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12 years of Fun, Joys, and Tears!

  • Thread starter Blade_Thugluv
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Blade_Thugluv

Guest
Hello my fellow UO Players,

I see alot of doom and gloom on the forums as of late. Our beloved game and world of Ultima has been around for over 12 years. We have had alot of good times, Some bad times and those that were in between.

UO has with stood the test of time. Regardless of what some say, there really isnt another game like it. We have a Loyal Player base. Theres a unique community on each shard. We are a gaint online family.

Just like any family we have our issues. weither it be on the player side or the dev side or company side. We all have had Fun, as well as all had our tears. Things happen that we like and dont like. There our people we like and dont.

Take a second and look back at the long road we all have been on. Look at the Road UO has had. Regardless of the troubles of the past We are still here. 12 years is a long time.

Ultima is one of the Longest running games out. And chances are has a long way left. Some of you say that UO is dieing. I say your full of it. I remember all the doom and gloom when AOS was released back in 2003 and everyone said then that uo was dieing. It is now the end of 2009 six years later almost 7 and we still hear people saying UO is dieing. take a look back farther, skip aos and LBTR go back to Third dawn or Renaissance or even the 2nd age, there were people crying the end of UO then as well.

They were all wrong. Last year i remember reading about UO being a big money maker for EA. I believe it was Robert Muller who said it. IF this is the case then surely UO is in no danger at this point in time.

If we look at uo.com there is a letter from Calvin Crowner. He states and i quote "We’ve recently successfully launched UO’s 8th Expansion, bringing back programs that independent boards said would never occur"

Now there is 2 ways you can look at that statment. 1 is that the Expansion is launched and active so is a Success. Or 2 The Expansion made a profit for the company so is a Success. Now i kinda lied about 2 ways to look at it. I take that statment as both which would be a 3rd way.

After the release of SA we all noticed the return of alot of old faces to the game. UO is still very much alive. While it is sad to see Dev members go it is part of it all. I mean we are a family. When great grandma dies the family doesnt. It is sad and can be hard to get over but we make it.

Its the same when we lose a Dev. Over the years we have lost many staff on the UO team. Many who brought something unique. But there has always been someone else to come along. While they will never fill the others shoes they bring their own Uniqueness to the table. And if they ever leave the same is said for the next one.

We are the players. we have no idea what each Dev really does or doesnt do. Who have no idea which one is more important then the other or if there is. We make our bonds with the Dev's from what we read and the game we play and what we know they add.

We are like the Kids and the Devs are sorta like the parents when you think about UO. The devs try and do whats best for all of us. We all complain about something. We make comments to the devs that we could do a better job. it doesnt stop the Devs from doing their job. The dev takes alot of abuse from us. Just like our parents do.

I know i have typed a wall of text here. I just wanted to post something outside of the normal doom and gloom we see on the forums. You may or maynot agree with what i have said here and thats to each their own and thats fine. What remains is it has been a great 12 years filled with lots of joy and had its share of pains.

I want to take the time to thank all the Devs and Staff that have worked on UO in the past, the present, and the Future. You have all made UO what it is today.

As for the players, Think about what we say and how it might effect others. What i mean is this.... When you spread the doom and gloom it effects other players. It could even make people quit the game. You might not believe it or think it is true but trust me it is.

And every bad thing that is said about the game makes it that much harder to get new players into UO. Whould you want to play a game where the forums of the game are filled with hatred and people saying the game is dieing?

I believe UO has many years left in it. It is up to us the Players to make sure that it happens.

~Blade
 

It Lives

Slightly Crazed
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I really liked the post some year or more or ago, about how UO was like domestic violence and how we players behave exactly like the victims of it.

Most players ignore the high drama of the public boards. You would be surprised how game play is enhanced by avoiding the boards.
 
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Beer_Cayse

Guest
wow! just ... wow!

nicely put and drives home some really good points. I ignore the fussing on these boards ... it won't deter me from playing as I have for quite a few years (11 actually).
 

