[UO Herald] Producer's Letter - Where are we and what the heck are we doing?

[Ezekiel Zane]

The McLuna, designed by Voluptuous

http://vboards.stratics.com/showpost.php?p=1544735&postcount=5

Well, there's no accounting for taste. That's a disgusting looking house. No house in UO should be allowed to look that bad.

LOL @ house police. You guys are awesome. I insist you get badges.

Hey, I love designing houses and deco as much as the next guy. I don't spend most of my time doing it but indeed houses in UO are fun. To that end though, you can't put something that gawdy in UO, especially in a high traffic area and not expect some criticism. I applaud the creativity. It's the same argument, IMO, why neon doesn't belong. There are plenty of house tile sets to make attractive designs fitting in with the UO neighborhood better.

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

Thanks for the letter Cal. If you detect a crap load of cynicism, angst and downright hostility, try posting a bit more often.

 

[Stupid Miner]

Well, there's no accounting for taste. That's a disgusting looking house. No house in UO should be allowed to look that bad.

He's not referring to the aesthetic of the design.
He's referring to the wide range of freedom UO allows, and it's a very good example of that.

 

[Kirthag]

.......

I had this huge, wonderful post all typed up... when my computer crashed.




So now after expunging everything and aggravating my programmers' carpal tunnel even more... I'm just gonna say a few points...


1 - Nice attempt at connecting by playing "in" Baja, but you need to play on a crowded shard in a different time zone with seriously active players to get a REAL taste of UO. Baja is nice... but is considered a smaller shard and by no means should be representative of the entire game. Your vision is being colored just a bit too rosey.

2 - Feel the pain of the mage? Now do something about it.


3 - Post list of things that are seriously BROKEN, and as you guys work on moving us forward (in both clients I hope) DEDICATE PART OF THE TEAM TO THOSE LIST ITEMS. Is what I do with my team... and it works pretty well - we actually fixed the search function in our software while upgrading our database without crashing our main site! WoOt!


4 - I know this is not "sanctioned" but please do go and create accounts on some of the more established "free" shards. See what they've done there... how they've grown and adapted to their "customers". You might learn something. It has been proven several times that corporate can learn something from open source solutions. (Java - 'nuf said).





I want to have faith in you & your team. I want to believe that even if UO will never be the game it once was, it will grow to become the game it should be. It is going on 13 years that I've been involved in this game. Births, marriages, divorces, deaths have been experienced by any UO player that's been here that long. The Stratics forums for UO will attest to that. People have moved countries to be near those they have met in game. I remember helping to tutor an 8th grade player in Algebra - using UO as the medium of communication! My family has held "UO Family Reunions" when we couldn't all afford to fly back to Hawaii - at one time 5 generations of my family was playing UO!


I want to teach my grand daughter to slay a dragon....



In UO.



ok.. I'm spent.



Your attempt, Mr. Producer, is noted - but still just an attempt. Please, sir, do try again.

 

[kennykilleduo]

A Classic Shard will, beyond a doubt, cause many old players to re-subscribe to the game. They will come back to see the new shard, relive some nostalgia, and put some new money into Mythic/EA's pockets. The game, as it currently is, is on life-support. It *needs* some injection of new and returning subs. It needs some "word of mouth" on the Internet, its needs some coverage... it isn't getting those things, but a Classic Shard will remedy that.

A Classic Shard will only help the regular shards, not hurt them. Some who come for the Classic Shard will undoubtedly bleed over to the regular shards. The extra money from the Classic Shard subs will help sustain the team and prove to EA that they should invest in UO's future, not put it on "maintenance mode".

A Classic Shard will only lengthen UO's life cycle. A Classic Shard will only increase subscriptions. A Classic Shard will only bring more attention to UO. A Classic Shard is the right thing to do.

I completely agree.
I can personally guarantee I'd come back and play, and I'd bring 15-20 of my friends who quit when they ran out of bank space to hold their mils and ultra rares.

To me; UO used to mean something. It meant I could login, work my butt off, make something valuable that people would be jealous of, and feel an emotional connection to what I was doing in game. It's a feeling I have not matched before or since.

Bring back full loot.
Kill insurance.
Bring back the ability to lop off a murderers head.
Bring back rare unique items.
Bring back me mining my butt off for hours and someone coming by and pking me. (Seriously it got my heart pumping and fueled my revenge)
Bring back a game that meant something to me where the players HAD to work together to play, I used to have a blacksmith and I'd trade goods with a local alchemist, and we had tailor down the street, we traded, we made friendship, and we enjoyed the game.
Fix duping.
Make neon dye ultra rare and super hard to obtain.
Don't let vendors sell 500 of everything, make things hard to get and you will have players who develop an emotional bond with the game.

That's my two cents. BRING IT BACK CAL!

I agreee 100% , I'd like to know how it would be to just disable many features that were added beyond a certain point , unable to get , unable to use..EA is missing HUGELY on this.

Or even make a limited server like WARHAMMER's Endless Trial.

http://www.warhammeronline.com/faq/index.php?section=11#ans11_0

 

[AesSedai]

- Hi Cal!

Thanks for the update, sir Uriah!
Now I'll try to share some constructive accolades and criticisms...

It says 'Producer's Letter', but your title says Dev. Manager? ... I'm confused.

Factions revamp: Sounds good. Interesting how you may, or may not, tie factions into the Magincia revamp. But as others have already said, including yourself, making factions more meaningful ~aka improving the initial foundation~ would be a great UO addition that would indeed make a much more meaningful experience, imo.

Classic Shard: Please consider history & available Dev. resources before doing more than discuss this. In relation to this, I found this section to be somewhat reassuring:

What follows is in no way a schedule or in any way meant to imply that these things will happen in the near term, but instead to give you a peek where my head is and what the team is iterating on …

- I do hope this was moreso the team iterating what some of the community will always desire, rather than where your head is; I say this because of UO history as well as the examples other MMO's have provided, as well as... limited Dev. resources. I mean, why would you want to spend resources on something that already proved to be debilating to UO? Unless your definition of Classic is a significant hybrid version of what was prior to Trammel -or- even a verion pre:AoS that includes Trammel... further clarification would be necessary in order to try to provide much more relevant feedback.

Please before you spend more resources on this idea, please have a chat with one (or in my case 10+) of the developers that worked on UO between the times of Richard Garriott and Anthony Castoro & pick their brains as to why 'Classic' 'Classic UO' did not / could not work for the long term, as well as to why that 'social experiment' failed due to a lack of adequate GM & player policing -because of a lack of an adequate foundation of tools for both GMs and players... then imagine the choice users would have nowadays between what is production now and the addition of alternate classic shards. I'll give you a hint: wolves versus wolves without sheep; heck even the wolves will get bored with uber pwning each other after awhile... As I've said for many years: I predict such an addition would briefly stimulate the playerbase. Yes, briefly. Much like when Gary Marshall decided to have the Fonze 'jump the shark'...
That being said, please concentrate on what is production, S&M, & EC (especially the establishment of the EC foundation) and CC before adding classic shards - unless developer resources (including GM and CS) are to significantly increase in order to handle all that is already on the plate, plus more; of which we already need an increase, and not downsizing, of all of those human resources as it is, in order to improve UO's profit margin and sustainability, imo.

