Does UO ... Have a Future?

[Ancient Sosarian]

Hail Sosarians,

I pose this Question for once more Many Beloved Friends have Departed during the year some call 2012. This has become an Annual occurrence with Few, if ANY, new folks coming along to replace those Departed and/or Deceased. While I Myself thought I could NEVER consider Departure ... I'd be Lying if I said I was not considering it often in recent days.

I invite, no I Beg, any Developers or EA Staff to chime in HERE, as well as any Current or Former Citizens of Sosaria.

Please allay OR confirm my darkest concerns or fears.

I hope many will consider posting their thoughts and views.

An SoS​

 

[old gypsy]

I think its safe to assume that our UO devs don't want to see UO go away any more than we do. Hang in there. UO has a future as long as those who love this game refuse to unsub over setbacks like the one being discussed today.

 

[Lady Storm]

After reading your post I had the little kitty hanging on a clothesline like pop in my head and the saying "Hang in there Kitty Fridays coming"
Yes we loose players and gain, some of our very oldest have gone by passing to the gamers hall of fame in the sky as many think of it... and some have RL step in and pull them away kicking and screaming.... others tire and drift off for greener pastures, some return and say the grass might have looked green but tasted lousy. We must understand RL has alot of things going for it ... family growing and needing more attention, job changes, military service, life , death, changes we cant control.
UO is 15 years old... I have heard it was dying from almost day 2...
We do get new players.
We do get returning vets who can be short term gone to ages past and they are in love all over again with uo...
We all think of leaving when things get stressfull, play time is one of the first to go...
But to be honest UO has saved so many peoples sanity, when life got so bad they had somewhere to go..
Some I know who have a hard time dealing wiht people find the rp and chatting a way to socialize and feel not so alone.
I would like to think we will live on till they turn off the web... hehe I know I am dreaming but its nice to dream sometimes....
You ask for a reason to stay....
I can loan you mine.
Freedom to do nothing and still get ahead... ok ill explain.
Wow - you have to fight to get any xp and well unless you fly all over the bloody place you have to do quests and fighting.
UO - I can log in and pick flowers out of my garden stop for a minute and get a cup of tea and a cookie and come back to my little farmer and she is still waiting for me. Cook gather wood , ore , heck anything I need, no one is pushing me to do anything and I can gain just talking to people! I am free to do what I want when I want. Freedom. what more do you want?

 

[DJAd]

UO4EVER

 

[yars]

i wont close the acct til they stop the game, but im always looking for a better opportunity to spend a monthly sub

 

[Tanivar]

I'm just pretty much tired of more & more items and the mega-hp monsters. I bought ML & SA and all I really got that was worthwhile was Imbuing that pretty much counters much of the combat changes of AoS. Other than that the two expansions were basically a waste of money. Think I've been in a ML dungeon maybe a dozen times, money down the sewer.

I play basically SE on back, and they are destroying the old dungeons, one after the other, go in stealthed to loot the monster you killed at the entrance to a third level and your promptly killed.

 

[Ron Silverbeard]

I will stay here until they plug the server-Cords...
Or someone plug my server cords to my heart...
Whatever comes first

 

[Frarc]

I'm not going anywhere....

 

[Eärendil]

Same here: They will have to get my mouse out of my dead cold hand...

 

[Viquire]

I am down to two accts regularly active, but they will stay subbed while things get sorted out, even if I do not log in daily.

 

[Thunderz]

If they Ever decide to Close it down ill offer we buy it and keep it alive ourselves id pay my sub still to the engineers of us and the developers to keep it going as a hobby.

Thunderz

 

[silent]

I think most people will say they will stay until the end or if they lose their stuff. Since the general policy is they won't replace items from bugs, account hacks, or in this case reverts they will continue to lose more people until they revisit the stance on replacing items and characters. Personally I plan to stay until the bitter end however if i were to lose characters or properties I've spent years building and aquiring that would be the end for me.

 

[old gypsy]

I've taken vacations from UO in the past, but I'm hooked - totally - and I'll probably stay that way until the lights go out and all the servers go down for the last time. Hopefully, that won't be for a very long time!

