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Year End Approaching...No Classic Shard

  • Thread starter Morgana LeFay (PoV)
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Z

zackevivrus

Guest
Im a PRO Classic Shard poster, that doesn't play production shards(EA Shards)

hi, i played UO from 97-99 then again from 01-07

What I enjoyed was having people to fight, those close battles with other skilled pvpers that helped validate my own pvping skills. Those days rocked, wether it was pre aos or post. I liked making money BY pvping. And despite what anyone says or thinks, making a good pvper took YEARS of investing time and gp getting my suit right, working up my skills and templates and gaining acceptance from the right guilds. I truly earned every piece of loot I took from trammies that had no business in fel to begin with. Hey look, they made a facet for you guys, it drained a lot of our prey but hey thats fine, just meant the competition was gonna get better.

What I didn't like was fighting over the same crap for years on end, no one ever opened up a new flag to fight for, meanwhile trammy was getting made developer love with all kinds of digital garbage to load their houses up with. Which is cool, but hey at the same time, you have other players to appease as well. We started out making a spawn guild and fighting off raids which was fun, then we became the raiding guild which was just as fun, then we got bored and pump life into factions which at this point only allowed us to dup black horses, which was cool, but instead of taking a cue and realizing that it gave people a reason to fight for a new commodity they made it to where we couldn't get them anymore. So we stopped.

I also didn't enjoy lame tamers coming to fel and stopping me to the ground with a gimped up template. In the end, I was a red in a wasteland that had no one to fight and nothing to fight for. When I did get someone to fight, it was an unskilled player that said 'all kill' instead of using wits and knowledge to beat me.

I liked epic battles with lots of people, I liked matching wits to see who could win a duel. I liked gaining a reward for being a good pvper and I liked the notoriety that went along with it.

Would I come back to UO? Not at this moment, after getting bored with pvm, I needed that extra surge of adrenaline that came with pvp. Pvp in UO has always been dexxors and mages. Good mages knew how to beat both and the same for dexxors. That however had been thrown out of the window with the invention of pvp tamers which became way over powered. How is there a pet that can dismount me? Thats lame. There was a time when being a pvp was a privilege, not a right, and those that would push hard enough, would get it.

In the end, there was no value to being a pvper, you couldn't make money because all the economic commodities became something you had to be in trammel to get, which lured away my friends and foes and it kept new players from wanting to venture into fel to get the things that brought the most reward.

PVP is the most rewarding aspect of UO that had ever existed, its the drawing point, no one plays modern warfare so they can shoot roosters and play single player campaign. They play it for the rush.

By taking away the economic advantage of pvping, you take away the will to get your feet wet. I was a trammie that had his eyes on a higher prize, it took a lot of time and dedication but eventually I made that leap and it paid off tremendously.

I would still play UO if new economic rewards were available for pvpers, which would make elder pvpers happy by luring new prey into the web while at the same time exposing new players to the more exciting facet of the game.
The problem came with the lack of a middle ground. I had to make friends to learn to pvp, it wasnt something the game itself made available to me.

At the same time, UO would do things that would try to make it to where new players could compete by making easy templates, but that only made gimps that would anger older players who worked harder.

Its a game with no central storyline that players could take the ball and run with. All the new content would cater to collectors rather than utilizers. I dont want a christmas tree, I want a lrc suit that has resist. I want a hit lightning kryss with sc no pen.

There was no one goal that took players from noobs to trammies to pks. no quest that said hey you might enjoy pvm but if you wear this and do this combo, you can advance further and pvp with older players.

Lets not forget about the whole lame hotkey set up. You have to purchase UOAssist just to have a realistic hotkey system. WTF!? Is it that hard to have premade hotkeys that come based on the template you first choose?

You cant base your game on the whats working now, you have to also take into consideration, what worked 'then' and what will work 'later'

Bottom line, you couldn't give new players a reason to go to fel and indulge in pvp and in turn it chased away your players that enjoyed pvping because we had no one new to fight and no worth while reason to fight.

Would I come back if a classic shard was made? I don't know, do I have to grind for weeks on end just to compete with other pvpers? Really consider the gaining system, does anyone really enjoy gaining skills? no we enjoy the outcome. Will there be players fighting in large numbers if no current economic reward is available? not if its just as easily gained in trammel. Will I have to wait five years just for something new to fight for? If so, then no.

I want large scale battles like I use to have. Battles that were faught for scrolls which were at that time worth gold. Which in turn forged many new guilds loaded with people that had an interest in learning to pvp without saying 'all kill'.

Anyhow, Im done ranting. You guys should have your registration form checked out, it took me a week to gain access to these boards.
 

Zurhet Pebblethief

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
The Shard of the Dead was shut down due to lack of support; ie: no one was playing it! Where do you think you are going to get the support for a Classic Shard if the test subject was allowed to go waste. Anyone wanting a Classic Shard that badly should have been playing their test whether it was exactly what you wanted or not. Classic Shard supporters let it go to waste, you prolly won't see EA devote resources to an actual Classic Shard now.
 
Z

zackevivrus

Guest
The Shard of the Dead was shut down due to lack of support; ie: no one was playing it! Where do you think you are going to get the support for a Classic Shard if the test subject was allowed to go waste. Anyone wanting a Classic Shard that badly should have been playing their test whether it was exactly what you wanted or not. Classic Shard supporters let it go to waste, you prolly won't see EA devote resources to an actual Classic Shard now.
sorry to hear that, but i didnt know, you cant expect past players to check uo.com everyday, hoping they fix what was once a great game.

at the sametime, i cant seem to find any info on the dead shard so for all i know, it could have been some bad halloween experiment.

In the end you expect to be rewarded for being apart of the community in the game, pvm or pvp, not just rewarded for being in the game.

pvp wasnt broken until new over powered creatures n skills were introduced. all we wanted was a new arena, and a worth while reward that would tempt non pvpers into coming to fel n possibly join the ranks of pvpers.

the smartest update was making 120s only accessable in fel. despite the bad press that pub gets, it was done right.
 
