HMR Blockhead

I could build you a perfectly durable fence without concrete. It would just also very perfectly stealable

That part is not hard, as there's a server setting that. The limitation is that I have no fucking clue how to actually make the mod. Depending on what direction the devs end up taking with the skill books, I may have to learn it though. I love the game far too much to stop playing it entirely, over a problem that seems like it would be rather trivial to fix if I knew the first thing about modding EDIT: Also, removing the books entirely is actually a sufficient, although not completely optimal, approach, since there's also a server setting with a global XP modifier. Would require some tinkering to find the right value to satisfy everyone on the server, but that bit is just a matter of trial and error

I'd actually say that my optimal case scenario would involve keeping the books, but making a few changes: - Limit the multiplier to something less absurd. Should probably not be more than x3 or x4. - Make the multiplier the same across all skill levels. Giving the skills escalating XP costs and then giving skill books an escalating multiplier effectively just punishes characters that ever use a skill without having first read the book. - Somehow disconnect the increased skill XP from the XP towards general levels. The current implementation makes it trivial to aquire several times more skill points than you can actually assign, because the incoming XP amount make the general level shoot through the roof. These are the issues I, and people I play with, all agree on. And while I'd obviously prefer a system completely tailored to my own taste, I completely recognize that people are different, and want different things in their games. Which is why I, instead of pushing for a highly specific solution on part of the devs, instead ask for the option to modify these things on a server-by-server basis. It seems both a more reasonable request and simpler to actually implement.

I am sad to hear that this is not the direction you guys are heading. I have been running a MP server for quite a while now. The story has been the same for every single person that joined: They play for a week or so and then quit. When asked about what made them lose interest, their only reason is that the skill books remove any and all feeling of accomplishment tied to mastering a skill, and that they'd be back in a heartbeat if the skill books simply didn't exist for any one. For now, we have tried to solve it by making the books "against the rules", but that comes with the downside if me having to manage my players and constantly be on the lookout for people breaking the rule, and the majority of the players are still not keen on it, as they don't want to sink time and effort into something and then risk someone else rushing past them by breaking the rule. The skill gain rate without the books are insanely long, but I, and every person I've played with, agree that we'd rather have that, than the current system where reading a book completely bypasses the entire level. In multiplayer it literally takes at least ten times as long to read the level 5 book as it does to level from 4 to 5 with the absurd multiplier. Even if you guys decide to keep in the grotesque multipliers, that effectively remove all sense of progression once you've found the book, would it perhaps be possible to make a server setting that disabled skillbooks for everyone? I mean, I'd obviously prefer that you developed the game in a direction that completely matched my own personal taste, and that of the people I play with, but that's obviously not something I ever expect anyone to do, I would however very much like a way to remove or mitigate the single element of the game that cause myself and my friends to lose interest. Just the tools needed to solve our problems, nothing more needed EDIT: I should probably add that myself and the people playing on my server, are all old UO players, from before the trammel incident. So that's the mindset we bring to this game as well. None of us expect you guys to make a game that caters especially to our wants and needs, but know that there are people like us that have bought the game, and are currently being scared away by the lack of a challenging character progression system.