I have been completely gone from UO for over six months now. But I wasn't really playing for over a year. I would just like to share what UO was to me and thoughts I have on what made it great and what could have been to make it even better.
First let me say UO is the greatest game ever created. What other game has captured people's attention for hours at a time for years at a time?
I decided to play UO because of what I saw. You could be anything you wanted and you could change what you selected and become something else. You could have a pet and you could own a home. But I think some things in UO lost their way and some things, if done differently might have made UO even better.
I think making two different rulesets was a mistake. It seperated the player base and started turning player against player. It meant Development time had to be shared working just on the facet side of things. I think they could have make a few changes and kept players happy. I know rampant PK's were causing trouble and something had to be done. But those PK's also were the foundation for many anti-pk groups. There was talk that they were considering in having an area around a house a guard zone. Players would pay a tax to have a guard patrol the perimiter of their house. There was also discussion of having public houses have guards as well which would also prevent thieves from working public houses and getting buyers and merchants items. Imagine UO if instead of programming two facets we got developement time in making the world even bigger with more variety?
I think recall was and is way over powered it should be eliminated. The moongate system we have today would be perfect if you added the ability to recall to your home. This would mean you would actually have to travel overland to go places. Yes you could get close to a town or dungeon but you would have to walk some of the way. Depending on where you were going some travel would be in guard zones some would not.
Also imagine patrols of guards alongs the roads. Actually patrolling. Now PK's are a problem and there should be a penalty for being a pk. Imagine a PK who would also have to travel the roads were sighted by a guard patrol. There would be no escape. The guards will catch them. Depending on the PK's murder count, the punishment would be extracted. Punishment could be being placed in stocks in a Town for a period of time, they could be killed with a timer set before they could rez, as well as an amount of gold removed from thier bank to post bail. Several different ideas come to mind. Actuall consequenses for being a murderer. Same type of things could have been done about thieves. I do think thieves were to much of a grief tool. There should have been a rule that no stealing from players within a certain range of a bank, or in public houses.
Mounts were a great concept in UO. But we got away from the feel of UO over the years with neon mounts and mounts that just dont fit. I think we should have had horse drawn carts, Horses, pack animals, camels, hell hounds, even nightmares. But bugs and neons should have stayed out. Pets should have stayed more realistic to the feel of UO as well. You should actually have to care for your mount or pet. Bonding is great for Rez but feeding should be needed. Stabling should have a cost representative of the mount. A Dragon should cost ALOT more to stable than a horse.
Housing in UO is fantastic. But it should have meant more. The ability to place houses anywhere was a mistake and so was customizable housing. Plots should have been needed for placement. The size of the house you own should have had meaning. Taxes on houses should have been implemented. The larger the houses the larger the cost to maintain it and keep it. Interior of homes should have been customizable NOT exteriors. There should have been 50 choices for the exterior--not all availible in every area. The ability to move walls etc inside and color the walls should have been the limit to customization. Houses should have been able to be linked to become villages. With options of walls or fences around the town--guards patrolling the town--special deco items availible AT A COST to the town funds. A town fund would have to be established. Countless ideas come from this concept.
Eating in UO should have meant something. How could a brave warrior take on a dungeon on an empty stomach?
Loot should have been skill based. A player with no skills over 70 should find loot on a mongbat but a GM should not. Players killing the same monster after 1000 times should get no loot from it.
There should have never been Lower reg suits.
Dungeons should be random. You should never know what you are going to find where in a dungeon. Once you have done a dungeon what else is there to do except farm it? Imagine a dungeon where the layout changes Daily? Imagine wandering monsters that wander the entire dungeon not just in a small circle. There should be different levels of some beasts. Like dragons, there should be dragons a player can solo and some you need a group to do. Rewards should be appropriate. There should be no push thru. Night sight should be toned down so you only see in you immediate area. Seeing the whole layout ahead of you leaves no surprise.
If you are going to have crafting in the game it should mean something. It should be hard to achieve and it should be worthwhile to the game. Having uber things better than crafted items means crafting is useless. Crafting should not be in lieu of, it should be in addition to. This means you can be a warrior and a blacksmith. But it will take you longer in each to be good at it. There should also be no insurance. You die you lose your stuff unless you can rez and get back to it.
There should be random overland spawn, like town invasions going on all the time. And if you help defend a town against the spawn you get town credits. The rewards could be anything from armor and weapons to deco pieces.
UO is about community and discovery. Friends working and playing together from all over the world, some who never meet IRL and others that are neighbors. Discovery of something never seen before or tried. Keeping fresh content. I still think UO is great, but where it has gone still leaves me not playing. The cheats that are ignored for so long, the exploits not fixed until too much damage has been done have made me no longer want to play.
