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Things you miss from old UO

R

rockytriton

Guest
The thing that I miss the MOST from the very first release of UO is the fact that nobody was complaining that the last updated ruined everything.
 

Kaleb

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I miss most is the old combat item system, People had just as good as chance to fight someone in GM gear as they did with INV. it was a skill based system and balanced for the most part, I also miss how resist resisted a %age of damage of all spells based on resisting spells skill. The abyss shard.
 

Hemisphere

Always Present
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
The thing that I miss the MOST from the very first release of UO is the fact that nobody was complaining that the last updated ruined everything.
you do mean the very first release, right? ;) although I'm sure some people were complaining that lots of stuff that was changed since beta had ruined the game already.
 
B

Beastmaster

Guest
I miss standing at the NW Brit Smithy making my wares to order or doing repairs as asked. My smith back then on Chessie was Sledge. We generally had a group of 4 smiths working at a time and a nice line of customers waiting for their turn. A fellow smith (Jadziah? sp.) from the shop there showed me my first valorite vein.


Mining the mountains of east of Minoc and lugging the ore back to the smithy there to train my skill. I only lost one packie of ore to the bad guys in all my training to GM.
 
U

uoBuoY

Guest
I miss a time when you didn't need billions for good weps and armor. When you didn't need an hour to figure out what armor and jewels to wear.

This is going to sound strange but I miss the time when a pet died and that was it...no more pet. People were careful where they took their older pets and you worked like crazy to keep them alive.

I miss seeing every kind of pet lined up for sale at WBB.
 
F

Fink

Guest
- Face to face trading.
Someone would ask at the bank for something and there'd be half a dozen people ready and willing. Also the local forge, where smiths congregated. You could get repairs by actually handing the item over to a trusted smith.

- Tamers actually taming for a living.
Myself and my taming mentor used to be the go-to guys for llamas, ostards and so on. When someone's mount died, they knew that on any given night we'd be there with an affordable substitute, or willing to track down a particular coloured forest ostard on request. I still sell pets now, on another character, but post-bonding it's not the humming trade it once was.

- Hunting for house spots.
Probably not so much at the time but, looking back, hunting for house spots was something of a dark art. Placing that small house in a seemingly impossible location that others had overlooked was somewhat rewarding. Now you could throw a keep just about anywhere on my home shard, and you hardly ever see your neighbours wandering by.

- Shopping.
Finding that out of the way shop diligently stocked and maintained. I still find the occasional gem out in the sticks but it seems so few even bother now. I realise shopping is now centralised, sanitised, and scriptified, but I still miss the old shops.

- GM Goods
Again, they're still around if you really want them, but they're no longer the sought-after stuff. Hopefully Imbuing will give back some of that made-to-measure feel of crafted goods instead of random runics. I'd like to be an artificer who people come to for particular items, but no doubt most people will simply make one themselves.

- Wickedness
Looting and stealing were two wholly unique activities and a big part of UO, but again these have been repeatedly diminished by successive publishes and expansions. The game needs more blood-pumpingly fun & exciting experiences, not fewer.
 

Duskofdead

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
you do mean the very first release, right? ;) although I'm sure some people were complaining that lots of stuff that was changed since beta had ruined the game already.
Exactly. I was around a couple of weeks after release (I was almost done with my senior year of high school in 97 I believe) and even right off, I ran into MANY people who had played extensively in Beta and missed the big pitched pvp battles and other features which were cut in the public release.

Pretending like the only problem is complaining about change is wearing blinders. It's more constructive to hear what someone's unhappy with and why, than it is to hear someone saying they're unhappy with people who are unhappy about something.
 
S

Sweeney

Guest
Sitting around with 20 other people checking my pocke****ch for the moongate time.

[edit]Pocket watch. lol [/edit]
 

Uvtha

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
NPC conversations. Had a lot of fun with npcs and the funny stuff they responded to back then.

Talking while hidden. Not something I would have reimplemented, but it was fun, and kept us from dying alot.

Deadly poison = instant death. Man, people were just not prepared for deadly poison back when the poisoning changed happened. Not to mention there weren't even that many people capable of making it. Luckily for me, my good friend and I had been grinding cash to get him enough regs to gm alch so I had all I wanted. Go grey with a dp dagger, have people attack you and watch the fun as the die in like 5 seconds. Good times.

Passive dragons. I always liked the idea that dragons were smart, and would leave you alone if you left them alone.

Old dragons: Back when 1-2 people per shard could tame dragons (and I managed to be one of them with the help of different strangers every day, because people were really great back then, always willing to help, or adventure) and once tamed they were super hard to control, and would fb nuke one hit kill anyone that ran onto the screen. I took one up to the cross roads once, and it was killing TONS of people, all on its own, until finally a whole guild came in, killed me and the dragon. It was a good time though.

Stealable house keys: Another one I wouldn't see reimplemented, but man, what a rush it was to -without being seen- steal someones keys and the rune to their house. I never cleaned anyone out, I just took what seemed nice, and left the key with a note on a table or something. Once someone stole my key under the auspice of joining my guild, once I realized it, I stole it back, even though I was on my warrior at the time, and ran for the hills with him trailing me all the way back to the bank. Quite a rush.

Tents. They were neat.

Fearful monsters. I remember when if you saw a balron or ancient wyrm on the screen (not trapped by a wall or some rocks lol), you dropped what you were doing and RAN. Poison elementals and blood elementals were even feared. It was nice knowing that you couldn't wtf pwn anything in existence.

