How will players of my country do?

[Ariel Hardy]

Hey, some friends started on uo this month (really new players exist), they bought 6 month time codes + uo time of legends + some things (charger of fallen, mythic token) but yesterday, when i craft some items for they we saw, they can`t wear UOSA items, even with uo TOL, but TOL ins`t a booster like UOHS is an EXPANSION, like was UOSE UOML UOSA, at least this exp when you buy the last (UOSA) they give for free UOSE UOML to us, so what happen?

Even if they need buy UOSA (i think its unfair, and they start complain to me about (wtf this game is, i need buy 10 exp to play? if i want play wow, i buy WOD and win all exp), our Country don`t sell UOSA anymore on origin store, only uo ToL.

But the point is, it don`t make sense, so to start a new player in this game he need spend 200usd? because UOSA + UOTOL + UOHS + UORP(rustic pack), but i agree UOHS and RP are Boosters, not EXP, so they are optional.

It look to me (uo don`t want new player! get out!, a thing).

PS, EDIT: In my country have PIRATE(private) servers with LOTS of users, i`m trying bring all to the Official Ultima Online, even with the high price, even with the lots of problems to new players, even with the 200ms latency to my region (since we don`t have a server here, and the strange is, ALL other games have(lol, diablo, hots, cs, cf, dota) , but ok we still love uo and think its the best game ever, so we are trying play it, and promote it) , i`m giving gold, helping with translations, giving tips, introducing players to the new systems and such, to make a country community in the game even with the lack of attention to us, why don`t the devs don`t help us to us increase the community? Its more income, its more players, its more FUN.

 

[I Actually PVP]

Hey, some friends started on uo this month (really new players exist), they bought 6 month time codes + uo time of legends + some things (charger of fallen, mythic token) but yesterday, when i craft some items for they we saw, they can`t wear UOSA items, even with uo TOL, but TOL ins`t a booster like UOHS is an EXPANSION, like was UOSE UOML UOSA, at least this exp when you buy the last (UOSA) they give for free UOSE UOML to us, so what happen?

Even if they need buy UOSA (i think its unfair, and they start complain to me about (wtf this game is, i need buy 10 exp to play? if i want play wow, i buy WOD and win all exp), our Country don`t sell UOSA anymore on origin store, only uo ToL.

But the point is, it don`t make sense, so to start a new player in this game he need spend 200usd? because UOSA + UOTOL + UOHS + UORP(rustic pack), but i agree UOHS and RP are Boosters, not EXP, so they are optional.

It look to me (uo don`t want new player get out, a thing)

Welcome to UO, where everything about this game is entirely outdated and nonsensical.

I hope your friend never tries to pvp, cuz they'll learn they need to buy UO Assist too, which is touted as an optional enhancement but is actually 100% required to succeed in any aspect of pvp. and people wonder why there're so many cheaters out there.

 

[Tomarke]

Welcome to UO. You are absolutely correct, things can get a little expensive to get started in this game. Since your friends have already started new accounts without SA there really isn't much that can be done except buy SA upgrade codes. If you or they decide to open a second account in the future they do offer UO:SA new account codes so you don't have to buy the base game and SA separately and they are a little cheaper.

As stated above, if you are playing the Classic Client then UO Assist is a very handy tool to use. You will need to buy a key for it but in my opinion the key is very much worth the price (I use UO Assist daily). If you play the Enhanced Client I believe a lot of players still use Pinco's (I don't play the enhanced client so I can't help you out with this).

Again, welcome. I know it is a little expensive but the game has enough stuff for new players to do to keep you busy for a long while and in my opinion is well worth the investment.

 

[Ariel Hardy]

Welcome to UO. You are absolutely correct, things can get a little expensive to get started in this game. Since your friends have already started new accounts without SA there really isn't much that can be done except buy SA upgrade codes. If you or they decide to open a second account in the future they do offer UO:SA new account codes so you don't have to buy the base game and SA separately and they are a little cheaper.

As stated above, if you are playing the Classic Client the UO Assist is a very handy tool to use. You will need to buy a key for it but in my opinion the key is very much worth the price. If you play the Enhanced Client I believe a lot of players still use Pinco's (I don't play the enhance client so I can't help you out with this).