 

[MalagAste]

Not leaving till after the credits and the fat lady has sung...

I've had many friends go and few return.... I've had new folk come along but I'm ever hopeful. Sometimes my hope wanes and I get a bit down... but then I see how hard the DEV's really are trying and I get hopeful again.

As to the DEV's... Next time I'd suggest you leave the publish on Origins and whatever Asian shard for a FULL WEEK before putting it the rest of us poor slobs to really get the "bugs" out. Just a suggestion take it or leave it. And certainly before you publish anything anywhere please inform us first. A bit of warning would be appreciated. We realize you are as anxious as we are to see your work go live .... but we also love what we have so... we like things to be secure. Those on Origins signed up to be test monkeys... The rest of us not so much.


I mean I try a few things out on TC1 but those are only the things I have interest in... I haven't the time to put any serious play into a shard that gets wiped on a regular basis.

 

[Donal Mor]

What about wiping the shards? Reset ingame item codes and vet rewards. Would you stay? Consolidating down to a few shards. Keep shards one format... all Fel rules, all Tram rules, or all Siege rules. Maybe shake up the item cost structure (tripling prices?) so that more gold gets sunk from the get go. Eliminate transfers.

This game was more fun when it was younger...

 

[old gypsy]

What about wiping the shards? Reset ingame item codes and vet rewards. Would you stay? Consolidating down to a few shards. Keep shards one format... all Fel rules, all Tram rules, or all Siege rules. Maybe shake up the item cost structure (tripling prices?) so that more gold gets sunk from the get go. Eliminate transfers.

This game was more fun when it was younger...

That's almost like saying "erase my years and life history and let me go back and start over again." As tempting as that may sound at times, I wouldn't really want to do that in UO any more than I would want to do that in RL.

 

[Leather Lucy]

That's almost like saying "erase my years and life history and let me go back and start over again." As tempting as that may sound at times, I wouldn't really want to do that in UO any more than I would want to do that in RL.

Aye I understand that, still, I love the fresh crisp feeling of making a brand new character on a shard I've never touched. I really enjoy the 'early days' getting your first row of crates/bags/pouches or whatever in your bank box..... hehe, gonna make a new char right now since I'm too scared to log in any of my regulars at the minute lol. See you on Sakura in five mins!

 

[old gypsy]

Aye I understand that, still, I love the fresh crisp feeling of making a brand new character on a shard I've never touched. I really enjoy the 'early days' getting your first row of crates/bags/pouches or whatever in your bank box..... hehe, gonna make a new char right now since I'm too scared to log in any of my regulars at the minute lol. See you on Sakura in five mins!

Good memories are like good friends. They never go away. Have fun!

 

[Tyrath]

I had to leave just as I had to come back. RL will always win in the end but UO sometimes gives it a good run for its money

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

No one can say for sure when one's hobby is owned by Electronic Arts!

But it is safe to say that UO most-likely has a future.

-Galen's player

 

[A Zombie]

I dunno about Sosaria's future. Deep thinking for someone who has to eat 3 brains a day just to be able to to remember to wipe his own dusty hind end. If they do pull the plug, In the words of that everlasting know it all, Yogurt, God willing we will all meet again in UO2: the search for more money.

(OOC, the "game" itself really means, well, not much to me anymore. Its the friendships and interaction with certain others that will keep me a subscriber til the end. Oh and as someone mentioned the freedom to do whatever I want)

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

I think UO EASILY has a future, but it would require a bit of internal focus from the Team to make it happen. First of all, get stuff figured out with the whole Atlantic thing. From what I read in the thread about it last night, it highlights another reason why I have ALWAYS been against being able to x-fer items cross-shard. Seems like it's caused more problems than not. Hopefully there is some form of backup to return those lost characters to the owners intact.

