You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is it?

[popps]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

Turbine: LotRO revenue tripled since going F2P | Massively

Lord of the Rings Online's future is so bright, it's wearing shades these days. At least, according to a new interview at TTH, where LotRO's Kate Paiz and Adam Mersky opened up about the success of the free-to-play conversion. Turbine has seen LotRO's profits triple since F2P along with a huge influx of new players, and that spells good news for the future of the game.

I am sceptical about Free to Play in Ultima Online. VERY sceptical.......

The reason being, that I see so many wanting a Classic Shard, go back to pre AOS UO (when UO's "itemization" started...) and basically criticizing a too heavily itemized Ultima Online and wanting to go back to when skills mattered more.

Well, if ever Ultima Online was to go Free to Play, the source for revenues will come from what ? Items sold for money.

And of course, the more items there will be for players to buy, the more revenues there will be.

So, Ultima Online will sink even more deeply into being itemized.

So I ask myself, which is which, a Classic UO, pre AOS or a UO even more heavily "itemized" ??

 

[Babble]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

I, as many others, also miss very much the perception of a Community that I remember was in Ultima Online time back.

Personally, I think the reason this has been lost is because of changes to the game that made players be capable of being more self sufficient and need much less to rely on others.

Back then we had 5 character slots on a given shard and there were no soulstones to swap skills on and off.

With so many skills and only 5 characters clearly with 1 account it was not possible to handle all processes and activities in UO.

Players had to rely on others, eventually, for some of their needs.

So, I think, if we ever want to go back to promoting Communities it is necessary to find a way that players no longer can be self sufficient in all of their needs.

We cannot reduce the characters' slots though, and neither can we take Soulstones away from people who often spent money to buy them.

So, how to solve the issue then ?

I think that perhaps introducing lengthy and complex crafting processes might be a way.
Like it was done for the Galleons where all processes related to cannons, their loading and firing were rather complex that a sole player might have trouble handling everything.

Sure, a lot of people complained, but we cannot have the cake and eat it too, if we want Community back we also need to have reasons to seek out for fellow players to cohoperate with.....

I think you are wrong in your community assumption.
You probably think that we lost players in the same percantage range from all playstyles, but I doubt that is true.

When shards were full a certain percentage were casual players, some crafters some pvpers, some others.
What happened over the years was that mostly the casuals left, those that needed crafters and the specialized groups, crafters, hardcore pvpers and so stayed.

With the population shift other problems started, but I think one way to battle this would be an influx of new players from all playstyles.

Problem is most things UO does, other games do better these days and there is no incentive to try uo. UO was once special, today it seems just badly maintained. Where EVE gets better every year UO falls behind and it is not graphics alone.

 

[Babble]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

I am sceptical about Free to Play in Ultima Online. VERY sceptical.......

The reason being, that I see so many wanting a Classic Shard, go back to pre AOS UO (when UO's "itemization" started...) and basically criticizing a too heavily itemized Ultima Online and wanting to go back to when skills mattered more.

Well, if ever Ultima Online was to go Free to Play, the source for revenues will come from what ? Items sold for money.

And of course, the more items there will be for players to buy, the more revenues there will be.

So, Ultima Online will sink even more deeply into being itemized.

So I ask myself, which is which, a Classic UO, pre AOS or a UO even more heavily "itemized" ??

F2P and classic are two seperate things.
F2P could bring in new players trying the game, but then you argue for the survival of UO while I still think EA should let it fall already and put it out of its misery.

There are lots of ways you could make money without total itemization too and lots of business models they could use.

Lots was proposed over the years and as they did not change anything I think EA is satisfied with milking the rest of the customer base until swtor is out.

UO costs me €13 a month same as wow, lotr I think costs €10 a month? Does it really seem that EA wants new customers?

 

[Zosimus]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

I am sceptical about Free to Play in Ultima Online. VERY sceptical.......

The reason being, that I see so many wanting a Classic Shard, go back to pre AOS UO (when UO's "itemization" started...) and basically criticizing a too heavily itemized Ultima Online and wanting to go back to when skills mattered more.

Well, if ever Ultima Online was to go Free to Play, the source for revenues will come from what ? Items sold for money.

And of course, the more items there will be for players to buy, the more revenues there will be.

So, Ultima Online will sink even more deeply into being itemized.

So I ask myself, which is which, a Classic UO, pre AOS or a UO even more heavily "itemized" ??

There are many ways for EA/Bioware Mythic to capatalize on UO and satisfy both type of players. Players that want to play classic and players that want items.

For example for the players who want items. Mythic has no issues with adding pixel crack. They could add new tamables, new housing tiles, house deco, arties, ships, ect ect and the list can go on. Heck they could even bring back some old pets like silver steeds and put them in the item shop. F2P would help fill up the current shards we have with a NEW player base. Some UO pay sites atm are now selling fully trained tamed pets. Truthfully overpriced but I bet people are paying for them. Ea is missing the cash bucket right under there nose.

