How often are new shards created?

[vantastic]

1) How often are new shards created?

2) How much diversity to the shards is there? Are they all the same publish/rules/age?

3) There's an economy problem with UO. We all have been around long enough to know that. I read somewhere that the designers of this game held 'a functioning economy' as a major priority while making the game. This question addresses that:

Would it be possible to eliminate the selling of items to NPCs, and other ridiculous money sources and still have a functioning game/economy (that people could play, and actually have fun)? Discuss.

4) If a new shard was created with this type of a rule, would you be interested in playing there?

I am an oldschool player, and I know what it's like to hoard items and feel like you own the shard. However, I like to think that all the hard work I did back in the day could be done in far less time, had I started today, or had put forth some extra real life cash. Not to mention, in all of the new additions to the game, the items are getting more powerful and more diverse - anything old is obsolete or soon to be.

The idea of this shard would be:
A) even the playing field, have as many people who are interested start anew (which, is extremely fun for an experienced player - if you've never restarted from scratch before)
B) make the game HARDER. much harder. and thus more rewarding for playing
C) create a different type of economy - one in which houses are HARD to come by, vendors serve a purpose, and PKing is much more beneficial if you're good at it.
D) teamwork will most likely become much more necessary
E) create a dedicated playerbase that would stick with the shard 'cuz of all the time spent!

Like I said before: Discuss!

-vantastic

 

[kelmo]

*blinks*

 

[wanderer1origin]

1) How often are new shards created?

2) How much diversity to the shards is there? Are they all the same publish/rules/age?

3) There's an economy problem with UO. We all have been around long enough to know that. I read somewhere that the designers of this game held 'a functioning economy' as a major priority while making the game. This question addresses that:

Would it be possible to eliminate the selling of items to NPCs, and other ridiculous money sources and still have a functioning game/economy (that people could play, and actually have fun)? Discuss.

4) If a new shard was created with this type of a rule, would you be interested in playing there?

I am an oldschool player, and I know what it's like to hoard items and feel like you own the shard. However, I like to think that all the hard work I did back in the day could be done in far less time, had I started today, or had put forth some extra real life cash. Not to mention, in all of the new additions to the game, the items are getting more powerful and more diverse - anything old is obsolete or soon to be.

The idea of this shard would be:
A) even the playing field, have as many people who are interested start anew (which, is extremely fun for an experienced player - if you've never restarted from scratch before)
B) make the game HARDER. much harder. and thus more rewarding for playing
C) create a different type of economy - one in which houses are HARD to come by, vendors serve a purpose, and PKing is much more beneficial if you're good at it.
D) teamwork will most likely become much more necessary
E) create a dedicated playerbase that would stick with the shard 'cuz of all the time spent!

Like I said before: Discuss!

-vantastic

it happpened awhile on origin, no transfers in for 12 moths so maybe longer after that became like rest, then lost population as all went back to regular shard!!!!!!!

now three give take years later hard core there rest back with friends, we get first bugs, heh can both get hurt and bennie from!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wont do another new shard like it again self!!!!!!!!!

 

[Maplestone]

oh, this isn't going to go well. ah well, *bites*

1) How often are new shards created?
I will be surprised if we ever see a new shard.

2) How much diversity to the shards is there? Are they all the same publish/rules/age?
assuming you don't count the unofficial servers, they are all the same publish, although 2 have a slightly different "less comfortable" ruleset (with many of the features you hint at in your later ideas).

3) There's an economy problem with UO.
The quantity of gold is not the problem in the economy - inflation is just a sliding number. The biggest inflation bursts came with duping and scripting rather than selling to vendors, but this isn't the problem either.

The only problem in the economy for me is that I haven't figured out what I can provide that the market wants - there are many things I can't (or won't) get myself that I would gladly buy, but I have little that the people who are selling need in return.

4) If a new shard was created with this type of a rule, would you be interested in playing there?
No thanks. I have a home already.

