Excelsior

Hey there!

For thoses who don't know me, I have been playing this shard for 5 1/2 years, but often I have been inactive for years. I have played more lately and the reason for that will probably make no sense for most of you people:) I got rid of everything I have earned in this game, including realayers, houses, deco, rares, etc.

All of the sudden, I can die from something else than disconnecting! This is truely fun! When Balrons slap me, I better heal up because I am half life! In all honesty, having played multiple shard (both freeshards and "production" shards); UOEX was the easiest shard to play on (monsters casting no debuf, no poison, etc.); but thanks to +V, additionnal content was created (Sgail wrong and an other one which I forgot the name) that made the game more challenging for me.

Anyway, all this to say that now that I am back to the intermediate challenges (Balrons, Lady Mel, Travesty, weapon leveling), I can't help but to feel sad at what I now often witness: players with many many relayers, running 0.5 second recall scripts + auto heal + auto attack scripts. One of thoses players happens to be a good friend and he was telling me that he was doing the balron run this way, 10+ hours per day, and earned about 400k an hour doing so. Basically, pressing on the "play" button of his macro and having an eye on the screen just in case he was AFK checked. Absolutely no challenge, no chance of getting killed, but surely the best way to pile gold for more relayers...

Maybe I am just an outdated old school player for who the game passed by, but I have never used a script to heal myself. I love UO and it's challenges too much to do so. If I can't keep myself alive in a dungeon (or any area), I just feel that I have no business there until I improve and get the skills/gear needed to survive there. Maybe my opinion won't be shared but here are the two wishes that I have that would make this fun shard even better:

1. Disable recall/mark in all dungeons/doom.
2. Forbid the use of scripts for hunting.

Just this would do marvels for the economy. That being said, I give props where it is due: this shard is the one I play where the economy is the best, by far. I just think that making thoses changes would make it even better.

Merry Christmas all and to the pleasure of seeing you in the game!

Fingers/Polar Bear/Cyrano de Bergerac xxx

As nice as it is to recall into dungeons I strongly agree that it needs to be removed. It's nothing but scripters recalling in and onto the next spot. The amount of xp needed for relayers I think should be decreased as well. Maybe they should reduce the spawn time in some dungeons (like it is in Doom).

Oh I will have to agree with this one for sure!

I am one who uses macro's to make little things easier. Like feeding my imps. Or loading my keys. But I refuse to use a macro to help me hunt. It takes away the fun of the game. Part of the challenge is to know when to react for a heal or when to run and hide. Automation ruins that completely.

Those that run this auto recall,kill, loot then off to the next place annoy the heck out of me. And is one of the reasons I find a ton of frustrations while out hunting.
I even ran into someone while I was killing the lurgs who had the nerve to tell me. The next kill was his as it was only 'fair' then recalled out. Expecting me to wait for him to return so he could get the next kill.. HAHAHA NOT. I've even ran into these people on auto pilot who will come in and auto attack the mob I am already killing because that is what their script tells them to do. Kill the mob loot recall out. Without a word.

Recalling into dungeons should be stopped. Recalling out fine. But this auto pilot needs to stop. It makes it twice as hard on us new players who are trying to get a foot in the door to fight with all these people with their relayers and auto pilots. My only option to compete with them is to do the same thing. And running an auto pilot is boring and ruins the point of the game.

not sure i agree with this....
first kill stealing is considered against the rules so report anyone who does such thing with or without using a recall script
second i have used hunting scripts and healing scripts some that use the sacred journy spell to teleport around to different spots and find that i am faster when i manually teleport around.
third they i hope will not lower the xp need to lvl a weapon as it seem quite fair and is easy with or with out any scripts running
and forth if you dont like the teleing thing go to fel and hunt to your hearts content as none but the gms can teleport into fel you'll get more gold and ointments anyway.


not trying to tread on your feet just take into consideration that not everyone can or will hunt in the same way some like to camp some like to teleport and both hate each other the key is being able to deal with each other and most teleports tele out so fast when someone else is hunting where they tele to that you cant even say a word so tell me how does that effect you? i personally love it when they teleport in i try and say BOOOO!!!!!!! each time

heyyo wrote:As nice as it is to recall into dungeons I strongly agree that it needs to be removed. It's nothing but scripters recalling in and onto the next spot. The amount of xp needed for relayers I think should be decreased as well. Maybe they should reduce the spawn time in some dungeons (like it is in Doom).

