*Hoping this client will be 2d worthy!!!

[Ivor MacGregor]

I am a recent returning player from a 8 month leave and played since UO first launched. This was back when you travelled in groups of archers, melers, and mages to battle a single dragon, or fend off a horde of Pkers from looting your corpse of all goods (man I miss those days!!!). Side note: the coming of Trammel, I believe, was the doom of Ultima Online as not only the 1st MMORPG, but the BEST. Fel is what made UO down right amazing: the fear of losing your goods, having to band together to survive the world, and the forging of strong UO communities. If there is one aspect the developers of UO should have never instituted it would surely be a duplicate world where no player vs. player combat was allowed. With that said, UO is still a vast and very enjoyable game for me, as I am sure it is for many others.

I left right when KR came out and had a chance to play it. I remember trying to put an effort into using the new client (and I think it is the best remake so far) but was unable to adapt from the 2d style. I think it was primarly because I fell in love with the play and overall experience of the old 2d client. I came back just last month and loaded the KR client onto my system. Once again I tried to make an attempt but was uncomfortable with the playability of KR. I run a relatively high end laptop, so graphics and lag were not an issue. However, I simply notice how much smoother and more reliable the 2d client is. I experienced crashes in KR when MOBs were in abundance (e.g., at champs). Over all I really enjoy the graphics and some of the neat features of KR, but am unable to enjoy it as much as I do the 2d client. I guess it is because I have spent so many years in the 2d client and know it so well.

I am hoping beyond all hopes the new client being released this summer will live up to it's promises and have the best of both KR and 2d. I am totally aware that the 2d client is very limited, but I am also aware that KR is simply not played by the majority of us "old school" UO players. I fear if the developers do not come through with the new client, I and those who have similar feeling/experiences will forever leave UO, if not sooner than later. As for now, I will continue to enjoy and love playing the 2d client. I pleeeead to the developers of this new client that they will not worry about graphics as much as the playability, functionality, and expandablity of Ultima Online.

A question I have: What, if at all, would be the possibility of converging the shards and doing away with Trammel all together?! Can you imagine us seeing Britan bank once again busy with traffic, merchants, warriors, advertures, thieves, and the like?! Having to band together once again to not only take on massive monsters, but fend off the talented players who turn to the craft of PvP. It depressed me when I go to the Britan bank and see more NPCs than players

P.S., I am on the Catskills shard and if any fellow Catskillians wish to explore and PVM, send me a PM!!! I long to join a good group of fellow adventures and hunters.

-The long time player and lover of Ultima Online.

 

[Fink]

I am hoping beyond all hopes the new client being released this summer will live up to it's promises and have the best of both KR and 2d.

This seems to be the general hope but I doubt very much everyone will agree on what this actually entails. Just out of interest, what are your opinions on the "best of" KR & 2D? eg: from the screenshots I've seen, a new avatar will be used in conjunction with the old building tiles, exact opposite of what I personally would feel is the best of both worlds.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

A question I have: What, if at all, would be the possibility of converging the shards and doing away with Trammel all together?! Can you imagine us seeing Britan bank once again busy with traffic, merchants, warriors, advertures, thieves, and the like?! Having to band together once again to not only take on massive monsters, but fend off the talented players who turn to the craft of PvP. It depressed me when I go to the Britan bank and see more NPCs than players

P.S., I am on the Catskills shard and if any fellow Catskillians wish to explore and PVM, send me a PM!!! I long to join a good group of fellow adventures and hunters.

I, too, share your memories from the Early Days, which we both enjoyed so much. However, when we look back over many years we tend to romanticize our memories and forget about the negative aspects. Yes, the community was much different than it is today. I always believe that it was the challenge of a non-existing Trammel that welded together the players. And, UO had a bigger player base because in 1998 it was new and innovative. But UO also had a lot of problems, bugs and balance issues. Today, UO is much more versatile and broad.

After having tried many other MMORPGs, I came to the conclusion that UO still is the best one on the market, if you do not include graphics. That's why I believe that UO will last many many years to come. I am optimistic about the SA client, because the current developers are very skilled people who have learned from the mistakes of the past. It will be no graphical revolution, but a much better 2D client with new features.

About your question: I think that merging shards will never happen, mostly because there is no way to technically solve the problems of housing without stupid workarounds like another parallel world. People and especially communities will quit and get destroyed if you force them to move their homes.

If you want to join a group of adventurers on Catskills (with some occasional volontary guild PvP), you are welcome to contact me and consider joining the ranks of us pirates.