Speedhacking and movement: This alone could go a long way towards improving the desire for many to compete in PvP... this encompasses many aspects of UO, including factions. Sounds great; another foundation-al / fundamental and long-necessary, improvement.
3rd party detection afterwards...?!?- Are you just trying to butter my roll? Seriously, if you could limit the mass abuse of UO that illegal tools use these days, that would greatly improve the desire for the legitimate players to spend more time in all of UO.
Another little suggestion here, if I may: Detect those that alter the existing client and prevent them from playing until they stop cheating (stump hacks, changing tiles... you know what I mean).
Cheaters are bad... and they definitively kill others' fun and profits too, heh.

Story arc and EM tools: Sounds great. I've always been an advocate of improving the foundation rather than tossing extra layers on a possibly faulty tower, & providing EMs, GMs, Devs et all with better tools is certainly a part of that.

Btw, you do not -have- to have 100 LRC... it is just the lazy, easy water flowing downhill, in us that desires such a bonus
& the McLuna house is a cute and creative example of what is possible in UO, imo & I also find it to be a comical parody of what Dupaville unfortunately came to be, due to a lack of adequate resources ~ err official policing ~ over a billion served, heh.

 

[Tina Small]

Cal, perhaps your team should consider sharing a house on Origin and building up characters there so you can help out with testing anything new you plan to throw at us. I think you'll find a fair number of Baja residents you may have already befriended also have characters on Origin and the two shards even share some Stratics reporters and moderators.

Perhaps knowing the UO team is playing on Origin and possibly even testing the PvP waters there would convince other players to start up new Origin characters so you have an experienced crew ready and willing to test out the faction changes when they hit Origin.

 

[Walkerboh77]

A Classic Shard will only help the regular shards, not hurt them.
A Classic Shard will only lengthen UO's life cycle. A Classic Shard will only increase subscriptions. A Classic Shard will only bring more attention to UO. A Classic Shard is the right thing to do.

wrong on both counts....

history in another EA/mythic MMO shows this is not the case...


a classic shard(or server in the case of daoc) was never classic(as it never can be....) and only pulls people from the current player base....

in the end they fail...because of course u can never truly relive the glory days and eventually the people migrate back to the shards with FULL CONTENT....

in the end...all it does is cause u to lose people

 

[Heartseeker]

A lot of a$$ hats are pancakeing and moaning again I see.

Cal's Classic shard is a great idea, and will have more positive results than the 3rd party and speeding progs.

You folks should remember that a lot of the population scripts and cheats now; with the elimination of said programs you would have a large exodus on your hands.

To all the people complaining about Voluptuous artistic genius,take a Midol for your pms.

 

[FrejaSP]

A classic shard is any day before AoS ...

To me, it's any day before UO:R (the split), I would choose just before T2A, where we still had old noto system and Dread Lords was feared.
We may need 2 classics shards, one where non con PvP are allowed and one where it's not allowed.

Would I play there, I really don't know, I loved the freedom at that time but I also love alot of what we have now.

I think the key is to find out what it is we miss so much and then try to add the old spirit to the game we have now.

I really want to see the split gone. All players should be allowed to go everywhere.
Being safe everywhere should have a price and being aggressive to everyone should have a price too.

Right now, we have 2x resources/fame in Felucca, that should count for all facets but only for the ones willing to risk dying to an other players.

Getting what you want if you play safe should be possible but take 2 longer time.

Also reds should not get 2x resource spawn/fame

Being willing to PvP but not a PK should pay off.

 

[sirion]

First off, I really appreciate you taking the time to write the letter. It provides a sense of direction and planning for what's to come in the game. It breaks off the silence of the new deafening impression of the "new UO dev team" since the recent months. I have no specific comments on the points given, provided that I have been around long enough to know that "time will tell".

So, lets just talk about 2 things.
1. Communication with your customers
2. Frequency of updates

1. Communication with your customers
Obviously there was a change in the strategy from your management to cut down interaction/feedback with the community. THIS IS BAD. No matter what resource is now limited for your company to invest in this game, you(EA/Mythic) should never stop talking to your customers. Good to hear you guys are "busy". If minimizing the interaction here will increase the efficiency of your deveopment, please go ahead. But please let your customers know how frequent will we hear from you.

2. Frequency of updates:
I hope the "continuing of support" will be more evident and frequent. I know there are some people who will call you names..etc, for "runing our game", or not "qualified" to do this job..etc. Well, I'm not going to do that - just yet. Heck, all my favorite devs are let go. What do you me to trust? But three weeks gone by without any minor update is pretty much the limit. Four weeks without game update is unacceptable.

Again, thanks for the letter. Have a nice day,
Customer from Asia


.

 

[The Doctor]

@ Grey Pawn - excellent post, constructive and thought provoking. It convinced me to de-cloak and tell you.

The Producer's letter struck me as missing the point but in the consideration of the "classic" shard and the promotion of the McLuna building, reveals the central dilemma for developers: this game has been going so long, there are just too many playstyles to contend with.

This is also the game's great strength. I loathed the change to itemisation in AoS. Luckily, the game allows me to opt out. Together with like minded individuals, I can participate in a pre-AoS world (pretty much) of GM weaponry and armour - and wars.

Now, I cannot play against much of the new content - but then surely a "classic" shard would remove all those new dungeons and lands too? Or rather, I can access that content if I wish to tool up a different character.

The letter reveals some encouraging thoughts about content and I would like to see much more of this. Trying to make our old game compete with much newer engines strikes me a proven futile. What really make UO great is the sheer range of opportunities for diverse play. Empower the EMs for sure, fix factions, and spend time developing storylines.

My own dream would be to see a "developer kit" like that available for Neverwinter Nights, where players could develop story modules and submit them for implementation by EMs or even the Dev team. Cal, you have some staggeringly creative players and a passionate community - talk to them more, and bring them into your orbit for advice and to contribute.

This probably doesn't register on EA's corporate radar, but there are serious business and cost advantages to community participation.

 

[BlackMagus]

*people constantly whining about no communication from the team*

*the team giving feedback*

*people whine about all the feedback given*

lather, rinse, repeat...

btw: viva la classic shard!

 

[altarego]

Classic shard = Fel/Tram split in a stealth cloak.

The whole point of the Fel/Tram split was to appease a small group of noisy players who wanted things done "their" way. Gee...sound familiar? The very people that now want a classic shard are nothing more than a new iteration of the folks who wanted the Tram split.

Then we had a rebellion and Seige+Mugen were created to appease *another* set of vocal players. Another split in resources.

A classic shard just perpetuates this nonsense. If you want classic rules, use Seige+Mugen as a testbed. Or, eliminate Siege+Mugen altogether. Or, revamp the Fel/Tram rules.

