A sad day for me.

[Scribbles]

Im officially done with IDOCs. I can no longer deal with the frustration of sitting way beyond 15 hours waiting for a house to fall, just to see nothing in the house. The Game/UO staff have taken away one of the only things keeping me around. I have shut down the 3 accounts I IDOCed with. Ill be shutting down more in the near future.

If anyone has anything fun to do please icq me, as if i dont find something to occupy my time in the game ill probably end up shutting down completely.

@Mesanna @Bleak @Kyronix If you three could actually respond to any of the numerous idoc threads it would be appreciated. Your lack of input on the matter just makes it even more frustrating.

1. idocs are not 5 10 15....

2. grubbers sometimes dont pick up anything or dont spawn at all

3. anything past 10 hours is plain ridiculous.

4. Co owners and friends should be allowed inside the house.

5. Characters are getting bugged and not being able to pick up items at all...


im sure there are other concerns but those seem to be the main points...

I really appreciated your attempt at making idocs fun and clean for everyone. You got the nail half way in, then left it hanging for everyone to stub their toe on.

 

[old gypsy]

Oh, no...

 

[James Moriarty]

Im officially done with IDOCs. I can no longer deal with the frustration of sitting way beyond 15 hours waiting for a house to fall, just to see nothing in the house. The Game/UO staff have taken away one of the only things keeping me around. I have shut down the 3 accounts I IDOCed with. Ill be shutting down more in the near future.

If anyone has anything fun to do please icq me, as if i dont find something to occupy my time in the game ill probably end up shutting down completely.

@Mesanna @Bleak @Kyronix If you three could actually respond to any of the numerous idoc threads it would be appreciated. Your lack of input on the matter just makes it even more frustrating.

1. idocs are not 5 10 15....

2. grubbers sometimes dont pick up anything or dont spawn at all

3. anything past 10 hours is plain ridiculous.

4. Co owners and friends should be allowed inside the house.

5. Characters are getting bugged and not being able to pick up items at all...


im sure there are other concerns but those seem to be the main points...

I really appreciated your attempt at making idocs fun and clean for everyone. You got the nail half way in, then left it hanging for everyone to stub their toe on.

This team of Devs are closing down UO bit by bit. They have made changes to all parts of the game, which no one wanted or asked for and the end result is everyone affected just gives up and leave. With a game of this age its not wise to alter the way things work and chase off the few people left who enjoy them.

I am sorry to see you close youre accounts down but im more than sure you wont be the last.

 

[Zosimus]

You know IDOC's are not a good sign either. That's considered losing players and accounts.

So even fixing the IDOC's changes UO is still losing.

I just don't understand how players thinks having IDOCs, no matter the system in place, is a win.

 

[It Lives]

*rubs hands* Your stuff will make for good pickings.

 

[Uriah Heep]

I can understand the frustration. IMO the IDOC changes were backwards, if yhou were gonna do anything, ya shoulda moved it up to an hour lol. But, since scripters can stand there 23/7, they changed the game to where the only ones doing IDOCs will soon be scripters. And once again, the silence is deafening. @James Moriarty I agree with you. Doesn't seem like much of the old UO is left, and the only things left for them to do is kill off original systems, Introduce more lands that will end up bare, and create 10mil hit point mobs that insta kill ya and call it fun!

*shakes head*

 

[Captn Norrington]

Hopefully this can be fixed, I'd hate to see the game lose a player as great as you Scribbles

 

[Old Vet Back Again]

What?! Are you all saying that the current devs neglect tram/pvm/non-pvp content also? Damn, I thought pvp was the red headed step child locked in the closet...

Maybe Tram and Fel are related?

 

[Uriah Heep]

And while we speak of IDOCs, I'm thinking about the check removal that's coming up. In addition to being of great benefit to the high rollers, when a player quits, that invisible number can't be looted and therefore leaves the game. So be sure to encourage everyone you know who is leaving to spend all the money on goods to leave in the house for other players to get

 

[Sinder Shayde]

Usually I read rage posts but then move on. Seems lately the posts I have been reading are legitimate concerns of the players and should be seriously addressed by a Dev.

The old saying "if it isn't broken, then don't fix it" seems to apply here. I understand a little "tweeking" to idocs may have been necessary but the Dev's went too far on this one.
Difficult to please everyone all of the time, I know but 15hr idocs...really!! then when it falls, it is empty! why the Dev's thought this was a good idea in the first place is beyond me.
I had thought the grubbers would have been a playful and enjoyable addition to an idoc but it is not. instead, grubbers do not spawn or are empty anyway.

