What do you think UO needs to keep new players?

[Zalan]

We all have to admitt the population of the game is shrinking. I would never say dead. For the game to be around for 11 yrs, so it has longevity.

The fact New Players don`t stick around says its missing something to me. What do you think the game needs to keep new players?

My opion is they need a storyline for New Players to continue outside of New Haven. Grant you they did redo some things. It just don`t seem to be enough. It really seems to be nothing more than a few quests to get rapid skill enhancement, newbie weapons, & newbie armor. & there basically kicked out the door. Dumped into a big world not knowing what do if a Vet player doesen`t take intrest in them.

What do you think they could do to keep new players in the game. Once, they get outside of New Haven?

 

[Masuri]

#1 - Improve the "noobie" experience. Give them more starting money, starting gear, starting skills. Seriously, 1k gold? In a sandbox economy where people have extra accounts just to store their bank checks? Give them 60k to start, to let them buy up skills, buy lowbie armor and weapons, and jump right in. Quadruple the regs, bandies, etc, they're given. Give them several skills at 50 not just two, and let them raise much faster, not just in Haven but across the whole game. Give new accounts a soulstone right away not after a year. Bring back a counselor program to help the noobs and get them invested in the game socially.

#2 - Improve the client. Finish the user interface in the KR client. It's good. It needs to be a lot better to compete with modern games. I'd ask for a graphics overhaul but it doesn't need another isometric overhaul - it needs a truly 3D overhaul, it needs to be dumped into the UXO engine, and that will never happen. But modern gamers look at isometric games and think "how 1990, how Japanese" and go back to WoW.

#3 - Reduce the monthly cost. $13 monthly is too much for a game of UO's age, with UO's current level of dev support (which is next to zero). I'd probably find a sweet spot and tie the price to housing like... $5 a month with no house, $15 with a house, $30 with two houses. Remember UO's not just competing with WoW, it's competing with free games like Guild Wars.

#4 - Shard Merges. - However they want to do it, moongates between servers, free character xfer tokens, whatever - just get the shards consolidated so there's a feeling of life in the game, so that noobs don't log in and see that the game is dying and the population is gone.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

Nifty graphics, interesting and challenging quests, and a balanced economy.

Most new players I know have been discouraged by the insane wealth of the veteran players, and they have given up hope to ever be able to compete. The game should offer them ways to learn that being able to compete with super-rich veterans is not a worth-while goal.

 

[Redxpanda]

UO needs a better economy. It's discouraging to new players to know they have such an uphill battle to be able to earn that pendant or scroll. Making things more random and available will help that and also close the gap between the haves and the have nots.

 

[Tina Small]

The official site for UO needs to be much more up-to-date with information about the game. It's beyond ridiculous that you must go to player-run sites to find usable information about things like quests, community collections, etc.

 

[Connor_Graham]

1. Make learning the game easier. New Haven needs work to make understanding the armor, weapon, and skill system a hell of a lot easier. The learning curve for a new player needs to be leveled out.

2. Up to date client.

3. Expansion

4. A regular, very strong push, to punishing and removing cheaters, whether it be scripters, unattended macroers, or dupers. If someone is cheating, it needs to be dealt with, and done so on a very regular basis. They should also have a section on the login screen that lists how many accounts were banned and how much gold and/or items were removed.

5. An overhaul of the official UO site to contain ALL of the current, up to date systems, including all items, quests, NPC's, and combat/spellcasting systems.

 

[Canucklehead73]

What do you think they could do to keep new players in the game. Once, they get outside of New Haven?

I have said it before and I will say it again... Graphics.

Everyone has great ideas, story, client, etc etc

But I still say none of it matters if the game "looks" old!

Imho... there is no way around this fact.

 

[Ender]

• Less item based, too hard to compete with vets
• Better graphics, nobody now wants to play a game that looks like its from the early 90's
• More content, 2 to 3 months between each patch is too long
• Less stupid changes, spend more time on things that matter
• Fix bugs, obvious reason
• Get rid of cheaters, again, obvious reason
• Make power scrolls more available to everyone, not just the zerg guilds

 

[AEowynSP]

The official site for UO needs to be much more up-to-date with information about the game. It's beyond ridiculous that you must go to player-run sites to find usable information about things like quests, community collections, etc.

Very much so!

"But I still say none of it matters if the game "looks" old!"