But do not, under any circumstances, create a new shard with a new ruleset. It'll only introduce another population of idiots whining: "Why don't we have this here? Why is that this way, and not my way?"

ad nauseum...

 

[Splup]

HOOOLY CRAP!

How freaking negative people are here?

They are nere fixing speed hack. Finally someone saying it straight and not "We'r looking into it".

After that we’ll be looking into coming up with a solution for 3rd party program detection.

Well yes, that's "looking into", but always good to hear still.

And making factions have a real purpose besides faction arties? Hell yes!

Yea I agree EC needs love definitly, but they are working on pretty good stuff now too? But yeah, I need to say this again, EC needs love.

Thanks Cal.

 

[Splup]

Ohh, and forgot these from my last post:

I am gearing up a mage

Soo that why we'r getting these new mage arties! Thanks for em.

And the other thing.

Calvin seems a bit rough around the edges kinda type, not the politician type. I think thats exactly what we need, and the type of person I like.

The politician type wouldv taken his letter from specialist to specialist and then 2 grammar checkers. But who cares?

Calvin seems to be the kinda type who gets excited and gets the job done. I couldnt give rats ass if he misspelled something, as long as I get the point.

 

[Joshua Ravenloft]

A classic shard is any day before AoS ...

Agreed.

And the best way to find out EXACTLY what type of classic shard would suit the majority is.... to have a vote window pop up once and once only before you log in. Sure it will mean that multi account holders will get more than one vote. But since they are paying the money and supporting this game, I don't have a problem with them having a larger say tbh. I would also set a cut off date prior to voting, it might get a few more players to activate their dormant accounts and give UO another try in the count down to vote day!

Maybe the rpers and Guilds that support a certain type of shard could run elections and gather support to get players vote. This COULD be a lot of fun if handled right!

The devs would have to decide which types of classic shard were on offer, eg before AOS, or before Trammel etc etc. And if there were going to be transfers to and from it. I doubt there would be too many old skool players that would want to start from scratch! Might be a good topic for debate that one. I wonder if it is possible to have transfers too and not from a shard? If so then it would still be possible to have unique items on a classic shard and have them stay there. example unblessed rune books....

There are plenty of pinnacle moments that incorporated big changes in UO's early history, so it shouldn't be too hard to come up with say 3 or 5 choices.

What ever the devs decide to do, do it well, or I suspect that we will lose the old skool puritans for ever...........

Amin might want to make a sticky thread for discussion on a classic shard?

 

[Joshua Ravenloft]

hey Galen, I'll forgive that you typod "perfer" if you forgive me for typoing "Zhah"

Ta!

HaHa Galen pwned................ to Cal!

Just ignore the neg posts, I your letter and look forward to seeing some if not ALL the changes that you talked about implemented.

 

[siyeng0]

Maybe the rpers and Guilds that support a certain type of shard could run elections and gather support to get players vote. This COULD be a lot of fun if handled right!

Or maybe we could get a specialised roleplay shard.

I'd love a roleplay shard.

What I would not give for a roleplay shard!

...but I digress, carry on.

 

[MalagAste]

*sighs*

While I am pleased to hear that Magincia will get some love, and I'm very happy to hear you may actually have a "fix" coming for speedhacking and 3rd party program abuse...

I'm sad to hear about a "classic" shard.... way too much resources are wasted on this idea. I can see a bunch of people coming back..... reliving a bit of the "nostalgia".... and then realizing what they really really hated about uo.... craptastic outdated graphics.... and then they will leave again.

I want to see the EC improved/finished. I want to see the KR housing interface brought over to the EC!.... I want to co-own my multiple accounts back to all my homes.... I want the horrible art for the paperdolls fixed so I can actually stomach looking at my own characters paperdoll...

I want to see WAY more added to the EM events... and quite a bit more improvments to promote community and role-play.

And I want the default Emote color changed to something you can see and read in the journal...

I want to stop chasing my curser about when I'm trying to use the EC.

I want more ways to save space not take it up.... More stackable items...

I want more animals and monsters to be Tamable...

I want more color choices for skin tones for both Gargoyles and Elves. I'd like some brown colors for elves.... I'd like to see black horns on my gargoyle....

I'd like to stop lacking cohesion every time I enter a moongate...

I'd like to stop having to wait 10 min to switch characters because my archer autotargeted some creature when I recalled home.... before I cold stop them...

I'd like to actually be able to "alter" one item to another..... say take a floppy hat and make it a mages hat.... or take a hunters headdress and make it a circlet again.... And I'd like to alter arties into Garghis pieces and Gargish pieces into human....

I'd like new clothing styles...

And I'd like to not be called a Carebear.... or forced into fel to get ganked just because you think I don't experience enough PvP or something in my warred guild.

I'd like to see less dupes... I'd like to see less afk scripters.

And I'd like to see WAY more communication from the DEV's

 

[Winker]

Missives like this obviate the need for experienced community professionals. I'm not entirely clear you (Cal Crowner) understand the desires and nuances of this particular ragtag bunch of community.

Let me politely eviscerate your letter in as constructive a means as I can.

You should perhaps be made aware that factions has been broken for 10 years. The system itself was constructed by Adrick and Evocare, designers that later went on to other MMOs (SWG and WoW respectively). Mesanna, who is still with you, and Brak, were at the forefront of testing this mess, and the entire development process strategy seemed to be release it and forget about it. More than just that, it seemed as though the clarion calls from the community calling out the massive issues and recommending simple stopgaps and fixes were almost intentionally ignored. 10 years later, factions remains broken in its most integral parts - no more than a tertiary system for procuring mildly improved artifacts.

I acknowledge my share in the blame for the failure of factions, at least as far as the Council of Mages is concerned. It was my eagerness to participate in what I thought was going to be a magnificent addition to Ultima that caused me to rally most of the population on Test Factions to the Council of Mages - maligning a previous perception on the part of those two original factions designers that the CoM could not be competitive due to its awful Stronghold and other major factors. Tom Chilton admitted to me at one point that the CoM almost didn't make it to the light of day.

My bad. Not that this excuses ten solid years on the UO development team's part of treating factions like the vaunted Virtue System. (Still nothing for Honesty? The system pre-dates Calandryll for god's sake.)

Regarding a classic shard - I am confident that you aren't that stupid. You are already maintaining two code branches, one for Classic and one for Enhanced. If you actually had a community manager, he or she would sit you down in a quiet room and tell you gently that the strength of player nostalgia in UO is the most powerful force veterans have, and they wield it like a cudgel. They would tell you that retrospection of the "golden age" of Ultima is a grand pastime, and that people, while claiming to have loved it, in fact thoroughly hated it but put up with it because WoW wasn't even a twinkle in Blizzard's eye and there simply were no other choices. They would go on to tell you that 90% of the population claims to be hardcore, and would naturally benefit from a return to the "lord of the flies" style early UO, but that only 10% or less actually is. This community person would also pull out a laptop with Shadowbane installed on it, show you that it is impossible to log in to a game that no longer exists due to the core system being to grief every other player into quitting, boot up Darkfall and demonstrate the same thing.