A) even the playing field, have as many people who are interested start anew

B) make the game HARDER. much harder. and thus more rewarding for playing
Life is hard. Hard isn't always fun. I play games for fun.

and PKing is much more beneficial if you're good at it.
whoa! time out! I think I'm definitely the wrong audience here.
*wanders off*

 

[4gregu]

1) How often are new shards created?

Only when the Japanese players run out of room.

 

[vantastic]

oh, this isn't going to go well. ah well, *bites*

3) There's an economy problem with UO.
The quantity of gold is not the problem in the economy - inflation is just a sliding number. The biggest inflation bursts came with duping and scripting rather than selling to vendors, but this isn't the problem either.

The only problem in the economy for me is that I haven't figured out what I can provide that the market wants - there are many things I can't (or won't) get myself that I would gladly buy, but I have little that the people who are selling need in return.

Reply: If the quantity of gold in the server is high enough, its value as well as any items always purchasable by gold drop to near 0. i.e. you would only spend gold on things that can always be bought with gold (regs, cloth, boats, houses). The problem is that once the quantity of gold in a server reaches a certain point and distribution, the demand for it drops entirely. I imagine that when you say you would buy things - you have lots of gold. The problem is that gold has no value - people are not willing to trade their items for it because they already have copious amounts of gold.

With regards to duping and scripting - as far as I know, duping is not still around. As far as scripting goes, it's not a probem for the economy unless you can script something that creates money while you're away ...aka any crafting skill.

4) If a new shard was created with this type of a rule, would you be interested in playing there?
No thanks. I have a home already.

Reply: Understandable. But if you've ever been bored of UO, and have done all that can be done in it, and want something new, perhaps you would! The existing community you're part of is of course important - but if a new shard were to appear suddenly tomorrow, the option would be available to them as well as to you; to move there and maintain the personal connections.

B) make the game HARDER. much harder. and thus more rewarding for playing
Life is hard. Hard isn't always fun. I play games for fun.

Reply: You have a good point - this would be no trammel shard, and there are certainly people out there who have fun doing easy/safe things. I personally have enjoyed the more exciting aspects of UO as a source of fun (champion spawns, running from PKs, being a terrible PKer and dying, killing the harrower with a 3 man team, solo Doom runs)

and PKing is much more beneficial if you're good at it.
whoa! time out! I think I'm definitely the wrong audience here.
*wanders off*

Reply: I too have never really been a PKer. But they do make the game much more interesting (it's one of the things that this game will always hold over any other mainstream MMORPGs right now). So hopefully they would be attracted to this kind of a shard.

FYI: anything following "Reply:" is my reply to what Maplestone posted.

Thanks for the input! I'm looking forward to additional well-thought-out posts like yours!

 

[Kith Kanan]

ehhh what planet are you from ????

" With regards to duping and scripting - as far as I know, duping is not still around "

... that statement and the one about scripting not being a problem......
I'm sorry I cant help you if you think those are true............

 

[Hoffs]

Erm, Siege Perilous shard. That is the 'hard shard' and you are highly unlikely to see another shard created with a different ruleset.

 

[Old Man of UO]

Sounds like a back-end way to say, "We need an Pre-AOS shard!" We don't need more shards and we certainly don't need to make PK'ing easier, and it's not going to happen.

 

[Kaleb]

Sounds like a back-end way to say, "We need an Pre-AOS shard!" We don't need more shards and we certainly don't need to make PK'ing easier, and it's not going to happen.

Um yes we do. I play a uo:r server (no tram rules) there are on average 1k+ people on keep in mind this is one server there are dozens of these out there. say if they made one and it only brings in maby 2k people at $14 a month (what i pay per acc.) thats an extra $336,000 a year for uo's budget thats not factoring in people who use multi accounts thats if they all had just one account. It would not need alot of resources to run once the code is set and bugs removed, it wouldnt need any further updates. then everyone wins as they can play the rule's they love.

