Re: part 1 comments
Lots of good feedback in the comments. Thanks everybody! Even those of you who think I'm an ass :-)
I actually like devil_woman's suggestion of keeping repair deeds with no chance of avoiding burning a repair charge better than the notion of getting rid of them -- convenience at a tangible price is a reasonable trade-off.
notorious, I was thinking that items would have 10 repair charges, and that we would tweak durability loss so it would take around 20 hours of use to reduce an item to 0 durability. 20 hours is the average amount of time UO players spend in-game in a week, so that would make items last 10 weeks (aka 2 1/2 months). More casual players might see their items last MUCH longer, and of course the hard-core players would be replacing equipment more regularly -- but then, they will be the ones making phat bank, so this should not be so much an issue with them.
I figured artis would get an extra 10 repairs, legacy items another 10 (so legacy artis would have a lifespan of about 8 months of normal usage). For "free repair" chance, I was considering a 2% chance at GM, +2% each at 105, 110, 115 and 120. Using PoT would double that chance, so if you regularly got a legendary crafter to repair your stuff with PoT, it would last an extra 20% (or almost a year, for legacy artifacts).
The next part of this discussion will be about the flip side of this equation -- new abilities for crafters. I should have that posted later in the week.
posted by MrTact @ 9:11 AM
24 comments
24 Comments:
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One issue that came up, that I believe is a big issue, is the rarity of the DOOM artifacts, and the effect of these changes on these artifacts.
Would part of the system perhaps include tweaking the Doom artifact drop? I was thinking Tokuno style (the more bosses you kill, the better your chance until you get one, then it is reset).
Overall, I like all the suggestions you made so far in the blog. I do like the idea of abolishing repair deeds completely though. I realize it might be more convenient - even with no chance for a free repair - when a crafter is not available to repair something.. But I think that is the challenege; it shouldn't be an effortless task to repair your stuff. I think it would be better for the community to abolish them.
I can't wat to jump in on the 'new abilities for crafters' discussion!
Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day (and personal time) to blog with us!
9:36 AM
Let me be something less than the first to unofficially congratulate you on choosing an unofficial forum for your unofficial ramblings and commentary. Some sort of actual hashing out of ideas, unimpeded by the requisite stonewalling of "official pronouncement syndrome," is a downright joyous thing -- perhaps for you as well.
I've read both your postings on item decay (though not the first set of comments, as Blogger is apparently hiccuping vis-a-vis that page), and am impressed with the thoughtfulness of your concept.
So I'm not really going to talk much about it.
Instead, let me throw out some related ideas that have been jiggeting about in my brain. If you've read many of my crafting-related posts on Stratics (as you may or may not have), you might know that I favor (in the abstract) a closed resource system. In the particular, UO is too open a system to create a truly closed ecosystem (if you'll pardon the odd metaphor).
As such, various kinds of entropy need to be introduced -- likely gradually -- to balance the onslaught of endlessly renewable resources. Decay of manufactured items is one form of entropy. Decay of raw materials is another. Despite the fact that versimilitude doesn't seem to be a desireable trait in a virtual world (for reasons that completely escape me), moth and rust need to corrupt (even if thieves no longer break in and steal).
I would envision a variable rate of decay -- let's use hides as an exampe: 1) Raw hides, if stored in a backpack or secure, decay quite rapidly (decay probably working itself out as a percentage of the stack of hides being subtracted with the passing of a certain stretch of time); 2) Cut hides decay more slowly, but still rapidly enough to make hide gathering a necessary activity; 3) Cured hides (perhaps requiring the services of an alchemist or a chef?) would be much, much more durable, but of course more expensive and time-consuming to produce.
How would this work with commodity deeds?
To be honest, I'm not sure. In a perfect world, commodity deeds would simply be a contract with some sort of warehousing system. Perhaps NPC Traders/Merchants/Guilds would offer commodity storage for a fee. The deed would be a "bearer bond" for the commodities, but should be back-loaded with whatever fee has accumulated (depending upon how long the items have been warehoused).
Another sort of resource drain (again, very realistic) would be requiring raw materials to make repairs. Why this isn't so already, I don't know, but it would be a big help to the economy as a whole. This type of system could come in a couple of flavors -- vanilla would just require a percentage of the original ingot/hide number and type, depending upon the extent of the wear and tear to the item. A slightly more sophisticated system might require multiple materials (or TBA special materials) for the repair of various artifacts.
