Gold Sink ideas
I remember in the old
days... they used to put in gold sinks every now and again - did they work?
Probably not in the long term, but maybe to a
degree in the short term.
I remember getting my White Neon hair from the
Hairstylist for 500k gold, which was a lot at the time, Ornament of the
Magician cost 10m, which was the must have item - I saved for about a year for
that one.
So here you go, and not to hide my own agenda at
all - these issues genuinely bug the hell out of me, and ruin my pvp, and my UO
gaming in general - so these would be fixes for me - other players may like
them, and they may help re gold situation... The point being here for me -
there is nothing I would not do to gain these items ingame... {almost nothing}.
Introduce a high value luxury NPC Vendor that can;
1. Bless Items.
2. Get rid of the Antique Property (especially on
jewels).
1 plat. 10 plat. I don't care.
100k VvV points, 1m VvV points - again I don't
care.
Farming the entire game of certain resources -
again - happy to.
Putting the work in, is not the issue for me,
playing in the current equipment status quo is the issue for me, and always has
been - I'm just trying to help give a win-win scenario for the Devs here. It would also give me something to do, and meaning in my own game - I don't do Underwater, there is nothing there for me, I do Roof, and let others take all the brittle Legendary items, while I collect gold.
These abilities do not have to be Deeds, if you
feel Deeds can be duped - it can be a 1 off service given by the NPC.
Comments
That's almost a whole other can of worms, maybe best not touched on now
That touches upon the fact armour is not accessible equally to all races.
I think whether he charges a fee or not, actually would not matter. Players would take it either way. It would not bother me for example overall.
Consider the neon hair dye example. At the time it was the only way to get neon hair, was a vanity item, and in no way impacted game play. What if there were 3 new hair/horn styles that were only available from that NPC at 40M per. Same for beard styles. I think pet costumes would be a great add here (instead of the cash store). Lots of ways to add medium size gold sinks that slowly but consistently remove gold from the system.
I'm trying to sell my ideas as part vanity also.
Many players would not care less, some would want to do these things, my argument would be, with the gold-sink I'm willing to put into it up front, to never think about it again, I would be paying far more than I could ever hope to gain from it - therefore moving it from essential - to vanity - and I agree, I'm vain about this, but it would also help the way I like to play. My ideas also do not impact others game-play.
(I was also not aware of these).
A veteran player who spends an extra $3 for a game item is less valuable than a new account subscription even if it’s only 1 month. Right now the barrier for a new player to participate in the economy is pretty high.
But you are wrong. People don't use gold to play, they use items. Gold is just used to ease exchange. You can avoid gold at all : just trade item for an item. No currency involved. Go get atifacts, power scrols, PvP items , etc and trade them for what you need.
@Merus
Not high if new player finds ways how to make gold and what rich players need. With items, not just killing stuff and looting gold. Example: one lizardman in Despise Fel (totally killable by any newb character) results in 60-80 gold. And 3K+ gold in spined leather. To make 60K gold you either need to kill 40 Tsuki wolves or farm 1 (one) void orb in Ter Mur from Kopre. Once on Sonoma I made 30M just by buying cloth everywhere and selling it to Luna weaver : I was in trading mood ))) Mace and Shield helmet from Blackthorn usually costs a fortune on ATL. Takes 30 min is big crowd to get 50 artifacts for exchange. doable for almost any template. But need big party to make it fast.
It may also say, I don't want to repair my equipment after just 1 pvp fight, I would rather be pvping than thinking about my armour all day long.
And I am willing to pay anything, or do anything ingame to achieve this - I've left it open - I will PvP in VvV to extreme amounts - 10k silver is the highest current reward - I've offered to pay 1m Silver for these items - I've offered to spend 10p gold, I've offered to farm unlimited amounts of ingame resources - whatever it takes - So I have not said I just want to prosper - I have said, I will play, work, do whatever it takes to achieve these things up front, then be done with it.
