Is the castle outdated/impractical and should be discontinued?

[EvilPixieWorks]

Now “New Maginica” is set… and the epic greed breaks house sale records left and right… and we wait for the next round of SPRING CLEANING… I thought I would pose a question based on some chatter going on right now.

Is the classic castle design an outdated and impractical house design?

In other words… should the design be taken off the house placement tool?

Atlantic shard still has some house placement issues for younger players as well as those returning from a few years back. Castles never seam to fall… super rich players buy up entire areas and then place a brand new castle taking up houses that 4 or more people could have had. At least on Atlantic… there doesn’t seam to be any shortage of house area, yet 99% of it is packed and only the small or mid-size spot can be open to a player in need of cheap housing. Some areas… you get clusters of castles. Massive obstacles void of any personality.

As far as I see it… castles are a huge waist of space. I really love the artwork and designs of classic UO. Still, we are talking about a massive building with huge amounts of un-used space. Castles and keeps… both have these unused grass areas inside the 4 walls of the house. If you wish to have a public house with limited access for visitors so you can have private workspace? Forget it! You can't. Not like the classic full tower that has 4 internal doors.

Now… if you could customize a castle… NOW you would be talking!!! I love our custom house system. I see this aspect of our game as one of the top 10 best improvements of the game since EA took over. Luna, #1 worst. Never the less… owning a town of 6 houses, all tricked out all cute and functional… I could so easily place a castle in the spot. Trouble is… my town is for the community, not just for myself. If I could customize the castle… I could easily rebuild the town almost exactly to what it looks like right now.

Disclaimer: I’m not suggesting our staff actually do this. This is only a topic for discussion. If I had a vote, it would be to discontinue castles. 18x18 big boxes are bad enough without the lands being littered with castle size boxes for lack of creativity from some players.

So… what does our community think?

 

[mjolnir131]

no but what really needs to happen with castles and keep is different skins (IE sandstone colored,white marble crystal etc etc) that way they look different and make the area they sit in look unique

 

[Alvinho]

I see this aspect of our game as one of the top 10 best improvements of the game since EA took over. Luna, #1 worst.

So… what does our community think?

I think you need to get your fact's strait, EA was the company that released the Online portion of Ultima, which EA purchased the Ultima franchise from Origin systems, in 1992-93ish, and released the Ultima Online in 1998 to the public out of beta, with the origin logo since it had purchased the company and was under the EA umbrella. All things Ultima Online has always been EA.

 

[Woodsman]

Atlantic shard still has some house placement issues for younger players as well as those returning from a few years back.

If this is a problem, then maybe we should look at a way to get EA to lower prices for people to transfer off.

In the past, there wasn't a way to do so easily, and new players were encouraged to pick lesser populated shards before they were too heavily invested in any shard. Now that it's fairly easy to transfer, maybe we should encourage EA to have a one-time shard transfer discount for the highest populated shards, say the top 3, for people to transfer to lesser populated shards.

That would be something that could be implemented much easier and with less controversy than discussion of doing away with any house footprint.

 

[Nexus]

Atlantic shard still has some house placement issues for younger players as well as those returning from a few years back. Castles never seam to fall… super rich players buy up entire areas and then place a brand new castle taking up houses that 4 or more people could have had. At least on Atlantic… there doesn’t seam to be any shortage of house area, yet 99% of it is packed and only the small or mid-size spot can be open to a player in need of cheap housing. Some areas… you get clusters of castles. Massive obstacles void of any personality.

Really? Last few times I've X-fered to Atlantic and placed a house for my stay there......I managed to quite easily find a max storage house spot in Felucca....

Maybe folks should look throughly before claiming there isn't any space for larger houses.

 

[jack flash uk]

Castle and Keep BASEMENTS!!!!!

so from the outside they look the same

but as these are suppose to be THE best houses, why not allow a sneaky basement to allow owners to customise and play

 

[LoL/Sonoma]

If this is a problem, then maybe we should look at a way to get EA to lower prices for people to transfer off.

I wouldnt mind seeing a *few* shard mergers for the lowest pop shards.

... as to how to do this with the housing and such in UO, i have no idea (and probably can't be done, or it already would have been).

 

[EvilPixieWorks]

Really? Last few times I've X-fered to Atlantic and placed a house for my stay there......I managed to quite easily find a max storage house spot in Felucca....

