Why something needs to be done about test center

[Cetric]

And why char copy is a bad idea if you can look past the benefits of testing.

All screenshots were taken within minutes of each other.

Here is Atl... deemed by everyone to be the most popular server with the highest population

Here is GL, what many people believe to be in second

Here is Chessy, somewhat known as a shard many pvp on.

Pacific.. the most popular shard on the west coast

And low and behold... here is test center... you know, the shard for testing? Oh somehow its the most active pvp shard too... with all its zero gm support, rampant crap, exploiting, etc.

Thanks char copy, for making something that has drove me nuts for years.. worse.

 

[Fat Midnight]

.........and?

 

[Buns Of Glory [ATL]]

Isn't there more important things to pancake about? How about you take advantage of no one in fel and do some champ spawns? FFS.

 

[Viper09]

So? Test has ALWAYS looked like that. Also you need to keep in mind that high times for each shard is not always the same and are not always consistent. You can't argue that character copy is sapping players from every shard based on one single moment when you decided to post this.

Also an obvious point here: For a short period of time people will be simply testing this to see how it works because this character copy is new.

 

[Vlaude]

I haven't had this much fun on UO in a long time.

 

[Cetric]

Isn't there more important things to pancake about? How about you take advantage of no one in fel and do some champ spawns? FFS.

lol... i dont need any scrolls sry.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

I believe I remember you suggesting this could happen when they first officially announced character copy.

You may well be right.

Let me suggest something, though: Wasn't the situation quite similar whenever there was something new to play with on Test Center, just you had to take an extra hour or two to build a suit?

Like I said you may well be right. I'm just suggesting maybe this is just another "big thing of the moment" and folks will get over it.

-Galen's player

 

[Fayled Dhreams]

Well ... your pictures >may show<
That it is Test, not atlantic ...
that is the most populated shard
(sorry, popular is determined by koolkids ... ipso facto non redacto)

'sup? didn't they invite you?
Party Crash!

Nuts! (they say)
he found us!

Char Copy ...
is for peeps too lazy to learn to type
Set *skill* ...

"A Better" improvement for test will be
Select item
Set sliders for custom item attributes
(fine tune the items you brought with ya)

Look past the benefits of testing ...
*ahem*


no

 

[Promathia]

Its the first day. I know me and my guildies went on test, we BS'd for awhile, but now we are all back on Atlantic.

 

[Clog|Mordain]

I do agree with the OP. But on the other hand. I wish I had a a good ping to TC from Australia. Fighting the same duds day in, day out gets quiet boring.

 

[Viquire]

Why are we judging a servers population by the Yew gate again? I mean really, don't most of us have better things to do by now?

If you are new to, or alone on test, it seems a likely place to get something started, but what happens next?

They said copy would be the precursor to testing Arenas. So, now we have something to wait for, worth waiting for.

 

[Petra Fyde]

zero gm support, rampant crap, exploiting, etc.

Here's a theory for you. If the pvpers who indulge in all the 'rampant crap, exploiting etc' shift to playing test center - then that leaves the regular shards free for those who don't indulge in that stuff to play legit, and for those who left because of the 'rampant crap' to make a jubilant return?

Since it's mostly the moongate hopping Yew gate crowd that go there the rest of the shard is free for genuine testers to do what the shard is for, testing. I would suggest that testers use the 'help' channel in chat and leave the 'general' channel for the filthy mouthed crowd to pollute.

Test center does get wiped. This one is based on GL, not too long ago we had an Atlantic based TC and with character copy in place we may get one that isn't a copy of an active shard at all.

 

[Theo_GL]

I've said this for a LONG time now....

We should have a permenant 'Test Shard'. IE a shard where all resources are free and people can freely set skills.

This would eventually be the PvP shard since most of the PvP crowd wants everything equal and don't want to be forced to PvM for things.

Kill Baja or Legends or some other dead shard and make it into a "Set Skill' shard. Let people char copy there and there are quite a few people that would be very happy with that on an on-going basis.

 

[Vlaude]

I've said this for a LONG time now....

We should have a permenant 'Test Shard'. IE a shard where all resources are free and people can freely set skills.

