So what's up with UO?

[deadite]

Hey everybody. It's been a long while since I've played UO. Thought about coming back for 2014 and giving it the old college try... again. I've played on and off since the 96 beta... I just can't seem to totally get away from this game. I need my fix! I don't like the idea of supporting freeshards although they can be appealing for the nostalgia... I'd rather give my money to the actual devs and support the real game, you know? But I have my reservations, especially since I've let my plot and many items long decay. Anyway, I was hoping you guys could answer a few questions for me:

I know the devs were working a while back on making plate armor more appealing. Something about removing the need for robes too? How did that turn out? Are we seeing knights encased in actual plate armor running around nowadays?

Likewise, they added some new feature a while back for changing armor stats or something. I can't remember what it was called, but I remember the initial reaction being that it was pretty much useless. How does the game look as far as templating and finding/buying/crafting equipment nowadays? (Wow, this is a vague question. Sorry.)

I read that lag was a problem after they moved the servers to the cloud. Has this improved?

Has the enhanced client continued to be updated? Any word on the high-res art project?

Did all of the anti-virtue dungeons get revamped? Is that still happening? How do you like the ones that have?

I see that vendor search is finally coming. That's a great feature!

Overall, do you guys feel like the game still has legs? Do you feel like the dev team is doing a good job? It doesn't look like they're communicating all that much on the site, but it doesn't appear that the game is in maintenance mode either!

And most importantly, do you feel like a player could come in, somewhat fresh, and get to the point where he or she could enjoy some of the new encounters?

Thanks!

 

[Miriandel]

Long story short: just come back, it's better than ever.

And my warriors have always worn plate, dunno what you're talking about, can solo champs fine, without necromancy mind you!

 

[deadite]

I'd be interested in your Warrior template.

I managed to put together a plate suit for my paladin/warrior a few years ago and it was close to all 70s, but I remember it wasn't easy... Most of the pieces I wanted were leather. But I think I was trying to hodgepodge arties together. I was never a "power player"... just a guy who played maybe an hour or two a day looking for some fun and immersion.

 

[Tina Small]

It's really great to see you posting and thinking about a return!! I hope you will give in to your addiction and come back, at least for a while.

I know the devs were working a while back on making plate armor more appealing. Something about removing the need for robes too? How did that turn out? Are we seeing knights encased in actual plate armor running around nowadays?

Likewise, they added some new feature a while back for changing armor stats or something. I can't remember what it was called, but I remember the initial reaction being that it was pretty much useless. How does the game look as far as templating and finding/buying/crafting equipment nowadays? (Wow, this is a vague question. Sorry.)

Publish 81 that went live in mid-April 2013 included a lot of changes to armor (as well as weapon special moves). The armor changes included adding "armor inherent LMC," "armor stamina loss," "armor refinement," "armor material enhancement bonus," and being able to pay to add the mage armor property to an item. The publish notes for Publish 81 are spread out in several posts on the UO.com website, since testing for that publish was spread out over about 2.5 months. You can find the notes here: http://www.uo.com/article/Publish-810-Comes-TC1; http://www.uo.com/article/Updated-Publish-81-Notes;http://www.uo.com/article/Updated-Publish-81-TC1; http://www.uo.com/article/Updated-Publish-81-TC1-0; http://www.uo.com/article/Publish-81-Updated-TC1-0; http://www.uo.com/Publish-81-Notes; http://www.uo.com/article/Publish-81-Comes-Origin-and-Izumo; http://www.uo.com/article/Publish-81-Patch-Notes.

You'll want to check out the Blackthorn artifacts and how to get them if you're interested in the idea of showing off your armor instead of hiding it under a robe. A good place to begin learning about these new items is with this article Petra wrote: http://uo2.stratics.com/items/blackthorn-artifacts .

I read that lag was a problem after they moved the servers to the cloud. Has this improved?

The weird choppiness/lag comes and goes and I really think how much of it you experience is based on which shard(s) you play on, when you play, where you live, and your ISP. Some people seem to never have issues and other people seem to have problems almost daily at the same time of the day.

Has the enhanced client continued to be updated? Any word on the high-res art project?

