Bedlam

[Harabakc]

Try having 30+ of the regs rot on you, after being told that was fixed.

[Calan Caitin]

Try getting one now that the fixes are in place.

[Vythica]

It is not suppose to be an easy drop rate. This is a time investing quest. It is intended to be a 'life journey'. Something that would take a moderate player 1-2 months to complete (one time). (Moderate being, 2-3 hours per day).

My 2 cents is that this is an insane point of view. 1-2 months? This is a video game for people to play in their spare time, not a job or career, and a game NEVER should be. Why is it that even a more than casual player shouldn't be able to get everything out of the game, or any game for that matter. I've played too many MMO's to count, and I think the game design attitudes are completely broken, unless of course, you are willing to devote your "life" to a video game, as the designers devote their lives to creating them. All of that amazing content I missed, as a paying customer, just because I wouldn't or couldn't be a "hardcore" player. Pathetic. I even maxed my level in many games and still missed a ton of content for more reasons than I care to go into here. I straight out gave up on MMO's for this very reason.

I understand the idea of working for a decent reward, but you have to be realistic and not just make nice rewards only available to people who can put in this kind of time (like taking 1-2 months out of their lives) for a "video game", just for some armor or such for my virtual toon.

I'm not saying that everything should be easily attainable either, but when I see/hear about multi-day spawns I think, there's something in the game I'm never going to see. Or, quests that require excessive "grinding", and repetitive mindless actions to get that magical "drop", especially if I have to compete with hardcore players for the same goal, I'll always lose. More in-game items I'll never see, more content I'll never get to enjoy, just because I don't believe a video game should be like a job you "work at" every day. Too many gamers already make their MMO's a 2nd job. Didn't a guy even die from playing WoW for too many hours in a row - true story from what I've heard.

I'm ready to give up on breeding (almost before I started), for example, and just grind for cash and buy nice pets instead. Personally, I'd rather donate, sell the ED and buy what I need so I can enjoy it right away. This is EXACTLY why I donated. Why give up on breeding you ask? Because you guys designed the breeding in real-life time, instead of in-game time. 6 real-life days for something I'm going to have to do over and over again just to get a decent pet? 6 days for the first breeding, then another 6 days for the next, and so on and so forth. That's just plain nuts if you ask me. I have a life outside of UO, and even though I've been on a lot lately, I need to go afk all the time to handle real-life issues. The time is takes to defeat a champ spawn is usually longer than I have to play in a row without interruption, and I still put the hours in each day where most of my real-life friends would already consider insane. I want to see the results of my efforts in game time, not have to wait days of real time to see the result.

There were boss mobs in Everquest (which I beta tested, same with UO, man was it buggy) that spawned only once a week or once a month, and to guarantee the kill, people from only large guilds had to devote volunteer(s) each day (or whatever real-time hours) to log in and just "sit there" waiting for the boss to "pop". That's blanking nuts. I wouldn't do that if you paid me.

Thankfully Excelsior is far from EQ in that regard, but not far enough in my opinion. I would think a free to play server would just plain be "easier" to play and enjoy than this. I do very much enjoy the fast skill gains at least. Not really a fan of gaining only 1 stat point per 15 mins, but you can't have everything I guess. For example, the amount of "work" I need to put in to obtain a bio-pet is mind-numbing for me, another goal only to be attained only by the hardcore gamers. I'm still going to try anyway, but I'll probably give up in frustration compounded over time.

But instead, time is invested on "fixes" that only have for effect to displease the few players having the ability and the patience of doing this quest. I beleive that on a shard living from donations, the staff should have a client satisfaction approach, not some:

The quest is optional, meaning that you do not have to go to Bedlam for the quest if you do not want to.

Wich sounds alot to me like: "if you don't agree with what I decide, too bad for you, just do something else, end of discussion".

I couldn't have written that better myself, fingers' last line. I feel and see that attitude as well.

3. All quests/events are optional. If you deem them too hard, or they do not fit into your schedule, you do not have to participate. We have 'simple' quests available as well. It is all based on the level of dedication that one has to give to a quest or event.
+Rayne

"or they do not fit into your schedule".. personally, I feel this is unfair, because I feel it is based on unrealistic hours of play time and a 'crazy' level of devotion which is thrust upon the player-base by the designers. It just means more missed content for me, which I hate. At the already insane hours I put in to this game, I should be able to experience everything a server/or game has to offer, not just "simple quests".

Thank you for reading.