Maybe folks should look throughly before claiming there isn't any space for larger houses.

Well… answering this question…

On the Atlantic area, it seems ever couple months we get questions about house placement on our shard. Honestly, you know Fel is not ideal for younger players to place houses… come and go, with camped out murderers roaming around. I used to broker houses, back when Fel houses were worth something. hehe. I was done with that on the express train. Still, far as I see it… it's not all that hard to find a free small tower size house or even a sandstone size house in Tram, on Atlantic… placed yourself. It's just a matter of running around.

This thread is for entertainment... yet I see I'm already getting attacked by others. Isn't our community wonderful? I'm not going off topic to respond to OT posts or attacks.

 

[Mapper]

Have you tried looking in Malas for housing spots?

I'd love to see custimizable castles for sure, However I just don't think EA have the time. Especially when house teleporters came out, that to me just seemed like a way of keeping the keep/castle owners quiet for a bit.

 

[Adolphus Wilhiem]

I think you need to get your fact's strait...

You are right, you should get your facts straight.

Origin was sold to EA in September of 1992 because RG and OSI did not have the capital to step into the 'next frontier' of gaming (ie: Ultima Online). While Origin Systems Incorporated DID fall then under the EA 'umbrella' they were given a major amount of freedom as an independent studio under RG's leadership.

Ultima Online was released in 1997. EA didn't take a serious interest in OSI from a leadership point of view until early 1999. It was this when the conflict started between OSI/RG and EA, almost NEVER before that point because they were an autonomous independent studio.

Ultima Online Pre-June 1998 was an Origin product, Ultima Online Post-June 1998 is EA stomping a diamond in the dirt. Thankfully, after 8? years... the current team seem interested in making a positive impact.

Personally, I like the direction of the current game.

 

[Woodsman]

I wouldnt mind seeing a *few* shard mergers for the lowest pop shards.

... as to how to do this with the housing and such in UO, i have no idea (and probably can't be done, or it already would have been).

That's a horrible solution because you are going to **** off 100s of players and whoever loses their shard and has to move to another shard is going to feel like their $10 a month is not worth as much as the $10 a month being paid by those who get to keep their shards.

You're also going to disrupt player communities at a time when player communities are more important than ever.

MMOs that have server/shard merges are usually in serious trouble as well, and if that happened with UO, it'd make UO look really bad in the gaming media. People who hear about it who might have considered trying it or coming back if they had played before are going to assume that UO is on life support as well.

People who think shards should be merged because the player populations aren't as high as they like should probably move to a higher population shard themselves.

 

[LadyNico]

Some of us love castles because they are impractical.

 

[Lorddog]

initially castles wer suppose to be guild centers. now it is way to easy to buy a castle on some shards.
at least the price for a castle should make it very hard to get. perhaps 200M or 500M on prod shards. (50M on seige).

that would at least propel them back to king of the hill status again.

Lorddog

 

[georox]

I would definitely support the idea of removing castle/keep placement. Don't destroy current ones, but if they fall, they stay gone.

 

[Lord Frodo]

Now “New Maginica” is set… and the epic greed breaks house sale records left and right…

What game are you playing? I do not think these new house have even come close to what people were getting for Luna houses. And when you could sell a Castle for RL cash $1,200-$2,000 and gold was selling at $20 per mil. Those Mag. houses have a long way to go.

Oh and all this post is really about is the OP doesn't own a Castle and is mad at those that do.

 

[Taylor]

I like castles and keeps. Don't own one, but would like to. I wouldn't want to see them abolished.

 

[Capn Kranky]

leave castles in the game, but as someone suggested - allow reskinning them to an extent for uniqueness. And there's a bunch of open land in Malas just dying for a castle to be placed! <hint, hint>

I would suggest that of every 15 possible plots in Malas, 1 or 2 could have castles ... ie 6.7 - 13.3% of Malas could be castles.

@Syrus - I had a keep for a while and although the corner rooms were handy for craft segregation, I found the overall design rather clumsy. I'd like to see this particular floorplan rethought even if it was kept as a "Classic" item.

 

[Taylor]

@Syrus - I had a keep for a while and although the corner rooms were handy for craft segregation, I found the overall design rather clumsy. I'd like to see this particular floorplan rethought even if it was kept as a "Classic" item.

I like it for the aesthetics--not the utility.