N

NorCal

Guest
The Shard of the Dead was shut down due to lack of support; ie: no one was playing it! Where do you think you are going to get the support for a Classic Shard if the test subject was allowed to go waste. Anyone wanting a Classic Shard that badly should have been playing their test whether it was exactly what you wanted or not. Classic Shard supporters let it go to waste, you prolly won't see EA devote resources to an actual Classic Shard now.
Rofl... It wasn't a classic test shard. Glass swords made it a joke. Even in other games were you can't lose anything like World of Warcarft players will cry about getting globaled. PvP can't function without the possiblility of fighting back. Nobody likes to be stunlocked.

Does that make sense I kinda used WoW terminology?
 

Orgional Farimir

Lore Keeper
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UO was dying in 1997 because of lag.
UO was dying in 1998 because of T2A
UO was dying in 2000 because of Tram
Luna killed UO
AOS killed UO
No Classic Shard killed UO.


yet there is 1 thing constant UO is still here.
 
B

Beer_Cayse

Guest
My last account was closed early last month. I don't plan on returning until there is some sort of shard that is pre-AOS. Period.

Take that to the bank, Cal! Seriously. PM me and I will tell you the account names of the ones I closed ... check it yourself.
 
V

Vaelix

Guest
UO was dying in 1997 because of lag.
UO was dying in 1998 because of T2A
UO was dying in 2000 because of Tram
Luna killed UO
AOS killed UO
No Classic Shard killed UO.


yet there is 1 thing constant UO is still here.
Yet here you are posting nearly 13 Years later. Concerned about the game in some form.
 

Lord Chaos

Always Present
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UO can never, no matter what client it has, compete with modern games like Wow, Eve or SW-TOR.

What UO needs is to leave UO graphically as it is and develop a proper UO2 with proper graphics and proper systems.
 
V

Vaelix

Guest
UO can never, no matter what client it has, compete with modern games like Wow, Eve or SW-TOR.

What UO needs is to leave UO graphically as it is and develop a proper UO2 with proper graphics and proper systems.
I was always under the impression that the majority of players on UO remained due to "Game Depth" (Whatever you wanna call it) And not graphics, considering a lot of us still use the 2d Client and Love it.

I for one Cannot stand that they put developer time into New graphically designed clients while neglecting the game play that had kept us here in the first place.
 

Lord Chaos

Always Present
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I was always under the impression that the majority of players on UO remained due to "Game Depth" (Whatever you wanna call it) And not graphics, considering a lot of us still use the 2d Client and Love it.

I for one Cannot stand that they put developer time into New graphically designed clients while neglecting the game play that had kept us here in the first place.
Well, other games have immense depth too. UO is a bit of a confusing mess.

But I was not saying that they should take away from the current team, but make a new team and make a proper UO2. Just like they did with Lineage and Lineage 2 or Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2.
 

Vlaude

Lore Keeper
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Turned sigs on and noticed the people with "classic shard supporter" sigs and decided I should make one too :)
 
V

Vaelix

Guest
Well, other games have immense depth too. UO is a bit of a confusing mess.

But I was not saying that they should take away from the current team, but make a new team and make a proper UO2. Just like they did with Lineage and Lineage 2 or Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2.
See, the complication here is that "Depth" means different things to different generations.

WoW, is severely popular due to its "Carebear" Style of game play, which appeals to our younger generation of gamer.

However, UO is fundamentally Non-Carebear, which is generally unappealing to the younger or less hardcore gamers of today.

One might argue that Darkfall is a Successful "Non-Carebear" style of game, and while this may be generally true, until players get over this insane notion that everything needs to be Simple, PG Rated, Walk in the Park without any actual Risk associated to the game play, games like WoW will forever be "Superior" when speaking of appeal to todays "average" gamer.
 

I Play UO

Visitor
Stratics Veteran
See, the complication here is that "Depth" means different things to different generations.

WoW, is severely popular due to its "Carebear" Style of game play, which appeals to our younger generation of gamer.

However, UO is fundamentally Non-Carebear, which is generally unappealing to the younger or less hardcore gamers of today.

One might argue that Darkfall is a Successful "Non-Carebear" style of game, and while this may be generally true, until players get over this insane notion that everything needs to be Simple, PG Rated, Walk in the Park without any actual Risk associated to the game play, games like WoW will forever be "Superior" when speaking of appeal to todays "average" gamer.
I'd just like to point out that I have noticed the same thing throughout all video games, not just mmorpgs. If anyone knows anything about online shooters, one of the first ones was called Socom. The first four installments of this game took more skill than you could imagine, and it literally took me two hours to get my first kill on Socom 2 (and I am exceptional at shooters). All of a sudden, this ridiculous excuse of a game called Call of Duty 4 comes out, which is in every way simpler, and easier than Socom ever was. Rather than firing multiple mags at somebody to kill them, you merely need to fire a few bullets. There seems to be a sort of parallelism between this example and what is going on with the UO/WoW example. It seems to me that games were once built on the basis of fun, but are now built to sell.

How does this relate to a Classic Shard? Well, because I would want nothing more than to be able to enjoy the good old days of Socom, but I realize that it will never be as fun as it once was. I think it's time for UO players to realize this too.
 
V

Vaelix

Guest
I'd just like to point out that I have noticed the same thing throughout all video games, not just mmorpgs. If anyone knows anything about online shooters, one of the first ones was called Socom. The first four installments of this game took more skill than you could imagine, and it literally took me two hours to get my first kill on Socom 2 (and I am exceptional at shooters). All of a sudden, this ridiculous excuse of a game called Call of Duty 4 comes out, which is in every way simpler, and easier than Socom ever was. Rather than firing multiple mags at somebody to kill them, you merely need to fire a few bullets. There seems to be a sort of parallelism between this example and what is going on with the UO/WoW example. It seems to me that games were once built on the basis of fun, but are now built to sell.

