Magic items and server population: Correlation?

[Creager]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m under the impression that 'spawning rares' are set on a timer which accounts for server population? Basically, items such as vases, forged metal, wire… spawn at a rate which correlates with server population. Why not apply this same principal to the spawn of magic items, if it’s not already?

I can’t speak for everyone, but I specifically remember high-end magic-weapons being reserved for the bank sitters and the rare collectors on OSI. This isn’t to say people didn’t use high-end magic-weapons, but to me it seemed those who did were few and far between.

I understand every shard was different, and experiences differ from me to you. Please discuss your thoughts, and feel free to critique my suggestion.

[exince]

can't comment on the rares but..

regarding magic weapons:
Is it possible that the droprates are FAR too high?
- I go out for a hunt, come back with 10 or more magic weapons
- 6-8 of them are force and better
- I've never looted a RUIN weap
- I've never looted a SILVER weap
but instead i have found around 100 or more force (and higher) weaps.

Seems quite inaccurate to me...

[Kamil]

Lots of them were broadswords?

[exince]

not really. not killing any balrons. (actually, having balrons as the strongest mob in UO it wouldn't surprise me, getting "good" weaps). I'm talking about mobs dropping lvl 3 treasure maps and quite often magic weaps. and 70-80% of those weaps being > force.

[Ifrit]

I'd have to agree it seems a little high.
I don't think I've ever even seen a ruin weapon dropped as a matter of fact.
The actual percentage of magic weapons dropped seems way too high for liches as an example. On OSI I remember force weps being about the best you would see on most people venturing out alone 9 out of 10 times, and even then scoring one off of someones corpse was pretty exciting. Getting a power off of someone was like christmas morning, let alone a nice vanq. I reguarly see townies/thieves run around with powers+

[Creager]

Yes, I find the abundance of high-end magic-weapons feels inaccurate. I’m not sure if it’s the spawn rates themselves, or if the market for these items is easily flooded with a low population (<2000).

I've always played UO to pvp, I specifically remember that a vast majority of the time people fielded with GM weapons. Yes I would occasionally see people use magics, although it was almost always force, might, or ruin.

There was only one person I knew of that always rolled out with a vanq, and it was because the damn thing was blessed. Vanqs just were not very easy to come by, these weapons essentially belonged in the 'rare' category. They were rare items, for rare collectors.

[Faust]

Let me guess... Borric's lame arse dexer Galen and his vanq warfork?

[Creager]

lol, Galen had a blessed vanq, too? I was referring to Ariak's blessed vanq axe. Really, it goes to show that vanq weapons were precious, they didn’t leave home without being blessed =P

Its funny you mentioned Galen, considering i found this screenshot the other day. Im pretty sure this is from UO:R though.

[Alex21]

can't comment on the rares but..

regarding magic weapons:
Is it possible that the droprates are FAR too high?
- I go out for a hunt, come back with 10 or more magic weapons
- 6-8 of them are force and better
- I've never looted a RUIN weap
- I've never looted a SILVER weap
but instead i have found around 100 or more force (and higher) weaps.

Seems quite inaccurate to me...

Where are you hunting? I bank usually every 10k and have around 14 magic weapons in my pack at most, if im lucky one might be force or power, the rest are just shit and sometimes don't even have a damage modifier.

[benny-]

I agree that the ratio seems off. I remember constantly finding ruins and mights during the era...my prized wep that I ran with for a while: a scimitar of force. Dunno it seemed like back in the day, vanqs were a big deal with very few people using them.

[Creager]

I'm not sure if the drop rates are off, or if the population size makes it seem there is an excess in magic weapons. Even if the drop rates are accurate, I suggest the drop rates be based on server population.

After farming ~250k out of titan valley I've gotten 20 useful vanq and power weapons (such as katana's and kryss's), and probably twice as many less useful vanq/power weapons (such as warpicks, clubs and shit) which i sold to vendors =P Which probably isnt too bad, just seems a little high.

[Chance]

less useful vanq/power weapons (such as warpicks, clubs and shit) which i sold to vendors =P

Clubs, while not repairable, are probably the #2 1H mace weapon ... you could def get more outta them than the NPC sell price.

[Mikel123]

I've stated most of this before, but there's a lot of reasons the drop rate could be correct while we also notice a higher rate of magics:

1) less lag. more stable server. People can farm faster, and with less likelihood of dying due to a lag spike.
2) more accurate information - forums, etc. - people know where the best spawns are, the best way to GM their skills, etc.
3) people trying new things - I never did anything with my t-maps in 1999, mostly just threw them away. I didn't have a cartographer, didn't have a vendor, and had no forum from which to sell them. Here, I made a cartographer to try it out because I never had.
4) rune libraries - I'm not sure I ever knew of one back in the day.
5) rescuing dead characters - with multiple accounts and Help-stuck, it's much quicker to recover from death. I remember in 1999, it was literally a race to get resurrected and get back to my body. Most of the time, I never made it back in time, and probably died again on my way to it.
6) less players - farming spots were swamped back in the day. I mean, there were 10 people at the freaking bone knight wall at any given time. You were more often than not sharing a spawn with multiple other people. So if 1 vanq per hour drops on liches here, and 1 vanq per hour dropped on them back then, you're dividing those vanqs by a much smaller population here. Hence, more vanqs per person.

[Creager]

less players - farming spots were swamped back in the day. ...you're dividing those vanqs by a much smaller population here. Hence, more vanqs per person.

You make some good points, all the more reason why the modify the spawn rate in some way.

I remember farming liches in deceit, where there would be 3 or 4 people on one lich, grabbing whatever loot they could get. One guy would get the gold, one guy would get the magic item...ect... Yes, farming spots were swamped!

Clubs, while not repairable, are probably the #2 1H mace weapon ... you could def get more outta them than the NPC sell price.

Probably =P But for me, the opportunity cost of selling the weaps to npc’s is greater than pvpin' or just farming more cash.