Sudden?
OT: Please feel free to take a look at my posting history. I may not have posted that much here, but I have been posting in this forum long before this change took place. So instead of trying to be the class tattle tale, do a little research before spouting off.
Back on topic: Anyway, this post is more of a large scale indictment than the little things that have been corrected from time to time over the years. The suggestions by players in a large scale have been ignored. Why do you think that is?...la
The answer is actually relatively simple.
First, I don't think they ignore the suggestions - I think it's more to the effect of noted, then discarded.
One of the problems is that there is too much diversity in the player base. Too many cliques, if you prefer. And the devs are betting that if you do something that pleases clique A, you are going to make clique B mad enough to quit. In their minds, it's safer to make everyone mad at once, and betting that, with the general mentality of the UO playerbase (that being, for all its faults, there's still nothing better), they aren't going to go anywhere. This is especially true since AoS - there's been nothing remotely close to the wide-sweeping changes since then.
Then there's the silk purse out of a sows ear mentality - and in the current era of MMO's, and gaming in general, UO is a sows ear. Sure, there is a rapidly decreasing contingent that thinks that overhead 2d is the best thing out there, but that crowd is shrinking, and has been obsolete for years. I think that, secretly, the devs and EA wished that we would just go away. There's really no such thing as an unemployed game developer. They just go to work for a different company, or go into a different branch of computer work. Especially if they are good, or have a *name*. I have no empirical numbers, but I'd be willing to bet that the start-ups are very close to being on par with the number of lay offs we are seeing.
I see the second biggest problem being EA itself. I think they finally realize that, when it comes to MMO's, they suck. Other than UO, they have yet to front a successful title, and in the overall scheme of things, UO is a fart in the wind compared to any other successful MMO, starting with Everquest, and going all the way through to WoW. There's been nothing innovative or cutting edge in UO since, well, 1997. And again, I think the blame can be squarely laid at the feet of EA. (Some) people gripe about the lack of a decent 3d client. It's not like they haven't had the staff or talent to do it. They've never had the complete backing to do it. And yes, it can be done - Everquest did a complete and total change from a Glide based client to a DX based client back when Shadows of Luclin came out. And it brought them into a more modern era. EA abandoned the Third Dawn client (arguably the best of the new ones). They abandoned the KR client. And the SA client is just a watered down, bestiality induced offspring of the KR client and a dinosaur 2d client. And given the fact that UO has licensed one of the best 3d engines on the market right now, that's a damned shame.
Finally, the biggest problem of all? The players. Especially the ones on Stratics. Just about everyone here has this giant sense of entitlement - that somehow, EA/Mythic *OWES* them something. And to a degree, they are correct. The issue is, nobody can, or will, agree to what it is they are owed, or deserved. There's the faction that feels they are owed a classic server. There's the faction that feels they are owed something on Siege. There's the faction that says they are owed something when it comes to T-Hunting/Fishing... crafting... PvP... PvM... hell, there's even a multi-tiered faction that, in one form or another, is advocating their right to cheat. And, right or wrong, the primary activity has not been discussion, but rather, shouting the other group down, and, somewhat humorously, shouting down people in their own faction. It makes UO, which is supposed to be *THE* sandbox, seem more like a sandbox at the local kindergarten or nursery school. And like them, loath them, whatever, the one thing the devs don't have to be is Ms. Sally from Romper Room.
And, given that, is it any real surprise that the devs, on occasion, push the mute button?
I am owed that I believe.