Umm I have seen several post on various boards about people enjoying the content of games and the FPS view (seasick) is very much a minus. There is a large market out there with old computers/dial up/or just plain nostalgic who would love UO 2D.
It's an 11 year old game play it for what it is, in fact advertise the fact the game is indeed old but is still a damn great game.

 

[Diomedes Artega]

So after playing other online games, I have some opinions on what they can do to keep new players.

A few have already been mentioned, so I won't beat a horse to death by repeating them in entirety.

1. Graphics - Need I say more?

2. The Game Economy - I don't think there needs to be an auction house or anything of that nature, but like a few have said it is a setback to most new players when they look at how well geared some veteran players are.

3. Better game guide. I honestly haven't seen a game where information seems to be difficult to find for most new players. Additionally it seems that some new players I have come across are too paralyzed to seek out help...even though you can tell they need help. So I just do the best I can then to answer their questions. If they say anything at all.

4. Story line. This one may be less obvious to some people, but...there really is no story line in the game. It's not a game setup behind quests or a rich progressing story-line.

5. Random rewards. For the quests that there are, it's random a lot of the time as to what reward you receive. Although I do think New Haven was a good start with getting new players some starting armor and what not.

6. Expansions. I agree here with what others have said. Although there doesn't need to be as many expansions as say...Everquest lol.

7. Skills. Others would disagree with me perhaps...I'm not sure if it's in the works but, I would like to see another skill or two introduced. Me personally I liked the new addition of spellweaving. A few more casting skills would be neat.

8. People. I think as far as people who are really social, it is a downer to play a game and not see a lot of people. I guess maybe making it well known information that Brit is where a lot of people hang out might help.

9. Learning. I agree with what Connor said, although I'll add to it...they should have just simple starter templates for the average player. Yes you can find it on stratics...they used to have a section as well at the EA website. BUT, it should be in the game guide that goes with the game.

10. Not sure what to categorize this as, but lastly I guess encouraging new players to join a guild or something of that nature, because in other games you are essentially forced to group up. UO doesn't have an experience/leveling grind so there isn't that constant social interaction of a task or goal centered around say...gaining experience points through fighting difficult monsters several levels higher than you.

 

[DevilsOwn]

The official site for UO needs to be much more up-to-date with information about the game. It's beyond ridiculous that you must go to player-run sites to find usable information about things like quests, community collections, etc.

random NPCs that point a new player in the direction of a small quest, like the escorts that ask for help:

while walking thru Skara Brae a waitress could tell you that there is a melancholy beggar in Britain that needs aid

as you pass the Minoc gypsy camp one of them whispers that the Master of Arms in Trinsic is looking for good warriors

things of that sort

 

[DHMagicMan_1]

The new player experience is REDICULOUS!... it walks you through creating a toon, asks you what town you want to start in, then dumps you in New Haven with no explanation...

Stop asking where you want to start if it's New Haven for all, and drop a "New Player book in every newbie's pack with a few pages of instructions... how to get around, how to leave New Haven (if you want to), "Be Careful going to Fel" through moongates etc...

If they want new players then they need to build an atmosphere for them... right now, the only new toons are probably 95% or more, just new toons on existing accounts... maybe 10 new accounts per month (people who didn't previously play UO as opposed to an additional account)

 

[lorail]

Every thing I have read is a very good idea. My only addtion to this whould be to make every shard differant and alow shard transfers. IE each shard chould have differant monsters in them like instead of the orc fort near Cove Dragons chould rule there or some other nasty. This whould make it worth traveling from one place to another. And spread out the popalation so new folks chould wounder around and even tho all the lands are the same they still are diffeant hope this makes since.

 

[Madrid]

I agree with most of the above.

First thing to do is get the damn game on the shelf in your local retail store.

New content every few years is not good for the game compared to what other successful MMORPG's are doing UO is way behind.

Hawkeye Pike is right about the cost of items and being able to get them can be very discouraging. Early on I couldn't believe the prices in Luna and said to myself "I'll never be able to afford that item" "How in the world are the items costing that much?". You can't obtain many of the items through farming monsters. After killing 50-100 Miasma at $2000 gold a pop my head starts to hurt and I get hella bored doing it. Even at that rate some of the items i.e Crimsons/Powerscrolls are a bit out of reach.