As for the live story arc, I am perhaps the only person who is glad that this is no longer in the hands of Draconi. UO players on average don't have the backstory on Draconi, so they were never quite made aware of how incredibly poorly he managed the storyline and prime fiction arc of UO. Big reveal here - the length of time in between poorly executed storyline sequences was inexcusable, and largely due in part to Draconi's flaw of epic tunnel-vision. To spend literally six months working on a single, microscopic aspect of an event that lasted no more than 6 minutes in-game, which didn't even add that much or seem required is the height of bad development. And by the way, a six paragraph story update every three months doesn't count as episodic content, friend. UOers deserved far more than they got with regards to fiction and content, even from the most skeletal of live teams.

As for you, Cal. You've been on the UO team since September of 2007. Is three years not enough time to have picked up the lingo? "The team has been playing in Baja." You mean "on" Baja. As for those folks who used to take you aside and tell you how to play? Yeah, we called those Companions. As far as mages and LRC go, welcome to our hell. You will notice that mages in UO wear leather armor. Full leather armor, with mismatched pieces here and there, whatever we can find. This is as opposed to wearing robes, as in every other game where you play a mage. Reagents are required because Magery itself hasn't been updated since 1998, and the development team has been busy creating and recreating and re-recreating UO clients that no one will adopt for the better part of a decade.

I'm happy you and the execs enjoy the McDonalds on Baja, but this is not what UO is about. Ultima Online is about an epic struggle between good and evil played out in a diverse community of wizards and warriors. It is about the experience of a vibrant, living world that can tell the deepest stories and present the most compelling history - a rich tapestry of Virtue, darkness, life, loss and love. Ultima is about the characters that inhabit this world, their contributions and their meaningful impact. It is about merchants, dragon tamers, elves with gardens, mounted samurai archers and gourmet gargoyle cooks. It is about the relationships that Sosarians build, friendships, loyalties, nemesis and ally alike - the guilds and empires they watch rise and fall with the march of time. Ultima is all of this.

It is not about the McDonalds on Baja.

For some one who has made only 45 posts, i got to say that was one hellafa good write up. Well done and i agree with everything you have said.

 

[WarderDragon]

I've just lost a great deal of respect and admiration for several notable players I once held in high regard. I'm so disgusted with some of you right now I could puke.

I wouldn't anticipate hearing from Calvin again. But I hope I'm wrong.

Calvin Crowner. I suppose it's better late than never. I appreciate your taking the time to level with the community on the development teams plans for the next couple of months. The silent majority, those who don't camp Stratics with an axe to grind, have been sitting around wondering if this ominous silence from the development team doesn't bode ill for our small but vibrant community.

I hope this promise of breaking down barriers and increased transparency between the Community and our Developers comes to fruition. We've seen it on Baja. And we appreciate it.

On Factions: They should've always had a role in the storyline and shard politics. I'm glad to hear you guys are moving in this direction.

But I would caution this. Don't try to entice people to factions by giving them modified and upgraded armor pieces. This change went in a couple months before our shardwide player vs. player tournement, and no one could compete against the factioneers because of these upgrades. It ruined it for alot of people.

Classic Shard: While I personally would never play a Classic Shard, I don't see it as a waste. I know that the majority of folks that I talk to, the majority who suggest they might come back, would jump at the opportunity to play a Classic Shard. And even the naysayers would agree we desperately need the players.

If this is something you can do without negatively impacting the Primary Production Shards, I say do it.

Event Moderator Tools: I'm glad to hear this. The creativity of our event moderators, especially on Baja, has been outstanding. We have folks coming from other shards, telling us we have one of the best event moderator crews out there. I'd love to see their abilities flourish and grow.

McLuna's on Baja: I think I saw your point, where others did not. Volumptous and Sarsmi, Ultima Onlines two most talented decorators, inhabit Baja, and housing to them is like a work of art. This is something you'd never be able to see in Warcraft or Eve Online.

Be glad a game like this still exists. Because the day Ultima Online shuts its doors, the only alternatives are a long list of linear Warcraft clones.

I acknowledge my share in the blame for the failure of factions, at least as far as the Council of Mages is concerned. It was my eagerness to participate in what I thought was going to be a magnificent addition to Ultima that caused me to rally most of the population on Test Factions to the Council of Mages.

[...]

My bad.

I didn't realize that you were so important.

This is as opposed to wearing robes, as in every other game where you play a mage.

So the alternative would be to become more like...Dungeons and Dragons?

*lifts brow*

I'm happy you and the execs enjoy the McDonalds on Baja, but this is not what UO is about.

In your attempts to eviscerate Calvin, I think you missed his point entirely.

McLuna's was an attempt by an amazing house decorator (Lady Volumptuous of Baja) to create something no one else thought was possible. She is quite capable of anything she so desires. She is an artist, and Ultima Online is her canvas.

I'm a roleplayer. So I'm more partial to what I would expect to see in Renaissance Europe. Gothic Cathedrals. Crumbling Castles. Rustic Villages. But I implore you, ask to see some of Sarsmi and Volumptuous' house designs. You'd be stunned at one can create with a couple of items and an open mind. It is this sort've creativity that spawned the cloth-and-checker pianos many of us now include in our homes.

Ultima Online is about an epic struggle between good and evil played out in a diverse community of wizards and warriors. It is about the experience of a vibrant, living world that can tell the deepest stories and present the most compelling history - a rich tapestry of Virtue, darkness, life, loss and love. Ultima is about the characters that inhabit this world, their contributions and their meaningful impact. It is about merchants, dragon tamers, elves with gardens, mounted samurai archers and gourmet gargoyle cooks. It is about the relationships that Sosarians build, friendships, loyalties, nemesis and ally alike - the guilds and empires they watch rise and fall with the march of time. Ultima is all of this.

While I disagree with much of what you said, I think you captured the essence of Ultima Online beautifully with this piece.

 

[WarderDragon]

No one expects the U.Hall Inquisition.

2 - Classic Shard - Collossal waste of time. The only people who want a classic shard are people who played in the early days that have some sort of nostolgia about simple armor, simple systems and being able to steal everything from everyone. If you want complete classic - go play a free shard. Personally what I think would be more interesting is a permenant test center. All the new systems -but unlimited resources for the people who just want to set skills and go.

Your alternative to a Classic Shard is a...shard where everything is handed to you?

Sir, would you like that on a Silver Platter?

Classic Shard: Awesome. However, unless it's being billed as short term investment it will need content updates eventually. At first it will be fine to have zero content updates for the most part but eventually it will require them to retain the player base. The problem with UO has always been content addition. Long periods of inactivity due to numerous staffing and location changes. Nothing has changed here. Simply put I would love to see a classic shard but don't believe you guys have the resources to pull off both successfully.

If they build a Classic Shard, I don't see any reason why they couldn't add some of the Production Content (i.e. craftable furnature, gardening, art, certain monsters) from our era into it without breaking it.

