Wasn't ammo added in the first place because of the poor loot algorithm implementation when animal oils were introduced to boost it back up to the level prior to their addition.
i.e vu8.7 and we got oils but after a few days of piss poor loot they added ammo to boost it up a bit.
I dont think so, as far I remember when the first loot change in...hmm...maybe 2005 / 06 ? They changed the loot to almost drop always like it is today. Before that you had a lot of no loot msgs.
Ammo was the replacement of peds in loot a bit after they removed the coins from the loot.
The thing here, and sorry MA, I know the truth hurts sometimes, is that ammo on loot makes you spend more on hunting.
If I just want to make a 200 peds run, it's 200 peds not 240 peds because I got 2 minis and 1 small global.
Imho, I think ammo should not be replaced by sharp, so increasing the sharp loot, but the loot should vary more in items, not in the amount of items. The MU of crafting materials is so low that sucks. The crafters barely touch oils, hides and so on. The crafting system is totally broken, people only craft amps, plates and explosives. This needs to change. There are many good crafters out there that just gave up on making armors and weapons.
Also, I think the amount of L items in loot should be dropped and be crafted too. Offer and demand, everyone wins with high MU of general materials for crafting and even more if the mining profession becomes relevant like it was in 2004-07.
The economy should be driven by players, but we need a return. Also, should be more NO L items, with sib and efficient for people spend more money on repairs. MA can then make more money like they always claim they just make money on decay. We all know that is not true, it could never happen or MA would go broke.
I am all for balance, be that in the loot, decay, efficient etc. So I really do hope this update will be the start of exciting new things, with more loot, more rewards and more players getting into EU. We really need many more players in EU. People give up because this has become pretty expensive to play.
Edit:
I do not believe ammo should be crafted also. Ammo is good in the TT. The money spent on the TT should go to the loot pool and distributed fairly among all activities that require spending, like hunting and mining.
Crafting is a bit different, since crafting also needs to change from a casino roll to a skill based system that rewards efficiency and skill.
EU really need many more players. I do hope MA really starts to make this much more rewarding and bring new blood into world. We desperately need new players...