Ah right! Youre trolling. Thanks for clearing that up. I should have realised it was a troll as no one can be this stupid. Well played.
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Two Years ago today ...
- Thread starter The Craftsman
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Ruin my fun why don't you...You should just give it up.... you can'ta
Not an argument. When you have something to say I will be happy to read it
Where did I say it was an argument? It was a statement of fact.
Errr ... you did read it
Their modus operandi is overpromise and underdeliver. I wish they'd stop talking about things they're not ready to act on.
Hehe, Yeah...i'm still waiting for that "big Announcement" from December.........I hope to god they didn't class the "redesign a castle" as a big announcement?
You all do realize UO is the red headed stepchild of EA yes? There's big exec's who probably have tried axing it for years while every year the Marketing guy goes and pleads. "Guys...we can keep saying we have the longest running MMO, let's just keep it going." Meanwhile the exec's leave a barebone budget in place to keep it afloat and cut as many corners as they possibly can."i.e.: testers/Devs ***" you'll see come the new pub(again) .. all while they pump millions into EA Sports(se it makes money).. it's not rocket science. Just keep paying your subs. As much as I loathe the direction the game has gone under the current producer, she's probably the last one with ties to EA harping on them daily to throw us a bone..imagine dealing with that every day. Hence the UO clouds are still active.
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Hard to disagree with any of that to be honest.
Problem is that UO's continuance is dependant on revenue, which means subscription numbers. Sure we are still limping along after all these years but as ive said before dont confuse longevity with immortality. Sooner or later we will hit the point where its no longer profitable. The only counter to that is increasing the player base, and the logical way to do that is through steam and/or F2P.
F2P does NOT generate any income... you have to nickle and dime the community to death with stuff that folk need turning F2P into Pay to Win.
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Free to play can be made profitable another way too, by adding advertisements to as many things as possible and collecting all the ad revenue.
For example let's say UO suddenly becomes popular with a million players after going free to play. They start putting ads on the patching screen to make money, and each person who sees the patching screen gets them 1 cent in ad money. One million players logging in a day, at 1 cent each, would be $10,000 per day.
$10,000 a day times 365 a days a year is $3,650,000 per year in revenue solely from the ads on the patching screen, plus any other money from the in game store.
That's how a lot of free to play games make cash while still being free.
Those are browser based games... UO is not browser based.
F2P IMO would be a backslide downfall and would only encourage even more script bots than we already have.
Really? I could list you a hundred things that players would buy in an ingame store that from clothing to plants to deco to tile sets to storage to vanity items to housing etc etc. The list is huge and if done in the right way wouldnt be game breaking or P2W. People will pay it. The F2P model works and would work especially well in UO, even sitting alongside the P2P model if need be.
Oh I'm aware but the stuff has to be there to buy... not to mention people have to be able to purchase the Sovereigns ..... without those no one is buying anything.... and dealing with Origin Store is like going to the Dentist... Or a Proctologist. No one wants to do it.
I'd rather have all my teeth pulled then have to jump through the hurdles of buying stuff from Origin.
I don't see F2P ever as a good thing... I've played a great many F2P games... and most of them are Pay to Win... Or the focus becomes solely on glam and nothing about content. Either that or every year it's the same crap for sale with yet another "new" color... same rehashed art over and over... We're already headed in that direction now... with all the greed we have already in game.
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A lot of games which previously had a subscription now have a tiered payment structure, people who want to keep subbing continue to do so and have few restrictions, other people can play totally free but there is usually a lot more grinding. Most people go the middle road with free monthly play but buy items from the store every few months. Unfortunately a lot of people who play free games move on very quickly to other free games, no investment means no reason to stick around and therefore no real community. I really don't know how going free-to-play would work with a game as old as UO. But one thing is for sure we do need more players!
Not to mention in UO we have 3 screens to get thru before we are actually ingame, so you could up that to $10,950,000 and that would just be 1 Advert per page.
It's very clear that running a Business is not Broadswords selling point.
This is very true... but with the attitudes of many of the current player base... and I'm not talking about all the Debbie Downers like myself who get irritated on Forums with the game... I'm talking about all the people in-game who insult, ridicule and harass new players and returning players calling them everything in the book and telling them a bunch of lies about things etc... being total jerks to everyone. Telling people to get better suits and redo their character and if they can't cut it in some area to learn to play etc... instead of being helpful.
With that and the cost of not only getting your sub up to date with all the proper expansions but getting just one character reoutfitted... and such and I really don't want hear about how they can still play without all that because anymore with most the old school dungeons totally borked beyond use for a new player or returning player, with the way mobs are which tear you apart in no time and with the fact that most stuff they could loot and kill is practically worthless... and it would take a miracle for them to "make it" ...... I honestly don't see us getting much if anything for new players that actually stick around more than 30 days.
Just my opinion... but most folk are going to look around... see what everyone else "has" .... get seriously discouraged and quit. As so many are so fond of pointing out todays gamers want instant gratification and such... they don't want to invest 10+ years in something anymore. Lucky if they stay for 6 months let alone 6 years.
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You are not wrong, I've seen this myself, at this stage I just don't know what the solution is though.
Equipping a new player nowadays is not hard since the legendary bits have appeared, everyone has bits they can give away, the lesser legendaries, so a full resists, LRC, LMC and some MR suit , is very easy to create for someone. Same as for a dexxer, use some of the VVV items to start and you are pretty much on your way.
Players that look at veteran players and say they want that, is pure greed, as they want it all now and it takes time.
But the hard bit in this game is not getting a suit..... as a standard suit can be made very easy, only gets hard when you start chasing the dragon of suits, always looking to have the best. The problem in my eyes for new players, is the economy, even a basic Dragon barding deed can cost 15-25K, for us veterans is nothing as we have millions/billions but for a new players, that could mean all his cash, unless someone has been kind enough to donate them some millions.
Players that look at veteran players and say they want that, is pure greed, as they want it all now and it takes time.
But the hard bit in this game is not getting a suit..... as a standard suit can be made very easy, only gets hard when you start chasing the dragon of suits, always looking to have the best. The problem in my eyes for new players, is the economy, even a basic Dragon barding deed can cost 15-25K, for us veterans is nothing as we have millions/billions but for a new players, that could mean all his cash, unless someone has been kind enough to donate them some millions.
That's part of what I've been saying... they look at vendors and the extreme prices on things and just throw in the proverbial towel and do you blame them? How can we stop the greedy SOBs from going to every shard and buying up everything in sight and marking it way up and trying to sell it on Atl??? And what is even MORE annoying is once they do they complain about the cost of maintaining an overly inflated vendor there. With too much stuff no one but young would want and need but they price it for Vets.
People like me who would and do give suits and things away to new and returning players and who used to spend hours on end helping them teaching them and such... many of us barely log in anymore. You get so discouraged after awhile of listening to the frustrations of them and being unable to do anything about them... I can't make things easier for them... I don't control prices. I can't be online most times when they want to be on and playing... since my hours are what they are I am just not around to help them most the time... sure I can point them in directions introduce them to some nice folk I know... but more often than not they get frustrated with all the things I've mentioned .... and more... and they leave. I used to try to draw in new players from other games I've played... Landmark, Diablo, Etc... but that doesn't work well.