Varista

Do quests that are actually challenging and not TTF/MA/RT/POD/ROCT Do like Path to Salvation, LSH, quests that actually take some amount of skill or time to do.

yeah I'm sure it is awfully easy enough to play on this server when everything you have is maxed and you have all the dark weapons you could ever want or need. But unlike 90% of the people who play here, I use a needle and a zero hit asteron striker. The game is still pretty difficult.

No what's stupid is wasting time on an ID with a harder drop than one with an easier drop.

I really hope its not a lower rate for "some" unknown ID's... That would be stupid.

The best trade I've ever done.

lmfao I like how people like this don't have the ability to read past a 1st grade reading level. I'll repeat it one more time, These names, along with the dozen others I posted, I deem to be wealthy enough to somehow benefit off of the system of overpriced DT nonsense. If you feel like it's blaming you or that you're being accused somehow out of this, then too bad, go write it in your diary because I've explained about a hundred times in clear text that nobody is playing the blame game, especially not me. Report me. This can be locked if GM's want it too, since people like this don't even feel like its necessary to think before they type out their butthurt responses.

I lost the icon, having it say 0 dollars spent means nothing, the forums wiped all the history of my donations, so it probably did for you too

that's strange because I seem to remember there being a little "donor" symbol under your name on the original forums Selah. Just a thought, anyways.

I included you in the first list.

I just wanted people to know what was going on. It was never about dark weapons, it was supposed to be a thread about limiting DT usage to specific things really. But people will get offended if they want, I cant change minds in a heartbeat, I guess we can lock this up if nobody has anything else constructive to add.

Im sorry who are you again? Nobody is blaming you, I listed 4 names off the top of my head whom I deem rich enough to benefit off of this system, I really could name like a few dozen other names if you want me to, but that's not really the point. edit: to prove my point further you can strip away all of the dark weapon EXAMPLES and the thread still has more of a point than most people are even making here. This system is dumb, it makes no sense. You can try to deny the fact that a small group of people are inflating prices but the proof is in the pudding. Yes, the entire server is buying DT's and spending them, but that's not even the *true* issue, what the *true* issue behind spending DT's ends up being is the small group of people who are jacking up prices because they wanna play off the ignorance of a noob ON EVERYBODY. I'm going to call you out and say you didn't read anything but the part that mentioned specific names and then you got bent out of shape about it because you feel like I'm personally attacking you (even though I blatantly put down "IM NOT BLAMING THESE PEOPLE" in the fucking post), but the reality of this whole thing is here we can already tell just by the responses (and who gets offended) who is for this inflation of prices and who isn't. It's undeniable that there is a certain small group of people jacking up prices. We've seen it before, and if you can narrow the price inflation last January down to 1 person that should be proof enough as it is. But please, act like I'm offending you by mentioning names. While I'm at it, here's a list of names that I also deem worthy of benefitting off of a system like this based on the wealth in the game I've seen: Selah, Under9000, Virec, Saith, Griffeni, TripleR, Jonas, Wilson, 252Psycho, R-78, Cyane, Soly, Kajex, Protoss, lildavid, Starlord, Shoutgu, Auroboro, Eres, Killroy, leezy, tru, Hhawk4, Izaya, Moiy Sanchez, Rayblasterx yada yada yada yada I could name a dozen more off the top of my head if I wanted to of people that could possibly benefit from a system where DT's are always worth 6x that of a PD, I even listed in my own name. So if you feel offended, don't feel offended anymore, because I've listed off a dozen+ names (my own included) to join the party. Again, not blaming a single one of these people, myself included, but based off the wealth that I myself have viewed in the past, these are the names that come to mind. Please keep getting offended.

Again, it's not about 1 item, it's about how everything is ridiculously over priced at some point. There's a thread going on right now, I will link it, where some one is asking a minimum bid for 5 DT's for both 50 hit baranz launcher and 40 hit bringers as a set, he claims that the bid for both of these will be favored in DT's, even if the bid is the same among those who offer PD's, sounds reasonable right? Nope. This guy is saying the CHB for his auction is 5 DT's but some one else offered 35 PD's, which is higher in value than the 5 DT bid yet he still claims CHB to the 5 DT's. That's a great example to how people would rather take DT's over PD's even if it's a lower value just because DT's have more uses. link to auction I'm not shaming the guy it's just a really good example of what I'm talking about. And yes, maybe he's doing the 7:1 conversion but even then, the conversion rates are technically incorrect. edit: another good example Not shaming the guy, again, just a great example. 3 Nakas Cards, you should be able to easily afford these things if you want to pay in PD's, what do the requirements of the auction say? ****No PD's allowed****

>Feelings hurt to the 10th degree

Amen brotha PREACH

Thanks bae :^)

Im sorry Soly

Enough out of both of you. Jesus fucking christ it's like we're babysitting 2 children. If you cant keep your personal disputes out of the thread and keep it objective I'll summon Soly.