The classic sharders want a pure classic shard. Ok its F2P in the same scenario as above. They could charge for housing deeds so players could place a house. They also could add new classic styles that still fit the era of classic by basically upgrading the old current house styles and still keeping the old style. Im not talking customization or crazy house tiles we have today. Just an improved house style. They could add those to the item shop.

The community wants new players but WE have to make some type of compromise here. Option A: Let the game stay the way it is. Option B: Try to have a classic shard that may bring back some of the former player base. Option C: Go F2P and add a classic shard and gives shards some new life with a new influx of returning and new players. EA has the community eating out of its hands atm. They have a P2P model with an item shop. Now if they could mutiply the current base x 100 if it went F2P it be good for all shards. Some former players like items while others like the classic. It be a win win scenario for everybody.

 

[popps]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

For example for the players who want items. Mythic has no issues with adding pixel crack. They could add new tamables, new housing tiles, house deco, arties, ships, ect ect and the list can go on. Heck they could even bring back some old pets like silver steeds and put them in the item shop. F2P would help fill up the current shards we have with a NEW player base. Some UO pay sites atm are now selling fully trained tamed pets. Truthfully overpriced but I bet people are paying for them. Ea is missing the cash bucket right under there nose.

The problem is, that if 1+1 = 2, when I see new additions like the Forged Metal Tool what else should I think about ?

The community wants new players but WE have to make some type of compromise here. Option A: Let the game stay the way it is. Option B: Try to have a classic shard that may bring back some of the former player base. Option C: Go F2P and add a classic shard and gives shards some new life with a new influx of returning and new players. EA has the community eating out of its hands atm. They have a P2P model with an item shop. Now if they could mutiply the current base x 100 if it went F2P it be good for all shards. Some former players like items while others like the classic. It be a win win scenario for everybody.

But having both a Classic Ultima Online that goes back to before AOS when skills mattered more than items and then have a regular Ultima Online that sinks more deeply into itemization because of the Free to Play, will mean more work for the Developers who will need to maintain 2 separate Ultima Online evolving on a parting way (one on skills the other on items). This means having to think in 2 complete separate ways for one or the other UO.

They can well go for it, I just am concerned that in the end it will be more trouble than advantages and that even if there will be some increased revenues the need to have 2 separate evolutions for basically 2 separate UOs will make things worse as they are today, in regards to available revenues for UO.

It's a bet, and like all bets it could go well but it could also go bad......

 

[Stickypaws]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

Graphics and impatience.

Impatience, the skills I like are taming and stealing. Taming there is no other way to raise other than grind hard taming and killing tames. Theres no way to raise taming through just natural play of the game. Heck I dont even think theres a tame xyz creatures quest? Stealing has improved some in that aspect from being able to steal off monsters, but have you tried raising stealing on a thief doing that? Yes I am impatient.

Graphics, god help me I want to love UO again, I played this game for so long, and loved it so much, and I know its a 10 year old game, but god help me is it ugly! I saw the KR client and to be honest, that looked better than the current one. A game doesnt have to be super duper 3D bling bling to look good, look at Dofus*, that looks stunning for a £3 a month game!

On itemization, 1 of my characters wear armour. None of the rest do. Just a few blessed items (polar bear mask, burglars bandana, haven blessed jewelry, nothing major) and as most who know me will tell you, I get about just fine. My tamer still tames Hiryus, Runebugs, Cu's and Wyrms, my Bard still plays his tunes, my Thieves still go on the rob. My Arcanist visited that Medusa lady the other day and didn't die. If people don't want to use items, its more than possible to play UO without them.

*Dofus looks shweeeet!

 

[Omnius]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

In the absurd case of my friend. He came back and we made crafter/fighter hybrids on siege. Unfortunately, his new miner can only obtain iron and that's made his trial period, unexciting and unenjoyable. We would have rolled different templates if we'd known that his new trial account was so limiting.

Issue: Pay for a game that isn't showing him the old excitement, for the chance of the excitement. Or pay for wow?

 

[popps]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

In the absurd case of my friend. He came back and we made crafter/fighter hybrids on siege. Unfortunately, his new miner can only obtain iron and that's made his trial period, unexciting and unenjoyable. We would have rolled different templates if we'd known that his new trial account was so limiting.

Issue: Pay for a game that isn't showing him the old excitement, for the chance of the excitement. Or pay for wow?

I apologize for my ignorance as I have not opened up a trial account in a good while (years).

When applying for the trial account, before actually starting it, does the player get any information page that tells all of the limitations of that trial account ?

That is, does it say, before opening the trial account, what the differences are between a trial account and a full, regular account ?

 

[Warpig Inc]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

Graphics and impatience.

Impatience, the skills I like are taming and stealing. Taming there is no other way to raise other than grind hard taming and killing tames. Theres no way to raise taming through just natural play of the game. Heck I dont even think theres a tame xyz creatures quest? Stealing has improved some in that aspect from being able to steal off monsters, but have you tried raising stealing on a thief doing that? Yes I am impatient.