 

[Gunga_Din]

Castles were meant to run guilds out of , not owned by one person to store his loot. However, since the population is not what it was, Castles have lost their importance.

If you had trusted guild mates

Should castle's exist still? Sure why not, a lot of people make fine museums out of them. I myself placed my first castle a year ago, sold it days later. Why? Just didn't seem right to live in a castle by myself when they were meant to house an entire guild.

People talk about storage, but in honesty, they probably are pack rats storing stuff that should just be tossed anyway.

I don't think they are interfering with available housing space to any great degree, even on atlantic. I can find tons of places there to place. 16x16 plots easily.

Anyway, enjoy your castle lol.

 

[LoL/Sonoma]

That's a horrible solution because you are going to **** off 100s of players and whoever loses their shard and has to move to another shard is going to feel like their $10 a month is not worth as much as the $10 a month being paid by those who get to keep their shards.

You're also going to disrupt player communities at a time when player communities are more important than ever.

MMOs that have server/shard merges are usually in serious trouble as well, and if that happened with UO, it'd make UO look really bad in the gaming media. People who hear about it who might have considered trying it or coming back if they had played before are going to assume that UO is on life support as well.

People who think shards should be merged because the player populations aren't as high as they like should probably move to a higher population shard themselves.

Calm down. I said i wouldnt mind seeing it, but couldnt think of a practical/good way to do it, for all the reasons you stated. I didnt think i had to spell out the negatives since we have all been over them 100 times.

 

[Assia Penryn]

I do not own a castle, nor do I really want to. However, I do NOT think they should be discontinued. Many shards have plenty of house space, even near popular areas. Imposing such a rule on the global community based on the most populated shard is unreasonable. If a new player wants to place a max home to start off with rather than paying more for it from a player, than they can easily choose a shard that better fits their desires.

 

[Woodsman]

People talk about storage, but in honesty, they probably are pack rats storing stuff that should just be tossed anyway.

Given that you can have up to nearly 4,000 items on a 15x15 and above (and use NPCs for BOD storage) it's not nearly as much of an issue that it used to be. I think on a 15x15 and above, you can hit like 3,900 items these days.

 

[nynyve]

I love the concept of a castle--but I hate the current design and color--which I find both impractical and ugly. The are hundreds of gorgeous real life castles that could be adapted to UO castle designs. While we are on the subject, some of these architectural features would make excellent additions to the house tile sets in general. How about some gorgeous gothic turrets? Elegant carve panelling? Frescos?

 

[claudia-fjp]

Half of the servers you can go out and place as many large towers and 18 x 18s as you want. There are even open keeps spots on many. If they were to open castle and keep placement in Malas I seriously doubt there would even be enough players to fill up the empty wasteland on servers like Napa and Castle size areas just sit open on former population centers like Pacific.

Like rats on a sinking ship people actively move to Atlantic because it is the last bastion of a population center in UO. They move there by choice. Since the population is so high real estate is still in high demand and rightly should be more expensive and harder to find. Don't like it? Don't move there. As for new or younger players, whatever you mean by this because I don't buy it that there is a influx of new blood to a game this old with 0 advertisement and shelf presence, they can start off in a 7x7 and work their way up like many of us did.

 

[Aran]

I wouldn't personally own a castle (I like 18x18s, large marbles, towers, etc.) but I don't think they should go anywhere.

 

[EvilPixieWorks]

I love the concept of a castle--but I hate the current design and color--which I find both impractical and ugly. The are hundreds of gorgeous real life castles that could be adapted to UO castle designs. While we are on the subject, some of these architectural features would make excellent additions to the house tile sets in general. How about some gorgeous gothic turrets? Elegant carve panelling? Frescos?

Someone after my own heart.

Not horribly long ago… I designed a little cathedral/abby, complete with basement… more like a catacomb. So much work went into this house… a friend’s house… on a remote area north of Skara Brea… and few people have actually see it. Even for someone who loves custom houses and tries to top themselves from one project to the next, it's fairly stunning considering the limitations of an 18x18 for something so grand. Hehe. I would dread to see what kind of amazing designs could be made on a castle size lot… and people trying to make their own castle designs. I’m sure some could be quite amazing.


I’d also like to say, regarding shard population… Atlantic, and several others have a higher population… and that’s a great thing in the respect if you like a bigger community game. The low population shards, where you can easily find an 18x18 or even a castle… if you are just into your own thing… then you don’t want to be on the high-pop shard. I can see it. I wouldn’t take that away from anyone.

