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Where is EA?

Cypher2

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Where has Five On Friday gone?
Why are there rarely ever any new updates at UOHearld?
What are the developers working on now?
Who is in charge of community relations?
 
T

Tazar

Guest
The Five on Friday was replaced with a moderated forum found here.

It's been the holidays and people were on vacation - combined with some new people handling it.

The last HoC chat from December 22nd had some hints at future directions.

We now have 2 community coordinators: Andy and James.
 

Siteswap

Visitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend

Damien Softstep

Visitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
The Five on Friday was replaced with a moderated forum found here.

It's been the holidays and people were on vacation - combined with some new people handling it.

The last HoC chat from December 22nd had some hints at future directions.

We now have 2 community coordinators: Andy and James.
Which ive asked numerous questions but my questions never get OK'ed...so unless you have a pretty much worthless question and it dont get any feathers ruffled then your question will be posted...that would explain why only one question has been posted since the 16th of last month...
 

Chap

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
They fired the person who did it.
I refuse to believe this.
Keeping the UO webpage updated and post of news is essential to the survival of UO.
Simple a posting of "buy UO items for cash" every 6th month aint enough.

Over the 12 years of UO ive seen some questionable priorities and decisions,
denying UO officials to take part in public threads and discussions would be like taking air outta the balloon.
 

Tina Small

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I really think a lot of the UO folks have been pressed into helping on Dark Age of Camelot as they close down the European side of that game by the end of January because they did not renew the license of the company that was running the game for them in Europe.

From what I can gather from comments on the DAoC page on Facebook, no one knows yet whether or not their characters on the European server(s) can be transferred to the U.S. servers. If they can't, how will Mythic or GoA that was handling things in Europe take care of unused subscription fees? Also, the U.S. servers have a cap on how many accounts can be logged on at one time and once it is exceeded, people get the message that the server is full and they can't log in. DAoC's subscription fee is even higher than UO's. Some people are excited about the possibility of moving characters from very dead European servers to fuller U.S. servers, while people who have been playing on those U.S. servers are aggravated over the possibility that they'll have even more instances of not being able to log on.

Sounds like a lot of headaches and an "all hands on deck" sort of situation for the folks at Mythic.

You can see Andy in this video about DAoC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AGjijiBA0I.

Andy, James, and Josh Drescher (their boss?) are in this video about the 12 Days of Mythic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmUIvp1-H24.
 
M

miss uo

Guest
My concern is why has account management been down for days.
 
B

BeefSupreme

Guest
I really think a lot of the UO folks have been pressed into helping on Dark Age of Camelot as they close down the European side of that game by the end of January because they did not renew the license of the company that was running the game for them in Europe.

From what I can gather from comments on the DAoC page on Facebook, no one knows yet whether or not their characters on the European server(s) can be transferred to the U.S. servers. If they can't, how will Mythic or GoA that was handling things in Europe take care of unused subscription fees? Also, the U.S. servers have a cap on how many accounts can be logged on at one time and once it is exceeded, people get the message that the server is full and they can't log in. DAoC's subscription fee is even higher than UO's. Some people are excited about the possibility of moving characters from very dead European servers to fuller U.S. servers, while people who have been playing on those U.S. servers are aggravated over the possibility that they'll have even more instances of not being able to log on.

Sounds like a lot of headaches and an "all hands on deck" sort of situation for the folks at Mythic.

You can see Andy in this video about DAoC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AGjijiBA0I.

Andy, James, and Josh Drescher (their boss?) are in this video about the 12 Days of Mythic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmUIvp1-H24.
From what I can gather, it looks to me like most of the UO guys were fired, and the Dark Age of Camelot & warhammer guys have been put on double/triple duty to maintain UO.
 

Warsong of LS

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I really think a lot of the UO folks have been pressed into helping on Dark Age of Camelot as they close down the European side of that game by the end of January because they did not renew the license of the company that was running the game for them in Europe.

From what I can gather from comments on the DAoC page on Facebook, no one knows yet whether or not their characters on the European server(s) can be transferred to the U.S. servers. If they can't, how will Mythic or GoA that was handling things in Europe take care of unused subscription fees? Also, the U.S. servers have a cap on how many accounts can be logged on at one time and once it is exceeded, people get the message that the server is full and they can't log in. DAoC's subscription fee is even higher than UO's. Some people are excited about the possibility of moving characters from very dead European servers to fuller U.S. servers, while people who have been playing on those U.S. servers are aggravated over the possibility that they'll have even more instances of not being able to log on.

Sounds like a lot of headaches and an "all hands on deck" sort of situation for the folks at Mythic.

You can see Andy in this video about DAoC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AGjijiBA0I.

Andy, James, and Josh Drescher (their boss?) are in this video about the 12 Days of Mythic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmUIvp1-H24.
What about the subscription fees? I believe if you read the tos, which few people do, you agree that have only have to give you 90 days notice of loss of service and they keep any remaining fees. sure daoc has a similar tos
 

DevilsOwn

Stratics Legend
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
What about the subscription fees? I believe if you read the tos, which few people do, you agree that have only have to give you 90 days notice of loss of service and they keep any remaining fees. sure daoc has a similar tos
actually, looks like 30 days if I'm reading their TOS correctly:

"FEES ARE PAYABLE IN ADVANCE AND ARE NOT REFUNDABLE IN WHOLE OR IN PART.


