Messages

Well way to ruin my attempt at lightening the mood sheesh!

"maybe more if the host is in a rural or poorer area."
*whispers* Dont let the host hear you say that

*shrugs* Well a server has hiccups every now and then just like everything else in life. Might be a inconvenience but im sure things will get worked out

Looks like it is. Either that or some very bad lag *chuckles*

Again you make some very valid points and have convinced me that though the idea of cursed items could be fun or useful it may just be to difficult to implement on a existing server.  Maybe if I spend more time on the idea I can work out more of the details. 

Ive always enjoyed the rp aspect of UO and looked for ways to enhance it. Ive been apart of many rp guilds over the years across many servers and look forward to what I can accomplish here.

I am FULL of ideas but they only seem to come forth when im near sleep or just waking up.  I wonder if that is a trend.. hmm.. but im sure I will suggest many more in time. 

Those are great questions to ask and I will admit that I do not have the answer to all that this may impact in the future. Lets see if i can answer some of these questions.

First off the removing of a cursed item should not be quick and easy to be honest. The option to pay to have it removed is one that I tossed back and forth mostly in the sense that not everyone wants to rely on another person to fix their problems.  Some may choose the quick route of dropping some cash but others may take the route of maybe hunting down a mage or possibly scribe which ever would work best that could remove this cursed item.  Think of the story you could tell others of your trip through destard to gather a tear from the ancient dragon to be free of a singing sword that has kept you up at night for a week.  Silly but fun.

As for the items it effects I did not mean just any items I was suggesting magical items as in ones you would find on monsters or in chests.  Crafted items would not apply for different reasons one being that if they are created of basic materials without any attempt at enchantment then why would it be cursed unless the craftsman is so horrible that he put peg a into slot q by accident. Now for runic crafted items that may get interesting because it can be looked at in different ways.  The item is crafted by a master blacksmith and though game mechanics wise the enchantment is a bit random I doubt the crafter would have such ill will to his creation to want it cursed. Ultimately I only ment to suggest items found in the wilds not crafted by players and only those who are magical.  You could say that maybe an item that has been locked away from the light or carried by a despicable lich might over time pickup this curse because of the evil or loneliness.

As for quest items I do not think these should be included in the cursed mechanic at all.  This would also be only a small chance that an item would be cursed not something that would be guaranteed for every drop.  Now lets use your example of the imp gloves for a second.  Lets say that you do get these imp gloves and they are cursed.  They would still be magical and once the curse is removed they would be free to wear and trade. Its a extra step sure but maybe it will be worth it.

Now for the implementation question you had.  Every item already in the game would grandfathered in to the program.  Think about it like this for a moment if you had a item youve been wearing for years why would it all the sudden be cursed? Does that make sense? So it would only apply to items generated in the world after.

Old and new players lets see about this question.  You know im not sure I can help you with this one because im not suggesting this to increase, decrease, or eliminate the gap. That isnt what this idea was suggested for but maybe with some time to think about it something can be worked into the deal.  Maybe a extra enchant? like a blessing instead of a curse? Give the older players reason to go back to the dungeons and hunt for that special armor that may be better then what they have? Might even give the new players a chance to catch up.

Im not sure what unforeseen consequences may come from this because well they are unforeseen.  This is only a toss up of an idea that may never see the light of day but it is fun to me to think about. Maybe that could be a curse though? "cape of displacement" Teleports you to green acres or void space for a minute at a time only to return you to your exact same location.  That would be one heck of a curse.

Im not sure what you mean by the shunned cursed item system your describing.  Im guessing you mean the item insurance and blessed/newbie gear game mechanics.  It would be similar to blessed but the item wouldnt appear in your bag it would appear on your person when you reappear from death and unlike a item you would WANT to have this one would give you negative effects until the curse is removed.

With all that I have only a small snippet to end with.  Personally I would love for the curse to only be removed by other players requiring materials they have to travel to get almost like a personal quest.  The curse could be detected before wearing it and wasting money by using item id of over 80 or a ID wand maybe not even with the wand. Also this is supposed to be a hindrance not a bonus to the player.  There are many ways to make a players life better and easy but very few ways to make them take a step back even if it is temporary.  That is all im suggesting is a idea that may take that older player with billions of gold and a top tier equipment and knock him down a peg for a short time because there really is no other risk to be had Also think of the rp you could enjoy by giving one of your enemies a cursed gorget of hiccups or a pair of boots that causes them to trip as they walk down the road. 

All in fun

Everything you hear that is added to a UO server is always to help players or expand on a once useless skill.  How about this for a change? Add a new type of magic item system.  First create a hidden enchantment possibility for items that are magical.  They only appear if the item is more closely identified by wand or item id otherwise they appear when the item is worn.  If a item is equipped with the hidden enchantment 2 things will happen to the wearer. 
1. The item will be stuck to the owner.  It cant be removed from their person or from their backpack depending on the item.
2. A debuff which was previously hidden appears on the item and is applied to the wearer. This also reverses all positive enchantments the armor would normally give.

Types of Curses
remove max health
remove max mana
remove max stamina
damages the wearer until only 5 hitpoints remain.
removes a large portion of health which shows as damaged health that does not heal
weakens attack damage
weakens spell damage
slowly damages other items equiped
Annoyingly talks to you revealing you when hidden and perhaps if scriptable makes them more easily noticed by monsters. Think singing sword

The list goes on and on but ill stop there for now.

Now there is only 2 ways to remove these cursed items after they have been bound. 
1. Pay a npc mage/healer or perhaps donating at a shrine which causes the item to be dropped into the backpack or be reset to default if its a useable magic item (ex magic harp)
2. A powerful (120 skill) player mage who uses specific reagents including components that are not typical such as a apple or raw ore.  I had ideas for this system as well but i wont post it all here unless someone shows intrest.

I know kind of long winded and maybe missing a few basic english grammar and punctuation but i get overly excited when I have a good idea at least in my eyes.

If you use Razor you can setup a restock under the agents tab for specific items you find in chests like for example to loot all the gems, reagents, and gold.  it then becomes as easy as activating then clicking the chest. This will remove all the chosen items from the chest if you need help setting it up just shoot me a msg on the forums