Returning players/New players. What to offer?

[love2winalot]

Hail: They said they would target to get players to return to the game, and add new players. So, just how should this be done? What can they offer? A new or upgraded client will not bring players back, =3d failed, KR failed, SA=?

New housing area's will also not work, because all the current players will grab up the best, and largest spots. Also, how do you get a new player who has 1000 gold, to have any chance of doing anything when every other player has millions of gold?

Even starting a new shard has major drawbacks, as scripters go there first, and all the housing spots that are good, or large area's are gone in a day. If you offer them something, then the current player can say, "Hey, no fair, i played everyday and got nothing, and the quitters got rewarded"?

The no charater transfers, or advance charaters on a new shard also does not work, as scripters of skills will be 7x gm in a week, and a real new player will be adept in a few skills at best.

Here are some of my ideas.
1. NO Free accounts. No free trials.
2. A 30 day game time code sold seperatly, so you could try it out without a visa card. But, still had to pay for it.
3. A New shard. yea yea we have to many already, but would you play a expansion of a current game and start at level 1, when everyone else is level 90-100?
4. And my biggest/boldest move at all.........................hehe, EA would place all the houses on the shard. Castles/Keeps, 18x18, 15x12, and so on. Every house would be, "Owned by EA". After a certain point in time, they would all go IDOC at the same time, and you could NOT place a house at all, if you owned any house on any other shard.

Here is why. It gives everyone a chance to get the gold to buy a house. It ensures that there are houses for them when they do so. It stops Current players from grabbing the biggest/best spots on the first day or 2, and then selling it for a big profit. And even if they wanted to, they would have to sell of transfer their main house on their current server first, and even then, AS THERE IS NO FREE TRIALS, would have to pay $ to do so.

Thats all for now. Your Idea's? The object is to grow the game, and increase the player base, and, imhop, Housing is one of the biggest selling points of this game.

 

[Haddy G]

I guess you don't play Pacific, I've found 3 spots for 18x18 in the past month. I claimed one for myself, the others are probably still available. This doesn't even consider all the houses that have gone IDOC that I have been to, 3 of them just in the past 2 weeks that I've known about.

My point is it will take more then housing spots for folks to want to play this game. IMO it will take a real update of the graphics, more then what KR offered and much more content i.e. quests, pvp content. Oh lets not forget actually marketing the game, that would be good too rolleyes:

 

[kennykilleduo]

Don't even go here , UO need big changes that will not make ALL players happy.

2 Greatest things UO dev could do are:

1. Do a weapon and armor wipe.

2. Remove insurance

 

[hawkeye_pike]

Don't even go here , UO need big changes that will not make ALL players happy.

2 Greatest things UO dev could do are:

1. Do a weapon and armor wipe.

2. Remove insurance

Your forgot:

3. Merge Trammel and Felucca

 

[Belmarduk]

Hail: They said they would target to get players to return to the game, and add new players. So, just how should this be done? What can they offer? A new or upgraded client will not bring players back, =3d failed, KR failed, SA=?

A client that is modern plus works properly.
Advertisment.
Major overhaul of the whole game.
Getting scripting/cheating onto a low level.

Those 4. Order is not important but must be ALL 4. Anything less there is no future for UO.

 

[Velvathos]

Don't even go here , UO need big changes that will not make ALL players happy.

2 Greatest things UO dev could do are:

1. Do a weapon and armor wipe.

2. Remove insurance

The best thing they could do is not only do a weapon and armor wipe, I wouldn't mind one, but go back to the old armor/weapon system, or completley RE-VAMP it with another new one like they did AoS...

 

[Connor_Graham]

Also, how do you get a new player who has 1000 gold, to have any chance of doing anything when every other player has millions of gold?

This is one EXCUSE I get extremely tired of hearing. Just 4 short years ago, I was one of those new players, working a 60-70 Hr a week job, only able to play UO for a few hours a week, yet here I am today one of those players that have the millions of gold. It only took me 6 months to have made my first 100mil in the game, and have made millions upon millions since then.

It's not all that damn hard to do, even for a beginning player, so please stop using this tired excuse. Besides that, no new player is going to expect to be on the same level as someone that's been playing for 10 years within a short time span. They understand from the outset that the vet player has had 10 yrs to get more "stuff" than they have and aren't going to be pushed off because of it.

Why?