People. Amount, and quality. It was great when the shards were packed, but not only that, when the game first started they were packed with some really really great people. I seriously made new friends, some of them ended up being very close ones, every single day. People LOVED to group up and hunt, or just treck around exploring, seeing what we could find. Sure there were some idiots, and jerks, and 13 year olds acting like morons but on the whole the community seemed to be bursting with smart, fun, mature people, who actually gave a fig about rping.

Adventure. Goes along with people. The old days were about fun and adventure, not grinding bosses to find some leather arms with one more fire resist than the ones I have now. People hunted for fun. Pks make life exciting, hard monsters/non godly characters made the hunt a challenge. When you spent the night in wrong, and trecked all the way back to brit bank on foot with 5k and a mace of force.... it was a GOOD, GOOD day, and you really felt satisfied.

I realized that we really cant go back to those times, but no one can tell me those times were the hands down number one best times I've EVER had playing ANY game. They may not all be great memories, but at very least they were interesting ones. A feeling I think is lost not only from this game, but pretty much all mmorpgs out right now.
 

Storm

UO Forum Moderator
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Awards
1
I started along time ago and mostly I miss my old buddies and guild mates I am the sole survivor of about 30 of us!
 

Hemisphere

Always Present
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I realized that we really cant go back to those times, but no one can tell me those times were the hands down number one best times I've EVER had playing ANY game. They may not all be great memories, but at very least they were interesting ones. A feeling I think is lost not only from this game, but pretty much all mmorpgs out right now.
Absolutely. And people like Galen need to realise that this is FAR more than "rose tinted glasses to the past".

UO really was an incredible game, and the early years were an incredible time in gaming history. Something which may never be repeated, because the average MMO player is simply different now.

What I can never get my head around is why nobody has tried to make a new game that capitalizes on everything that was great about the old UO, taking into consideration everything which has been learnt from the last 12 years.

But eh.. I guess everyone wants to play WoW-a-like's now, so that's what MMO developers make ;)
 

LordNoximos

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
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:

:spider:BUG OFF!! TROLL ELSEWHERE!!:spider:

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!
I meant nuff said about my opinion, no need to elaborate, the amount of people who still play has dwindled.

Calm down.
 

Tina Small

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I'm going to try to say this as carefully as I can. However, I know someone is going to be offended by it. But frankly I'm not sure I care much anymore.

Almost once a week, if not more often, someone starts a "nostalgia" thread here in U.Hall. And at least once a week, someone also starts a thread yammering for new rewards for the game's old-timers.

Do any of you vets ever wonder what kind of an impression these recurring themes of "the old days were better" and "I'm a vet therefore I deserve something extra-special" have on folks who read this forum because they might be looking at UO as their next game addiction, or on folks who just recently started playing and were pointed in this direction by others?

I guess what annoys me the most about a lot of the "nostalgia" threads are all the comments about "community" and "people." And yet when you actually get in the game, what has happened to the "community" and the "people"? Go to any shard and watch a newcomer to the shard visit the local gathering place. More often than not, they are just flat out ignored.

Watch the threads that pop up here on Stratics where someone says, "Hey I'm new, got any suggestions on where I should play?" or "Hey I'm just coming back, got any suggestions on what I should do with my old characters?" In the first case, you're lucky if a handful of people reply and, if they do, that they give any more information than just telling you their shard is the greatest! In the second case, the thread rarely contains much information that's of any help and often ends up being derailed.

The vet reward idea threads and the ones demanding castle and keep improvements aren't much better. It's "gimme gimme gimme." And a new player getting into the game sees what? All the ultra-rich old-time vets and the wannabes lined up at the bank, showing off all their best stuff....and, for the most part, ignoring the lowly newbies. And when that lowly newbie goes for a run around old Trammel or Fel, what does he or she see? Castles....keeps....more castles...more keeps. And what does he or she read about in the trade forums? Rares for sale! Castles for sale!

Is it any wonder that UO's population has taken a nosedive? In so many ways, it feels like the majority of the population that's left either spends their time trying to figure out how to get to the top of the heap or how to bring back days long gone. It's really pretty sad when you think about it.

I wish that instead of us showing the world that our community is lost in its past and/or fighting over silly little status symbols, we instead showed the world a community that acts like it actually WELCOMES newcomers and wants them to stick around for a good long while and make some great memories...even if they'll never have the same fond memories of fighting off the nasty PKs or gathering around the blacksmith shop to get their repairs done.
 
M

Morgana LeFay (PoV)

Guest
I DON'T miss having to go through moongates many times to actually come out where I wanted to go.

I DON'T miss riding into a town, at full speed with PKs and thieves chasing me.

I miss seeing paperdolls belonging to players that were part of the Syndicate that actually had LLTS on the end of their names (if you were around before there were actual guild mechanisms on Atlantic, you remember this one).

I miss the little Server saving messages that used to come up during game play.

I miss the days when crafting things and selling them to NPCs was viable.

I miss being able to gate monsters.
 

Uvtha

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Almost once a week, if not more often, someone starts a "nostalgia" thread here in U.Hall. And at least once a week, someone also starts a thread yammering for new rewards for the game's old-timers.

Do any of you vets ever wonder what kind of an impression these recurring themes of "the old days were better" and "I'm a vet therefore I deserve something extra-special" have on folks who read this forum because they might be looking at UO as their next game addiction, or on folks who just recently started playing and were pointed in this direction by others?
First of all, there's no sense in lumping in type 2 (vets looking for rewards) which honestly isn't that common anyways, with what this thread is about, no need to derail it. Secondly should we just lie? Should we just not talk about the fun we had, and the things we miss if we feel inclined to?

And do you really think people who come here and read posts like "this is what I used to love about UO" will say to themselves "oh! the game was better then... i guess i wont play it now!" Of course not.

