The Pledge

[Penana Car]

Okay Mesanna.

You want your chance to shine here it is. Beat Richard Garriott at his own game, literally.

Take $500,000 in pledges to put up (1) classic shard on stable EA servers. Let's get the game back into playable form.

Don't tell me you don't have a classic shard build because it's not true.

I will personally pledge $100. Surely 5,000 others will join me. People that pledge get access to the shard added to their subscription, it's that simple.

 

[Lord Nabin]

That is called Crowd Funding friend.

They did an excellent job with the rewards and the message. Not to mention tapping into the 30 years worth of Ultima players.

Not a hard concept even UO could do it with the right guidance and platform

 

[Penana Car]

It's called smart business. It's clear this development team cannot code improvement into this game. Let's revert 12 years and bring back some greatness.

 

[Lord Nabin]

It's called smart business. It's clear this development team cannot code improvement into this game. Let's revert 12 years and bring back some greatness.

Completely disagree.

It's called Crowd Funding and it is a way to develop resources efficiently through your existing fan base and their friends. Hence the Crowd.

 

[Lug]

I have so much to say on this matter, but I wont waste my time. EA aint going to listen. Plus everytime we have a classic shard thread it gets locked. Why even bring it up? All hope is lost on this subject.

 

[Lord Nabin]

I see this as a crowd funding thread. Not a classic shard thread.

A concept to raise funds to drive an outcome in UO. Resources

 

[Penana Car]

I have so much to say on this matter, but I wont waste my time. EA aint going to listen. Plus everytime we have a classic shard thread it gets locked. Why even bring it up? All hope is lost on this subject.

Because a classic shard would generate more playerbase then Atlantic, voiding any credibility for what they've done with the game in the last 9 years. They fear looking bad but from a pure business standpoint it would be brilliant to revive Ultima Online as it was meant to be.

 

[Uvtha]

I see this as a crowd funding thread. Not a classic shard thread.

A concept to raise funds to drive an outcome in UO. Resources

No one will, nor should they, "crowd source" a project on a currently running EA game.

That said I highly doubt that 1000 people would pay 100 dollars for a classic shard assuming that they do indeed have the ability to switch on a classic shard.

And it has always been my contention that even if they DID make a classic shard it would not be a success. It would be boring very quickly. The main reason old school UO was fun had nothing to do with the systems, but with the fact that it was the ONLY mmo out there, thus it was a really novel experience so the lackluster systems were new and exciting. They no longer would be, and the whole non con pvp thing would generally be absent because people have other choices.

I just don't see it. UO 97-98 was the best gaming of my life... but I personally would not enjoy a classic shard.

 

[Lug]

I'm all for it. But it doesnt matter. These threads ALWAYS get locked and its always the SAME people that get them locked. God bless you and Lord Nabin in your effort, I truely hope it works out.

 

[Lady Storm]

Omg!
Ok Mod!!!! I see a lock in this thread asap....
I for one do not want a all out war on this subject again...
Draconi said the master notebook was shredded by EA and he had it in his hands just before he set out for virginia.
It was put in the priority box to go... how movers mistook it for trash is beyond me but I tend to put it as a lost cause.
I cant speculate on who would or how it got distroyed.
I will leave it at that.
Now if Lord British has something that can restore that book, I'd want it in his hands not anywhere even remotely near EA's butter fingers.
Mesanna has the EA brass looking down... dont make waves jr. We might be funded but that can change in a heart beat...
Now may I suguest you lock this thread.

 

[Uvtha]

Omg!
Ok Mod!!!! I see a lock in this thread asap....
I for one do not want a all out war on this subject again...
Draconi said the master notebook was shredded by EA and he had it in his hands just before he set out for virginia.
It was put in the priority box to go... how movers mistook it for trash is beyond me but I tend to put it as a lost cause.
I cant speculate on who would or how it got distroyed.
I will leave it at that.
Now if Lord British has something that can restore that book, I'd want it in his hands not anywhere even remotely near EA's butter fingers.
Mesanna has the EA brass looking down... dont make waves jr. We might be funded but that can change in a heart beat...
Now may I suguest you lock this thread.