Snakeman

Grand Poobah
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Superb post Blade, you hit the nail on the head with that post squarely. :thumbup1:
 
C

canary

Guest
We are like the Kids and the Devs are sorta like the parents when you think about UO. The devs try and do whats best for all of us. We all complain about something. We make comments to the devs that we could do a better job. it doesnt stop the Devs from doing their job. The dev takes alot of abuse from us. Just like our parents do.
Odd. I've always looked at it like I'm a customer at a restaurant and they are the cooking and wait staff. If I don't like what I've paid for, it is within my right to complain.

Sometimes the soup is delicious, other times its cold and there is dirty silverware they put out to eat it with. If it is delicious, you want to thank those who prepared it. If there are issues, you want to voice your opinion and get them to work with you on ensuring the customer is happy. After all, there are many more restaurants in town you can just as easily take your business to if you see the trend in poor service.

Still, you are entitled to your opinions.
 
G

gjohnson5

Guest
no disrespect , but the people talking about "others are crying about the end of UP" for the most part are trolls IMHO. Constantly crying one way or the other IMHO is trolling. However I believe there are circumstances for one side to be saying the things they are saying... The other side is mostly reactionary without any data or facts to support their argument (Most of what the OP wrote for instance) From what I'm reading , I'm not hearing alot of that. I think alot of the issues are due to the management of the game being really off or not sensical from some peoples point of view. IMHO bad management decisions are the main reason EA is laying off almost 1/2 of thier staff. That wouldn't happen if there weren't financial reasons to do so.

Secondly I think the devs, mainly Draconi (assuming he's still a dev) have been in more of a mandate mode instead of a discussion mode. I think he and other UO produces have made thier minds in terms of the direction of UO. So thoer that don't agree with that direction will be labeled "cry babbies" despite this IMHO being a very valid argument. I remember the days when there were polls about going to diminishing returns system or a capped system. I wish stuff like that would return. Even though I voted for a capped system (due to ease) once I tested it I was like OUCH. Not what I had in mind at all. But atleast that was more along the lines of which the player base had some sort of discussion in terms of the direction of the game. I would call it customer service and it should be increased

Secondly alot of the "gloom and doom" atleast from my perspective is basically people saying "I told you so" due to the above issues and the failure of creativity (really a lack there of) being mandated on the player base. IMHO if a person has ideas and those ideas flop , then those people should pay the price for their failure. I want to repeat FAILURE because that is exactly what it is.

Personally I like UO and I have been playing for basically it entire life. However my life will not change at all if it goes under. I will still be the same person and I will simply look for another vice. I would like to avoid this as much as possible. But I do think it is necessary to reiterate why I think many things have turned into a FAILURE. Some of the issues I see I will delineate

1. The constant attack on casual players as a means of working around scripting exploits. Most skills take more time or have seen functionality reductions due to scripting issues. Instead of fixing the scripting , the game continually get functionality reduced to combat scripting.
2. The general lack of bug fixes in general. There are simply too many issues to name, insurance bugs , transfer bugs. Issues with drag and drop which require you to log off and on. The double slayer bugs seems to be getting exploited due to the grouping of certain monsters in one area.
3. To nerf or not to nerf. Thieves seem to be unplayable. many ninja functionality has been kicked to the curb. Relic frags are going to take another nerf. Archers can use balanced weapons but 2 handed melee fighters cannot????
4. I think fire breath on top of the casting rate in PvM is a little much in some cases. Maybe change magic resistance back to where it was more useful.
5. The gold sink idea assumes everyone has billions of dollars in the bank. Why not fix the exploits which people are using to amass such large sums of money instead of hurting EVERYONE. I guess that should be on item number 1

Enough , I would be typing for a long time if I posted all of what I don't agree with.

Obviously others aren't going to agree with what I typed. But that's the point of discussion. Atleast let's DISCUSS the issues with the game and hopefully they LISTEN to that. Then make adjustments based on input.

