Suggestion for a store item: token for 1 extra vet reward

TimSt

I have a suggestion for a new store item. A token that gives you 1 extra unclaimed vet reward.  With 7 new vet rewards this year some players may not have the available unclaimed vet rewards to claim all 7.  If they can use a token that gives them an extra vet reward it would be mean they can get their pixel craving satiated. 

Put restrictions on the token's use.

1. It would not give you access to rewards for a higher vet year.
2. Limit the number of tokens that can be used in a year and base the limit on the account age. For example a 1 year vet could use 1 token and a 20 year vet could use 20 tokens.
3. Make it at least 1000 sovereigns to make it slightly expensive at $10 USD to discourage over use.

This was kinda discussed in a different thread but that thread's topic was giving access to rewards of a higher vet year.

TimSt

Personally I could use 6 more Gargish Totem of Essences to make a path way lined with the totems. 

Pawain

That would defeat the purpose of them choosing where the items are placed.

From the last M&G.  Sounds like someone likes to decide where they are placed  and not include us:

[Xinith]: I don’t mean to be mean by asking this, but could we get some kinda mentality for choosing where a new item would go, which regards to being on the store, a vet reward, or other in game method
[Xinith]: For example, that stone dye tub you mentioned;
[Xinith]: what would drive towards a vet reward as opposed to an ingame store
[Mesanna]: you want an honest answer?
[Xinith]: or even as an item availavble through in game events
[Xinith]: honesty is always nice
[Mesanna]: After all this time we sit down as a team and come up with ideas we read the forums and listen to your ideas.
[Xinith]: Makes sense. Time costs money
[Mesanna]: and we pick where they best fit
[Xinith]: I can see that.
[Xinith]: Would it be possible to get some player input into those decisions somehow? Or even rough feelings?
[Mesanna]: as to what yes,where no. 

TimSt

@Pawain The placements would still be the same. The token would just increase the number that can be claimed.  Unless one of their reasons for placement is limiting the number available.

Pawain

TimSt said:

@ Pawain The placements would still be the same. The token would just increase the number that can be claimed.  Unless one of their reasons for placement is limiting the number available.

No that would put all vet rewards in the store also.  They want them where they decide to put them.

Lord_Frodo

1000 sovereigns for 175M Vet rewards, HELL YES do it.  $100 for 1.75P gold.  You would need to sell them for 2000 or 2500 sovereigns or better yet I could finish off all my Shard Shields for both my accounts and have 2 full sets at 1000 sovereigns per shield.  

JackFlashUk

Well that seems completely unbalanced. 20 year vet can buy. 20 tokens ?WTF  Well let’s make it fair

seeing as I was shot down in flames for asking for transfer tokens in the store, the selfish 14year vets suggested that the shield should cost the same as if you have 14 years game so a store shield would cost thousands of dollars. Lol

so if that logic is true then it’s only right that the token prices must reflect the age of the reward

so a 1 year token would cost the same as 1 years game time

so a 20 year vet can buy a 20 year token for the equivalent cost of 20 years game time

only fair

Or are you suggesting a vet can buy 20x 20 year equivalent tokens for the same price as a 1 year vet.

yeah right that sounds really fair and balanced

ridiculous selfish idea

sliding scale

1k sovereigns per year

so 14k sovereigns per shield etc. That’s fair  

JackFlashUk

So a 20 year reward would cost the same as a 1st year reward

lets get down to the small print

how many years have u played TimSt I assume you are at least 14 years in?

TimSt

@JackFlashUk ; I just went over 19 1/2 years.

I have 10 unclaimed vet rewards.  With the token that I am suggesting using one would increase that to 11 unclaimed vet rewards.  I would like to claim more rewards but who knows what new ones will come out next year that I might want so I try to hold off on claiming current rewards.

In 5 months I could pay $200 for 20 tokens and raise my unclaimed vet rewards to 30.  But if being able to increase the unclaimed rewards that much is not desirable for the devs maybe set the cap at 10 or even 5 for a 20 year vet.

JackFlashUk

there you go.

So would you be happy to buy a 20 year vet reward for 14k sovereigns, or are you suggesting a 20 year pick is the same as a 1 year pick?

TimSt

Yes, a 20 year pick is the same as a 1 year pick. The vet reward system just lets you claim and sometimes use something that a 1 year vet can not.

JackFlashUk

TimSt said:

Yes, a 20 year pick is the same as a 1 year pick. The vet reward system just lets you claim and sometimes use something that a 1 year vet can not.

100% unbalanced and ridiculous. NO WAY IN HELL.  so you want 20x 20 year picks for peanuts?  