Except for the fact that the reason we all play UO at all is because it was in EA's butter fingers from before the concept stage, through every stage of its future. Simply because EA is a lame company, which make no mistake it is, doesn't mean they cant put out a quality game, because they can, and have.

But I agree, might as well lock this.

 

[old gypsy]

Wouldn't work anyway. RG marches to his own drummer. EA... well, it seems that EA doesn't even have a drummer.

 

[Lord Nabin]

No one will, nor should they, "crowd source" a project on a currently running EA game.

That's silly we are talking about creating a specific resource for a Specific project. I could care less if it focuses around a "classic Shard"

Crowd funding is a valid option for generating revenue to create and support something outside the box and yet withing the sandbox of UO. We are talking about setting a vision and driving an outcome supported by a community that loves a franchise. You just saw it done to the tune of almost 2 million dollars.

 

[Lord Nabin]

Wouldn't work anyway. RG marches to his own drummer. EA... well, it seems that EA doesn't even have a drummer.

You just need a drummer friend

 

[cazador]

Why on earth would you support an EA driven classic shard..there are so many out there that's quality and communication doesn't just rival it but destroys it..even in modern day..silly to think EA or the barebones crew of what 4 now could pull it off even if given the money and freedoms to do so..#SoTA!

 

[Uvtha]

That's silly we are talking about creating a specific resource for a Specific project. I could care less if it focuses around a "classic Shard"

Crowd funding is a valid option for generating revenue to create and support something outside the box and yet withing the sandbox of UO. We are talking about setting a vision and driving an outcome supported by a community that loves a franchise. You just saw it done to the tune of almost 2 million dollars.

A specific resource for a game already owned and operated by the largest gaming company in the world. That flies directly in the face of the concept of crowdsourcing, that is to allow people WITHOUT massive resources to have their vision realized.

Speaking of vision, a classic UO shard has got nothing to do with "vision". It's about trying to reclaim the past. Something that is impossible.

Comparing "Shroud of the Avatar", a whole new modern game with an actual vision by an independent developer to... what is basically an expansion- no, scratch that, a REGRESSION of an already existing EA game is nonsense.

Ignoring the fact that the ULTIMA fan base =/= the UO fan base, let alone the classic UO fan base. I'm sure litterally millions of Ultima fans never played UO, classic or modern.

 

[Viper09]

Given the size of the current team, I fear that a completely different shard would only slow down any attention we already get. And aside from the fact that no one can truly agree on when UO was "classic," what truly made it classic were the people we played with when UO was heavily populated. No matter what EA would do to make a classic shard, it would never truly be our ideal of the nostalgic UO. People have moved on, simple as that. UO will never regain that classic feeling regardless of how much they can imitate the mechanics of the client in whatever "classical" era anyone imagines.

 

[Penana Car]

Given the size of the current team, I fear that a completely different shard would only slow down any attention we already get. And aside from the fact that no one can truly agree on when UO was "classic," what truly made it classic were the people we played with when UO was heavily populated. No matter what EA would do to make a classic shard, it would never truly be our ideal of the nostalgic UO. People have moved on, simple as that. UO will never regain that classic feeling regardless of how much they can imitate the mechanics of the client in whatever "classical" era anyone imagines.

Uh, not client mechanics. 100% server side minus a few minor interface changes.

Don't worry about population, it would exceed Atlantic, mark my words. I'd deem classic any time pre-AOS, preferably pre-UO:R (shortly before).

Say what you want about population but today's Ultima Online is a far cry from when it was a good game.

There's really no good excuse not to. I would agree with the notion that the present dev team has a lack of talent.

I'm going to bring up the WoW example again. Patch 5.2 brought more content in a single patch than UO has had in the past 5 years combined (expansions/booster packs included). And months later they will repeat do it again. The best this UO development team has brought was changing a bunch of timing variables that were already pre-coded. I don't care if there is 2 people or 10 people, there is no excuse.