I guess what annoys me the most about a lot of the "nostalgia" threads are all the comments about "community" and "people." And yet when you actually get in the game, what has happened to the "community" and the "people"? Go to any shard and watch a newcomer to the shard visit the local gathering place. More often than not, they are just flat out ignored.
...thanks for illustrating the point? Most people now a days suck. I help new players (true, they aren't really new, but new to siege) whenever I see them. So do most other siegers, hell we even have a special guild (NEW) that is generally not molested by anyone, strictly for new people. The great people are one of the main reasons I do play siege. That sense of a good group of people is alive.

When I visit my old home shard (LS)... not so much. I rarely get responded to when I try to chit chat.

Is it any wonder that UO's population has taken a nosedive? In so many ways, it feels like the majority of the population that's left either spends their time trying to figure out how to get to the top of the heap or how to bring back days long gone. It's really pretty sad when you think about it.
Further illustration of the points we made that you felt you needed to rail against. I'm just confused where you felt the need to come and crab at us, when you are saying basically the same thing.

I wish that instead of us showing the world that our community is lost in its past and/or fighting over silly little status symbols, we instead showed the world a community that acts like it actually WELCOMES newcomers and wants them to stick around for a good long while and make some great memories...even if they'll never have the same fond memories of fighting off the nasty PKs or gathering around the blacksmith shop to get their repairs done
Like I said, I do my best, and so do most people I know on siege. That's all I can do. But like it or not the item grind game play (thanks to insurance) that UO has developed into only supports the "me first!" silent solo type crowd.
So that kind of player will be drawn here, or neutral players will end up that kind of player. It's the only way you can compete, and all UO is about now is competing.
 

Uvtha

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I miss being able to gate monsters.
Ooo! Yeah! That was awesome! We had an ancient wyrm trapped in a room in our guild tower. A nice neon red/purply lookin one. It was boss.
 
M

Morgana LeFay (PoV)

Guest
We had an ancient wyrm trapped in a room in our guild tower. A nice neon red/purply lookin one. It was boss.
Ah...this was after they were just black dragons!


Know something I really miss...


...the heinous scenes at the bank where some thief was trying to steal something then....WHOOOSH!! B A N G!!!!

A guard would teleport in and kill the thief...but almost as soon as that was over, some idiot would loot the body...and BANG!!! Guard whacked!!

It has been so long since I have seen someone guard whacked, I am tempted to do it myself just for fun!!!

Origin really did create worlds...didn't they?
 

Derium of ls

Slightly Crazed
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I am going to say something that will get me yelled at (always does), yet since 2000 I have watched MANY players leave for this reason, and many players STILL say they will come back if EA does this...

give us a Pre:UOR Server! just one is all we ask, and NO not like seige. make it pre:UOR and update just very few things (like maybe house updates ect). and let the sever go. EVERY UO player knows at least a few people who no longe rplay, but says they will come back if a server like that was born.

and the Devs know this, anyone who has ever played UO back then knows this... so how come that has never been an idea to them? anyone notice all player ran servers are pre:uor and there are at least 400 people logged onto it at any given time... hrrrm, EA shouldn't YOU be having them play on your servers instead?!
 

Derium of ls

Slightly Crazed
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
We had an ancient wyrm trapped in a room in our guild tower. A nice neon red/purply lookin one. It was boss.
Ah...this was after they were just black dragons!


Know something I really miss...


...the heinous scenes at the bank where some thief was trying to steal something then....WHOOOSH!! B A N G!!!!

A guard would teleport in and kill the thief...but almost as soon as that was over, some idiot would loot the body...and BANG!!! Guard whacked!!

It has been so long since I have seen someone guard whacked, I am tempted to do it myself just for fun!!!

Origin really did create worlds...didn't they?

Guard whacking is not like what it use to be. I miss when you could out run the guards if you were lucky, it was a game, see if you could leave town before the 4 guards chasing you got to you!

then they added insta kill, lightening and them spawning on top of you. we have a zero chance of making it away now haha.
 

Uvtha

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
hah i remember the corpse whacking thing. We used to kill our selves in an out of the way part of town, then hide waiting for someone to come by. Funny.
 

Harlequin

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I don't miss recalls taking 5 minutes to get you transferred to another subserver.

I miss being able to overload myself and still teleport myself to the bank.


I don't miss having spools of threads that do not stack.

I miss being able to buy threads at 3 gp each.


I don't miss my miner being raided by PK guilds or ore thieves stealing my ore.

I miss being able to buy ingots at 4 gp each from miners and make wooden shields using 1 ingot each, and selling them for 32 gp (yeah I was a merchant even back then).


I don't miss getting server full messages.

I miss the times when WBB was full of people selling their wares.


I don't miss NPCs automatically grabbing stuff I drop on the floor.

I miss NPCs responding to Hi, Quest, and giving directions if you asked for the bank, tailor, smithy etc


I don't miss the confusing days when there were no guildstones/guild system.

I miss when members of the same guild would identify themselves by wearing same clothes that were dyed in the same colors.


I don't miss the days when horses were so bugged that stable masters did not sell them. Every had to walk on foot.

I miss being able to tell your pets to "fetch", so that they can help carry that 500 stones of ore.


I don't miss the days where there's no "all kill" command.

I miss being able to bring an army of 20 whitewyrms for dungeon crawls.


I don't miss the days where your pet is gone forever if it dies.

I miss my Tremor. A brown horse I had for the longest time that helped several of my characters GM Swords, Mcing, Fencing and Archery. She was 1 tough cookie.


I don't miss the days where people can camp NPCs and buy out all the regs, threads etc.

I miss being able to join the merchant's guild and actually get a discount from provisioners.


