Feeling discouraged with RP theme

Discussion in 'Avatars & NPCs' started by Poison Ivy, Dec 13, 2017.

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  1. Poison Ivy

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    So I started playing this past June, and seriously playing this past September. I am enjoying my build, a water/air mage, and have reached level 85. While I am not normally an RPer in MMOs, a lot of people on this server seem to be into it, so I even got involved in the Tower of High Sorcery. I am playing (or was hoping to play) an ice witch. That's where my problem lays - I feel sort of discouraged to try this theme, since no matter what I do, I will never have a fully ice (or weather) themed character. Why? Because I will never get my hands on old telethon emotes from before I started playing. It's really aggravating to walk up to someone, announce that you're an ice witch, and they can make it /snow and you can't. Sure, I picked up the /breathesnow emote, but it's just not the the same thing. Now I am on the fence on whether I should bother supporting Portalarium through the Add-On store at all, since I feel barred from something so basic.

    I get the reasons behind limiting telethon rewards, I really do - it's to encourage people to buy during telethons, which is the whole point of having a telethon - they're encouraging people to spend money right then and there to raise capital. Making rewards available later is destructive to this goal. However, if the game is designed to draw people in and encourage roleplay, I am neither drawn-in nor encouraged. I feel pointlessly frustrated that I can't really pull a simple RP theme together all the way - ice gown, ice crown, ice staff, even bought the ice wings from someone... but no /snow for me ever, no matter how much gold I pay or how many other players I seek out. It really feels lame, and I feel punished for not playing since day 1. Am I whining? Sure am. I think this is something worth whining over.

    I hope that Portalarium takes these sorts of problems into consideration when designing their upcoming event rewards. I would like to see a handful of other common weather-themed emotes made available via upcoming telethons, or at least regularly available through the Add-On store.
     
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  2. Drocis the Devious

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  3. majoria70

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    Well even tho you did not get the snow emote, do you even have any idea how much more is coming into this game? We have not even seen anything. This is nothing compared to what is coming. Most of the time so far has been spent on intense development of basic things to get anything at all to function. I can tell you if you are disturbed now try being here Nov 2013 which is when I came into this project and for year after year of wondering if we were ever even going to be able to ever have anything we were asking for.

    IMO This is way too soon to give up on a game that is not even released and has 4 more episodes after that and stuff being made and added to the game continuously the whole time. For me I never give up and I keep asking for what I think the game needs and you know what, some of these things actually made it in. That is why we are here for feedback to make this a better game. Instead of whining (well your words about it) open up a thread and draw us a picture with photos and the whole works of what you picture as a suggestion. That is what I would do and have done in the past. Have I always been successful with it but of course not, but I will just keep trying because I think this game deserves good ideas and that will get more attention too. Your ideas are great and I do understand where you are coming from with them. ;) Also I would always pay the $5 for the telethon because if you have the rares you can at least sell or trade for things you might need for your theme.

    I think we need key vendors. Vendors who sell door keys to our inns and rooms we have for rent and it may not be the only solution but one I am interested in. Then I don't have to be there for people to rent and live in my Inn, they can just buy a key from my vendor and go unlock their door and live there and every month they could buy another key and that would be the way rent is done and the room and key match up since I have numbered the door. I did a thread already and included this idea and I did mention it to a dev as well ;). Also mention your snow emote issue as a telethon question and make it very very good and interesting why you must have ice mage rp stuff ;) Good luck.
     
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  4. Bowen Bloodgood

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    hmm I'm a little surprised that emotes aren't at least teachable. Not necessarily re-teachable mind you.. but teachable at least. Other reward items can be traded..

    Oh! Here's a thought.. and someone may correct me if I'm wrong.. but are not some emote rewards actual items in your bank? You can't use them until you open them? Add-on emotes are like that aren't they? If there was someone who has a telethon emote they haven't activated yet could they be traded?

    Alternatively.. why not request emotes be available again for those who missed them? Some store items are re-occurring. It's just an emote right? Well just a few thoughts.
     
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  5. Poison Ivy

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    For someone who has not invested in the game for years or been drawn to it by the enchantment of UO nostalgia, this problem feels like a barrier for me wanting to get that invested. Frankly, so does this sort of response. The purpose of me bringing this up in a public forum was to let the developers know that I feel this is a barrier to play for me, and that "thematic packages" for roleplaying are interesting and personally very valuable (if I didn't make that clear in my original post.)

    @Baron Drocis Fondorlatos, thank you for the link.
     
  6. majoria70

    majoria70 Avatar

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    Well of course that is not my purpose what so ever. I would be happy to assist you anytime. There is so much to see in this game and as I said so much more coming. It is an exciting time for this game. Finally some long requested things are coming in the game and really I am sorry if I came across in a way that would lead you to think something like you said to me. Thematic packages to address that and just because they aren't here does not mean they won't be. As I said there is a long way to go in adding things into the game ahead of us and it is not released yet. Best wishes.
     