 

[Aran]

I love being able to avoid people. It's better for everyone that way.

 

[Jynxx]

Like rats on a sinking ship people actively move to Atlantic because it is the last bastion of a population center in UO. They move there by choice. Since the population is so high real estate is still in high demand and rightly should be more expensive and harder to find. Don't like it? Don't move there.

This. Nothing else to say.

 

[Zyon Rockler]

In my opinion, Castles and Keeps aren't really that great. I never understood
why people wanted a castle so bad, when all they do, is, take up alot of space and are complicated to place. They really don't have that much of an advantage. If it could be destroyed or if you were using it in PvP, where you actually used all 4 Towers, then maybe, I would want one but I think an 18 x 18 is the best way to go.

It would be nice if you could build a bridge from one 18 x 18 to another or even from one house to an adjacent house. I think it would be better than a castle. The teleporters are also nice, allowing you to teleport from one house to another house or even from city to city. I think the more you see these things, the less people are going to want a castle.

I had a strange dream the other day. For a few brief seconds that I could remember, I was in UO and infront of me, kind of like, a straight on view, was a huge temple. It had two huge, white marble steps on the left and right side and as they came down around, they tapered outward, making the steps larger. The temple seemed to have a box type decoration at the top and then under that was a larger box, where the steps came out. There seemed to be alot of decorative additions, like marble pillars, that seemed to reach up to the sky.

As I walked up the steps, there were huge banisters with pillars and a mermaid was holding one of the pillars. Her tail was a blaze color and her body was a marble. The marble had a glow in it, like a blaze vein. I came up on another statue that looked like one of those pixie, flute players, again, his skin was a marble and his hair was blaze but the marble had veins of like a glowing blaze or amber.

The statues seemed as if they were going to move because they were actual spawns and as I made it to the top of the steps, it appeared to get dark or the sun was just hitting the top of the temple and you could see all of the fire blaze glowing.

It would be neat to have glowing blaze tiles with a marble or a spawn set that you could decorate your house with. I would much rather have something like that than, a castle.

 

[Woodsman]

In my opinion, Castles and Keeps aren't really that great. I never understood
why people wanted a castle so bad, when all they do, is, take up alot of space and are complicated to place.

They are kind of an iconic thing in UO, plus the storage.

As I said, with a 15x15 and above, you can get nearly 4,000 items so the item storage is no longer an issue.

It would be nice if you could build a bridge from one 18 x 18 to another or even from one house to an adjacent house. I think it would be better than a castle. The teleporters are also nice, allowing you to teleport from one house to another house or even from city to city. I think the more you see these things, the less people are going to want a castle.

Agreed. I've seen some interesting designs with people using the house teleporters as a bridge of sorts between side-by-side houses.

 

[Plant Elemental]

I would like to see more areas created for castles, personally. Yeah, they're land pigs, but I wish I had one and there's probably a lot of player who would also like the chance to place one.
On most shards, there's no area left that's large enough to place one. Everyone who pays a monthly fee should have an oportunity to have one if they wish.
Now I'm not saying open up Malas or Tokuno to casles, but maybe create a small land mass for castles, keeps, and such.

Before I get I do have some ideas.

Discontinue the old castle design and create a castle placement tool (players with an old castle will have a legacy castle that can no longer be placed). With this new tool, you can create all size castles with different designs and layouts ranging from anywhere between 25x25 to 40x40. These castles would have customizable interiors and couryards that you can recall into.
These castles would only be placed in the new landmass.

Make these new castles a gold sink too. Originally when castles were implemented at the beginning of UO, 1 million gold for one seemed almost impossible for any one person to get.
Start the small 25x25 castle at 50 million or more.
This way, you have to work for a castle, and actually placing one would once again be a sign of achievment.

Just an idea from a guy who wishes he had a castle.

 

[gunneroforgin]

Speaking as a new castle owner. Don't knock them, yes they are a bad design and they have wasted space but 7500 lockdowns is nothing to shake a stick at. I have 60 % increase thing going too.