I can see how frustrating it could be trying to obtain certain artifacts or powerscrolls. There needs to be some fair and balanced system where new players have a chance of getting some decent gear. The new player Quest Items are garbage perhaps they should buff them so they have some value in combat and new players would feel as though they actually have some decent gear.

Graphics for sure! I'm hoping SA client is not going to be the screenshots I saw on the official website because that's not an improvement.

PvP is an aspect of the game that have never been promoted the right way because of the Devs were constantly trying to appease all playstyles and really don't seem to understand much about it...given the current state of PvP today.

I think PvP has gotten the short end of the straw. Siege Perilous is not that great of a shard and overall the ruleset stinks. I definately support a shard that has the Pre-casting rule set from back in the day and I would transfer immedietly.

I think a serious look should be taken at the games whose goal is to market to those subscribers who enjoy the competition and PvP aspects of gaming. Look at the success of shooter games in the past like Halo and Diablo or WarHammer.

Maybe more shards with different rulesets need to be introduced. It would at the least be interesting to see what shards become popular. A PvP shard with the old rules set and limited rules? A No hold bars shard where Chaos rules supreme?

Definately new things need to be introduced so we can at least keep the current playerbase that UO does have. But when you don't add ANYTHING for 2 years now then people move on to NEW and exciting things...

 

[GAMBIT35]

Very much so!

"But I still say none of it matters if the game "looks" old!"

Umm I have seen several post on various boards about people enjoying the content of games and the FPS view (seasick) is very much a minus. There is a large market out there with old computers/dial up/or just plain nostalgic who would love UO 2D.
It's an 11 year old game play it for what it is, in fact advertise the fact the game is indeed old but is still a damn great game.

Advertising this as the "Ghetto Game" of the internet is just a bad idea.

 

[Madrid]

Advertising this as the "Ghetto Game" of the internet is just a bad idea.

That's putting it mildly...

 

[Uvtha]

Get new players?

 

[Viper09]

I think UO needs a good advertising team that actually promotes UO instead of hiding it. If they would just try to promote the darn game and put it in stores then we might get new players. Then when that happens we should ask how to keep them

 

[Sargon]

UO needs to return to its former glory. No I'm not talking about PvP and Pre-UOR, but instead the player economy. There was a time when players relied on other players. Weapons and armor were frequently lost and required replacement by a blacksmith or tailor. Blacksmiths bought ingots from miners and turned them for a profit while standing at the forge in Britain. The economy was bustling and there was a great deal of interaction between almost all the players.

Now I have no need or reason to deal with other players and it feels more like a single player game that just happens to have other people playing. I feel that the dev team needs to find a way to recapture a sense of camaraderie and community. Stop trying to emulate other games by adding new quests, item properties, and races. Instead, embrace the community, be creative, and find some way to bring players back together. Do something to rejuvinate the economy, empower the players, and set UO apart from the other games on the market.

 

[Nexus]

#4 - Shard Merges. - However they want to do it, moongates between servers, free character xfer tokens, whatever - just get the shards consolidated so there's a feeling of life in the game, so that noobs don't log in and see that the game is dying and the population is gone.

This would be pointless, if the proper things were done to bring players in and retain them, then you'd need that land mass. Also what would be the point of decreasing the servers if it caused vet players to get pissed and leave?

Here's what I'd do.

Biggest thing is getting KR fit and flashy. The graphics aren't the greatest but it's the server end that limits the client in that regard and by trying to support 2 clients.

Re-write the entire server side code, this would be the best way to find bugs, and loopholes by going through and doing a total overhaul. Also redundant code could be removed that isn't used or needed anymore that causes issues with the current additions because of it's more archaic syntax. 11 years of people with their hands in the cookie jar so to speak doesn't help either, every programmer has his preferred way of doing things. I know some that swear by array lists, when dealing with RNG type things, others I know love doing it the old fashioned way and putting in a switch with multiple cases. By rewriting you can standardize the format of how things are done and ensure proper comments or tags if you were, are put into place so that future generations of Developers can easily and quickly sort through the code, seriously how often has an issue been brought up here and the Dev's get asked and they tell us they aren't sure whats causing it because the code for (x) is fine and should work...you know like the Insurance Bug. End result? Less Bugs and fewer Bugs in the Future and better server stability and maintainability. Not to mention if a more modern language is used it's much easier to find developers since outside Pascal most CS students learn modern languages and practice with them in their studies. Loss of data isn't a problem just code it to be able to read the current save format, and then use a more efficient one if not the same one after that initial load.