On a BUSINESS side of things the classic shard makes THE most sense. I'll pledge $100 in addition to monthly subscription. That's more than a game off of the shelf. How are people looped into paying $15 per month for UO in the first place? There is zero sense being nice about it. If you pay $15 you should get the service you're paying for and the same service should be available now that was available 10 years ago. Companies are desperate to stay alive and need to show COMMITMENT to their customers.

Whatever they're pouring their resources into is not working and whomever is responsible should take accountability for their poor etiquette. UO is a game on life support.

Developers are not worthy of "celebrity status" especially not developers of this calibre. They should be readily available and actively involved in soliciting and providing feedback and IMPLEMENTATION. I'm tired of reading "Letter from So-and-So".

 

[Lady Storm]

Viper09 is quite correct............. the size of the dev team and the time it would take would throw us all to the wolfs for a few months if not a year or 2. That would mean no updates, no fixes, no bugs fixed, no gifts or even planning for them... nada
And this is all on the contingent that EA would aprove it which it will not. And all this on the hope that a copy or blueprint of the original game matrix is still viable. I am not saying RG does have a copy in some corner of that bunch of housemoving boxes that still are unpacked when he sold his estate and moved... If Draconi is correct that book he had was RG's copy.
I dont want to get your hopes all dashed and its why i said lock the thread.
Wishing is fine............... it gives one hope. But this venture into abstract is impossible to get. This is like someone telling you we found intelegent life on a planet * come we go visit... you get on the ship and go... only it will take 300 years to get there and you my dear will never get to see it..
Its the little things left out of the mix that kill it all.... details

 

[Uvtha]

I'd deem classic any time pre-AOS, preferably pre-UO:R (shortly before).

Say what you want about population but today's Ultima Online is a far cry from when it was a good game.

Fully agree... BUT you seem to think it was the game mechanics that made that game so amazing back then. It wasn't. It was the novelty and the people. Both are gone.

 

[Thrakkar]

put up (1) classic shard on stable EA servers. Let's get the game back into playable form.

Don't tell me you don't have a classic shard build because it's not true.

Honestly, I really would like to see this happen. Why?
Because then I can enjoy a good laugh.
Ask ten people, what a classic shard actually is and you get ten different responses.
And 99.9% of the time a "classic" shard is just as good as the cherry-picked memories, the person you ask has...

So yeah, devs, fire up your repository browser, check out the first officially released server & client after UO Beta. This should be classic enough Compile it and roll it out.

 

[Thrakkar]

It wasn't. It was the novelty and the people. Both are gone.

Yeah, so true. Forgot that one...

 

[Viper09]

There's really no good excuse not to. I would agree with the notion that the present dev team has a lack of talent.

Nothing to do with talent, it's about manpower. EA has consistently been cutting down on positions within Mythic. You talk about massive publishes in WoW, they can achieve that because they have support, they have a large team, Mythic has neither. If they start working on re-creating the game mechanics of the "classic" shard, there will be a decrease in attention to the other shards (production, Siege/Mugan), Lady Storm pretty much summed it up above... Plus, then there is maintenance, bug fixes, etc and the question of where to focus more attention (the production shard, Siege/Mugan, or the Classical shards?). If there was a larger team and support from EA the story would be different. But given how it's going I wouldn't expect much.

And, of course, the problem of what truly made it classic as expressed above...

 

[Petra Fyde]

IF Mesanna were foolish enough to embark upon such a scheme she would swiftly find herself out of a job. Where would that leave us? EA would never stand for this independently financed offshoot that was not directly under their control.

Freeshard figures are a smokescreen, not only are none of them quite a 'classic shard', they're all tailored to the ideas of the people who host them, they are also free, most of those players would not play an EA shard, indeed some of them could not, finances are tight these days.

The classic shard suggestion has been voiced and rejected too many times to count them. Please do not bring it up again.

This reality check concludes this fantasy.