Again, welcome. I know it is a little expensive but the games has enough stuff for new players to do to keep you busy for a long while and in my opinion is well worth the investment.

Hi, thanks for reply, my account is an old one, 80 months+, the problem is the newplayers, why did they changed the exp tree scheme? when i started in the game, when i bought my second account (in the SE era) when i bought SE it comes with all exp uptodate, same with ML, so why they changed that now? but ok, but the biggest problem is, we can`t BUY the UOSA, because the Origin Store, don`t sell it anymore (its an outdated version so they removed from my country store), and 3 of the 4 guys i bring this month don`t have international credit card. Another problem, they removed referral system, and never come back again, i bring 7! 7 new players that NEVER played this game here, (they played the pirate version for years), and i don`t win nothing with that (only the chance of more fun in the game), in near ALL other games in the world, they have referral, in other games with 7 new players (all bought more then a month of uo gametime) i would win anything, because my time inested into promote the game, BUT OK, i don`t need any prize, i`m just trying make my loved game a better game, with more players, but at least the UO Team need put some effort, to help us, help they make this game a bigger one.

 

[Lady Storm]

Ariel This is a nice thing to bring back to the game players and invite new.
I will answer your question as to why the ToL didn't give you access to all the content of UO's past publishes.
A few years ago the EA customer service upgraded all accounts to Mondain's legacy and with the purchase of SA you were up to date.
That was till November 1 of last year when our Dark Lady gave all who logged in during August, September, and October the ToL publish free as a gift for our 18 years of loyalty From Broadsword.
I am sorry you didn't understand the need for SA, but the upgrade added to their accounts will bring them pretty much up outside the expac's.
Those if needed can be gotten and are fairly cheap. SA will be the most they will need to add in UO for the things you spoke of.
Hope this clears up the confusion.

 

[Ariel Hardy]

Ariel This is a nice thing to bring back to the game players and invite new.
I will answer your question as to why the ToL didn't give you access to all the content of UO's past publishes.
A few years ago the EA customer service upgraded all accounts to Mondain's legacy and with the purchase of SA you were up to date.
That was till November 1 of last year when our Dark Lady gave all who logged in during August, September, and October the ToL publish free as a gift for our 18 years of loyalty From Broadsword.
I am sorry you didn't understand the need for SA, but the upgrade added to their accounts will bring them pretty much up outside the expac's.
Those if needed can be gotten and are fairly cheap. SA will be the most they will need to add in UO for the things you spoke of.
Hope this clears up the confusion.

Before the uoml for all, when we bought the UOSE, we win the uo AoS, if you bought the UOML you win all up to UOML (i play since 2002 in this account, but stoped 5 or 6 times).

In the Real past (before the trial account changes in 2012, when we bought the uptodate xpac we won the others xpc, if change when they release UOHS as a Booster in place of a Xpac (it was the excuse to dont give new players UOSA when bought UOHS), but ToL wasn`t a booster, was a xpac.

i think you don`t understand the question, i wasn`t blamming about who win the uo ToL, i lost the time, then i bought uo tol last month, the point is when you BUY uo ToL, you don`t win UOSA with is a past xpac where the most of the origin stores don`t sell anymore.

And if you need buy UOSA, it won`t will worth for us from Brazil for example, because we pay 37BRL on uo TOL, (10 usd) and will need pay 30 usd for uosa in 3rd party stores, since broadsword / origin. don`t sell this outdated xpac to us anymore.

I buy my items, gametime, xpac all from the Origin (oficial) website, i don`t wan`t (and supose it can`t be needed) to instal a proxy, vpn or buy in an unofficial site, and risk get a virus.

 

[Gamer_Goblin]

I hope you enjoy the game, but agree. It's a good time to money ratio thinking about it, but it's not competitive with other MMOs at all.

 

[Ariel Hardy]

I hope you enjoy the game, but agree. It's a good time to money ratio thinking about it, but it's not competitive with other MMOs at all.

Don`t make sense (buy uo ToL), fight new bosses, but you can`t wear the items because you need buy UOSA, and your country don`t sell the game anymore.