This system would require the trade window to be a little more sophisticated. Repairing via the trade window would require all the necessary materials for the repair to be in window and a price then agreed upon (transaction fees need to be integrated with the trade window to avoid cheating -- just do direct debit/deposit, I think). That way the person needing repairs can either supply his/her own materials and merely pay for services, or he/she can purchase repair materials from the crafter as part of the service. Parts and labor.
Thanks again for taking the time and initiative to do this. It's a real shot in the arm for the UO development process to have some (any!) transparency during the "in concept" stage.
Hola Tact!
First off, thank you very, very much for starting this blog. The ability to have this kind of off the record discussion is really awesome. This is the kind of red-tape free exchange of ideas ive dreamt of for years.
As for crafting... i don't have any specific comments on whats been posted so far, but i like what im seeing. On a general level, i think the best thing that you can do is to take a step back from each proposed change and ask yourself - will this increase or decrease player interaction?
While there are plenty of exceptions and details to that kind of broad question, on a whole, if you can answer "increase," then the change is good. I know i find myself very much missing the days of finding smiths hammering away at all hours at the brit forge... or RP'ers gathered outside the Yew abbey... or even reds running through buc's den.
If you can increase the reliance players have on each other, then the community - and the game as a whole - benefits.
Anyway, i promise to keep my future comments more on point, but just had that on my mind. :D
Pardon me for the length of this, but aelfwin's comment got me all excited.
One thing I would add to the very interesting post by aelfwin is the need for a way to interact with players that are offline. For example: I have a legendary smith/tailor, and I repair/enhance items for friends. It is very tedious to have to arrange a time for them to meet me in person in game to give me the items. What we need is a system that allows some sort of transport of items and/or messages to people that they will get when they login. Example:
The expanded use of the player-crafted bulletin boards. You could use bulletin boards on player houses as well as bulletin boards in NPC locations to send a message to someone on your contact list. You would be able to mark a rune with your info (not just name the rune, but using inscription; 0 skill required). You hand the rune to someone, and they can drop the rune on their friends book (again, a scribed item, but it takes a bit of skill to make.. kindof like BOD books). This action now adds that character to your contact list (This would like to the character’s identifier in the database, avoiding any same-name issues and name change issues). From a bulletin board you would be able to (with contact book in your pack):
Send a note to any of the contacts (or a group of them the same message.
Send any item (Probably a weight limit here.. OOH! Charge postage/stone!)
Check for messages/items sent to you.
This would really boost my crafting business too. I used to have someone that would make large orders of kegs and whatnot. We were rarely online at the same time, so that relationship ended up failing. Under this new system (which involves player-created BODS), my friend would have purchased a blank BOD from the bank. Open a gump and chose the items he needed (lets say grtr heal keg, qty 20, grtr refresh, qty 10, etc.), and the price he is going to pay me for filling the deed. Once completed, he uses the bulletin board mail system (since I am offline) to send me the deed. The money is withdrawn from his account in to a holding area. I log in that night, or the next day, and I get the message and the deed. I fill the deed, and mail it back the same way. The money is then deposited in to my acct. When he logs in next, and checks a bulletin board, he grabs his deed and redeems it at the bank.
Now that would be great. You could also tailor this for sets of armor, scrolls, commodities, and repairing items.
This is going to sound like a mutual-admiration society....
But I love jonmcb's player-to-player BOD system and delivery mechanism ideas. The cash escrow that would be required shouldn't be difficult to code, especially as you'll need something similar for repairing and enhancing via the trade window. I would assume that gold would just be removed from the buyer's bankbox upon creation of the BOD, the amount would be printed on the deed, and when the deed is cashed in, the gold is credited directly to the crafter's account. Since the "gold" amount is part of the deed object, it doesn't exist discretely on the server until the deed is cashed. Much simpler than a RL transaction server (thankfully).
First off, I’d like to “Salute” you Mr. Tact for showing us all that you are more then just a Programmer/ EA Games Employee… but are not much different from one of us in your quest to create the best Britannia possible.
Let me just say that I liked a few of your ideas and cringed at others, but that is to be expected when you put a great idea out there for the public to view at their leisure.