I don't miss the days when there was no house security.

I miss being able to store as many things as I want even with the smallest 7x7 workshop.
 

LadyNico

Always Present
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
With the benefit of much passage of time, and as much as each or all of these may have aggravated me at the time, I do remember these warmly now:-

The ROAR of my white wyrm...usually just before it cast mass curse, turned upon and then anihilated both me and my assembled guild members.

White wyrms have this pathetic little honk now and mass curse (if they even cast it anymore) no longer aggros guildies.

The "patrol" pet command, which used to set your pet roving between two or more designated guarded targets.

Pet messages, especially:-

"[petname] looks around desperately" when a line-of-sight check failed and the pet's loyalty level had just dropped.

"[petname] looks somewhat annoyed" (displayed while a pet was in "guard" mode). This was set off by any creature or player that entered the pet's set guarding range.

The lost art of "calming" nightmares who had had too many owners and were were therefore particularly ornery. [aka "resetting owners"]

Nightmares which randomly rolled over onto their sides whilst in battle mode. Even though I *knew* it was a known graphics glitch, I never lost that gut-clenching panic that I might have just killed my precious mare (and would have to go tame another).
 
R

Ravahan

Guest
Well, while I can't say I was around for the real "Old Days", I of course have memories myself from when I started around when AoS came out.

I miss hanging out at the Haven forge with a few buddies, doing repairs and making GM suits for folk for a bit 'o gold, or doing enhancements... It was really a great way to socialize.

Heck, I miss Old Haven all around.

I miss being a newbie. I remember being obsessed with getting a valorite order shield, and thinking that it would somehow make me like some invincible god for days until I finally saved up the cash, and found someone in the Haven smithy to make it for me. I miss adventuring and meeting people in dungeons.

I miss having something to fantasize about. I remember my friends and I used to sit around and discuss which artifacts we'd like to have, because they seemed almost unattainable to us. There was a bit of charm in that that we've lost, since now anyone can get at least a minor artifact as easy as anything.

More than anything, I miss all the people I got to know who I've lost touch with over the years. This game's strength is and, as far as I'm aware, has always been it's community. Its players are the reason UO has survived this long, and will for years to come.
 

Uvtha

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I miss hanging out at the Haven forge with a few buddies, doing repairs and making GM suits for folk for a bit 'o gold, or doing enhancements... It was really a great way to socialize.
You would haved loved the brit forge man. Those were really great times. It was nice to get together with a bunch of guys/gals, and see the same faces everyday and get to know everyone, and have people need your help, and feel like you were part of something. It was nice.

It was nice to have a rep that was trusted. My smiths name was "Not a Thief" a common name for thivies back then, and lots of people didnt trust me, but eventually the word spread that I was one of the good guys, and I gave many repairs and crafted many sets of armor and weapons.

Twas great.
 

Derium of ls

Slightly Crazed
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Brit forge *sigh* now that was a bit before I worked my smith. but showing up there and seeing the same people always there, knowing you can trust handing your items over to be repaired. I trusted any one of them more than I trust every single person in luna combined.
 
T

T_Amon_from_work

Guest
Overland spawns that were challenging, even for a medium-weight character to wade through. I remember when the area S of the Yew pass to Shame entrance was dangerous to pass through.

The Yew peninsulas (Candelabra Point and the others) were always crawling with Orc camps, Reapers, Dire Wolves, Trolls, Ogres and Elementals. One could almost be assured that between the hedge Maze and the server line were giant spiders, ogres, orcs and more.

Why no liches in cemetaries any more ... except Cove perhaps?

====
Crafting really needs to be able to produce decent goods without making it so dadgum painful. The failure rate (IMO) is too strict as it is and should be relaxed a point or 2 at high levels.
 

Farsight

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I miss dealing with crafters and traders directly for the every day stuff like new armor or repairs. I dislike vendors. A lot.

I miss having dial up and still being competitive.

I miss playing only a few hours a week and still being able to compete with nearly everyone who didn't cheat.

The list of what I don't miss is a LOT longer.
 

hawkeye_pike

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
There's only 2 things I miss from the Early Days:

ONE Facet for all, no Trammel.

No item-madness like today (which means, Dragons and Titans were a challenge to fight, crafters were valuable, PvP was not totally item dependent).
 

Kaleb

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I am going to say something that will get me yelled at (always does), yet since 2000 I have watched MANY players leave for this reason, and many players STILL say they will come back if EA does this...

give us a Pre:UOR Server! just one is all we ask, and NO not like seige. make it pre:UOR and update just very few things (like maybe house updates ect). and let the sever go. EVERY UO player knows at least a few people who no longe rplay, but says they will come back if a server like that was born.

and the Devs know this, anyone who has ever played UO back then knows this... so how come that has never been an idea to them? anyone notice all player ran servers are pre:uor and there are at least 400 people logged onto it at any given time... hrrrm, EA shouldn't YOU be having them play on your servers instead?!
+1,

But the Pre aos server I play normally has 1k+ on and its felucia based.
 