  7. sgl2586

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    How drastically different is the game from start of persistence to now? Apparently this was a year and a half ago (roughly speaking), and given the changes I have observed in the past 5ish months, I can imagine quite a decent change. However an attitude of "don't worry you didn't get what you actually want, eventually they will probably/likely/maybe/possibly put in something comparable/related to what you want" feels dismissive. I suspect not your intent, but that is how your tone comes across. Your comment about the telethon in this instance remains pointless. The player mentions not having been aware of/playing the game back when it was available, so 'always buy into the telethon' means nothing for past rewards, the topic at hand. "ice gown, ice crown, ice staff" from the OP - indicates they may have participated in recent telethons likely DUE to the theme desired. But feels punished for not having played since R10 or whatever.

    If the way to get things added/looked at/fixed in the game is to make 'interesting and very good', then manipulative f***s are the only ones who will control what gets added to the game unless it happens to coincide with something already being whiteboarded somewhere. Does that make a healthy game? How about instead of expectations of the players developing, designing, and explaining WHY they feel something should be changed, the players play the game, help the devs (who do not have the same play time as the players) to get an understanding of where the game isn't fun, isn't enjoyable, so that it can be evaluated and corrected through design meetings.

    But since that's how this seems to work...seasonal loot tables for seasonal bosses. Make it a quarterly boss. Previous year's telethon rewards have a chance (5%? 1%?) to drop any random telethon item for that given quarter in any previous year. So a Q1 boss would drop anything from any Q1 telethon potentially. However, low drop rate, RNG which one, but ability for the player to obtain something rare. Is it a grind? Sure it would be. Instead the player could be farming ore or materials to replace their gear, farming gold, or rare recipes, instead they want the chance at the old telethon reward. I can even take it a step further.

    American Perspective/holiday oriented, but initial idea
    Q1: Groundhog - Punxsutawney Phil - spawns with 2 Adds, gophers which pop up and into the ground (Caddyshack style)
    Q2: Easter Bunny - Take the troll, change the skin, throws eggs instead of rocks, a 'paint' attack that blinds the player
    Q3: Bald Eagle - reskin the pheonix, metal infused/steampunked, fires damaging rockets instead of fireballs
    Q4: Krampus - Melee oriented mob who spawns adds the longer the fight goes on, potentially overwhelming the player.
     
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  8. Poison Ivy

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    This about sums it up. I will happily be a whale for Portalarium to hunt for ice, snow, and weather themed things - I will even throw myself into their harpoons, credit card first. But all this desire to support Portalarium means nothing retroactively, which dampens my enthusiasm (sorry, I couldn't resist.)

    My God, this would be awesome. Many upvotes for awesomeness.
     
  9. Numa

    Numa Avatar

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    Just to add the list of usable emotes & props suitable for ice mages/witches - there is a "breath snow" emote and and a white raven pet available on the add-on store.

    The arctic wolf and the polar bear are also tameable or available for ingame gold purchase on some player vendors.
     
    Last edited: Dec 14, 2017
  10. Elrond

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    I think an easy fix to this problem would be to add new themes /emotes to upcoming telethons this way old ones preserve their value and new people getting in the game can join the action with new emotes . So next time you meet someone who can make it snow ..you will maybe conjure up an ice dragon ( from the newest telethon purchased emote) . Just saying role playing a character can be diverse so perhaps suggesting the devs new ice emotes would help.I've seen lot of things added to the game and a lot of things added in telethons based on players suggestions.
     
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  11. Stundorn

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    There are much stronger problems playing a pure Air and Icemage.
    I've given up on this.

    When was this Snow emote given away?

    Are you the new TM for the sanctioned Tower of Water?

    Gz i couldn't do it, too expensive to buy another home and tower plus i feel corrupted by the skillsystem.

    Have Fun - Stun @Ajivani
     
  12. Poison Ivy

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    I'd love to see a bunch of updates on the water tree - AE DPS, for starters, and Ice Field being fixed. I have faith that these will come around eventually.

    And yes, I am the new Water Master for the tower - which is why I am so invested in getting this silly emote, or something very close to it (it was given away last January 2016, in a telethon that didn't go very far... that's why I am hoping for a similar redux.) It just seems sad to have the 'whole package' except for such a simple thing. I hope there's an acceptable alternative - and summoning some ice dragon or breathing snow does not feel like it fits in that slot.
     
  13. Stundorn

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    Seem i missed that Telethon too.

    Well this remember me on how anti RP many things in this game are.

    Just made a post about Telethon/ Store/ Quest gear and that it is weak compared to crafted gear.

    How can you play as an Icemage/Witch if the whole skillsystem is about branching out into all trees or be weak against those who do?
    How well will you do without crafted gear while using the Icegear from the last Telethons.
    You are more or less forced to switch your gear and loose your archetype role, not to say you need Fireskills to be fire resistant and whatnot.