This would eventually be the PvP shard since most of the PvP crowd wants everything equal and don't want to be forced to PvM for things.

Kill Baja or Legends or some other dead shard and make it into a "Set Skill' shard. Let people char copy there and there are quite a few people that would be very happy with that on an on-going basis.

I agree with this. Doing something like this is the next best thing after no classic shard. The point to requesting a Pre-AoS shard is exactly as you said, balance and no monotonous PvM to get the best items.

 

[unified]

I agree with this. Doing something like this is the next best thing after no classic shard. The point to requesting a Pre-AoS shard is exactly as you said, balance and no monotonous PvM to get the best items.

This great idea also has some good PvM implications. Even so, it may cause me to return to PvP.

 

[unified]

Thanks char copy, for making something that has drove me nuts for years.. worse.

If what you say is true, then there is a reason for people leaving for TC, and this is what needs something done about. Some folks may go to test because it is the best place to engage in fights with folks from other shards without having to start all over again or xfer. There is nothing bad in that. Keep in mind that there are so many other reasons for population decline, including the measurement of risk. When I PvP, I left Chesapeake a long time ago because of lag back then, and I left Atlantic because of so many reverts and losing things.

 

[MalagAste]

One good thing about Character Copy and test..... folk really are going to get a sense of how bad the Crap is.

Most deny that it exists. Most pretend that it is "under control". I wonder if the DEV's will watch what's going on with test and truly see what the rest of us have been saying for YEARS about imbalance.... cheats and such.

On the other hand it also does lend itself well as a good place to really get a feel of old day PvP. I've not seen that many PvPers on one screen very often since the days of LBR.

Maybe once when Mystra/Pratt tried to run an Auction at Red Devils.

And Cetric you Theo and all are all from GL's we know what kind of BS goes on here on our own pixelated soil..... so you should know what to expect there would be 20X as bad.

We have some pretty bad Crap on our shard... and we do have GM's.... somewhere I think we do.... I don't know haven't seen the evidence of that but I'm pretty sure we do.

And just going to a PvM event on GL's you see all kinds of nastiness... yet it's allowed...

So why be so shocked on Test? I say if they all want to invade test.. let them. Good riddance to them.

 

[Tinsil]

Don't judge # of pvp by gate fighting.. Gate fighting is a joke. That's all that test center is.

 

[Cear Dallben Dragon]

only 3 people in that pic used char copy.

judging by the bottles at the gates, you just missed prime time?
IDK

 

[SixUnder]

I've said this for a LONG time now....

We should have a permenant 'Test Shard'. IE a shard where all resources are free and people can freely set skills.

This would eventually be the PvP shard since most of the PvP crowd wants everything equal and don't want to be forced to PvM for things.

Kill Baja or Legends or some other dead shard and make it into a "Set Skill' shard. Let people char copy there and there are quite a few people that would be very happy with that on an on-going basis.

cant kill a shard. to many have to much invested in those shards that would not go well for EA.

second, i agree that test should only be up when there is things to be tested for a new pub and only for a certain number of days.

4 or 5 days is plenty. then drop the server until needed again.

 

[RaDian FlGith]

Okay...

You're in Felucca... and playing on a server where basically no one (ie: at Mythic) cares if you cheat, exploit, swear, scream, yell, insult, "r"-word, or whatever else...

There isn't much of a surprise that the most active "PvP" community is on test center, is there?

 

[Vlaude]

Okay...

You're in Felucca... and playing on a server where basically no one (ie: at Mythic) cares if you cheat, exploit, swear, scream, yell, insult, "r"-word, or whatever else...

There isn't much of a surprise that the most active "PvP" community is on test center, is there?

Ouch, I'm occasionally guilty of the swearing and insulting (nothing outside of what would be allowed on any production shard), but I just like being able to participate in PvP with people from all over the game on an equal playing field. But yeah, I guess this is the image PvP'ers have these days. I do know some trammies can be just as bad though. They usually do the cheating and exploiting for money though, which is next to worthless on TC1.

