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[UO Herald] Housing Decay Reactivated in 2012

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We expect to have housing decay turned on by the beginning of next year. We are going to start giving everyone a warning, this being the first of several you will see. Please take the necessary steps to secure your house before its turned back on.

Happy Holidays!

UO Team



More...
 

Rimeny

Slightly Crazed
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*wonders if return to brit houses will enter decay*
 
S

sbom

Guest
Oh, that's just great...one of my accounts did not auto-renew its subscription 6 weeks ago (consequence to migration to new system) and ever since I have been trying to reactivate it, spending a total of about 11 hours on the phone so far with "EA support" to no avail...and now house decay is coming back...I'm worried if that is the case and EA is still not able to reactivate my account, that will be the end of the 13 year story for me, and my 3 accounts...sad, sad :(

Come on EA, I'm trying to give you some money here and you're not able to accept it!!!
 

Tina Small

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We are going to start giving everyone a warning, this being the first of several you will see.
Given EA's recent dismal track record for announcing stuff after-the-fact or not at all, I wouldn't count on seeing any more warnings before this actually goes into effect.
 

Minerva Foxglove

Lore Keeper
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Oh, that's just great...one of my accounts did not auto-renew its subscription 6 weeks ago (consequence to migration to new system) and ever since I have been trying to reactivate it, spending a total of about 11 hours on the phone so far with "EA support" to no avail...and now house decay is coming back...I'm worried if that is the case and EA is still not able to reactivate my account, that will be the end of the 13 year story for me, and my 3 accounts...sad, sad :(

Come on EA, I'm trying to give you some money here and you're not able to accept it!!!
Im in the exactly the same situation since about a week. Its a nightmare. One acc no prob. No two is merged but it wont let me pay for it. Both accounts has been on auto-renew for as long as that option existed.
Most of my ganetime I spend trying to solve this. If my castle fall its good bye UO.
 

Theo_GL

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UNLEASHED
Bummer.

Thanks for the heads up.

*Runs off to clean house(s)*

:grrr:
 

RaDian FlGith

Babbling Loonie
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Stratics Legend
One suggestion... might want to call your banking institution and make sure they haven't flagged your card for potential fraud.

See, even though EA moved to a shiny new account management system, they're still handling it in old 20th century manners. There's a reason that when you purchase something from iTunes that if you make multiple purchases, they roll it into a single bill and charge it all at once: It's only one transaction and doesn't run the risk of triggering fraud algorithms.

Not saying that it's 100% what might be wrong, but after I FINALLY muddled through the new user interface to get my accounts set up, I could only pay for some of them and then the rest wouldn't go through because my card was triggered for fraud abuse, and I had to call and say, "Yes, I'm really expecting those charges." Haven't had a problem in that regard since. Now it's more of a matter that I can't tell whether the charges have gone through or not for about a week because EA does a hold before they do the actual charge, and then my bank wraps multiple holds of the same value into a single hold as long as they come from the same company, and THEN they put them through a few days later when EA finally gets around to charging them -- which, by the way is AFTER the actual account due date.

Long story short, their system is horrific. But there may be some things you can do on your end to help ensure the problems are truly on their end and not some unseen algorithm in the middle.
 

Shakkara

Slightly Crazed
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Stratics Legend
Oh, that's just great...one of my accounts did not auto-renew its subscription 6 weeks ago (consequence to migration to new system) and ever since I have been trying to reactivate it, spending a total of about 11 hours on the phone so far with "EA support" to no avail...and now house decay is coming back...I'm worried if that is the case and EA is still not able to reactivate my account, that will be the end of the 13 year story for me, and my 3 accounts...sad, sad :(

Come on EA, I'm trying to give you some money here and you're not able to accept it!!!
I can't pay with a subscription either, I bought gametime from UOGamecodes but now that's gone too - and Origin charges me much more money. :(
 
K

Kralock

Guest
I had a problem with my accounts, and they went down, but I have had plenty of time to fix it. Most of the issues we had are gone, in fact the only issue I had, was a link that magically appeared 2 days in to trying to figure it out.



Origin was new, BF3 stressed the hell out of it for being beta still at BF3 launch, this is well in the past now, not saying i like it, but I set other accounts with no issues at this time.


I am glad that we will have IDOCs again, oh I have lost 2 18x18 and a smaller house in the past on Atlantic, for folks worried about loosing your stuff, pay the man already.

Why would idocing the return to brit houses be a bad idea, why should we care if someone that has not played in years looses a house?
 

atlanticScorpion

Adventurer
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
To be safe they should turn all account on. (free week or two) like welcome back to britiania. So as long as you know you account name and password you have a chance of logging into your messed up account and transfer you house and stuff to another account or give to a friend any way that your house and other stuff can be saved.
 
