Things you miss from old UO

[Duskofdead]

Now of course, a lot of these things are things that at one point or another, I CURSED about old UO too. But now that they're gone I find that I miss them.


Things that *I* miss about old UO:

Magincia. Yes, hardly anyone ever went there. That was part of the charm. You could get in there and get all kinds of items that were normally sold out in the more-used towns.

Old Tailoring. I can't tell you how many friends I made because three or four of us were milling around in the Trinsic tailor shop, waiting for the NPC's to respawn spools of thread. Back when that was a time and cost-effective way to create all your cloth and sell the products back at a profit while you worked up your skill. Raw materials costing more than finished products will sell for is a pet peeve of mine that seems to have wormed its way into every major MMO.

Travelling overland by foot, before runebooks and before everyone had some built-in ability to use one of the insta-teleport abilities.

Every single town except Luna. Since I never see anyone in any of them anymore unless turning in a donation or finishing a quest.

Player-crafted gear being the best available.... and abundant, and affordable.

Swarms of non-maxed players all over the world... from the swamps killing lizardmen, to the woods killing gargoyles, to the dungeons killing liches, to the oceans fishing and fighting off pugnacious dolphins.

Black dye and fireworks wands being considered sought-after rare things.

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

Playing a disarm thief on Atlantic back in the days when Buccs Den was full of PvPers looking for a fight. Playing a disarm thief on a dial up connection made me learn how to play a thief...la

 

[Crystal Canyon]

I miss the player made armor and weapons the most I think. Well, that and the lack of insurance.

There was just something about worrying that you would die and not be able to get back to your armor or your new 1 mil gold Vanc katana that made the fights exciting!

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

I miss the player made armor and weapons the most I think. Well, that and the lack of insurance.

*cough*SiegePerilous*cough*...la

 

[ElvishArcher]

I miss the days before Insurance and Repair Deeds.... It made Smiths especially, more used and more in demand. Take out powder of fortification too! I remember having armor that I couldn't wear until I trusted another player to repair my gear or until someone I knew who had a GM Smith was online to do the repairs for me. Ahhhh the good old days were UO supported crafters as an integral part of game survival (or equipment survival at least lol).

*Jumps up from his bed*
"Ah shoot.... I was only dreaming again"

 

[Crystal Canyon]

*cough*SiegePerilous*cough*...la

YOu know...Ive never been there! Silly isnt it? I must make a character and try it out. After 10 years...its about time.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

Things I really miss from old UO:

- Thieves. Why would I miss thieves? This was a very entertaining template to play back then, and it was really kind of funny watching thieves screw with people.

- PKs. Why would I mss PKs? It added a challenge to the game that we don't have anymore. Being the Guildmistress of a large anti-PK guild back then was one of the greatest PC gaming experiences of all time for me. There has been nothing that has even come close since.

- The old world. I really miss the old towns, like Ocollo and Magincia...without Luna. There was a certain charm to Sosaria before AoS that has been lost.

- The old house styles. Yes, some of the new custom house styles are really cool...but most of them look ridiculous. The old house designs were solid, well thought out, and matched the fantasy/medieval look of UO.

- Having to ID weapons and armor. The AoS item properties approach ruined this part of the game. Why would anyone just know, without training, what a magic sword (for example) could do?? This was a bad change in my opinion. We should have had to at least ID the freakin' things.

- Community. I attended weddings, parties, fish fries...fought wars, was killed by rival guilds, and even took over parts of the world at one point. When there was open PvP outside of towns, we were truly responsible for shaping our world.

- The lack of ridiculous colors and items. UO was meant to be a realistic fantasy world...where things were made of metal and leather and wood. Now, the bulk of items in the game looks as though they are made of plastic. We have sunglasses for gods sake!!

But most of all...I miss the people that I met. So many that I know have left UO, and I hate that more than any other change.

There is still good in this game...it's there. And we are only a decision away by the powers that be from restoring UO to something that it has not been in years...and that is a living world.

 

[Jirel of Joiry]

Well most of "old school" UO was gone by the time I started playng in 2000-2001. I would have loved to expirence the taking of heads thing. I understand they can't bring it back because of one country's objection.