There is the Zoo turn in that has tames from buy skill to 120. As far as a thief. That is more for the advanced player and not really for the out the gate player template. Get your tailor/smith BOD runner worked up first so you can salvage things lifted. Thief skill gained based off weight. Start working thief on tailor/smith just to get the daily gain during those BOD runs. Do your stealing out of the barrels on the walls of brits castle. There is a sortment of weighted items in those barrels that can take you to 120. Sell at BOD NPC or salvage the items you steal. Those that think they need to legend a skill in a weekend go turn on the PS / NES. UO will never work for you with that mentality.


Graphics, god help me I want to love UO again, I played this game for so long, and loved it so much, and I know its a 10 year old game, but god help me is it ugly! I saw the KR client and to be honest, that looked better than the current one. A game doesnt have to be super duper 3D bling bling to look good, look at Dofus*, that looks stunning for a £3 a month game!

Like buying the vehicle at a car lot that is purple. Mark down on price due to people wanting other colors. In time you realize the adavantage over the saved money and the hell with what others think because it has grown on you. No matter how cool black is, it is not purple.

On itemization, 1 of my characters wear armour. None of the rest do. Just a few blessed items (polar bear mask, burglars bandana, haven blessed jewelry, nothing major) and as most who know me will tell you, I get about just fine. My tamer still tames Hiryus, Runebugs, Cu's and Wyrms, my Bard still plays his tunes, my Thieves still go on the rob. My Arcanist visited that Medusa lady the other day and didn't die. If people don't want to use items, its more than possible to play UO without them.

Just another way to say what others have stated in threads over the years. PLAY SMARTER, NOT HARDER. Only way to win at UO for me is being the fastest while being the most efficent at doing any task. There is no other end game for UO. Trying to clear hurdles that others set up instead ones you set for your self will just drive you to scooping your eyes out with a spoon in frustratation. Games are to be fun, and when it is not........ its a job. I'm sure LS will hold and get players to show to another mining competition if Moleman promissed to go fishing that day. LOL

*Dofus looks shweeeet!

Back to getting only Spiney Lobster request.

 

[Stickypaws]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

I will hold my hands up to the Tamer one. I wasn't aware there was a normal play way of raising it. I will have to have a nosey at that cause stone me it took a dumb amount of time to get my last tamer to GM let alone Legendary. Although... Above 105 I think I was able to tame Cu's and work the spawn for colours... So that last bit I was able to raise with normal play.

On the thief one, your still not just playing through 'as a thief'. Just stealing out of barrels and off monsters takes such a dumb amount of time to raise, I cant see it as raising the skill through normal play.

Those that think they need to legend a skill in a weekend go turn on the PS / NES. UO will never work for you with that mentality.

Its not about racing to GM, its about getting there with normal play. Not using tailor / smiths / soulstones to raise a skill and at a reasonable pace (last time I did a tamer working harts and that at healers grove that couldnt be considered a reasonable pace).

Edit

Forgot to put in :

Like buying the vehicle at a car lot that is purple. Mark down on price due to people wanting other colors. In time you realize the adavantage over the saved money and the hell with what others think because it has grown on you. No matter how cool black is, it is not purple.

UO is not cheap... It costs more and looks worse... I kinda get what your saying (UO has fab gameplay), but thats a bad analogy.

Also, it still doesn't get past the fact, UO looks awful compared to modern games, even with a client made recently. Gameplay over graphics debates have always been fought, but I would bet EVE and Vendetta have more players than Frontier Elite II has. Pretty graphics have a huge sway on a lot of peoples decision to play a game.

 

[MalagAste]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

I always said they should offer a F2P shard that was pretty much just Trammel, Fel, LL and Ilsh....

Not allow anyone to acquire more than 1million in gold... largest house plot size 8x8... No arties... just craftables ... no bods and no insurance. No powerscrolls either. Anything extra like a deed for a 12x12 plot or adding a second or third character would cost you money.

This gives people the chance to play the game... get their feet wet... learn the skills... and PvP some without paying....

Then if they want to join the "paid" shards.... then they are offered a one time free transfer to a paid shard. However... you can't transfer crafting supplies, wood, ore or anything but gold and that is limited of course to the 1 million. This would keep scripters from mining and lumberjacking on the free shard and then transferring all that to a paid shard.

Then they have 15 days to choose a paid shard and once they lock in their choice they are moved to that shard.



But that was just a thought I had. It would almost be like a pre-AoS shard.

 

[Warpig Inc]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

Good thing the game world has choices to find what one likes. I don't care how modern cars get or their cost. Nothing looks better then a 41 Willy coupe be it factory or rodded. And no matter how much things improve, we as humans can find a way to screw it up.

Taming and thieving far from one another. Stealing still has the wait to use skill timer last I checked. Even after a fail. Been a while though. And unlike taming stealing has no natural skill restrictions. Stealing 30 skills ring and bracelet / 20 stealing legs / 10 stealing head gear. Been to long not sure on buying the skill so how much training do you really need to do?