T

tiggertessa2007

Guest
whos walking around with a big smile on their face today???????? ME! yay! *does happy dance* (not to be confused with pee pee dance)
 

Theo_GL

Grand Poobah
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Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Loot worth money?
Ha ha...

This is going to ruin the economy even worse.

More stuff distributed among a static playerbase means all items value drops.

At any rate, good luck camping my houses on GL - they will all be empty - only I'm not telling you which ones. :)
 
S

sbom

Guest
I can't pay with a subscription either, I bought gametime from UOGamecodes but now that's gone too - and Origin charges me much more money. :(
That is terrible...they still have the "uo game codes" link on their web page and even on the UO patch window...but as you said, there is no way to purchase them anymore on UOGamecodes...are they folding?
 
T

tiggertessa2007

Guest
Loot worth money?
Ha ha...

This is going to ruin the economy even worse.

More stuff distributed among a static playerbase means all items value drops.

At any rate, good luck camping my houses on GL - they will all be empty - only I'm not telling you which ones. :)
i dont idoc on GL =) but rather their empty or not it dosent even matter sometimes, you still get that high just from them falling......i seriously think i have a problem...im an admitted idoc junky LOL
 

Ron Silverbeard

Certifiable
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Concerning idocs, i think i have to replan my vacation 2012 - starting 1st of march lol

CANT WAIT, empty your runebooks, stack your empty runes, saddle your beetle - ITS IDOC TIME - wohaaaaaaa
 

Lord X

Sage
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Stratics Legend
Concerning idocs, i think i have to replan my vacation 2012 - starting 1st of march lol

CANT WAIT, empty your runebooks, stack your empty runes, saddle your beetle - ITS IDOC TIME - wohaaaaaaa
Wouldn't change your plans just yet. Beginning of 2012 is slightly vague. Could very well mean March as it is.

I'm ready for IDOCs to come back too, holy hell its been forever. Account Migration was soooo long ago. If your accounts are just going down NOW thats honestly kinda off. But yeah, keep bugging EA, eventually you'll find someone who can fix it.
 

Uriah Heep

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Dont panic peeps. I'm not. It's announced now, due in a month or two, reality (from past history) means we will get it like October or so, next year...
remember spring cleaning?
and that video we would have next week?
Just saying...
 

Tina Small

Stratics Legend
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It says, "turned on by the beginning of next year."

To me, that means on or before December 31st.
 

Zosimus

Grand Inquisitor
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Stratics Legend
Good to hear it will be coming back on. I know I know...not all players had their issues taken care of. It's been months and plenty of time to get things worked on but everybody knew housing decay would eventually come back.

Some seem to forget that others that was paying every 90 days took advantage of not paying while housing decay has been turned off. EA was losing money from them as well. So yes it is time for it to be turned back on.

When it does come back on you will have posts from the ones that didn't catch the announcements even though there will be more announcements and cry foul.
 

Jade of Sonoma

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
We expect to have housing decay turned on by the beginning of next year. We are going to start giving everyone a warning, this being the first of several you will see. Please take the necessary steps to secure your house before its turned back on.

Happy Holidays!

UO Team



More...
That might help me if the lot next door were to decay, because a castle would fit there if I were to demolish my house.

Of a bigger concern is that IDOCs will make it very obvious to everyone just how many more players have left the shards and UO since the account migration nightmare.
 

Tina Small

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
It says, "turned on by the beginning of next year."

To me, that means on or before December 31st.
my guess is 90 starts jan 1
LOL
so march april wil be a lot of fun
I think they probably started counting off the 90 days for previously closed accounts near the end of September. Kai Schober's last announcement addressing house decay was made September 14th, when he said they were still working on getting house decay turned on and expected it to be working "within the next week."
 

wanderer1origin

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I think they probably started counting off the 90 days for previously closed accounts near the end of September. Kai Schober's last announcement addressing house decay was made September 14th, when he said they were still working on getting house decay turned on and expected it to be working "within the next week."
maybe, i have been watching a return brit house i activated account latest return aug/sept range was mine so will know be able to judge
this means a house that has been standing a few years with out payment

but my guess that announcemnt means either a dec 6 start of count down or jan 1 eith or a give or take being uo 4 5 days on each

they wouldnt post start if was a drop imediate lol

90 days from to day or from jan 1 my guess plus decay factor
 

Salivern_Diago

Lore Master
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Stratics Legend
I dont think the 90 day tiimer will kick in when they turn on decay, I think the houses will start to decay from when they turn it on. If the accounts are already over 90 days then they would start to decay anyway.
 

Larisa

Publishing Manager, Stratics Leadership
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If they do knock out the WBtB houses that would be so awesome.

I know alot of people that have them for extra storage and I don't think it's fair to have housing they aren't paying for.

