Time for a Tram only shard

[Petrify]

Some of the stuff posted is a bit OTT, but not that comment.

A new super Tram shard would work. It would be fun because there would be tons of players, it would be total chaos, and most importantly for UO is that it would be profitable.

No it wouldn't. Nobody would reactivate their account for that, you can already do champ spawns in trammel rulesets. Go to Ilshenhar.

EA would make much, much more profit if they opened a pre-ren shard, like the original dev's had envisioned.

 

[HD2300]

So providing new content and challenges to only the Trammel shard? What about the rest of the shards? Seriously, it just does not seem efficient for them to just open another shard and focus content that is only specific to that shard. It is hard enough for them to balance content between Siege/Mugen and production shards without screwing either one up. (and that doesn't work well sometimes)

What you are talking about is introducing a 3rd category for separate content for a shard that will basically be the same set-up as production shards minus the fel facet.

The model I have in mind is what UO does with Siege, but all consentual everywhere. Siege doesnt get any special content. Whatever goes out on the production shards goes out on Siege, and also the new Tram only shard too. Another possibility is maybe one of the small population servers could become the new Tram only shard.

 

[Sweeney]

Heck, I am near 50 years old. (just so you know) When I play, I play to have fun. I suppose you all know my fun is on Siege. I did have some great fun today. That is a whole nother story.

We all play here. We can all listen and dicuss with respect. *stares*

Damn Kelmo you're younger than I thought. Almost scary now that I think about it.

 

[Sweeney]

They could do a bulk email to these 500,000 former players and announce
a new Tram only shard. A PvE only experience. No PKers. A fresh new start. UO the way the original developers envisioned.

What a joke. Do you even have a clue what the original developers envisioned?

 

[Tomas_Bryce]

How about a shard for u.hall posters only.. wait, that means I would have to play with ya'll. *scratch that idea*

 

[Traveller]

This will bring back many former players, most of whom were PvMers, to the game.

So, your point is that many pvmers have left the game mainly because they were forced to buy PS, and not because of the cheating, the broken economy, the grinding, the BOD-based crafting, the invasion of pixel-crack and uber-items, or the outdated client.

Well, that's an opinion as good as any other, after all...

 

[Anon McDougle]

What a joke. Do you even have a clue what the original developers envisioned?

what they envisioned failed

badly

they enviisioned 1 PKer and mobs of honest people killing him

they thought stat loss would stop PKers

they envisioned player justice and got none

 

[T_Amon_from_work]

Nope - ain't gonna happen. And I would only play on something like that if they shut down my home shard. Also, as someone pointed out, Siege ROT and economy rules should be in force.

You want something different, then make sure it IS different.

 

[kaio]

What i would really like to see. Is a siege shard for europians. But a tram only shard, could be fun also. I would't play there, but if it makes people happy by all means, make one

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

As the most rule breaking mod...

*slaps Kelmo with his glove*

I challenge you, dog...la

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

How about a shard for u.hall posters only.. wait, that means I would have to play with ya'll. *scratch that idea*

Yeah, but the mods get to be GMs on the shard...la

 

[Fresley]

I'd do a trammy only shard - just to get away from the PVP smack-talking teenagers...

"Stay off my lawn!"

 

[T_Amon_from_work]

ain't it scary? I now know I have 10+ RL years on him! <evil cackle>

 

[Salty Pete]

Honestly, I think this idea has no merit. All that really has to happen is that everything currently available in Felucca only (aside from nonconsentual PvP) simply be copied to Trammel. The T2A and dungeon champ spawns with powerscrolls.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

I will say the idea, at least without close inspection, has at least slightly more merit than the "classic" shard ideas that are tossed about constantly. This idea at least has a broader audience in mind; the traditional classic shard ideas are basically PvPers talking to one another about how great it was to be able to "fight" non-PvPers.

So yeah in terms of potential numbers of actual players, this idea plainly has more merit.

However, I'm coming to think if UO doesn't have a certain, non-replicable dynamic that comes from attempting to have it both ways.

-Galen's player

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

Except for the fact that the Trammy shard would be set up more for existing players where the classic shard would bring back many players from the past.

Trammy shard = no new accounts
Classic Shard = many new or reactivated accounts

That's why I never understood the hesitation from OSI, EA or Mythic on doing a classic shard. From a buisness perspective, it's a win, win...la

 

[Maplestone]

It is time for PvMers to have a Tram only shard.

Personally, I'm against unique shards in general - they are great in theory, until you start adding up all the additional testing required, all the multitude of different interactions which need be considered, all the ruleset-specific bugs that will pop up.

Setting up a "Tram" shard is a lot more work than simply turning it on. Seige (despite all its merits) is proof that once you introduce a different server, people expect full support for it - and it will become an added cost and a source of friction in the community.

