*sigh* Artifacts won't be EASY to get. They will be EASIER and gauntlet will have a better TIME-PROFIT ratio. Completely different situations.
And sorry for the following wall of text:
the artifacts are supposed to be rare. dunno why people think everyone should have them. 17 days isn't bad (and if you think that this is a waste of time then perhaps you're playing the wrong game because UO is a GIANT waste of time) I guess if you guys want to increase the gauntlet drop rates, lets increase the glads collar drop rates and inquis(rarity 11>rarity 10), so we can all improve our suits?
No artifact is rare at this point. People who have them won't sell since they need it for their suits. The system is supposed to balance the grind for those who have need for them.
Completely different scenarios from inquis (a stealable with 1 month respawn) and glads (a colateral drop from spawning, to which you are consistently rewarded gold and scrolls upon completion).
one of the core concepts of mmos are time investment, players who invest more time on uo should get more rewards, it's a simple as that
The gauntlet point system is supposed to be like this: You spend more time in the gauntlet -> You get more points -> you get artifacts eventually on a reasonable time frame.
No pseudo-random drops. No unreasonable 17 day grinds. Fuck, there are 32 different artifacts if I am not mistaken. Do the math.
Of course you can argue that this major concept should simply be forgotten. Well in my opinion this concept was created in part to try to fix one of the biggest problems mmos have. Unlike single player games, there's no end...
No one is arguing about forgetting that concept. We want a system that actually rewards time spent there rather than pretty much sheer luck. Grinding is supposed to be the means to an end, not the end itself.
Here are some of the means to get suited here:
• Peerless (Peerless artifacts and... 2.5% chance of that CC, SHARED among participants. That's 40 up 80+ peerlesses!)
• BODs (guaranteed profit, absolutely NOT fun to do even if you do it 90% automated. But then you won't be really playing.)
• Gauntlet (...)
• Spawning (Can't be done unless you have at least a basic suit, and even then you will probably get curb stomped by one of the major PvP guilds or paragons)
• General PvM (Sit and kill the same mob over and over for days until you get the gold you need to buy that totem. Fun.)
• Heartwood quests (lol)
• Reset BODs (Fuck... really?)
Now here's how I got suited:
• I started out with plain 2/6 jewels and and no resist LRC suit with a RBC.
• My guild would ask me to help in their spawning, and an allied PvP guild would protect us. Essentially I would PvP and PvM at the same time, HAVE FUN, and gradually earn my place here.
• The various guilds I've been part of helped me with runics, among other things. I never had to do BODs myself, but I did pay for their help by other means.
In short, I actually
played the game.
Also what happens when players get everything they want in a small amount of time? They lose interest and stop playing, I have seen it happen countless times in other shards.
By this point I've tried to recruit more than 80 players in this shard, who were seasoned players from other shards (and not necessarily pvp'ers). I've only managed to keep the most recent batch, about 6 of them (the brazilians from MiD/Ds), after a monumental effort which included:
• Having Hz protect all of their spawns
• Helping them do at least 3 peerless bosses a day
• Farming and buying huge amounts of leather so they could do BODs
• These 6 people doing BODs together
• Handing them out 115's, basic artifacts and good runics to start with
Now imagine a new player, without any experience, help or skill, or a returning veteran (just check the guild section), who already went thru the sore of getting suited but lost it all, trying to achieve the same goal alone.
you can't turn a pvmer or a crafter into a ppver just because he got some new arties.
#1 Reason people give me to not fight me: "Look at your suit. I have no chance."
Indeed, new artifacts won't automatically make them PvP'ers. But they will have more fighting chance than someone in crap SRSK or HRSK runics (and some don't even have that much!). MAYBE they will join the PvP scene. But one thing is assured: They will be rewarded for their time spent, and not frustrate themselves after their "luck" rewards them an artifact they don't have use for.
Want it or not, PvM and PvP are part of the game. Most players do both, but prefer to put emphasis on one. Since they focus on one aspect of the game they are usually reluctant to try the other, specially if they KNOW they will have no chance because their gear is poor.
Now, regardless if they try PvP or not... at least they won't be bored out of their minds.