I have one I placed just as a test:



Put the date on the sign just to see and it's still there 4 years later.

Lets get this place cleaned up!
 
P

Prince Caspian

Guest
OK, the eggnogg, shopping and Christmas cheer has gone to my head and it is making my thinking slower.

Those of you who follow my posts know how dire THAT is.

Anyhoo, let me make sure I have this crystal clear. ALL House Decay is gonna start back up? Including for the likes of me, who has only one house and only one account?

I would be rather unhappy about this. Ultima Online is a game that I play extremely casually. Depending on what's going on in my life, my play-sessions can wane from day to day to once a month. I had a consulting gig this summer that had me in near astronaut-like solitude for all of July and most of August. If housing decay was on, my house and whole play history for the last several years would be gone like the wind.

I always maintained, since I was here for beta, I'd play until the game was no more. But I realize it is all over -- ALL OVER if I lose my house and subsequently my possessions for the past 6 or so years. And I'm not starting a new shard again.

I remember always carrying a laptop with me that could at least run 2D so I could log in and refresh the house while I'm away or on vacation. I don't want to go back to that. I have gotten to enjoy this "obligation-free" UO.

But if I lost that house it would be the end.

And for those asking could you have my stuff.... well I guess that depends on quick about it you are.
 

Ezekiel Zane

Grand Poobah
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Since when have houses decayed on paid up accounts?

In what way did you discern that houses on paid up accounts would decay? Normal house decay rules on inactive accounts is currently turned off. It was turned off at the beginning of the account migration. They are simply turning it back on.
 

Salivern_Diago

Lore Master
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You havent needed to refresh your house manually for years, as long as your account is paid up.
 

Larisa

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OK, the eggnogg, shopping and Christmas cheer has gone to my head and it is making my thinking slower.

Those of you who follow my posts know how dire THAT is.

Anyhoo, let me make sure I have this crystal clear. ALL House Decay is gonna start back up? Including for the likes of me, who has only one house and only one account?

I would be rather unhappy about this. Ultima Online is a game that I play extremely casually. Depending on what's going on in my life, my play-sessions can wane from day to day to once a month. I had a consulting gig this summer that had me in near astronaut-like solitude for all of July and most of August. If housing decay was on, my house and whole play history for the last several years would be gone like the wind.

I always maintained, since I was here for beta, I'd play until the game was no more. But I realize it is all over -- ALL OVER if I lose my house and subsequently my possessions for the past 6 or so years. And I'm not starting a new shard again.

I remember always carrying a laptop with me that could at least run 2D so I could log in and refresh the house while I'm away or on vacation. I don't want to go back to that. I have gotten to enjoy this "obligation-free" UO.

But if I lost that house it would be the end.

And for those asking could you have my stuff.... well I guess that depends on quick about it you are.
There there Dear Prince Caspian, Narnia isn't going anywhere just yet!

Housing on inactive accounts, housing that SHOULD have been decaying are going to start decaying when they turn on the housing decay program. IF you're account is paid and up to date you have nothing to worry about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AEvK_meeTE&feature=related
 

Lady Storm

Grand Inquisitor
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Stratics Legend
Larisa is quite right
If your account is paid up your fine and all this will do is clear up a few homes around you.

Now as for the decay...

I had an interesting conversation with a person at CS a few weeks back... (yes I am still having trouble with them on a IP matter)

The gentilman said when asked about house decay because of the lack of info at the time about its return. I was told :

When house decay returns to UO there will be no 90 days wait... no sign the house is in default. The house's on accounts not paid for that are well over the 90 days grace period will just drop when the decay is switched on. (light switch??)

idk What if what he said happened? Can you imagine the shock of seeing house's all around you just poof .... leads me to wonder if we should worry about any bugs in house timers...
 

Salivern_Diago

Lore Master
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Stratics Legend
Larisa is quite right
If your account is paid up your fine and all this will do is clear up a few homes around you.

Now as for the decay...

I had an interesting conversation with a person at CS a few weeks back... (yes I am still having trouble with them on a IP matter)

The gentilman said when asked about house decay because of the lack of info at the time about its return. I was told :

When house decay returns to UO there will be no 90 days wait... no sign the house is in default. The house's on accounts not paid for that are well over the 90 days grace period will just drop when the decay is switched on. (light switch??)

idk What if what he said happened? Can you imagine the shock of seeing house's all around you just poof .... leads me to wonder if we should worry about any bugs in house timers...
I wouldnt worry about what CS say, in the last few months they havent really had a clue about UO. Although its worth asking Jeff... Hmm actually I'll do that now.
 

Flutter

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Sorry to interrupt the "discussion" on whether or not we should like people who pick up stuff off the virtual ground but...