 

[Fat Midnight]

actually many and the we've reserved for how much design since you find out who did a city that's going to happen simultaneously out our house at city it's a new vacation. really citation and celeste appears acouple alan any a break for the daily grind so they're going to take a vacation around the world. first coming to the fabrication biometric authentication and get a variety of options. chief city how long i want to go far it also shows me how much will cost even if it's going to take we'd like to say houston can actually go on vacation by themselves or the other families live and you'll get the same and he's an option for people to accept the dickens here instead after taxes here the defecit case's intensity here simpson's houseguest select a destination mildly arrived with that in the neighborhood street where you can see all the luck in the mountain.

 

[viper of flames]

I found 2 18x18 malas plot this week just sitting there.I gave them away to anyone who heard my yell lol. Atlantic has many places all over the place for homes and new players.

Well… answering this question…

On the Atlantic area, it seems ever couple months we get questions about house placement on our shard. Honestly, you know Fel is not ideal for younger players to place houses… come and go, with camped out murderers roaming around. I used to broker houses, back when Fel houses were worth something. hehe. I was done with that on the express train. Still, far as I see it… it's not all that hard to find a free small tower size house or even a sandstone size house in Tram, on Atlantic… placed yourself. It's just a matter of running around.

This thread is for entertainment... yet I see I'm already getting attacked by others. Isn't our community wonderful? I'm not going off topic to respond to OT posts or attacks.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

Ultima Online was released in 1997. EA didn't take a serious interest in OSI from a leadership point of view until early 1999. It was this when the conflict started between OSI/RG and EA, almost NEVER before that point because they were an autonomous independent studio.

You never played Ultima 7 did you? That entire game was a "Take That" directed at EA. The two evil people you tracked were Elizabeth and Abraham, and the generators used by The Guardian you had to shut down and use at the end were the three shapes of EA's brand logo at the time.

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

actually many and the we've reserved for how much design since you find out who did a city that's going to happen simultaneously out our house at city it's a new vacation. really citation and celeste appears acouple alan any a break for the daily grind so they're going to take a vacation around the world. first coming to the fabrication biometric authentication and get a variety of options. chief city how long i want to go far it also shows me how much will cost even if it's going to take we'd like to say houston can actually go on vacation by themselves or the other families live and you'll get the same and he's an option for people to accept the dickens here instead after taxes here the defecit case's intensity here simpson's houseguest select a destination mildly arrived with that in the neighborhood street where you can see all the luck in the mountain.

Huh!

 

[Wenchkin]

When I started in UO, castles were so rare they really were pretty amazing. Really something special.

Now? I think they've become a joke. I can't imagine why anyone would want one now, especially in the supersize housing estates I've seen in once varied areas.

It's too late to get rid of em, too many are placed now. I wouldn't want to see them customisable, if it included the outside structure. But perhaps the devs could open up a competition for players to design new castle sized builds that got added to the menu. So we'd have a bit more variety, but not the uber boxes. Actually you could open that out to include new builds of all different sizes, but designed by players.

The other thing that springs to mind, but wouldn't go down well...make castles a building you couldn't keep private. You could have say a 1 hr privacy feature where you could move secures safely or whatever, perhaps also have a locked inner section. But if you're going to use that much ground space, I think it would be a fair compromise that you have to "share" it in some way with the shard community.

Wenchy

 

[virtualhabitat]

When I started in UO, castles were so rare they really were pretty amazing. Really something special.

Now? I think they've become a joke. I can't imagine why anyone would want one now, especially in the supersize housing estates I've seen in once varied areas.

It's too late to get rid of em, too many are placed now. I wouldn't want to see them customisable, if it included the outside structure. But perhaps the devs could open up a competition for players to design new castle sized builds that got added to the menu. So we'd have a bit more variety, but not the uber boxes. Actually you could open that out to include new builds of all different sizes, but designed by players.

The other thing that springs to mind, but wouldn't go down well...make castles a building you couldn't keep private. You could have say a 1 hr privacy feature where you could move secures safely or whatever, perhaps also have a locked inner section. But if you're going to use that much ground space, I think it would be a fair compromise that you have to "share" it in some way with the shard community.

Wenchy

As I read this thread I can appreciate the some of the sentiments expressed in the form of nostalgia regarding the special status of the castle.
While I have no memories of the game before 2011, I do have some observations I think are relevant.

I was exploring the swamp sort of near Trinsic not long ago on Baja. I didn't count how many castles/keeps there were, but there were a lot. So many I actually laughed out loud at my computer screen. They were crammed up against each other so tightly you couldn't even see the avatar walking on the ground for several screen lengths.