    Gratulations to be the new TM of the Sanctioned Tower of Water.
    I needed to renounce due to many problems i have with this and no money to buy a Tower etc...

    But i'm anyway playing in the wrong timezone.


    jealous now, :oops:
     
  14. Spoon

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    The policy have been that all telethon emotes should be Teachable. I'm pretty certain that snow is because wearing the Snowflake cloak makes it longer. And I have such for trade.
    So folks like me and @majoria70 would easily trade for free whichever emote you'd wish for that we have got. We have done so before.

    I'll be there on Friday's release party in Lux Sanctuary if you want some emotes.

    Send me a pm and I can check if it is teachable tonight. (Eu zone).

    EDIT:
    Seems that the snow emote is still not teachable - will fix a bug report when the release forum switches today.
     
    Last edited: Dec 14, 2017
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  15. Poison Ivy

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    It is not teachable - I have checked with several people who have the emote. If this is something as simple as an emote that needs a /teachable flag, I will be so happy... absolutely delighted. I will PM you so you can see it yourself.
     
  16. Poison Ivy

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    Well, if I am not mistaken, telethon gear is basically all appearance items. It's not meant to have stats at all. You can salvage the stat-less appearance gear for a pattern to apply to actual adventuring gear. For example, I took the Halloween telethon bloody dress, salvaged it, and applied it to my fustian cloth armor set. Now when I wear that set of adventuring gear, it looks like I am running around in a bloody pink dress instead of the generic Assassin's Creed-looking tunic and breeches outfit. I am one of those people that wish we had appearance slots to wear "over" adventuring gear so we can look however we like at all times... but for now, I suppose putting patterns onto adventuring gear works.

    Regarding the skill trees, I agree that several of the trees seem weirdly weak against the others, but a lot of skills in other trees simply aren't implemented or don't exist (Pick lock, for example.) Judging from the functions of the spells in stuff like the Fire tree, I'd have to guess that they're trying to get one tree fleshed out well, and then use it as a kind of template to implement the other trees (I have no idea, of course, but it seems like it would make sense to get all the code mechanics worked out in one or two places first instead of nine.) Therefore, I have faith that I will log in one day and see a spiffy area of effect DPS ice spell like Hail Storm or something, and Ice Field won't "tick" against monsters and maybe even add a debuff that increases additional ice damage, I don't know, anything. Faith in new skills some day, I haz it... just wish I could make it snow so I could start offering people Turkish delight, lol.

    Incidentally, you don't need tower (or any other in game property) to join the Tower of High Sorcery roleplaying. There is already a fancy meeting tower that they have; you don't need to be landed gentry to run around with us, lol.
     
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  17. Stundorn

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    I'm part of the Towers of High Sorcery already ;)
    Cassyr asked me more than once if i want to be the one for Water, but i renounced because of timezone and such.
    Well, i would like to play in US timezone and i would hang around with you TM the whole time, doing RP, adventuring and whatnot.
    I tried to setup something similar for germanspeaking heck i wantet to support an Magic Academy in an german PoT get in trouble with the leader and end up beeing banned there.
    I'm trying to find likeminded germanspeaking roleplayers for 1,5 years now and i mosty play solo - yes this is also a whine :rolleyes::p

    As for the skills - i dont want to disappoint you, but i lost any hope and i cannot see any significant changes to that.
    I later will again concentrate on Air and Ice - i started exactly as what you like a Seidmen, a viking vizard, using flashs, making storm, freeze things and such and i made my compromises from time to time because i get stucked playing solo and need to branch out more.
    Actually i'm more of a grey mage with sword and wand, a little bit Gandalf style and it's fun, but i also want to be more the Air, Moon, Water and Life Magician. Anyway i once wrote about the Grey Path, a path of neutrality and beeing centered to all things to be unprejudiced to everything and get to knowledge and deep wisdom as you stay in the center of things, nothing prefer, because that means to neglect or even suppress the opposite, what can never lead to real wisdom ;)
    My english unfortunately isnt good enough to RP in english that much, i had to ask google allways when i post here about several words :rolleyes:
    And because of timezone i'm lost anyway :confused:

    We sure will meet sometime as i make my contribution to the Twoermage of Water and maybe we meet when we let it snow, if Spoon can teach us ;)

    have fun - Stun
    Seer of Drachental, Seidmen of Gladsheim, Pilgrim of the Grey Path, Member of the Adventurers Guild and Towermage of the Towers of High Sorcery.

    isnt it all about titles in Life :rolleyes::cool::D
     
    Last edited: Dec 14, 2017
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  18. Cora Cuz'avich

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  19. Lord Ravnos

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    Hmm, I know that some folks (including myself) forget how we attained emotes of yore. So perhaps an "original" teacher can still teach the emote, but the folks you checked with were "learners" and cannot "reteach" it now? I have run into that one trying to learn Tai Chi a while ago.
     
  20. Alley Oop

    Alley Oop Bug Hunter Bug Moderator

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    no, that emote is not teachable at all.
     
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