The point still stands that he's not even really posting anything constructive. He can flame me all he wants but the point is still there: This is about DT's in their entirety, not pgf or dark weapons.

If you say so. I just want you to leave the thread since you have nothing to offer. As I said though it's not really about PGF or dark weapons, that example just comes up a lot because it is one that is shown and projected every week.

You could always read what I said and not look like a giant tool. But people cant do that here. It's not in their nature. When some one threatens their ability to make profit on a video game where other people are involved you people always get super defensive.

A lot of people use the excuse "it's simple supply and demand" That only really makes sense when you have 1 unchanging currency and everybody only uses that one currency. In real life, we don't have a currency that's worth six times that of a dollar bill that you can buy, for something that is the same value as a dollar bill. Here's what I think a lot of people don't seem to get or want to recognize: People will sell things for extortionate amounts to newbie players just like Saith said because they believe they can capitalize on the arrogance of those players. Bad stuff right? But what's even worse is that when they succeed, they just up and do it for everybody else. Instead of selling their blank Lindcray for a measly 5 DT's, to a new player, they sell it for 15 DT's, and then, since they got away with it, they continue to sell blank Lindcray's for 15 DT's to everybody; including the ones that know that a blank Lindcray is not worth 15 DT's (this example didn't happen, I'm just giving out a little example off the top of my head to explain it). But the majority of the people know that if a blank Lindcray isn't worth 15 DT's, that doesn't actually make any difference because the people who are in control are the ones who are selling the items, not buying. If I wanted to buy a Yunchang from RRR and a blank one is worth about 2-3 PD's, but he's selling his for 30, I cant do anything about that. On top of that, People aren't fucking retarded. People aren't going to just sell any item willy nilly to people that aren't even rare for insane prices. The people that over price their stuff are smart. They take a look at an item and they figure out how hard it would be to get that item and then they look at how many people actually might have it, and then they adjust prices accordingly. How hard is it to get Ultima's Engine? Relatively difficult because it's an event only drop from bosses, also because during that event, nobody is going to be hunting for that item anyways because STA is out and everybody wants that. So these people know that Ultima's Engine wont be hunted for very much and not many people will have it, so an item that is only worth (as an example I don't know what it's actually priced) about 10 DT's is now being jacked up to 30 DT's because some jack ass hunted it and nobody else has one. That's not supply and demand, that's scamming people. Just you watch, now that I mentioned this, it'll probably happen. You'll start seeing some one buying Ultima's Engine for 50 DT's or some shit. Watch it happen. Anyways, the point of this thread entirely was to raise awareness to the undying issue of inflation. It's not just inflation of dark weapons, but of everything. I know I used dark weapons and STA as an example primarily a lot but really, I was positive I said this in the original post, but I'll say it again in big bold letters for those who don't actually read what I say and only skim it, This is not a gigantic "gimme PGF" thread. This is a thread about our dying economy. Do not pollute this thread with your whiny "I dont have a pgf yet lower prices just for ME" crap. Again, I want PGF or dark weapon prices to go down just as much as the next poor ass idiot but I'm not revolving this thread around "lower price so I can buy dark weapons please". Stick to the topic, this is about trying to fix the DT issue. Donation Tickets are a cancer and they need to be fixed up or removed. Lets keep it to that topic and not battling over just dark weapon prices.

I always felt like the ultimate goal of donating (and call me crazy here) was to support the server in a meaningful way by keeping it alive rather than giving people mass wealth for spending $50. If I was to change the donating for hit thing, I'd without a doubt limit it and start giving out hit events more often. A hit event every month would solve this, make it impossible to add hit to weapons with DT's, and then limit the amount of DT's you can spend in 1 month to a certain amount. Nothing over 100? Or, here's a bolder idea: We could just scrap DT's entirely and then give out some better, maybe more desirable effects to donating, like account wide exp buffs for a month, increased DAR rate for your team, etc? Maybe you don't have the technology to give certain accounts higher exp rates, but honestly, to me, if I had to chose, I'd much rather just get rid of DT's entirely and revert back to the original currency.