Even, if you can buy, dont make sense, fight new bosses, explore new lands, but you cant wear the items, or fight old bosses, until you pay 3 times the tol price (case of my country because currency)

Imagine this on a level game scenario, you can go up lv100 with tol, but you cant go form 80-90 because you don`t have uosa, so you never will hit lv100.

When we buy tol, don`t have any message telling (is required to buy uosa to enjoy all features of the game you just bought time of legends), or (if you risk use this ToL code, has a chance in you get frustrated in pick a item were you can`t use because we don`t tell you need buy uosa first, oh you can`t buy uosa even if you want, because we removed it from our store.)

 

[FrejaSP]

I agree, this do not make sense, there need an options to buy a newbie or a returning player bundle, that include SA, ToL and maybe High Sea, one for new players and one for upgrade of an old account.
I believe a lot won't start playing if it cost alot to be upto date

 

[MalagAste]

I agree, this do not make sense, there need an options to buy a newbie or a returning player bundle, that include SA, ToL and maybe High Sea, one for new players and one for upgrade of an old account.
I believe a lot won't start playing if it cost alot to be upto date

I've been saying this for awhile. UO/BS needs to bring the Account Management into their control... they need to blow up the Origin store and if they are going to do it they should create and In-Game store.... sometime SOON. Before the next anniversary for sure. I'm certain that if they could consolidate a bunch of this crap into ONE update even if they charged $30 instead of 20 or whatever they are are charging for ToL they will get more people back than they have been.

I mean if I were a returning player and went to the site not only would I have NO CLUE WTF to order... since there is soooo much there... but depending on what Country you are in you can't even get a full listing.

A friend of mine was recently looking for the 10 charge Tool and couldn't find it... I had to explain to him that he had to search for UO 10 Tool to get it to come up... Otherwise searching for Ultima Online Tool will NOT bring it up....... Which IMO is just dumb....

But NO ONE in their right mind is going to pay to return the 12.99 a month, plus buy SA, HS, ToL, and then turn around and get the Gothic and Rustic packs (which IMO should have stayed a bundle deal).... NO ONE.... that's insane amounts of cash to shell out.... and when they come back without getting all those they are getting EXTREMELY disappointed to find they can't wear anything..... they can't get on the ships with you..... they can't go a lot of places.... they can't use a bunch of things.. and all they see is what everyone else can do and can wear and can get..... and then they quit again angry.... We don't want angry quitting.

 

[Tabby Kapak]

Fully agree, we recently spend some time creating a few start-up suits for mages, just with LRC and some MR n such, from random loot we gathered over time. But past weekend when we gave such a suit to a returnee, he couldn't use 4 out of 6 pieces?! Then it took us some 30 mins to find new suitable replacements without "requires Stygian Abyss" on them... We just never thought of that, when having it it feels so automatic that we overlook it. As a side note, we still haven't got HS on any of our 6 accounts, and feel we can do well without it so far. Still far too much to do to fit in our always too scarce UO time anyway.
We hope there will be some solution for your friends Ariel! Well done on trying to get them in game!

 

[Gamer_Goblin]

At LEAST remove the requirement on equipment.

 

[jopromol]

@Mesanna , @Bleak , @Kyronix @SOMEONE!

READ THIS GUYS POST AND HELP HIM OUT! This is ridiculous... just like everything that has to do with accounts in this game- your system is fundamentally F*CKED. This guy is showing UO so much love--- lets show him some love.

 

[Lady Storm]

I don't think you understand my dear.

You see EA controls how far we are updated in expansions. When I had my last discussion with UO's billing department supervisor before the management came in. I had many of my accounts at different publishes. I made mention that UO had in the past when a new one came out would advance all accounts to the next closest publish. The gentleman agreed and in a few days all accounts were up to 1 publish. SA was that new publish so all got ML upgrade.
It might sound reasonable to upgrade all accounts again as we got ToL.. but I will remind you it is not up to us but EA. not Broadsword.
EA makes money on SA the small amount it can expect from ToL is a pittance as most of us were smart enough to get the free upgrade.

It would be nice to do so but I highly doubt EA will. Its a money thing.