 

[RaDian FlGith]

Ouch, I'm occasionally guilty of the swearing and insulting (nothing outside of what would be allowed on any production shard), but I just like being able to participate in PvP with people from all over the game on an equal playing field. But yeah, I guess this is the image PvP'ers have these days. I do know some trammies can be just as bad though. They usually do the cheating and exploiting for money though, which is next to worthless on TC1.

Let me amend my statement to say I don't believe all PvPers fit this category, but I will say there's probably more than a minority of them over on Test Center. It's a non-honorable PvPer's breeding ground, honestly.

And... no argument... some Trammies are as bad or worse in behavior, exploitation, and so forth. No argument at all. For behavior, you need only attend an EM event to find out just how bad some Trammies can get.

I was more just saying that the PvPers who are left (by and large, not solely) aren't playing the game as the game is intended to be played anyway (ie: exploits, whatever), and if they can do it in an environment where the account they play on isn't at risk, that's where they go.

Besides, there's probably more of a group of PvPers there than anywhere else.

 

[Vlaude]

Let me amend my statement to say I don't believe all PvPers fit this category, but I will say there's probably more than a minority of them over on Test Center. It's a non-honorable PvPer's breeding ground, honestly.

And... no argument... some Trammies are as bad or worse in behavior, exploitation, and so forth. No argument at all. For behavior, you need only attend an EM event to find out just how bad some Trammies can get.

I was more just saying that the PvPers who are left (by and large, not solely) aren't playing the game as the game is intended to be played anyway (ie: exploits, whatever), and if they can do it in an environment where the account they play on isn't at risk, that's where they go.

Besides, there's probably more of a group of PvPers there than anywhere else.

I can't pretend like I didn't know what you were talking about because I'm around it a lot. But I was hoping that wasn't your view of all PvP'ers left in the game (which you clarified in this post, and is appreciated). There are certainly a minority of fel players across shards who still like to play by the rules, and they usually are treated by other fel players with a lot of in-game respect. Nevertheless, your overall assessment is fair enough but yeah, there are a few of us still here who like PvP for the competition rather than just wanting to grief or kill people.

 

[RaDian FlGith]

... Nevertheless, your overall assessment is fair enough but yeah, there are a few of us still here who like PvP for the competition rather than just wanting to grief or kill people.

I'm very glad to hear that, actually. While my PvP skills wouldn't protect me from a paper bag these days, way back in the old days, I actually enjoyed the fun of the "old west." It just got overrun by the "savages." hehe

 

[Saint of Killers]

You guys aren't reading between the lines.

EA set up these free char transfers so they could show the average person that never transfers how easy and cool it is. It has nothing to do with testing for bugs obviously. Once the average Joe gets used to the process, he/she will be plugging in their credit card for $19.99 a pop to EA for real transfer tokens in the future.

Straight up marketing ploy.

 

[Omnius]

Um.... You do realize that Yew gate is universally regarded as the trailer park trash of the pvp world. House hiding, guard zones, and every template incapable of functioning in any other pvp environment.

To go to yew gate and say that pvp is killed on every shard is a laughable means of assessing pvp.

 

[Viper09]

You guys aren't reading between the lines.

EA set up these free char transfers so they could show the average person that never transfers how easy and cool it is. It has nothing to do with testing for bugs obviously. Once the average Joe gets used to the process, he/she will be plugging in their credit card for $19.99 a pop to EA for real transfer tokens in the future.

Straight up marketing ploy.

Wtf? Lol! This isn't a character transfer. All it is is a copy of one character to test.

 

[Saint of Killers]

Wtf? Lol! This isn't a character transfer. All it is is a copy of one character to test.

Lol. The "process" is 100% the same as a transfer.

Same item checkoffs in your pack, stables, bank as a transfer.

When the average Joe asks, "how is this process different from doing a real transfer"? You can reply "it's just like copying a character to Test".

Simple Joe will respond "oh that's pretty easy, I think I may buy a transfer token and check out Hotlantic".

You up to speed now Viper?

 

[Viquire]

Lol. The "process" is 100% the same as a transfer.

Same item checkoffs in your pack, stables, bank as a transfer.

When the average Joe asks, "how is this process different from doing a real transfer"? You can reply "it's just like copying a character to Test".