GalenKnighthawke

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
1. If anyone wonders why I no longer express myself on this issue with nuance and care it's that I really can't afford to anymore. The opposition never has, and I kind of got tired of being all qualified and couched and nuanced when the other side would just yell louder. My favorite thing was to be told that there was no way I could have played before Trammel. The fact is that I did. But the facts don't matter much in this discussion, which is part of the problem. Sad to say, my preferred approach of deliberation and nuance is simply not the way to go on U-Hall, on this issue in particular. The only reason my expressions result in anyone's ire is that I'm not sticking to the Fellie-driven company line. If I was, I could be as mean as I liked without anyone so much as noticing. *shrugs*

2. I remember the pre-Trammel towns on LS. Rivendell; City of Dragons; Twilight Township (was that one pre-Tram? think so); Destiny (which I always confuse with a post-Tram town named Harmony, I think); etc. Some were comparatively vibrant, though curiously I never witnessed this personally....Whenever I went to one of these allegedly great places, they were empty save for when an actual event was scheduled (which come to think of it, I never personally witnessed a scheduled event until post-Trammel)...Unless of course you count the PKs waiting to kill people who were coming there for the fabled "sense of community." The liveliest town I ever saw pre-Trammel was a town populated entirely by PKs. There were about 8 to 10 of them. I saw people in the City of Dragons once. There were 2. Our interactions consisted of my saying "nice town" and one of them saying "thanks."

3. Nostalgia for the "bad neighborhood" or the trailer park is very easy to have once you get a good job and don't have to live there anymore. But when it's your day-to-day reality it kind of sucks.

4. The bone wall was cute. Until of course 5 PKs ran in and trapped everyone.

5. Do I like everything that happened since UO:R? No. But I've discovered (see point 1) that nuance and care isn't the way to go on U-Hall, especially on this issue.

*shrugs*

-Galen's player
 

GalenKnighthawke

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I can't help myself I guess....

AoS went too far. It didn't ruin the game, it didn't destroy communities...We the players did that.

But from a game mechanics perspective AoS went too far in making the game item-based. Its new combat and item systems necessitated fundamental changes in how we played, and necessitated other system changes. Insurance and PoF are 100% necessary. I, for one, will not play an item-based game where I can't keep items. This is simple common sense.

What they could have done was, for example, have a system wherein what armor you were wearing would matter in absorbing certain types of damage as a BONUS, not as a REPLACEMENT, for the Spell Resist skill. So, for example, Barbed Studded would absorb a few points of, say, an E-Bolt, but most of the reduction would come from the Spell Resist skill.

They also should have had far more limited properties on armor than they did, and have some kind of system that rewarded no armor at all (like, for example, kept the dex penalties for most non-meddable armor, and had significant Mana Regeneration bonuses for having no armor).

Under that system, they could have limited insurance to, say, 1 or 2 items per character, and made it pricier, so it'd be a true gold sink for everyone instead of just for the very poor, for whom every death can be financially catastrophic.

So with that long setup in mind, here are the things I miss.

ALL of these are related to the excesses of AoS. NONE of these are related to UO:R. Also, NONE of these should be taken as backtracking from my overall argument that the game now is considerably better than pre-UO:R, and that both insurance and PoF should be 100% untouched under the current system, or that attempting to roll back AoS now would be a catastrophic failure.... You get the idea....

1. Being able to grab a sword from a monster corpse and jump into a fight until I could get my GM katana back.

2. Occasionally having to fight a low- or mid-end monster (trolls, ogres) with no armor.

3. Deadly poisoned katanas.

4. Walking around with no armor but 3 deadly poisoned katanas in my pack. There was something very rougeishly deadly about that.

5. Mages who were naked, or who wore nothing but a robe and boots, that were extraordinarily effective.

6. Teleportation to a random city upon death in a Felucca dungeon.

7. Champ spawns that were a spontaneous activity of strangers rather than a planned activity of a group of organized PKs with overwhelming numbers.

There's other things too.....

The Dungeon Doom, Artifacts, etc., all of that would have been super-awesome if the AoS system had been executed radically differently than how it was.

-Galen's player
 

LadyNico

Always Present
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Galen

1. Not a smidgeon of "ire" emanating from this direction - more simple wonderment and marvelling at your endurance really. ;)

And pshaw at any "Felly-driven company line." I don't recall mentioning any particular facet in my post, although this could be primarily because during much of the time to which I referred there were no such thing as facets.

2. Some player run towns were busy while some others were not so busy. It was ever thus. I am mindful of a good number of large, longstanding guilds which resisted then later succumbed to the lure of a Trammel location. Without any "need" to remain together, to learn to adapt/overcome/function cohesively as a unit, etc., not a single one of those comes to mind which remains in UO today. I did, however, stumble across a number of these old, big guild folks in other games such as Anarchy Online, DAOC, StarWars, and much later, of course, WoW - all seeking that certain something that only UO provided once upon a time.

Interestingly of those with whom I remained in touch, all are minded to check out Mortal Online with its sandbox style, non-consensual pvp and rampant dry-looting. I don't think it's any coincidence Mortal Online was designed by some folks who I'm led to believe beta tested UO.

Mortal Online appears, at least, to be asking: What's missing from UO? What exactly do the vets miss? What can be done with today's technology to revive/evince/evoke whatever that *missed factor* happens to be?

Perhaps we're just exploring that here in the Hall, too, for no other reason than to remember that feeling of awe when Sosaria itself was young. I clearly recall feelings of wonder and incredulity that any game could be so BIG, and so encompassing, and so...well, *enter your own description word here*

3. "Nostalgia for the "bad neighborhood" or the trailer park is very easy to have once you get a good job and don't have to live there anymore. But when it's your day-to-day reality it kind of sucks." Bingo, Galen!

And yet, we still hunker for the old neighbourhood now and again...Why? For me, at least, it's because:- It feels like home.

4. Heck, yes, the bone wall was fun. With the benefit of hindsight, it was pretty fun running my little, adrenaline-charged noobie legs off whilst trying to learn how to band together and survive an incoming pk attack. Skill gain was always a bonus, an extra, on top of the learning that could be had at the bone wall.

5. I can't say hand-on-heart that I have liked everything that has happened since UO:R. Equally, I think it's important to note that I cannot say that I liked everything pre-UO:R either.
 

