Artifacts can flood the market as they virtually never break. However, we do need something to make playing lower level dungeons worth it. I was fighting Balrons and Succubi the other day and to be honest.. I was disgusted at the level of loot I was getting off of them. Armor with NO mods, and around 12-15 total resists, weapons with NO mods, even got a "ring" with no mods. The ones that do have mods look like they should have been found on Mongbats. It was truly pathetic. I think nearly everyone agrees that loot needs some serious work. Im not saying every piece has to be uber, but come on, make it worth my while to hunt somewhere other then peerless or DF.
Sorry, I started ranting. My recommendation is to implement more consumable items. The best example is Powder of Translocation. This item(before it was nerfed) was EXTREMELY useful by ALL players, and it was consumable which means there had to be a constant flow. Please... give us more items like this. They don't need to be overpowered or unbalancing, but for the love of all that is UO... Please give us a reason to hunt! Come up with some more perishables that actually have a use ingame, and give us motivation to hunt old dungeons.
Some ideas...
Tattoo Ink: Speaks for itself. I have always thought it would be cool to be able to give your char tattoos, especially if you could pick from a list of 20 different "Patterns" or so, diff inks allow dif colors, and maybe a "Pattern" could be found on creatures as well and is a onetime use item(like Rare Hair Dye) This way they could all be rare, but certain colors and certain patterns are more rare then others and would allow for some variety.
Ethereal Scroll: If you die with one of these in your pack, it will give you the option of being transported to the nearest healer or town or something.
Crafting Resources: Just like the ones we have now but maybe give us a bonus. Double click the "Titan Dust" and target a stack of 100 ingots to give them more resist properties.
Clover Juice: Made from clovers found on pixies. Cooks use to make clover brownies. When you eat a brownie, you get a luck bonus based on cooks skill level, lets say 100-500. Duration could vary as well... 5 minutes to 20 minutes. Can eat 5 a day. Whatever.
Paint: Comes in diff shades and found as rare loot on ordinary monsters. Could be used for any number of things
Rare Trinkets: Come up with 100+ deco items with NEW GRAPHICS: Porcelain Figurine(10 varieties), A Golden Club, A Burning Bush, A Lawn Gnome, A Brass Door Knocker, A Broach, A Whittled Carving(10 varieties), A Bolt of Rare Silk(multiple colors/attributes), "So&So's Signet" a ring with a UO Lore name like Blackthorn(Multiple Names), An Oil Lamp, A Glass Rose, A Peculiar Weed, A Petrified Egg, An Ancient Arrowhead, A Jeweled Walking Staff, Misc Armor Set Pieces for deco sets like A Lizardman Set, A Decorative Plate Set, Dragon Bone Set, etc..
Make these spawn on ALL Non Peerless/Boss monsters, but very limited. Only one drop every 5000, or 10,000, or 25,000 monsters. Whatever. But make it so that they are random, and no one place is more likely then any other place to find them. Make ALL creatures have a chance at a drop. This way Every player, no matter what their skills or where they want to or are able to hunt will at least have a chance at getting something cool and of value. This gives everybody a chance at a valuable item, and gives some love to the collectors for whom there is no official skill. Could take years of hunting and trading and buying to put a complete set together. And if we dont know how many different items there are, or how often new ones are added, there will always be that thrill of a possibility of stumbling across a new rare item.
Obviously the last idea is not a "Perishable" but would still give hope to those hunting in lower dungeons. I have always felt there should be some kind of incentive or reward possible for lower end spawn. Rares collectors are also sort of limited to items that are either one time events, or game bugs that they may be banned for owning later even though it was poor game design that allowed the item to begin with. Sure there will be some collectors that only want "True Rares", but this will allow a lot more people to start their own "Rares Collection". And the more people fall in love with the idea of collecting the more demand there will be for "rarer rares"(heh) which will increase the value of those as well and bennifit the "True Rares" collecotrs as well.