I implore you that when you can read the post in its entirety. I spent the last 4 months gathering these thoughts and constructing this.

I specifically said I wasn't saying they did any of that but that those were just people I could think of off the top of my head that were rich.

Why our economy is bad I'd like to preface a few things before I get started on my large rant. First off, I do not hate Ultima server. Second, I do not hate trading. Third, I do not hate the people who try to make a profit whilst trading. Fourth, the only thing I hate is the state of the economy and the people creating the problem. As a quick disclaimer: Please do not take this post as hate or shit posting. That's not what this is meant to be, this post is a collection of my thoughts about the state of the economy and the reason why it is the way it is. Please don't flame me because I'm pointing out what everybody else knows is true. Thanks. Now that the brief introduction disclaimers are out of the way, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Wyatt, I go by the alias Varista in most of the games I play, though my screen name on Ultima server is Auroboro. I joined the server for real In 2014. I've had more than 2 years playing here so I think I know a little bit on what I'm talking about. I've had my time to fully understand the mechanics of DT's and PD's here. I'm wanting to discuss the blatant white elephant in the room on this server that I know doesn't just bother me, but a whole lot of other people as well. This white elephant is the economy. I don't mean the real world economy, no, I mean our in game economy. The act of trading items or selling them for PD's and DT's. Let me just get right to the point. Our economy sucks. Really really bad. It didn't take long for me to realize how suck our economy was. At first I originally thought that DT's were a good thing but over time I slowly realized how bad they are for this game. Our rate for DT's to PD's are ~6.66 PD's for ~1 DT. So, usually, people end up selling about 5 DT's for 30 PD's or 35 PD's for some people thanks to rounding up. Regardless of this, the norm has been set in stone. 6.66 PD's for 1 DT and that doesn't really fluctuate or change. It was a good start creating that unchanging minimum I admit. Ultimately though it just ends up not really mattering. Call me predictable, but I'm going to use a pretty good example in this case. When you can look at all the other PSO servers; Argo, Crystal-Argo, Schthack, Jupiter, Genocide, Legits, Nova, Ephinea, Eden; all of these with the exception of Eden all have one single thing in common: You cannot donate to the server for in game currency that is worth more than PD's. And yes, you're probably going: “Well yeah, duh idiot, but we aren't every other server, this is Ultima, this is how we operate!” That excuse is old and played out. Telling me that “This is Ultima, we operate differently, so deal with it” is not a good excuse to have an economy primarily run by paying real world money. That, in it's entirety, is half of my point. This server's economy is primarily run by paying real world money. DT's are real world money. You want a good example of how this is? Go to any trade. Go find out what any real event item is worth in both DT's and PD's, and then try and buy that item for PD's. You might be able to sell or buy event items for PD's, but most items people won't even accept PD's. PD's are the game's currency and we don't even use it that much. Most of the items we buy are gotten through paying real money. And I get it, if it's your choice to pay real money to get your stuff then I can't stop you but that doesn't not contribute to the problem. I'm going to use this as an example: Dark weapons. I know that's a very extreme example, but it's a pretty common one. People don't even bother trying to trade dark weapon for other items anymore. If they do happen, they most likely happen in PM's where nobody else can see but the two participating. The majority of trading in this game or selling happens with DT's. Rarely ever do you find a B>DM or B>DF or a B>PB topic where it says “I will trade all these X items for a DF/DM/PB, post here”. Almost always you will see “I'm buying DM/DF/PB for 500 DT's, PM me for more details, don't ever post here or else I will report you.” and nobody ever hears of it. People don't even offer PD's as sweeteners anymore. You go to schthack right now into the trade section and auctioning section and you see topics littered with people offering PD's as both sweeteners and real primary offers to things, you wanna know why that is? Because their economy isn't littered with an item that's worth 6x the worth of 1 PD that you can buy for 1 dollar; they also don't have a hundred people buying those currencies. “Oh Auroboro how predictable using schthack as an example how cringe can you get” Yeah well here's the thing that really gets me: You say that, and you make fun of me for it, but no other server is stupid enough to create this kind of inflating garbage economy like we have and seem to be okay with it. But no, lets not acknowledge that, on a server wide scale, we have a hundred people buying DT's for real world money and our economy doesn't even use PD's anymore. You, yes you, you may be the one outlying example of some one that doesn't do that but the vast majority of us do. I myself am guilty of it. But honestly, that's only half