Ghoul]

No matter what happens it will come down to the Developers decision. I would venture to assume that everyone here is a paying customer, as in has an account. If a group of paying customers are asking the business to provide a service which it currently provides to other customers it is up to the business to decide if a change or arraignment can be made. If Bonnie comes out and says “hell no.. you all go stuff it if you do not like it or wait another 13 years for your own shard shields” then every player can make their own decision.

As an 11 year vet I look at every item I am able to choose from and I could care less if a day 1 person was able to use/buy any single one of them. Again, IMO if you think someone should wait 4 years to dye a runebook you are a pretty low person. Its my opinion again that the shard shields are the single best item in the entire game. They are better than a set of empty jars, or a server birth spittoon, or a luck garb, or add any other single item in the game and what the shard shield does for you once a month, even with its restrictions makes it superior.

I feel the shard shields are overpowered and should be deleted. Give everyone their picks back. Add a new mount or a “Butler” which a 14 year vet can put in his/her house which would allow the player to open a menu displaying every item in a secured container in the house. That would be an awesome reward but not a game breaker as the shard shields happen to be.

The reason shard shields are over powered is the fact UO is an economy run game. (If every item/or most of the good stuff was marked “No Drop” then I’d say the shields are fine) The player with the most gold wins the auction or is able to buy the most desired items. No other item in the game allows players to work around the economy like the shard shields. And again expecting someone to pay $40 to transfer to Pacific and buy an “insert item” and then transfer back to Chessy is crazy. The option is there and if someone wishes to do it then go right ahead but the shard shields allow a person to do it “granted once a month, and no packies” but for free.

While I personally will not quit UO because of the shard shields I have to be honest when I say they are the last straw the camel can take. The Developers feel pressure, either self implied or from the customer base, to make each vet reward better than the last. I do not think the 15 year reward is actually better than the 14 year reward but its still nice and I personally have zero problem with a vet having it. But, the Developers need to be careful creating new more powerful rewards in the future. I’d be curious how many people who reached the 15 year mark actually picked two shard shields and did not take the storage shed.

I feel the players with the 15 year old accounts have every right to say “leave it as is, the shields are not that good, and the rest of the riff raff didn’t earn them” but I also support the stance that other paying customers have a right to voice their opinion on how things are in the game.

 

[Olahorand]

Your white font is stupid bad to read on light grey background.

 

[Lord Frodo]

advantageous
adjective
1. beneficial, useful, valuable, helpful

Shields are all of the above.
Funny though as nowhere do I see the words unfair or imbalancing in the definition.

imbalancing - no dictionary results


Left out a few didn't we, but that would be expected by someone like you but that is ok we understand.
advantageous
1. giving advantage: giving an advantage
2. useful: of use or benefit
Synonyms: beneficial, helpful, useful, to your advantage, valuable, gainful, profitable, expedient, strategic

ad·van·ta·geous

[ad-vuh

n-tey-juh

s] Show IPA
adjective
providing an advantage; furnishing convenience or opportunity; favorable; profitable; useful; beneficial:

bal·anced

Synonyms
1. fair, equitable, just, impartial, evenhanded.
un·bal·anced

[uhn-bal-uh

nst] Show IPA
adjective
1.
not balanced or not properly balanced.

Funny though as nowhere do I see the word balanced anywhere in advantageous but yet we do see providing an advantage and we all know you would never want to give up an advantage.

 

[Blood Ghoul]

Your white font is stupid bad to read on light grey background.

Mine? Too me all the font looks white on a blackish background.. Everyone once in awhile someone cuts from word or something with black font. I changed mine to green now..just curious what other colors you see?

 

[Olahorand]

Using the classic forums layout, this may make the difference in appearance. The green is much better to read.

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

No matter what happens it will come down to the Developers decision. I would venture to assume that everyone here is a paying customer, as in has an account. If a group of paying customers are asking the business to provide a service which it currently provides to other customers it is up to the business to decide if a change or arraignment can be made. If Bonnie comes out and says “hell no.. you all go stuff it if you do not like it or wait another 13 years for your own shard shields” then every player can make their own decision.

As an 11 year vet I look at every item I am able to choose from and I could care less if a day 1 person was able to use/buy any single one of them. Again, IMO if you think someone should wait 4 years to dye a runebook you are a pretty low person. Its my opinion again that the shard shields are the single best item in the entire game. They are better than a set of empty jars, or a server birth spittoon, or a luck garb, or add any other single item in the game and what the shard shield does for you once a month, even with its restrictions makes it superior.