Some people may say, "quit your complaining" but for those who sit and wait to get the time it turned and return on the 5hr 10hr and then the 15hr and it still hasn't fallen, or it was empty is quite discouraging.
the idocer's are the ones who have fully stocked vendors, which most players shop at, otherwise "business vendors" will close and houses will fall as those players have now quit.


Lets look at the Hunmaster Challenge. Great idea, was fun to do for the first month or so but here is another example of a new idea, left to die off. No new animals introduced to kill. No new rewards added...boring!!
So the bored player moves on and lets say, does a champ spawn, ok gold bomb at the end and what!!..Cant pick the gold up off the ground! but yet, this has yet to be addressed even though it has been mentioned in several other posts.
Is it too much to ask that the players concerns are at least acknowledged by the Dev's and a comment "yes we are aware and will fix or yes we are aware and it stays as is" but silence is adding even more frustration.

It has been way too long since the players have experienced an event like the Magincia Invasion, why not introduce something new and worth playing for !!

 

[The Craftsman]

*rubs hands* Your stuff will make for good pickings.

He said he was going to shut accounts, not let houses fall and items be scavenged by the vultures. Get back on your perch.

 

[cazador]

As for that gold attached to accounts..I can't wait for the blow up of Stratics when there's some unforeseen bug that wipes the game gold! Or when you take a break from game to come back to a 0 balance! Genius! Check are fine fix freaking duping and quit with shoddy code..or rewrite the engine and port over..maybe if we had working non laggy servers(cloud), not 40 pages of bugs people would actually stick around and not log in and be like holy ****..my NES didn't lag this bad with Max sprites and log off..you could afford more devs with more players!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MalagAste]

So IDOC's now last 20 hours in falling.... well I can say this.... a house must IDOC now at WARP speed.

I have a friend who can't play much as she's ill... she checked her keep on Tuesday... It was not even in any IDOC stage... still fine on the house sign. On Friday she logged in and the house had obviously fallen at some point in the last couple of hours. Deeds all over the ground. Only she couldn't pick them up. So she watched them all decay.

So yes it IS messed up.

 

[DJAd]

It seems to me the DEV team did listen to people about IDOC's and changed them but went way over the top.

In my opinion it only needed a simple change. Stop the young players (which they did) all the other stuff was just not really needed.

 

[the 4th man]

Ya know what, your question (scribbles) "If anyone has anything fun to do in game....) that says alot. You're bored with UO? Then quit...... I can care less about idocs. It got out of hand, big deal, I find other things to do.......Hell, UO offers so much.

 

[The Craftsman]

UO offers so much.

And delivers so little ..

 

[Sinder Shayde]

Well, that was quick huh!!


From the Devs
2015 Mar 17 18:40 GMT



Happy St. Patrick’s Day Everyone!!!

I wanted to address a few things from Stratics regarding IDOCs. I would also like to tell you about a few changes we are going to make. Currently in game, once a house goes into IDOC we had stated it would drop on the 5, 10, or 15th hour instead of 20. What was not said is it had to wait for a decay tick after those times. I will take blame for the miscommunication on this fact. We are fixing it so it will not wait for the decay tick and it will fall on the 5, 10, or 15th hour.

The Grubbers that appear when a IDOC house falls will lose all their items in their packs when they cross a server line. We have no plans to change the wiping of the co-owner or friends list. The owner of the house has the ability to re-add them at any time.


We hope this answers some of the questions and concerns we have been seeing.

Changes we are making...

• We are fixing the gold pick up at champ spawns so there is not any delay.
• We are fixing players being able to get their house back even in the IDOC state. You must renew your account at least 2 hours before it drops or it will not be given back to you. (Until this fix is published you can email [email protected] if you renew your account and your house is not being returned to you, list the shard, and house location and name when you email me. I do not need you there to make it do a warehouse check for an active account.

You should see these changes within the next few weeks when we publish out our items for Easter.



Have a safe evening!

UO Team

Continue reading...

UO News, 10 minutes ago Report Bookmark

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

Well, that was quick huh!!

For those of you who don't think the devs read what is written...I hope this changes that thought. Maybe they don't come here and directly respond...but they are listening and choose whet to respond to, with action...la

 

[JC the Builder]

So IDOC's now last 20 hours in falling.... well I can say this.... a house must IDOC now at WARP speed.