How does this relate to a Classic Shard? Well, because I would want nothing more than to be able to enjoy the good old days of Socom, but I realize that it will never be as fun as it once was. I think it's time for UO players to realize this too.
*Randomly Off Topic* But a good example of this is in CoD4 Where Kill steaks will net you Automatic Killing machines like Air Strikes, Helicopters, and even a Nuke which kills everyone.

My old shooter? Medal of Honor Allied Assult, where Leaning back and forth, dodging, juking, and other random movements made Upclose Sniper and Rifle battles amazingly skillful.
 

Martyna Zmuir

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
How does this relate to a Classic Shard? Well, because I would want nothing more than to be able to enjoy the good old days of Socom, but I realize that it will never be as fun as it once was. I think it's time for UO players to realize this too.
THIS.

It goes for a lot of things, not only a classic shard but a evolution in clients as well.

Just like UO moved away from the wanton slaughter that was perpetrated by a few handfuls of players on the rest. Trammel was the instant hit that left Felucca a ghost facet nearly overnight. The wolves lost perpetual access to the sheep, and the sheep loved that.

The sheep won't come to a classic shard because they don't enjoy that play. Such a shard would be wolf-on-wolf action that would eventually get really boring as the population died, a la Siege.

If so many people wanted things to remain the same as in '97-99 then Trammel would not have been created in 2000.
 

I Play UO

Visitor
Stratics Veteran
Because yeah, it really makes sense to have to fire multiple mags at someone to kill them.
How do you think real warfare works? You think everyone is racking up kills like Rambo? I can't speak from experience, but I can imagine how ridiculously hard it would be to actually hit somebody in the middle of a fire fight. Please don't try to bring realism into video games...it's so overdone.
 
C

copycon

Guest
THIS.

It goes for a lot of things, not only a classic shard but a evolution in clients as well.

Just like UO moved away from the wanton slaughter that was perpetrated by a few handfuls of players on the rest. Trammel was the instant hit that left Felucca a ghost facet nearly overnight. The wolves lost perpetual access to the sheep, and the sheep loved that.

The sheep won't come to a classic shard because they don't enjoy that play. Such a shard would be wolf-on-wolf action that would eventually get really boring as the population died, a la Siege.

If so many people wanted things to remain the same as in '97-99 then Trammel would not have been created in 2000.
Are you suggesting that these "sheep" wouldn't bore themselves just as easily? It seems to me that is exactly what has happened, except now there is no dynamic and no alternative. It has purely become a game with no meaning or purpose other than hoarding as many items as possible.

Trammel was and is the bi-product of lack of vision from the UO developers at the time. That was clear to so many when it was announced, and is now clear to those that matter (I hope). There are much better ways that the problem could have been addressed without creating a mirror world with an entirely different ruleset that goes against everything UO was intended to be. However, I realize that hindsight is 20/20, and I hope that they take the opportunity that has been presented to give a large part of the community what they want.

We'll see I guess...
 
B

Babble

Guest
Well if you remember the developers were dead set against a pvp switch which was also proposed.

In retrospect trammel and aos are natural developments of the mmo market. More safety, more timesinks more programmed content.

And away from a world concept and seers/gms created content
 
C

copycon

Guest
Well if you remember the developers were dead set against a pvp switch which was also proposed.

In retrospect trammel and aos are natural developments of the mmo market. More safety, more timesinks more programmed content.

And away from a world concept and seers/gms created content
Personally, I feel the AOS content would have been received much more effectively if there were a functioning economy in place to support it. Granted that I have never experienced it, but from what I have read that seems to be the heart of the issue.

If players had to be concerned about the "open world" risk towards using the "uber" equipment that they have decked themselves out with, then the world would not nearly be as over saturated as it is in my opinion.

By giving players the ability to keep their items and equipment with no risk whatsoever attached, it has become a broken game mechanic by definition.
 

Martyna Zmuir

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Are you suggesting that these "sheep" wouldn't bore themselves just as easily? It seems to me that is exactly what has happened, except now there is no dynamic and no alternative. It has purely become a game with no meaning or purpose other than hoarding as many items as possible.

The sheep are bored on the regular shards for different reasons. Lack of continuing captivating 24/7 content, outside of the aforementioned hoarding. However, UO IS a 13 year old game - stagnation was inevitable. The EMs help with this issue far more than Mythic has proven themselves capable of, the only caveat here is that they are on for a brief amount of time.

But the sheep will never willingly put themselves in the line of fire like in the old days. They didn't like it then, they wouldn't like it now. Giving a PvPer their jollies doesn't do it for them.


Trammel was and is the bi-product of lack of vision from the UO developers at the time. That was clear to so many when it was announced, and is now clear to those that matter (I hope). There are much better ways that the problem could have been addressed without creating a mirror world with an entirely different ruleset that goes against everything UO was intended to be. However, I realize that hindsight is 20/20, and I hope that they take the opportunity that has been presented to give a large part of the community what they want.

We'll see I guess...


Sigh.

See, "what UO was intended to be" was NOT the antisocial disaster that it became. RG actually believed in a living, breathing world that would police itself. However, the resources were never given to the players to do any of that. The antisocial tweebs overran the shards causing grief and misery in their wake. That was not what the Devs of the time wanted to happen, and they said that on a regular basis.

Sadly, their answer was Trammel. I think we can all agree that Trammel's implementation was less than stellar, and definitely not really what people wanted. A PvP switch would have been a far better alternative - it would have kept communities together and not spread the population so thin. Those who wanted to PvP could do so while those who didn't could at least see what was going on - and thus their interest might be piqued enough to flip the switch.

On the topic of a classic shard, the cards are not in its favor. No full code prior to 2003. No consensus on what 'classic' means. Not enough Dev Team members to support a 3rd rule set effectively.
 