Shorten how long it takes new players to get up and running, as was said 1k gold isn't much...it was fine 7 years ago but now....I remember when I was a Companion back in the day. Every [young] I helped left with a City Rune Book (charged), 20 Recall Scrolls and a full set of GM made armor and if a Dexxer a GM Weapon. If they were a Mage I gave them 100 of each Reg, why? Because back then while gold wasn't as big an issue commodities were. I sold full suits for 2.5k but Finding enough regs before LRC was a pain lots of times. This helped a lot of people and I felt it was well worth it to give them a positive first experience into UO.

Bring back the Volunteers. At the Least Counselors, EMs, and Companions.
Companions help [young] players they had little ability to do anything other than transport themselves to a [young] and receive and check the list of [young] players online.

EM's well everyone loves events, but the time it takes for events to come in with them needing information added through publishes really really brings the game down. People love new content, EM events while not permanent or massive in the terms of comparison to Global Events were something new and refreshing that could breakup the monotony between Global Event and story arcs.

Counselors, the GM's need Help. Smurfs could be first and foremost a way for someone to actually show up and evaluate the situation a page is made about. They are players, just like you and me, they can go about on their own and help police the shards..it's not that difficult to see the advantages of them. If nothing else when you page having someone, anyone that might be able to assist you show up gives a positive outlook on customer support.

.

 

[Uvtha]

UO needs to return to its former glory. No I'm not talking about PvP and Pre-UOR, but instead the player economy. There was a time when players relied on other players. Weapons and armor were frequently lost and required replacement by a blacksmith or tailor. Blacksmiths bought ingots from miners and turned them for a profit while standing at the forge in Britain. The economy was bustling and there was a great deal of interaction between almost all the players.

Now I have no need or reason to deal with other players and it feels more like a single player game that just happens to have other people playing. I feel that the dev team needs to find a way to recapture a sense of camaraderie and community. Stop trying to emulate other games by adding new quests, item properties, and races. Instead, embrace the community, be creative, and find some way to bring players back together. Do something to rejuvinate the economy, empower the players, and set UO apart from the other games on the market.

Can't be fixed. The things that kept the economy strong back in the day were pk's (ill explain) and the fact that crafting skills were VERY hard to raise.

PKs: Pk's slowed and or stopped two of the most detrimental forces in today's ruined economy, and fueled a third. Pk's slowed monster camping. The risk of pks being around made people prudent, getting out of wrong with 7k was QUITE an accomplishment. Pk's stopped scripted resource gathering. Once the scripters were given a haven to cheat (tram) scripting exploded, causing all the silly game changes we see today that hurt honest players. Pk's killed people, and took their armor (you could also toss looters into this group I imagine) required that more be acquired, usually via other players crafting at a forge. Of course pk's had other positive effects such as promoting community through mutual protection, and excitement and a feeling accomplishment when escaping "real" danger.
Unfortunately anti's were never given the tools to properly deal with pks at a level that would keep them from running roughshod over the world, but still have these positive effects.

Skill gain: Back in the day being a GM smith was a BIG deal. Not every account had a mule with every crafting skill stored on a soul stone. Back then people who slaved away in the mines, and later at the forge were truly inspiring and influential members of the virtual society. As we know this is no longer the case. Crafters to be useful must work bods and hunt peerless to have a chance at selling anything useful.

Of course item insurance trumps it all, making it harder and harder to have a good amount of multi leveled economic interaction.

So I fear those days are just gone for good. There is no change that the player base would accept to bring those times back.

Your only choice is seige, but most people just don't like the danger and loss, and character slot limitation that is indeed the very key to a successful and robust economy.

Sorry guy.

 

[Eslake]

I could answer in page after page.. but I'll keep it simple....

NEW OWNERS​

 

[RoseBlue]

I think new players would need :

1) A good amount of UO gold to get started.

2) A free tamer with nice pets.

3) All the runes for interesting places in UO.

4) Lots of things they could be able to do ON THEIR OWN before they get to make friends (they should not have to make friends to be able to do something and friendship should be natural, not necessary.



................and maybe other things I can't think of right now..............

 

[Loquacious Wrath]

Better graphics. Even if it means ditching that outdated 2d engine.

A greater focus on the virtues, perhaps making it the main focus. That is why Ultima IV was so famous.

