POLL: Inter-Shard Mobility for the Masses - Is it time to change how/when the STS are awarded/sold?

One of my favorite UO obsession ("Come to the lab, and see what's on the slab!" 😂 ) is that, IMO, inter-shard mobility should be WAY cheaper and more accessible to "low level" accounts. I explained in other thread(s) my opinion about how limited inter-shard mobilty (not only, but surely too) helps to keeps alive the economical straglehold by the UO "Trade Oligarchy" on the little guy/lass/elf/garg chars & the "Elf&Garg family-managed" trader/crafter/arti Vendors.
Even keeping (rightly, IMO) firm some points (maily the account-lock of the system) I firmly believe that giving to as many accounts as possible the access to the STS (or, at least, to a - as little as possible - "nerfed" similar system, but one WAY cheaper than the actual 2000-Sovreigns-a-one-way-trip CT tokens) could only become benefical for many players ("Regulars", Returners or totally new ones), and, consequently, for the Game itself.
So here is a Poll about it. I hope that the two questions I put in it are clearly explained and exaustive enough (I'm not a native English speaker, so preventive apologies for any syntactic "horror"... ).
Plase vote, to give to fellow players and to the UO "TPTB" at least an inkling of what are the "masses" opinions on the issue.
It is only a little poll with two questions, but, as Mao (more or less...) said, "All the Long Marches begin with a first little step"...  🙂
Cheers
Ivenor

UPDATE - See Post Part II for the second question...

STS?

Shard Transfer Shields: https://uo.com/wiki/ultima-online-wiki/items/veteran-rewards/14th-year-veteran-reward-transfer-shields/

If they could somehow manage to just add shards to the moongates that'd be the best thing ever.  Instead of handing out shields.  

I agree with you in principle, but:
1) inter-shard mobility is technically a more complex issue that *intra* shard teleporting. To makes it simple, a Shard reside on a single set of servers (divided, I dunno if logically of physically) in various sub-servers (here is, e.g. the sub-s division of main Britannia & the Lost Lands for a SINGLE Shard: http://www.uoguide.com/Server_line . Every different Shard reside, FWIK, on DIFFERENT (again, I dunno if logically of physically, but believe the latter) sets of servers. And from this (too) derive the longer times requided for INTER shard mobility vs the quicker ones for INTRA shard teleporting/recall/etc - @mariah : I'm I right?
2) I cannot put ALL the eventuality in a poll, to avoid the notorius 1th Law of not Mandatory Polls: "The more the Questions, the Less the People that Reply". OK, I made this one up, but methinks that something similar exist in the Pollsters Book of Trade... 🙂
3) INTER shard mobility is a form of revenue for UO, and one that I personally consider legit. Only too steeply priced and too unbalanced against "low Level" accounts as it is implemented today...
I.

If other games that were similar can, then so can UO technically.

Feigr said:

If other games that were similar can, then so can UO technically.

From a technical PoV I asbsolutely believe yes. But, considering that I'm not on UO Devs Team  🙂 I can only make personal suppositions on the (economical & technical) whys this is so in UO, so  (for once...  🙂 ) my opinion on the matter have no sense to be expressed... 🙂

To answer your question as best I can - When you transfer to another shard there is a considerable delay before you get there. Shards are physically in several different parts of the  real world. The character isn't actually transfered,it is copied, and the copy on the shard you 'left' is removed (making it a very, very bad idea to transfer close to either shard's maintenance period) so travelling instantaneously through gates is very unlikely, as far as I'm aware. Having said that, I am not a technician.  
On the other hand people who have shard shields are often willing to transport items on behalf of other people.

Mariah said:

(...)   
On the other hand people who have shard shields are often willing to transport items on behalf of other people.

@Mariah - thanks for your quick and kind reply! 🙂
Yes, and usually for a steep fee, so we are where we started (Inter-shards Trade Oligopoly, etc....)
BTW: the description you gave of the process reminded me of a bunch of various SciFi books on the concept of "teleportation as copy / distruction". One of the most classical ones for all: Way Station (1963) by  Clifford D. Simak.
I.

More people going to dead shards to farm scrolls is the main reason I voted no. 

Mariah said:

To answer your question as best I can - When you transfer to another shard there is a considerable delay before you get there. Shards are physically in several different parts of the  real world. The character isn't actually transfered,it is copied, and the copy on the shard you 'left' is removed (making it a very, very bad idea to transfer close to either shard's maintenance period) so travelling instantaneously through gates is very unlikely, as far as I'm aware. Having said that, I am not a technician.  
On the other hand people who have shard shields are often willing to transport items on behalf of other people.

Sounds good to me.

I do not know the real name of it so ill call it number code.

Your character has a number code on a shard. When you transfer to a different shard your number code is deleted on the shard you were on. You generate a new number code for the new shard.

When you come back the same things happen again.

I found this out from a GM when I transferred from and back to my homeshard.  I collect battle Chicken Lizards. I have 9 full Battle chicken coops that belonged to that toon.  When I returned, I could not remove them from the coops.

I called a GM and he told me that my toons number code was deleted and recreated so the Battle chickens were not mine anymore.  He restored them to me with some difficulty. 

That is why you lose your guild and things like that.

I dont shard hop with that toon anymore.

We will not be gating to different shards anytime soon.

PapaSmurf said:

More people going to dead shards to farm scrolls is the main reason I voted no. 

But this people will be the ones without access to the STS, so, IMO, a good reason to vote YES!!!

LOL, Except that if more people are going to a shard then that shard would no longer be dead now would it.  That statement answers itself.  HAHA

Mariah said:

(...) When you transfer to another shard (...) (making it a very, very bad idea to transfer close to either shard's maintenance period) (...)

@Mariah
On this topic, there is a "formal" timetable accessible by the players with the various daily Shards maintenance reboot times? I've serched the KB but, in my clumsiness, I haven't been able to find one. I know for direct experience that the daily ATL Shard reboot sholud be at 6:00am EST/10:00am GMT, but, e.g., the EUROPA one?
TIA! 🙂
Ivenor

The_Higgs_1 said:

LOL, Except that if more people are going to a shard then that shard would no longer be dead now would it.  That statement answers itself.  HAHA

And this, in every concievable way, should be a good thing, UO/BS-wise, isn't? 🙂

I've not seen an upto date list (I'll ask about one) I believe shards go down in sequence between 5 and 6am local time

@Mariah
Thx! 🙂