IT'S AMAZING!! BUY IT NOW!!

Talk about anything that's clean.

IT'S AMAZING!! BUY IT NOW!!

Postby PrinceCaspian » Fri Nov 03, 2006 9:43 am

Yes, it's AMAZING!
It's REVOLUTIONARY!

And now, it can be YOURS!!!

The amazing EA Five-On-Friday Screen Filter! It will turn those tough, angry inquiries into masturbatory flattery and fanboy gushing over your latest meaningless storyline! Let's watch it in action!

First, we take a real query from Stratics. Let's start with this one:

Moronicus: "When will you fix this duping issue that's DESTROYING the economy of this game?!?"

Simply place the patented EA Five-On-Friday Screen Filter and place it on your monitor, and presto, change-o! Now we have:

Moronicus: "Ohh! Will Boob McNutt ever find the recipie to the Mondain Crumb Cake in the "Crumb Bun" Storyline??"

Yes, ladies and gents! Like the noble ostriches of yore, you too can jam your head into the ground and wait for the problems to go away. No more pesky prods to get to work on the issues that really matter on the game, now bask in the saccherine responses that give the illusion that your latest in-game scenario is going to blind everyone to the fact you are letting game crippling bugs screw the rest of us over!

Dorkasaurus Rex: "We post about that insurance bug every week, but you NEVER ANSWER! When will this be fixed?"

turns into:

Dorkasaurus Rex: "Any more word on when we will see Moo Goo Gai Panhandler, the lavacious dwarf ninja master, return to Tokuno?"

What a difference!!!

ACT NOW!! Supplies are limited!

Send an Inquistor's Resolution to this address:

FOF Screen Filter
100 Malachai Way
Gatlin, Nebraska 43912

Offer void where obtainable.
PrinceCaspian
PAS Templar
PAS Templar
 
Posts: 43
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:49 am

....

Postby KDSonoma » Fri Nov 03, 2006 7:08 pm

umm, Caspian, u do realize I hope that theres much more involved than just "fixing the dupe bug" or any bug in UO. Its a process, not like there's a single thing they can fix to stop dupe bugs or most bugs.

They test for them, but to be honest, if u were given the time UO has, and the people resources UO has, and constricted to using the current code UO has .... u wouldnt do any better of a job, nor would I.

Bugs are here because theres THOUSANDS of hackers sitting aroung trying ridiculous things to find bugs. I know 3 kids (teenagers) that play games STRICTLY to find bugs, nothing else. They get a kick out of doing that, and they pass along bugs to other lamers who use them till its discovered, and fixed.

To actually fix dupes and bugs, they would have to leave the game intact, and change NOTHING in it, and spend all their time researching bugs, and fixing them. After a period of time, there would be no bugs or dupes, but guess what? There would be no players either. Who wants to play a game that stagnant?

I would much rather have the dupes and bugs in the game, and have the game changed as frequently as UO is changed. Whats the real impact on any of us of duped gold? I mean cmon, think about it, the economy does change when theres more duped gold, but then that group of scammers is booted, and during that time what real impact does it have on ordinary folks, who represent 80% of the players.

The cool items they want come down in price ... so its easier to get them. That actually makes the game more fair because the LEET ITEM GAP decreases. The way we get gold was made easier a few yrs back, to offset some of the duping etc ... and it reduced the LEET ITEM GAP.

Hell, thats a plus from my perspective. Again, I would rather UO folks spend time like they do now to provide fresh new things in UO. I do not want my game cost to go up, not even at the expense of getting rid of most all dupers etc.

The dupers impact people far less than some might imagine. Cheaters that use bugs get banned over time too, their loss. My 2 cents anyways.

KD
KDSonoma
King of Sonoma
King of Sonoma
 
Posts: 5808
Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 4:28 pm
Location: Round Rock, Texas

Postby Damien Kilcannon » Fri Nov 03, 2006 11:42 pm

But even you have gotten frustrated to the point of near toon-suicide KD...I remember a time not that long ago when someone that looks remarkably like you and sounded remarkably like you and especially smelled like you (J/K....kinda) was pissed off when people were using cheats in FEL and were dropping us like flies....

I agree with you on the limited time and/or people thing but I also agree with Caspian that something needs to be done about the serious bugs....Duping is a huge problem and I am sorry the prices of things did not come down all that much when they deleted all that gold and booted the dupers last time...I mean ya the price for a Crimson went from like 40 mil to 29 mil but if I didn't buy my gold online then I could never have gotten my uber stuff...I was playing ALOT a while back and I still never managed to clear more than half a mil a day so I can understand someone getting frustrated....Besides, Caspian's post was HILARIOUS!!!!....I still can't help but laugh....