We 120 taming to the stable slots. Now if they had a 100/110/120 level thieves guantlet dungeon then that be different. Higher stealables from enviroment and creatures there. Stealthers nightmare area effect traps and creatures. Guardian Bloodhounds wandering about with an AI that goes paragon agro on exposed stealthers. Creature stealables not in their loot. Thief does dues quest to earn timed pass to have the right to steal in the thieves guantlet dungeon. Once inside (even in tram side) any player with more then 50 stealing is grey to other players, but cannot start a fight in tram. Exiting the TGD while alive deletes your pass. TGD its own bosses with rare item drops to draw in none thieves. Little pucker factor.

Sure there is no new game mechanics there and the tram side one like to fel have choice not to go there. No griefing in the TGD.


Cards games are old with weak art. Still played even if the paper is pixels.

 

[Omnius]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

I apologize for my ignorance as I have not opened up a trial account in a good while (years).

When applying for the trial account, before actually starting it, does the player get any information page that tells all of the limitations of that trial account ?

That is, does it say, before opening the trial account, what the differences are between a trial account and a full, regular account ?

No. There is nothing to inform the trial player of the differences. Though, it's quickly apparent you can't make a gargoyle and there is no ter mur to visit.

 

[Stickypaws]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

So your saying 'dont train stealing just use items'? Again, thats not 'playing the game' to raise stealing.

As it goes I only have a Burglars Bandana. I would need a lot of items to raise it to 120. With that comes initial buying costs and insurance. No thankya. Im a thief. Insurance and items are not for me. I would rather fully train a skill as I have and do what I want with my character as I do than be restricted to using a full jewelry set, headgear, etc etc.

Not sure what you were trying to say about Taming.

 

[Aragon100]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

What happened over the years was that mostly the casuals left, those that needed crafters and the specialized groups, crafters, hardcore pvpers and so stayed.

Hardcore pvpers was the ones that left and the casual players were the ones that stayed. How you can claim that the ones that lost their playstyle sticked arround is just beyond me. A couple of years after AoS there were very few hardcore pvpers left in the game.

When a game goes from a PvP oriented sandbox to itembased casual the ones that leave is the ones that just lost their playstyle and game. The ones that enjoyed PvE, item gathering and safe play in trammel stayed.

 

[Babble]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

PvPers still have Felucca, but maybe you don't think of them as Pvpers?
Or are you mixing them up with PKing?

 

[Galad]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

I'd come back if the game went free-to-play. But otherwise, the game is so broken, I'd only come back for UO2.

 

[Zosimus]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

The problem is, that if 1+1 = 2, when I see new additions like the Forged Metal Tool what else should I think about ?




But having both a Classic Ultima Online that goes back to before AOS when skills mattered more than items and then have a regular Ultima Online that sinks more deeply into itemization because of the Free to Play, will mean more work for the Developers who will need to maintain 2 separate Ultima Online evolving on a parting way (one on skills the other on items). This means having to think in 2 complete separate ways for one or the other UO.

They can well go for it, I just am concerned that in the end it will be more trouble than advantages and that even if there will be some increased revenues the need to have 2 separate evolutions for basically 2 separate UOs will make things worse as they are today, in regards to available revenues for UO.

It's a bet, and like all bets it could go well but it could also go bad......

Popps, Bioware Mythic has mutiple DaoC cluster shards including a classic DaoC server. Why is it so hard for some to understand this? This "MYTH" that players believe on costs and why you should pay a subscription is false.

Guild Wars is a B2P. They added a item shop of recent for the current Guild wars game since GW2 is almost on release. They had to keep players interested some how. They do not charge a monthly fee you just buy the game. I posted Arenanet's response on how gaming companies should be able to back up a subscription base game. Mythic imo has failed in this department. I do read many of your posts/topics about issues you have with this game. I could go back and quote many issues since the high seas came out that you alone have posted. Now tell me Popps.....after your issues/complaints...you would still argue that UO should not go to a F2P model? Do you truly think they deserve your money when you post many times over issues you are definelty not happy with?

Why exclude a part of the player base if they want the game to mean skills over items. If people would come back for a classic shard then why are some of the current community against it? It's almost like some in the community are saying, "hey we dont need more people but lets keep continuing to slowly kill the game of its players." UO is more complicated them most MMO's out now days.Who needs a manual to understand UO now days? You need a novel instead .

Popps we need players plain and simple. We need new players, not just returning players. If you have an answer on how to do that then please tell us how to do it.

 

[HD2300]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

The problem is, that if 1+1 = 2, when I see new additions like the Forged Metal Tool what else should I think about ?




But having both a Classic Ultima Online that goes back to before AOS when skills mattered more than items and then have a regular Ultima Online that sinks more deeply into itemization because of the Free to Play, will mean more work for the Developers who will need to maintain 2 separate Ultima Online evolving on a parting way (one on skills the other on items). This means having to think in 2 complete separate ways for one or the other UO.