Afterwards, I think that the Devs need to give the Event Mods the training and ability to run better global, longer term events/scenarios. Not events scheduled at Specific Place A at Specific Time O'Clock for 15 minutes, but month long events such as ToT, beatable town invasions, some type of need for crafters/resource gatherers and the like. While the EMs hold down the content angle of the game, free up the Team itself to do a holistic overhaul of the game itself, client and server. Bug squashes, High Resolutions graphics as well as further client enhancements for the EC to make it the client upgrade it SHOULD be, dungeon revamps, shard-wide vendor searches, PvP revamps, and finally work on creating an immersive natural atmosphere that makes the game a wonder to explore with real day/night effects (both in terms of lighting as well as spawning creatures or other such special events), weather effects, and seasonal maps and effects.

If "The Suits"™ demand some sort of expansion, consider limiting it to opening up one or more new levels of the Abyss and make it an effective "bottomless dungeon" that can be added on to for new experiences.

I've never really questioned whether or not UO HAD a future, but rather, does UO have the Dev Team that can make that future happen. And I say that as a challenge regardless of the team or specific person at the helm whether it was Designer Dragon, Runesaber, SunSword, Mr Tact, Draconi, Cal, or Mesanna (or whomever else I missed).

 

[BeaIank]

I started playing last year, and my two accounts shall remain open till they pull the plug or Mort, WHO SPEAKS IN CAPITALS, comes pay me a visit.

 

[cazador]

The future could be bright they need to put an in game poll box so people can vote on what's important them to fix...then it really can be OUR game I think we are past trying to copy WOW's care bear land model that's succeeded now let the players vote on what they want for revamps/items/new land EA wants the reigns but they can't hold on they've made that clear in almost every game they touch they have even made madden suck after the spent the millions and millions of dollars to monopolize it..give the game back to the people let us make the world how the paying customers want it...not the oblivious suits at EA..the player base WILL buy any expansion and any item out up at the ea store take advantage of that for revenue for instance how many people would buy a skill stone..100 animal taming 11.99 120 animal taming 19.99 I'm sure you'd all be very surprised take advantage if what u got EA dont let it slip away noobs

 

[Gameboy]

The future could be bright they need to put an in game poll box so people can vote on what's important them to fix...then it really can be OUR game I think we are past trying to copy WOW's care bear land model that's succeeded now let the players vote on what they want for revamps/items/new land EA wants the reigns but they can't hold on they've made that clear in almost every game they touch they have even made madden suck after the spent the millions and millions of dollars to monopolize it..give the game back to the people let us make the world how the paying customers want it...not the oblivious suits at EA..the player base WILL buy any expansion and any item out up at the ea store take advantage of that for revenue for instance how many people would buy a skill stone..100 animal taming 11.99 120 animal taming 19.99 I'm sure you'd all be very surprised take advantage if what u got EA don't let it slip away noobs

I'd really like to see this game around for at least another 15 years. Even in my short time coming back the people have been unbelievably helpful and nice.

 

[Pierre-André Leclair]

I was going to write almost an essay about the reasons I love UO, but I'll keep it short, just deleted about 10 mins of rapid text entry

I'm speaking for myself, but I'm sure a lot of people will be in the same boat. They tried a bunch of MMOs out there, and in the end, they are all the same. Mostly the same classes, abilities, with different names, etc...

So you have a good handful of games that are pretty much all the same with little differences, the only major one being the people playing them. Most of the MMOs I've played, I've also quitted mainly because of the player, except one, DDO. There was way too little content for me. In 6 months, I did everything there was, like 1000 times... The people playing DDO were nice as well, when it was subs.

So basically, what is really different and can give anyone a challenge? Pretty much all is left is UO.

So when I bought U6 from GoG.com earlier this year, and then learnt that UO was still around, and I was looking at playing an MMO, so it was a no brainer!

I was 3 days into the trial that I purchased a 6 month time code!

Now, I'm looking forward to play this game with my son, who happens to be only 18 months old at the moment

Long live to UO and the awesome community. This game has something really special going, the people playing it is making a big difference. I just hope EA never considers free to play with UO, and keep it exactly as it is, not even cheaper.

It's still cheaper than most MMOs anyway.

