Suggestions On How To Increase The Player Population Of UO

[Flagg]

edit,
Come to think of it, Good Old Games(GOG.com) would make far more suitable (and likely!) home for UO than Steam. Unlike vs. Steam, EA's false crusade with Origin hasn't soured the relationship ; Gog features plenty of EA games and their collection of Ultima releases is already pretty impressive. Theyhave every single Ultima game ever released up for sale. Minus UO. Of course, their visibility is in no way comparable to that of Steam. Still, it'd make a perfect place to sell UO.



@ Tharakkar
It propably won't, yeah.

I think only AAA releases and direct in-house portions of EA's catalogue is completely off limits due to their Origins-related misadventures. The Secret World I think makes a pretty good example of EA-published MMO that ended up in Steam around last autumn or thereabouts.

But yeah, I consider it unlikely enough myself, this being one of the biggest reasons for doing so.

 

[virtualhabitat]

Origin/Mythic/EA -whatever they are calling themselves, need to fire the dudes who run the billing system and the Origin store. Obamacare website works better than this.

 

[Captn Norrington]

EA doesn't seem to realize that the quality of customer service reflects the quality of the company and everything they sell....

 

[a slave girl]

It's been a while since I've seen a thread like this, and was wondering what peoples current thoughts would be, in an effort to try to get new suggestions and avoid getting the thread locked, please try to stay away from topics like "get rid of the CC/EC client" or "sell the game in real life stores" since that has been posted hundreds of times. Hopefully a developer will see a suggestion they like and add it to the game one day.

Personally I think having a special event would help the game, by special event I mean something like "for the month of February all accounts, both veteran and new can play for free (or half price)" they would have to advertise the event on gaming websites for it to be effective of course, and yes EA will lose money at the beginning, however if a lot of new/returning players come back to the game and decide to stay, EA will make a significant profit in the end.

Cash prizes. Weekly.

Years ago I heard Hanse set up a last man standing pvp arena event on his pvp shard. Players went in naked and pvp items spawned on the ground and the last man standing won.

I'd like something similar for all/most templates.

For example, the tailor arena: naked tailors enter, each gets a random small bod to fill, tailor supplies spawn at random, first to fill their bod wins. Maybe a 5-10 dollar cash prize (or Origin store prize/credit).

Code the event to be automatic, spawned by a computer, not a UO player being paid to host events.

Other templates could have their own arenas and I'm thinking they should alternate, 1st and 3rd events Saturday night, 2nd and 4th Saturday morning so no matter your work schedule you can attend at least one per month, hopefully.

I don't think any other RPG offers cash prizes.

 

[Yadd of Legends]

I think the game itself should attract players rather than special events, but I'm not a fan of EM events either

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[Ox AO]

Make it easier to sign up

 

[Chad Sexington]

3 words: Free-to-Play

I know I would log in every once in a while.

 

[Flagg]

3 words: Free-to-Play

I know I would log in every once in a while.

This is the only thing I can imagine that would/could bring a truly remarkable amount of people (back) to UO.

Nothing is more valuable commodity for an MMO than a pile of new players. F2P would bring em.

Specially if you combined launch of F2P with ome sort of a brand new nostalgia servers people could believe is a T2A era.

Unfortunatrelly I guess there is too much standing in the way. Despite multiple examples of phenomenal success of F2P,EA has never been keen to do it. They literally watched Warhammer die rather than even tried to turn it F2P. Doubltless conversion for UO would be very difficult. It'd take a ton of cheat-proofing and what not.

Technically, UO is already full of stuff that makes a functional and profitable F2P game. We've already had a cash shop for several years for example- Housing alone ensures huge potential in deco, vanity items etc to be sold via cash shop. Just as they already are. Housing alone provides all the necessary carrots and restrictions that'd lure people to subscribe or pay up in some other fashion.

There is much irony in how UO actually IS a very entertaining F2P game for a great amount of players... It's just that they want nothing to do with Mythic/EA servers. This alone is truly unique state of matters. UO has just about as large community on unofficial shards as it does on "OSI". It's one of the borderline incomprehensible things about the game;p

There is a good amount of various very busy all-purpose-geek-forums on the Internet. With user bases averaging around 25-35 in age. Great many of these forums have always had their share of very busy, very long lived threads for UO. None of these threads has anyone who'd care to have anything at all to do with EA or official servers. Occasionally I pop up and mention official servers are still up,running and in live-dev. I tell game is quite fun, how there is even some PvP. I get looked like I was a madman. It is unique state of matters, really.

..But yeah, I'm 100% sure F2P will NEVER happen. I'd love to see it though.