Hmm do they not have Conan in that country cause I understand that game allows for the taking of heads.

Anyway I think Rico's head would make a lovely house deco!

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

I miss...

Being lied to about bards getting something new. (we still get nothing, they just don't bother lieing to us anymore)

Working glacial staffs.

When rare meant rare, rather than just came out.

DEI

Events that were clear.

Being outsmarted in fel rather than being outgunned.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

Oh...and the old midi music!!!

This should have never been gotten rid of. It should have been an option...not mandatory!

 

[Hemisphere]

- The lack of ridiculous colors and items. UO was meant to be a realistic fantasy world...where things were made of metal and leather and wood. Now, the bulk of items in the game looks as though they are made of plastic. We have sunglasses for gods sake!!

This.

I don't have words for what the developers have turned UO into over the years, tbh.

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

*cough*SiegePerilous*cough*...la

YOu know...Ive never been there! Silly isnt it? I must make a character and try it out. After 10 years...its about time.

Come visit the forums, and start a new character. many of the non-faction player character still depend on GM made armor. If anyone has never visited the shard...don't waste any more time...just do it...la

 

[Crystal Canyon]

Well most of "old school" UO was gone by the time I started playng in 2000-2001. I would have loved to expirence the taking of heads thing. I understand they can't bring it back because of one country's objection.

Hmm do they not have Conan in that country cause I understand that game allows for the taking of heads.

Anyway I think Rico's head would make a lovely house deco!

LOL...yes the heads were great and looked nice locked down as deco.

It was fun to go to Brit bank and check the wanted posters. Something to look forward to everyday.

P.S. We should take an all shards poll on who all would like to have Rico's Head displayed in thier homes!

 

[Spree]

Magic Resist, trapped chests/bags, selling pets, Playing blacksmith, doing repairs in brit, invis/telport items

 

[ElvishArcher]

Things I really miss from old UO:

- The old world. I really miss the old towns, like Ocollo and Magincia...without Luna. There was a certain charm to Sosaria before AoS that has been lost.

- Having to ID weapons and armor. The AoS item properties approach ruined this part of the game. Why would anyone just know, without training, what a magic sword (for example) could do?? This was a bad change in my opinion. We should have had to at least ID the freakin' things.

Yep I agree I miss the old world... Remember what WBrit Bank used to be like? How about the Smithy in NW Brit as you are heading towards the Cemetery? Ahhh those WERE good days=]

ID needed for weps and armor you looted was also a great thing. Made things more exciting when you got home and unloaded your loot to sort and ID. That and also the fact I miss having my Indestructible, Supremely Accurate, Vanquishing Silver Bows and other like weps... they really played into the RP sense of the game.

*slowly starts to dream again*

 

[goodgimp]

I miss the wide variety of hunting areas too, back when the Orc fort in Cove was a hangout. I remember scrounging in Covetous for feathers, desperately gathering what I could while watching over my shoulder, wondering when the PK brigade would come through. Do I bail out now and deposit what I have, or do I kill one more harpy? This guy I'm in the harpy room with, is he as friendly as he seems, or is he going to turn on me if I let my health get too low?

I miss when I GM'd my smith and it actually meant a massive accomplishment. I knew customers from working on the forge.

I miss being part of KoP back in the early Pac days, and even though my connection was horrible and I wasn't the best PVPer, they let me come along and do what I could in keeping the mines clear of PKs.

Yea, some of what I miss I could get by playing on Siege. I do have a character there, and it's a great server. My problem is the RoT system is unworkable for me. I typically only get a chance to play 1 to 2 days a week max, but I play a LOT during that time. ROT = permanoob for me, sadly.

 

[Crystal Canyon]

Come visit the forums, and start a new character. many of the non-faction player character still depend on GM made armor. If anyone has never visited the shard...don't waste any more time...just do it...la

Well...made the character, logged into a world of dragons and other not-so-kind varmits...and died instantly.

Yes, this is the UO I remember!!!! LOL

 

[Spree]

Dragons have been in Brit last few days. Also watch out in Trinsic there is a crimson dragon lurking there.

 

[Crystal Canyon]

Dragons have been in Brit last few days. Also watch out in Trinsic there is a crimson dragon lurking there.