So it was supposed to be short and sweet, well, it's shorter and sweet


Silvaris and Elandril from Atlantic

 

[ACB1961]

This is strange. For the first time in my uo life I didn't cross-shard. I just had a feeling.

I can't really imagine not being able to log in to uo. Like death, it may come, but between now and then I'm going to have a ball here. No, its not as pretty as anything else we play. But, no other game has a fraction of the depth this game does.

I'm not chasing pixels like I once was. There's no longer a point to it for me. I've got enough, and I'm very happy with my uo life.

I plan to keep happily paying them as long as they will take the money. Remember this we ALL make mistakes. I'll say this one more time, programming is hard. Programming something programmed by so many people with soooo much code is mind-boggling.

I don't think they will really work this out. Most people that played a lot are going to get screwed. We all know there's not a thing we can do about it. We stay or we go.

I'm going to stay here for as long as I can. Long live Atlantic!!!!

 

[Gameboy]

This is strange. For the first time in my uo life I didn't cross-shard. I just had a feeling.

I can't really imagine not being able to log in to uo. Like death, it may come, but between now and then I'm going to have a ball here. No, its not as pretty as anything else we play. But, no other game has a fraction of the depth this game does.

I'm not chasing pixels like I once was. There's no longer a point to it for me. I've got enough, and I'm very happy with my uo life.

I plan to keep happily paying them as long as they will take the money. Remember this we ALL make mistakes. I'll say this one more time, programming is hard. Programming something programmed by so many people with soooo much code is mind-boggling.

I don't think they will really work this out. Most people that played a lot are going to get screwed. We all know there's not a thing we can do about it. We stay or we go.

I'm going to stay here for as long as I can. Long live Atlantic!!!!

It's a good place to be.

 

[the 4th man]

The last time I played a game, online, via EA.........it was down to under 4000 players when it was cancelled. I don't see that happening here. Sometimes in life, people tend to get bored, and some even expect.....expect this, expect that.........some even retire from the game out of boredom, subliminal disinterest, you name it.

 

[Lord Nabin]

Does UO ... Have a Future?


Yes

 

[Nails Warstein]

I don't see any harm in an annual financial health report on the status of UO if they cover the following facts:

We have so many subscriptions up or down from last years.
Origin Store sold so many dollars of codes.
We banned this many accounts, so many were dupers, so many were scripters, so many violated other terms of agreement.
Follow up with we removed this much illegal gold from the game. Currently there is approximately this much gold in UO (if they can calculated it)
We hired or fired this many employees.
EA Mythic is dedicating this many dollars towards development.
We have this many publishes planned / funded for the new year. (consisting of ?)
We are on or off track with our current five year plan.
We are seeking new EMs, new Developers, new Artists, please apply here.
We will attempt a new advertising campaign (personal suggestion Player Viral Video Contest) that promotes UO.
(enter your reasonable question / concerns must have a financial component)

Publish this annual report on uo.com easily accessible for sharing.

 

[Spiritless]

I returned to UO recently and still play, but the low population is more noticeable than ever on most shards. Don't really know anyone on Europa any more as most of my friends left long ago. It kinda feels like a single player game most of the time unfortunately and there's seemingly not too many active guilds left that are interested in recruiting. I'd like to play some end-game content like peerless and champs but the truth is, hardly any organized groups seem to be doing these things any more compared to how it used to be.

Contrast this to the latest WoW expansion which I played a trial of over the last few days. A ton of my friends who I know are still playing, it's really easy to chat with them using in-game private messages and global battle.net IDs and I can't walk around for 1 minute on a brand new character without receiving guild invitations. I can hook up for dungeon runs easily by entering the queue and there's also a ton of new stuff in the xpac that offers alternative things to do other than simply grinding for XP/gear as described by someone else in this thread such as the new pet battle system, etc. It's easy for anyone to sell stuff on the Auction House without requiring a vendor in some limited, prime strip of land in Luna and character progression, while XP-based, is steady, predictable and often a social affair as opposed to standing still casting flamestrike on a spellbook for ages with gains based purely on your luck with the RNG. There's loads of lore and stories in each part of the world too which can be enjoyed if you take a moment to read the quest text. Ultima has a rich lore too and this isn't nearly as exploited enough.