 

[MalagAste]

I think the game itself should attract players rather than special events, but I'm not a fan of EM events either

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Many people WERE fans of the EM events..... then they put in the drops..... things got ugly and if you don't have the most uber suit and the most uber gear and use the flavor of the month template you will NEVER get a drop no matter what you do....... And the ones who go to the events to get the drops are Greedy, rude and aggressive, generally do not listen to the EM's and cause massive lag by casting constantly, throwing up EV's every time the EM pauses somewhere for 2 seconds..... etc..... making it impossible to see what's going on, find the EM, see or read anything in the journal or at the event.... since it scrolls off your screen before you can read it..... and generally it's driven away a vast majority of folk who used to enjoy the events and were actually interested in the event for the event itself not the drop.

 

[Angel of Sonoma]

... Everyone who has pointed out that the new player experience is overwhelming and frustrating is absolutely correct. I came back to UO after several years away, and even though I played obsessively for years before that I had no idea what I was doing until some other players helped me out a bit. Even then, if I hadn't had old, established characters I'm not sure I would have stuck with it. The initial learning curve is brutal and it's very hard to try to catch up. New (and returning!) players need to be eased into the sandbox, not thrown in head-first and buried in it....

I wholeheartedly agree. I often take breaks from UO and when I return I feel like I have to learn the game all over again. I would love to see the game return to the days where weapon classes were Ruin, Might, Force, Power, or Vanquishing; armor was Defense, Guarding, Hardening, Fortification, or Invulnerability. It was a much simpler time back then. And while we're at it, let's get rid of LRC and insurance. How many of you remember camping the mage shops to buy reagents? I'm sure some of you are shaking your heads thinking I'm crazy but I'm dead serious. That would really level the playing field.

 

[Kei]

I wholeheartedly agree. I often take breaks from UO and when I return I feel like I have to learn the game all over again. I would love to see the game return to the days where weapon classes were Ruin, Might, Force, Power, or Vanquishing; armor was Defense, Guarding, Hardening, Fortification, or Invulnerability. It was a much simpler time back then. And while we're at it, let's get rid of LRC and insurance. How many of you remember camping the mage shops to buy reagents? I'm sure some of you are shaking your heads thinking I'm crazy but I'm dead serious. That would really level the playing field.

In all honesty, I will die of boredom if we go back to pre UOR days. Everything will feel so slow. While there are tons of players lamenting about how gear based system has destroyed the game, I for one think the gears provide an avenue for players to strive for perfection in their suit.

 

[MalagAste]

In all honesty, I will die of boredom if we go back to pre UOR days. Everything will feel so slow. While there are tons of players lamenting about how gear based system has destroyed the game, I for one think the gears provide an avenue for players to strive for perfection in their suit.

I agree... I am opposed to all suggestions of going BACKWARDS in development of the game... I want to move forward. And I'll also add this... nostalgia always makes things seem wonderful in the past... but a really good look at the past will make you hate it.

Remember no more house customization... back to having your pet die all the time and having to get someone to get you a new one... no pet rezing... No new expansions..... no doom, Malas, Tokuno, Ter Mur...... No new dungeons..... no Mondains Legacy no elves...... no gargoyles..... In about 2 weeks everyone would be BORED..... also no new boats...... back to the old one tile movement of boats..... no new fish... boring...

Yes things were simple back then but they also didn't offer much by means of expansion.... You are talking before artifacts... etc.. I would hate going back.

If you think that would bring back old school PvP it won't. It'll make everyone bored very quickly. And also remember not everyone cares about PvP.

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

Someone has serious event issues lol

How unpopular does one have to be to supposedly get so harassed at an event?

 

[kelmo]

Ya might be surprised Goldberg...

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

Now that's funny

 

[The Zog historian]

I wholeheartedly agree. I often take breaks from UO and when I return I feel like I have to learn the game all over again. I would love to see the game return to the days where weapon classes were Ruin, Might, Force, Power, or Vanquishing; armor was Defense, Guarding, Hardening, Fortification, or Invulnerability. It was a much simpler time back then. And while we're at it, let's get rid of LRC and insurance. How many of you remember camping the mage shops to buy reagents? I'm sure some of you are shaking your heads thinking I'm crazy but I'm dead serious. That would really level the playing field.

Maybe it wasn't your experience, but those were the days when I spent too much time gearing up to do things compared to doing things themselves. My Sunday mornings were often spent recalling from shop to shop, hoping to grab the next batch first, or macroing tailoring for another hour to add to the tower fund.

