Ultima Franchise Producer's Letter about UO in "Coming Weeks"

[Woodsman]

In case you missed it, the Ultima Franchise Producer will be releasing a producer's letter for the UO community. He announced it on Twitter this past weekend.

Just wrote a letter to the UO community. Hope to see it posted in the coming weeks.

Most of you probably saw this on Twitter already, but some may not have seen it, unless it was posted on the Herald.

 

[Rupert Avery]

Thanks, It isn't easy to keep track of all direct communication to people because it doesn't come up on the feed unless you follow both

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

Communication shouldn't take "weeks." Write something, spell check it, run it past Mesanna and then post it. PR\marketing weasels need not be involved.

 

[NuSair]

it's sad that this is the extent of updates and improved communication we've had.

 

[Tazar]

it's sad that this is the extent of updates and improved communication we've had.

I think communication has improved quite a bit - and the above statement is a prime example. A question was asked to Jeff on Twitter about the improved communication - and they had an answer in under 4.5 hours telling them about the next letter coming. An answer in 4.5 hours is much better to me.

 

[Uriah Heep]

In a few weeks...is this gonna be like the now infamous video?

 

[Specialshoes]

In my thinking wouldn't the "Producer's Letter" be of more significance? I know Jeff is the Franchise producer. But doesn't this just make Messana's move to producer instead of associate producer more symbolic?

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

I think communication has improved quite a bit

Looking over the Dev Tracker, and barring TheGrimmOmen's posts, would prove that thought distressingly wrong.

Sorry, by Dev Tracker, I meant the UO Developer Feed...

 

[puni666]

Looking over the Dev Tracker, and barring TheGrimmOmen's posts, would prove that thought distressingly wrong.

Then look at the dev tracker and see how long it's been since they responded to the test center threads...

 

[MalagAste]

I think it's 100% ridiculous that we are not far away from a VERY significant anniversary and there isn't squat for communication coming from the DEV's. It's just insane. Someone should be promoting the heck out of UO since it's our 15th anniversary there have been dozens of posts about how they have dropped the ball on this and yet it's announced it'll take WEEKS to put out another letter??????

What can be so freaking difficult about telling us things?

I don't need to know what I'm getting for the anniversary... I don't need to know what events are planned... and certainly not down the last detail or anything...

But a simple we are working hard towards the coming publish whatever and we hope to have it out by..... X date if all goes well can't wait till you see what's coming and by the way we are probably going to have a few fixes for XYZ in it as well... Or we are shoving all we can into it and it's almost ready to hit the TC.... or something..... but to leave us with nothing week after week after week and then say Oh I'm going to write you something in a few WEEKS... is just like I have no intention of saying anything at all..... and plan to keep you in the dark for another month or two.

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

Then look at the dev tracker and see how long it's been since they responded to the test center threads...

Why would they care about conversing with all the free (and some might say only) QA for UO? Surely every publish they've ever put out has been well tested in-house and a complete success when it reaches the production shards, right? Right?

 

[Nexus]

Communication shouldn't take "weeks." Write something, spell check it, run it past Mesanna and then post it. PR\marketing weasels need not be involved.

But the PR/Marketing Weasels are...so we have to deal with "weeks".

 

[Uriah Heep]

Why would they care about conversing with all the free (and some might say only) QA for UO? Surely every publish they've ever put out has been well tested in-house and a complete success when it reaches the production shards, right? Right?

LOL. This is why you very very seldom see me on TC, and never on Origin...I'm not paying to test and be QA. I know some will say that's a bad attitude, but that's the way it is. And TC is questionable for it's effectiveness, I strongly suspect that the biggest thing that comes from it is the cheaters finding the loopholes early before it comes to the home shard, so they are ready to get with it when it goes live.

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

But the PR/Marketing Weasels are...so we have to deal with "weeks".

Right...and that might be acceptable if UO had any visible PR/Marketing.

 

[Uriah Heep]

Communication shouldn't take "weeks." Write something, spell check it, run it past Mesanna and then post it. PR\marketing weasels need not be involved.

If he is the producer of all thing Ultima, I would figure Mesanna works for him, and wouldnt need to approve anything he says. Otherwise, he's gonna be just another Cal, and be shushed at every turn.

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

If he is the producer of all thing Ultima, I would figure Mesanna works for him, and wouldnt need to approve anything he says. Otherwise, he's gonna be just another Cal, and be shushed at every turn.