You are correct - I don't want to farm items that will wear down when I play - I don't see the point. I also don't want to farm random items where you can never get the exact same mix again when they do break down. This is not the point of my game - the point of my game, is to actually do content. Once I've farmed, or got hold of certain armour - that's it, I want to move on, and play the rest of the game - the highest game content - ie PvP, not be stuck in farm mode the rest of my life. I would also like to move on to other characters.
"No currency involved. Go get atifacts, power scrols, PvP items , etc and trade them for what you need."
Erm - I do indeed get all of these things - but what I "need" does not exist ingame - hence why I am asking for it ?
Last year I paid 1 plat for a pair of gloves (Brittle) thinking that’s it end game piece.
Every event they release a new arti which normally means you have to change every piece on every char.
And I’m obviously dead against bless deeds as it removes risk/reward, there’s no risk to people if they don’t lose anything when they die. And it’s always the trolls who have blessed suits.
Also regarding repair, game tells you now at something like 4 dura that it needs repair. You have repair stations too, it’s really not a problem.
AND, even if I somehow managed to wear a piece of armor down by leaving my char afk farming. Every piece of armor is actually not that unique. You find most pieces have very similar properties because of the way the names/loot table works. “
But as we know our Dev, doesn't like infinite durability
ESRB warning: Some Blood. LOTS of Alcohol. Some Violence. LOTS of Bugs
Plenty of content in the game without having to be thinking about this.
Definition of consumables is you use them up, and have to work to replace them - suits are not consumables - I do not expect to have to replace these in the way I would replace consumables. I currently use large quantities of up to 14 types of consumables, and need huge supplies of these - including bolas - mana draughts, supernova potions, stat potions, petals blah blah blah - point being - there are enough time sinks in the game already
Every event they release a new arti which normally means you have to change every piece on every char.}
If this really is the case - your point works both ways - if we are replacing so much, it is not an issue to allow blessed or getting rid of antique, as per your argument, it will be redundant soon - therefore - why not allow it?
Ps. - Gloves of the Archlich - possibly the best piece brought in for a long time for a pvp mage - I upgraded 8 mages with them, and it is what brought myself and 4 accounts back to the game, having quit and been gone for a year and let 3 houses fall down - this is how bad I consider the PvM loot armour situation - more items like these please - preferably a CLEAN pvp jewellery set
Not the case for me
{And I’m obviously dead against bless deeds as it removes risk/reward, there’s no risk to people if they don’t lose anything when they die. And it’s always the trolls who have blessed suits.}
a - there is a high chance I am that troll
b - end of the day - insurance costs 20k odd, its not a big deal - this is another argument that works both ways, for both of us. £20k is what - like 10 miasmas? 1 spawn covers 10 deaths etc? For me, again, I just want tidiness, neatness, no confusion, I don't need this.
{Also regarding repair, game tells you now at something like 4 dura that it needs repair. You have repair stations too, it’s really not a problem.
AND, even if I somehow managed to wear a piece of armour down by leaving my char afk farming. Every piece of armour is actually not that unique. You find most pieces have very similar properties because of the way the names/loot table works. }
I actually do not afk farm, and if I did, I would use self-repair 5 gear,
I can easily wear a suit down to the point of having to replace stuff, and I have many characters I have to repair, again - I have a life, I'd rather be playing the game, than be doing all this admin the whole time.
The way I see it - if you want to play that way - fine - I'm absolutely fine you playing that way - give me a way to play my way. I'm not even asking for easier, because as I said, I'm happy to pay any price up front, and I'm happy to pay more if they work out a way to do it.
For example - I bought an original lieutenants sash which is valued at whatever, so I can avoid Dura loss - most people will argue - I will never lose enough sashes to make up the cost of it - for me, it is a good deal, I get to forget about that piece, and just play the game. I will happily do that, for every piece. (I also bought the original +20 stealth cloak - for exactly the same reason, I've also Item Blessed Clean-up jewel sets - the only clean jewels ingame, and Heph shield, Slither for the same reasons, etc.)