I disagree on the xp amount, it's easy to get 50k-100k xp a day really... (and more, but that amount should be doable by everyone...)

scuba wrote:take into consideration that not everyone can or will hunt [...]

That is kind of my point for an example, very few would have the concentration/stamina/motivation to manually do the Balron run for more than a few hours (let alone 10 hours a day, day after day). Personally, I did it an hour today and I had more than enough. As a result: the scripter ends up with 4 millions at the end of the day, while absolutely preventing me from hunting this area. Say that he would have the stamina to do it 2 hours manually, that would be 3.3 mil less in the economy and would leave place for 4 other players to enjoy the area... That is major for me.

A point to consider is that in Felluca, not only is it impossible to recall in or out of the dungeon, but you also need to walk there. It is a major drawback imo. Nevertheless, I admit that scripters always succeed at pushing me in Fel: first reason, they cycle the targeted areas so fast that my chances at finding any mob are so slim that I might as well not bother; second reason, even if kill stealing is illegal according to the codex, I prefer not having the trouble of reporting/waiting/etc. I would also think that staffers prefer to invest their time in a more productive manner than investing time as to know if x player did indeed steal a kill.

As for you being able to move around places manually faster than with a script, I am very surprised that you manage to open your book, find the right page, recall/journey/gate or whatever spell you chose for travelling, evaluate if the targeted monster is in range, open your book again, select the next page, and recall to the next spot faster than in 0.5 seconds.

This type of thought process is exactly what makes me sad: "if you dont like the teleing thing go to fel and hunt to your hearts content [...]. If I understand you correctly, if I don't want to adapt to a "press play and lay back while the script works for you" UO playstyle, all I have left is to get out of the way (in Fel).

... Not sure I agree with this

Scripts for battle: Yes
Recall in Dungeon: No
Weapon XP: Just fine

Nice to see you around again PB

Melkor wrote:Scripts for battle: Yes
Recall in Dungeon: No
Weapon XP: Just fine

Nice to see you around again PB

agree
disagree*
agree
and agree, always nice seeing vets back

*I don't really see a problem here... I mean, i don't use scripts myself and i do like to do some old fashioned 'dungeon crawling' Sure some specific spawns, like liches, may be crowded but there is plenty of other monsters out there... And disallowing recalling would IMO just increase camping which leads to nothing else but trouble...

Nice to see you back again Cyrano/Polar/Fingers... we have to hit the Umbris Camp some time. I have noticed that in the last couple of months there has been an increased in traffic on the spots where I level my weps. I think it is like a seasonal thing as through the middle of the year I wouldn't encounter anybody at the same spot.

I also miss bumping into Nelapsi doing the balrons when I was leveling, but now I noticed a lot of other players doing that same balron run. If I am lucky enough I do get to kill a balron or two, I even stop leveling when I notice that the traffic is high cause like you said I will be wasting my time running around to an empty area. Instead I will go to the lonely areas where I can still make some gold and level slowly.

Well, I hope to bump into you somewhere in Fel!

Merry X'mas

Larsa wrote:Nice to see you back again Cyrano/Polar/Fingers...

Merry X'mas

Melkor wrote: Nice to see you around again PB

Gaara wrote: and agree, always nice seeing vets back

Warms my heart Very nice to see you guys as well!

Larsa wrote: we have to hit the Umbris Camp some time.