I like the increased complexity of weapons and armor because they facilitate more variety and customization. Otherwise it's like the point made in this classic UO comic. It wasn't that much different after meditation was introduced and leather armor was made useful.

 

[Lug]

Wanta make UO great again? One word: Neverwinter.

Devs go play Neverwinter (and my fellow UO junkies for that matter). See the environments of Neverwinter (breath-taking), the characters (awesome and fun to play), the artwork (omg the art in this game - its straight out of the old d&d monsters manuals at times!). The game is smooth, easy to play, and wow is it fun to play!

Its a little quest heavy, but its just like UO in that you dont have to quest if you dont want to.

Im not asking the dev team to copy Neverwinter and make UO2. Just contact cryptic studios (or maybe ea could just buy them - lol) for the next uo client is all. These people seem to understand what the gamers of the d&d mmos wanted and they gave it to them. Maybe they could do the same for UOs next client. Give us a new client but still keep it UO.

I've been playing Neverwinter for a few months and I keep asking myself why doesnt UO have this? or why cant UO be like this? play like this? look like this? be freaking awesome like this?

If UO is going to survive and thrive, its needs to be remade with a new graphics engine that looks at lest as good as Neverwinter. It needs to be true to its UO roots in both story lines and game play. The folks over at cryptic seems to have the know-how and skillz to pull it off. Devs, at the very lest go play neverwinter and steal some ideas! lol


I know whats coming: "go play Neverwinter and f-off lug!" No, I still play and love UO and want it to be the best MMO ever! I think Neverwinters templet for success could work for reviving UO.

Btw Neverwinter is f2p.

 

[Thrakkar]

Umm, are you serious? You're comparing apples with oranges.

UO is a sandbox. NW is more a themepark. (Why do you think, people who are experienced with creating a themepark MMO have expertise in creating a good sandbox?)
UO is isometric 2D. NW is 3D.
UO has no classes. NW has classes.

Is there any concept of NW, which could be applied to UO? I do not think so.
Furthermore UO has to stay true to its own concepts and mechanics. It's the heart and soul of that game. If you change that, it won't be UO anymore.

You also seem to like the art of NW, because "its straight out of the old d&d monsters manuals at times!". Do you suggest to add D&D monsters to UO?

EA isn't spending the big buck for UO. It's 16 years old. EA buying another studio just to build a new client for UO? LOL. Besides, Perfect World bought Cryptic not that long ago. Good luck, buying that

 

[kaio]

Well f2p does exists, they are called freeshards

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

Develop the game into an iPhone app. Free to play...one payment to download and have a store that players can purchase special items from. Just make sure not to get the existing players upset so the phone app players would be on the same shards that currently exist. Allow a player to play from their mobile device and allow PC players to play that way as well.

I've been playing Order and Chaos for some time now...guess it's too WoWish for my liking...besides, you can't steal from players...la

 

[cazador]

-Interesting content...I could site multiple free shards that have way better content with less dev support..which is tough but true..I'm talking weekly tournaments, weekly dungeon crawls..capture the flag, poker..a moderated general chat, better BOD system..tracking for speed hacks, and scripting programs..where it doesn't ban you it just simply logs you out and says turn "this" off and you may rejoin..simple..and all done for free with no cost to the player..EA could take a look at some of these things and implement them in..we are not talking about a 300million dollar budgeted game we are talking about a 16 year old dinosaur with a still for the most part vibrant active community that would love nothing more then to get involved..suggestions

-Open Source( let people do the programming for you, all you have to do is tweak it and compile ) have people sign waivers if you fear being sued..I for one would write code on my own time..as well as many others who currently do it for a hobby with zero gain..mention in a "Shrine of Contibutors" would be good enough for me..

- User driven story/content
So many times I've read people wrote these deep and rich stories about their travels through UO, and are extremely talented individuals when it comes to story flow and probably have a stronger hold on Ultima lore more so then the current Devs..which is not a shot at them..it's just we are all nerds in our own way..

- You won't advertise..so let us! Competitions for people who create "trailers" things you can simply plug everywhere and get some damn attention..I wish I could link a site and trailer..it's awesome and so cool even for someone who plays UO I already know what to expect..PM me I'll send u link..

-FTP..ok let me explain before I get flamed beyond recognition..I'm not talking FTP completely..just open up test center for free so people can play before they pay..heck even throw in some paid addons in the store for test only..and don't ever clear a version of it so people can play for free and still give money...that would need to be explained more but let your imagination work..

- stay true to your word...when u say we are adding new dyes every month.. Do it every month not every 6 just an example..

- sell 1 time items for cash 9.99 for glacial blue/gold sandals/boots and every other variation..on a 30 day timer and then it's gone forever..