Mariah makes a good point. The game does benefit from creating items they can sell from the UO Store to support the game. This does make a conflict of interest. Currently people utilize the store by selling store items for gold, and I can't fault them for that.
Aside from insurance, vendors, safes, customized castles/keeps and hair dyes, there are systems currently in the game like the Britain Library, Moonglow Zoo, Vesper Library, Spring Cleaning and the BOD bribing system. I imagine they intended to add collections to every city when they came up with this concept, and perhaps they should follow through on that idea in addition to updating the rewards for all of these concepts. All those collections accept gold, and make decent gold sinks.
Here are some concepts I have proposed in the past.
When I originally promoted the concept of a dualling arena, I had hoped people could place a bet on themselves vs the person they were dualling. The winning player would get their gold back, and say 50% of the losers gold while the game keeps the losing players remaining 50%. Imagine players betting a platinum against each other, the winner makes 1.5p, the game 500m, and the loser nothing. I think they could still upgrade the arena to accommodate this concept as an effective gold sink.
I once floated the idea of buying IDOCs via auction through the house sign even before they created the crier that tells you where they are. I still like this idea, and I am open to any modifications of it. However someone once told me, wouldn't it be better to perhaps allow returning players to buy back the contents of their fallen homes when they return for cash? I am not opposed to that either. Perhaps there is a compromise, a person can bid on buying the house in danger of collapse empty, and the owner can reclaim their items upon their return for an amount equal to the months their account was inactive?
I also floated the concept of buying the blueprints of people's customized house designs, so if you own an 18x18, and like the design of another player's 18x18, you can buy the blueprints in deed form, and when you go to customize your house, you just load the deed into your house sign. Now either players can sell the blueprints, or the game just takes the gold, doesn't matter to me.
I would like them to bring back the bounty hunter system. The game keeps 50% of the gold put up, 1 platinum minimum contracts, so the bounty hunters would make at least 500m. The HUNTED would be notified they have a bounty on them when they login, so they can be on guard. The HUNTED can identify people who have accepted the contract like you can Reds, and therefore can pre-emptively defend themselves against them. The HUNTED can be killed, but can't be looted except for body parts named after them unless they are in Felucca. The HUNTED can be killed anywhere, except on boats, in houses, dungeons and instances. All of the HUNTED's items would automatically be insured except in Felucca. Perhaps allow the HUNTED the ability to buyout the contract hit on themselves for the price of the Bounty Hunter's reward. Limit the contract to a month.
I have known others to suggest creating an ability to purchase bodyguards or mercenaries that can be trained up like pets, and last for as long as you are logged into the game to accompany you in dungeons and instances only. They would take up pet slots, but not be as good as pets. Perhaps only have one basic skill set like healing, spellcasting or melee fighting. Maybe create a timered statuette that gets put in your pack for as long as you are logged in, you can summon them from the statuette, but when they die, they go back into statuette form for a cool down period. If they rather create this as a store item, I am cool with this too.
I have known others to suggest an ability to purchase an item from an EM event, perhaps make this possible by being able to go to the Reward Hall the EM items are placed at, and for a limited time after the event was held, an hour at most, a player can pay a substantially higher price for the item than what the market price would settle on, perhaps limit it to 10 items, The benefit is it would be guaranteed you can find that item for sale even if you had to pay 2 - 5p for it when event attendees may only charge 200 - 500m for the same exact item. It would be a cost risk analysis.
I have known others to suggest the ability to buy and place a castle in Malas. I have suggested the ability for Endless Journey players the option to lease storage space for gold. Pay gold to remove items from their bank. I think there is a lot of opportunity to give small benefits to EJ players for high gold prices.