The point of saying this is that the "gloom and doom" is really more realization or fruition of warnings about things those folks didn't agree with. Atleast in my case that's what it is. The "gloom and doom" stuff is just intentional mischaracterization of my (and other folks) point of view
 
M

Mairut

Guest
Thieves aren't unplayable.
Or to put that another way...

My thief char is working perfectly fine. Perhaps it's your template that needs some help?

I'm sure some might have a few issues....(like do away with insurance)...but it seems most of found a way around it. Believe it or not, there are still goofy vets and there are rich nubs that will walk into Fel without having insured something expensive.

I like both analogies to the big happy family and the customer service thing. I would like to be able to work with the devs to help them help me enjoy the game and make their time more "worth it". I'm just not entirely sure if I want to help pay for a game that I might not like in a month or two, or to hang on and see if it gets any better. I made a decision when I started playing this game again in January. I checked this forum and a few others and decided that the bugs and other "problems" were manageable enough (for me). I looked at what I could find of the team and decided I liked what they were doing. If EA has gotten rid of too many of those people, I may take a step back to see if I like the New direction this game will go in. If I don't, then like the poster above me said, I'll go find a new vice. If they did get rid of a lot of people and are hiring cheaper, and I do decide I like these new people, then I'll continue to send my money to EA. That simple, for me. I won't buy something unless I know what I'm getting for my money.

To each his own, I guess.
 
H

Heartseeker

Guest
Blade you sound like you're in denial.

Your rose coloured glasses seem to be working fine.

As far as UO dieing; technically it hasn't.

But to compare it to what it was like pre AOS, well it has died.

Most still play out of habit, and wait for their next fix.

As far as devs going, well that does happen in a business world.

The only problem with that is, will you support it?

Maybe you have been playing this game the whole time; but to see how different it is you'd have to of left for a bit to actually notice.

I played from 1998 to about 2001; then I took about 4 years off.

When I came back, the only things I recognized were the landmarks.

This game was a intensely played, mutiplayer online game.

It turned into a mostly single player game that had very little community in game.

We see more and more posts in UHaul, because that is where the community is hanging out; not in game.

For anybody out there, all one has to do is step away for awhile, to see just how much different this game is.

If you think this game is doing well because the Brass tells you so, then so be it.

I will judge by what I see in game.

And in game, this game is dead, and has been for a long time.
 

GalenKnighthawke

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I've been saying many of the same things for a long time. There's every indication that UO makes money.

However, something related that I've also been saying is that the biggest threat to UO is irrationality on the part of EA.

These layoffs are an example of EA irrationality.

I am increasingly fearful that the irrationality isn't contained to EA corporate but also by our producer.

I'll withhold judgment until we get a feel for who is left.

-Galen's player
 

LordDrago

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Odd. I've always looked at it like I'm a customer at a restaurant and they are the cooking and wait staff. If I don't like what I've paid for, it is within my right to complain.
Sometimes the soup is delicious, other times its cold and there is dirty silverware they put out to eat it with. If it is delicious, you want to thank those who prepared it. If there are issues, you want to voice your opinion and get them to work with you on ensuring the customer is happy. After all, there are many more restaurants in town you can just as easily take your business to if you see the trend in poor service.

Still, you are entitled to your opinions.
So you have found nothing "delicious" iin UO? Because the Devs have not received a tip from you yet... :)

Perhaps the Devs are more like babysitters. They listen to and care for us kids. We complain, cajole, and they sometimes give us stuff because (1) they really like us kids (2) they want us to just be quiet. But, in real life, they work for the parents (EA/Mythic), and can't just feed the kids chocolate and soda all night long because they parents have intructed (either directly or implied) that such and such not happen.
 
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canary

Guest
So you have found nothing "delicious" iin UO? Because the Devs have not received a tip from you yet... :)
The 'tip' they get is that they will continue to have repeat service (and a continued paycheck) if they appease the customer.
 
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