There were a couple other points I wanted to make but I forgot them so I will stop rambling for now but reserve the right to return and ramble some more!!!
Damien Kilcannon
PAS Elder
PAS Elder
 
Posts: 1397
Joined: Thu Oct 19, 2006 2:19 pm
Location: IA
Medals: 1
Seth Medal of Compassion (1)

...

Postby KDSonoma » Sat Nov 04, 2006 9:54 am

gold duping will never go away, unless they quit changing the code (changing the game). Every change brings thousands of chances to dupe, and theres prob a million people out there looking to try new ways to dupe.

Its unfortunate but its there. And when I got upset, it was because UO wasnt putting in punkbusters fast enough, third party exploit programs are far different than bugs or dupes, which are ingame manipulations.

Out of game manipulations is what got me pissed, and the lack of speed on responding ... that doesnt take much gm time to deal with it, its automated, so there was no reason NOT to implement it asap.

That was my point.

KD
KDSonoma
King of Sonoma
King of Sonoma
 
Posts: 5808
Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 4:28 pm
Location: Round Rock, Texas

Postby PrinceCaspian » Tue Nov 07, 2006 11:11 am

Yes, I realize that duping is not just a rogue bit of code they need to hunt down.

But this issue has been rampant for YEARS and it IS screwing up the game. I'm perpetually poor in the game because I play legit. However, the dupers have more than I can EVER dream of having because they choose to cheat and they never seem to pay for it. And this is a huge issue... and may call for drastic measures. Does it mean putting a 10 mill limit on EVERYONE's account? Not an entirely fair solution I'll grant, but it will shut down these jerks.

But it really sickens me to see the dupers working with impunity around Luna.... there's the Vendor up by the North Entrance who is constantly selling dyed shrouds and other items. Now come on, they should nuke that guy's account (he's restocked over 20 of those things, so it's not as if he's an innocent consumer) or at the very, VERY least DELETE the offending items.

THAT is inexcusable. You can't stop the elephant from $#%#ing, but you sure as hell can at least shovel it up instead of leaving it on the ground.

The point also I am making is that there are serious problems with this game and the Five on Friday NEVER addressed them. They only post things that are either easy answers or fanboy gushing over their latest event. I'm glad it reaffirms their egos, but it's frustrating for people who are looking to them to fix these problems, or at least give the illusion they are TRYING to do something about them.

So, I respectfully disagree, my liege. :)
PrinceCaspian
PAS Templar
PAS Templar
 
Posts: 43
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:49 am

Postby Tau-Qual » Tue Nov 07, 2006 3:24 pm

I'm on lunch so this is short but:

I think the point PC was trying to make is we just don't hear answers.

a "We ARE REALLY working on it, PROMISE" would be better then dev silence.

Just a word about the issues, just to let the players know that the people in charge ARE aware of them and ARE fixing them.

(I'm pretty sure the dev's are aware of the problems, thing is, we don't know if they are actually fixing them or not, even if its one guy working on it...we just want to know that Jim over in cubical 3 is hunting down the dupe code as we speak.)

-Tau
Tau-Qual
PAS Arch Knight
PAS Arch Knight
 
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Nov 03, 2006 11:26 pm

...

Postby KDSonoma » Tue Nov 07, 2006 6:29 pm

so PC as the newly appointed director of everything at EA for UO ... what would u do? (assume u just got the top job overall all of UO)

What would your major changes be to whats happening now?

KD
KDSonoma
King of Sonoma
King of Sonoma
 
Posts: 5808
Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 4:28 pm
Location: Round Rock, Texas

Postby Tau-Qual » Tue Nov 07, 2006 7:31 pm

KD the cynic, but we love ya for it.
Tau-Qual
PAS Arch Knight
PAS Arch Knight
 
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Nov 03, 2006 11:26 pm

...

Postby KDSonoma » Tue Nov 07, 2006 8:11 pm

not necessarily the cynic ... more of a realist ... I know whats involved in corporations making money, and the things they can and cant do in order to please their board of directors and shareholders, etc.

its just a lot harder than people think to "fix things" when theres a corporation behind the picture pulling all the strings.

It takes people to fix things, people cost money and take profits from shareholders, shareholders eventually replace Board members if the profits shrink enough, and then everyone on down the line loses their jobs.

Im not saying thats a good thing, to be honest it sucks, I wish a good small company would come along and do something like UO, for fun, to please themselves and some fans, and not try to make it the worlds largest game, just the best game ... then maximize customer service to the point where they make a small marginal profit from it.

Problem is thats a dream world for the most part.