Fresh and clever content that pusheds new players into ALL areas of UO. There are SO many old and unused areas today, its seems pointless to have 90 percent of the world.

And simply steal some ideas from WoW. Most successful business today are modeled after already succesful businesses. Have both overhead and 1st person perspectives and 3d.

 

[Tycolby]

A customer Service Base that knew the game and could help ppl with they question within a reasonable time limit ( say like no longer than 15 minutes)

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Hmm....A mini-dungeon on New Haven Island. Some easier way to get to the "real" dungeons (specifically the Dungeons of Sin). So that way at least the noobs know they are there. And increase the Virtue Artifact spawn in the non-Fel Dungeons of Sin. The idea of all of this would be to better link their New Haven experiences with their coming experiences in the broader game. And to give them some reward for venturing forth. Jeremy stated that the Virtue Artifacts were made for the post-New Haven crowd, wondering what's next.

Right now, though, they are far too hard to get and far too hard to get to in order to really accomplish that goal.

-Galen's player

 

[Lore Master]

A lot of Advertising for one on tv, on the radio, online and in news papers and magazines. i watch G4 and attack of the show a lot and they talk a lot about WOW and other competitors of Ultima Online but i don't recall one time i heard them mention Ultima Online which is very sad.

• Many people do not want to just jump into or stay in a game that is barely even advertised. if you tell most people i play Ultima Online most people would say what is that but if you said i play World of Warcraft 0r Lord Of The Rings Online or War Hammer or Dungeons & Dragons just about everyone will know what your talking about even EverQuest is more well known G4 even mentions that on a rare occasion

• Many people might think if its not advertised on tv or much elsewhere but its competitors advertise then they feel why should i invest all that time in a game that might be cancelled anytime. that is what someone might think that doesn't know much about UO so many people get trial accounts then quit before they have to pay and might jump ship to a more popular and advertised game out of fear because they might feel since UO is not advertised enough it could be cancelled anytime.

• Even the presidential candidates have to advertise can you picture any presidential candidate not advertising his campaign and becoming president of the united states i don't think so. well its a similar thing with video games and movies if no one knows who you are or about you why should they gamble on you some might but most wont. also because UO is not a free game it is an investment believe me advertiseing even an old but wonderful game like this would bring a lot of players in.

Put it this way if i never played the commadore 64 version of the Ultima games i would probably never had joined UO. i am sure most of us can agree if there where two very similar games that we knew nothing about and we where definately going to join one or the other and one was advertised a lot and the other wasn't i am sure the majority of us would join the game that is Advertised. too much of a risk and investment for a lot to join the game that isnt advertised a lot since its not free.

 

[Fink]

Cheaper subscriptions.

The game is still "wildly profitable", so knocking the price down a little would hopefully encourage more subscribers while netting the same sort of return. In theory. At the very least, existing players might decide to reopen that closed extra account, or start one.

Basically UO shouldn't be priced the same as some of the newer, slicker, and superficially more attractive MMORPGs. It should be marketed as a retro game, the "granddaddy" of them all, still with terrific gameplay and over a decade of content. Yes, the client's getting yet another revamp for SA, but it's still isometric view, still largely sprite-based graphics. It shouldn't be pitched to the same crowd, or at least not in the same terms, as the sausage-factory spamerrific MMO's.

 

[Flora Green]

I'm too lazy to read all the responses, but I did see (of course) graphics listed. Did anyone say GOOD graphics?? Because, most of us know how awful KR is. I wouldn't even call those graphics. More like "did I forget to clean my glasses today?" or "do I need to see the eye doc?" moments.

 

[Uvtha]

Theres a reason they dont advertise... Because it would be harmful rather than helpful. They need something worth sticking on a box, or in a commerical before they can start advertising anything.

That day is not likely to come.

 

[FrejaSP]

I would say UO need to give up trying to have PvP+ and PvPzero players on same shards.

It's time to make non PvP shards and normal shards. Take the most PvP active shards and give them ruleset with the best from Felucca and Siege on all facets. Let the shards with less PvP stay with Trammel ruleset on all facets.

Delete all houses on accounts who had been closed for a month. Deed all accounts that had not been logged in for 2 months even when paid for and store them until the owner is back and can choose a shard.
All shards not choosen to become PvP or normal shards will be closed and the players will have to choose a new shard for his account

Let players deed their house, chars and bank inclucive items and choose a one way ticket to a shard with a different ruleset.