1 - Nice attempt at connecting by playing "in" Baja, but you need to play on a crowded shard in a different time zone with seriously active players to get a REAL taste of UO. Baja is nice... but is considered a smaller shard and by no means should be representative of the entire game. Your vision is being colored just a bit too rosey.

Visit Baja. You'll see that we interact with our developers and event moderators as fellow players (and sometimes roleplayers), rather than mauling them the first opportunity given.

There is a reason they visit our shard. I could elaborate, but it would probably fly right over peoples heads.

And the other thing.

Calvin seems a bit rough around the edges kinda type, not the politician type. I think thats exactly what we need, and the type of person I like.

The politician type wouldv taken his letter from specialist to specialist and then 2 grammar checkers. But who cares?

Calvin seems to be the kinda type who gets excited and gets the job done. I couldnt give rats ass if he misspelled something, as long as I get the point.

While I place high value on grammatical aptitude, I got the sense from this post that he was sitting at his laptop casually writing away. This is not a politician. This is a developer being frank and up front with his community.

Wait, a developer speaking directly to the community...? Call the Inquisition! We'll make him repent.

 

[Heimi]

Yeah, it is. It's clever. It's cute.
What it's not is UO.

But I don't mean to belittle a nice effort by a player.... who's not playing Ultima.

Why isn't it UO? House customisation is a big part of the game, and I think showcasing the player's time and creativity they put into it is a great way to show the player's love and dedication to the game.

 

[Petra Fyde]

Thank you Cal, for braving our rather outspoken community to bring us your vision of where UO is going.

I'm sure at least half of what you've said has been totally twisted to mean something entirely different to what was in your mind when you wrote it.

I have mixed feelings about a 'classic' shard idea, while I know many have lobbied for one for a very long time, I fear that quite a lot are using the 'rose coloured glasses' through which the past is often viewed. I'm sure you will think long and hard before eventually deciding whether to commit resources to the project.

I know only a little about so-called 'free shards', however from the little I know when people have tried to persuade me to play them, none are actually 'classic uo'. Most are tweaked to someone's vision of UO that doesn't really match up to the reality that was. The last 'recruiter' turned out to actually be spending most of his time in game playing poker!

I look forward to doing what I always do, enjoying some of the content, adapting to some of it and avoiding the parts that don't suit my particular playstyle.

 

[Connor_Graham]

The McLuna, designed by Voluptuous

http://vboards.stratics.com/showpost.php?p=1544735&postcount=5

While very creative, I'm just waiting for McDonald's Corp. to sue EA for copyright infringement. After all, they need to recoup the money they lost for serving hot coffee.

 

[Uriah Heep]

WarderDragon:

Don't dismiss Greypawn quite so lightly. He has valid points, and has probably forgotten more about UO than some of our team will ever know. *shakes head*

As for the becoming like D&D remark, I understand where he is coming from, I believe. In spite of all the arties and misc equipment out there to play with nowdays, It is still ridiculous to have leather armor providing more protection than plate. One of the best steps they could take, would be to turn elemental resists back to pre-aos, reset resist spells and AR to what they used to be. Mages, in the day, wore leather to meditate...and cast Reactive for increased AR (physical resist)...and Resist actually resisted, any magical effect, be it fire, energy, etc. Was so simple, so fun, and made so much sense.

One of the things Cal could do, if he really likes the classic ideas, is to take us all back to the time of AR and Resist. Then no one would need a calculator to figure resists and how good a suit was. And mages could cast RA again, and run around in leather or just a robe. Ringmail shouldnt be as good as Plate for a warrior. Iron shouldn't be as good in AR as valorite. And the heavier armors (Plate) should go back to having a dex penalty attached to them.

Toss out FC and FCR.

But I digress...I must say, I have no problem with McLuna. It shows the creativity that makes UO what it is. And that is what separates us from the hoardes of other games out there.

The EMs getting powers to create better monsters, bleh, that's not the problem now at all, and fixing something that really isn't all that broken. What they need to do is give EMs the power to toss those disruptive types into jail and make their asses stay there for 24 hours. THEN Em events will be enjoyable

I've long held the belief that UO's future could be found by looking into it's past. A few changes here and there, some tweaks, bringing back a few of the old systems and ways of doing things...wouldn't greatly affect the current playerbase at all, and would surely please a lot of the vets. And let's face it, on most shards I log into, the game is made of vets with multiple accounts..very few new players.

Okay, back to work with me!

 

[Arcus]

First, Ghostbusters kicked butt.

The McLunas thing is creative and I get his point about that is what UO is. Freedom to create outside the confines of some cookie cutter system.

What has always puzzled me about the Classic Shard and the amount of resources it would consume is the fact that you could just use the codebase and systems that the freeshards have worked so hard on.

The code and framework that they developed seems pretty solid. Im quite sure with your resources you could use this as a starting point to get up to speed quickly. Im gathering EA has access to better hardware than most of the freeshard guys. I know you prefer linux for the server side. Would Mono be an answer.

If you are in the talking mood, Id be curious to hear your comments on this.

 

[Capt.E]

The way I interpreted the lrc comment is as a joke. He doesn't understand how putting lrc on armor will make buying reagent cheaper(ie less expensive from npc's).

Jeez, you people are freakin' redonkalous.

Everyone I have talked to has said the new insurance menu is cool. I would imagine that took some time.

I'm guessing that some of the posters here feel entitled to their opinions because they run a UO site, or lead a large guild, or have been playing for 13 years. Let me clue you into something, you are no less entitled than the guy that just started this month. In fact, we really should be listening to the newer players.

 

[WarderDragon]

What has always puzzled me about the Classic Shard and the amount of resources it would consume is the fact that you could just use the codebase and systems that the freeshards have worked so hard on.

The code and framework that they developed seems pretty solid. Im quite sure with your resources you could use this as a starting point to get up to speed quickly. Im gathering EA has access to better hardware than most of the freeshard guys. I know you prefer linux for the server side. Would Mono be an answer.

Could you imagine if they took a look at some of the better free shards? Perhaps hired some of the more talented creators, or bought some of their ideas?

There are some wonderful ideas that players are coming up with. It's only a matter of whether they use them or ignore them.

 

[Obsidian]

I am glad to see Cal's communication from EA Mythic. It shows his team's continued efforts to further this game. I would like to see communication on a more regular basis. I think the comments in return would be far less critical if we were getting occasional posts by dev team members and a weekly update (a la Five on Friday or its successor) from the Dev Team.

-OBSIDIAN-

P.S. Cal... Fast, neat, average...

 

[Dain]

This is unbelievable!

I can't believe the attitude of some people!

I am one of the very few UO players left that has been around since the BETA of the game, so I feel I have a bit of credibility (considering I am an active pvper as well as considerable 'carebear') when it comes to understanding how popularity, population, quality etc fluctuate as EA/OSI change and develop the game.

To begin, I am just amazed at the negativity expressed in this thread; people like this 'Gaven' or whoever, you literally sound like you actually don't want to hear from the Devs, unless of course they're addressing your little niche - UO is an immensely diverse and 'large' world, so thus everything from the Pre-Aos(classic or pre-pub16) players to those that wish to create ingame McDonalds ARE what UO is, and what UO is about.