To best suit you in you quest… I am going to post questions to ideas of yours that I don’t quite follow and then possibly indulge you with my take on the ideas possibilities.
Q 1) In your idea concerning “Repair Charges” on normal, magical, and artifact weapons and armor. Is there any real difference between a set durability number and the idea of an item containing a set number of repair charges?
In my opinion your third idea concerning item durability falling to 0 having no adverse affects, other then lower weapon damage and lower armor resists, is where you should have started your idea posts, leaving durability alone and Repair charges out of the picture.
Q 2) In your idea concerning the repair of items, via “Repair Charges”, you suggest that at various level of Blacksmithing, ranging from GM to Legendary Blacksmithing, that it would be possible for a “Free Repair”. Is it not safe to say that this idea of free repairs reinforces my belief that there is no real need to substitute Item Durability scores, with Item Repair Charges, but instead we should just leave item durability in place as is and work on bettering its overall values?
In my opinion I’d like to start off once again by suggesting that it is not the item durability that needs to be changed, but instead it is the method in which item durability is being used, and not used, that should be the main concern for question.
Q 3) Fifth on your “Idea List” is the idea concerning Powder of Temperament. Now I wasn’t to sure of my take on the word Temperament, and by using Temperament’s lesser variation “Temper” I found this definition: “To harden or strengthen (metal or glass) by application of heat or by heating and cooling.” With this knowledge freshly applied to mind, I was wondering if Powder of Temperament would get a name change if you choose to implement all of your idea’s?
In my opinion Powder of Temperament should only receive one changing factor. As it stands a Player can use the PoT to increase durability on player crafted, and monster dropped items. My thought is to actually reverse this in away, by allowing the player to use the PoT during item creation instead of after, thus allowing for better durability from the start. Now when concerned with Artifacts and Magical items, the powder would be usable during item Enchantment, because as it stands items that are successfully Enchanted are considered freshly crafted weapons.
Q 4) Your next selection of ideas revolve around repair deeds. First the use of them in a trade window and then it seems to me that you contradict yourself by saying that: “And naturally, repair deeds are right out.” Is the latter of the two mentioned ideas to mean that repair deeds would become extinct… nadda… gone?
I value your idea concerning trade window repairs. In my opinion though, getting rid of repair deeds would cripple the system that has been created to date.
Q 5) In the final entry, on your “Ideas List” you talk about Self Repair Items still existing. You also mention that these items would start to repair themselves after an Item reached 0 durability. Then finish by imply that though an item can repair itself. It may or may not cost a ”Repair Charge” to do so. I have to ask then what the value of a Self Repair Item would be? Does it not seem to contradict the implication that could possibly be stressed in the Name/ Value that is represented by Self Repair?
So, after bringing item based UO to life, it's time to make everything break again? Going to piss off very many people unless they can easily make thier 70's 40 lmc 100 lrc suits and uber spellchanneling hitchance/ssi/spell hit cleavers etc etc... Going to make runic tools chose properties? Or are we going to make people craft 5000 gorgets before one is made that is closer to what we want. Much <3 Mr.Tact, btw still owe you for all the legacy changes that you so tactfully announced to my legacy items and legacy skills. XD
I don't have much to say, I signed up for this purley to reply to your Blog Tact, and that is it. It is truly awesome that a respected member of the team made a blog like this and is willing to discuss things in it.
Crafting in UO right now is so messed up that I can not see any real way to fix it, every single part of crafting has a serious problem.
Working Crafting: Boring as sin and produces nothign worth selling, it's a resource sink with no benefit until you make it to GM.
Changing the crafting skills at all, and leaving th absolute torture of current crafting progression would shoot the entire idea of a vibrant player economy in the face, ass, and foot with one magical trick shot.
Uber Crafter: Never are going to have anything resembling a player economy if people can craft everything on one character, or hell one account.
I would go so far as to make it so that you have a crafting point total per server to be used across all characters, so you can't have a 5 crafter account for all your personal needs.
Skills: There need to be more of them, like break blacksmithing down like this.
Blacksmith
-Weaponsmith
--Blade Smith
--Blunt Smith
--Piercing Smith
-Armor Smith
--Heavy Armor Smith
--Medium Armor Smith
--Light Armor Smith
Each one of those a skill, it would be impossible to be able to make all blacksmith items on one account let alone all crafting items in existance.