I have a friend who can't play much as she's ill... she checked her keep on Tuesday... It was not even in any IDOC stage... still fine on the house sign. On Friday she logged in and the house had obviously fallen at some point

Houses decay within 2-3 days according to an announcement several years ago.

 

[Kojak]

you know what the funny part is ... now he has to reactivate 3 accounts because he jumped the gun by half a day - lol

 

[The Craftsman]

For those of you who don't think the devs read what is written...I hope this changes that thought. Maybe they don't come here and directly respond...but they are listening and choose whet to respond to, with action...la

They may be reading but arent listening. What part of '15 hours is too long' did they not understand? They are fixing their buggy screwup (which should never have made it to live publish ... shoddy work) but still failing to recognise the stupidy of the timings.

 

[MalagAste]

They may be reading but arent listening. What part of '15 hours is too long' did they not understand? They are fixing their buggy screwup (which should never have made it to live publish ... shoddy work) but still failing to recognise the stupidy of the timings.

They don't understand any of it but one guy quitting because he can't stand waiting 20 hours to loot an IDOC gets them to change stuff but 20 people leaving because we can't do EM events or loot mobs anymore and we are fed up with dying taking 2 min .... gets nothing.

What am I not crying the right way yet? Hell I'll threaten to close all 11 accounts I have open right now if that's what it takes to get something done.

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

They may be reading but arent listening. What part of '15 hours is too long' did they not understand? They are fixing their buggy screwup (which should never have made it to live publish ... shoddy work) but still failing to recognise the stupidy of the timings.

They listen, they just choose to listen and respond selectively. While you may think this is an important topic, there are others who wish they would spend their time fixing other issues that concern us more. Just be happy they didn't throw you "a bone" like they threw thieves when they told us to wait for the fun stuff PvP thieves would be able to do once Doom was installed...la

 

[The Craftsman]

Just be happy they didn't throw you "a bone" like they threw thieves when they told us to wait for the fun stuff PvP thieves would be able to do once Doom was installed...la

Im sure they're 'working on it'.

 

[Ender]

I don't see what's wrong with 15 hours. You don't have to be there the whole time right?

 

[The Craftsman]

I don't see what's wrong with 15 hours. You don't have to be there the whole time right?

You do if you dont know when it went idoc. Think about it.

 

[kelmo]

It is just pixels.

 

[Troop_Gil]

IDOC's have always been a part of the game. Now the developers have ruined the fun. May as well screw everything else up too.

 

[claudia-fjp]

You know IDOC's are not a good sign either. That's considered losing players and accounts.

So even fixing the IDOC's changes UO is still losing.

I just don't understand how players thinks having IDOCs, no matter the system in place, is a win.

Because the old IDOC system WAS FUN. A lot of people did it. Some for the loot, some for the housing, some for the pvp. People are going to quit UO over time anyway, that's inevitable. The genius of the IDOC system was that it was using the loss of some players to provide entertainment for many more. Now you're losing both the players who you were going to lose anyway AND losing the ones that loved IDOCs since the thing they once enjoyed doing in game is ruined.

Another aspect is availability of items. IDOCers stock vendors with items people are looking for. If that dries up people have trouble finding things on servers other than Atlantic. Players who can't find what they want to buy get frustrated and quit because their server seems dried up and dead.

A lot of people dismiss IDOCs and the people who do it, they only see the negative aspect of a player quitting. What they don't realize is the additional number who also quit when you ruin it. I've already permanently closed 7 accounts since they started screwing around with it. Not all the changes were bad, they just changed too much. The nerf of Trial Accounts and making decaying houses private would have been sufficient. Changing the times so you pretty much have to /quitlife and watch houses around the clock or cheat like a fiend if you want to do IDOCs was just a bad decision.

 

[Picus at the office]

The majority of those who IDOC didn't spend the rest of thier time filling vendors, some did for sure like the above poster but to attempt to say this was the case for most is a blatent lie.

People arn't quiting because they can't find stuff to buy, that again is a joke. Most long term players scripted mules to provide items that are needed to play the game but it was other aspects of the game that ruined the enjoyment not the hard task of finding a anvil to build a room in a house.

I don't believe that there was alot of forward planning in the IDOC system, I think that there was two different timers involved for a house to fall. One being the house alone and a second for the contents as the contents only load into your game after you set foot on the house foundation hence why they are left over after the fall. It wasn't a attempt at providing loot for players but a simple planning error made some 20 years ago but left now to be viewed as a feature.