KD
KDSonoma
King of Sonoma
King of Sonoma
 
Posts: 5808
Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 4:28 pm
Location: Round Rock, Texas

Hilarious

Postby Irwin Hunter » Tue Nov 07, 2006 11:43 pm

Awesome Caspian. I am copying this to a Word Doc. I laughed so hard I think I have a hernia now. :lol:
Offer void where Obtainable.. Lovely. I caught that after reading it two or three times.
I am buying though :!:
User avatar
Irwin Hunter
PAS Elder
PAS Elder
 
Posts: 531
Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 1:31 pm
Location: Florida

Re: ...

Postby PrinceCaspian » Wed Nov 08, 2006 9:57 am

KDSonoma wrote:so PC as the newly appointed director of everything at EA for UO ... what would u do? (assume u just got the top job overall all of UO)

What would your major changes be to whats happening now?

KD


Are you asking me to be King for a day? Woohoo!! :P

Well, first of all, I would put a cap on the bank accounts as I said. There's no reason for anyone to have more than 10 million in the game. Even CASTLES only cost a mill. Is this going to piss off the people who legitimately got more than 10 mill? Probably. But the whole economy will be scaled down so it won't hit them TOO hard.

Next, gold is no longer an item in the game. It is kept as a record just like your hitpoints. This will stop gold duping cold.

Then, I'd put almost all resources on the duping issue. I'd suggest giving every item in the game a unique ID when spawned when includes where and how it came into being. And yes, I know, that would involve a gargantuan amount of data... but items like Doom Arties need to come from a specific monster at a specific timestamp: any dupes get deleted.

Next, I'd hire a support staff that actually cares. I'd bring on 20-30 new hires to appear in game to each page as a GM to give the ILLUSION that we care at least.

Next, I'd hire folks to do events weekly on each shard. No favorites, each shard gets a unique event each week, and every holiday celebrated. Japanese holidays will be held in Tokuno. European and American holidays held in Tram/Fel. Ilshnear will have special unique fantasy holidays.

Next, I'd research (and not yet implement) a way to move things back to one shard where reds and blues intermix. I'd outlaw attacks on mules and new characters, naturally. Before I implemented things, I'd take it to stratics and see what everyone thought.

That would be a start... naturally, since I am on the outside looking in, these things may not be possible. But if you are high up enough in the company, people will make it possible.
PrinceCaspian
PAS Templar
PAS Templar
 
Posts: 43
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:49 am

Postby Brianna » Wed Nov 08, 2006 10:59 am

okay now for my 2 cents worth

first off KD what are you thinking never ever ever ask a prince to imagine that they are at the top...gonna have to alert Jr so that he can stay by your side cause this could cause some serious issues little boys wanting to be king is all good and dandy but never let them think on it for to long...lol

now PC here goes on you after you get done doing all of that and making the game uber awesome im still gonna be complaining about the graphics and the fact that i lag everyday all day what are you gonna do about that then we wont even discuss how much your gonna raise the amount to play cause though your ideas are awesome at this point i pay 12.99 per an account and lets count them up i have o wait 7 accounts so this translates to $90.93 per a month that i play and i have quite a few friends who have even more accounts than that so the more i play the more i pay just dont cut it i can go play wow for 19.99 a month and have as many characters as i want and on as many shards/servers as i want(or so im told) so lets discuss how much your gonna raise the amount that i have to play cause if its more than o say 13.00 an account honey you just lost my business and more than likely alot of other people will also quit playing

and dont tell me your not gonna raise the cost because you said and i quote

"Next, I'd hire a support staff that actually cares. I'd bring on 20-30 new hires to appear in game to each page as a GM to give the ILLUSION that we care at least.

Next, I'd hire folks to do events weekly on each shard. No favorites, each shard gets a unique event each week, and every holiday celebrated. Japanese holidays will be held in Tokuno. European and American holidays held in Tram/Fel. Ilshnear will have special unique fantasy holidays.

Next, I'd research (and not yet implement) a way to move things back to one shard where reds and blues intermix. I'd outlaw attacks on mules and new characters, naturally. Before I implemented things, I'd take it to stratics and see what everyone thought. "

so we all know that in oklahoma min wage is $5.15 so even if they just work 8 hours a day that is $824 a day but then you want to hire peeps to do weekly events which would be awesome but you have to pay them also...how long will the event last..not to mention the research/dev part of it cause each of your events better have uber awesome items that only i can get so i can sell them for high prices...then you want to research going back to one shard omg the pay there

so with your plan your looking at about $36 bucks a month due to the fact that poor white folk like just arent gonna fork out much more money than what im doing right now....hell i had a complaint when someone told me that they were thinking about making you pay for 3 months at a time....seems some people when they go to pay this coming up month wont have the 12.99 option they will only have the 34.99 option and let me tell you i cant afford to pay 34.99 for 7 accounts all in one month means im gonna be letting some of my accounts go for awhile so i can even it all out if they do that to me