The prospect of a classic shard is great positive in my eyes, I fail completely to see how it would significantly impact on any existing server and am aghast at the pessimism about it! The vast majority of those that wish to continue the 'classic' playstyle left UO a long time ago for free servers, although I happen to know many who would return to an EA run 'classic' server just because it offers the support, stability and lack of 'corruption' that the free servers don't/can't.

Oh by the way, if there was a classic server; I would never play it myself. Bias? I think not.

For better or for worse, UO will inevitably change, continuously. Thus is the nature of humanity; sometimes the Dev team have conflicting priorities with the playerbase, sometimes they make EPIC ****ups, sometimes they're just a bit slow and behind on the FOTM, but most of the time they're pretty bloody accommodating. Unfortunately, irrelevant of what either we (the players) or what they (the staff) want, UO is still moderated by EA (a business) and thus we all have limits on what we can and can't do.

The dynamic and transitory nature of UO stopped me from 'caring' about the changes they make to UO long long ago. Don't misinterpret this as a negative perception, I will still submit bug reports, make suggestions to gameplay etc but I no longer argue or even consider the changes that are made, as I trust that they're made either to please the populace (not Gaven) or EA (financially/logistically).

Thus UO is like a book to me; every page is different, it has many different characters; from narrators to 'extras', sometimes there are disasters and sometimes there are great victories. Eventually one chapter ends and another begins, characters die, worlds change - if such event didn't occur, then surely it would be one bloody boring book!

Like any book or story, there are sections you like, sections you hate, parts you get through just because you know you will like what's on the other side - we learn to take the good, the bad; and be. < And so are the conventions of every good story, and game... but here is my complaint:

UO is like a book, a wonderful 'classic' that was once on a pedestal back in its publishing date - but like all 'classics' they become subject to their context (time..) and the responder moves on to different things, different styles and different mediums.

But this is where UO differs from a book. UO exists in real time, and can CHANGE!

So I find myself asking, why isn't UO ever being 'republished' just like all the classics are?

I can't think of the last time I saw UO on a shelf of a games store, and I don't think I have ever seen UO in a superstore! But, you can find a 'new' version/publication of the Bible, or Lord of the Rings in every store...

UO is the 'classic' being lost because every time a page is torn, or the cover lost, the title rubbed away or left forgotten - it isn't replaced, it isn't remembered, and it certainly isn't revisited.

WoW has what, 11 million players now?

How many of them would have heard of UO?

How many of them would have PLAYED UO?

How many of them would have experienced the emotional connection or the adrenaline like those provoked by UO?

Not many I would say; and so there lies UO's silver bullet.

 

[Yalp]

Hey Cal...

First.. Yeah Baja. Thanks for coming, hope you stay!

Second.. we've heard for years how speed hacking and 3rd party programs were gonna be fixed... like an abused puppy we get excited when we're teased with the bone.... but 95% done? After all this time? I'm sure you've heard that patches mess up said illegal usage of "enhancements"? Psst, here's a not so secret-secret... A small patch a day.. there... 100% fixed! Stay on it and fix it.. especially before you institute....

Third... factions revamp.. again?

Fourth.. McLuna.. It's clear some peeps don't get it, it's of course not about "McLuna's".. it's about the ability to create "xxxxx" with your housing design... of which McLuna's is but one of a million possibilities. McLuna's isn't your cup of joe? Then create something that pleases you..a cave, a tree house, a boat at dock, a shakespearean style theater, a swiss chalet, a wooded forest, a pyramid, a church, or whatever strikes your particular fancy...and be decent enough to allow other players to do the same.

Fourth.. thx so much for taking the time to work on new clients, but how about working on things that are in game now and in dire need of fixing.. like.....

Adding the rest of SA content (landmasses, missing critters, etc)
Garg race (armoring slot)
Throwing skill,
JOAT beating GM skills
Virtue system
Better classic client mapping system
Accounts aging properly? (personal biggie.. since it's almost a month I'm still waiting on just a response to my customer service requests)
Customer Service
Weekly Q&A with Dev's (five on friday for instance)
(It is early and the list is long, but you get the message)

But other than that.. thanks so much for checking in with your customers. Don't be such a stranger.

 

[Lady_Mina]

isn't UOAssist a 3rd program ?

i don't know anyone who doesn't use UO assist...since in-game UO macro's get erased everytime you log out...


As for the classic shard...would be sweet.

I know a bunch of people who would move to that shard in an instance...
not to mention how many will return just to feel the old UO magic again on that classic shard.

 

[popps]

Thank you, it is good to know things are progressing.

Nonetheless, I got worried of seeing not much mentioning of doing something about scripters, hackers and so forth.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

I am missing a comment about the improvement of the Enhanced Client. Does the client still have a future?

 

[Llwyd]

i don't know anyone who doesn't use UO assist...since in-game UO macro's get erased everytime you log out...

Odd... I don't lose my in-game macros when I log.

I've never used UO Assist. I started with T2A and have always used just the built-in tools the game itself provides. Still use an ordinary sextant when I go to sea, come to think of it.

 

[Elric_Soban]

1) Making factions more meaningfull and engaging to all: We've been listening to that song and dance ever since factions came out.

2) You're considering putting resources into a classic shard when Siege Perilous is so sparsely populated? Great idea.

3) No polishes/improvements or even.. i dunno.. BUG FIXES planned for the SA client? Hello... that was supposed to be your bid for a competitive client, and you're just going to let it rot in a beta state? (i dont care what anyone says, that client is a good YEAR of SOLID develepment away from "going gold")

I guess that's what happens when your dev team has faster turnover than McDonalds... none of them understand, none of them care.

 

[dukarlo]

Im usually pretty critical of the dev team because of the whole speedhacking thing but this post by Calvin seems to be good news. Ill believe the fixes to speedhacking when I see it but if they do follow through with it then Im all for the fixes to factions. As far as a classic shard goes, im all for it. It was the classic era of uo that got me hooked on uo and Im not sure i would have gotten hooked had I started in todays era. Ive been playing eleven years or so and Ive seen a world get bogged down with limitations. Good post Cavin, dont let the naysayers bring you down. Many freeshards were a direct protest to the direction UO went and a classic shard would be a direct response to those freeshards. For those that say Siege isnt very populated its true, as much as I respect Siege players, Siege is not a classic shard.

 

[Evlar]

If there were to be a "classic" shard, I would be there in a heartbeat.

As well as playing "official" UO since pre-Trammel days, I've also played a few good free "classic" shards. Obviously the down-side to these is that the individual(s) running them, can pull the plug at any time. I did play one such shard for over two years though. Along with early "official" UO, my time spent on the "free" shard was the most enjoyable I've spent.

UO as it is nowadays, is far too item based, but that's just my opinion. I have to say that I preferred the simplicity of mages carrying reagents, as an example. Some might say "you can still do that", but let's be honest... if you don't keep up with the "latest" items, you play second fiddle to players who do.