Sure thing! Expect me to die often with >275 HP and >220 dex; but I don't mind! (Pick yourself up and dust yourself off. And back in the saddle).

The increase in people hunting is definitly a seasonal thing.
Also the mega scripters are a minority.
I think that increasing the spawn rates in fel would help a lot

I think that increasing the spawn rates in fel would help a lot

If they did this there would actually be a reason to go to some of the Fel dungeons. Other than champ spawns they're mainly empty.

Omeni wrote:[...]
Also the mega scripters are a minority.[...]

Even if the .5 second scripters are not many (I actually beleive they are quite a few, especially in doom), say they run their script 10 hours a day @400k/hour(not including the tokens/xp), but would usually be able to do it manually only 2 hours on average @200k, that represents more than 100 millions per player per month. I beleive that it impacts greatly the economy. Immense effort has been made by the staff to have the economy under control. For an example, the GoC quest, that requires alot more efforts (running to the dungeons, killing bosses, sometimes getting no drops for ever) was put on a timer. Now, it takes at least 21 days to complete it, and the reward sells for 2.5-3 millions.

I don't really expect the players actually running the script to come here and say they agree with me I just think that if I want to compete with them, I need to run the same thing. No way I can focus on repetitive killing 10 hours straight for days/move around to spawns fast enough to stand a chance against a script. But I prefer playing UO than running a macro.

Not everyone that scripts is making 400k per hour. If they are the only person doing Balrons, which is extremely rare, then sure. But if they are leveling in Doom, absolutely not. It also isn't necessary to use a script to make that kind of loot. I prefer not to recall when I'm farming and I make just as much, or more. Well, not so much that I prefer not to recall, but the option doesn't exist where I farm. It is more work, but if that is your choice for a play style that is your choice. Fel is always an option. I understand that you don't want to be forced to Fel, but the option is there. I understand the desire to play without scripts, but it's not for everyone. Those of us that want to use our scripts should be permitted to do so. Just because you like D&D and don't think people should play UO doesn't mean we should all be forced to quit and go back to D&D.

I basically agree with the original points but I think reality differs from our point of view. You pick any game that is or ever was played online and there are/were people using scripts and programs to automate tasks and get ahead faster. They're autobuying. autofiring, autoleveling, automining, whatever. They aren't worried about a "sense of achievement", the effect on the virtual economy, or anything except the end result - getting the best goods/most trophies/highest scores the easiest way possible. Probably heard all the gripes before many times and don't care.

That's true even on games where automating certain things is strictly forbidden. You're going to face lots of people on Call of Duty with turbo controllers whether you like it or not. 98% of the time they won't even admit it, let alone feel ashamed about it. And there's nothing you can do except buy yourself one or get comfortable with the idea of getting mowed down without a prayer of winning every so often. It's in the game owners' hands to take action and until/unless they do, you're stuck.

Here on Excelsior scripting via EasyUO is expressly allowed, so I really don't know that you have a leg to stand on... yes, obviously it creates tons more gold on the server than would be humanly possible without scripting. But disallowing scripting all of a sudden would turn the server on its ear. It's too much to ask for. The staff is aware of what it does to the economy and they combat it with raffles and auctions, which takes a mighty chunk out of that gold and also gives people nice pixels to show off which generally makes everyone happy. I think it's a good answer to inflation, at least.

I completely agree that getting kills swiped/claimed by scripters is super annoying. They say talk to the player, page if necessary, but I don't want to stand around playing Magnum P.I. or fight with anyone, so I move on and they get their way. I agree that it's lame that this is "the" endgame. Not actually completing quests/dungeons/anything interesting unless it's to get another item to level. But it is what it is. If you want all the gold and items and beach houses that the script levelers have, you're going to have to do it as well. That's the rules of getting quick success here. You can choose to play by the rules or not, but the paths lead in two different directions. No sense in choosing not to script level but staying mad about not having what can only be gained by script leveling.