of the problem. The other half is all those cheating scum bags that scam others by jacking up prices of items and profiting. You know who profits from jacking up prices of items that are rare and powerful? Only those who are rich enough to buy them in mass quantities and sell them in those same quantities. The same people who are rich enough and spend thousands of dollars for the DT's to horde all of the best stuff and sell them for extortionate amounts. But what's even worse are the scum bags who come on every single day and over price hundred of items simply because 1 rich guy overpaid for a few items. Let me break down Ultima's economy every month: >New guy joins server and pays a few hundred dollars for DT's to gear up. >New guy then makes sure he can get all the stuff he wants by overpaying for all the stuff he buys. >Everybody sees him overpaying and decides they want to get in a piece of the pie as well. >So then everybody that has those items (not literally everybody I'm just generalizing for the sake of speed) starts to massively overprice those items. >The economy goes to even more shit and nobody benefits except the people that are already rich. Do you see the trend here? A new player comes on the server every month and massively over pays for everything and these jerks come in and start to permanently sell these things for higher prices. What's even worse than that is that since our economy is revolved around real world money trading, it wouldn't be as big of a deal if they went up in price DT wise if you could buy them with PD's or other items, but you can't even do that; most people wont even accept PD's in big high end trades and that just defaults everybody to having to spend an extortionate amount of money to get anything they want. You know when I first bought my Cent/battle I overpaid by about 40 DT's in stuff? I didn't trade just DT's, I traded specifically items but I completely regret it now, because the only item that can prove this argument kind of wrong is Cent battle and it was 100 DT's value when I bought mine and now my Cent battle that I paid 140 DT's for is now worth 100% less down to 40 DT's maximum. But most items don't even do this. As long as there are people wanting items like this people will continue to over price things and scam people out of their money. I can't really do anything against it or shame you for wanting to make a profit but this is getting ludicrous. 500 dollars for a dark weapon? Lol, really? Even more than that for a Dark Bridge and even more than that for an STA. I mean come on guys, 500 dollars for anything is ridiculous let alone 100. The overall issue here is that you have a combination of both the economy being revolved around real world money, things being massively over priced all the time, and people taking advantage of this and being scummy by selling them for ridiculous prices. There's only a few people I can name off the top of my head that this kind of system benefits and that's SogeKing, Christian, Sabrina, and Night. I'm not even directly saying these people are the cause of this entire bull shit economic downfall but these four people are names I thought of off the top of my head that would benefit from this kind of system because they are stupidly rich. Am I stupidly rich? Absolutely not. Is this just me complaining that I can't afford every high end item I want? Absolutely not. This is a complaint about why we continue to let these people dictate the entire server's economy and why we cant seem to admit to ourselves and everybody around us that letting DT's be the primary source of buying and selling items in this game is bad. I love this game and I love this server, but I do not want to sit around for another year watching specific people manipulate new player ignorance and other such nonsense to profit by scamming people and creating an extremely inflated market. They're ruining trading for everybody. There could be a lot of fixes. I have personally thought of fixes myself, one of them being specifically for dark weapons we could make PGF on the donation list for a week, or make them drop significantly more often this Christmas event. Either of these spit-balled ideas would most likely drop the price of this item down significantly. I can see the people that have dark weapons not liking this idea because the price of their weapon drops down significantly but nobody here really loses anyways. Those who are rich, can still get richer, but they wont be outright scamming people to get rich anymore, and people like me, and my friends who play, don't have to sit around in an inflated economy scoffing at the sight of the “Will buy Dark X for 600 DT's, PM me please” topics that come up every friggin week. I also hear a lot of nonsense about why it's not on donation list is because Larva wants more money and stuff like that; imo that's all nonsense, I'm not going to pay attention to that or encourage that kind of talk but what I am encouraging is that we all look at our own server that we've built together here and recognize that we have a lot of cleaning up to do. There are ways we can fix out incredibly inflated economy without ruining everybody's experiences. I'm not asking for a witch hunt or a ban hunt, I want this to get better. As it stands right now, Our economy needs a lot of work. “The first step to solving any problem is recognizing that there is one.” Thank you for reading.