EA reserves the right to change our fees or billing methods at any time. If you pay a periodic (e.g. monthly) subscription for an EA Service, EA will provide you with notice of any changes to the fees or billing methods at least thirty (30) days in advance by posting such changes on the EA Service. You are responsible for reviewing the EA Service to obtain timely notice of such changes. Your continued use of the EA Service thirty (30) days or more after posting of the changes means that you accept such changes. If any change is unacceptable to you, you may cancel your subscription at any time, but EA will not refund any fees that may have accrued to your Account before cancellation of your subscription, and we will not prorate fees for any subscription. If your use of EA Services is subject to use or sales tax, then EA may also charge you for any such taxes, in addition to the subscription or other fees. For further information, visit support.ea.com."

how many were laid off last time, 1700 people or so? I think Tina is correct, they're spread pretty thin right now

and really, we have had some amazing content lately, beautiful new graphics and some hardworking EMs to take up any slack.... I'm pretty well satisfied with all that's been done for us
 

Tina Small

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
What about the subscription fees? I believe if you read the tos, which few people do, you agree that have only have to give you 90 days notice of loss of service and they keep any remaining fees. sure daoc has a similar tos
I think there might have been a separate ToS for the version of DAoC that was being run by the third-party on servers in Europe. I didn't read it in detail when I was browsing their site earlier today.
 

Otis Firefly

Slightly Crazed
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Oh, was that announced on the official UO site (UO Herald) by Mythic? If so please provide link. TY
its very true, and thats just the thing!, they havnt posted any info about it, or why, as soon as Chrissay was let go! the FOF was dead..
incase anyone hasnt noticed, we are all on a need to know basis about anything thats going on...and from the Ask the Devs thread questions that are being answered and lack of any news on the herald!! i think they feel we dont need to know anything lmao
 

Basara

UO Forum Moderator
Moderator
Professional
Governor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Wiki Moderator
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
Also note that, concurrent with the three weeks after Christmas (and actually extending into the week prior), has been a month of the nastiest winter weather that Northern Virginia has seen since the 1970s - if not since before 1900. In fact, a great deal of the eastern US has been literally "under the weather" for the last month, in ways I've not seen since 1976-77, when all the same magazines now screaming about "manmade global warming" were railing on and on about "we're entering a new ice age and man can do nothing to stop it!". How bad? Consider that areas of Central Florida just had over a week of lows below freezing, which is about unheard of. (During which the daily temps for ANCHORAGE ALASKA were higher than some areas in Florida)

In those years, living in the city limits of my hometown and a literal 100 yard walk from the door of my school, we had, perhaps, 5 days at most of school in January, after coming out of Holiday Break straight into school cancellations.

I would not be surprised to hear that for the last 2-3 weeks, that the EA offices in Va have been working at a fraction of normal staff.
 

Lord Gareth

UO Content Editor | UO Chesapeake & Rares News
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Wiki Moderator
No No No Basara No

I walk to work and home up hill both ways! In my Fathers Pajamas!

No one coming to shovel Mesanna's driveway since the House of Commons Developer Chat is no excuse! :lol:
 
R

Reximus

Guest
Judging by the flurry of activity in the last day or two, maybe they were on holidays till the 11th?
 

Salivern_Diago

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
The Five on Friday was replaced with a moderated forum found here.
Which is wrong IMO, Straitics should have no input into what we the PAYING customers of UO want to say to the DEV's. Its a cop out by Cal and a kick in the face for the paying customers of UO. Third party people who are neither employed by EA or come under its Terms of Employment should have no right to what we want to say to the DEV's.

UOHerald.com is the ONLY place things like Ask the DEV's forums and posts should be.. NOT here, Stratics just dosnt cut the mustard.

Sorry but the Mods and Admins here just dont have the right to tell us what we can and cant say to the UO DEV's and teams. Same way that the Admins and Mods here have no right to ban paying UO customers from the forums when essential information is only posted on this site.

So ya... the loss of FoF is a cop out and the replacement here is useless.

Cal... You need to get offical forums back on UOHerald and have the offical stuff avaliable for ALL players not just on this unoffical third party site with no endorsements officaly on the UOHerald pages.

*coughs* rant done :)
 

Tina Small

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Which is wrong IMO, Straitics should have no input into what we the PAYING customers of UO want to say to the DEV's. Its a cop out by Cal and a kick in the face for the paying customers of UO. Third party people who are neither employed by EA or come under its Terms of Employment should have no right to what we want to say to the DEV's.

UOHerald.com is the ONLY place things like Ask the DEV's forums and posts should be.. NOT here, Stratics just dosnt cut the mustard.