It doesn't seem like much is happening on this front. We were supposed to see more high-res house tile sets released gradually, but it's been many, many months since the last set was released. Also, from what I understand, Pinco's not really playing anymore, although I think he is, so far, still keeping his mod updated.

Did all of the anti-virtue dungeons get revamped? Is that still happening? How do you like the ones that have?

So far the only anti-virtue dungeons that have been changed are Shame, Wrong, Covetous, and Despise, unless I'm forgetting something. King Blackthorn's castle has been replaced in Trammel by a huge new castle and there is a brand new dungeon under his castle in both Trammel and Fel.

Overall, do you guys feel like the game still has legs? Do you feel like the dev team is doing a good job? It doesn't look like they're communicating all that much on the site, but it doesn't appear that the game is in maintenance mode either!

You are right that it doesn't seem that UO is quite in maintenance mode. There were several publishes in 2013: Publish 81 (April), Publish 82 (King's Collection theme pack release in June), Publish 83 (end of August), Publish 84 (mid-October), Publish 85 (mid-November). However, Phoenix was laid off in April, so, as far as we've been told, it seems that Kyronix is the only "developer/designer" left on the team. I think the rest of the dev team consists of Mesanna (producer), Bleak and Mrs.Troublemaker (engineers), Onifrk (art lead), and Misk (test lead). I think there may only be three English-speaking GMs around (Brutrin, Stethun, and Rakban). I have no idea how many people, other than EMs, are still on the UO team in Japan, as none of their names showed up on the 16th anniversary or Christmas gifts. If the names on the lobsters in the holiday gifts are a good indicator, then there are currently about 28 EMs. Unfortunately, with all the homes that were dropped in the last 2 or 3 years, it's become painfully obvious that UO's player base is nowhere what it used to be. There are still people playing, however, on shards that appear to be "dead." Not everyone has fled to Atlantic!

And most importantly, do you feel like a player could come in, somewhat fresh, and get to the point where he or she could enjoy some of the new encounters?

I think a returning player could do that pretty easily if they are willing to do some reading to catch up on things and especially if they still have guildmates or friends who are currently playing or who are an adventurous sort willing to explore or check things out with you. I have my doubts about how much fun UO would be for someone who has never played UO before, unless they get some really significant assistance from friends and family who are currently playing UO. I think someone coming into UO completely green and with no real clue of what's going on and completely unaware of sites like Stratics, UO Forums, or UOGuide would have a very difficult time catching on to what is going on. They might luck out and fall into a guild that can try to help them get their feet under them, but I suspect it would be really rough going for them for quite a while if they had no one else to really pair up with on a consistent basis.

 

[Smoot]

a new player could enjoy the new content "fresh" only with a guild. most the encounters can be soloed, or done in a small group of 2 - 4 very well skilled and geared players. The game is still apealing, the crafting system is very complex (i like it some hate it) you can build a basic suit to get by with, but to be competitive in pvm or pvp the scroll and items require a commitment of more than just jumping in for a week and playing.

 

[deadite]

Thank you Tina for that very thorough answer! The crowd I ran with have long retired from the game (they mostly left after AOS or SE)... that's probably a big reason that my attempts to play since then haven't lasted terribly long.

Maybe I'll start completely fresh as an experiment. With the cloud hosting, does geographic location matter as much? I always wanted to try Europa, but never did because I'm on the east coast USA. I guess it's worth a shot...

 

[Smoot]

Thank you Tina for that very thorough answer! The crowd I ran with have long retired from the game (they mostly left after AOS or SE)... that's probably a big reason that my attempts to play since then haven't lasted terribly long.

Maybe I'll start completely fresh as an experiment. With the cloud hosting, does geographic location matter as much? I always wanted to try Europa, but never did because I'm on the east coast USA. I guess it's worth a shot...

it doesnt matter as much as it used to. it can be "bad" all over. i started on Atlantic because it was closest to me, now atlantic is 63ms, pacific 73ms, Europa 94ms. so not a huge difference. all are playable. its only the asian shards that are all over 200ms.

 

[Miriandel]

Sorry for being late, maybe you'll be reading this anayway.