 

[BeaIank]

@Mesanna , @Bleak , @Kyronix @SOMEONE!

READ THIS GUYS POST AND HELP HIM OUT! This is ridiculous... just like everything that has to do with accounts in this game- your system is fundamentally F*CKED. This guy is showing UO so much love--- lets show him some love.

Unfortunately, those pleas will likely be ignored.
We were promised that this would be looked on and fixed back in 2012 (Ask & Answer No. 3 – Ultima Online), and back again in 2013 (Ask & Answer No. 14 – Ultima Online), among countless times this was brought over at the forums.
I am resigned regarding this problem. It just won't happen. Brazil will remain Stygian Abyssless, Australia/Russia and other countries will never have high seas, and very few select Origin stores other than the US one have the "privilege" of selling the King's Collection.

 

[OREOGL]

I don't think you understand my dear.

You see EA controls how far we are updated in expansions. When I had my last discussion with UO's billing department supervisor before the management came in. I had many of my accounts at different publishes. I made mention that UO had in the past when a new one came out would advance all accounts to the next closest publish. The gentleman agreed and in a few days all accounts were up to 1 publish. SA was that new publish so all got ML upgrade.
It might sound reasonable to upgrade all accounts again as we got ToL.. but I will remind you it is not up to us but EA. not Broadsword.
EA makes money on SA the small amount it can expect from ToL is a pittance as most of us were smart enough to get the free upgrade.

It would be nice to do so but I highly doubt EA will. Its a money thing.

All I got out of this is all you have to do is call billing and have them update your accounts for you.

It was nice you were able to bypass purchasing all of the content available.

Some people would call this theft.

 

[Gamer_Goblin]

Or that customer service knows all about the intricacies of the business contracts and freely gives it out on the phone to callers.

 

[OREOGL]

Or that customer service knows all about the intricacies of the business contracts and freely gives it out on the phone to callers.

Sure, it's always someone else's fault.

Those guys probably didn't have a clue.

 

[Lady Storm]

OreoGL
No you miss understood as usual and I do not like you accusing anyone of theft much less me.
Back a few years ago I had major trouble with a good size handfull of my 54 accounts which were all over the place with which package they had..
With this all being before the new billing system getting them all straitened out was a pain in the royal tush.
Took me getting the Supervisor on the phone and in talking I mentioned that we use to get the previous package when a NEW publish went on sale.
He agreed that it might solve a lot of problems they were having with accounts at the time.
We got my trouble straitened out and in a few days EVERYONE IN UO GOT THE UPGRADE.
So there sir *raspberry*
It always was a few publishes between the push up to a more recent publish before a new one was up for sale in our past.
It was NOT a guarantee we get it.
Sir perhaps you need to slow down and read the whole thing before you accuse anyone of things.
Feel free to ask for clarifications... I am sure any of us will be willing to elaborate on any question you have.

 

[Lady Storm]

Unfortunately, those pleas will likely be ignored.
We were promised that this would be looked on and fixed back in 2012 (Ask & Answer No. 3 – Ultima Online), and back again in 2013 (Ask & Answer No. 14 – Ultima Online), among countless times this was brought over at the forums.
I am resigned regarding this problem. It just won't happen. Brazil will remain Stygian Abyssless, Australia/Russia and other countries will never have high seas, and very few select Origin stores other than the US one have the "privilege" of selling the King's Collection.

Well I do have an answer to this one... Mesanna has not one finger into the EA Origin Store workings. She can ask, she can talk to them all she likes but not get anywhere. She has said this on many occasions as well at quite a few Meet and Greets. She has mentioned she is working on a workaround for this but this does take time and Something's EA might not like.

 

[OREOGL]

OreoGL
No you miss understood as usual and I do not like you accusing anyone of theft much less me.
Back a few years ago I had major trouble with a good size handfull of my 54 accounts which were all over the place with which package they had..
With this all being before the new billing system getting them all straitened out was a pain in the royal tush.
Took me getting the Supervisor on the phone and in talking I mentioned that we use to get the previous package when a NEW publish went on sale.
He agreed that it might solve a lot of problems they were having with accounts at the time.
We got my trouble straitened out and in a few days EVERYONE IN UO GOT THE UPGRADE.
So there sir *raspberry*
It always was a few publishes between the push up to a more recent publish before a new one was up for sale in our past.
It was NOT a guarantee we get it.
Sir perhaps you need to slow down and read the whole thing before you accuse anyone of things.
Feel free to ask for clarifications... I am sure any of us will be willing to elaborate on any question you have.