They can well go for it, I just am concerned that in the end it will be more trouble than advantages and that even if there will be some increased revenues the need to have 2 separate evolutions for basically 2 separate UOs will make things worse as they are today, in regards to available revenues for UO.

It's a bet, and like all bets it could go well but it could also go bad......

Popps, Bioware Mythic has mutiple DaoC cluster shards including a classic DaoC server. Why is it so hard for some to understand this? This "MYTH" that players believe on costs and why you should pay a subscription is false.

Guild Wars is a B2P. They added a item shop of recent for the current Guild wars game since GW2 is almost on release. They had to keep players interested some how. They do not charge a monthly fee you just buy the game. I posted Arenanet's response on how gaming companies should be able to back up a subscription base game. Mythic imo has failed in this department. I do read many of your posts/topics about issues you have with this game. I could go back and quote many issues since the high seas came out that you alone have posted. Now tell me Popps.....after your issues/complaints...you would still argue that UO should not go to a F2P model? Do you truly think they deserve your money when you post many times over issues you are definelty not happy with?

Why exclude a part of the player base if they want the game to mean skills over items. If people would come back for a classic shard then why are some of the current community against it? It's almost like some in the community are saying, "hey we dont need more people but lets keep continuing to slowly kill the game of its players." UO is more complicated them most MMO's out now days.Who needs a manual to understand UO now days? You need a novel instead .

Popps we need players plain and simple. We need new players, not just returning players. If you have an answer on how to do that then please tell us how to do it.

Popps, imagine now that they have to bug fix production shards and a classic shard what happens with bugs... instead of taking 3 months to fix fishing ps drops it takes 6 months. Enjoy.

You want lots of players, the answer is JUST F2P. Change a 14 in the code for the 14 day trial to 10000, and you get a 10000 day trial. Done.

 

[popps]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

You want lots of players, the answer is JUST F2P. Change a 14 in the code for the 14 day trial to 10000, and you get a 10000 day trial. Done.

I'd wish things were all easy fixes, but there are things which also bring big headaches...

Rightfully, trial accounts were severely limited because they were being exploited by scripters and dupers and cheaters.

Just changing the time limit to those would help little because who'd like to mine plain iron ore and wood forever and not have access to Ter Mur for good, just for example ?

And if we go back to trial account being full accounts as they were, we'd negate the protection against scripters and cheaters that was necessary to introduce.

What I am trying to say, is that while I agree 100% that we need more players and the more the better, I am not so sure that going Free to Play is the correct answer.

It is not, I think, when in an already heavily itemized game the main source of revenue will be selling new items for money and the more the better. This is sinking Ultima Online more deeply into the itemization which so many are screaming against when they ask for a Classic shard and to go back to pre AOS UO (when UO started being more heavily item based, rather than skill based).

I too support a skill based game rather than an item based one but I do have a concern that it might be difficult and costly to develop and maintain an Ultima Online diverting on 2 entire separate paths, one that goes even more item based and another that goes skill based.

I do not have the informations necessary to make a responsible judgement, only the Developers and the Company has them. They have to look at their costs table, make their bets, run a few prediction of revenues expected if they go Free to Play and figure out whether the expected revenues are sufficient to be able to fully develop, support and maintain 2 entire separate games.

And I stress the word fully..........

I do not want to see either of these 2 games, because it will be 2 entire separate UO games..... be neglected favouring the other because of a lack of resources.

They either must be run, developed and maintained, fully both of them, or the idea need to be scrapped and only one of the 2 options must be chosen.

And if Ultima Online is to be going Free to Play and there is no room for 2 separate development teams, one covering the item based, the other covering the skill based UO then I can only see an item based future for UO and a permanent scrapping of any ideas of Classic Shards or Ultima Online going back to pre AOS stages.....

I just simply do not think that we can have the cake, and eat it too......

That's at least how I personally see it.

 

[Babble]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

Just to throw something in.
F2P does not mean there is no subscription possibility
LOTR has subscriptions or buy options.

UO could charge a $5-$15 subscription for everyone who wants to have a house in UO.

Check out LOTR for the amount of options they have

F2P is the way the industry will go soon except the big blockbusters maybe

 

[Zosimus]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

Atlantic Server atm is saving this game. Once Atlantic population falters then we can discuss what is needed to be done. Basically the topic is going off track so lets get it back on track.

 

[Zosimus]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

Just to throw something in.
F2P does not mean there is no subscription possibility
LOTR has subscriptions or buy options.

UO could charge a $5-$15 subscription for everyone who wants to have a house in UO.

Check out LOTR for the amount of options they have

F2P is the way the industry will go soon except the big blockbusters maybe

I agree with Babble on this. F2P is the way the MMO industry is going. B2P will still be around. Once WoW falters they will follow the same course. Its not a bad thing but some players in UO are totally against it. I guess empty shards means more pixels for players with a bad in game economy to boot. F2P is what will keep me playing UO. Classic shard is a must for me. Let me the player to have the option to buy items if needed, Let me as the player if I want a house I pay 10 bones a month. I dont hate items but I want the game to have meaning more then items.