 

[Maplestone]

I hope that PvPers posting in this thread will now welcome non-PvPers commenting in threads about PvP requests.

 

[Sprago]

A trammy shard would be so over populated there way to many of you

 

[Maplestone]

Not all Tram-only players would automatically move to a Tram-only server.

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

I hope that PvPers posting in this thread will now welcome non-PvPers commenting in threads about PvP requests.

As if that has ever stopped them in the past...la

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

I hope that PvPers posting in this thread will now welcome non-PvPers commenting in threads about PvP requests.

Most PvP requests aren't made by PvPers.

I feel sorry for this 'I am a PvMer that plays a tamer!' mentality, you're really missing out on so much of the game (that you pay for) if thats ALL you do.

(& I don't mean that specific to pvming tamers, but anyone who only gets 'one' thing out of their subscription)

 

[Tomas_Bryce]

I will say the idea, at least without close inspection, has at least slightly more merit than the "classic" shard ideas that are tossed about constantly

Actually, even without any close inspection, it screams bad idea. It would basically cannibalize into existing shards and adversely impact existing communities. Classic shard would not have the same effect because majority of the PvPer's today are itemized "trammies", despite their claims to be otherwise. Significant majority of them would never leave their items. It would mostly attract customers who have quit (if it is successful at it).

Classic Shard = many new or reactivated accounts

I am sure it is not as straight forward as you might like to think. EA/Mythic is in the business of making money and if they are not doing it then they probably have pretty good reasons for it.

 

[Surgeries]

Tram only shard!!!
Tram only shard!!!

Seriously, i like this idea. I would like to see it happen. Anyone who is against this is a hater. What do you care what people do on another shard if it doesn't affect you? That would be like production shard players complaining about what players on siege or test are doing. If you don't like the idea of the tram only shard then don't join it. Continue playing your normal shard and pretend it isn't there (like most of us do to siege )

This isn't directed at any person or post. I just don't think it's fair when people come out of the woodworks to bash something that doesn't affect them directly.

ROI is what counts. Period.

If they can attract enough players to hit whatever ROI target they have for a game/expansion/shard...then I am fairly confident they will do whatever "that" might be.

Which may well be why there is no Classic Shard.

I do agree this should have been done when they did the split...they never should have combined the attributes of both play styles when they split Brittania up. There should have been PvE, and PvP servers. Maybe a combo server, too, I guess. Hindsight is always 20/20 though. How could they know, for sure?

It was all so new, and even to the Devs and RG...I don't think even they truly understood why the game took off at such a dramatic level of "Up and to the Right", and wildly exceeded all expectations.

The ONLY thing I have any problem with, with regards to anything outside of the current set up (which certainly does need it's fair share of resource allocation, and fixes) is doing something on a whim, that would waste the resources of the company for thew benefit and enjoyment of a minority of players, and/or does not lend itself to growth facilitation, in the long term.

If it works...if it is a PvE server, or a full on new PvP server, or anything that helps UO succeed...I am for that. *Nods Sincerely*

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

Classic Shard = many new or reactivated accounts

I am sure it is not as straight forward as you might like to think. EA/Mythic is in the business of making money and if they are not doing it then they probably have pretty good reasons for it.

I'm sorry, but if they bothered to see how much activity some of the larger prs had, they would be able to see the potential of a classic shard.Sure they have given the same excuse over the years..."we don't have the old code". If the developers of the prs can recreate the old UO, why couldn't a small team of paid professionals do the same? I would imagine a classic shard could quickly become the most active shard if one were created...la

 

[Fluffi]

If the developers of the prs can recreate the old UO, why couldn't a small team of paid professionals do the same? I would imagine a classic shard could quickly become the most active shard if one were created...la

I'll only argue with the bolded phrase in the interests of pedantry....


What version of a "Classic Shard?"


No insurance / no Trammel go without saying, but...


No powerscrolls?

Open looting?

Unlimited (unbonded) pets?

Punkbuster? (3rd-party programs have made a mockery of current PvP)


Although I agree with the basic sentiment, take 20 "old-time" players and ask them what they would want from a "Classic" shard, and you'll get at least 5 different versions.

It won't happen - not through developer apathy - but because we will never agree on what we want.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Actually, even without any close inspection, it screams bad idea.

Yes, it does.

My actual words, however, didn't indicate that the idea was a good one, just that it had "slightly more merit" than the traditional classic shard proposals that are tossed about so constantly by the same 10 or so people that you'd think the idea actually had broad-based support.

"Slightly more merit" than zero merit doesn't mean I think it's a "good" idea.

I don't think the team needs another shard with a different rules set to take care of, regardless of what that different rules set is.

-Galen's player

 

[Urk of LS]

I could support this if a few thingd were done.

1) One character.
2) Transfer in and NOT out.
3) All the things that the regular Production shards have Except for Non Consensual PvP.
Things like access to Kaldun, Power Scrolls, and such normally found in Fel.