Just keep everyone interested and not drift off into search for a new MMO land..

Just my opinions sorry for the 8 mile long post


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Lug]

Umm, I am serious. Its more like comparing small worm infested apples with big red juicy apples.

How is UO more of a sandbox then NW is? There is no difference! Both are worlds in there own right that have known areas to explore. Both have players that can interact, trade, craft, npcs, dungeons.... If anything UO is the one lacking. The environments in NW are worldy. UO on the other hand... no comparsen. Now if your talking about 3d party programs... Your right NW cant beat UO. If thats what makes UO a "sandbox".

I knew someone was going to use the 2d/3d card. NW is a 3d game but you still have your "god" view of your character (Yes you have an avatar in NW). UOs view isnt much different then NW's view just that NWs isnt locked into one view - you can look around in NW. I think that aspect of looking around the world is far, far, better then UO's. The interface can be coded to look just like UO. Your arguing things that can be hard coded or optioned into a client.

Classes vs no classes has nothing to do with making a new client. The client merely cloths the server code. No I dont want the skill system to change in a new client, and it wont.

Is there any concept of NW, which could be applied to UO? ahhh hello, its called the foundry? Its currency system? Its superior interface? Training able Campanions(not pets, nw has those to)? You clearly havent played NW and are using the standard cookie cutter argument that every other knumb-skull has used since eq was released.

"Furthermore UO has to stay true to its own concepts and mechanics. It's the heart and soul of that game. If you change that, it won't be UO anymore." Like what? There is nothing currently in UO that CANT be coded into a new client. Nothing! Furthermore, where in my post did i adocate for such changes. Im wanting a pretty new client from people that just made a spectacular client! Hell, They just did what EA has been trying to for the past 12+ years! Logic would dicate to go with the people that just owned it.

Yes I do like the art of NW, as I am a long time player of pen and paper D&D. My point was Cryptic nailed the art work for NW - Nailed it! Now look at UOs new client. EA's artists couldnt even get the avatars right! I'm saying its pretty clear that EA is going to need artists that can accurately reproduce UO's old art into a new client. I mean my god, they f'ed up the avatars for crying out loud to the point I Hated UO and had to go back to the classic client. If you remember but I was a big supporter of UO:KR when It came out. I forced myself for over six months to like it. In the end, those darn avatars were so f'ing ugly I could no longer kid/lie to myself that I liked the UO:KR client. Point being EA needs help when it comes to the art work. The new client is the only proof I need to win this argument. Its dog chit.

"EA isn't spending the big buck for UO. It's 16 years old. EA buying another studio just to build a new client for UO? LOL. Besides, Perfect World bought Cryptic not that long ago. Good luck, buying that" what can I say, you got me there...

 

[Thrakkar]

How is UO more of a sandbox then NW is? There is no difference! Both are worlds in there own right that have known areas to explore. Both have players that can interact, trade, craft, npcs, dungeons.... If anything UO is the one lacking. The environments in NW are worldy. UO on the other hand... no comparsen. Now if your talking about 3d party programs... Your right NW cant beat UO. If thats what makes UO a "sandbox".

NW is the themepark. It has zones fit to certain level ranges. When you gain levels you move through theses zones in a certain order. Yes, sometimes you can skip zones, or have multiple choices or you can go back to lower level zones. But that doesn't change the fact, that you move from low level zones to high level zones until you max out your level. Crafting and professions is just an addition, heck you can't even access professions until you're level 10. This game is about killing things and earning XP through it. (Until max level at least, don't know the end game, but I assume the usual suspects: instances, raids, dailies).

In UO you can go wherever you want. You can do whatever you like. You can max out your skills without even slaying a single monster (I don't speak of combat skills here, which you could also train in town or at home beating a golem). You can play the whole game without even going out in the wild as crafter or merchant. You can build houses, rent vendors. This is what UO makes a sandbox.

I knew someone was going to use the 2d/3d card. NW is a 3d game but you still have your "god" view of your character (Yes you have an avatar in NW). UOs view isnt much different then NW's view just that NWs isnt locked into one view - you can look around in NW. I think that aspect of looking around the world is far, far, better then UO's. The interface can be coded to look just like UO. Your arguing things that can be hard coded or optioned into a client.

The view in UO is NOT LOCKED! It's a tile-based 2D game. If they would make a true 3D client they would even have to throw away the server and start from scratch. But yeah, you don't want to have UO2, right?

Is there any concept of NW, which could be applied to UO? ahhh hello, its called the foundry? Its currency system? Its superior interface? Training able Campanions(not pets, nw has those to)? You clearly havent played NW and are using the standard cookie cutter argument that every other knumb-skull has used since eq was released.