Yes, it placed my new character right in the mist of the dragons in Brit...LOL

 

[Exgirlfriend]

Order/Chaos

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

The Chest animation.

 

[goodgimp]

The Chest animation.

You are oldschool. High-five, Morgana!

 

[DuttyD]

Cutting the heads off of people

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

You are oldschool. High-five, Morgana!

Thanks!

 

[Magdalene]

Almost everything.
The excitement over chest animation / Stones (Pavlovian I know), and despair over yet another conloss and chest not opening fast enough...
GM smith being SOMEONE. Asking a friend of a friend for a special favour to let me use his furny dye. In general relaying a lot on other people and going to the rescue / help others. Taming horses for people.
Running a small shop right outside Vesper by the bridge.
Valorite being only for show and gems for jewelry.
Hunting with my bard wearing only sandals, dress and a hat.
Reagents!
And many, many other things, none of them with weird stats or neon colouring.

 

[rwek]

I was going to check out seige last year when i played. But then i looked into it and it was going to take weeks or 2 months? to train up a char with the limited skill gain. I dont remember exactly.



Did they remove that cap on skill gain per day?

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

I miss the vendor shops and such that opened in Magincia on the beach.

 

[DevilsOwn]

talking to NPCs

 

[Duskofdead]

Yep I agree I miss the old world... Remember what WBrit Bank used to be like? How about the Smithy in NW Brit as you are heading towards the Cemetery? Ahhh those WERE good days=]

ID needed for weps and armor you looted was also a great thing. Made things more exciting when you got home and unloaded your loot to sort and ID. That and also the fact I miss having my Indestructible, Supremely Accurate, Vanquishing Silver Bows and other like weps... they really played into the RP sense of the game.

*slowly starts to dream again*

I say bring it back by force. Give each town a stronger emphasis on specialization. Make it so you can't do everything in every town. And especially Luna. As long as there's one obvious laziest best choice for everyone to use, that one city is going to be the only one used. Put the moongate 12 screens away and/or decrease the spawn of items available in Luna. Make Skara the taming/stabling capital. Make minoc the smithing and mining capital. Fill Jhelom with most of the training for martial skills and combat related quests. Even better yet.... make bank contents non-universal and reduce the storage space per bank yet give you storage space in every bank. You'd see people travelling the world again. Yes some people wouldn't like the inconvenience. Eh. It'd be a worthy tradeoff for doing banking in the middle of 30 ethereal AFK statues in Luna all the time.

Take some of the useless buildings in Moonglow, and make it even more of a mage and reagent capital. Put totally unique stores into the T2A cities which presently languish in disuse.

Even though I'm sure the upcoming expansion is going to add yet another major city, probably new areas and stretch the player base ever thinner over the game world... I wish they wouldn't. Focus on adding interactivity and meaning to what already exists; the world is vast and mostly redundant and disused. Getting happy on the philosophy of let's slap new crap on the end just kills the rest of the previously existing game world, it happens in every MMO.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

*sighs*

I really just shouldn't bother fighting anymore....I'll just wait around until wrong-headed, demonstrably incorrect, romantic notions about the past become reality, the game goes back to pre-Renn, and eventually the same problems that caused Renn cause Renn 2 to be released.

Making up a utopian past has for some reason become easier for people than remembering things how they were.

-Galen's player

 

[Dragonchilde]

I miss the days when it wasn't about how much money you had, but what skills you had. You could compete with the people who had tons of money to spend, because it was less about what uber items you had as it was how well you used what you had.

I miss the community.

I miss... everything. I miss the old days, when it wasn't a PK ridden half-facet, it was the world.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

*sighs*

I really just shouldn't bother fighting anymore....I'll just wait around until wrong-headed, demonstrably incorrect, romantic notions about the past become reality, the game goes back to pre-Renn, and eventually the same problems that caused Renn cause Renn 2 to be released.

Making up a utopian past has for some reason become easier for people than remembering things how they were.

-Galen's player

Ren was a huge mistake. They had an opportunity to address the PK problem by introducing mechanism that made sense...but instead, they went the with the easy/lazy way...SHUT IT OFF.

I could type volumes on what should have been done back then, instead of just F ing up the world that was Ulitma Online.