On Atlantic I have wandered all over Malas and marveled at the vast, featureless terrain filled with homes. Granted, they don't all look alike, but there seems to be something eerily familiar about it all.

Then it dawned on me, I was remembering a similarly aesthetically barren wasteland where I used to live in real life. We called it the suburbs. We even went to the big mall for shopping and socializing because there was no real city, just an assemblage of housing and self storage units (we needed the extra storage for we had come to believe the more stuff we had the happier we would be) in the middle of nowhere.

I know as a new player I am supposed to want this sort of thing, but I couldn't help but see the irony of so many giant homes all jammed up against each other. Symbols of having 'made it'.

I am not convinced.

 

[FishinFool]

At this point, all housing should have the same storage space.

Castles should be discontinued, as well as keeps and Ls. I loathe castles, but I do like the keep and L.

Lot size should be for people who want to decorate and make a home. No real reason why someone should be forced into a huge lot they dont want or vice versa.

 

[MalagAste]

I think that they should have a competition to create new castle and keep styles using the same footprint but allowing for change.

I'd like to see about 8 different "unborg" like designs for each of them... and allow Castle and Keep owners to "choose" which design they want to have.

A "faux" custom mode for them.

I seriously want to be able to decorate and control the inner courtyard of my Castle. I'd like to be able to lock things down out there.

I'd like to see the useless spaces in the keeps expanded into a hall in the rear of the keep that enlarges both the rooms back there with a wall and door separating them. I'd like to see the inner "hall" expanded to fill to the West and East so that all those empty area's are usable. I seriously don't that it would be "that" difficult to do.

Owners should then be given the option to "update" their keep. If they have a keep that has something "blocking" such an update then the update would "fail" if not they would get more space.

Same with castles... some new designs that make it more user friendly such as moving the inner keep back against the Northern wall and expanding the keep to fill that entire back would be nice. Something that allowed you larger working space opening up that entire space in the back to a large 2 story building would be nice.... keeping the front the same and extending just one single bridge out to the front... Would allow a castle owner to secure more of the home and give a much larger courtyard... for decorating.

Again upgrading to a new style castle would require a "check" to be made that the area was free of blocking objects but once a check passed the change could be allowed.

I'd like to see a few designs using some of the newer tile sets including a more "oriental" design as well as sandstone and maybe gargish... Something using the dark "evil" tile set would be neat too.... but for the love of all NO crystal..... A Marble castle would be pretty nice as well.

But that's just me.

 

[RueTor]

Interesting overall topic...

"...Again upgrading to a new style castle would require a "check" to be made that the area was free of blocking objects but once a check passed the change could be allowed...."

This comment triggered another idea/enhancement...

Placing anything large item becomes an exercise in "hit and miss" which seems like a great waste of time (for me anyway). It would be nice to have the placement tool or the shadow of the plot to flash or turn "green" if placement was allowable.


I'll go back to my lurking now.....

 

[Tina Small]

At this point, all housing should have the same storage space.

I agree. If EA came out with a reasonably priced booster that accomplished this, I'd have to give serious consideration to purchasing it for the three accounts I still have left open at this point. I have never owned a castle and currently don't own a keep (just two max storage houses and a small tower on Siege). The keeps I once had on LA, Origin, and Oceania are either completely gone or passed on to a guildmate. I finally got used to the layout of keeps, but sure am not crazy about it. Castle layouts impress me even less.

 

[Fayled Dhreams]

At this point, all housing should have the same storage space.

I agree. If EA came out with a reasonably priced booster that accomplished this, I'd have to give serious consideration to purchasing it for the three accounts I still have left open at this point. I have never owned a castle and currently don't own a keep (just two max storage houses and a small tower on Siege). The keeps I once had on LA, Origin, and Oceania are either completely gone or passed on to a guildmate. I finally got used to the layout of keeps, but sure am not crazy about it. Castle layouts impress me even less.

*ahem*

errrr ... no.

Possibly, as a final set of last ditch efforts to retain that "certain number of sub's"
It should be "free" to make all storage counts "the same".

Re: Is the castle outdated/impractical and should be discontinued?
nope
Change the noun set "the castle" for any other "UO" noun set
Play style-s, colors, animation, pets, avatar's, NPC's, interface, subscription model ... etc.
(with appropriate grammar adjustments)
Are UO Play style-s outdated/impractical and should be discontinued?
Are UO colors outdated/impractical and should be discontinued?
Is animation outdated/impractical and should be discontinued?
etc


Is EvilPixieWorks outdated/impractical and should be discontinued?
possibly

 

[Tina Small]

At this point, all housing should have the same storage space.

