I need help understanding the regional economy theme.

Same here, CPs aren't that much an an issue, even at low levels. The problem is my current template (Archer Mage) results in me not being able to open a door with a bow equipped. Half the time it doesn't do anything to break the door open.

 

Yeah, that is a problem. Last release i used a staff, and was surprised that the skulls didn't shatter..

 

I think it is easy to allow teleporting in the game and still limit its functionality vs walking goods from one point to another, my example of a way to do this follows...

Currently you can travel carrying far more than your weight limit but be encumbered, say for this example you could carry 2 x your limit and your max was 100 units of weight but your basic equipment was 45 units of this weight. This would mean you could carry 155 units of raw materials walking from A to B. In this example lets say it takes 20 minutes to traverse the map. At the end of the journey you offload your goods and teleport home. Thats 155 units of weight in 20 mins and you are back home.

If any form of magical teleport required you to be at or below your weight limit then the most you could teleport would be 55 units, just over 1/3 of the guy walking resources from A to B. If the teleport spell had a 15 minute cooldown and you were not on cooldown at the start it would take a minimum of 30 minutes to move 2/3 of your goods and your teleport spell would be down to return home, leaving you a return walk or 15 minutes more wait. At the extreme you could strip off all your gear and transport 100 units of weight in one run but still not be able to port back for 15 mins making it 15 mins for a 100 unit run and the inconvenience of putting your gear back on.

Note: also in the top example as the journey took 20 mins it would not need to start when teleport was on cooldown, in the second example it would.

 

Ghosting through a CP isn't really what I would consider running through it just fine personally. And some CP are significantly harder than others and some don't have intelligently laid ankhs and some don't have ways to ghost past... So it's kinda on a case by case for which are easier and which aren't.

 

as it should be, excepting the ankh and ghosting situations you mentioned... i think there should almost-always be a non-combat way to achieve almost-any goal in the game.

i do like how some cp's are very hard to survive.. like the one where you can choose to fight that giant mob, or all the elves, in the mountains - don't take a wrong turn though, cause ouch! do i think the pathing on the mobs could be a little more (and in some cases less) intelligent? yes, to facilitate the ghosting around aspect..but i do not think that should be easy at all.

 

It is all about Forcing Players to cross Control points so the gankers will have something to do. You spend all day mining just to have some A**HAT kill you and take your stuff. Give the players who want to beat on each other battlefields to play in, do not FORCE other players to have to put up with them.

 

Control points have nothing to do with PvP. They are not PvP zones at all.

 

Regional economies are a farce right from the start if they are artificially controlled. Having a resource isolated to a faraway part of the map is not regional economy, it is the artificial barriers that some godly intelligence devises to punish those who desire to go gather, travel and plan. For instance, if beetle carapace was only collectable in a pvp shardfall, we instantly have a controlled "regional" economy and the hidden and seldom talked about result is strife and corruption between players. If the game were all PVP all the time, then beetle carapace in a shardfall would be reasonable. Here we could not get away with hiding necessary resources in PVP only zones without hurting many players in an optional PVP environment. So the next best thing is to create NPC barriers to your gathering attempts. Those who want to control your personal economic condition will increase the difficult NPC content in these areas until essentially the resources on the other side are the same as the beetle carapace in PVP only zones.

I have read many many times that this is not UO. But what is developing is exactly the worst part of UO. That is the control of high end scrolls by the elite PVP groups. Those who see a road to contol (not simple rarity pricing) but coercive pricing will argue forever about how just and how great such a design is. We are developing a system here which glorifies the UO scroll control scheme and magnifies it profusely.

If we want to have regional economies, the only way to succeed pitting one against the other is to have open PVP across the land. This would be reasonable and honest. But to install PVE control points to simulate PVP control of resources is just dishonest in a way. This is a trick to attain the UO scroll extortion design on a grander scale. Underlying all the nice group stuff and community fun will be strife and corruption. One against the other. Please don't take this as negative in any way. I just wish it would be up front. If the design in the game is to encourage competition, control, and yes, corruption, please make this more evident up front so people know what they are getting into. I look forward to competing, overcoming the control scheme and etc. I think there are lots of players around who do not understand what is going on and may wonder what they have gotten themselves into.

 

In other words, you wish to have an Entitlement game, free of any challenges and full of safe spaces. j/k

 

Absolutely not, I want an honest game. If you want groups to control resources to be able to maximize local profits, that is a reasonable design. To maintain that it is any different than hiding scrolls in impossible areas ala UO, or essential resources in PVP areas in a consensual sense, or behind control points that are impossible for some to traverse, then that is not right. People need to know what they are getting into honestly.

The game should be advertised as one which requires average players to group up, to sign on for PVP, or whatever else really is needed to finish the story line. I just feel that these control schemes are being hidden by false arguments. Vauben pass hints at those plans coming to fruition.

 

where are they forcing anyone to sign up for pvp in the storyline?

 

Apologies for not being as erudite as most folks here. I have trouble getting my point across. I just want to add that the argument against recall makes me uncomfortable too. The recall mechanic in my mind at least is an attempt to be true to the game descriptions. People imagining a home, a crafting pavilion, and a business collecting and producing wares for people with perhaps more combative and exciting lifestyles need the recall function. I think the devs have recognized that fact. This is honest and true to the promotion of the game. People who want control say recall destroys the game economy. On the contrary, recall function preserves the game as promoted.

 

hm..that gbrings up a question i've been meaning to ask, @Aldo , thanks for the reminder.

recall. should it be made more available to those who aren't action oriented, and prefer to, as you said, have a 'business collecting and producing wares for people with perhaps more combative and exciting lifestyles', and less accessable to those with those exciting lifestyles - all based on HOW they interact with the world? i'd say yes and make it organic. someone who embraces the sedintary lifestyle of a merchant or crafter, should have an easier time travelling because they will not be as good at all the nasty bloodshed and stuff. someone who DOES all that nasty bloodshed and stuff, would by default of their skillset, have an easier time with the physical travel itself.

 

They aren't. But the push is for grouping. A little less so at present for PVP control of high resource (and perhaps rare) resource areas. And control points which I am afraid may develop like Vauben that really keep the average player with limited playing time the ability to access resources without resorting to buying at inflated coerced prices. These group control schemes are (I say again) reasonable designs. Everyone should know before plopping their money down what the scheme of this game really is.