With PS being obtainable and transfer out option, it could kill Production shard markets.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Arch Magus]

Wow.

I can't believe people actually argue against this.

Just make it so you can't xfer to or from the shard.

There are lots of people out there that would never be able to experience this content, and I see no problem in allowing them.

Even though I'm a Feluccan only, I bet this shard would have the highest amount of players. Maybe people will practice there and try it on their home shards?

I would love to see this in action, from an experimenters perspective.

 

[Arch Magus]

Anyone who think giving players more options of where they want to play is a bad idea, are out of their damn mind, lol.

 

[HD2300]

To the naysayers, maintaining the status quo isnt working.

PvE is where the opportunities for growth are, not the ultra competitive PvP MMORPG market.

Galen, it will be like Siege, where whatever goes out on the Production shards goes out on Siege too. Fel will be exactly the same except instead of bAllowNonCensentualPvP = true it will be bAllowNonCensentualPvP = false.

 

[ColterDC]

I got news for you bro....

UO isn't losing subs/dying because it lacks a PvM only shard.

 

[chuckoatl]

I wasted the last 20 minutes of my life reading about a shard you want to create that already exists. There are 5 facets in UO. 1 (thats 20%) allows PvP. Which is WAY more fun anyway. I dont understand how people can kill the same monster over and over and over and over and..... well you get the idea. Without us PvPer you goofy trammies would make super uber PvEers and be bored within a week. Just stay in your 80% of the game, ill stay in my 20% of the game, and kill you when you enter my realm. Peace.

 

[Maplestone]

um ... why didn't you read the title and realize it wasn't a topic that interested you?

 

[AesSedai]

- I'm all for a Tram only shard... as soon as they get the production shards working well-enough to reliably bring in more subscribers.
Until then I hope they focus their resources rather than further divide them.
~ Now is not the time, imo.

The timing was good for S&M shards to be created when they were.
A Tram-only shard now would just be yet another iteration of UO that must be maintained and dealt with; and thus it would unfortunately be a resource-leak for UO (no hard feelings to any Siegers/Mugeners, I'm just trying to look at it from a business point of view, probably like the people that dole out the resources for UO do.. know what I mean? & surely S&M shard players know what I mean about limited resources).

Now, if more of the money had been poured back into UO Live rather than UO R&D as well as other EA projects, then we probably wouldn't be having this conversation in the first place. But the facts are that Mythic is in charge of UO and EA is essentially in charge of Mythic these days. And for the moment, UO's resources simply aren't as deep as they were a few years ago. The only ~large-scale-ish new things we will be seeing this year will be the continued Live updates, EM stuffs, and Stygian Abyss, imo (I'd love to be wrong ). So nay, now is not the time for a tram-only shard, imo.

 

[Sweeney]

You brought up, by side-stepping, the need to consolidate shards. I ask all of you opposed to shard-merging, if if meant the game would shut down forever, would you sacrifice your well-located house for the good of the game?

Anyone who says "Yes I'll keep my house until the bitter end" must want the bitter end to come.

Does anyone here know how much it costs to keep a 5 mbps server running? It adds up.

 

[Tomas_Bryce]

I'm sorry, but if they bothered to see how much activity some of the larger prs had

I would not bet any money on them not knowing this, if I were you. Questions for you: Why would people pay money to play a shard that they can already do so freely? Would this "classic shard" be frozen in time or would its citizens require change? How many different versions of the game can they support?

Maybe they have done some real analysis of all of these questions (and many others that I cannot even think about) and came to the realization that it is not worth their time? I would bet my money on that.

 

[Dragkiris]

I wasted the last 20 minutes of my life reading about a shard you want to create that already exists. There are 5 facets in UO. 1 (thats 20%) allows PvP. Which is WAY more fun anyway. I dont understand how people can kill the same monster over and over and over and over and..... well you get the idea. Without us PvPer you goofy trammies would make super uber PvEers and be bored within a week. Just stay in your 80% of the game, ill stay in my 20% of the game, and kill you when you enter my realm. Peace.

I didnt know you was capable of killing people chucko

 

[Zyon Rockler]

The game just does not make sense. They create a Trammel shard so that people who do not want to PvP don't have to.

So, what did I miss? I thought the whole point of the game was to create a character that could interact in a world and make choices to kill or not to kill, that is the question. I will defend but I will not take another's life for enjoyment, that's what Honor is to me. How am I supposed to create a character and take my skills to 120 without killing an innocent? It's completely impossible.

You don't expect me to buy my character do you? We need a way to earn what our character is, but the way the game is designed now it is impossible. If your going to earn every part of your character. What I mean by this is you killed something, you loot it, and you use that reward to better yourself. When somebody sees you in the game they see a character that is wearing armour, holding a weapon, and has skills that are completely earned by them alone. You can not do that without going to Fel.