Hawkeye Pike

P.S.: I also think that splitting up the world into Trammel and Felucca was one of the biggest mistakes in UO history. The massive PK-grieving-problems should have been countered with more intelligent measures. Some time ago I wrote down a concept about how to solve such an issue, which you can read here.

 

[Old Man of UO]

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P.S.: I also think that splitting up the world into Trammel and Felucca was one of the biggest mistakes in UO history. The massive PK-grieving-problems should have been countered with more intelligent measures. Some time ago I wrote down a concept about how to solve such an issue, which you can read here.

I disagree with a lot of what Ivor and Hawkeye posted, but I do agree that the Trammel/Felucca split was not the best solution. However, and Draconi has said before, you can't put that genie back in the bottle, you can't get rid of Trammel and MOST of the UO population does not want that nor shard mergers.

I personally do not want a better 2D client, I want a new SA client that is an improved version of KR. KR doesn't NEED 3rd party programs to run well (UOAssit, UO Automap, and even illegal 3rd party programs). Even now KR runs without any crashes, but it does take some tender loving care to get to that point - EA/Mythic needs to fix that part.

Obviously Ivor did not take the effort to get KR running well, because it runs so much smoother than the 2D client ever did once you do that. There is no comparison with KR running at 60 frames per second while 2D is running at 24 or 30 fps.

Graphics, I don't care enough to fight over it, that is not what makes UO what it is. UO is all about its gameplay - that is what keeps me and most others here for the past 12 years.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

Old Man, I also liked the KR client better than 2D, concerning its graphics. While it had graphical issues (like perspective, items looking like they don't belong there etc.), the reason why I never played KR for longer than 2 weeks was that you had some unacceptable disadvantages in KR (trageting system, house deco, macro glitches) which basically made me die more often or forced me to switch back to 2D in certain situations.

If those issues are fixed, I'm good to go with KR.

I believe that the new client will be based on KR technology and that those issues will be resolved. And that it will look more like 2D concerning its graphics (that's how they got rid of most of the graphical glitches).

I still can't believe that the Developers have given up on solving the Trammel/Felucca problems completely. It is one of the biggest issues with UO. Maybe they just didn't have the right ideas yet.

 

[Maplestone]

I still can't believe that the Developers have given up on solving the Trammel/Felucca problems completely. It is one of the biggest issues with UO. Maybe they just didn't have the right ideas yet.

Well, some people would whine if they deleted Fel.

 

[Ivor MacGregor]

Obviously Ivor did not take the effort to get KR running well, because it runs so much smoother than the 2D client ever did once you do that. There is no comparison with KR running at 60 frames per second while 2D is running at 24 or 30 fps.

Graphics, I don't care enough to fight over it, that is not what makes UO what it is. UO is all about its gameplay - that is what keeps me and most others here for the past 12 years.

You're right Old man, I didn't realize all the tweaks that could be done with KR. I went ahead and messed around with the advice given on another post of stratics, loaded BB enhanced UI, and gave it another shot. After a few weeks of playing KR under the adjusted settings I noticed a big difference. The only issue im having now is ALL my characters, while running on a mount (i.e., galloping) take three steps and pause...three steps and pause...three steps and pause... It is frustrating. I tried adjusting the fps and nothing seems to work. My connection is solid and very fast, so that isn't the issue. Hopefully I figure out what is causing it because this is the only thing stoping me from using the client full time.

As for graphics, I prefer the old client 2d graphics over KR. I am happy the setting for "legacy graphics" is available in KR. I can't explain it really, but UO isn't UO for me without the same old graphics i've been playing with for the past eleven years.

All in all, im still coming back day after day to play UO and have not even bothered trying another MMORP. UO for me is where the fun and entertainment is in gaming.

 

[Thopas]

However, when we look back over many years we tend to romanticize our memories and forget about the negative aspects.

Chop wood. Sell bows. Buy gear. Kill frog. Get pkilled. Watch players camp and loot corpse. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Like you say, UO was initially so different it was addictive simply on those grounds. I spent *hours* doing the above. Hours. Days. Strangely it was both the best and worst o' proverbial times.

Yep, I'd agree the 2D paper doll and bags with a 3D client would be the best mix. KR swung and missed there for me.

 

[Cloak&Dagger]

Ivor I hope you keep in mind that sync rate of the KR client to the server is much faster than the 2d client, so while it might seem like you are taking 2 steps and stopping, really it is just an animated glitch as other people see you just running around smoothly. I am sure the animation might be enough to stop you from playing, but if it was because you thought you were stopping ever two steps then you can rest easy knowing you are actually still moving tho for whatever reason the client does not show it.

 

[Tak]

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