In fact I played a beta weekend, but it was definitely not my type of game. I'm fed up with themepark MMOs. Especially such heavy instanced games, like cryptic is used to make them.
There is no foundry in UO, because there are no instances. UO is a persistant state world. I would not want to let players create their own quests throughout the world. That is what the EM program is for. Sure, in NW it's easy, you leave the quest instance and rate the quest as not very good, if you don't like it. Not working in a PSW. And if you add instances to UO, it definitely wouldn't be the same. People would just be in instances and not in the world out there, where you could actually meet strangers and make new friends... (not as much as years ago, but still)
Good luck with changing the currency system. To what point, by the way? The only thing that you can do is remove checks, which has been announced anyway.

In the end, those darn avatars were so f'ing ugly I could no longer kid/lie to myself that I liked the UO:KR client. Point being EA needs help when it comes to the art work. The new client is the only proof I need to win this argument. Its dog chit.

This is all subject to personal preference and taste. Lot's of people prefer the new art, even the KR art over the current one.

 

[Lug]

You can go to any zone at any level. Where are you coming up with this? Your weekend beta? lol. Just because a fire giants fart will kill a new player that doesnt make it a themepark. You're interjecting BS from other games into this thread and missing the point of my original post: UO needs a new graphics engine that looks at lest as good as Neverwinter for it to thrive. That does NOT mean it has to BE Neverwinter!

Your making me laugh with your posts now especially this bit: "The view in UO is NOT LOCKED! It's a tile-based 2D game. If they would make a true 3D client they would even have to throw away the server and start from scratch. But yeah, you don't want to have UO2, right?" Hello mcfly... *knocks on head* UO had a 3d client remember? The game objects and tiles are coded with x, y, z axis. Porting the server code over to another 3d client will not be require a complete rewrite of its server code! lol.

This one is pretty funny too: "There is no foundry in UO, because there are no instances" Dude, when was the last time you played UO or looted a monster... hello? You're making my sides hurt now.

You cant look me in the eye can tell me the UO:KR avatar looks better then the classic client avatar. You just cant!

 

[Thrakkar]

I give up, it's hopeless...

You cant look me in the eye can tell me the UO:KR avatar looks better then the classic client avatar. You just cant!

This is personal taste. And thus a complete subjective matter. So, yes, I can.

 

[Veritas et Sapientia]

I'll take Kingdom Reborn over the Classic Client or any client for that matter. KR was awesome and beautiful compared to what were stuck with right now. What I wouldn't give to have some high resolution graphics in Ultima Online.

How a game goes from high resolution to low resolution I'll never be able to wrap my head around.

While I love UO and will continue to play it the game looks horrible. If I hadn't grown up on it there isn't a snowballs chance in hell looking at it I would try the game. Graphics is the first thing I look at before even thinking about trying a game.

To those of you who think graphics don't matter your living in la la land and until something changes in the graphics department nothing in UO is going to bring in new players.

UO should look like and play like Titan Quest where you could have your "classic" 2D isometric view or you can zoom in and angle to a 3D perspective.

I'll be breaking out the champagne the day they ever do something with the graphics because their terrible (all of which are based on the classic client).

 

[Dot_Warner]

Let's be realistic here, UO cannot compete with a modern MMO, regardless of it being a sandbox/theme park/led around by the nose experience. WE love the game, but then most of us have been obsessively playing a long, long time.

FtP might bring in some players, though most will leave after they learn you have to create spreadsheets and store hundreds of items to craft a leet suit. Some, will stay...but will it be enough to matter?

Consider the past 10 years of EA mismanagement: multiple new client fumbles, repeated gutting of lead staff, a truly diabolical account management system, an extremely amateur online store, the farce that is customer service (no phone support, shoddy email support, GM wait times routinely measured in hours/days, being thanked for playing DAoC), and an uninspiring main website.

Then we have to think about actual game issues: No New Player Experience (the EC's 5 minute thing doesn't count), over complicated 4-step crafting process for the best armor, the failure of modern factions, PvP and PvM "fixes" negatively affecting each other, lack of consistency across systems (especially the newer ones), horrid UI experience (talking about bad menu systems), mishmash of graphical styles/quality, compromised/wasted potential of the EC, a frighteningly long laundry list of bugs.

When it comes to the devs themselves, the only thing I'm going to fault them on is a lack of consistent communication.

UO does have a bunch of good things going for it, but new players aren't apt to see them soon enough to matter.

Fix a majority of the problems and then try to bring in new people.