So, the game dictates that you must go to Fel. This does not give your character the freedom to choose. In my opinion, if you are going to Fel you are going to have to kill anyone who stands in your way to receive your reward. So, if we have 500,000 players that decide this is good and 500,000 players that don't like it then eventually the 500,000 players will leave, taking with them at least 25% of the people who do like it, because people tend to be copy cats and like to be with their friends.

So, why don't they just make it so you do not have to go to Fel at all? To me it's a very simple solution that should of been implemented when Trammel came in.

There should be things in Felucia that PvPers need, not the basic necessities that every character needs.

Trammel should be designed with more powerful creatures that roam the lands so it becomes more team oriented. If another Trammel shard is created it would only make sense to base it on the idea of team work and to allow ludacrius templates to be created that could do massive damage with specatular spells that would normally disinegrate a PvPer, and of course the option button for PvP on or off. Considering guilds and factions would still allow PvP.

In closing, if they can't fix the main shards then I guess they would have no choice but to create a new shard. I don't think this would be the cure all solution, but it would be interesting to see how many people choose to go there, even if it is just experimental or temporary.

 

[Uvtha]

they envisioned player justice and got none

They got some, I remember plenty. Just didnt give the good guys the right tools to keep murderers under control.

 

[ElRay]

There are 5 facets in UO. 1 (thats 20%) allows PvP. Which is WAY more fun anyway. I dont understand how people can kill the same monster over and over and over and over and.....

I do, because they are boring ass people.

PvP would require them to actually THINK. Unfortunately, that is too tough for the majority of this game.

 

[Connor_Graham]

PvP would require them to actually THINK. Unfortunately, that is too tough for the majority of this game.

Unfortunately, most PvP'rs live under one misguided fictional stereotype or another regarding those that don't wish to participate in PvP, and use them to make themselves feel better about who does what in a video game that's supposed to be about fun.

Ce la vie.

 

[Sneaky Que]

Once there is a pre-Ren t2a era shard, then, and only then, should they even consider this.

 

[UO Crazed]

I'm a PVPer and have played this game for over 9 years - that's all I want to do is PVP. With that being said...why not? Fair is fair. Tram only shard would bring in some new players. They SHOULD have their own shard to play in...if only to get some new blood and subscriptions. Why not have a PVE shard only? I think it's a very good idea.

 

[Sweeney]

Play a game where you cannot lose!!! All your equipment is guaranteed to be with you until the bitter end, unless you won't farm ettins for 15 mins per day.

You Trammies make no sense to me.

 

[Felinious-CWS]

Ok then the rules for this shard should be

--No tansferring to or from(start fresh)
--1 character
--and since it will be a shard that only has Trammel features, there would be no 120 powerscrolls(except crafting ones), since that is a Fel only feature.
--ROT skill timers


Enjoy

 

[Arch Magus]

Ok then the rules for this shard should be

--No tansferring to or from(start fresh)
--1 character
--and since it will be a shard that only has Trammel features, there would be no 120 powerscrolls(except crafting ones), since that is a Fel only feature.
--ROT skill timers


Enjoy

That's pretty damn stupid, lol.

????????????????

Reasoning?

 

[Connor_Graham]

Ok then the rules for this shard should be

--No tansferring to or from(start fresh)

What would be the point of this? I could see this hurting a new shard rather than helping. The scripters would own the shard in a week.

--1 character

Again, what would be the point? This isn't Siege.

--and since it will be a shard that only has Trammel features, there would be no 120 powerscrolls(except crafting ones), since that is a Fel only feature.

This would be stupid, and most impossible, as the entire game would have to be rewritten to account for no skills over 100.

--ROT skill timers

I could go for this. Taming would take a hell of a lot less time to finish.

 

[Traveller]

Ok then the rules for this shard should be

--No tansferring to or from(start fresh)

What would be the point of this? I could see this hurting a new shard rather than helping. The scripters would own the shard in a week.

While I agree that almost all the rest that was written is senseless, avoiding char transfer from a trammel only shard is essential. Otherwise people will just farm PS on this (useless, I think. There REALLY are people who decide whether to play UO or not on the fact that they must pay for the PS instead of chaining champ spawns?) trammel shard and transfer them to the regular shards, making their presence in fel for regular shards useless. If you want to play trammel, all is well and good, just don't let it leak into regular shards, it already leaks too much with the current setup.

Besides, what you say about "I could see this hurting a new shard" has been proven to be mostly untrue. When origin shard was created, the bulk of his residents were ovejoyed that no char transfers could be done to it for many months.

 

[Connor_Graham]

You bring up a good point. In that case, I'd say transferring TO the shard should be allowed, but transferring off wouldn't. That would allow people to transfer their entire account to the new shard but would avoid exactly what you described.