Because most people don't care what the next guy has. They may like it, and may want one for themselves, but they'll go out and work towards getting it, not quit because they weren't given one upon their first login.

 

[Farsight]

With regards to the question of how to bring in new players, we probably need to take a step back and ask ourselves another question:

If we knew nothing about the Ultima series or Ultima Online, what kind of incentive would we need to see in order to bring us into the game?

I can't think of any incentive that would bring new people into UO, but a strong advertising which focusses on the 10 years of community would help a lot. Maybe even a focus section on the main UO page for guilds and services that are helping the UO community stick together, including links to pages, interviews with people who have been helping others for years etc would let people know that we want to see new people and give them ideas of where to find help once they're in.

Seeing a new and pretty box (face it, some people judge the books by their covers) on the shelves would help a ton. A cheap box would help more.

And once the people have started, then they need to find a way to make the learning curve that is UO easier to navigate and other ways to keep people's interest after a month or two. A dedicated event staff would help a lot.

 

[love2winalot]

There are 2 targets, and each one is vastly different.
Returning player: These are of course the easiest to get, because they already know the game to some extent, and a lot of them are, "Looking for a reason to come back". If given those reasons, they end up in the stores buying SA first. Then the stores say, "Hey, this expansion is selling, lets order more boxes".

New Player: Most will have never heard of UO at all, or maybe only in passing. They know nothing about the dupes/economy and so on. All they know is that it is an INTERNET game. Yes, some vets will help them, but a lot of Vets will just trick them, kill them, and so on.

I would be on the phone with, "Prima" right now, getting the guid book ready. Any of the skill and creature stuff that will not be changed, they could already get started on.

Quote: "Because most people don't care what the next guy has". End Quote
Sorry Conner, I have to disagree. If this was the case, who cares about scripters, or making things from duped items? The more that is brought into the game, the less they cost. But a lot of players left the game for this very reason. So what if your neighbor has 25 runics, and you have 1? Because deep down inside we all want Justice, and for the game to be fair, and we really do care what the next guy has, and more importantly, how he got it.

Here is what I am tired of.
Newplayer: How do i do this, or what is that?
Vet Player: Go to UO and read about it there. Wait, i mean go to Stratics and read about it there. Wait, i mean go to UO Guid and read about it there. Wait, i mean go to the Pogo Knowledge base and read about it there. Wait, i mean use Google and reasearch it there.
GM: I am sorry, Vet Player, you are banned for listing URL's in the game, hehehehe.

Most new players do not want to come in and be a part, "tiny part", or an established community. They want to come in, on a level playing fied, and start their own damn community.

I also think, that if your in game stuff is of value to you, then you should have to pay for it each month to keep it. Not pay for it 1 of every 4 months to keep it.

PS: Someone here from startics should put up a, "SA Box design contest". and see all the ideas the differnt people have for what a box in the store should look like. The winner would get a cookie........

 

[Connor_Graham]

So what if your neighbor has 25 runics, and you have 1? Because deep down inside we all want Justice, and for the game to be fair, and we really do care what the next guy has, and more importantly, how he got it.

First of all, there's no way to know your neighbor has 25 runics unless he tells you. If he does happen to have that many, he either scripted or duped to get them, which would be something EA (should) would ban him for, which would put the honest player with 1 a step ahead of him. In the second scenario, the neighbor got all 25 by legitimate gameplay, in which case he/she spent the majority of their time towards that end and that end only, which is something another legitimate player could do if they put the same effort into it.

The point being that any new player can achieve what any vet has by putting the time and effort towards that goal. No one should expect to have everything a 10 yr vet has without that time and effort being put in first. Any expectations of having everything that vet has is going to be (and should be) sadly disappointed. You say the game needs to be fair, so it's only fair that a new player put in the same to get the same as the vet has.

 

[Ender]

Don't even go here , UO need big changes that will not make ALL players happy.

2 Greatest things UO dev could do are:

1. Do a weapon and armor wipe.

2. Remove insurance

You forgot

3. Drive at least half of the current players away, effectively killing UO?

 

[Cacio]

There are so many hoppers from one online game to other.
Some of them play a new online game for one year because they knom all start new.I posted it 1.5 years ago.If you bring a box of uo maybe SA with real 3D grafics and the advetrisment of uo that you have unique pvp waepons(randmom droped) im sure this will be the change.