 

[HD2300]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

Just changing the time limit to those would help little because who'd like to mine plain iron ore and wood forever and not have access to Ter Mur for good, just for example ?

Thats the whole idea. In F2P, the F2Pers have to buy the SA expansion to get access to that content. i.e. they pay extra for content, such as ML and High Seas, and items such as Ethereal Chargers.

There are different F2P business models. In some F2Pers and subscribers are on separate servers. In some, they share a server with subscribers and the subscribers have housing included and credits to buy stuff.

And when you say "many" what is "many"? 15 people? Of these 50% are not existing subscribers paying EA already... of these 50% wont play if it isnt F2P... of these 50% wont be happy if there isnt continuing development like a new Justice system. Just because 10 people and their alt forum accounts spam the forums doesnt mean that there is a "massive" demand.

 

[Zosimus]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

Thats the whole idea. In F2P, the F2Pers have to buy the SA expansion to get access to that content. i.e. they pay extra for content, such as ML and High Seas, and items such as Ethereal Chargers.

There are different F2P business models. In some F2Pers and subscribers are on separate servers. In some, they share a server with subscribers and the subscribers have housing included and credits to buy stuff.

And when you say "many" what is "many"? 15 people? Of these 50% are not existing subscribers paying EA already... of these 50% wont play if it isnt F2P... of these 50% wont be happy if there isnt continuing development like a new Justice system. Just because 10 people and their alt forum accounts spam the forums doesnt mean that there is a "massive" demand.

So where are you gathering your fudged numbers from? Quit making this topic a debate over classic and non classic. Popps asked a question people have responded. You are turning it into a debate. We know you hate a classic so quit making up numbers to support your theory.

 

[Aragon100]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

PvPers still have Felucca, but maybe you don't think of them as Pvpers?
Or are you mixing them up with PKing?

Guess i misread your post. If it were felucca you talked about then you're right.

 

[Gellor]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

I stopped playing probably 8 months ago. I let my last account lapse August or so.

My largest issue is EA's apparent lack of commitment to fixing bugs in a timely manner.

No, I'm not talking about cheating and cheat programs. I am strictly talking about bugs introduced by EA that never seem to get fixed.

I would consider coming back for a classic shard but that is about the extent of what I'd really come back for.

 

[Tanivar]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

One big point of going F2P EA has to consider is that most of the anti-AoS crowd who hate the itemization of UO will not buy the P2P items and not put another penny in EA's pockets. Those who play UO because they can do it with an older computer that still does all they want it to do and don't want to spend more than they have to play the game will buy little or no P2P items, People who just enjoy playing the game and don't have to have the latest, greatest, uber duber superduper hot new items will not buy much of the P2P items. UO could find itself one hurt pup profit-wise.

Would there be enough people willing to pour well above $13.00 a month into UO to make up for those who will not be paying anything per month anymore to play UO?

 

[Clx-]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

archive.org is a great tool for seeing how UO has died.

Some past snapshots of owo.com show over 50,000 total guilds. Currently showing 12,000. Drachenfels, for instance is down from 2,300 guilds in a 2001 snapshot to 400 or so now. The fall is even more extreme with some asian shards.

This game is dead unless it returns to it's roots instead of trying to be a WoW/EQ clone, but I don't think EA are willing to allow the dev team to do it in a way that would be acceptable to most of us, even if they are capable, which is obviously debatable.

 

[HD2300]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

One big point of going F2P EA has to consider is that most of the anti-AoS crowd who hate the itemization of UO will not buy the P2P items and not put another penny in EA's pockets.

... So it would be silly to build a F2P Classic shard for the anti-AoS crowd because they hate items and wont/don't need to buy anything from EA's cash shop.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

... So it would be silly to build a F2P Classic shard for the anti-AoS crowd because they hate items and wont/don't need to buy anything from EA's cash shop.

Hey...I finally agree with HD2300 for once! rolleyes:

He is right...F2P is not the right model for UO. As it stands, they are operating on a skeleton budget. I don't really think cutting off the only steady, reliable source of venue the game has is a good idea. Sure, there are a few people posting here that would like the game to be F2P because they want to save the $13/mo...but it's not really the best idea for the game itself.

If EA were to do anything involving F2P, it should be on the existing shards. Make it so that you cannot get artifacts, housing, most pets, etc. unless you either pay your subscription, or pay per item (ex: UOPlayer A decides to convert his account to F2P. Any house or houses on the account should immediately go IDOC. In order to keep keep the house from falling, a lesser monthly charge, or yearly charge, could be paid. When a F2P player enters into a dungeon...like Doom for example, a message should appear telling them that they need to purchase something in order to be eligible for artifact drops.) Another idea...make insurance cost real money for F2P players. You die, your insurance cost is like $0.50. That brings a little risk back into the game!

