Cracks me up when I see people say "Server wipe won't bring people back" or "If they wipe the server I'll quit". Does no one remember the wipe of 2003 on hybrid? People still stayed and not only did they stay the population grew to 900+ online daily. I Played this server from the very beginning on and off for years. I've seen the ups and downs and in all honestly a server wipe is exactly what this server needs. This server has been up since 1999 and it's 2015 that is 16 years.. 16 years of accumulating gold, hand outs, rares etc.. At some point you have to ask yourself what is more valuable (A) Your pixels that you have just sitting at your house and the ones you use to bank sit and look cool (B) An active server like it used to be.
Most people leave servers to start on the new up coming server such as An corp, Uo forever, Etc because they want to start fresh and try to get a head start on people who come in later on the server. The same would happen if you did a wipe on hybrid with all characters, items , gold. People would flock to hybrid to start fresh and pull in the old players who left because of the things that were added and taken away from hybrid. I'd rather have 1,000 new people or old players come to hybrid then care about the 50-100 people who still play here who only care about their pixels and afk bank sitting.
Hybrid has been up for 16 years, we now know what works and what doesn't, we know what people want and don't want. Imo the way the server is now with it being on life support the "ONLY" option to save it is to do a fresh wipe and come out with Hybrid 2.0 for another 10 years +.
Imagine Hybrid 2.0 Where..
Gold isn't worthless
Blessed Hybrid armor doesn't exist
Everything that screwed up the first hybrid doesn't exist on Hybrid 2.0
Imagine there being risk vs reward again in Dungeons
Logging on and finding fights 24/7 anywhere including dungeon pvp
Imagine the thrill of getting rich again instead of playing a server were you have unlimited stock and so much gold that the only thrill you get off the server is playing poker...
So many possibilities could happen with a wipe and there is already a bunch of players who said they will come back or still play with a wipe. Not only would it benefit the player base but it would benefit Ryan who could potentially make more money with new donations.
This server has been up to long without having a wipe and because of that the server is now dying despite any effort from staff to add in new content to keep the server alive because people would rather just buy the items off the few people who would farm the new content.
So I say, Do a wipe and Make Hybrid 2.0 and make Hybrid the best server again without all the flaws the first one had like selling gold on the donation site and actually using the new donation money to actually promote the server. Bring Mark back as staff and let him have free reign on the server opposed to last time and work together to make Hybrid the way it used to be. Also, before any of you say I talk the talk and don't walk the walk... I deleted all my characters and stuff (also spending over 10 grand in 16 years playing this server) and moved over to Uo forever until a wipe happens, Then and only then will I return. I deleted it all because that is my contribution to show I care more about a stable active server with a good economy and am in full support of a wipe despite the gold and items I had which are now gone (deleted).
As far as I see it you guys have two choices...
(1). You can complain about a wipe and care more about your pixels and gold that essentially has no value on this server anymore which you will end up losing anyways once Ryan decides to take this server off life support which will happen eventually even if he has no intentions to do it this year...
(2). You can be in favor of the wipe and sacrifice your items and gold for the better of the server and convince Ryan to do what the majority of the players want including the ones who would be willing to come back to this server and wipe the server and start fresh and possibly having hybrid up another 5- 10 years maybe more.
Either way you will lose your items eventually but at least picking number (2) you will benefit everyone including yourself when the new server arrives and the server is flooded with a player base and you once again have some type of reason to log on and play again.
The future of the server is in yours and Ryan's hands, Don't let pixels ruin something that could be the best thing to ever happen in 16 years.
Side not: I'd also like to point out that people didn't just grow up and quit uo, I have seen a lot of people from hybrid on different servers (mainly uo forever) who left because of Hybrid's state and a majority them agree that if Hybrid did a wipe they would play here again but only until then. Please don't be selfish and only think about yourself, think about the server as a whole and vote for a fresh wipe.. I did my part now do yours. At the rate Hybrid is going you will end up losing your pixels and items anyways unless you are content being the only active players on the server for the remaining time the server is up, then by all means vote against it.