The higher skill in the various Weapon and Armor skills would alow customisation of items using some sort of available point system based on the item, the skill you have, and the materials used.
Heavily Limit Vendors: I know there was a moronic out cry when they were limited before pretty bad, but the hell with these vendor malls. You get these huge groups of people who absolutely obliterate anyone else who isnt a mall, they are like flipping walmarts.
Decay: Stuff has to start breaking again, it HAS to if there is any chance for repairing the craptasticness we currently have.
The repair charges thing is a pretty good idea, but i dunno it seems so, blech... Sterile I guess, it is back to the whole formula UO uses now.
Some Property: %1 - 1 charge - 1 taco, no soul.
Maybe make it be like houses used to be, somewhat durable, less durable, or maybe worn, very worn, useless. Kinda like i think arms lore used to do, something less sterile that what we have had since AoS.
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I guess thats all for now, again thanks for making this blog, and if I came off as an ass, I am sorry but thinking about how cool UO was, could be, and isn't right now just enrages me more than a game should.
This would almost make me take my 3, 92 month accounts and pack them in for good.
This is the most ridiculous thing I have seen yet.
Let's try to fix the getting uber loot in non PvP zones and make you earn the uber loot in PvP areas.
Dude! I just wrote a whole big article on crafting, then I wander over to Stratics and find YOU doing the same thing. LOL ... a small world.
I'm gonna link you.
Im definitely Not keen on seeing resources decay. Sorry, just too much work for me to keep up in that instance.
I'll admit it, i like to build up a stockpile of resources, precisely so i dont need to worry about getting resources.
anyway - that said - as people have pointed out, the main key for crafters i to be able to compete itemwise with loot.
There's no way a GM crafter can sell general GM armour. Such things may as well not exist because of high end loot, runic items or artifacts.
So the key issue is to make it possible for crafters to be able to make items that can compete on a level that makes them worth wearing/using.
Im inclined to agree with some folks that the best way forward in this regard could be specialisation. For example specialising in axes, or spears, or chainmail. Sure you can make/enhance the other stuff, but if you pick a specialisation you can have better chances with that type of item, or even at enhancing repairing that type of item.
Perhaps couple this with arms lore and item id or some such. Or have specialisations as sub/support skills.
If i specialise in chainmail i can make better chainmail, have a better chance of repairing chainmail, be able to make chainmail that has certain qualities that arent available otherwise, have a better chance of enhancing chain items, have a better chance of applying certain magical properties to chain items... etc & so on.
Again, im getting complicated, but we need to eliminate the "mule" mentality of making all your own stuff/doing everything yourself (much as i like to be able to), and make us more interdependent again.
It touches on the other issue... with AOS the only differential between armour became medable or not (aside from str requirements i guess).
We really need figure out a way to make certain armour more useful for certain situations... the base resists have little impact realistically. My fear here tho is that it will become over complicated even more... but there does need to be a difference between armour types beyond looks and medable/not medable.
"quote" it would last an extra 20% (or almost a year, for legacy artifacts)."quote"
A year? you clearly never PVP I have to repair my 255 durability artifacts on average once every two weeks. As usual you are merely thinking of people who tame WW's and occasionally bump into slimes.
you guys introduce these stupidly hard to get items then make them break, make up your minds
Tact,
I'm hoping that your new stuff for crafters thats coming up has to do with our ability to craft specific items.
Just wanna say that if we do get this, please find some way to limit what we can do. We want the opportunity for even the smallest crafter to have a shot, but if any individual crafter can make whatever they want then these small guys won't have a chance against the bigger, more established crafters and crafting guilds.
JiggleNuts has posted an idea about using runics as a way to add specific charges, but all this does is benefit the multi-account users who have greater access to runics, even after the timer changes that will come.
Also, I'd like to once again push for resource use in crafting if we get to add specific properties. We should have to work for this benefit and not just dump BODs until we get lucky.