He's Cal 2.0, all hype and zero action. At least Cal had some action...

I say run it past Mesanna because Jeff is all about U4E, I'd be surprised if he even knew what has been going on in UO the last few months.

Mesanna should, at least in theory, know what is going on in UO.

 

[puni666]

Mesanna should, at least in theory, know what is going on in UO.

Someone with my sense of humor in these threads... finally!

 

[NBG]

No she does not because just on the cure quest, she had no idea the devs implemented reward distribution of such epic fail when she was asked about it on various shards.

She might know at high level what the devs are doing but it seems that she does not even read their own publish notes I mean she IS only the PRODUCER. I thought she would come through and it is yet another let down.

Definition of Producer in UO is ones that know a little of everything and actually knows absolutely nothing. The only difference between her and Jeff is that she gives out cool stuff while he strings us along with BS tweets. Well twetety whoopy tweety poop that is that he put out there on his stupid phone.

Oh yeah, I hope his fingers feel like the rest of us who messed up our fingers on that ridiculous cure quest why don't you tweet more poop Jeff.

 

[NuSair]

It is an absolute joke that they cannot take 30 minutes a week to type SOMETHING up or answer a few questions.

Improved communication... my..... yeah. Seriously, Jeff seems like one of those corporate climbers, who knows all the cool things to say, all the key words and catch phrases, and no substance. Someone, somewhere is the cause for all the lack of communication and really, they need to be removed.

I said it then, repeated it and will say it again- Jeff's improved communication is bs. He made all this noise and then disappeared. He'll make a big showing at the 15th anniversary and then disappear again. Just like the communication always does with this game... well, I take that back... back in the beginning we actually had quite a bit of communication, but now that is just a pipe dream.

 

[Flutter]

What's most shocking to me is that even with all these complaints and discussions about communication they STILL haven't commented. I mean, we all know they are "aware of the issue" so we can safely say that it's just been completely ignored.

That's ok because we keep on chucking our $12.99/mo at them anyway.

 

[Flutter]

Well twetety whoopy tweety poop that is that he put out there on his stupid phone.

And this is why I love you so much NBG

 

[NuSair]

What's most shocking to me is that even with all these complaints and discussions about communication they STILL haven't commented. I mean, we all know they are "aware of the issue" so we can safely say that it's just been completely ignored.

That's ok because we keep on chucking our $12.99/mo at them anyway.

Having come from corporate life I can tell you that the company line is to not respond, because to respond is to give it substance, a hint of truth, and to continue the issue. To ignore it, is to just let it die. Responding feeds the flames. They believe ignoring it cause it to go away.

They are idiots.

 

[Tina Small]

If large numbers of people just stopped logging in, do you think anyone at EA would even notice?

 

[NuSair]

If large numbers of people just stopped logging in, do you think anyone at EA would even notice?

I logged into the game today for the 1st time in weeks. I had hundreds of each ingredient that I never turned into cures.

I am sure they are going to post numbers of how many cures were turned in per shard thinking that means something, when it doesn't mean crap. Thanks to scripting and shard crossings. But, they will hype it up and people will talk about how awesome it is.

Once I realized how easily it could be scripted--- it was like it was designed TO be scripted. It just killed any motivation I had to log in. I've logged in maybe 3 times in the past 2 months. Other than to just refresh my boats.

 

[DJAd]

*yawn*

Tell me when its actually here.

 

[Flutter]

If large numbers of people just stopped logging in, do you think anyone at EA would even notice?

No.

 

[Flutter]

There's an update on uo.com (s'cuse me uoherald) and in it Mesanna says

in coming days we will publish a fix next week for an issue

So perhaps their concept of time is different than ours...

 

[Tina Small]

I logged into the game today for the 1st time in weeks. I had hundreds of each ingredient that I never turned into cures.

I am sure they are going to post numbers of how many cures were turned in per shard thinking that means something, when it doesn't mean crap. Thanks to scripting and shard crossings. But, they will hype it up and people will talk about how awesome it is.

Once I realized how easily it could be scripted--- it was like it was designed TO be scripted. It just killed any motivation I had to log in. I've logged in maybe 3 times in the past 2 months. Other than to just refresh my boats.