When they unpack their account deed, they can choose upto 7 chars from the shards they had played on and a new place for their house.
Leftover chars can close a different shard or the owner can cloose to delete them.

Now where we have 2 serverset instead of 2 ruleset devs can focus on the balance on each kind and UO PvP may have a future again.

 

[Beldon]

What do you think UO needs to keep new players? Hmm...

Better question "What do you think UO needs to do to keep new players?"

If you can not keep them, no point in getting them.

 

[Salty Pete]

You can't expect new players to play on new accounts when old accounts get more skill points and perks like free etheral mounts. New players figure out the imbalances quickly and either buy a quitting player's old account or just give up. Add to that the already mentioned problems with the gold inflation and you have an enviroment where the willing RMT newb stays and the unwilling RMT newb quits.

If they are serious about having a new player join the game and actually want to stay they have to start erasing the character imbalances. You simply can not expect new players to play with gimped characters. Give everyone the same chances or give up on having new players.

If that is the route they want to take there is a way to get some more paying customers..... There are thousands of players playing free shards right now. If they want those players back they should give them the same game: Pre-AoS shards.

 

[GhostfaceSP]

There is only one solution, and even my self have trouble accepting it.

Shut down all servers and make 3 new siege servers (usa - europe - asia)
Make a new beginning. And each server would be full of life.

I live in Europe but I only play Siege (125 ms)
I play anti.... Siege reminds me of how it used to be.
Back in the days UO was the best game ever because it was quite hard core.
Anti vs. Dreadlords
I still love how pvp works in uo (even though I suck at it) and looting rules.
On siege you can only bless 1 item (beside cloth bless) maybe 2 or 3 blessed items would work too.... But its important that you can get looted when dying.

Trammel killed the game. remove it (siege got no trammel)
Remove the damn stealth/ninja coward skills.
I could imagine an extra color so you got blue, Red and Black
If you kill a blue player, you get black for 24 hours. Then if you die, you got
statloss until you are back to red.
There are no statloss on siege.

I left everything I had on other servers and started playing siege.

and btw.... KR is not bad, it just needs a bugfix and maybe the size of a dragon should be bigger and the size of a horse/player should be smaller.
Everything seems so clumsy, mostly because of the sizes of mobs and players are wrong.
The game might look old, but it still gives me that feeling.

 

[Aran]

Keeping current players should be the primary goal before anyone even thinks about "new" players.

 

[GhostfaceSP]

and it takes more than 1 month to get addicted to uo....
change it into 2 months free and then 2 months at 5$ and then lower the normal price to 10$
I play 3 accounts at the moment, but only because I can afford to. and because you can only have 1 char on each account on siege.

I would say 5$ per char and 5$ per house would be fair.
I think this would even give a higher profit in the long run.

 

[Connor_Graham]

"do I need to see the eye doc?" moments.

What do IDOC's have to do with keeping new players?

 

[Connor_Graham]

There is only one solution, and even my self have trouble accepting it.

Shut down all servers and make 3 new siege servers (usa - europe - asia)
Make a new beginning. And each server would be full of life.

I live in Europe but I only play Siege (125 ms)
I play anti.... Siege reminds me of how it used to be.
Back in the days UO was the best game ever because it was quite hard core.
Anti vs. Dreadlords
I still love how pvp works in uo (even though I suck at it) and looting rules.
On siege you can only bless 1 item (beside cloth bless) maybe 2 or 3 blessed items would work too.... But its important that you can get looted when dying.

Trammel killed the game. remove it (siege got no trammel)
Remove the damn stealth/ninja coward skills.
I could imagine an extra color so you got blue, Red and Black
If you kill a blue player, you get black for 24 hours. Then if you die, you got
statloss until you are back to red.
There are no statloss on siege.

I left everything I had on other servers and started playing siege.

and btw.... KR is not bad, it just needs a bugfix and maybe the size of a dragon should be bigger and the size of a horse/player should be smaller.
Everything seems so clumsy, mostly because of the sizes of mobs and players are wrong.
The game might look old, but it still gives me that feeling.

This would kill UO and have it shut down in less than a week.

Please, step into reality before posting this type of drivel.

 

[Flora Green]

What do IDOC's have to do with keeping new players?

Ah hah hah.

 

[kennykilleduo]

3 step program :

1. Show they care
2. Market it
3. Offer a FREE (non x ferable shard with basic skills)

 

[DHMagicMan_1]

There is only one solution, and even my self have trouble accepting it.