Now Im not emotionally tied to any of these ideas, they are just thoughts off the top of my head, so if you have something you would like to see added to these ideas, just post it. If you dont like mine, thats fine. I basically just want something to make playing UO worth my while when I cant find a big group to kill Peerless or take on Doom. And apparently a lot of people dont feel you should be able to solo these high end mobs. So we need some love given to ther little, everyday critters that everybody has access to take on.
Sorry, I started ranting. My recommendation is to implement more consumable items. The best example is Powder of Translocation. This item(before it was nerfed) was EXTREMELY useful by ALL players, and it was consumable which means there had to be a constant flow. Please... give us more items like this. They don't need to be overpowered or unbalancing, but for the love of all that is UO... Please give us a reason to hunt! Come up with some more perishables that actually have a use ingame, and give us motivation to hunt old dungeons.
Some ideas...
Tattoo Ink: Speaks for itself. I have always thought it would be cool to be able to give your char tattoos, especially if you could pick from a list of 20 different "Patterns" or so, diff inks allow dif colors, and maybe a "Pattern" could be found on creatures as well and is a onetime use item(like Rare Hair Dye) This way they could all be rare, but certain colors and certain patterns are more rare then others and would allow for some variety.
Ethereal Scroll: If you die with one of these in your pack, it will give you the option of being transported to the nearest healer or town or something.
Crafting Resources: Just like the ones we have now but maybe give us a bonus. Double click the "Titan Dust" and target a stack of 100 ingots to give them more resist properties.
Clover Juice: Made from clovers found on pixies. Cooks use to make clover brownies. When you eat a brownie, you get a luck bonus based on cooks skill level, lets say 100-500. Duration could vary as well... 5 minutes to 20 minutes. Can eat 5 a day. Whatever.
Paint: Comes in diff shades and found as rare loot on ordinary monsters. Could be used for any number of things
Rare Trinkets: Come up with 100+ deco items with NEW GRAPHICS: Porcelain Figurine(10 varieties), A Golden Club, A Burning Bush, A Lawn Gnome, A Brass Door Knocker, A Broach, A Whittled Carving(10 varieties), A Bolt of Rare Silk(multiple colors/attributes), "So&So's Signet" a ring with a UO Lore name like Blackthorn(Multiple Names), An Oil Lamp, A Glass Rose, A Peculiar Weed, A Petrified Egg, An Ancient Arrowhead, A Jeweled Walking Staff, Misc Armor Set Pieces for deco sets like A Lizardman Set, A Decorative Plate Set, Dragon Bone Set, etc..
Make these spawn on ALL Non Peerless/Boss monsters, but very limited. Only one drop every 5000, or 10,000, or 25,000 monsters. Whatever. But make it so that they are random, and no one place is more likely then any other place to find them. Make ALL creatures have a chance at a drop. This way Every player, no matter what their skills or where they want to or are able to hunt will at least have a chance at getting something cool and of value. This gives everybody a chance at a valuable item, and gives some love to the collectors for whom there is no official skill. Could take years of hunting and trading and buying to put a complete set together. And if we dont know how many different items there are, or how often new ones are added, there will always be that thrill of a possibility of stumbling across a new rare item.
Obviously the last idea is not a "Perishable" but would still give hope to those hunting in lower dungeons. I have always felt there should be some kind of incentive or reward possible for lower end spawn. Rares collectors are also sort of limited to items that are either one time events, or game bugs that they may be banned for owning later even though it was poor game design that allowed the item to begin with. Sure there will be some collectors that only want "True Rares", but this will allow a lot more people to start their own "Rares Collection". And the more people fall in love with the idea of collecting the more demand there will be for "rarer rares"(heh) which will increase the value of those as well and bennifit the "True Rares" collecotrs as well.
Now Im not emotionally tied to any of these ideas, they are just thoughts off the top of my head, so if you have something you would like to see added to these ideas, just post it. If you dont like mine, thats fine. I basically just want something to make playing UO worth my while when I cant find a big group to kill Peerless or take on Doom. And apparently a lot of people dont feel you should be able to solo these high end mobs. So we need some love given to ther little, everyday critters that everybody has access to take on.
Sad but true.