If EA were to do a classic shard, it should be straight up subscription players only, with NO items, advantages, or gold being sold for that shard...ever.

 

[Tanivar]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

Another idea...make insurance cost real money for F2P players. You die, your insurance cost is like $0.50. That brings a little risk back into the game!

Youch! <laugh> I think the ML dungeons and the Abyss would become very expensive to hunt.

If EA were to do a classic shard, it should be straight up subscription players only, with NO items, advantages, or gold being sold for that shard...ever.

 

[Warpig Inc]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

So your saying 'dont train stealing just use items'? Again, thats not 'playing the game' to raise stealing.

As it goes I only have a Burglars Bandana. I would need a lot of items to raise it to 120. With that comes initial buying costs and insurance. No thankya. Im a thief. Insurance and items are not for me. I would rather fully train a skill as I have and do what I want with my character as I do than be restricted to using a full jewelry set, headgear, etc etc.

Not sure what you were trying to say about Taming.

It is a choice like those that only like to RP. My thief carried 888 total skill points before imbuing entered the game. on the other hand I had only 3 insured item on one the earliest stealth archers. So I understand running a character light.

Other characters support each other. Make a check and pass it on or not. The total death cost of my thief doesn't come close to what my tamer tossed on the ground to lazy to carry to the bank in one hunt.

The Taming skill is far more fun to train then stealing. Stealing ranks closer to poisoning.

 

[HeadOn]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

There are many reasons why I haven't resubscribed.

- Friends no longer play.

- Graphics are too dated compared to this days standards.

- Do not like the user interface.

- Costs too much - I am not going to pay a monthly fee when there are plenty of places to play free games like LotRO.

- Lost the feel of what UO was. It reminds me more of a big city then an medieval country feel. Everywhere you look are big houses packed with vendors.



This is just a start of why I really don't have a desire to come back.

 

[Stickypaws]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

It is a choice like those that only like to RP.

If I were to choose to RP it wouldn't cost me anything.

 

[Violence]

^.^

Cheating. It's why I left, and why I haven't returned. It's why I had left earlier too though then I would still come back for more. And did I always find more.. Cheating.. By this I mean ALL forms of it. Dupes, scripts, speeding. I don't care if some of you believe they are harmless or magically lower your potential and so on. I don't care if they take a load off people's shoulders.

But what kept me away for good was more than 50% contributed to that last barrage of claims of actions taken against cheating.

There are a few other minor reasons like absense of true dual wield, potions being OPed, Poisoning riding the same shaft as ever, pure classes being nearly obsolete.. Think about running pure warriors.. Anyway, things like that. I doubt anything can make me come back. I wish to add that I was also stressed by how the market went in UO, with all the gold purchases and such. Even though I had taken advantage of such services numerous times for quite a lot of gold each time. Perhaps this further points out how boring gold making was made in regard to how much gold you need. Yeah, even with imbuing.

 

[Demonous]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

well ill tell you one thing, i play ultima online, and i also play darkfall, darkfall is an mmo almost 2 years old now, it is similar to how UO was before renaissance came out, risk in everything you do, pks can be anywhere, you are never safe, i enjoy that type of game play, unforunately about 90% of mmo players do not for some reason which i was sad to find out, i just think a challenge in all i do is more exciting

but anyway lemme get to my point, a large part of darkfall's population is made up of ex-UO players that played between 1997-1999, they are the griefers, the people many people hated, the reason tram was probably created, many of these players would come back to UO to play a classic shard, i have talked to them and this is the truth, IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME ! so thats whats stopping those people, hey griefing is part of the game, i always thought it was very humorous myself

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

Well...to be fair, what one person considers "griefing" is just competitive game play to another. There are lots of Trammel players that believe that anytime another player does anything negative to them, be it PKing, stealing, saying an unkind word, looking at them the wrong way, walking in their general vacinity, wearing the same outfit they have on, killing the same monster they wanted to kill, etc. that it is "griefing".

Real griefing...using racial slurs, sexual harrassment, etc. is against the rules of conduct of the game. Those types of players have no place on the existing shards, nor any classic shard that should ever be created.

 

[Kael]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

Like many I yearn for the days of a real community in UO...sadly until another option comes forth ( some form of classic shard) most won't log back in and renew their accounts

I, as many others, also miss very much the perception of a Community that I remember was in Ultima Online time back.

Personally, I think the reason this has been lost is because of changes to the game that made players be capable of being more self sufficient and need much less to rely on others.

Back then we had 5 character slots on a given shard and there were no soulstones to swap skills on and off.

With so many skills and only 5 characters clearly with 1 account it was not possible to handle all processes and activities in UO.

Players had to rely on others, eventually, for some of their needs.

So, I think, if we ever want to go back to promoting Communities it is necessary to find a way that players no longer can be self sufficient in all of their needs.