Everything since then, AOS specifically, has only made matters worse.

BUT IT IS NOT TOO LATE!!!

Devs read these forums.

Just make all areas Fel rules...get rid of visible item properties, reduce the reliance on items, and make the old towns what they once were. (remove Luna)

Problem solved.

 

[Duskofdead]

*sighs*

I really just shouldn't bother fighting anymore....I'll just wait around until wrong-headed, demonstrably incorrect, romantic notions about the past become reality, the game goes back to pre-Renn, and eventually the same problems that caused Renn cause Renn 2 to be released.

Making up a utopian past has for some reason become easier for people than remembering things how they were.

-Galen's player

Maybe the reason it always winds up being a "fight" is because you imply you are undeniably correct and imply everyone who feels the way many of us do are simply delusional.

Why don't you try re-reading the first thread before you start dragging it off topic with a troll about how right you are, and how misunderstood you are by all the delusional utopianists? I said many of the things I miss, I know at some point or another I cursed about old UO. That being said, you falsely imply that all the changes since 2000 or so have taken away the bad and added the good. That's not correct. They've fixed some of the bad (some still exists from launch, such as cheat issues and useless class/skill issues), added a ton of content, some bad and good, and introduced new bugs and avenues for exploit which inherently accompanies major content or client changes.

So yes, since you apparently are more interested in asserting your rightness on something that wasn't even claimed in the first place (i.e. the past was way better and we all want it back in pure form) than in participating on-topic... do please stay out. Thanks.

 

[Dragonchilde]

I was going to check out seige last year when i played. But then i looked into it and it was going to take weeks or 2 months? to train up a char with the limited skill gain. I dont remember exactly.



Did they remove that cap on skill gain per day?

No, they have not. It takes approximately 3-4 months to build a full-developed character. So there's no fast character growing. This is not a bad thing. It means you actually have to have patience.

 

[Duskofdead]

Ren was a huge mistake. They had an opportunity to address the PK problem by introducing mechanism that made sense...but instead, they went the with the easy/lazy way...SHUT IT OFF.

I could type volumes on what should have been done back then, instead of just F ing up the world that was Ulitma Online.

Everything since then, AOS specifically, has only made matters worse.

BUT IT IS NOT TOO LATE!!!

Devs read these forums.

Just make all areas Fel rules...get rid of visible item properties, reduce the reliance on items, and make the old towns what they once were. (remove Luna)

Problem solved.

I agree with you. But MMO companies in general seem to have extreme jelly knees when it comes to taking away anything that some players have grown accustomed to and threaten as a condition of their continued subscription. i.e. "we're taking away houses placed within city limits regardless of age", or "we're taking away x rare" or "we're taking away x pet", people threaten to quit, and MMO companies seem to take it seriously enough to enfeeble them into inaction, even when something is a significant problem.

Once something's been added-- even if it was as unpopular as itemization was to the older UO players who predated itemization--- it's unlikely to ever see it removed, IMHO. I've seen no cases that I can think of where an MMO ever actually reverted on a design change like that. In many cases the game might have improved or survived better if it did.... yet that threat ofa llt he people who like whatever was added (be it itemization, an overpowered build, or what have you) quitting seems to stand in the way of that. Frankly I just think they've sunk way too much time in adding the itemization, and then one expanding it, for us to ever see a non-gear-reliant UO again. That's why item insurance is here to stay (people will quit if death means your character is starting from scratch in a game that is gear-based as UO has become) and why the only chance of old UO would be a pre-Ren shard dedicated for that purpose.

Then again even that somewhat interesting and intriguing notion as a possibility for the future seems to irk some people who feel irrationally threatened and annoyed by other people enjoying reminiscing about the game that was and is no more.

 

[Duskofdead]

No, they have not. It takes approximately 3-4 months to build a full-developed character. So there's no fast character growing. This is not a bad thing. It means you actually have to have patience.

Sadly I don't have the time. And the day of UO having a lot of 15, 16 year olds who do have the time is over. UO's base seems to be largely working adults now, mid 20's and up from what I can tell. So a large portion of a year just to start "playing for real" with all the already-developed characters isn't appealing. Siege was always on my list of "meant to get around to eventually", even from back when it was new. But I just don't have the time to set aside a few hours everyday for a character that will be competent by summer. Better off spending that time on my home shard where I'll actually see the results in the relative short term.