Anyways, I'll be back to check soon and see what you have in mind, but remember, unless we can craft what others lose, this system won't last long.
thoughts from a guy who left uo 5 years ago and came back 5 months ago... (I'm basically a pvp'er)
i miss the parity of armor and weapons in the old days, i didn't have to spend multiple months putting together a suit to pvp in (perhaps i should say pvp successfully in) and everyone was on a roughly level playing field in that area, so pvp came down to skill and preparation (well, connection speed too, but that's another issue). I miss that simplicity. But the world has changed, and i have thus far spent around 3 to 4 months working on getting enough money to get a good suit and buy the needed scrolls to really compete. My first reaction to having those items decay is fairly negative. the 23,000,000 gold pieces the hat of the magi currently costs represents at least 100 hours of play time (if gold and scroll farming is play).
But if player crafted items would approach the quality of artifact type items, and would become significantly more available than artis, perhaps this would be ok. It might even be a good thing. As long as the availability/economy would work itself out to around the same cost, or hopefully less, of maintaining a good suit for a period of time.
i would also like you to strongly consider the ramifications of changes/new items/rewards etc on pvp. I think it is safe to say that the pvp community is the major consummer of high end items, so we represent a important part of the economy. I don't really know anyone who buys the ornament of the magician @ 40 mil to cast on dragons.
anyway, the reasons i play uo are the thrill of real competition w/ real humans, community w/ fiends and guildmates, and the possibilites for creativity in this one game. I really don't enjoy farming gold and resources, or even most crafting skills that require much time. I just like pvping and hope that doesn't get messed up.
hope that's comprehensible, thx for the time you are putting in on this
additional thoughts on high end pvp suit cost:
the current system has a very high initial cost, maybe 30 mil for a dexxer suit and 70 for a mage. The maintenance for these suits might be 1 fort powder bottle per month, so 55k lets say (maybe 600k for a year).
i think a new crafting system might be ok if its cost per year were the same or less with a lower initial cost and a higher maintenance cost and/or lower initial cost w/ a decay rate putting it around the same cost per year.
though i must admit getting a high end piece and knowing you never have to worry about that part of your suit again is attractive.
anyway, more random thoughts, do with them what you will
After seeing the firestorm on stratics in the last 24 hours, it has suddenly occurred to me why crafting changes have not happened yet.
I simply am shocked at the hard-core anger towards an idea that people's items might soon break.
So I guess, UO has to ask themselves -- it is really worth it to potentially lose players if they make this change?
From a business standpoint -- Simply not worth it. People (like myself here) clammoring for crafting changes STILL PLAY. So you want to chase off paying customers for those that are playing anyway?
From a gameplay standpoint -- we all know the answer, breakage is good.
Problem is, are these item-hungry players opposed to breakage bluffing? Will they hang around anyway even if the change is made and adapt?
There is no for sure answer. There may also be no answer to this problem that will truly FIX the system. AOS did it's damage to this profession in the game. We can not go back and pretend it did not happen. Well I guess you could, but the potential loss to playerbase at this point in UO's lifetime, without a viable graphical client that can compete in today's market -- it would be financial suicide.
You guys (developers) are truly stuck between a rock and a hard place. I think perhaps people like myself, and Noni-Trader, and others who are passionate about reviving crafting need to start thinking about SALVAGING the profession, and not truly resurrecting it.
Let's pretend we do not do breakage for a moment.
The problem with the current item-based system is that the number of items in the game does not balance out through natural attrition. Thus the breakage discussion here. Let's pretend for a moment that what we have here is a gradual introduction and escalation of quality items (artifacts and such) into the game. New artifacts and items are gradually introduced in the game system, much like the recent Tokuno Arty system. Eventually, there WILL Be a need to escalate the quality of these items. You can not escape it (see attrition comment above).
The answer for crafters in this scenario is to find a way to allow them to produce artifact quality items. The current system (obviously) fails at this miserably.
I think maybe we should be focusing energy on this discussion, and not breakage. ANyone who has seen me post on Stratics knows I am a hardcore proponent of Crafting revitalization (though not as hardcore as Noni). Part of me is very pro-breakage. However -- I am not sure at this point in Ultima Online's lifetime it is the best avenue. That breaks my heart, but I think that is the reality.
Unfortunatley, its hard to 'take back what has been given' when it comes to UO. We were given items that will never break if maintained, and we have been spoiled by this for two years. Taking it away will cause an uproar.
The current opinion of the dev team, I have gathered, is that they only take, when it comes to changing old systems. You guys have a hard job, keeping everyone happy, while keeping everything fair, while running a business.