Simple Joe will respond "oh that's pretty easy, I think I may buy a transfer token and check out Hotlantic".

You up to speed now Viper?

They said, at the last video town hall, this was a precursor to the testing phase for arenas. SO I see that they are very hopeful for a broad based sampling of players to test that system and they know for that to happen it has to be as easy as possible.

If it serves to market the X-fer service I have zero idea why we are getting all worked up about it. I mean really, by using the service are we helping to expand some evil empire I was heretofore unaware of?

 

[puni666]

They said, at the last video town hall, this was a precursor to the testing phase for arenas. SO I see that they are very hopeful for a broad based sampling of players to test that system and they know for that to happen it has to be as easy as possible.

If it serves to market the X-fer service I have zero idea why we are getting all worked up about it. I mean really, by using the service are we helping to expand some evil empire I was heretofore unaware of?

It's pretty funny they've said nothing about any progress on arenas at all. Obviously they're planning on us coming to test center and trying out this well unprepared arena expansion. How are they going to test out anything pvp wise accurately when everyone has the macros "Set skill (Random Skill) 0" Followed by "Set skill Ninjitsu 120" then immediately wolf form so they can run away? You can't make sparks to start a fire when you're smashing two sponges together. Go find something solid and do it right GD it...

 

[puni666]

I hope they realize this arena system should only be used for organized fighting and collect data on what to improve and balance in pvp since it's a controlled and easily monitored environment. If they put some reward system in for winning fights and getting special rewards it's going to be abused like the faction system was.

 

[Cetric]

I hope they realize this arena system should only be used for organized fighting and collect data on what to improve and balance in pvp since it's a controlled and easily monitored environment. If they put some reward system in for winning fights and getting special rewards it's going to be abused like the faction system was.

ok you kill all my alts except this one, and i kill all your alts except this one. Eventually we'll have our uber sash and title showing we're the best pvpers ever

AMIRIGHT!?

 

[puni666]

ok you kill all my alts except this one, and i kill all your alts except this one. Eventually we'll have our uber sash and title showing we're the best pvpers ever

AMIRIGHT!?

Pretty much. Either that or idiotic gear that is either 800 imbue weight or 400 imbue weight.

*FIST PUMP*

 

[Lynk]

Agreed, no special items or anything. Only items to win/lose should be a wager system.

Also - I really hope they keep ranking systems.

To bypass the working up of rank from BS fights they could put a limit to only one connection to the arena server from any IP address. Sure people can use proxies, etc, but seems kind of like a lot of work to just get a kill/death ratio up.

 

[Viquire]

I'm in for a title and the possibility of some low level token, like an old school bust that come from rat mages with your name and the in game date on it titled "A Devilish Dueler-Name/date"

 

[puni666]

Agreed, no special items or anything. Only items to win/lose should be a wager system.

Also - I really hope they keep ranking systems.

To bypass the working up of rank from BS fights they could put a limit to only one connection to the arena server from any IP address. Sure people can use proxies, etc, but seems kind of like a lot of work to just get a kill/death ratio up.

Yeah I didn't even think about an ante system. Would be pretty cool to let viewers bet on fights in a controlled system also.

 

[Dorinda]

i'll bet some silver coins

 

[Fayled Dhreams]

pffffft!

keep what'cha kill I say ...

Craft a "wager box"
or a wager marker wand, like a "quest item tag"
When the parties agree to the booty marked ...
rumble on to a state of "win"
be it a time, hit's landed, simple "last standing" ...

really really should consider "death warrents"
drop one with your name in ...
duh duh duhhhhh ... you die you perma die ...
gotta allow/enforce a "real" gamble
huh?

Not like it would be impossible to "roll another"
start again at the bottom of the ladder ...
polish your tactics
study the others
know thy self
know thy enemy ...

Next month is another season anyways ...

Give me a chance to remove this negative title
I was defeated by Fayled Dhreams ...

Now thats a scar I'd like to leave ... Parry parry feint and thrust
another one bites the dust !!

I slew black sun with a curved bow
I Took the head of kelmo the old ...

I'm a baaaaaad Man! wooooooo !!!