 

[Nvnter]

I miss Community
I miss having to wait "my turn"
I miss bank spammers
I miss player vendors (even luna is becomming VERY vacant)
I miss Community
I miss the value of property (housing), I can just drop my place and find another now because everywhere is wide open

I don't miss having to pay to move to another shard again.
I miss Community

 

[SirButch]

I miss actually working skills. I remember being in Deceit in the bone knights room with about 10 other people trying to raise swords and healing and parry. Then a group of 10 reds come in and we scatter like little school girls. I miss the lizardman and ratman spawns in brit. IT used to take months to GM a skill, now u can gm most in a few hours. Back then i felt a since of accomplishment GMing something, now its like yaaa, another one down. oh well. 10yrs playing and still goin.

 

[Fogsbane]

Things I miss from old Uo ~>

Server reset wars
NPC Beggars that used to lock onto you like a leech
newbified starting items
a single map/facet

 

[ElvishArcher]

Quoted for truth:

Why don't you try re-reading the first thread before you start dragging it off topic with a troll about how right you are, and how misunderstood you are by all the delusional utopianists? I said many of the things I miss, I know at some point or another I cursed about old UO. That being said, you falsely imply that all the changes since 2000 or so have taken away the bad and added the good. That's not correct. They've fixed some of the bad (some still exists from launch, such as cheat issues and useless class/skill issues), added a ton of content, some bad and good, and introduced new bugs and avenues for exploit which inherently accompanies major content or client changes.

The point is that this thread was started as a means of "Remembering" the better parts of the old world. Not a rant about "we should revert to this or that". Sure some people have ideas of how to get things back a little to the way they were, but that's part of dreaming and whatnot! Indeed the Old World had problems that were horrid to deal with and I would not wish to be dealing with again! BUT some aspects of the Old World have been sadly lost that had that "Community Feel" that most people desire when playing a MMORPG. If Community Feel were not important to me, I would play one of the many other games out there that are 1 person types such as all the wonderful graphical games you get via PS3, XBox etc.

So to GalenKnighthawke, in regards to your statements, sure most of what we are talking about could be considered a "Pipe-Dream" so to speak, we are not trying to say the Old World was perfect... we are just reminiscing about the points we really liked back in "The Day"! Don't take offense mate! What did you like about the Old World? This is supposed to be a fun thread and I hate seeing someone get upset over the miscommunications that a textual conversation can lead to (no emotion expressed like in a face to face conversation).

 

[Duskofdead]

I miss actually working skills. I remember being in Deceit in the bone knights room with about 10 other people trying to raise swords and healing and parry. Then a group of 10 reds come in and we scatter like little school girls. I miss the lizardman and ratman spawns in brit. IT used to take months to GM a skill, now u can gm most in a few hours. Back then i felt a since of accomplishment GMing something, now its like yaaa, another one down. oh well. 10yrs playing and still goin.

Unless you're doing something really cheesy (like unattended on a golem with poison weapon in Luna overnight) is still takes forever to GM something... and even longer to Legendary it. I think people who say it's omg like you sneeze and look the other way and you're 120 already are either macroing everything or don't have recent memories of trying to do it... it's still plenny hard.

 

[Uvtha]

*sighs*

I really just shouldn't bother fighting anymore....I'll just wait around until wrong-headed, demonstrably incorrect, romantic notions about the past become reality, the game goes back to pre-Renn, and eventually the same problems that caused Renn cause Renn 2 to be released.

Making up a utopian past has for some reason become easier for people than remembering things how they were.

-Galen's player

Have you even been reading this post? I have to assume not cause 90% of the things people miss had nothing to do with my ren happened. Missing the old music? Not liking neon colors?
And no matter how much of a problem there was (which I will say was vastly exaggerated by people who share your "the old days sucked" sentiment) back then, Ren/tram was NOT the correct solution.