...

Trammel killed the game. remove it (siege got no trammel)
Remove the damn stealth/ninja coward skills.
I could imagine an extra color so you got blue, Red and Black
If you kill a blue player, you get black for 24 hours. Then if you die, you got
statloss until you are back to red.
There are no statloss on siege.

...

I hope you understand that less than 25% of the player base plays in "Fel Ruleset Lands" and far less than that plays on Siege Rules servers...

Following your suggestions would drop the paid subscriptions by at least 75 to 85% within a month...

I hope you pursue a career other than business or finance!

 

[Cpthowdy]

I started playing in 06 quit playing beginning of 08 and I have 2 reasons for this. Although I don't know if I would have still be considered a new player I was still a newer player.

1. Its stupid that if you are a PVM type player (which I am) there is no way to max out your stats without doing the champ spawns which are the most lame gank fest I have ever seen (never been in on it, but I have read the reports that used to appear on stratics and I just remember shaking my head thinking how ********). I think they should follow wows lead and have some straight "care bear" servers where you can get power scrolls from champ spawns without going to Fellucia or whatever it is.

2. Whoever thought if this Kingdom Reborn idea (as far as the system requirements) should be fired immediately. I am sorry but I had a nice little e-machine system I bought a year ago, granted it had an integrated graphics card but still I couldn't play KR on it at all. Now I won't lie I did recently spend a whopping 75 bucks on a Gforce 8600 card which I am sure I can play KR now but why would I? Purchasing that card opened up pretty much every other MMORPG to play so why would I go back to UO? Right now I can play WOW max settings and it looks great, and even though I love old school 2d games (NES is still the best system ever) it makes the grinding a little less horrible when its pretty to look at. What they should have done was kept it totally 2d and just updated it to where no special 3d cards were needed. I don't know what business school the person who thought of KR goes to but anybody who would take the time buy a graphics card and not try all the numerous other much better looking MMORPG is crazy. And the people who don't buy the graphics card or newer pcs are the ones are who only gonna play the 2d version anyways.

 

[Gwendar-SP]

Not put out unfinished products like AoS that drive old and new away.

Publish expansions that are more geared to new players - like include a useable map of the lands in the box and meybe even an instruction book.

Get rid of the old bugs and exploytes - I certainly wouldn't recommend uo to someone else.

Try to get retailers to stock expansions - lengthen the time limit on the promotional items so folks won't have to mail order to beat the time limit and the box won't have reduced value. It seems like they tend to originally make the promotion expire before Christmas then extend it.

Would be nice if some online retailers didn't try to promote older versions

 

[William]

While there were many excellent points here, there are a couple I think would be easy fixes. I was one of those smiths who worked the Brit forge many years ago, and it was a very social place. So fix one would be to not use normal blank scrolls to make repair deeds, instead offer a special blank repair deed at the low cost of 50k per scroll. Those players who don’t trust a smith to repair their arties could still buy repair deeds, only for a much higher price. Hopefully this would put a dent in some of the gold flowing into the game as a side effect.

While I miss the Seers as much as anyone, I do not believe EA will bring them back. So as an alternative, I think there should be a reward program for vets who help the new players, similar to the “bring a buddy to Britania” program. If a vet helps a new player, they get a point, collect enough points, and redeem them for some spiffy items. Aside from helping the new folks, it would give some of the bored vets something new to do.

Feel free to flame away.

William of Great Lakes

 

[Extra Value Meal]

To put it simply, a lot.

 

[RoseBlue]

What do you think UO needs to keep new players? Hmm...

Better question "What do you think UO needs to do to keep new players?"

If you can not keep them, no point in getting them.

OR...we could say :

"What do new players need to like UO and stay?"

 

[Beldon]

What do you think UO needs to keep new players? Hmm...

Better question "What do you think UO needs to do to keep new players?"

If you can not keep them, no point in getting them.

OR...we could say :

"What do new players need to like UO and stay?"

Hmm... I could have sworn that the title was originally "What do you think UO needs to do to get new players?"

 

[Lore Master]

Heres a list of some things i think could keep new and old players in UO and also bring in more players to UO.