UO may well have a new client. A lot of aspects of it I like as it modernizes many interactions and brings the UI more into line with what most MMO players expect these days of a standard interface. The underlying game, however, is really starting to show its age in my opinion compared to other offerings and these are largely what UO has lost out to. For a casual player, the barriers to in-game communication are substantial and finding groups is difficult compared with more recent and widely played titles which organically encourage these things by default, even going as far as to enable communication methods that are cross-server and even cross-game with Blizzard's Battle.net system. UO has no chance of competing on this level if it can't even provide PM services between people on the same server.

So, does UO have a future? I'm sure EA will keep it open for the foreseeable time if only for the bragging rights that the longest running MMO is still "going strong." In reality though, UO stands very limited chance of attracting, and more importantly retaining, new players. When you're in that position, your playerbase looks only ever set to wane further as the "new blood" of gamers snub it for more polished titles that their friends are likely to be playing too and which provide communication platforms that encourage socialization in and out of game as opposed to ones which make it difficult.

 

[DerekL]

I returned to UO recently and still play, but the low population is more noticeable than ever on most shards.

Same here. And the real killer for any new players is that much of the world is still populated with spawn designed for a much larger playerbase, or at least one much more skilled and/or better equipped than the average newbie. I'm not looking forward to being solo in Destard...

 

[MisPrinted_Lies]

I hope to see a 25'th Anniversary for Ultima Online.

 

[Uvtha]

Hail Sosarians,​

​

I pose this Question for once more Many Beloved Friends have Departed during the year some call 2012. This has become an Annual occurrence with Few, if ANY, new folks coming along to replace those Departed and/or Deceased. While I Myself thought I could NEVER consider Departure ... I'd be Lying if I said I was not considering it often in recent days.​

​

I invite, no I Beg, any Developers or EA Staff to chime in HERE, as well as any Current or Former Citizens of Sosaria.​

​

Please allay OR confirm my darkest concerns or fears.​

​

I hope many will consider posting their thoughts and views.​

​

An SoS​

I mean... its a 15 year old mmo that's no longer getting expansions and still costs 13 bucks a month to play. I think its future is about as bright as you would expect. Itll still be around a good long while I expect, especially since its not really on full zombie mode quite yet.

 

[Eärendil]

This game was more fun when it was younger...

In youth, most things are funnier... sex, alc, rock´n´roll... the older you get, the more you get used to the taste. It´s not UO´s fault - it´s us getting old

 

[G.v.P]

I feel like I've entered "Reservation Mode." I have stuff here, I want to keep it, but I don't know what to do with it. It's a combination of new priorities, new games that are better, and nagging nostalgia.

 

[Lady Storm]

Your exactly correct Eaerendil....
We get old and change... but oh never say die! I knew this guy on Baja who aftr an hour evading him (he was red and I was in fel chopping wood). I stoped and said what the hell do you want from me.... hehe that started a long friendship with a 92 year old !!! He was a RED... and kicking not only my tush but had a rep for being a great pk/pvp player. So dont let a character fool you... Age is only in the mind. Like UO i think ..... you see, the game like us is only getting better with age. We just need to look for our neche in that wonderfull world called Sosaria.
As long as we need a place to go unwind from a bad day, or need a bit of peace of mind..... UO has a following. I am hooked, lined, and sinkered... for goodness sake i got 53 accounts! Even to me thats going over board!!!! but its my safe mind zone.... I would be miserable without my dragons... uptight without my crafter and his jack of all trades powers... My thief... goodness he lets me be sneeky and enjoy the dungeons I know I really cant go into cause of my stroke.. dont have the cordination I use to ...but never in my mind would I go away from UO for more then a few days.... UO jargon is in our housespeak... heavens I went to the store and my son and I were talking uoish and my daughter in law pointed out we were not in game...
UO as long as we need it should be here.... I agree UO will be here for a long long time...

