I get the reasons for inflation, but it's getting a little out of hand. Come to All Day Every Day's sandstone just east of Yew Bank!
The inflation is one of the biggest problem in all RPGs. In most of them the base currency in the game becomes 90% useless. UO is one of the few that keep it's gold value at place (at lease in the shards i play). Still the problem is present. In real life inflation can be controlled (it's not because the greed and goverments use it as hidden taxes) but in game something better can be achieved. 1) IRL you have to pay to eat, drink, travel and have electricity, i-net and so on - in UO you don't. Nothing can be done about that so we leave it aside; 2) IRL you pay taxes. Lots of taxes. Most of them are hidden because of the low IQ of the average citizen. In UO there is no such a thing; 3) IRL banks print money on demand by the goverment - in UO gold is printed on demand by the players (with different success and rate). I want gold - I go to a dungeon and farm until I think it's enogh (there is risk involved but it's still on demand). You are not limited in time as salary usually requires 1 month - it takes time but it's different. These three elements are the base of the economy. Nothing can be done about points one and three since it's a game. So number two remains. The perfect gold sink must be dependant on the assets of a player. That can never be applied because it's too restraining for a grown up person. The sad true is that sooner or later every MMORPG reaches a state that either: base currency loses most of it's value and high level trading uses a replacement currency; the server gold sinks via neon horses that breath green fire or server is wiped. Good is that we have platinium here - good alternative currency, that will prolong things. Not forever but still.. In long run it's a lost battle. P.S Triple-boxing doesn't increase the infflation much - 90% of the population are veterans - if anyone wants to grind tons of gold, there are many ways to do it and we all know at least few. This can't be changed.
New idea for a gold sink: 10m gold to rename a bone container with the name of the character who uses the deed on it.
For 10M you should get to name any possession you have. I know Telamon has time constraints and such, but I suspect the economical benefit from a little time spent on something like this would be well worth it. And, unlike things like a custom-colored mask or whatever, I think there is generally a loss in utility if one ever tried to sell something like this. So if I spent 10M on "The bones of Dalavar Uormage", I likely wouldn't get that back if I ever tried to sell them.
Why is this even a debate? Players who 3 box and farm till there billionaires do so because they love to play that way. Players who dont, play that way because they choose not to. Play the game you how you want to play it, if you are crying cause your neighbor has more than you, work for it. (They are) Honestly, this is the easiest by far server to get rich on. Players who are crying cause someone else is rich are lazy. If you can not afford a pc that can 3 box AND you want to be able to 3 box, go work till you can afford one. Why care? Play your own game and let the next person play their own game. Just like real life, we all would be better off if we just quit crying and work for what we want. I might offend some players by saying all this, but UO has the biggest whiners I have ever played with. Hence Trammel.
That's right! All those silly restrictions on thieves, murderers, and griefers need to go! Let them play their game and you'll play yours!
This topic is not about playstyles or whining about not making enough gold. Rather, it's about discussing ways to keep gold from further decreasing in value.
1. Do not allow recalling in dungeons - siege perilous rules 2. make platinum drop more evenly across the board, reduce platinum drops from high end mobs, and increase it from low end mobs. and i suggest only allowing platinum to drop in dungeons. 3. adjust end game gold sinks- clothing bless deeds runebook bless deeds and certain items for sale on the platinum vendor for gold. 4. House taxes.
Yeah, you are correct. However my post is still relevant, according to most post these days involve people whining about tamers/gold inflation (due to people who play harder than the ones who are complaining). Sorry for ranting with common sense.
I don't think that tamers necessarily play harder than any other template. I think we ought to leave recalling alone and platinum drops are being discussed elsewhere. I do like the idea of house taxes, though.
This would only succeed in making the rich richer, anyone who is already destroying high end mobs I'm sure would be more than happy to farm lower tier mobs for even better platinum drops. I still don't understand the thought that platinum is hard to attain. Make 3 fishers and a provo dexxer and make the most mind-numbingly easy stacks of platinum one can ever make.
What makes prices on certain desirable items rise out of control and become difficult or impossible for average players to obtain is not the total gold that exists on the server among all players. It is economic inequality. The players with the most gold compete with each other in bidding wars or spend a lot without a care for high prices because they can afford it, driving up costs on desirable items. Then average players think "Well, if I farm gold for a month straight maybe I can afford that.", they feel defeated before they even get started, and then they suggest blocking dungeon recalling or somesuch. But 1) Any change you make to a game system affects all players, both skilled veterans and average Joes. It's a mistake to think that you can cut off just veterans from profiable activities - that just isn't the case. You make things harder or easier for everyone. 2) As has been said, motivated players will find a way to achieve greater-than-average success no matter what. and 3) Economic inequality - if you (hypothetically) made gameplay so hard that the average player's earning potential was 100gp/day, some players would work harder/longer/better than average and pull 2000gp/day and there is no way to stop that, even if it were desirable to do so. Then at that point something that cost 10,000gp would be "inflated" and become a serious feat for the average player to afford. It's not really about how much rich players spend but how much more they spend than average players can earn. It's only scale that makes it appear otherwise. I think Maltman said it best earlier, if sarcastically. The only answer is outrageously expensive gold sinks that take a fortune out of the hands of the wealthiest players. Sinks that take wealth out of the hands of middle class/poor players would achieve nothing with regard to inflation.
Death shrouds would be cool but I'd like to see hue restrictions on them. Any hooded robe is gonna be used to trick people into thinking you're a GM/Counselor in order to be mischievous.