No, I read it correctly the first time.

 

[Lady Storm]

Then you sir have a convoluted sense of how the world runs.

The Op was commenting on how they should have SA when they bought ToL.
Not in EA's books.
The 2 times they have advanced player access to content were strait forward for system sake not players.
The active software needed the advance of all using the game for a less buggie operation back then.
The OP was not advised of this fact at purchase of the ToL.
I for one know EA wont go for it. They make money on all the origin store offers.

 

[Tina Small]

@Lady Storm, can you suggest any specific department or contact person at EA that players can contact if they are unable to purchase specific UO-related items in the Origin store that serves the country where they live? Maybe if enough players in a specific country (e.g., Brazil) contact the right department at EA, this particular problem can be resolved.

 

[Lady Storm]

The Origin Store has a chat you can do online. I am not sure if foreign customers can access this function. I would hate to advise them to do so and find they cant... but if they do look to see if they can on their version of the store or if they are more versed in English try for the USA origin store. For the USA people, the service line at the UO Origin store also has a call back feature where they will call you. Don't hesitate to leave your number.

 

[hen]

The Origin Store has a chat you can do online. I am not sure if foreign customers can access this function. I would hate to advise them to do so and find they cant... but if they do look to see if they can on their version of the store or if they are more versed in English try for the USA origin store. For the USA people, the service line at the UO Origin store also has a call back feature where they will call you. Don't hesitate to leave your number.

Can people from outside the USA access the "USA origin store"?

 

[BeaIank]

Can people from outside the USA access the "USA origin store"?

Only through a VPN, and it is not advisable to send payment information through a VPN.
Or if they rent a dedicated server, they could remote into that server and access it from there.

Regarding contacting EA, I tried to do that in 2014 through their customer experience site:

Obrigada por contactar o Serviço de apoio ao Cliente da Electronic Arts.

Antes de mais, nossas sinceras desculpas pela demora na resposta, prometemos ser o mais breves possível nos próximos contatos.

Relativamente ao seu pedido, de momento o DLC Stygian Abyss para Ultima Online, não está disponível no Origin Brasil. Teremos em conta o seu email.

Freely translated to English:

Thanks for contacting the Electronic Arts Customer experience service.
Befor anything else, we apologize for the delay in our reply. We will try to reply faster in future contacts.

Regarding your inquire, the Stygian Abyss for Ultima Online DLC is momentarily not available in Origin Brazil. We will consider your email.

And... that is all. I didn't help at all...
If the UO team leader at Broadsword has no power to question and pressure Origin on this matter (which would be ridiculous and a testament of failure of the current team), then they should get Broadsword CEO to put pressure on EA to get this stupidity fixed.
It is our job to beg them to let us give them our money.

 

[Slayvite]

Don't expect anything to be sorted any time soon.
Broadsword have very little control over this game, they are basically the caretakers.
All the power is still with EA and they will only just acknowledge that UO even exists.

As much as I hate to say stuff like this......"you'd have a better time if you chose one of the popular Free shards available".
(again, how these even exist is proof of how little EA cares about this game and shows how little power Broadsword have).

 

[BeaIank]

Oh, I gave up expecting that this will be sorted at all. It has been 4 years already and nothing was done. It won't be now that they will fix this.

 

[Kirthag]

Time of Legends (UO-ToL) is not a complete game, but an expansion off of Mondain's Legacy.
That is the same case for Stygian Abyss - it is simply an expansion off of Mondain's Legacy.

Although the product descriptions are identical, I really don't see why the New Account SA costs more - other than rooking the new players - but that is just me. Perhaps The Dark Lady can explain the difference between the two other than new players needing to pay more money. :-/

I'd re-order the catalog, putting the SAs first, then the ToL, then the time codes, then the Booster packs followed by all the other stuff. Ordering is very important in ecommerce.... but that's just me I suppose.

