How old is UO now? As much as people from other freeshards would probably loathe the idea, I’m still convinced that a single IPY shard would be UO’s best chance at a minor revival.

Either way… I’ll play on whichever, though I’d honestly prefer this 2.5 type deal. I think people will live and adjust to the changes as long as you don’t make them abrasive to the overall playerbase (which is hard seeing how fucking ornery UO players are).

That said, 2.5. One server. Balls to the fucking wall.

However, something I have always seen in most pre UO:R freeshards is that the very ammount of pks always ends up becoming a sort of oppressing “presence”. You get to a point where reds are like boogie-men (considering the vast majority of blues are not particularly inclined to pvp and would rather not come in contact to any reds). Every time a blue strays out of a guarded area he does so with ass in hands. Reds are basically on top of the food chain.

So the only real thrills you get (purely as a pk, forget gws, faction wars and what have you) will come from sparse skill-balanced pvps, or the even sparser ass whooping by a group of anti-pks.

I think adding a bounty to your head would actually balance this felling of “oppression”, in that you never know when a lonely pking session might turn into a npc driven Screwmenomoreplease. You won’t feel like you’re on top of the food chain. At least not all the time.

I feel that the biggest issue regarding PKing AND Statloss is whether or not a system can operate on moral scale. The number one issue in any situation of UO should be based on the ramifications of personal moral conduct. ESPECIALLY in the most direct and personal activity – OUTRIGHT MURDER. It is one thing to delve into it neck-deep and talk about the morality of X or Y, but straight up, PKing is MURDER. It is the quintessential morally corrupt direct in-game “FUCK YOU” of the highest order. The only thing that could be implemented into a game that the majority of culture would find more morally bankrupt as an activity would be rape.

This being the case, I am reaching a point where I feel that performing one of the most violent and malicious crimes, in a game that was based upon morality and the butterfly effect of choice on a meta-scale, should be, literally, one of the most difficult tasks to not only COMMIT, but to GET AWAY WITH.

And I am someone who enjoys PKing way more than PvP, and I have PvPed in games for half my life [literally, I've ran the numbers, it's not even fucking funny, it's truly disturbing].

I feel like PKing, at least in UO, should be one of the most shocking and intense experiences, all the way across the board. This means for the predator, the victim, both parties immediate friends/relatives/contacts/associates/clients, the media [forum], the audience [playerbase], other murderers, stuff like bounty board / competition / economic “victim” supply and demand, etc… it goes on and on.

PKing should be recognized as such in a moral perspective, as well. Hopefully IPY X.Y will be able to make magic happen with regards to moral decisions and actions in the game, with the upmost importance being PKing.

Whether or not the punishment or reward or whatever is this or that, I don’t really care. I really don’t. You could tell me I have an actual gun to my ballzak IRL and if I had my head lopped off and given as a bounty in game that someone would shoot my nuts off, I’d still do it. PKing is a lifestyle, baby!

Look all I’m saying is that PKing should be a truly engaging experience with more ramifications than just lost/gained loot between two people. Put some of the RRRRR back in MURDER, baby, YEAH!!!!!

Dewars n soda, do it. do it.

Something in the line of balancing the odds against new players a bit, instead of openly discouraging pk’ing.

I don’t know if anything of the kind has already been suggested somewhere in this blog (except for my own comment in some year-old post), but I think a system like this wouldn’t be half bad:

After a set number of kills in a set period of time put a bounty on pks’ heads that goes up with the murder count.

Then put range-limited spawn points inside dungeons and other pk-heavy areas that spawn blue “bounty hunter” npcs with varying combat skills. Some really nasty that spawn by themselves, some weaker that spawn in groups. Make them respawn often and make them attack reds giving priority to the highest murder count.

Also, put a npc in every town that will give the bounty money for players who sell them the red’s severed head.

It’s something simple, that would give pks, wether they want it or not, something else to spend time with (and in some cases maybe even worry about) other than just murdering every new player in sight.

red ghosts cannot be resurected by players or take gates, they have to walk to the chaos shrine

if stranded on an island, they would have to use help stuck and walk from there
ehh?e
ehh??

I’m happy making it easier and cheaper for people to get ahead by playing the game and leaving macroing as a slower, more expensive option. To me, that’s a fine compromise.