However, I don't think the possibility of eventually losing items people have worked for and had for two years is going to make anyone happy, fair or not. I think a lot of the changes you guys make come off as 'this guys opinion of how it should be', and people disagree with it simply because it looks like one or two people out of thousands of players that thought it up. 'one guys idea' for anything will not fly for universal popularity, not even close.
You should work breaking into other systems... Like macing. Macing used to beat the crap out of armor like crazy back in the day. Why not have an extremely small % chance that a macer smushes an item down to 0 durability? Why not have the chance for a blade to hit 0 dura instantly upon an enemy sucsessfully parrying the blow? These ideas unfortunatley put mages on top yet again, but you get the idea.
My two cents, I hope they add up somewhere to form a dollar.
I am opposed to this system. I saved money also for one year, although he buys Doom artis.
This system deprives me of pleasure.
I propose. I want you to enable customize of the house a castle and fort as a charged option.
Im very against this system!!!!
ok with that out of the way since i dont like this that means it will probably happen because my playstyle allways takes a hit everytime you guys try to fix something.......
So with all that being said if there isnt a code introduced to make sure that the 7AE gifts and armor are absolutely unbreakable you will never ever ever get cash from me for another promo again.
After buying 10 7AE boxes plus the package from uogamecodes for the 7AE codes if my legs/helmet/sword/bow break then im totaly through with promos and ill just save my money for other things that dont involve UO..
This game pisses me off alot but i still love it ive played since 1999 and followed it from the begining.
All the changes over the last 3 years have had me coming and going.
Granted i stopped canceling my 2 main accounts after i got my nifty houses during aos land rush.
But more and more now i think of cashing out and spending all the money on something usefull. Like a real house (yes i have enough property ingame to ebay it into a good house downpayment)
The only reason i hang on is because i still get small comforts from this game and one is the fact that after the 2 plus years of fiddling with suits and hunting till my eyes burned with 1100 plus luck i finally have a allmost worthwhile suit that i love and enjoy. take this away i will be so mad and all the people i play with may just quit again (most where gone for over a year before i got them back in) my friends are allways trying to talk me into helping them cash out of the game because it just keeps getting worse every time something is fixed.
If you want to fix crafting fix it but there are other ways besides destroying my hard earned rewards.
How about try making crafters able to make better items!!!
then make those items which are better than most arties have this code for breaking.
Super crafted items made by players could last about 1week to 6 months max depending on total usage and they could be so bad ass that youd have no choice but to return to s smith to care for it and replace it when it breaks.
Leave all legacy items alone.
If you screw legacy items youll shell shock players and cause a ton to quit.
With my proposal there items will be fine and theyll feel ok and eventually they will start to see the benefits of using these new crafted items and slowly switch over.
Thats the key hear SLOWLY TURN PEOPLE TO THE NEW SYSTEM not just flip a switch one day and say hahahaha all your items will break now so have fun finding new ones!!!!!!
This is just one more thing that would punish the pvp community. Pvpers go through durabilty on items wayt faster than your average players.
My guild has been trasfering around to diff shards and I'm the only one who has a tailor therefore I have to repair everyones artifacts. Some players are getting their totems repaired every 3 days. If you give them only 10 repairs, your talking about an artifact being gone in a month.
Your comment about hard core players have fat banks couldn't be more wrong. Your talking about the average trammy that plays this game to have fun in doom, kill stupid monsters, or make money off the game, none of which apply to pvpers. Most pvpers can't stand doom, tram, killing monsters, and most are not rich. We play the game to kill people. We go get the artifacts by either suffering through doom or killin monsters for items becausae you make. Others in fact can't stand doom so much they buy the artifacts off ebay. We don't play the game to get rich, or have fat banks, we play it to kill people!
In a weekend of hard core fighting we can go through 200+ points of durability on an item a day. Back when swampy armor protected you from ppl damage, I remember some ppl needing new swampy armor every 6 hours.
I can guarantee you that if you put this, if your goal is to kill pvp completly finally, and cause the players from that community to quit, you will succeed. The only good that I can see coming from this kind of change is that you will most likely solve the lag problems finally, since so many players will quitting.
I like the fact that you are throwing your ideas out there, and allowing us to interact with you on them. That's pretty cool.
That said, I don't like the idea of item decay to the point that they will eventually break no matter what.
However, there also shouldn't be superior benefit without cost. I think that is where you're coming from with yours ideas. I could be wrong though.