A

Aragon100

Guest
The Shard of the Dead was shut down due to lack of support; ie: no one was playing it! Where do you think you are going to get the support for a Classic Shard if the test subject was allowed to go waste. Anyone wanting a Classic Shard that badly should have been playing their test whether it was exactly what you wanted or not. Classic Shard supporters let it go to waste, you prolly won't see EA devote resources to an actual Classic Shard now.
You see that shard as a classic shard? Something to evaluate the interest for a real classic shard? What a joke.

Shard of the Dead is as much a classic shard as today UO.

Shard of the Dead have nothing with a classic shard to do.

Naming Shard of the Dead a classic shard is an insult to all classic shard followers.

UO was dying in 1997 because of lag.
UO was dying in 1998 because of T2A
UO was dying in 2000 because of Tram
Luna killed UO
AOS killed UO
No Classic Shard killed UO.


yet there is 1 thing constant UO is still here.
AoS killed UO for the felucca PvP oriented players. The ones that had supported UO from -97 and forward you know.

There game were destroyed, it was stolen from them.

What was left was a trammel game for the PvE interested playerbase.

Seeing a classic shard again would bring some justice back to these old UO supporters that were left out in the cold by EA.

UO can never, no matter what client it has, compete with modern games like Wow, Eve or SW-TOR.

What UO needs is to leave UO graphically as it is and develop a proper UO2 with proper graphics and proper systems.
Classic UO can and is competitive with today nice graphic games and the reason is that classic UO had superior gameplay. Havent been as a good skillbased PvP game after classic UO were destroyed with AoS.

Nice graphics but boring, repetitive gameplay dont sell to me and im not alone having this standpoint.
 
C

copycon

Guest
See, "what UO was intended to be" was NOT the antisocial disaster that it became. RG actually believed in a living, breathing world that would police itself. However, the resources were never given to the players to do any of that. The antisocial tweebs overran the shards causing grief and misery in their wake. That was not what the Devs of the time wanted to happen, and they said that on a regular basis.

Sadly, their answer was Trammel. I think we can all agree that Trammel's implementation was less than stellar, and definitely not really what people wanted. A PvP switch would have been a far better alternative - it would have kept communities together and not spread the population so thin. Those who wanted to PvP could do so while those who didn't could at least see what was going on - and thus their interest might be piqued enough to flip the switch.

On the topic of a classic shard, the cards are not in its favor. No full code prior to 2003. No consensus on what 'classic' means. Not enough Dev Team members to support a 3rd rule set effectively.
Agreed. There was a problem, and I think we both agree that Trammel was not the answer. I still don't think a PvP switch is an acceptable answer either to be honest, but still a better one than the alternative.

As someone who is "pro-Classic Shard", I would prefer an adaptation more than UO as it was during any specific era. It is clear that the reproduction of any particular era is not possible quite simply because UO was a mess of imbalances, bugs/exploits and "developer to-dos" back then, and quite honestly, the players were different. As much as people might want "1999 UO", it can not exist without a time machine.

I think it is universally important to have a balance of good and evil in the UO world. There must be victims, there must be authority, and there must be "true justice". Removing or favoring any one of those elements is not an answer in my opinion.
 
A

Aragon100

Guest
I was always under the impression that the majority of players on UO remained due to "Game Depth" (Whatever you wanna call it) And not graphics, considering a lot of us still use the 2d Client and Love it.

I for one Cannot stand that they put developer time into New graphically designed clients while neglecting the game play that had kept us here in the first place.
Spot on. This is another reason why classic UO would shine since there is a demand for a competitive and challenging MMO game after the failures we seen with games like Darkfall and Mortal Online.

The hype and the followers of these game pre launch was very high. Hundred of thousands of followers but the ones paying subscription today is very few. If a classic shard is made im sure alot of these followers that didnt subscribe to above games will subscribe to a classic shard.

I'd just like to point out that I have noticed the same thing throughout all video games, not just mmorpgs. If anyone knows anything about online shooters, one of the first ones was called Socom. The first four installments of this game took more skill than you could imagine, and it literally took me two hours to get my first kill on Socom 2 (and I am exceptional at shooters). All of a sudden, this ridiculous excuse of a game called Call of Duty 4 comes out, which is in every way simpler, and easier than Socom ever was. Rather than firing multiple mags at somebody to kill them, you merely need to fire a few bullets. There seems to be a sort of parallelism between this example and what is going on with the UO/WoW example. It seems to me that games were once built on the basis of fun, but are now built to sell.

How does this relate to a Classic Shard? Well, because I would want nothing more than to be able to enjoy the good old days of Socom, but I realize that it will never be as fun as it once was. I think it's time for UO players to realize this too.
Seems there is alot of interest for a classic shard since these threads is the ones that bring most replies, by far.

Freeshards also inform us that there is a demand for a classic shard.

The online industry is way bigger today and there is room for a classic UO shard with enough subscribers to feed the developers. Those subscribers is out there but problem is not WoW or CoD4, it is that there is no classic shard to play on.

Competitive gaming and a game that deliver superior gameplay is to me and many together with me way superior games like WoW.

THIS.

It goes for a lot of things, not only a classic shard but a evolution in clients as well.

Just like UO moved away from the wanton slaughter that was perpetrated by a few handfuls of players on the rest. Trammel was the instant hit that left Felucca a ghost facet nearly overnight. The wolves lost perpetual access to the sheep, and the sheep loved that.

The sheep won't come to a classic shard because they don't enjoy that play. Such a shard would be wolf-on-wolf action that would eventually get really boring as the population died, a la Siege.

If so many people wanted things to remain the same as in '97-99 then Trammel would not have been created in 2000.
Felucca being a ghost facet over night when trammel were introduced is a myth, at least on the Europe shard.

I played felucca from -97 first on Atlantic and then Europe.