1. Advertise UO on Television, the Radio, News Papers, Magazines and more Online.
2. Add more races.
3. Fix all the known bugs even the minor bugs.
4. Add More Stackables and add more stackables that can be placed in commodity deeds.
5. Stop all the illegal cheats, Scripts, Hacks and dupes. crack down on and stop all the illegal 3rd party programs and the sites that support them.
6. Add more expansions and more content. I for one would love a casino.
7. Add champ spawns to tram with all the current and future Power Scrolls.

• If you ask me there is another reason UO has lost a lot of players that is not all the developers fault it is also all the greedy rich players that sell many of there items for an insane amount of gold. power scrolls being in fel only and some being sold for crazy prices is the the biggest problem to do with greed.

• When a new player sees an item he or she wants like for one example a plus 20 magery power scroll selling for like 20 million gold most new players and even some old players might think i could play for years and never get that much gold that is a big turn off to a lot of old and new players and many have quit for that reason alone.

Greed hurts the game and loses us players if players even brought there prices down to a more acceptable level especially power scrolls i think fewer players would quit hence UO would have more players making a more popular game.

 

[Xanthea]

Well look how the end content of the game is today and then it can not be so hard to figure out why new players dont stay in the game.

The econemy is broke sence way back, if you want to pvp these days u need atleast 100mil, in early days all u needed was some regs and a weapon etc.

The scary,thrilling part is gone also sence way back you guys remember when you went to like despise, your pulse was like ding,ding,ding and the heart was about to popout cause you met ghosts? that is also gone.

For new players there are Doom and once and a while champ spawns, fun;

I could probably go on forever but i think that is some of the main reasons why ppl never stick with the game, nothing to do than to farm 100mil, dungeons are empty not fun to solo all the time

Also like to add a thing to the comment above, that UO is low population is a developer misstake and nothing else, i could name so mnay things but i will make it short.

Statloss a major thing that hit the game, i mean comon why? and 2nd trammel what on earth is that about ppl cry cause they die in a computer game? also all other things now insurence, partly as you said greed but that is simply cause orgin got it there tamers could farm up 100k so damn fast even in older days. Already then items started to get way out of hand vanq wep went for 100k

 

[hawkeye_pike]

There was a time when players relied on other players. Weapons and armor were frequently lost and required replacement by a blacksmith or tailor. Blacksmiths bought ingots from miners and turned them for a profit while standing at the forge in Britain. The economy was bustling and there was a great deal of interaction between almost all the players. [...] Do something to rejuvinate the economy, empower the players, and set UO apart from the other games on the market.

While you are perfectly right, I am convinced that the player interaction from the Early Days (you mentioned above) can only return to UO if many new players start playing the game. Many problems we have today simply have their roots in the lack of new players.

Thus, EA's primary goal should be, to improve the game in a way that attracts new players:

• Nifty graphics
• Improve the new player experience (like someone mentioned above)
• Give people interesting things to do without the need of insane equipment (spice up the old dungeons, invent interesting quests etc.)
• Fix the economy (for example, remove 90% of the gold from the game, limit the total amount of gold in game etc.)
• And ONLY THEN advertise the game.

(I did not mention things like bugfixing [cause every game has bugs] or new races or new content. While these changes sound nice, they won't bring a single new player to UO, but only satisfy veterans.)
___________________________________________

EDIT:
How to figure out what this game lacks, from a new player's view

• Create a new character and train him up a bit. Or even take one of your existing characters, if you don't want to go through training your skills on dogs and sheep.
• Equip him with armor and weapon bought from an NPC vendor for 2000 gold.
• Walk (!) through the wilderness and find one of the old dungeons.
• Enter the dungeon, fight Ratmen, Harpies, Trolls, Ettins, whatever.
• Collect armor and weapons from monster loot which are better than your own equipment, to replace your existing equipment.
• Collect the gold and bring it to the bank.
• Work yourself deeper down into the dungeon.
• Find better loot, improve your equipment.

Write down everything you find annoying or boring, and all the possible improvements that come into your mind.

I actually plan to do mentioned steps just for fun. For that purpose I'll probably use simple GM-crafted leather armor, no runics, no artifacts. I bet it is fun to explore the dungeons with a group of like-minded people in such a way. You all should give it a try to find out how much fun UO can be, once you give up your focus on items! And you'll find out that the old dungeons have a GIGANTIC potential to be made into interesting places with riddles, quests and challenges for new and medium players. Who needs new expansions, with all that potential just waiting on our doorstep to be put into action? GO, DEVS!