Totally marketed wrong as well. Should be marketed as such - images are shot from the US Origin site.

Package for New Players (I would recommend a small discount? What makes this SA different from the other?)

Package for Returning Players WITHOUT Stygian Abyss (last played with Mondains Legacy, prior to Sept. 2009)

For Players who missed out on the ToL-giveaway last year (but have played since Sept. 2009, thus have the SA expansion)

What would be optimal would be to include all SA content in the ToL - although I can see the dilemma with players who are returning after almost a decade who didn't pay for SA... *shrug* There has to be a "drop off" somewhere with a good marketing spin to make it appealing to the players. *sigh*

 

[Deep Ellum Dan]

One great option (if you have a friend with a Linux server) is to use putty and tunnel your port 80 to the Linux shell. Therefore, when you visit any website, it goes from you to your friend's Linux server then to the desired website. You will be appearing as coming from his location and not yours. Best free VPN

 

[Lady Storm]

Hmmmmmmmm........
Let me see if I got this strait....
All accounts are the same.... no matter who created them and where.... I know this as 2 I own were created in France, 2 in Singapore, and 4 in OZ. I have upgraded all and have had no issues with codes.
So that is not the issue.
There is one way to skin this cat......
Just get a friend to buy the damn code here and you pay them the exchange rate for it.

 

[Deep Ellum Dan]

Time of Legends (UO-ToL) is not a complete game, but an expansion off of Mondain's Legacy.
That is the same case for Stygian Abyss - it is simply an expansion off of Mondain's Legacy.

Although the product descriptions are identical, I really don't see why the New Account SA costs more - other than rooking the new players - but that is just me. Perhaps The Dark Lady can explain the difference between the two other than new players needing to pay more money. :-/

I'd re-order the catalog, putting the SAs first, then the ToL, then the time codes, then the Booster packs followed by all the other stuff. Ordering is very important in ecommerce.... but that's just me I suppose.

Totally marketed wrong as well. Should be marketed as such - images are shot from the US Origin site.

Package for New Players (I would recommend a small discount? What makes this SA different from the other?)

Package for Returning Players WITHOUT Stygian Abyss (last played with Mondains Legacy, prior to Sept. 2009)

For Players who missed out on the ToL-giveaway last year (but have played since Sept. 2009, thus have the SA expansion)

What would be optimal would be to include all SA content in the ToL - although I can see the dilemma with players who are returning after almost a decade who didn't pay for SA... *shrug* There has to be a "drop off" somewhere with a good marketing spin to make it appealing to the players. *sigh*

I would totally purchase SA before ToL but that is mainly because I find SA more important than ToL with the content available.

 

[kaio]

imho all expansions should be free of charge, the monthly fee should be more than enough to cover the cost for their development.

 

[Lady Storm]

EA would see it differently.
They are out to make money... not coddle the players.

 

[OREOGL]

EA would see it differently.
They are out to make money... not coddle the players.

And they can't even effectively do that...

 

[Ariel Hardy]

Just a update, we open a ticket with ea and:

No response.

 

[Lady Storm]

No one said a billion dollar company needs to cater to anyone.
We are the people who offer up the cash to them.....
To stop is a double edged sword, see with a company that large and asset rich you run the risk of them determining UO is not worth the effort.
The few people that threaten to stop or complain too much... will just give them the push to kill off UO.
Ether way You kill UO.
Threats will not work. Nor is crying like little children.

 

[MalagAste]

No one said a billion dollar company needs to cater to anyone.
We are the people who offer up the cash to them.....
To stop is a double edged sword, see with a company that large and asset rich you run the risk of them determining UO is not worth the effort.
The few people that threaten to stop or complain too much... will just give them the push to kill off UO.
Ether way You kill UO.
Threats will not work. Nor is crying like little children.

Honestly I think if enough people wrote to the CEO's and explained how horrible the Origin Store is to us it might help. When I did it before the guy was real nice but he wanted details I could not give. If all the people that have had major issues wrote to the board I'm fairly sure you might get somewhere. He seemed genuinely interested in helping.