The warrior template I'm using is mace (120 mandatory), tactics, anat, parrying, chivalry (120 mandatory), bushido and either healing 80 or resist 80.
My pickaxe is 100% life leech (reforged with copper running kit), max mana leech, hit lower defense, damage increase and hit lightning.
I also use a Whirlwind War hammer with hit fire area and appropriate slayer to clear champ spawns.

Both the ring and bracelet are shame loot with 10% swing speed increase. Those jewels drop quite easily (I farm blood elems) but it can take a while before you get the needed parts with hit increase, damage increase or defense increase. They are cursed though...

The armor is 100% crafted.
Plate reforged to have both hit and defense increase 4%, imbued to get up to 70% resists everywhere except frost and poison which are not needed.
The remaining mods are stam increase and whenever possible hit points or mana (I'm human so mana is really tight).

When at 100% perfection the Armor Ignores, the only thing worth using nowadays, do 180+ on anything, which heals fine thanks to the 100% hit life leech weapon property.

I can't do everything on my own because I refuse to have necromancy on a paladin, but it's a fun character to play which holds it's own pretty much everywhere.

 

[Eärendil]

I know the devs were working a while back on making plate armor more appealing. Something about removing the need for robes too? How did that turn out? Are we seeing knights encased in actual plate armor running around nowadays?

>YES! Blackthorn-Arties were an improvement in this direction, as well as armor changes in 2013.

Likewise, they added some new feature a while back for changing armor stats or something. I can't remember what it was called, but I remember the initial reaction being that it was pretty much useless. How does the game look as far as templating and finding/buying/crafting equipment nowadays? (Wow, this is a vague question. Sorry.)

>Has never been so complex and powerful as nowadays. Crafting is a true alternative to arties/loot. Nah, it is better in many many cases! You will need some time to learn the different methods (reforging, imbuin, enhancing and so on). But you will be able to make godly suits.

I read that lag was a problem after they moved the servers to the cloud. Has this improved?

>Depends. On my homeshard (DF) no problems at all. On ATL I think it was quite laggy lately.

Has the enhanced client continued to be updated? Any word on the high-res art project?

>Hmm... Yes, there have been improvements on EC, more than on CC.

Did all of the anti-virtue dungeons get revamped? Is that still happening? How do you like the ones that have?

>Not all, but some. The revamps were awesome, if you speak of the loot. Some places are very challenging and true gold mines. Shame and Cove have been visited in the last 2 years more than in the 5 years before, I guess.

I see that vendor search is finally coming. That's a great feature!

>Aye, hopefully they make it better than it is now on TC1.

Overall, do you guys feel like the game still has legs? Do you feel like the dev team is doing a good job?

>Yes! I really do. In 2013 they made so many steps into the right direction. It was fantastic to see what they did for the community. They are communicating much more with us than - lets say - 3 years ago. And there is a nice deal of responsivity, meaning: If you have reasonable criticism (Blackthorn Dungeon, e.g.) they change things within a short period of time. I am happy - some might not be. But I think they are doing a great job!

It doesn't look like they're communicating all that much on the site, but it doesn't appear that the game is in maintenance mode either!

>Nah, we get new stuff every year, many new items, eye candy - but significant improvements, too.

And most importantly, do you feel like a player could come in, somewhat fresh, and get to the point where he or she could enjoy some of the new encounters?

>In PVM you can succeed with you older chars: A tamer with a GD, a Mage/Weaver or Mage/Mysitc is still capable to work bosses and spawns - sometimes alone, sometimes with a group. If you enter a place with a - lets say - 3 year old char with already an imbued equipment (post SA), you will be able to participate without problems. Otherwise you can get a new medium quality suit for a small amout of cash that enables you to play the game comprehensively.

WELCOME BACK! ENJOY IT!

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

Always nice to see old players attempting to return but if one of your main issues was plate armor not being appealing at any point(visually or logically)I fear you may not be around for long. Encasing knights in plate is nice and whimsical though

If you do give it a real try though I am on Atlantic and would be glad to help you get started with gear. PM me

 

[pumpkin_escobar]

Welcome back