Duskofdead

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I guess what annoys me the most about a lot of the "nostalgia" threads are all the comments about "community" and "people." And yet when you actually get in the game, what has happened to the "community" and the "people"? Go to any shard and watch a newcomer to the shard visit the local gathering place. More often than not, they are just flat out ignored.
Two quick explanations.
1 - Really aren't very many players anymore. You're never going to get a 100% helpful crowd. There are always that percentage that will help. If that percentage is 15% and (Young) Player X only sees 1 person his first hour of playing.... so you're hard put to make the argument here that we're all just "nostalgic for an imaginary better past." In the past there were more people. More people = more parties = more helpers for new players = more players of every skill level to do something with, not just endgame champ runners.

2 - Itemization. Old UO, yes, sometimes you didn't have something exciting to do every 3 minutes. Sometimes you were standing around town waiting for something to do. That meant people were more social, networked more, knew their local blacksmiths and tradesmen, did trades at the bank, etc. Now, people are always off farming champs to get arties--- just like every single other MMO on the market. Sure, call that a great change if you want. And don't be surprised when people who were around for something better than just farming high end rares all day dislike the dearth of community which has resulted. Go to any other... WOW, or EQ, or any of them... and tell me there's "community" there. There isn't. Everyone's off too busy trying to get the next piece of gear to sit around and make friends with you.

Watch the threads that pop up here on Stratics where someone says, "Hey I'm new, got any suggestions on where I should play?" or "Hey I'm just coming back, got any suggestions on what I should do with my old characters?" In the first case, you're lucky if a handful of people reply and, if they do, that they give any more information than just telling you their shard is the greatest! In the second case, the thread rarely contains much information that's of any help and often ends up being derailed.
So what? Like Galen, you are bringing in all kinds of irrelevant trolls. This thread isn't titled "New/returning player look here" so this commentary was irrelevant.

The vet reward idea threads and the ones demanding castle and keep improvements aren't much better. It's "gimme gimme gimme." And a new player getting into the game sees what? All the ultra-rich old-time vets and the wannabes lined up at the bank, showing off all their best stuff....and, for the most part, ignoring the lowly newbies. And when that lowly newbie goes for a run around old Trammel or Fel, what does he or she see? Castles....keeps....more castles...more keeps. And what does he or she read about in the trade forums? Rares for sale! Castles for sale!
Why is this even coming up? For your information (not that it apparently matters once people like you around uhall get onto your pre-memorized soapbox) I don't even LIKE the idea of vet rewards. The concept of "having to have been here" since '99 to have the chance of getting something useful is abhorrent to me. In my day before I originally cancelled UO account rewards were brand new and almost strictly aesthetic in nature... i.e. a specially colored this or a different looking mount or an engraved robe or something. Nothing... NOTHING whatsoever on the level (in terms of value in game) of say an ethy... a soulstone. I don't like tying those kinds of important game items to account age or to having bought something from EA at the right time. But, this is all just an aside. Why this topic of vets demanding rewards coming up in my thread is beyond me... except that you, like Galen, are on a little futile crusade to apparently ramrod uhall into only discussing things you two think are worthy discussion points.

Is it any wonder that UO's population has taken a nosedive? In so many ways, it feels like the majority of the population that's left either spends their time trying to figure out how to get to the top of the heap or how to bring back days long gone. It's really pretty sad when you think about it.
UO's population taking a nosedive has far more to do with the things being discussed in this thread, than with "old vets complaining or demanding new rewards." I love the complete lack of logic involved with this argument, which comes up around stratics a lot --- that somehow hearing people complain, or wax about something in the past they miss, is going to emotionally imbalance existing players into cancelling their subscription. Yup, I'm sure people quitting had NOTHING to do with Tram/Fel. I'm sure it had NOTHING to do with AoS transforming UO into a Blizzard game clone. I'm sure it had NOTHING to do with item insurance. All those thousands upon thousands of people who've quit since UO's peak just did so because they didn't like the COMPLAINING about the changes. Yeah. That just shows you weren't around for any of those major shifts in the game if you are under any delusion whatsoever about WHAT made large numbers of accounts cancel over the years. It was always one of two things, "bored and sick of the game, I never play anymore" or "I can't stand the changes/what the game has become." Sometimes the two were related.

I wish that instead of us showing the world that our community is lost in its past and/or fighting over silly little status symbols, we instead showed the world a community that acts like it actually WELCOMES newcomers and wants them to stick around for a good long while and make some great memories...even if they'll never have the same fond memories of fighting off the nasty PKs or gathering around the blacksmith shop to get their repairs done.
We do want newcomers and want them to stick around. What exactly in this thread implied otherwise? However, old UO is never going to return, regardless of new players, because it can't. The mechanics of the game and the profile of your typical MMO'er has changed too much. Acting like it's just our "attitudes" that is the difference is really laying the blinders on thick. It'd be like taking people who owned a car in 1939 and people who owned a car in 1984 and saying well, if you lump them together in a room you'll wind up with pretty much the same sort of party. The market has changed too much, the MMO genre caters to the casual gamer now (i.e. action, item-farming oriented, pvp-bias, little/no support or afterthought support to a dynamic in-game world or player interaction or in-game community) and the mechanics of UO are virtually a different game for many purposes.

UO was custom built, from day one, for players to interact and need to call upon each other's skills. NPC's won't repair your gear and there were no deeds. You had to eat food. A full NPC platemail set cost several hundred gold in a day when monsters dropped maybe 11, 17 gold apiece. No animal bonding-- miners and other craftsmen needed the services of a mage to gate around and take his animal with him. There was no abstracted central auctionhouse for the buying and selling and items. Look at every other major MMO... most of them endorsed the opposite of UO's original design. You can take care of virtually everything from NPC's or through a universal market or auctionhouse to acquire any items you might need to buy from other players. UO has moved more towards that, and that makes it less UO and more like every other game. I simply don't know how to doll that up as a positive thing, regardless of you or Galen's inability to "palate" complaining or nostalgia for the past.
 

