Yea, this is what I feel is going on as well - inflation itself is not having too much impact on the price of things. Rather, it is supply/demand issues making prices go up and down. BODs, I think, are actually going the reverse direction. Supply of BODs and rewards just continue to climb, while demand stays about the same. Two examples that come to mind are CBDs and Phoenix Armor. Both are now worth about half what they were when I first started here. Definitely not. Players newer to the shard offer a perspective that grizzled veterans cannot have. You stay in the discussion, soldier!
Yes, sir! *salutes* I feel like I've shared the majority of my thoughts on this topic already but I'll chime in if I think I can add anything.
Inflation basics: you have too much money going on on the economy. When you have 450 chars farming gold and platinum but only 150 negotiating it, you have a lot more money being created than spent. This, for itself, is a problem. And it's clear, not an opinion. Well, okay, not everybody triple-box farming gold, you might say, and I agree - me, for example. Then you have a selected amount of players that take advantage of that. I'd say the minority. So what happens here is that you've created a circle of players that have a huge amount of money and the majority of players that don't have gold even near their fortune. So, let's assume you have 400 million on the world today. 20% of the players have 300 million. 80% of the players have 100 million. The economy is going to work as there is 400 million on the world for the small group of guys that together have 300 million AND for the 80% majority people that hold 100 million. You have a huge disparity here, because 80% of the people are excluded from the premium auctions, items, weapons, etc. That's when a LOT OF players, including myself, get the idea that there's something wrong with the economy. Maybe not inflation itself, but mainly social inequality. This is strong on the shard and there's no deny of it. And it only happens because the minority of the players can fully take advantage of the 3 accounts feature while the other majority can't for a several amount of reasons. Limit everybody to 1 account would give at least the same technical chance for everybody to gather resources and therefore it would be a lot more balanced.
What I found enlightening is that Chris actively offers assistance to players looking to use 3 tamers at once. Someone literally asked how to get three clients to use the all kill command at once. Obviously, this activity is actively supported. Some of us feel that it is detrimental to the server overall. What's left is for us to understand why the admins disagree with that sentiment.
I'm in the minority here but I play on a mac* and the UOR mac client gets really buggy as soon as you open more than one instance of it. Even if I wanted to triple-box I wouldn't be able to. * sorry, I only have one computer and the mac is more suitable for my needs!
Well, I can speak for myself and I don't 3 box because I don't like it, I don't have the patience for it and I think it sucks. I also played UO a long time ago, and the main reason I'm playing again is because I liked the game the way it was and 3 box was never a thing back then. Those are 3 legitimate reasons, you agreeing or not. And there are a lot more legitimate reasons why people won't do it - time, resources, taste, ability, whatever. Let's not make it a player problem because it's really not. When you have a scenario where not everybody can afford to 3 box, there is obviously an unbalanced environment technically speaking.
Really? I think it's unfair to compare choosing not to play a template to not playing 3 accounts at the same time. It doesn't make sense. I'm not asking anyone to be nerfed. I'm asking that everybody could have the same chance of playing. Do you think it's nerfing? Then you're just making my point.
Am I wrong in thinking if we had more uber gank squads this would be less of a problem? Add back the penalty to pet death and maybe losing 6 dragons at once to pks would become an undesirable risk. The harrower might not be the scariest part of Public Harrower events, etc... Where is UDL when we finally need them?! Maybe I'm wrong. Let me add the disclaimer that I don't play for gold as an end to itself and have never even even 1 boxed a tamer so my perspective is mostly philosophical.
Inflation and each of the other issues that we've been discussing can be solved with the following simple fixes: Everyone is limited to 1 account and 1 character (if you can only play 1 character at a time, your farming abilities are severely hampered) The taming skill is removed from the game (taming is overpowered when it comes to PvM, which is one of the main means of farming and therefore a significant contributor to inflation) Every time a new player joins the shard, everyone's gold, platinum, and skills are wiped out. (Otherwise it's unfair that everyone else got a head start and that player has to catch up) All resource gathering skills are removed; instead, Comrade Telamon delivers 1,000 of each resource (metal and wood) into each player's bank once a month. Housing is removed, because houses just let people store more stuff, which leads to inflation.
Personally I liked it more when everyone could only have 2 accounts. Characters on a third account could just be moved over, I don't think it would be difficult. That being said I don't really know that would totally fix the inflation issue, it would have slowed it somewhat, but things like Premium houses, and high end Trammel wear would still be expensive. Personally I think Inflation happens on every UO server, you got to remember that people like Gideon and myself have been playing here 3 years. If you were to look at the richest 20% of players on this server I would guess 80% of them are "longtime members" here. I guess my view is that UO is a long term strategy game, unlike most of the newer games.
You can create your own gold sinks. No need for any coding... nope. Think up an in game event with prizes and have fun with it. I do all the time and have been having a blast. If I begin to see a line of players bank sitting wearing newly implemented "gold sinks" of blessed "_____" of Bling Bling talking about religion and politics.... I'm outta here. Take that shit back to trammel.
That's not a gold sink because you're not removing gold from the global economy. You're just giving your gold to another player. (though I highly support player-run events. Wayyyyyy better than just giving houses/bank checks to newbies in Occlo, which I personally think is a detriment to the shard rather than a help)
Accounts are never going to be merged. The three account complaint has gone on for years and years over many servers. I think the inflation "problem" gets WAY over inflated by peoples gripes. I understand people go and see three boxing at champs and etc. but that doesn't mean everyone does it. Most of us have families, jobs, lives outside of UO and have limited time to play. The most I play in one sitting is usually 20-30 minutes. I like using multiple accounts. Everyone is different and everyone has different life circumstances/available playtime. Seriously if someone is going to play this game and has the time to run 3 accounts for hours on end every day then I tip my cap and say you deserve the millions you collected doing so. I for one don't have the time to do so but that doesn't mean someone else with the means shouldn't be able to do it. There is not one example of clear inflation going on on this server. As any UO server gets older there are people that have been there longer than others and thus have accumulated much more wealth.