but i do like you original post it was funny and very true to an extent they answer a lot of fluff stuff questions but never seem to really give you the info you want and i fully understand your frustrations cause honey im right there with you...the most money i have ever had is o wait while i was holding the PAS bank but then again that wasnt my money that was PAS money so it still dont count...out of 42 total characters between me and mike i am currently sitting at about 4 mill thats not much especially considering i owe out almost 8 mil to friends who have given me money so i know how you feel being a broke man best we can do is go out and kill mongbats or such and loot loot loot

and quit letting me buy more fluff stuff.....LOL

you guys know you love me so dont go getting upset im just trying to make you smile with me :Libra: :violent2: :smt101 :smt081 :smt050 :frog
Image
User avatar
Brianna
PAS Royal Guard
PAS Royal Guard
 
Posts: 837
Joined: Thu Oct 05, 2006 9:10 pm
Location: Norcross Georgia & Roaming the Lands of Brit
Medals: 3
Bela Lugosi Medal of Valor (1) Zerena Medal of Sacrifice (1) PAS Royal Guard (1)

Postby crimson » Wed Nov 08, 2006 12:15 pm

Here's a thought. There is no way to seperate out which chars are mules and which ones aren't. Same as with new players/chars. With how the game is set up even mules tend to have some type of combat capability jus to allow them to mine and chop wood and such outside of guard areas. Now as to the new chars well that's what soul stones are for if you want to make the char uber real quick. Otherwise you have to wait. Now here's something new player buys an account that's 2 years old there will be no way in heck that you can get around that programing wise to say it's a new player. Just sit back and look at how some things are and how much it would take to program it.

Now on to items and gold. The gold I see as doable, but it would be extremely hard with how many people have gold and check stashed in their houses and checks on their characters. now on to the items. To creat a set number when an item is created would have to be one of the simplest suggestions that would ruin the game. There are too many side effects that would happen if EA did that. Lets see we get lag just loading the items as is at times. Now imagine that lag 100times worse because it has to have about 3 times the memory to store the item ID instead of a simple item properties, it would then need to have an item creation number tacked on to it that is unique. Then you have the corpses that have a crap load of items that are on them each one would need a unique number. HMMM item farming now that would just plain suck after they did that. I can kill troglodites so fast that I realy don't get a chance to loot them and they would take even longer to loot if they had unique item ID's for each item.

some things can be changed and some can't be changed without completely changing the game or causing extreme lag.
Do Not Meddle in the Affairs of Dragons, For you are crunchy and good with Ketchup!
Image
User avatar
crimson
PAS Elder
PAS Elder
 
Posts: 125
Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 7:30 am
Location: Sacramento CA

Postby PrinceCaspian » Wed Nov 08, 2006 1:15 pm

crimson wrote:Here's a thought. There is no way to seperate out which chars are mules and which ones aren't.

Yes there is: any character with below 50 on their weapon skill and magic skills is a mule, or a warrior/mage in training. Come up with any definition you like, but any character with low skills in those areas easy pickins and thus are off-limits to unsolicited attacks from other players. Problem solved.

And soul stones need to be off limits to any character under 6 months old and/or with under a certain amount of playing time. You need to learn how to build your skills in the game before taking the easy way out.

As for buying a 2-year old account on Ebay: well, if you brought it, then you are entitled to the account and all of its history. A new player buying an eBay account of an established player has no bearing on this and makes absolutely no difference... if they want to buy an advanced account then they need to realize they sacrifice the newbie safeguards.

And as for the checks and gold lock downs? Well folks, you have 2 weeks to cash them in at the nearest bank. If you don't, they go poof. No checks, no gold as items. Period.

And I really don't think keeping a double/float 15-digit number is going to add such ungodly CPU drainage. Especially if we limit it to artifacts or items of that nature. And even if it does add lag: unless there's a tracking number on each item, there's no way to tell if its legit or not.
PrinceCaspian
PAS Templar
PAS Templar
 
Posts: 43
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:49 am

Postby Brianna » Wed Nov 08, 2006 1:18 pm

and yet no comment what so ever on what i wrote so there fore omg i must be right...lol
Image
User avatar
Brianna
PAS Royal Guard
PAS Royal Guard
 
Posts: 837
Joined: Thu Oct 05, 2006 9:10 pm
Location: Norcross Georgia & Roaming the Lands of Brit
Medals: 3
Bela Lugosi Medal of Valor (1) Zerena Medal of Sacrifice (1) PAS Royal Guard (1)

Next

Return to General Discussion

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 27 guests

cron