I feel the shard shields are overpowered and should be deleted. Give everyone their picks back. Add a new mount or a “Butler” which a 14 year vet can put in his/her house which would allow the player to open a menu displaying every item in a secured container in the house. That would be an awesome reward but not a game breaker as the shard shields happen to be.

The reason shard shields are over powered is the fact UO is an economy run game. (If every item/or most of the good stuff was marked “No Drop” then I’d say the shields are fine) The player with the most gold wins the auction or is able to buy the most desired items. No other item in the game allows players to work around the economy like the shard shields. And again expecting someone to pay $40 to transfer to Pacific and buy an “insert item” and then transfer back to Chessy is crazy. The option is there and if someone wishes to do it then go right ahead but the shard shields allow a person to do it “granted once a month, and no packies” but for free.

While I personally will not quit UO because of the shard shields I have to be honest when I say they are the last straw the camel can take. The Developers feel pressure, either self implied or from the customer base, to make each vet reward better than the last. I do not think the 15 year reward is actually better than the 14 year reward but its still nice and I personally have zero problem with a vet having it. But, the Developers need to be careful creating new more powerful rewards in the future. I’d be curious how many people who reached the 15 year mark actually picked two shard shields and did not take the storage shed.

I feel the players with the 15 year old accounts have every right to say “leave it as is, the shields are not that good, and the rest of the riff raff didn’t earn them” but I also support the stance that other paying customers have a right to voice their opinion on how things are in the game.

Newsflash bro:

14 and 15 year vets are not wasting their time shard-hopping trying to "work around the economy"

The absolute brilliance of the shard shield only being obtainable by the oldest players is that those players are not into wasting their playing time loading up packs and banks to move gold back and forth in an effort to add a small % to their net worth. The game is not about that and had you been around 15 years ago you would understand that.

In the year I have had my shard shields I have used them twice. And both times I simply felt the desire to pvp on another shard so off I went.

But I guess that is also unbalancing to you in some way, shape or form lol.

Good work though. Keep dreaming up ways to abuse something just because it is killing you that you cant have it

 

[Lord Frodo]

Newsflash bro:

14 and 15 year vets are not wasting their time shard-hopping trying to "work around the economy"

The absolute brilliance of the shard shield only being obtainable by the oldest players is that those players are not into wasting their playing time loading up packs and banks to move gold back and forth in an effort to add a small % to their net worth. The game is not about that and had you been around 15 years ago you would understand that.

Now that's a load of BS. Rares, high end items and commodities are being moved every month. Its so funny how you can try to down play something with utter BS.

 

[Cycloknight]

I don't think that any game should ever make anyone wait 15 years for content. Consider exactly what that means in terms of real life. A 10 year old kid playing today is probably not going to be playing at 25 years of age. He will never access that content. Hell a percentage of players will actually die, in real life, before they ever access that content.
People will buy, and pay off, brand new vehicles and homes within that span of time. There will have been at least 2 presidents in the US and probably 2 wars will have come and gone as well.
The economy will collapse and rise once, maybe even twice.

I mean do you guys even grasp how long 15 years is? I am 34 and that is almost half of everything I have experienced in life, for what? A garden shed? lol.

Top that off with the reality that most gamers don't play any game for 15 years, so the 15 year system (soon to be 16) only caters to a few people and gives them game content that no one else can access, which is unfair and bad game design.

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

I don't think that any game should ever make anyone wait 15 years for content. Consider exactly what that means in terms of real life. A 10 year old kid playing today is probably not going to be playing at 25 years of age. He will never access that content. Hell a percentage of players will actually die, in real life, before they ever access that content.
People will buy, and pay off, brand new vehicles and homes within that span of time. There will have been at least 2 presidents in the US and probably 2 wars will have come and gone as well.
The economy will collapse and rise once, maybe even twice.

I mean do you guys even grasp how long 15 years is? I am 34 and that is almost half of everything I have experienced in life, for what? A garden shed? lol.

Top that off with the reality that most gamers don't play any game for 15 years, so the 15 year system (soon to be 16) only caters to a few people and gives them game content that no one else can access, which is unfair and bad game design.

Thanks for clearly pointing out why 15 years is such a milestone deserving of special items within a system that has been in place for years and rewards all ages. You get rewards for years other then 14 and 15 bud. Deal with it

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

Now that's a load of BS. Rares, high end items and commodities are being moved every month. Its so funny how you can try to down play something with utter BS.

I know that I have shard shields and I am not moving anything between any shards except my pvpers.

I also know that 99% of everything supposedly moving across shards to unbalance the economy is only happening in the minds of jealous players with nothing better to do then whine at the devs

But would you like to compare the amount of items moving month to month with tokens that have been purchased to the items that are supposedly moving month to month via shield tokens? That would be laughable bro.