My solution would probably be something that is pretty much already in game with the repair deeds, but to more of a degree.
Items would still lose durability points as normal, but when you go to repair them they lose their overall capacity for durability. For example, you have a piece that was once 255/255 and is now 2/255. You go to repair it and it now becomes 218/218. If you repair via a deed then there is no way around this loss, but if you have it repaired through a trade window then the ability of the smith's skill could decrease the amount that is lost, with a small chance of a "free" (meaning no overall durability loss) repair. This would keep the items from decaying out of player's hands, but cost them more to maintain. To compensate for the lost durability capacity a player could use powder on an item to take it back up to 255 if they wished. If the powder is used by the player, in their pack, then it has a max recharge ability (kind of like it is now, which is ten). However, if a smith did it in a trade window that recharge could be greater based on the skill of the smith.
Of course, if a player allowed his gear to detiorate to the point of 0/0, then it should by all means break.
Basically, I guess I'm saying that I don't want to see items with a finite lifespan, but make it cost to maintain or else they will break. This would also add usefulness to the smith/tailor char.
So basically "Hardcore gamers" are punished as their artifacts wear out much quicker, maybe in a couple months. But that's okay because all UO players who play alot are "Powergamers" who sell everything on ebay anyway right? Wrong. I play alot and have never sold or bought anything with ebay or dollars.
Also, according to your logic these devoted players will make "phat bank". Only if they craft. What if i don't want to craft to earn enough for the huge expense to replace artifacts and runic armor? Tough I guess. I like crafting, but I don't want to craft day in and out to replace millions of gold worth of items and artifacts.
I wish you were a player Mr. Tact, and had to work for UO gold to buy what you want. Then you would understand what we have to lose by this.
Mr. Tact,
Again, you guys have missed the question. you have alot of answers that don't fit the question.
1. We have been asking for Fixes to Crafting, not entirely changing crafting.
2. We have asked for new content for crafting, not entirely changing crafting.
3. The General Player Base wants to keep the stuff they have, Not replace it.
Someday, you guys will actually pay attention to us and do the job we have asked you to do, and pay you to do. This second phase of "ideas" is hinged on the first phase and the destruction of our "sacred" items. Neither one of these ideas has anything to do with fixing crafting, new content or keeping the things we already have.
The problem for crafters has been that the item based economy and the introduction of artifacts and higher level quality loot items has mad it impossible for the crafter to compete. Even enhancing an item doesn't come close to the loot that can be gained from pvm. Item decay seems to be the best answer for this, but not, in my humble opinion, the way it is being discussed.
We already have item decay, but at 0 durability, nothing breaks.
We already have a system in place that works, for the most part.
If we use an item, it decays. We can repair it, but at a chance of durability loss. We can then use Powder to regain that loss. if we don't the item should break, but that isn't happening. That system would work really well, across the board if and only if the breakage actually happens at 0 durability.
The system is already in place and works fine, just enable the breakage to occur and then remove item insurance and ... Viola! you have the system you are looking for.
Why fix something that isn't broke? Why spend all this time on something that already works really well? Why are we paying you to come up with ideas we dont like or want?
Change the BOD timer... that looks fine, but the drastic changes to the repair system is crazy. The downward spiral effect of what you propose is to then change all other aspects of the game to accomplish what? item decay?
Changing the Arty SPawns to Felucca and other places is fine, but it threatens the entire community and the economy. Many many many people have paid tons of gold for the items that they already have. The value of those items will be lost. The desire to obtain something that no one else has is diminished.
The rares collectors alone will be shot in the foot. what is the point of collecting these items if everyone else has one too?
The actuall users of these items may get replacements, but at the cost of losing thier original one, which is quite alot.
If you want to implement and introduce new content like "fragments" or slayer spell books, do that, but not at the expense of skill groups and players across the board.
Everytime you guys talk about new content and new ideas, it always turns out that some skill group is getting the shaft. Why is that? Why can't you guys just introduce something to the game with out nerfing some aspect of the game that already works and isn't broken?
I know these "ideas" are just that, but so far, any idea you all have put forth has been implemented in the game and that is scary. Even if it is your private "blog", I can see this stuff going in, (probably with out enough testing and QA and without much notice....)
Good luck getting this stuff thru...
Smaug82
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