To me, the ideal "classic" shard would not feature any artifacts whatsoever. Weapons and armour would be entirely GM crafted, leather/metal/wooden armour, metal/wooden weapons. The end user of crafted items, warriors, archers, etc, would be reliant on their skill, plus whatever benefits inherent to "natural" resources, woods, metals, leathers. There would be no need for imbuing or enhancing of items.

If there was to be any "artifacts" as far as weapons and armour go, then perhaps only in name. They would be no better than the best crafted items, but would still remain appealing to role-players perhaps, as part of the lore of an event or story arc.

I'm not in the slightest against decorative items, when it comes to housing though. Housing has added a great deal of variety to the game over the years, not least in the creativity of the players. This can easily be incorporated in a "classic" shard. For those that want eye-candy pixels, all current decorative items could remain available. If people want to spend in-game gold or real $$$ on such pixels, it's entirely up to them.

With this in mind, I would lean towards a pre-trammel ruleset, though the consensus of the player-base as a whole would be vital before any firm decision. I would also favour there being no item insurance. As I see things, if there's no artifacts, just player crafted items, then theives/looters still have something to go for when they see a good crafted item, there's not so much "loss" on the flip-side either, because the items can be re-made or purchased. Locked/secure items in houses would be the exception, with the public/private housing option available, though they could still be taken from a live or dead player. It's then up to sense of the player if they run out of a guard zone with such items, or if they recall/gate to their homes.

Within a "classic" shard, there would be a need for good EM's who can maintain a regular and flowing story. On production shards, most "events" seem to end up reliant on, yet again... items, to draw the crowds, often many have no interest in the story, but just want to grab the items. In this respect, I feel sorry for the roleplayers who would actually value such items as part of the lore and history their participating in, rather than just something that can be sold for millions of gold.

In some respects, the nature of an item based game has impacted the nature of the creatures one can or can't combat within the game world. With a combination of certain skills, along with an "uber" suit and weapons, it's actually possible for players to solo even the toughest of creatures. I don't personally feel this should ever be the case. Such creatures should always require a number of players working together to beat, thus encouraging teamwork and group activity.

As far as rewards go, then maybe retain SOT's and Power Scrolls, as they are a skill based reward. They probably should be kept as a drop from champions and high level spawns.

Factions... they would be nice as part of the game lore wise perhaps, but it's the players that make any faction or guild what they are. Following that train of thought, are factions actually necessary to PvP? For lore, tactical/strategic "capture the flag" type gameplay and group activity, then they're another aspect to enjoy. Otherwise, they're nothing really that warring guilds can't replicate within a PvP sphere.

All of these are just a few thoughts in my own mind. They're the sort of UO world I would really like to play again. By all means I like to explore new lands with new expansions, fight new monsters. Some games have the "grind" to raise character levels, I feel personally, that UO has become an item based "grind".

A UO less reliant on items to my mind, means newer players can get into the game more easily, because just like everyone else, they work their skills. If I were a new player, had spent time and effort reaching "Legendary" status in a skill, only to discover that I also need certain uber items for it to actually be any use... I would be far from impressed and likely would quickly get bored.

As I write this, I am a veteran player, who misses the older days. The game just seemed simpler, more fun and more of a challenge (keeping your eyes peeled for red PK's when outside a guard zone springs to mind).

Character classes actually meant something. On production shards, what point it there to playing a theif these days? Being a roving PK risk/reward offers no actual "reward", because there's rarely anything decent for them to loot with insurance. (I've actually only briefly had a red player, which was post-Trammel-post-insurance).

A bounty-hunter was a trade... long since gone now. You don't have to have the none-politically correct "head" (wasn't that was why cutting up corpses was dropped?), maybe a dropped scroll (severed ears - which we have from red npc brigands now) or message gump to bring this back.

My thoughts, agree, disagree.... but a "classic" shard would be a good concept and I'm sure would be well populated. In the meantime, I'm looking for a decent population, free "classic" shard to pass my time on. I still have two active "official" accounts, but they will be gone soon, as the way things stand, I just don't enjoy "official" UO as much as I used to.

 

[canary]

It is amazingly odd how easily some people take to carrots dangled in front of their faces, especially when we've heard much of this song and dance repeatedly the past few years.

All talk, no action.

 

[Guido_LS]

The intended audience probably won't see this response, but it's going up anyway.

As much as the vocal minority would have you believe otherwise, UO's key to survival is not to go backwards. And that's what a classic shard would be - a step backwards, that would satisfy a very small population.

The key to UO's survival is progression, adaptation, and evolution. Fix what's already there, and improve on it.

I see tons of threads screaming to fix the EC. I've tried it a few times, and ultimately, the primary reason I won't use it is petty, but was the final straw, as it were. My nice, crisply detailed, STACKED gold, silver and iron coils in front of my forge in the CC look like crap in the EC. Pixelated. Fuzzy. No longer side by side, but just a nasty conglomeration of junk. (before anyone gets a bug about updating my gear, I run a pair of 9800GTX's in SLI - and I started playing UO when the VooDoo2 was the top dog on the market - I have more than enough power to run a game that wouldn't strain an old Glide system, let alone one that doesn't use DX) Plain and simple, fix it. It's the third effort at an enhanced client - hell, EA made us PAY to play in the beta for T2A. How many more chances do you need?

I have no vested interest in factions or pvp. I don't do either, nor am I likely to. It's not my style. But I've seen enough well thought out, well posted issues over the last 10 years to suggest to me that things are broken, and in some ways, horribly. Fix it. That includes the promised for years speed hack fixes, the illegal 3rd party program fixes, etc.

The McLuna house? /clap - it's definitely someone that made the most of the ingame system. So why not hire people like that to come in and fix your art? They are obviously at least as creative, if not more so, than some already on the team. FWIW, I agree that that house isn't Ultima, per se, but then again, neither is UO, as it stands.

Fix what is broken, improve what is already here, and you will draw far more interest in the game from people who haven't played before, more returnee's from those that have a different view of what pre-Renaissance actually was, and those tired of the grind grind grind of EQ and WoW.

And, lastly, either host, or pay for someone to host, your own forums. Have your own people moderate it, and, more importantly, communicate with the player base just a touch more often than is already happening. I don't begrudge Stratics trying to make a buck, but I am just about sick of seeing all these browser based games flashing in front of my eyes while trying to make a post.

Thanks for making the effort to communicate. It's good to know that at least someone is alive behind the keyboards.

 

[Cal_Mythic]

If I had ownership of or control of over the word "prefer" the same way that you have ownership or control over the fictional character of Queen Zhah, this would be a valid comparison. Also, if "prefer" were a proper noun. Also if I were a Producer of the Guinness Book of World Records-certified longest-running subscription-based MMO.

*shrugs*

You were, however, probably kidding, thus technically making my reaction an over-reaction....To an extent.

I would urge you to be aware, however, of the fact that, in the present climate, your remark doesn't necessarily come across that way.