What a disgraceful way to further imbalance the game

keven2002

IBTL

JackFlashUk

TimSt you can of course buy vet rewards from others. This to me look like a cheap short cut and of course can be abused by vets to make loads of gold exploiting your all rewards cost the say idea.  You cannot possibly think it’s acceptable to claim shard shield for the same cost as a dragon statuette do you. For 1k sovereigns 
come on 

Merus

It would be far better to make most vet rewards available for purchase in the store with a price that reflects its age requirement and functionality.  There are already some examples of these (soul stones, etc).  I think certain vanity type items could be excluded, but items with functionality should be available to all players.  Veteran rewards then provide an option to obtain those items for “free” via subscription time.

JackFlashUk

I find it really sad that players that are old enough want to be able to buy more of these items, but player, for whatever reason who are not old enough to enjoy the like so shard shield are vilified for wanting to be able to buy them in the store.

I have lost count of the time is was shot down in flames for daring to ask for shard shields to be put in the store.

Seems the Vet players want to protect their privilege and condemn any lesser mortal for wanting the chance to won them

and NO I dont buy transfer tokens, and I only trust a few people to move things for me


so it appears I will quit or the game will die before I get the chance to own some of my own, and it seems MY money is not good enough for the store......

Cookie

Ok - without all the emotion.

But don't forget - Vets are exactly that, they have supported the game for that long.

But;

I do think the Rewards in the Veteran Reward system could be re-distributed.

There are just so many good ones in the Veteran reward system. And quite frankly, so many that just don't belong in there also.

With IDOC's wiping Veteran rewards from the game - which I understand, and is probably a really good thing, it is creating a real bottleneck of certain Vet Rewards. There almost are not enough Vets, or Picks, for players to get enough anymore. I think we are at a stage of the game, where players do want items faster, we are 23 years down the line, and I understand if many cannot see themselves making the next 23 for whatever reason.

I think there are real issues with Ethereal Mounts.

I think the whole shard trading thing, and Vendor Search system, is bigger than Vet Rewards, and could use a unique solution - such as my suggested 1 Vendor Search across all shards.

I suggested before, all of the Statues should be taken out, and redistributed as some sort of collectable rare, on the Monster it actually belongs to - this could make a really cool way of collecting things, and for players to hunt around the entire map on all the different mobs.

In summary, the problem is something like this;

There are currently too many players! Wanting too many Vet rewards, there are too few Vet Rewards picks, there are too few Vets, and there are just too many really good, and really pointless Vet rewards in the system.

Spread them out ingame, change some systems, maybe put some in the Store.

ps. Yes I'm a Vet, but I can see the system is top heavy.

Arnold7

Don’t quite see UO’s aversion to selling veteran rewards in the UO store that players can easily buy from those spammers that advertise their goods on the chat channel.  Find it admirable that UO supports its older player base that has been playing the game for so many years, many of them since the 1990’s.  But really don’t understand it’s doing everything it can to discourage players that have been playing for just a couple of years.  That strategy might have worked in the 90’s when players didn’t have many choices but don’t think it is viable today.

Fortis

if they want to sell it on uostrore only way i can see it...no shard shield...account bounds and cost 2500 sovereign

JackFlashUk

Fortis said:

if they want to sell it on uostrore only way i can see it...no shard shield...account bounds and cost 2500 sovereign

I assume you own shard shields?

Bilbo

Arnold7 said:

Don’t quite see UO’s aversion to selling veteran rewards in the UO store that players can easily buy from those spammers that advertise their goods on the chat channel.  Find it admirable that UO supports its older player base that has been playing the game for so many years, many of them since the 1990’s.  But really don’t understand it’s doing everything it can to discourage players that have been playing for just a couple of years.  That strategy might have worked in the 90’s when players didn’t have many choices but don’t think it is viable today.

BS/DAoC/UO does not own DAoC/UO, EA does so you might have to go to EAs site and ask them if it can be allowed.  And remember that EA also owns Origin and Account Management so EA controls ALL the MONEY.

Seth

@TimSt Seems like mostly positive vote here, +1 from me.

@Cookie
Agreed to the combine VS and shard trading Para you wrote. (Not divide and conquer.)

McDougle

allowing folks to pay their accounts up to the start date (making up for missing time would be nice)

Nikard

@TimSt

If you want a positive change you need to come up with an idea that is simple to implement and do so without undermining the 'rules' that they do not break. You can determine these rules from the last few years of watching the dev team.

1: Their resources are limited, they arent going to be reworking any major systems.

2: Telling them something is 'bad' is not constructive.

3: If your idea effects game balance, its probably dead on arrival.

4: If your idea reverses a previous decision by the team, its probably dead on arrival.

Im sure there are more.