Duskofdead

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
1. If anyone wonders why I no longer express myself on this issue with nuance and care it's that I really can't afford to anymore. The opposition never has, and I kind of got tired of being all qualified and couched and nuanced when the other side would just yell louder.
Responding to any topic which even indirectly hits on the topic of past vs. present, and coming in as rudely and off-topic as you did, will elicit EXACTLY the response you claim is inevitable. So you are creating your own cycle.

My favorite thing was to be told that there was no way I could have played before Trammel. The fact is that I did. But the facts don't matter much in this discussion, which is part of the problem.
Who claimed you never could have? I'm not going to answer for mystery other people you've fought with in the past on uhall, nor should I have to when you barged into this thread and blasted all of us "delusionals." This is your problem Galen. You go into discussions were people are discussing what they miss, or what they liked better about the past/present.... and start telling people they're wrong. How can someone be wrong with a subjective assessment? You, of course, opened yourself up to be slapped down... because you barged in here and essentially said that anyone who could think things were better about the past, or miss it, or want certain features back, must be delusional or utopian thinking or rose-shading it. You are entitled to your opinion, not to your facts. And if older UO was horrible for you, that's still just one subjective opinion and experience, and not at all representative of many of us who were there. So I'd drop the whole "nope, you guys are wrong, the game sucked back then and it is demonstrably, factually true and you guys are just mentally imbalanced emotionals to think otherwise" does not prove your point, and does not endear you to anyone, and frankly doesn't garner you any respect.

Sad to say, my preferred approach of deliberation and nuance is simply not the way to go on U-Hall, on this issue in particular. The only reason my expressions result in anyone's ire is that I'm not sticking to the Fellie-driven company line. If I was, I could be as mean as I liked without anyone so much as noticing. *shrugs*
I have to be honest galen I've seen you discuss this topic and I've never seen you do anything but fly off the leash trying to brow-beat people into admitting they are wrong based solely on your assertion that it's "demonstrably factual" that the old game was not as good as many old timers remember, or say. And I'm surprised you don't see the futile situation you set up for yourself and that perhaps your tactics and inability to simply express or argue your viewpoint on its merits instead of calling into question the mental clarity of those who disagree are more the problem than uhall.

3. Nostalgia for the "bad neighborhood" or the trailer park is very easy to have once you get a good job and don't have to live there anymore. But when it's your day-to-day reality it kind of sucks.
There isn't a word for present-day nostalgia. But if there were such a concept, the idea of emotionally defending and overestimating the present in comparison to any other time... there's a TON of that, if anything that's dominant in gaming crowds at the moment. What you see over and over on any game forum is "it's fine, learn to play, shut up and quit if you don't like something." No matter how crippling, game-breaking or frustrating a bug, broken feature, lag or support issue with a game demonstrably is.

5. Do I like everything that happened since UO:R? No. But I've discovered (see point 1) that nuance and care isn't the way to go on U-Hall, especially on this issue.
Your actions imply you do like everything that happened since UO:R, and that only delusional people could see it any other way. Think on that before you engage this topic again, especially when it's OFF topic in a thread not even really relevant to the point you keep preaching.
 

Derium of ls

Slightly Crazed
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
2. I remember the pre-Trammel towns on LS. Rivendell; City of Dragons; Twilight Township (was that one pre-Tram? think so); Destiny (which I always confuse with a post-Tram town named Harmony, I think); etc. Some were comparatively vibrant, though curiously I never witnessed this personally....Whenever I went to one of these allegedly great places, they were empty save for when an actual event was scheduled (which come to think of it, I never personally witnessed a scheduled event until post-Trammel)...Unless of course you count the PKs waiting to kill people who were coming there for the fabled "sense of community." The liveliest town I ever saw pre-Trammel was a town populated entirely by PKs. There were about 8 to 10 of them. I saw people in the City of Dragons once. There were 2. Our interactions consisted of my saying "nice town" and one of them saying "thanks."

-Galen's player

did you only visit these towns after tram was born? If so that's why you didn't see many people around. The "need" for a town was turned into the "coolness" of being part of a town at that point. However, didn't you ever visit Owl town (ls of course)? even after the birth of trammy there was always people there, that town was set up beautifuly. Plus *Is afraid to say it, but thinks enough time has passed* they controlled the monthly spawns on our server, so seeing all of those locked down in the houses always blew me away (I was able to snag a few of them for myself though =D )
 
B

Bluebottle

Guest
I miss the lack of resources - for example where a bird spawns in town and everyone in range races to get the kill for the feathers! My GM Bowyer when I made my first equivalent of an "exceptional" heavy XBow but you could only tell it was HQ by valuing or offering to NPC sell the item. I even miss my tent and the lake Blackthorn landlocked boats! Like most folk, I miss the community, it didn't matter that they were helping, talking, attacking or stealing from my characters I had little to lose. I even miss the PKs that often killed my miner all the time and often had the decency to res them - I became quite adept at temporarily stashing my ingots so they rarely scored much loot other than ore :) I miss the old Vanq/Power/Force/Silver items. I don't miss my small houses since I hung on to most of them :)
 
K

katluma

Guest
Definitely Power Hour that I miss the most.