I haven't logged in since Thursday morning last week. After crashing three times in a row on LA while dragging items from corpses to the backpack or from the backpack to a chest in the house, I figured maybe something's buggy there now for the classic client after that extended maintenance last week and I'll be damned if I'm gonna waste my time figuring it out.

Also, as I mentioned last week on Friday, it doesn't look like there have been any postings at all for the Fairfax, VA office in months. However, Bioware has posted over 30 jobs in the last four months for their other offices in Edmonton and Montreal in Canada and Sacramento, Redwood City, and Austin in the U.S., and there have been about 550 other English-language job postings for other parts of EA in the same timeframe. Are Warhammer, DAoC, and UO on the chopping block or scheduled to be shut down? Who knows. But an apparent hiring freeze for that office while other parts of the company are actually still hiring seems very odd and can't possibly be a good sign for UO's future. I'll probably keep my subscriptions paid up through the anniversary celebration, but whether I go much longer than that is heavily contingent on seeing EA put some effort into speaking with gaming websites about UO's anniversary and plans for its future. If they can't be bothered to do that for such a milestone anniversary, I think that is a pretty clear indicator EA doesn't want to be on record for making empty promises to a wider audience than just current subscribers and we'll soon be seeing announcements about the game being shut down or sold.

The most current Terms of Service agreement posted on the account management site we use for UO says, "EA may terminate access to any online or mobile products and/or EA Services (and/or any portion thereof) at any time by giving you notice of such termination within the time period specified when you joined the particular EA Service, or if no time period for notice of termination was specified, then within thirty (30) days of the date such notice is either (at EA’s discretion) provided to you via email or is posted on the applicable product or EA Service or on Service Updates." So, keep that last page bookmarked, because something makes me think we may, unfortunately, see UO listed there in the near future.

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

So perhaps their concept of time is different than ours...

I think it's a bit more than just "time" that's different for them...

I believe they have far different definitions of these concepts:

Balance
Communication
Community
Favoritism
FUN
Grind
Professionalism
Tedium

 

[Lady Storm]

well I dont think loging in will get a eyebrow up but if everyone turned off their accounts for a month I bet they would notice.... but that day is past because if we did it now they would just shut the door on UO. Sorry I am a child of the 60s when doing that was saying something....
At least they are going to say stuff... how much I will beleave of what is said ........ lets just say i'll have the air freshner close by.

 

[the 4th man]

Lady Storm is right, they'd scrap UO given the excuse to do so. I sense, or see, a work group, keeping several games in check, and tuned up, so to speak.
I don't see any one person devoted to UO, except maybe Messana.........I mean, they're tuning up an old "Saturn" just enough to keep it from falling apart.....it keeps the old fan favorite happy........in the meantime they're hell bent on creating the latest craze as to draw in the new mentality out there.

I got news for the devs as one at EA.........there is no new mentality, it's shot. Kids are drawn to something for a fleeting moment, then it's "old"

I grew up in the 60's and 70's......I seen it all,......from Pong to whatever is selling today........the UO gang is a dying breed.....I wouldn't be surprised if UO hits it's 15th anniversary.....and then I see another Motor City Online sunset........

Producer mentality has alot to do with it too, what's their real values?? Money?? or player satisfaction.......?? I fear corporate greed will win out. Professionalism, that's a joke.....I have seen so called professionals.

enough, my coffee buzz is wearing off..........

 

[Lady Storm]

Had a friend who worked for a game firm a few years back, told me about why it might take weeks to clear Jeff's letter. He said that if EA is like his old firm it has to go through its legal department... something about entanglements and infringements clearing.
Now that could be why... I mean EA wouldnt want him putting out something they could be lible for if he misspoke.

 

[Tina Small]

Had a friend who worked for a game firm a few years back, told me about why it might take weeks to clear Jeff's letter. He said that if EA is like his old firm it has to go through its legal department... something about entanglements and infringements clearing.
Now that could be why... I mean EA wouldnt want him putting out something they could be lible for if he misspoke.

The announcement of Mesanna's promotion to producer was made on June 13th. The Call to Arms event happened June 22-25. Mesanna posted her first producer's letter on June 26th. Guess what it talked about? The first thing it talked about was the reward item from the Call to Arms event that ended the previous day and it included a promise that it was going to be put into the game as a permanent drop. Her letter even included a screenshot from that event.

Either Mesanna has an extremely expedited route through EA's legal department or she didn't bother because it's not really a requirement.