 

[Duskofdead]

Quoted for truth:


The point is that this thread was started as a means of "Remembering" the better parts of the old world. Not a rant about "we should revert to this or that". Sure some people have ideas of how to get things back a little to the way they were, but that's part of dreaming and whatnot! Indeed the Old World had problems that were horrid to deal with and I would not wish to be dealing with again! BUT some aspects of the Old World have been sadly lost that had that "Community Feel" that most people desire when playing a MMORPG. If Community Feel were not important to me, I would play one of the many other games out there that are 1 person types such as all the wonderful graphical games you get via PS3, XBox etc.

So to GalenKnighthawke, in regards to your statements, sure most of what we are talking about could be considered a "Pipe-Dream" so to speak, we are not trying to say the Old World was perfect... we are just reminiscing about the points we really liked back in "The Day"! Don't take offense mate! What did you like about the Old World? This is supposed to be a fun thread and I hate seeing someone get upset over the miscommunications that a textual conversation can lead to (no emotion expressed like in a face to face conversation).

Thanks for stating it so delicately, which I can't or maybe wouldn't do.

Galen is entitled to his opinion. What I take offense to is his compulsion to insert it, along with assertions of the wrongness of all of us "pipedreamers", when the subject is even broached in an oblique way. This thread wasn't after that, as you correctly pointed out.

 

[LordNoximos]

People.

Nuff said.

 

[Duskofdead]

Have you even been reading this post? I have to assume not cause 90% of the things people miss had nothing to do with my ren happened. Missing the old music? Not liking neon colors?
And no matter how much of a problem there was (which I will say was vastly exaggerated by people who share your "the old days sucked" sentiment) back then, Ren/tram was NOT the correct solution.

Agreed completely.

ANYONE who wholeheartedly loves and defends all the AOS & After changes... should seriously, go try WOW. Why play a watered down version? If an itemized drop-grinding/farming, consensual-PvP-only online RPG is your thing, there are bigger more modern games with more players doing it better, frankly. What some of us old timers don't understand (at least I don't) is why take something so unique and hybridize it to be more like every other McMMORPG? And even more bewildering, why would we feel any reason to defend that as a great step forward?

If I wanted WOW or EQ... or Diablo 2 for that matter... I could go play them. I've been saying that pretty much ever since being back on the topic of "omg u r just rose coloring, why so hatey on AoS/itemization?"

 

[ElvishArcher]

People.

Nuff said.

Um no offense here is meant, Nox... but nuff said? I hope you are not saying that you think this post should end! It should continue, but along the same path it was intended is all! You have absolutley NO right to try to stop people from sharing their dreams and their past experiences/pleasures.

If that's your opinion, then as someone else just stated but not in as elegant wording:

BUG OFF!! TROLL ELSEWHERE!!

Now if you refer to the little argument of the purpose of this thread that I just tried to settle down to get this thread back on track... I agree with you! Nuff said about the interpretations of the post, get it back on track!


So with that here are more of my remembrances:

I remember my neighbor who had a castle and myself and 3 other RL friends owned this little tiny Log Cabin next door. The castle owner was a hardcore TMap Hunter and would see us logged in and ask us to come along. If we had other plans we always offered to Party with him incase he needed some help after getting into a MOB he couldn't handle and vice versa! And that drew community closer, the need for backup so you could have the needed reins to go loot your own corpse before it went *poof* since no insurance meant it would be forever lost!

 

[maujai]

Server wars, and things like accidentally hitting your horse and have it chase you down and kill you.

 

[Dragonchilde]

Oooh, server wars.

And the morning after, when you realized the server saved after you thought it did, and you really DID take that count... LOL.

 

[Duskofdead]

More things I miss:

Going with your guild into a dungeon, seeing dragons, and saying OH CRAP! and running back out.. instead of "OOOoOoOO heal me while I lore them all, trying 2 get a godly one 2 tame."

Dismounting and your mount actually being a small dps help of some significance in a really tight fight against a monster.

Small houses.

Guards that worked, even in Fel.

As silly as this one sounds... actually double clicking dough and then double clicking an apple to make a pie. There was something very tactile about that which is lost in the abstracted crafting menu.

 

[Viper09]

I miss the items! GM made armor/weapons, it's what everyone used.
Items use to actually break. Now days all you need now are repair deeds and items will never break.
Full GM plate was the best you could wear.
..well, you get the drift here