Felucca's best time was after trammel all the way up to AoS was released, at least on Europe and i doubt it was any different on other servers.

AoS was what destroyed felucca and left it a ghost facet.

UO had it's subscription peak arround the time when AoS was introduced february 2003 and from that time it have decreased. So AoS had a very negative impact to felucca but same time it had a negative impact to overall subscribers.

http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart2.html

That is something for the developers to consider when they make a decision upon a "yes" or a "no" to a classic shard.
 

Martyna Zmuir

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Agreed. There was a problem, and I think we both agree that Trammel was not the answer. I still don't think a PvP switch is an acceptable answer either to be honest, but still a better one than the alternative.

Definitely agreed. I liked being able to get away from PKs and the mindless slaughter that really only they enjoyed on a daily basis. BUT the instant destruction of established communities ruined the best part of UO at the time. New communities sprung up in Trammel, but that took a while on most shards (Far too long, IMHO).

As someone who is "pro-Classic Shard", I would prefer an adaptation more than UO as it was during any specific era. It is clear that the reproduction of any particular era is not possible quite simply because UO was a mess of imbalances, bugs/exploits and "developer to-dos" back then, and quite honestly, the players were different. As much as people might want "1999 UO", it can not exist without a time machine.

If Mythic had the resources to recreate 'classic' UO, I would hope that they would start from scratch to ensure that they didn't resurrect the bugs of the past. But, at some point, that was classic UO - things didn't always behave the right way.

I think it is universally important to have a balance of good and evil in the UO world. There must be victims, there must be authority, and there must be "true justice". Removing or favoring any one of those elements is not an answer in my opinion.

Yeah, I'm definitely not impressed with the caliber of 'evil' we get from Mythic. On GL we get a much more coherent string of baddies from our EMs. More grey-area evil than black-and-white hatted paragons.

But really, if were calling PKers 'evil' all the time is a bit trite. Many were just doing it because it got them off to ruin someone's day, more antisocial than evil. Psychopathic...not the character, but some of their players... :lick:

I'm not sure how they could implement a "True Justice" system in an MMO that wouldn't make the person on the receiving end of said justice want to quit. Either they would be serving "jail time" as their game play, have their bank accounts sucked dry with 'fines', or they would be being chased down by a mob of players and NPCs (NPC's capable of actually taking down a player).

As for 'authority,' that’s a kettle of very scary fish. Who controls that? The game studio or the players? It would mean there would need to be someone who monitored things on every shard, elections, parliamentary structure...ugh. This would get into levels of intricacy that I don't believe UO's player base could support right now. Which is sad.
 

Martyna Zmuir

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Felucca being a ghost facet over night when trammel were introduced is a myth.

I played felucca from -97 first on Atlantic and then Europe.


I’ve played from day one when GL went live and further back if you want to count the pre-alpha and both phases of the beta. If you want to play that game. *shrugs*

Perhaps not on Atlantic, but on GL it went dead. Oh, sure, there was still Yew gate fights and some around Brit. Reds wandered the countryside looking for people recalling to/from their houses.

But the 'epic' fights at the communities died. I watched Kazola's Tavern, easily the hottest spot during primetime NIGHTLY on GL for PKs and anti-PKs, go from a high level of players to zero once Trammel dropped. It was sad. The community there was used to the attacks and was even entertained by them at times, the sheep would fight back.

AoS brought its own issues to bear, but Tram was the largest nail in the PK coffin. Yes, PK, since we're really talking about nonconsensual PvP as 'classic.'

Remember, that 'surge of players' didn't go to Fel, they went to Tram. As for the oft-used chart... Since EA didn't release actual sub numbers, the chart is largely apocryphal. Aside from one shareholder report that’s been dug up, there are no concrete substantiated sub numbers for UO. Granted, our memories tell us that that era was the one we saw the largest numbers of people “in one place.”
 
A

Aragon100

Guest


I’ve played from day one when GL went live and further back if you want to count the pre-alpha and both phases of the beta. If you want to play that game. *shrugs*

Perhaps not on Atlantic, but on GL it went dead. Oh, sure, there was still Yew gate fights and some around Brit. Reds wandered the countryside looking for people recalling to/from their houses.

But the 'epic' fights at the communities died. I watched Kazola's Tavern, easily the hottest spot during primetime NIGHTLY on GL for PKs and anti-PKs, go from a high level of players to zero once Trammel dropped. It was sad. The community there was used to the attacks and was even entertained by them at times, the sheep would fight back.

AoS brought its own issues to bear, but Tram was the largest nail in the PK coffin. Yes, PK, since we're really talking about nonconsensual PvP as 'classic.'

Remember, that 'surge of players' didn't go to Fel, they went to Tram. As for the oft-used chart... Since EA didn't release actual sub numbers, the chart is largely apocryphal. Aside from one shareholder report that’s been dug up, there are no concrete substantiated sub numbers for UO. Granted, our memories tell us that that era was the one we saw the largest numbers of people “in one place.”
Since when is nonconsensual PvP the same as classic?

Allowing statloss for murderers is as much the classic era as before it were introduced. Pre AoS is the classic era and some prefer pre UOR and some UOR time period.

AoS was what made UO a different game. That's the time when felucca died, at least on the Europe server. Some guilds left after trammel but they were few and more guilds were started, more then the ones that left. Overall population on the felucca shard on Europe were way higher after trammel then before. And before AoS it was at it's peak on the Europe server. Claiming that nre players went to trammel is also not right, many of them started and stayed on the felucca facet.

When AoS came, guild's left and the facet became a ghost facet really fast. And it was not just one or two guilds that left, it was just about all of them.

There had never been such massfights on felucca Europe server as after trammel and before AoS. Sometimes it was 100 vs 100 during faction defends.

If a shard like the one you played on works as a measure to what tramel did to felucca shard then it is only a part of the truth. AoS was what destroyed felucca.