Tim's idea of adding more ways to get vet rewards directly violates #1 and #4. The team made the decision to funnel these items out of the game, probably because they didnt feel like 'special' rewards anymore, but rather common goods.

The only way Tim's idea moves forward, in my opinion, is by suggesting similar items that would be store purchased and not linked to the veteran system at all.

IMO an example of a good idea would be a 'commodity chest' - costs 5-10$, has the features of a comm deed box, but with the larger layout of a secret chest, and/or maybe the ability to change its visual to other containter types.

This would be SUPER easy to implement, fill a void for returning players [function], and veteran players alike [aesthetic].

If you think like this, you will be more likely to get results from dev team.

TimSt

@Nikard, I tried to make it as simple as possible to implement: use existing token graphic, when token is used check if yearly cap has been reached and if not increase the unclaimed rewards count by 1 and increase yearly used by 1.  None of this pay more for a token that gives a higher level vet reward that others have mentioned.

The token only increases the unclaimed reward count.  It does not provide any rewards itself. 

Visually

Before using the token:


After using the token:


Placement of the rewards would not change. Vet rewards would still remain in the vet reward program and not be available from the uostore.

If game imbalance is an issue then set the yearly cap to a smaller value such as 5 for a 20 year vet.

Pawain

 DrTimSt said:

@ Nikard, I tried to make it as simple as possible to implement: use existing token graphic, when token is used check if yearly cap has been reached and if not increase the unclaimed rewards count by 1 and increase yearly used by 1.  None of this pay more for a token that gives a higher level vet reward that others have mentioned.

The token only increases the unclaimed reward count.  It does not provide any rewards itself. 

Visually

Before using the token:


After using the token:


Placement of the rewards would not change. Vet rewards would still remain in the vet reward program and not be available from the uostore.

If game imbalance is an issue then set the yearly cap to a smaller value such as 5 for a 20 year vet.

You can dress it how ever you want. It is still buying a vet reward from the UO Store.

Not gonna happen. 

Xris

McDougle said:

allowing folks to pay their accounts up to the start date (making up for missing time would be nice)

This this. Take my money. That way everyone pays the same amount. I think lots of players would buy their account up to shard shields. 

keven2002

Not sure what the big deal is aside from Shard Shields... anyone can use the vet rewards regardless of age if you buy them from someone in the game because people asked for it (ie any year player can ride ethys). 

By allowing players to "buy vet status" I'm assuming those in favor would expect to get the reward picks along with the option to choose those years (ie if I buy years 10/11/12 then I get 6 picks along with it)? This is essentially just allowing players to use RL money to buy picks.

Now... if those people are saying you want to buy up vet years but not receive picks until your natural vet pick replenish then sure. I'm all for people spending $1500 to get access to shard shields and then needing to wait another year to just get 2 shields. 

McDougle

Ii don't really care about getting the picks but what would it hurt? as pointed out earlier in thread vet rewards are one thing leaving the game when players quit as they poof in IDOC.

Bilbo

keven2002 said:

Not sure what the big deal is aside from Shard Shields... anyone can use the vet rewards regardless of age if you buy them from someone in the game because people asked for it (ie any year player can ride ethys). 

By allowing players to "buy vet status" I'm assuming those in favor would expect to get the reward picks along with the option to choose those years (ie if I buy years 10/11/12 then I get 6 picks along with it)? This is essentially just allowing players to use RL money to buy picks.

Now... if those people are saying you want to buy up vet years but not receive picks until your natural vet pick replenish then sure. I'm all for people spending $1500 to get access to shard shields and then needing to wait another year to just get 2 shields. 

I don't think people have a problem with the idea of this it was just the cost that was suggested for the pick itself 2000-2500 would be a more reasonable price vice the 1000 suggested.  At 1000 a lot of people with old accounts will buy these just so they can sell some of the more demanded rewards that fetch 175M each.  1000 is the same as a Soulstone that fetch app 75M which appears to be the going rate for 1000 sov.  At that rate $100 = 1.75P gold.

Xris

keven2002 said:

Not sure what the big deal is aside from Shard Shields... anyone can use the vet rewards regardless of age if you buy them from someone in the game because people asked for it (ie any year player can ride ethys). 

By allowing players to "buy vet status" I'm assuming those in favor would expect to get the reward picks along with the option to choose those years (ie if I buy years 10/11/12 then I get 6 picks along with it)? This is essentially just allowing players to use RL money to buy picks.

Now... if those people are saying you want to buy up vet years but not receive picks until your natural vet pick replenish then sure. I'm all for people spending $1500 to get access to shard shields and then needing to wait another year to just get 2 shields. 

Aren't you using rl money for picks anyway? Literally no difference except adding time. Same money spent, same amount of vet rewards. All we are asking is to prepay our account age.