So, if Mesanna doesn't have to go through Legal or has an expedited route through Legal for approving producer's letters, why doesn't Jeff get the same perks? He's higher up the totem pole at EA than she is, after all.

 

[UODeckard]

Lady Storm, Jeff says a lot about UO and Ultima Forever on Twitter. I am fairly certain he doesn't go through EA legal and PR for his Twitter posts. He was even making Twitter posts about secret, unannounced EA projects along with other members of what we now know as the Ultima Forever team.

Also it does not take EA PR 7-11 months to clear him to improve communication. There are decisions made that clearly do not have anything to do with EA PR or legal.

Knowing Jeff, he will Be the first to admit that he dropped the ball on this. I'm not making excuses but be has been busy with a new Ultima game. I was very disappointed that communication has gotten worse under his tenure but I believe he will improve things.

He has said he wants to bring back ex-players and you cannot do that if you aren't willing to talk to the community with such an important anniversary next month.

I do not know why communication has gotten worse under Jeff Skalski other than Ultima Forever is more important, but I look forward to what he has to say. This is a great opportunity for him to improve the communication since so many are watching the anniversary events.

 

[Lady Storm]

I wasnt talking about his twitter posts he told in twitter he made a producers letter that will be posted in a few weeks. Many here are chattering about why cant he just post it. I was talking to a friend and they suguested that he might have to run what he wishes to have posted through legal before it makes its way to us.
Tina it was her first letter that might have already been put throught legal and she added the in game bit at the last minute entry as In game stuff is not in need of legal. But As I said it was only offered as a possible reason for the few weeks comment Jeff made.
I would love for Jeff and or Mesanna to explain how and what it takes to put out a letter to us. This would stop alot of specullation by the players here.

 

[MalagAste]

So do you suppose if everyone let their accounts laps for one month or 2 weeks they might notice??? Or would that get the game shut down?

 

[Doubleplay]

So do you suppose if everyone let their accounts laps for one month or 2 weeks they might notice??? Or would that get the game shut down?

Careful, if you let your account lapse, you may never get back in. Be honest, do you have a clue as to how your EA master password, your UO password, your linked accounts, your duplicate charge card, and etc. can be used properly to reestablish your account before you lose your house?

 

[MalagAste]

Careful, if you let your account lapse, you may never get back in. Be honest, do you have a clue as to how your EA master password, your UO password, your linked accounts, your duplicate charge card, and etc. can be used properly to reestablish your account before you lose your house?

No because that site is so fudged that it destroys all sorts of data... folk lose there accounts, can't update their CC's, can't pay their accounts, can't link their accounts, can't find their accounts, and can't get any help all the time...

If I thought I could pull it off I'd call for a petition to send to EA to tell them to fix that or else. Sick and tired of dealing with that site.

 

[NuSair]

I wonder how many accounts they lost in that epic screw up. IMO, that site still sucks. I could design something better on my worst day.

 

[Prime.]

I'm pretty sure we were promised a Producer's Letter and a change of Spring Cleaning items monthly :'(

 

[HD2300]

I am a Jeff fan. He told us at the beginning of the year, that enhanced graphics was BS and not going to happen. He doesnt communicate often because there is nothing new upcoming to announce. It is not his fault. If the bandwidth is one event every 3 months and one new graphic a month, there just wont be many new announcements.

 

[Woodsman]

I am a Jeff fan. He told us at the beginning of the year, that enhanced graphics was BS and not going to happen. He doesnt communicate often because there is nothing new upcoming to announce.

Nice try, but he and Mesanna both said they were still going to do it at the beginning of the year, he increased the art budget back in March, and they were being worked on in June and July. If they were canceled last month or this month, that does not qualify as "beginning of the year".

btw, I agree that there maybe nothing new to announce outside of what they announced last year/this year (graphics update, dungeon revamp.). Kai said that the reason why Mythic wasn't saying anything to Warhammer Online players was that they had nothing to announced.

It will be interesting to see what he has to say. If they are having some kind of birthday/townhall type of event, then they will probably be talking about the graphics and dungeon upgrades. I would laugh myself to tears if people flew out to Virginia only to be told about harpsichords and a few other gifts/rewards, so they obviously have something going on.