That charter is not the "truth" but it tells us that the numbers of subscribers have declined after AoS was introduced. People can claim it was because of other MMO games and that is some of the truth but all those oldtimers from the felucca facet leaving the game as subscribers is another truth.
 
C

copycon

Guest


Definitely agreed. I liked being able to get away from PKs and the mindless slaughter that really only they enjoyed on a daily basis. BUT the instant destruction of established communities ruined the best part of UO at the time. New communities sprung up in Trammel, but that took a while on most shards (Far too long, IMHO).
That is an extension of the "problem" that existed that I think we're both well aware of.

As I said, there were more effective answers available for those with a vision of what UO was "supposed to be". Obviously that is in the past (hindsight = 20/20), so talking about it now is moot. But, in moving forward, the introduction of a Classic Shard would certainly give EA/Mythic another whack at the pinata.


Yeah, I'm definitely not impressed with the caliber of 'evil' we get from Mythic. On GL we get a much more coherent string of baddies from our EMs. More grey-area evil than black-and-white hatted paragons.

But really, if were calling PKers 'evil' all the time is a bit trite. Many were just doing it because it got them off to ruin someone's day, more antisocial than evil. Psychopathic...not the character, but some of their players... :lick:
I think that this is an important element to UO. Don't get me wrong, I fell victim to PKs as much as everyone else did at the time. But, the fact of it is that it invoked a certain level of suspense and excitement to the game that is no longer available. Sometimes escape was possible, and sometimes it wasn't. But, ultimately, the player learned how to adapt to their surroundings. UO was intended to contain a certain level competitiveness, and that is the correct viewpoint I think.

By extension, that form of "evil" certainly needed a form of justice applied more so than what was in place at the time. Removal (Trammel) was not the answer to the problem.


I'm not sure how they could implement a "True Justice" system in an MMO that wouldn't make the person on the receiving end of said justice want to quit. Either they would be serving "jail time" as their game play, have their bank accounts sucked dry with 'fines', or they would be being chased down by a mob of players and NPCs (NPC's capable of actually taking down a player).
If you do a bit of reading you will find many, MANY different approaches to this problem. Some are better than others obviously, but the vast majority are better than the Origin/EA's course in my opinion.

I understand that Origin/EA's hands are tied to a certain degree, but that doesn't discount the mistakes that were made.


As for 'authority,' that’s a kettle of very scary fish. Who controls that? The game studio or the players? It would mean there would need to be someone who monitored things on every shard, elections, parliamentary structure...ugh. This would get into levels of intricacy that I don't believe UO's player base could support right now. Which is sad.
If I were to propose a solution, any potential justice system would include player involvement, but my opinion is not important in that consideration. It is safe to say however that a supporting player base would not be a problem for a "true" Classic Shard effort from EA though.
 
A

Amathist

Guest
UO was dying in 1997 because of lag.
UO was dying in 1998 because of T2A
UO was dying in 2000 because of Tram
Luna killed UO
AOS killed UO
No Classic Shard killed UO.


yet there is 1 thing constant UO is still here.
Now this gave me a giggle, because your right with every new release with every change that has taken place, people have been screaming death to UO....yet it still stands.

If people want a classic shard and UO sees it as viable then I could care less and hope that they enjoy it. But I am quite happy to play UO as it is, I have no desire personally for a classic shard.
 

Alvinho

Great Lakes Forever!
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
after a couple months of a "classic server" being opened It will be the way of the dodo, no one will want to play with speed hacking rampant scripting and the constant pking not allowing others to gain skill. folks will be here crying. The issue is solved on where to get code it was released in LBR disk, there are quite a few floating around, so getting the code is not hard that is not an excuse. There was a reason that Trammel was created and it was because of all the crying about no housing, thief's breaking into homes, running into bands of pks etc. If anything and a classic is implemented, load up the LBR disk on a old server and let it alone no support, no gifts no vet rewards raw and unsupported. Let the DOGS have their fun there and once the server population drop below 5% of the normal shard populations close it down and make it clear that there is a reason it will not succeed. Go play a old Atari game or 8 bit Nintendo and there are 99% of those games that you will grow bored of after a few hours.

go ahead and work up to a gm level of skill, and that will be me lighting a campfire near you to lower your skills and raise your camping skill
 
B

Bill Gates OSD

Guest
The Shard of the Dead was shut down due to lack of support; ie: no one was playing it! Where do you think you are going to get the support for a Classic Shard if the test subject was allowed to go waste. Anyone wanting a Classic Shard that badly should have been playing their test whether it was exactly what you wanted or not. Classic Shard supporters let it go to waste, you prolly won't see EA devote resources to an actual Classic Shard now.
+11teen bazillion!
 
B

Bill Gates OSD

Guest
My last account was closed early last month. I don't plan on returning until there is some sort of shard that is pre-AOS. Period.

Take that to the bank, Cal! Seriously. PM me and I will tell you the account names of the ones I closed ... check it yourself.
Cal if you do make a classic/pre=AoS shard, PM me and I will give you the names of the accounts that I CLOSED!

There, threat negated.
 
B

Bill Gates OSD

Guest
1 lost. Hundreds gained.

Post negated.
I seriously doubt that. I refuse to support a game that would give in to a vocal minority and spend countless thousands of dollars on equipment and programming to REVERSE a decade or more of progress just to appease that group. I'd be willing to bet that hundreds more out there agree with me. I'd much rather they fix the bugs that they have than waste precious man/woman power on DE-volving the code, and thus causing MORE bugs, just to pacify those who want a pre-AOS shard.
 
A

Aragon100

Guest
I seriously doubt that. I refuse to support a game that would give in to a vocal minority and spend countless thousands of dollars on equipment and programming to REVERSE a decade or more of progress just to appease that group. I'd be willing to bet that hundreds more out there agree with me. I'd much rather they fix the bugs that they have than waste precious man/woman power on DE-volving the code, and thus causing MORE bugs, just to pacify those who want a pre-AOS shard.
That group was a large chunk of the original UO players.