I agree. If EA came out with a reasonably priced booster that accomplished this, I'd have to give serious consideration to purchasing it for the three accounts I still have left open at this point. I have never owned a castle and currently don't own a keep (just two max storage houses and a small tower on Siege). The keeps I once had on LA, Origin, and Oceania are either completely gone or passed on to a guildmate. I finally got used to the layout of keeps, but sure am not crazy about it. Castle layouts impress me even less.

*ahem*

errrr ... no.

Possibly, as a final set of last ditch efforts to retain that "certain number of sub's"
It should be "free" to make all storage counts "the same".

Okay, I'll buy that.

No, wait....I mean I'll accept that. Make all accounts have the same storage counts. I like it!

 

[Omnius]

I have a customized castle. I love it.

 

[DevilsOwn]

(tiny bit of tootin' my own horn)

some time ago Kurgan held a contest for redesigning castles and keeps.. I won the contest and there were some really great entries

contest winner post

I found the post with a link to all of the designs, but it seems the hosting site is gone? I'll need to check on that and hopefully all that wonderful work is not lost

I have never been an advocate of giving players free rein with that much space, but a few different designs, and as mentioned before choices of materials, would be outstanding

 

[Lord Essex]

I personally think all the classic housing is out of date.. thats not to say I don't love it and in a lotta ways I actually miss just having the classic homes.. In the end though I do feel the castle and the keep as well are well.. stale? but I don't think they should be discontinued I simply think we should be given the option to have larger customizable plots. I loved my castle the storage and the fact I had actually been able to finally own one.. however when I had mine it also was a pain in the arse when it came from moving about or utilizing the space well.. If players were given the choice between a fully customizable 31x31 n a classic castle I think the majority would go with the customizable and I think that is the way the devs should go.. It would also serve to use up some of the empty space on quieter shards as home owners who can't neccisarly place/afford a castle could still upgrade their homes in some cases. Also I think it needs to be said.. there are some places where you can't place customizeable houses but you can place a classic house do to the footprint n stair locations.. (or with castles the courtyards) hence another reason I don't think they should be eliminated but our current options could be expanded

 

[Omnius]

charge us 100million to convert a castle to a customizable castle.

 

[Ancient Sosarian]

Hail Sosarians,

The ages old and timeless story ...our Ancestors and Progenitors Build. Initially, resources are gathered as quickly as is feasible and modest Homes were built as shelter from storm and predator. Villages grew into Towns which in time grew into City-States. Some appreciate and "preserve" what has come before. Others seek only and ever to tear down, redesign, and Build anew following their own ideas of improvement and perfection.

Some, from the first moment they set eyes upon a Castle, desire one, aspire to one day own their own. Others embrace a similar aspiration, not for themself alone, but for their Guild, Alliance, or Faction.

For others it is always and only about three imperatives ...location, Location, and LOCATION!

Still others built Player Built and Player Run "kingdom's," "Township's," and Villages, Museums, Libraries and all manner of Housing and Communities both Large and small.

Castle Courtyards once permitted marked Runes, recall and gate travel, and decorations. Creative, innovative and ingenious Players found paths to Roofs long before our demi-gods, some call DEVils, eased and legitimized such access.

House Teleport Tiles speed travel within and between Castles and Keeps and creative and inventive interior decorators endlessly devise new ways to decorate and use these Classic, Historic, Buildings.

Let those who aspire to own them, and love them, do so.
Let those who despise them and or their owners do so.
Let those who replace them as they Fall do so.
Let those who block their placement do so.

CHOICE and almost infinite diversity by which our people choose to embrace our World have ever been an attraction, and likely ever shall.

Castles, Keeps, L-Shapes, Classics, Customs, Tents, Ocean Liners, Ships, boats, and row boats.

Choose yours. Love them. Enjoy them. Be Happy and Have Fun within and upon them.

Can Our 14th Anniversary be only FIVE Months Away?

Live On, Play On, Preserve and Renew.

An SoS

 

[Korik Bloodguard]

Castles will not go away, there's no way mythic would remove them.

Edit: Nor is there any reason to. People's individual sense of aesthetics is meaningless and will not trump castles.