I'm pretty sure we were promised a Producer's Letter and a change of Spring Cleaning items monthly :'(

This was what we were promised Ultima Franchise Producer's Letter

Second, for those UOForums and Stratics users you’ll see me and the team online more. We’re going to be kicking off weekly Q&A sessions with members of the team. Expect to hear from Mesanna soon.

 

[Woodsman]

I wasnt talking about his twitter posts he told in twitter he made a producers letter that will be posted in a few weeks. Many here are chattering about why cant he just post it. I was talking to a friend and they suguested that he might have to run what he wishes to have posted through legal before it makes its way to us.

Well like Deckard said, if Jeff has the authority to tweet about unannounced EA games without going through EA legal/PR, then he probably has the authority to talk about 15 year old games that EA doesn't seem to care much about. It's not like Jeff is dreaming up new plans for UO at this point for EA to have to clear. UO's future/fate was probably determined last year, and was probably cleared by EA PR/legal back then. Plus the last time any EA executive said anything about UO in public, he thought UO was about to have its 17th anniversary. Last year he thought UO had only been around 10 years. They are not exactly paying attention to UO.

The only conceivable reason that Jeff would have to go through PR/legal would be if they had negative things to say about UO's future, or if they were going to make some big changes to UO that they had not announced previously, or he was including game elements (screenshots). Since we know they don't have the manpower for any big changes at this point in time, and that we are probably only going to see what has already been announced long ago, that only leaves a few reasons for Jeff's delayed response.

 

[Lady Storm]

Woodman IF and I do mean IF Jeff can talk about anything he pleases reguarding UO and EA could give a fig less... Why take a few weeks for it to come to us???
I mean IF Jeff can do all you and others say then why the big hold up?? I am typing here in real time to you and when your on I assume you read the posts being that you talk back in this forum. Then why in hell cant he just pop on here and do so. What reason for the long hold up?
If Jeff has autonomy in the UO world why not just come here and do it. As you said before many times he tweets alot of things and how we are really given the short stick on communication then tell him to get on stratics and do his thing. I dont know about you but I would like to see the man do what he can. Mesanna has alot more to do and I expect she is doing alot of filling shoes that have been dusty ... playing catch up on what it is to be a Producer for the UO lable. Man power being what it is over there I suspect that the UO4E is taking alot of them off to help in the coding and work needed to build it to working order.

 

[Rupert Avery]

I am going to take a stab into the dark with why it needs to go through legal....

For the most part, when Jeff tweets it is his opinion/own comments.. you will notice that from what I can tell doesn't mention anything new and if he does it is usually shrouded in mystery (rightly so I like surprises) also this is based on what I have seen/noticed from twitter. again they are His comments/opinions...

When putting out a "Producer letter" he is talking for the company not himself.. So they want to be sure he is representing the company in a way they are happy with...

This is just a guess but not sure...

 

[UODeckard]

Rupert, Jeff has told us that Twitter is the best means of communicating with him as producer, therefore he is speaking as a producer and for the company. EA loves Twitter and has dozens of people using it as one more official channel for communication.

And for those who want to get into whether he can discuss this or that item or game mechanic, for the sake of this discussion, forget about specifics. Under Jeff, communication as a whole has gotten worse. He made that decision. He cranks out thousands of words a week on Twitter about all kinds of things. EA games and non-EA games. As a producer and as a gamer.

Ultimately, it's his responsibility for the reduced communication. Twitter maybe easier for him, and it has it's advantages, but far fewer players see it and potential players will not see it. He needs to pick the best means of communicating to players and would-be players, not what is most convenient for him. The Herald is that platform. Would-be players will see it and fansites will repost it.

If Jeff wants to improve communication, he has the ability and authority, and more importantly the responsibility. Dreaming up excuses for Jeff does nothing but diminish his position as a producer.

 

[UODeckard]

I have emailed Jeff this thread and told him that if the communication problems are out of his control then I will gladly, and publicly, apologize to him here in this thread in UHall.

 

[Rupert Avery]

I was not making excuses, as I said in my post this was just me coming up with possible reasons I am not an expert or even a beginner in understanding PR rules and regulations... I wouldn't say the communication is worse at all I would say it hasn't changed...

 

[hen]

It's even worse than it used to be.

 

[Lady Storm]

Exactly
I dont Tweet/twitter etc... Never Will ether.
I can be found here if Jeff wants to talk. He knows how to get in to Stratics.