Does anyone know if it will be 90 days from the day it is turned back on, or 90 days from last payment received unless it's been more than 90 days in which case the houses will be instantly in decay or what?
 

Ron Silverbeard

Certifiable
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Stratics Veteran
Larisa is quite right
The house's on accounts not paid for that are well over the 90 days grace period will just drop when the decay is switched on. (light switch??)
*shrugs*
Check this out, house timer bug, ALL HOUSES ON ALL SHARDS go *poof*

What would help? REVERT, turn house decay off again - see you 2014 with next try...BUT Backups of Servers are partly corrupt - revert to last possible date - oh gosh, we deleted the last backups yet, only thing we can do is revert to August 2011...

rofl

Hmm, i will go now and check, if my chars bank boxes would be able to hold all my stuff..prolly not...
 

Percivalgoh

Sage
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I have an idea that many of the houses around are not active. I don't see players in them ever. It will be interesting to see how many fall. Maybe I can place a castle after this? I bet not though.
 

Theo_GL

Grand Poobah
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UNLEASHED
I for one would like to see them change IDOC's. I think all items should be removed along with the house.

This deal of giving stuff away for free is hurting the economy even more. Its more stuff being 'given' to the playerbase which is shrinking. I know that alot of the 'crap' I have is from IDOCS. Thanks for summer cleaning as I was able to turn in half that stuff for points.

I'd like to see the devs run some numbers on exactly how many houses will be removed. Its going to be quite a bit if they do it correctly.

I too am afraid of this happening without warning. I'm packing as many valuables in the bank as possible.
 
K

Kralock

Guest
lol no to that, history is to be found in fallen houses, I found a soul stone fragment that once belonged to me in one. Lost 4 houses in the past I would rather someone get my stuff than no one. you know why i lost houses, ECONOMY IRL get over the value of gold in UO.

the worst idea I have heard so far.

nice:thumbsup:
 

Salivern_Diago

Lore Master
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Stratics Legend
Hang on.. haaaang on...

Firstly its a stupid idea to remove all items in houses. I've found so many 'historic' items in IDOC's that would have been lost (Sadly my first ever guild's stone was lost in an idoc :( ).

Secondly, why is everyon panicing about loosing so many houses? WAKE UP! If decay hadnt been turned off then they would have still gone! The Economy of the game? HA thats a laugh, its already screwed up with the amount of gold people are hoarding. There is no point keeping 'dead' houses around just so that your neighbourhood looks busy. I've made mistakes in the past and lost a couple of my houses (including two keeps) I was lucky in that someone saved the soulstones for me. But all in all, there isnt going to be a mass panic of houses dropping. Stop scare mongering for heavens sake!
 

Zosimus

Grand Inquisitor
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Sorry to interrupt the "discussion" on whether or not we should like people who pick up stuff off the virtual ground but...

Does anyone know if it will be 90 days from the day it is turned back on, or 90 days from last payment received unless it's been more than 90 days in which case the houses will be instantly in decay or what?
To answer your question Flutter and the best guess I can give you is no. The answer now is very vague. They did say they would make further announcements ( warnings ) before it happens.

Hopefully one of the devs will "CLARIFY" instead of keep the player base guessing. Yes this comment is directed to the devs and Jeff to get a crystal clear answer.
 

Salivern_Diago

Lore Master
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Stratics Legend
To answer your question Flutter and the best guess I can give you is no. The answer now is very vague. They did say they would make further announcements ( warnings ) before it happens.

Hopefully one of the devs will "CLARIFY" instead of keep the player base guessing. Yes this comment is directed to the devs and Jeff to get a crystal clear answer.
I have tweeted Jeff asking this very question, hopefully he'll reply. If so then I'll post it on here.
 

Zosimus

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I have tweeted Jeff asking this very question, hopefully he'll reply. If so then I'll post it on here.
Pretty sad that we have to go to twitter to get any answers or actual responses. Thank you for asking because I was to lazy to sign on mine to tweet lol.

Gah!!! I miss Cal............................................. :(
 

jskalski

Franchise Producer
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Stratics Veteran
Pretty sad that we have to go to twitter to get any answers or actual responses. Thank you for asking because I was to lazy to sign on mine to tweet lol.

Gah!!! I miss Cal............................................. :(
Twitter is just easier to reach me. It goes directly to me, no sifting through threads. Forums require more effort to find the questions. :) Don't worry I'll continue to pop my head in every week, but it just means you might have to wait a few days for me to chime in.

As for the answer to the question. Unentitled accounts over 90 days when we reactivate house decay will start the house decay process. Players will have 5 days to re-entitle their accounts to prevent their houses from falling. We'll be posting more details like this in upcoming reminders about us turning the system back on in future herald posts.
 
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