 

[Eärendil]

Wonderful post, Lady Storm. Thank you! I had to laugh alot. A 92 year old red - this is soo funny!

 

[SunWolf]

UO isn't going anywhere. There is people leaving, people returning daily, and even new players. There is an uncoming new booster this next year. This is the time of patience as the team works through bugs and updates the game. Some might not like the new dungeons but many does and there is some thinking behing them.
Players though make or break a game. Running illegal programs, buying off illegal sights will be the main downfall for UO if it ever happens and that will be pretty sad. Go ruin some other game.

 

[Lady Storm]

I want to tell you that man was so good at his age to be playing on a computer much less in UO!! But there he was having a blast, and doing super well at it....
Just goes to prove we all are fun loving children at heart... Let your inner child out and have some fun... I have played all the new stuff its ok, yes the graphics are better but I found myself craving UO... WoW I do play but it too cant keep me from UO... I can only play it so much before I come back to unwind in UO. The Freedom in UO is priceless!

 

[G.v.P]

that started a long friendship with a 92 year old [...] for goodness sake i got 53 accounts

Wait...what? lol um we need to stage an intervention...

 

[Ron Silverbeard]

INTERVENTION!

 

[Ron Silverbeard]

New race maybe? hehe - what about......APES? Pandas are old...

 

[Petra Fyde]

I am really desperate for some new content. Let's be honest the last chunk of content we got was Stygian Abyss and that was over 3 years ago. Sure there have been things here and there (mostly live story) but I'd love a proper expansion. I know a lot of players that would return to the game if a new expansion done as well as Stygian Abyss was offered.

How do you define 'new content'? Do the dungeon re-vamps not constitute 'new content'? The trouble with 'expanding' the lands further than they already are, is we're already spread too thin.

 

[THP]

yes theres a future.....but its gonna get really thin on the ground........unless....[nevermind]

another add on.....really....u joking yes ...ohhh unless its free......cool....jesus...if its not free..... lets hope u can buy it with uo gold....LOL....i like buying gametime with gold....kinda feels uve earned to play...LOL

 

[DerekL]

There is an uncoming new booster this next year.

New boosters are cool for existing players, but I don't think they do much for drawing in new players. What they need, if not a new expansion, is a new SKU - a new boxed set on the shelves.

 

[old gypsy]

... for goodness sake i got 53 accounts!

I can't take it any more! I MUST know your secret! How on earth do you manage to keep track of 53 accounts and presumably 53 different passwords?! (I have trouble with only two!)

 

[DerekL]

I can't take it any more! I MUST know your secret! How on earth do you manage to keep track of 53 accounts and presumably 53 different passwords?! (I have trouble with only two!)

Spreadsheets.

 

[Vor]

Your exactly correct Eaerendil....
We get old and change... but oh never say die! I knew this guy on Baja who aftr an hour evading him (he was red and I was in fel chopping wood). I stoped and said what the hell do you want from me.... hehe that started a long friendship with a 92 year old !!! He was a RED... and kicking not only my tush but had a rep for being a great pk/pvp player. So dont let a character fool you... Age is only in the mind. Like UO i think ..... you see, the game like us is only getting better with age. We just need to look for our neche in that wonderfull world called Sosaria.
As long as we need a place to go unwind from a bad day, or need a bit of peace of mind..... UO has a following. I am hooked, lined, and sinkered... for goodness sake i got 53 accounts! Even to me thats going over board!!!! but its my safe mind zone.... I would be miserable without my dragons... uptight without my crafter and his jack of all trades powers... My thief... goodness he lets me be sneeky and enjoy the dungeons I know I really cant go into cause of my stroke.. dont have the cordination I use to ...but never in my mind would I go away from UO for more then a few days.... UO jargon is in our housespeak... heavens I went to the store and my son and I were talking uoish and my daughter in law pointed out we were not in game...
UO as long as we need it should be here.... I agree UO will be here for a long long time...

53 accounts! That's £530 a month on UO! Wow. You use most of them for houses/bod runners?