Their game were destroyed with AoS and today UO cater mostly for a totally different playstyle.

To go back in time is bringing back the original UO cause the one available today is something totally different.

And you threatening to leave cause we oldtimers should get our game back is selfish. You would still have your game.
 
E

Evlar

Guest
Although I would like to see a classic offering, in reality I'm resigned to the fact that I've as much chance of seeing it...

...as HD2300 has of resisting the urge to masturbate furiously every time he posts on these forums.
 

Adol

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Understand that current players feel very threatened by you because they are afraid of you. They are afraid that EA might actually green light a Classic Shard, and that it might succeed...causing a mass exodus from the current shards. They are afraid that if that happens, EA might mandate change to the existing shards to make them more like Classic UO...which leads to the real point, they are afraid that they are going to be PK'ed and lose some of the virtual crap they are hording rolleyes:
I'm glad you're gone. You have been told time and time again we who play Trammel aren't afraid of you. We pity many of you for being so blinkered and biased that you can't even see your argument is based upon telling us what we think, and then refusing to accept it's not what you say it is. And look at what you just wrote; it's not even coherent. Current players are going to mass exodus which will turn the shards into Classic ones to keep them alive? Why on earth would the current player base do that? Because you've got a classic shard elsewhere, not even on the same server hardware they play on like Felucca is now, so they'll quit their own servers? Really? Do you think you are that important to anyone? They'll get so upset you're happy (but still unable to influence them) that they'll abandon their "virtual crap" you say they're so addicted too? Really?. Still, at least it illustrates your mindset perfectly... you want the game to lose players, and will bad mouth it in the hopes they will, just so you get what you want.

So I'm glad you're gone. You people who have obsessed for over a decade about a play style you didn't even understand from the wider perspective at a time; and were so greedy and and self centred even today you couldn't even keep your interest in the Shard of the Dead for more than a few weeks, because it didn't give you exactly what you wanted. You sulked and moaned and wouldn't even put in the most basic self sacrifice to even persuade the Devs you could be satisfied. As others have pointed out, you've even personally made the same "I'm quitting" post countless times. And you think you're the market they should listen too? Really?

Nope, I'm glad you're gone. Right now on Europa General chat consists of nothing more than reds insulting each other, accusing one of hacking to steal his weapons, and the other just winding him up about it and making sexual innuendos. Do you think everyone else can't see this? Do you think they've somehow forgotten what it was like to be forced to be the game content for that type? They haven't and they're not coming back to it. Not when the world, and the MMO market has moved on, and now understands they are the majority play style. You can't even be given what you want, because it's gone.. The victims aren't going to be there.

Oh how I'm glad you say you're gone; maybe now we'll actually hear the voices of the decent, dedicated, truly honest players who play for PvP only... the ones realistic enough to remember there's arenas with preset duelling conditions coming down the pike... the ones who understand despite power scrolls and double resources and countless other bribes, theirs is still a minority playstyle, but not one that's been abandoned; even though only EvE Online elsewhere has made it work enough to be profitable, UO has tried to keep you welcome. But all you know is how to abuse that hospitality. So the place will be much better when you're gone. Do you have the basic courage to even mean it though?

Go on then. Go. Leave. Don't equivocate because someone who is tired of you says you must; stand by your words, mean them, and take your attitude somewhere you think it'll fit in. It doesn't here. You know it. Man up and accept it. Go.



Copycon however... well he's much more reasonable, and doesn't want the remaining player base alienated to satisfy his ego. Sadly I don't think there'll be enough of his type to support a new shard... but assuming the outlay is tiny enough, I hope he gets it.
 

Skrag

Visitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Ahahahaha, yeah we're all afraid a Classic Shard would be so popular it would take over all of UO. That's exactly what it is.

Siege. Empty.
Felucca. Empty.
Shard of the Dead. Empty.

They can't enable PVP anywhere in UO without chasing away all the players.
 
M

Mudde

Guest
As someone who played pre-trammel, I think the adage pertaining to the golden years being more golden as time wears on is clouding your judgment. I hated the old school way of getting PK'd at the drop of a hat including...

- fake chests located in dungeons or around the general landscape; when deadly poison was deadly

- gangkilled in dungeons or at spawns and having your house/boat keys stolen only to recall to find 4 or 5 d00dz already raping your chests of any valuables

- SPEED HACKS/UOE

- unattended macroers

- tradesman killers

- spawn jumpers (see SPEED HACKS)

- using flying pets to drop into housing (really old hack)

- non-existant or biased GMs

- opening your corpse to get your stuff back only to get CORP POR'd back to OOoOoOo Oo oOOO

I dunno... the bad memories exceed the good memories for me.
 

Chardonnay

Visitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
As someone who played pre-trammel, I think the adage pertaining to the golden years being more golden as time wears on is clouding your judgment. I hated the old school way of getting PK'd at the drop of a hat including...

- fake chests located in dungeons or around the general landscape; when deadly poison was deadly

- gangkilled in dungeons or at spawns and having your house/boat keys stolen only to recall to find 4 or 5 d00dz already raping your chests of any valuables

- SPEED HACKS/UOE

- unattended macroers

- tradesman killers

- spawn jumpers (see SPEED HACKS)

- using flying pets to drop into housing (really old hack)

- non-existant or biased GMs

- opening your corpse to get your stuff back only to get CORP POR'd back to OOoOoOo Oo oOOO

I dunno... the bad memories exceed the good memories for me.
This is the reason there will never be a classic server...the current MINDSET of player now are trammel and WoW never lose anything...people don't want risk all they want is reward and that's why WoW has 12 million subscribers who NEVER lose ANYTHING...that's what the mindset of people who play games is that's why there will never be another classic server and why UO continues to slowly lose subscribers every month...