 

[Oriana]

2) How much diversity to the shards is there? Are they all the same publish/rules/age?
The differences of shards is quite remarkable. I visit other shards quite a bit. Each server has it's own tone and group of people. Which is good.

3) There's an economy problem with UO. We all have been around long enough to know that. I read somewhere that the designers of this game held 'a functioning economy' as a major priority while making the game. This question addresses that:

Would it be possible to eliminate the selling of items to NPCs, and other ridiculous money sources and still have a functioning game/economy (that people could play, and actually have fun)? Discuss.
This would be bad for new players and for starting new shards as well. How is a new player supposed to earn money for regs, armor, etc. Yes many people will help a new person out with a low end LRC suit but not everyone is that fortunate. All in all I think not selling to NPC's would be a bad idea.

4) If a new shard was created with this type of a rule, would you be interested in playing there?

I am an oldschool player, and I know what it's like to hoard items and feel like you own the shard. However, I like to think that all the hard work I did back in the day could be done in far less time, had I started today, or had put forth some extra real life cash. Not to mention, in all of the new additions to the game, the items are getting more powerful and more diverse - anything old is obsolete or soon to be.

I'm with Maple on this one...I have a home and I have no desire to leave it.

The idea of this shard would be:
A) even the playing field, have as many people who are interested start anew (which, is extremely fun for an experienced player - if you've never restarted from scratch before)
All you have to do is go to a different shard to experience this. I visit other shards and have semi developed chars but not many and not very good. I myself don't have time to visit often as I am quite busy on Baja most of the time.
B) make the game HARDER. much harder. and thus more rewarding for playing
No. This is a bad idea. I don't want it easier but I have enough to do in this game without making it harder. I want to play and have fun. Harder isn't always better. And I feel plenty rewarded for my efforts.
C) create a different type of economy - one in which houses are HARD to come by, vendors serve a purpose, and PKing is much more beneficial if you're good at it.
My vendors do serve a purpose. I sell Enchanted apples and grapes on a regular basis. Orange petals when I have enough stock. That vendor pulls in a good bit. I provide Engraving tools on another vendor, no it's not a killer business on that one, but it provides a service. No I'm not a 100 mil person by a long shot, but I have what I need to get by and enjoy the game and help friends and the occasional new person. As for PvP and Pking well I suck at it. I started just before the split. If I didn't have Trammel to fall back on, I never would have stayed. I do go to fel for many resources, it's a risk I take. But I personally don't enjoy being PK'd over and over.
D) teamwork will most likely become much more necessary
Come to Baja we have many groups that work as a team. And share the benefits. I know not everywhere is there such a community but it does exist.
E) create a dedicated player base that would stick with the shard 'cuz of all the time spent!
Each shard already has their own dedicated player base, that can't be created overnight, it's something that has to develop. I have 9 years in this game, thats a lot of time spent and all on Baja. And many others have even more time spent and dedicated to their shards.

Again I say, if you want to get the feel and challenge of a new shard, create new chars on Siege or any other shard for that matter. It's a challenge.

 

[Tek]

UO will be lucky to keep all of the remaining shards, let alone make any new ones.

 

[Giggles]

*blinks*

*ditto*

 

[Old Man of UO]

Um yes we do. I play a uo:r server (no tram rules) there are on average 1k+ people on keep in mind this is one server there are dozens of these out there. say if they made one and it only brings in maby 2k people at $14 a month (what i pay per acc.) thats an extra $336,000 a year for uo's budget thats not factoring in people who use multi accounts thats if they all had just one account. It would not need alot of resources to run once the code is set and bugs removed, it wouldnt need any further updates. then everyone wins as they can play the rule's they love.

I can't quite follow your logic, sir. Why would any of those 1k+ people leave a free shard to move to a pay one that does the same thing? I don't see how that would draw in enough people to pay the additional Developer time and server hardware.

Kelmo... your blinking is contagious!

*Blinks*

 

[Kaleb]

Stability.