Sorry but the Mods and Admins here just dont have the right to tell us what we can and cant say to the UO DEV's and teams. Same way that the Admins and Mods here have no right to ban paying UO customers from the forums when essential information is only posted on this site.

So ya... the loss of FoF is a cop out and the replacement here is useless.

Cal... You need to get offical forums back on UOHerald and have the offical stuff avaliable for ALL players not just on this unoffical third party site with no endorsements officaly on the UOHerald pages.

*coughs* rant done :)
Don't forget that you can always use the Feedback form on the official UO site to make a one-way communication directly to the UO team: http://www.uoherald.com/feedback/index.php.

I also think some fansites re-post the "Ask The Devs" threads on their own sites (e.g., on UOForums, you can find the re-postings in the "UO News" section). And the EA Japan site apparently plans to post translations of new threads in the Ask The Devs forum on Stratics every Tuesday (http://ultimaonline.jp/news.phtml?id=89745). I don't visit the forum that is supposedly popular with UO PvPers, but I would imagine many if not all of the threads in the Ask The Devs forum are being replicated there as well.

Perhaps Petra could tell us if there is any way for someone who has been banned from Stratics to be able to have read-only access for just the Ask The Devs forum. They wouldn't be able to submit questions through that forum but would still be able to use the official EA feedback form for that and hope that if their question is good enough, someone on the UO team would find a way to get it and the reply into the Ask The Devs forum.
 

Salivern_Diago

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Thats the crux of the problem though Tina. Players shouldnt have to registered here to post, they shouldnt have to worry about every single rule or how it could be mis-interpreted (sp?) by the various untrained and non-employed staff on here.

At the end of the day, the only place offical posts should be is on UOHerald and avaliable though the patcher. I've posted on the Ask the DEV's forum about this and even though I dont think it'll get past the staff here, I am hopeful that the Dev's will answer it.

My issue currently is that other people not employed by EA are vetoing players rights to post, what they post and if they deem fit.. to ban the person from seeing essential information. The staff on Stratics do-not come under the terms and conditions of EA employment and they certainly do-not adhere to customer expectational guidlines (Mind you saying that, EA Customer Service dont either... own goal on that one). Stratics like UOForums is only a fan site, but sadly last I checked isnt listed alongside the other Fansites.

If the DEV's are going to post on one fansite then they should post on the others as well... I dont expect them to post on the many hundreds of sites no, but I do expect them to post on the most popular...

Do a search on google for Ultima Online forums or UO forums and you'll get UOForums.com and not Stratics. So guess where new players go to first? It isnt rocket science and its very very simple.
 

Salivern_Diago

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Ah must have been a while then lol.

But even so, the DEV's and EA should comunicate when them all and not just one.
 
R

Reximus

Guest
At the end of the day, the only place offical posts should be is on UOHerald and avaliable though the patcher.
Whilst I can understand while they did it, free moderation, I also agree with the above post.

Stratics is a third-party website in the business of making profit through banner ads, I wouldn't even call it a fan site, the developers should only post on official UO sites.
 
R

Reximus

Guest
I also think some fansites re-post the "Ask The Devs" threads on their own sites (e.g., on UOForums, you can find the re-postings in the "UO News" section).
Which wouldn't be allowed without permission from the copyright holder, which is probably Stratics.
 
A

AdamD

Guest
Which wouldn't be allowed without permission from the copyright holder, which is probably Stratics.
Permission was granted to UOForums a few years back, by the UOSS Managing editor Joshua Rowan and Zigzag (from memory)
 

Petra Fyde

Peerless Chatterbox
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
oki, lets see if I can address some of these:
1. 'Perhaps Petra could tell us if there is any way for someone who has been banned from Stratics to be able to have read-only access for just the Ask The Devs forum.'
Yup, log out. Stratics is publicly viewable, you only need to log in if you want to post.

2.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reximus
Which wouldn't be allowed without permission from the copyright holder, which is probably Stratics.

Permission was granted to UOForums a few years back, by the UOSS Managing editor Joshua Rowan and Zigzag (from memory)
__________________
Yup, I see no reason to change that.

Also:
http://vboards.stratics.com/showpost.php?p=1522414&postcount=18

Stratics is a fansite. Its purpose is to support and help the game and its players. I do that to the best of my ability fulfulling any request from either EA or players as well as I'm able to do, with the help of the other admins, the mods, the reporters and a few content editors.
 
S

sevan

Guest
1. I am thankful for Stratics and its ongoing support of UO since the game (at least as far as I can recall) never had much "support" for users. Official or Unofficial doesnt matter to me this is where I have always gone to know/learn everything UO. Thanks to stratics team!

2. Yes I think that things are quiet now due to the "perfect storm" combination of the holidays, the recent layoffs/cuts and the remaining Mythic teams doing (not so) super secret game development, resource and support sharing - not to mention the before metioned DAoC Euorope takeover - yeah I would say they things are spread too thin.

3. They fired the person who did it.

-Wash Rinse Repeat

Here is looking forward to virtual firestorm of activity soon with the Magencia rebuilding arc!
 
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