MINDSET of the current subscriber killed UO nothing more and nothing less...
 

Martyna Zmuir

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
This is the reason there will never be a classic server...the current MINDSET of player now are trammel and WoW never lose anything...people don't want risk all they want is reward and that's why WoW has 12 million subscribers who NEVER lose ANYTHING...that's what the mindset of people who play games is that's why there will never be another classic server and why UO continues to slowly lose subscribers every month...

MINDSET of the current subscriber killed UO nothing more and nothing less...
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight, because every single one of those 12 MILLION people are WRONG? What universe do you live in where your one, or one of the minority, opinion(s) trump a number that dwarfs the population of New York City? Please, put down your epeen and step away from the PC before your ego makes a nasty mess.

If the majority of people don't want the same "risk" (your term for antisocial clusterfrack that was pre-Trammel UO) that you do, and THEY are the majority, then you are SOL.

All one has to do is look at the tiny population in Felucca and then look at the population in the Trammel rule set facets to see where people's desires lie. If you don't like that, TOUGH. The door is that way, please cancel your account now and spare us the sanctimonious whine fest on your way out.

If you people DO quit, we don't want to see you back playing again in a few months. Lest we know you're a faker. :yell:
 

Chardonnay

Visitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight, because every single one of those 12 MILLION people are WRONG? What universe do you live in where your one, or one of the minority, opinion(s) trump a number that dwarfs the population of New York City? Please, put down your epeen and step away from the PC before your ego makes a nasty mess.

If the majority of people don't want the same "risk" (your term for antisocial clusterfrack that was pre-Trammel UO) that you do, and THEY are the majority, then you are SOL.

All one has to do is look at the tiny population in Felucca and then look at the population in the Trammel rule set facets to see where people's desires lie. If you don't like that, TOUGH. The door is that way, please cancel your account now and spare us the sanctimonious whine fest on your way out.

If you people DO quit, we don't want to see you back playing again in a few months. Lest we know you're a faker. :yell:
Just remember every account closed down is UO one step closer to UO being closed down...*wink*

If UO got shut down tomorrow wouldn't break my heart because it's just a small memory of what it USE to be...

BTW, quit worrying about my epeen you pervert...
 

Martyna Zmuir

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Just remember every account closed down is UO one step closer to UO being closed down...*wink*

If UO got shut down tomorrow wouldn't break my heart because it's just a small memory of what it USE to be...
*shrugs*

Then at least it would have a concrete reason to end, not the vague "the sky is falling" gloom and doom you all have been spreading for years.

BTW, quit worrying about my epeen you pervert...
Psssh! Please, it ain't all that... :talktothehand:
 

Chardonnay

Visitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
*shrugs*

Then at least it would have a concrete reason to end, not the vague "the sky is falling" gloom and doom you all have been spreading for years.



Psssh! Please, it ain't all that... :talktothehand:
Subscription numbers don't lie...go over to uo.com and look at the guild numbers...i'm not gonna spell this out for you because guild numbers don't lie either...

P.S. How do you know my epeen ain't all that? Again, quit worrying about my epeen and more about how UO's subscription numbers are dropping very fast...
 

Martyna Zmuir

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Subscription numbers don't lie...go over to uo.com and look at the guild numbers...i'm not gonna spell this out for you because guild numbers don't lie either...
Those have always fluctuated wildly and haven't even been accurate for years. Look at Great Lake's numbers... DC* is the largest guild... That I believe... I find it to be a sad social commentary, but I believe it.

Now look at the Warfare Rankings. The Temple of Mondain is listed, and has been for quite some time. Uhm. It has one active war? Which I find highly amusing since it has three active members right now, and the guild it's warred to has ONE player behind its three chars...and she doesn't PvP with them. The alliance I'm in has far more active wars with *actual* people behind it. So yeah, I believe the UO site about as much as Fox News. :lick:

Honestly, I'd rather believe semi-delusional Cal's spin doctoring about sub numbers that the ramblings of disgruntled classic sharders. No offense, but he can at least pretend to know WTF he's talking about and maintain a shred of credibility.

That’s not to say that I believe everything is rosy in UO-land. The game is on the long road of descent and has been for years. However, the idea that a classic shard is going to be some Hail Mary pass that saves the day is a ludicrous notion.
 

Chardonnay

Visitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Those have always fluctuated wildly and haven't even been accurate for years. Look at Great Lake's numbers... DC* is the largest guild... That I believe... I find it to be a sad social commentary, but I believe it.

Now look at the Warfare Rankings. The Temple of Mondain is listed, and has been for quite some time. Uhm. It has one active war? Which I find highly amusing since it has three active members right now, and the guild it's warred to has ONE player behind its three chars...and she doesn't PvP with them. The alliance I'm in has far more active wars with *actual* people behind it. So yeah, I believe the UO site about as much as Fox News. :lick:

Honestly, I'd rather believe semi-delusional Cal's spin doctoring about sub numbers that the ramblings of disgruntled classic sharders. No offense, but he can at least pretend to know WTF he's talking about and maintain a shred of credibility.

That’s not to say that I believe everything is rosy in UO-land. The game is on the long road of descent and has been for years. However, the idea that a classic shard is going to be some Hail Mary pass that saves the day is a ludicrous notion.
I would just like to state for the record how stupid you sound now...

I never stated one time that i WANTED a classic server...i prefer the new skills and etc...but with the dumb things taken out like dismounts and tames etc...but i know that will never happen...you ranted for how many posts THINKING i wanted a classic server...you might want to reread my posts and see how childish you acted when you thought something and was very wrong...

Not too mention your sexual comments didn't help you look intelligent...
 

Shamus Turlough

Lore Master
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Ok folks, this discussion is deteriorating rapidly. Let's keep to the topic, leave the hostility garbage out, and play nice so I don't have to lock another classic shard thread.

*Shamus is watching, choose your next posts wisely.*
 
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