We cannot reduce the characters' slots though, and neither can we take Soulstones away from people who often spent money to buy them.

So, how to solve the issue then ?

I think that perhaps introducing lengthy and complex crafting processes might be a way.
Like it was done for the Galleons where all processes related to cannons, their loading and firing were rather complex that a sole player might have trouble handling everything.

Sure, a lot of people complained, but we cannot have the cake and eat it too, if we want Community back we also need to have reasons to seek out for fellow players to cohoperate with.....

Limit a classic shard to one char per account. No soulstones on this shard

It seemed like when I first started playing the game (just after the introduction of Ish) that to GM a skill was a long painstaking process.

You also counted on the community to help provide the basics (Brit Smithy for gear/repairs, Bank area's for a horse/llama even a mage in the group just for a gate)

Communities kept people playing the game. Hell by not even having a house for the first year or so it probally made me 30 friends in the game just by everyone banking and logging in old Haven. Perhaps just dumbing down the game is the key.

 

[popps]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

Perhaps just dumbing down the game is the key.

Keep it simple...........

 

[Babble]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

I guess it is easier to get customers returning that new ones.

But with what argument can UO these days really get their former players to return?

I see no change over the last 5-7 years that made UO that much better, so people would return in droves.

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

Real life time constraints. It's rather simple. I'd rather not drop 15 bucks a month on something, I would very rarely play. If I Jones for UO too much, I can always play it for nothing, although for the last 6 months or so, I haven't even been bothered enough to do that.

I think I am finally over my UO addiction, and I bet my wife if happy about it...la

 

[Trebr Drab]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

Real life time constraints. It's rather simple. I'd rather not drop 15 bucks a month on something, I would very rarely play. If I Jones for UO too much, I can always play it for nothing, although for the last 6 months or so, I haven't even been bothered enough to do that.

I think I am finally over my UO addiction, and I bet my wife if happy about it...la

That depends on what you are stealing from her. heh

 

[Cybrdragon]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

What all the other posters said. Many good reasons/ideas have been given here.

My main reasons at this point:

1) Just bored. Feel like I have "been there/done that" many times over.
2) Game doesn't feel the same as it did years ago/totally different game.
3) I'm also in the "Age of Shadows radically changed/ruined UO" camp.
4) All my UO friends are mostly gone/lost touch with, guild is inactive.
5) Annoyed that my houses fell and I lost all my stuff. Don't like having to pay to keep housing.
6) I play WoW now and have for about 3 years. WoW has such an interesting background/story to it, and all the quests relate to that story somehow. WoW devs also attempt to keep some sort of balance in the game as well as overall themes. UO feels like a cobbled-together mish-mash of ideas and themes that has no true identity anymore.
7) I tried coming back after spending two years in denial that I was truly done with UO and deactivating my accounts. I would run around for about five minutes and remember why I quit before. It just doesn't hold my interest anymore. There are many ways the dev teams could have addressed this, but they always failed. I got very tired of the words "soon" and "secret project" and "in development" and finally realized that nothing would ever come of any of the promises made by them. I'm sure the UO devs are nice people but they just never were given the budget or leadership to really make much of the game after about the year 2000 or so.

I think that most people that play an MMO play it for about a year and then lost interest. Hardcore players play for about 3-5 years. It's incredible that so many of us played UO for over ten years before finally admitting we were "done" with it. I think ten years is long enough for one thing. I finally got bored and moved on. I was made to feel like some sort of traitor for leaving, but finally realized that it's not a big deal to try new things. I guess I finally grew up and quit worrying what other people think. I think it's funny to see how defensive people on these boards get about the game that they are so invested in.

I wish the best for all those still playing UO, and remember fondly my early days in the game. Nothing will ever feel like that again. I am a loner in WoW, but that may be because I have changed, and not the MMOs. I have a family and have less time now. I am envious of those that can spend hours upon hours building the kind of comraderie that we used to have in UO. The only thing I have ever done that compares is being part of a band in real life. The teamwork was fun, the relationships were awesome. The game was great. I left UO with fond memories and don't regret the time I spent here.

May you all enjoy whatever time the game has left. Maybe it will go on forever!

 

[Amren]

Re: You are thinking of returning to Ultima Online but "something" holds you: what is

My situation is a little different. I have 1 open account (I sold my second account which had a Large Tower) for real $$$. That was easy money.

Any way, I barely play UO any more. We are talking any ware from 1-4 hours a month. That's a big difference between when I'd skip school (and later, work) to play this game. Sometimes I just feel like I am paying just to keep my pixel crack, because I know a large chuck of that junk (even the castle it's self) would be impossible to get back.

So, what would need to be done to have me play more?

1) more frequent events.

2) More variety in ingame events. It all just seems to be killing mobs in town

3) Classic Server

4) More interesting pvp

5) More new quests added frequently. I Think I have done it all

6) All the EC features added to 2d client

7) Mobs that are not soloable and require teamwork to kill

8) Complete the virtue system, and any other broken/unfinished system