I hope I did not bore any readers. I wish others would share thier ideas and maybe someone at Mythic could read and spend some time thinking of what was posted by people.
First let me say UO is the greatest game ever created. What other game has captured people's attention for hours at a time for years at a time?
I decided to play UO because of what I saw. You could be anything you wanted and you could change what you selected and become something else. You could have a pet and you could own a home. But I think some things in UO lost their way and some things, if done differently might have made UO even better.
I think making two different rulesets was a mistake. It seperated the player base and started turning player against player. It meant Development time had to be shared working just on the facet side of things. I think they could have make a few changes and kept players happy. I know rampant PK's were causing trouble and something had to be done. But those PK's also were the foundation for many anti-pk groups. There was talk that they were considering in having an area around a house a guard zone. Players would pay a tax to have a guard patrol the perimiter of their house. There was also discussion of having public houses have guards as well which would also prevent thieves from working public houses and getting buyers and merchants items. Imagine UO if instead of programming two facets we got developement time in making the world even bigger with more variety?
I think recall was and is way over powered it should be eliminated. The moongate system we have today would be perfect if you added the ability to recall to your home. This would mean you would actually have to travel overland to go places. Yes you could get close to a town or dungeon but you would have to walk some of the way. Depending on where you were going some travel would be in guard zones some would not.
Also imagine patrols of guards alongs the roads. Actually patrolling. Now PK's are a problem and there should be a penalty for being a pk. Imagine a PK who would also have to travel the roads were sighted by a guard patrol. There would be no escape. The guards will catch them. Depending on the PK's murder count, the punishment would be extracted. Punishment could be being placed in stocks in a Town for a period of time, they could be killed with a timer set before they could rez, as well as an amount of gold removed from thier bank to post bail. Several different ideas come to mind. Actuall consequenses for being a murderer. Same type of things could have been done about thieves. I do think thieves were to much of a grief tool. There should have been a rule that no stealing from players within a certain range of a bank, or in public houses.
Mounts were a great concept in UO. But we got away from the feel of UO over the years with neon mounts and mounts that just dont fit. I think we should have had horse drawn carts, Horses, pack animals, camels, hell hounds, even nightmares. But bugs and neons should have stayed out. Pets should have stayed more realistic to the feel of UO as well. You should actually have to care for your mount or pet. Bonding is great for Rez but feeding should be needed. Stabling should have a cost representative of the mount. A Dragon should cost ALOT more to stable than a horse.
Housing in UO is fantastic. But it should have meant more. The ability to place houses anywhere was a mistake and so was customizable housing. Plots should have been needed for placement. The size of the house you own should have had meaning. Taxes on houses should have been implemented. The larger the houses the larger the cost to maintain it and keep it. Interior of homes should have been customizable NOT exteriors. There should have been 50 choices for the exterior--not all availible in every area. The ability to move walls etc inside and color the walls should have been the limit to customization. Houses should have been able to be linked to become villages. With options of walls or fences around the town--guards patrolling the town--special deco items availible AT A COST to the town funds. A town fund would have to be established. Countless ideas come from this concept.
Eating in UO should have meant something. How could a brave warrior take on a dungeon on an empty stomach?
Loot should have been skill based. A player with no skills over 70 should find loot on a mongbat but a GM should not. Players killing the same monster after 1000 times should get no loot from it.
There should have never been Lower reg suits.
Dungeons should be random. You should never know what you are going to find where in a dungeon. Once you have done a dungeon what else is there to do except farm it? Imagine a dungeon where the layout changes Daily? Imagine wandering monsters that wander the entire dungeon not just in a small circle. There should be different levels of some beasts. Like dragons, there should be dragons a player can solo and some you need a group to do. Rewards should be appropriate. There should be no push thru. Night sight should be toned down so you only see in you immediate area. Seeing the whole layout ahead of you leaves no surprise.
If you are going to have crafting in the game it should mean something. It should be hard to achieve and it should be worthwhile to the game. Having uber things better than crafted items means crafting is useless. Crafting should not be in lieu of, it should be in addition to. This means you can be a warrior and a blacksmith. But it will take you longer in each to be good at it. There should also be no insurance. You die you lose your stuff unless you can rez and get back to it.
There should be random overland spawn, like town invasions going on all the time. And if you help defend a town against the spawn you get town credits. The rewards could be anything from armor and weapons to deco pieces.
UO is about community and discovery. Friends working and playing together from all over the world, some who never meet IRL and others that are neighbors. Discovery of something never seen before or tried. Keeping fresh content. I still think UO is great, but where it has gone still leaves me not playing. The cheats that are ignored for so long, the exploits not fixed until too much damage has been done have made me no longer want to play.
I hope I did not bore any readers. I wish others would share thier ideas and maybe someone at Mythic could read and spend some time thinking of what was posted by people.