First of all, you have openly aligned yourself with the portion of the player base that views message board fighting as an extension of fighting in-game. So I see a reply like yours, and the first thing that comes to my mind is "message board PvP." If you think about it for a moment you'll likely see that this interpretation is pretty reasonable.

Secondly, your posts of tonight come to us in the wake of complaints about the quality and quantity of your communication with us. To the extent they are viewed harshly it is in part due to a poisonous atmosphere that you've all contributed to by communicating with us less often, and less meaningfully, than has-been typical.

And thirdly, passions are quite understandably running quite high in the wake of the loss of Draconi and other valued members of the team.

But then again...

*shrugs*

-Galen's player

Noted. *Hugs*

For the record I knew what I was getting into when this was posted ... and please note that as I write this I'm smiling.

Believe me ... I MISS YOU GUYS (But you're still not getting my Bud Light).

I mentioned the Blog I'm doing for more than the reason of saying we're doing stuff ON Baja ...(Yes Yes .. the letter was rife with mistakes ... and yes I knew better. I wanted to get something together and out the door before the publish was a thing of the past. I mentioned it because I really do want a more direct connection with a sole/soul (intentional) purpose of identifying the "X' of UO.

For those who have done marketing and such the "X" is that thing which defines the product. Honestly, the intent of showing the MacLuna was to accentuate the type of creativity that is UO and how wickedly amazing our playerbase is ... It's just ONE example of what this game stands for ... in addition to 1,405.7 other things.

AesSedai ... Yeah I need to update my title ... Seems I need to take care of a bit more housekeeping.

As far as a rep for the Community ... we have enlisted ZigZag to assist with the front here, and he is just getting his feet under him. We're taking baby steps to getting back to you guys and communicating ... We just had a few things to deal with on our front.

With tongue in cheek I say .."Thanks for the welcome back guys ... See you around campus.)

Galen keep bringing it man ... If you don't say anything I don't think you care

*light bulb goes on has he smiles* ohhhhh Now I understand what happens when I don't come hang out.

Walks away into the darkness most likely to be eaten by a grue.

 

[AdamD]

Regarding community, does that mean you guys will actually respond or read emails from fansites OTHER than Stratics?

I've sent in numerous emails, as have other fansites like uotoolbar, only to get no replies.

It's been this way ever since Chrissay left and it's quite frankly, rather rude to those who've supported you and your game for so long.

 

[Cal_Mythic]

I am missing a comment about the improvement of the Enhanced Client. Does the client still have a future?

Yes it does, we are far from done with it. It's Derek baby, and he has a very large TDD (Technical Design Doc) that we are piecing through.

There are truthfully a dozen other things that the team is up to, but we have to define our priorities for smaller dev cycles (3-6 months) ... not the year or more we spent launching SA.

This year we want to dedicate our time to enhancing the live game and bolstering out core systems for UO. Bonnie has filled out our dev board for the next several months and has identified a few bugs and systems we're addressing.

But more directly in terms of the EC ... oh no we are not done. But the letter was going on four pages long with all that I wanted to say.

Now if you'll pardon me, I'm off to eat Cheerios.

 

[Lady Lovely]

I thank you for what you do...I can't imagine living through all the rants we throw at you guys........
My hope is that you will really delve deep and listen to those of us that post and give our opinions and not just the larger community always. The little guys also make good points Keep it up guys.....we love UO and hope that you will keep it alive for us....our future is in your hands

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

Cal, it's good to see you were wearing your flame-retardant suit. Yesterday was a scorcher. Thanks for posting.

 

[Cal_Mythic]

Cal, it's good to see you were wearing your flame-retardant suit. Yesterday was a scorcher. Thanks for posting.

*chortles* ... Oh yeah ... It goes well with my aluminum pirate hat

 

[Nine Dark Moons]

thank you, cal, for the updates. i really liked your letter, it made me smile and gave me hope that the game still has a future. the negativity here is toxic and disheartening. the fact that we have newly designed valentine's gifts is awesome. i remember many years where everything came in a big square box and many gifts were just re-hued items we'd seen before. the fact you all care enough to continue designing new gifts with new art is awesome, and the fact you are still moving ahead and starting to fix some long-broken things is excellent, especially after losing significant staff.
i know from experience that end users can never appreciate the issues, problems, set backs, unexpected errors and budget constraints that go on behind the scenes. it's very easy for us to sit here and judge your efforts when we'll never know what you went through to get from point a to point b. keep up the good work!!!

ps - voluptous's mcluna's is one of the most creative houses i've ever seen in uo. and it is an excellent example of what makes uo uo. unlimited freedom to do and create what we want. our world in game is whatever we want it to be.

 

[Tina Small]

I hope this promise of breaking down barriers and increased transparency between the Community and our Developers comes to fruition. We've seen it on Baja. And we appreciate it.

Event Moderator Tools: I'm glad to hear this. The creativity of our event moderators, especially on Baja, has been outstanding. We have folks coming from other shards, telling us we have one of the best event moderator crews out there. I'd love to see their abilities flourish and grow.

Warder Dragon, I think Sakkarah used to be an EM on Baja. It wouldnt surprise me if she's filling that role once again. I'm not trying to knock what's happening on Baja. It looks like it's been great fun for the people that got involved with it and enjoy that sort of stuff. But I think you just might have an EM there who has a few more tools in her toolkit than the rest of the EMs. And Baja has a close-knit group of people that truly seem to enjoy role playing and competing with each other at EM events. They're used to seeing the same old people show up and win most events and know how to jostle each other accordingly. I'm not sure that would always go over so well on a shard with a larger population.

On Baja, it's a lot easier to overlook the very small handful of people who don't get involved with EM events because there are so darn few of them and most of them realize how futile it is to say anything that knocks the very vocal crowd who are so clearly having the best time of their lives playing UO. Maybe some day all those empty spots Baja has sprouted of late will be filled up with masses of role players who made the transfer there from another shard to enjoy the EM events.

I truly mean no disrespect for the fine people who play on Baja. I love some of you to pieces even though I rarely get to talk to you. I just hope some of you realize we're not all cut out to do role playing. And if the future of most events in UO is that they will be EM-driven, I wonder how many people like me who don't want to be involved in intricate plots on a weekly, nay daily, basis will continue to feel involved in the developing history of UO. With each shard doing its own thing, I have to admit I'm really confused at this point about just what direction things are heading in story-wise for UO and whether or not we will ever see much again in the way of fiction that ties all the shards together and gives them somewhat of a common history and purpose. I also wonder what happens to people who just don't want to associate with someone who has become a very vocal participant in local EM events. I can think of a few people on Baja that I believe enjoy role playing but that I have the impression have drifted away from it and perhaps don't involve themselves in current events because there's some friction with other people on the shard. It's sad to see stuff like that happen, but with events being so small and involving such a small group of people, I wonder what happens to the long-time players who long to be involved but for whatever reason can't get past the animosity and/or awkwardness of past disputes with others on the shard. I think a few more somewhat impersonal events that aren't driven by the most vocal group on the shard might be invaluable for trying to keep everyone happy with "events" in general.