Finally I wouldn't mind some sort of carnival gaming system that improves upon the Fire Island Casino to drain more gold out of the game. Some of the games they made for the 25th anniversary can serve as inspiration for those concepts. Particularly the horse racing, teleport races, archery contests, and more. Definitely some opportunities to be able to bet on the RNG for reward and create a lot of fun.
so many people have long term arguments over not paying up for duels with gold/plat involved.
For some reason the arenas are not well used, people still prefer to go to Jhelum farms still”
1- you have troubles paying your insuranse and being mighty PvPyer you loose all the time. Miasma is not a solution. Lizardmans are. You go to Despise Fel and kill them. Ten skin them. while each have very small amount of gold, they wear 3k+ gold of spined leather. You skin it, sell to New Mag vendor and prosper. Problem solved.
2- blessed items and repair troubles. Developers care about such players as you. So befre you make your first plat skinning lizardmen you surely will make 7 piece of blessed and self-repaired set of armor. Then do quest for Humility cloak - and you ar done. No need to repair your gear anymore. Weapon and jewelry? New player quests in New Haven will supply you those. Talisman? Cleanup one . Or get "owned by no one" Cameo, but need to kill a little more Lizardman for that. Solved.
3- jewelry can be replicated and made predictable according to your needs. Look for Imbuing. It works and you will be able to make whatever you want within 500 imbuing capacity. Solved.
4- potions, balms , fish pies and other consumables give you trouble to collect? Gather your buddies who think same and go PvP on Arena (mentioned above). You can put your rules for battle : no potions or whatever. And PvP ther all day long. With your virtue armor . Solved.
5- Antique property. There is already solution. You copy your character to Test Server, Seth does same and you PvP there all way from 255/255 tto 0/0. Then copy your character again. You will also have unlimited supply of consumables same way. Solved.
So you see , I gave you solutions for everything without even one line of coding. But if you want to PvP not sitting in Test Server sandbox, but with grownup people on Prodo or on Siege - you bear consequences. This is why PvP is highest game content. There are rules and for those who think it is too hard - there are easier ways. You just need to find buddies who have same opinion and invite them to play with you. With test shard you can organize cross-shard PvP tournaments , dupe gear , dupe consumables and never think about durability.
I don't understand a word he is saying, and I do not believe he understands 1 little thing about who I am, or how I play.
Rare and antique... are the real garbage because we can't grind with them or use them as sort of permanent gear setup.
Furthermore, one-off event items like those from Treasures should not be brittle, ie. have no durability limits.
Why must they think so much about limitations like shard bound? Can we get gold sink to remove this crap? Shard transfers has saved their game for more than 25 years and why they are still getting paid today.
ESRB warning: Some Blood. LOTS of Alcohol. Some Violence. LOTS of Bugs
id love to see some gold sinks in 1-10 plat range. people would buy them just for status symbols. but would it really affect inflation significantly? i doubt it.
ESRB warning: Some Blood. LOTS of Alcohol. Some Violence. LOTS of Bugs
If EA/Broadsword start doing it would at least make it legit. So I would be all for that, even though I'll
just keep my CC on file to pay for my accounts. It would certainly open up another option to pay for
gametime.
I'd love to see pet dyes or a pet dye tub you pay to use as a gold sink. So those that would like could
pay, say 500 mil to have their dragon dyed cotton candy pink or smurf blue.
The other choice would be delete gold/plats from the game. Since the last dev team that did that
is no longer employed by EA( now Broadsword) its a safe guess that move made a whole lot of
folks mad. I have taken Micro, Macro, and International Economics made very good grades too.
There is nothing in my books, notes, or learning on how to fix this mess.
maybe the answer isn’t removing gold … but providing players the ability to earn MORE gold just by playing the game. Then the RMT sites wouldn’t have a demand for gold and new or returning players can build their bank balances faster.
"Insanity is a naturally occurring mutation; humanity has just managed to perfect it." -- JMK [[me]]