Pk's with honor and attitude, ganking 20 on 2 or 3 is not skill to me.
In the old days you could look up to a great pvper. Sometimes they would ress you and give you enough regs to get home hehe now they just taunt and talk BS to your ghost.

The community as a lot of people said here. Towns are empty now except for Luna and I am not a big city girl I too miss Magincia.
 
D

Doomslayer

Guest
remember setting up boxes, in the dungeons especially, to "trap" monsters in an area, then training on them all damn day. or when you would gate them home and trap them inside, and take turns training on them... my silver battle axe of vanquishing ***SIGH***
 
T

Turdnugget

Guest
Ahh... the server down wars... those were the days.

Always action to be had at Brit Grave Yard once the message came up. Vanquish weapons came out, alliances were made, people went red.

I miss pirating boats... standing on your plank, going up to a boat who's owner didn't know they shouldnt leave their boat unlocked, or items on the deck within reach to the sneaky pirate.

Buc's Den.

Hybrid mages (before toggling while casting was implemented)

WBB. I didn't bank sit much, but you always knew people where there if you needed to buy/sell something.

Color Wars on test center. Each of the 4 colors had it's own castle at the E. Brit Crossroads, inside you had a stone to give you reagents, vanquish weapons and armor. All out mass field war.

Order/Chaos like was mentioned.

Disarm thieving as mentioned.

Bounty system.

Ability to chop corpses and keep heads.

Old school newbie clothes with awesome colors. Rather than picking and choosing what colors you want to start. Old school hues ftw!

I dunno if they changed the graphics or what... but even special dye/dark grey/evil mage clothing doesn't have the same hue as it did back in 2005 before I quit and it looked normal.
 

Duskofdead

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Definitely Power Hour that I miss the most.

Pk's with honor and attitude, ganking 20 on 2 or 3 is not skill to me.
In the old days you could look up to a great pvper. Sometimes they would ress you and give you enough regs to get home hehe now they just taunt and talk BS to your ghost.

The community as a lot of people said here. Towns are empty now except for Luna and I am not a big city girl I too miss Magincia.
I think of the honorable PK as the UO version of an urban legend, or myth. There are a lot of anecdotal stories floating around out there but my experience of "pvp" was always a vastly stronger character seeking out likely places to find, and murder, vastly weaker ones.

I do miss old UO, don't get me wrong. But I just never had any experiences with these "honorable PK's" people talk about. Most of my deaths were either on a non-combat character or, being swarm-murdered by everyone in sight when I accidentally did something to turn temporarily gray.
 
K

katluma

Guest
I had plenty of them...and I was one myself with one of my characters. Bucs fights were great! and the old town wars chaos and order...
Oh and lets not forget the good old days at brit graveyard and the red safe houses near by.

I still love UO dont get me wrong. I do miss the old days too.
 

Sir Morder

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I miss guilds that played with class. UDL UND GC KGB FA COM EMB ORC BiH KOS DTA KSS (cant remember em all). i miss pvp, not pv684 people gank. i miss the honor when killing someone, not the "im looting your stuff just so i can trash it". Too many people have takin a win at all costs mentality, rather than just have fun with a video game.
 

Hemisphere

Always Present
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Nothing... NOTHING whatsoever on the level (in terms of value in game) of say an ethy...
Yea.. NOTHING like ethys, except, y'know, ethys. Forgot about them eh?

And wearing a vet robe and cloak giving a total of +4 AR, even on top of platemail, forgot that one too yea?
 

Uvtha

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I remember the pre-Trammel towns on LS. Rivendell; City of Dragons; Twilight Township (was that one pre-Tram? think so); Destiny (which I always confuse with a post-Tram town named Harmony, I think); etc. Some were comparatively vibrant, though curiously I never witnessed this personally....Whenever I went to one of these allegedly great places, they were empty save for when an actual event was scheduled (which come to think of it, I never personally witnessed a scheduled event until post-Trammel)...Unless of course you count the PKs waiting to kill people who were coming there for the fabled "sense of community." The liveliest town I ever saw pre-Trammel was a town populated entirely by PKs. There were about 8 to 10 of them. I saw people in the City of Dragons once. There were 2. Our interactions consisted of my saying "nice town" and one of them saying "thanks."
I lived about a screen above Rivendell. There were usually at least one or two townsfolk about. And I can remember many times where I spent the whole evening there, and the place was packed with people, and there were fights and fun all over.


3. Nostalgia for the "bad neighborhood" or the trailer park is very easy to have once you get a good job and don't have to live there anymore. But when it's your day-to-day reality it kind of sucks.
Like has been said before, its not JUST simple nostalgia. These were the best gaming days of some of our lives. UO has lost something, and that was indeed inevitable, but don't try to tarnish what it had by painting it as inaccurate nostalgia. I was there from pretty close to day one, and I remember the bad bad times as well. But the bad times there beat the good times now.
 

Uvtha

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I think of the honorable PK as the UO version of an urban legend, or myth. There are a lot of anecdotal stories floating around out there but my experience of "pvp" was always a vastly stronger character seeking out likely places to find, and murder, vastly weaker ones.

I do miss old UO, don't get me wrong. But I just never had any experiences with these "honorable PK's" people talk about. Most of my deaths were either on a non-combat character or, being swarm-murdered by everyone in sight when I accidentally did something to turn temporarily gray.
Well of course I would go so far as to say MOST pks were and are pretty big jerks, but there most defiantly were some really awesome pks back then.

The REAL jerkiness began with stat-loss. Before stat-loss many pks just hung out and chatted between kills. Many that would give you a choice to give up your gold as well.
I knew a good handful of very cool pkers. But once the threat of character ruination came with death they started rolling in packs, killing first and asking questions later.

That was the end of the cool/solo pk.
 
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