UO Second Age

The recent weapon loot drop adjustment which occurred during the "Clean up Britannia" event appears to have been quite drastic. I had initially assumed that this adjustment was just temporary for that event -- but it appears that it was not.

Magic weapon loot is a driving element in my enjoyment for playing and staying on UOSA. If the adjustment needs to be permanent, then so be it. But I would like to understand how this adjustment compares to original UO drop rates? Is there anyway to dig up some statistics on this from back in the day ? What those are .... I 'm not sure. So hopefully someone will have some knowledge.

If we are unable to establish what original UO weapon loot rates were, it would be great and very appreciated if Anarcho/Boom would do some testing to understand the marked difference this adjustment has made. At the very least, perhaps a middle road could be found, and if not adjusted back to what they originally were, at least tweaked up a bit. Hopefully, testing will support the need for the upward tweak.

Looking forward to hearing some feedback on this.

I'm by no means and expert in this, but I've been farming EG's quite a bit over the past 3 weeks and I have yet to have a Vanq weapon drop. Presuming that EG's have the chance to drop a vanq weapon, of course.

I totally agree with you. Since the "Clean up Britannia" event, I 've not gotten even one weapon I could keep. That is what caught my attention.

The point is, like OSI, good weapons are hard to come by. So, you have to farm the gold to buy from the 9 years of liberally farmed stock. Ps I don't farm and got a 25 force hally the other day from spawn.

Rhetorical question here, (not asking the GMs to respond), but ... as far as the re balance that was done @ TUB commencement, was that done to fix something or revert from a previous adjustment? was it done as t2a history suggested? I'm not sure... but, in GMing two lock pickers, farming hundreds of t maps, and let just say ~2 million in gold at lich lords / gazers / tera keep... (i've picked up some great loot), but no Vanq Halberds!

^ most of this occurred from Oct 2016-July 2017.

Looking at aspade's chart here shows quite a large change to the stats appearing on magic drops, not subtle by any means. I am not sure of his sample sizes in comparison, but I am assuming they are pretty much the same.

On the subject of era accuracy, I am not sure if there has been much of a conversation on it and not much evidence to go by. Some things are known to be EA such as; what monsters drop what T-maps, popular spawn gold rates, NPC equipment, dungeon/tmap chests, what is produced by skinning, and other things with recorded history.

As far as prefix/suffix rolls on magic items go, I am uncertain if there is any historical data that UOSA is currently using and if there is any out there left undiscovered, perhaps a good area to explore.

Thinking back on past conversations about loot tables, I am pretty sure it was said by Derrick that there is a lot of work left unfinished on loot tables in general and that many things that mobs drop are placeholder.

Fox wrote:Rhetorical question here, (not asking the GMs to respond), but ... as far as the re balance that was done @ TUB commencement, was that done to fix something or revert from a previous adjustment? was it done as t2a history suggested? I'm not sure... but, in GMing two lock pickers, farming hundreds of t maps, and let just say ~2 million in gold at lich lords / gazers / tera keep... (i've picked up some great loot), but no Vanq Halberds!

^ most of this occurred from Oct 2016-July 2017.

^ 1.5 mill in tmaps, 2 vanq halberds
1 GM lockpicker, 2 vanq halberds, and 3 charged halberds that would make any man drool.

As a fairly newcomer (3-years), I have a few questions:

-Why after almost 10-years is a loot drop adjustment needed now?
-Did the imbalance become more apparent as more people left the shard (too many Vanqs per player with the lower population)?
-Is it fair to the players who didn't leave, that the loot they typically pursue just got harder to get?
-Are we are adjusting the loot drop to reduce the amount of weapons players actually keep (good weps are hoarded, bad weps are thrown away or sold)?
-Wouldn't healthy loot drops encourage more game-play?
-Would bad loot become frustrating, resulting in people getting bored and moving on?

If given better reasons for the changes, maybe the player base could offer better suggestions. At the very least, we would have a better understanding, and possible agree the changes were needed.

In closing, I would like to post a quote from the Second Age Shard Info Page: Tampering with the era in hope of achieving balance is not something that we will do, nor do we believe is achievable across all play styles.

Just my 2-cents

May I offer the following with regard to the recent Weapon loot drop adjustment:
1. Player base is down
2. Learning curve is steep for new players
3. Weapon Vendors -- Current vendors who sell weapons are very, very limited, compared to the past
4. Weapon loot drops (decent weapons) are vital to the success of new players
5. New players, in most instances, are unable to pay the exorbitant , escalated prices that veterans charge for good, high-end horded weapons
6. Players do not want to buy high-end weapons, they want the thrill / opportunity of finding their own
7. The excitement of finding a really decent high-end weapon keeps players coming back for more!
8. Original UO weapon loot drops were never at this drastically low adjusted multiplier
9. Mob spawn rates should not be reduced if weapon loot drop multiplier is upwardly adjusted / re-established to original levels
10. My understanding of weapons is that there is a built-in natural check and balance -- after so many repairs, they will be destroyed

As a community, we need to foster new players and do everything we can to keep them here -- as well as keep the interest of the current player base. An upward tweak or a revert back to original levels will support these.

Boom / Anarcho -- we eagerly await your decision on this vitally important issue.

I'm with Shiloh on this. The equilibrium has been shifted in favour of those who have everything already. A tweak, or reset to previous config, in favour of new players would be a great move.

What is an EG?

Feyde wrote:I'm by no means and expert in this, but I've been farming EG's quite a bit over the past 3 weeks and I have yet to have a Vanq weapon drop. Presuming that EG's have the chance to drop a vanq weapon, of course.

Elder Gazer

I think they did this in conjunction with the TuB event to decrease item count in the game on weps that people would hoard over the next several years. I don't mind it as much because the weapons we do find that are good are only that much more valuable, but I can see where this could make it more difficult to newcomers. The amount of mid-range to high end weapons prior to this adjustment was ridiculously high. Nobody needs a box of 125 +25 Power, or 4 boxes of +20 Power most with charges or durability bonuses as well. This is what I had not even really trying prior to TuB. It has all been trashed and now I struggle to get good weapons like the rest of you.

I agree with the previous posters. If the change was done for era accuracy a brief motivation would be appreciated. The effect on item count will likely be very marginal, while the discouraging effect on new players might be more than marginal.

Grofus wrote:I think they did this in conjunction with the TuB event to decrease item count in the game on weps that people would hoard over the next several years. I don't mind it as much because the weapons we do find that are good are only that much more valuable, but I can see where this could make it more difficult to newcomers. The amount of mid-range to high end weapons prior to this adjustment was ridiculously high. Nobody needs a box of 125 +25 Power, or 4 boxes of +20 Power most with charges or durability bonuses as well. This is what I had not even really trying prior to TuB. It has all been trashed and now I struggle to get good weapons like the rest of you.

I agree completely. And I can completely understand wanting to "de-clutter" the shard to reduce lag, boot times, server saves, etc. The question is this:

Wouldn't making these items more rare ENCOURAGE hoarding? I think events like TuB have a better effect, while not discouraging game-play. Maybe run a TuB event that places a higher point value on Vanq and Power weps to discourage hoarding.

Not everyone PVP's. My DSL connect is so slow, that half the time I don't even bother to run SO I play this game mostly to socialize, craft, and PvM. Since I can't PvP, I try to support that aspect of the game being an "arms dealer". This kind of change makes that aspect of play much harder for players like me.

No matter what you do, I know people will bitch. I respect that, and try to keep my complaints to a minimum. Additionally, I am thankful to those who take their personal time to keep this little piece of history going. Just hoping for a little discussion on this one.