Blame what you want for these other 30 or so accounts being closed but don't try to pretend that during the current Dev team run we haven't lost 100's more for other reasons none of which had anything to do with a house falling.

Like some others have said there is still a spot in my heart for this game but it's over for all.

 

[Picus at the office]

I can't recall how long ago I added that signature to my profile, it has to be at least 3+ years ago and it still has the same meaning and message as day one. Nothing has been done to reduce the grind and everything has been done to increase it. The reason people left? It's freaking annoying to play with this leadership and the total lack of follow through.

 

[Zosimus]

In todays UO no matter how you sugar coat it can't afford to keep losing players. When UO was in it its prime at 240k accounts and a constant flow of peeps coming and going I can understand the fun remark. To blame on a system that has been tweaked because of constant complaints over years of scripters is going to lose more players is ridiculous.

Idocs wasn't suppose to be a playing style. It was part of the house system timer and you just got lucky when it happened across one. Now its a profession to get more pixels.


Basically if IDOCs are sooooooooooooooooo important how much does one need to be the last player in the game and say I have it all before they close the doors?

Funny how you all love Mesanna and crew when they add new pixels and stuff in the game, fixing old bugs, and new expansion. Then this happens and the majority are on the "Hate Train Express" and ready to burn them at the stake if you could. I am no fan of Mesanna but I give credit where credit is due and the current dev team has put tons of effort into UO in many ways. Love them or hate them this team has been putting more effort then some has in the past. You don't have to like them but at least respect them. They could just do nothing or very minimal at all and get a paycheck for it.

 

[Scribbles]

Even though some of the points in this thread on both sides are valid... Some have gone to the ignorant side. Ill remind those trying to have a reasonable conversation. It was a fool who argued with a fool.

 

[The Craftsman]

Even though some of the points in this thread on both sides are valid... Some have gone to the ignorant side. Ill remind those trying to have a reasonable conversation. It was a fool who argued with a fool.

Uhall wouldn't be half as much fun if it were any other way

 

[claudia-fjp]

The majority of those who IDOC didn't spend the rest of thier time filling vendors, some did for sure like the above poster but to attempt to say this was the case for most is a blatent lie.

People arn't quiting because they can't find stuff to buy, that again is a joke.

Are you under the impression the majority of idocers are just filling house after house full of stuff and never selling it? I'm not sure you quite understand the logistics of doing that. Any regular IDOCer would have needed a new castle every month just to hold all the stuff they looted if that were the case. So yes, most IDOCers sell stuff on vendors. That is the point. That is why it is such a good way to make gold. The items don't just convert themselves into gold by magic.

As to your other point, people do quit games because they are dead. Someone resubs or starts out on a non atlantic server and they can't find anything for sale. How long do you think they'll stick around in a game where all the vendors are empty and they can't find what they want? Not all UO players are entrenched 16 year vets with multiple castles full of stuff.

What you see as lies and jokes on stratics I've seen with my own eyes in game.

 

[Ender]

No I think the implication was the majority of crap in IDOCs is just that, crap. Crap that doesn't sell.

 

[Uriah Heep]

No I think the implication was the majority of crap in IDOCs is just that, crap. Crap that doesn't sell.

And that is what we drop in the barrel for turnin points =)

 

[Picus at the office]

Are you under the impression the majority of idocers are just filling house after house full of stuff and never selling it? I'm not sure you quite understand the logistics of doing that. Any regular IDOCer would have needed a new castle every month just to hold all the stuff they looted if that were the case. So yes, most IDOCers sell stuff on vendors. That is the point. That is why it is such a good way to make gold. The items don't just convert themselves into gold by magic.

As to your other point, people do quit games because they are dead. Someone resubs or starts out on a non atlantic server and they can't find anything for sale. How long do you think they'll stick around in a game where all the vendors are empty and they can't find what they want? Not all UO players are entrenched 16 year vets with multiple castles full of stuff.

What you see as lies and jokes on stratics I've seen with my own eyes in game.

Like I said you, being the above poster, might be refilling a vendor with the amazing loots you find but the rest of the players toss the stuff into a garbage can and collect points. I undertsand the logistics of hording it all, that would indeed require a new castle every other day but it just is not the case. At best 10% of the stuff looted is worth reselling and the rest is just junk.

How on earth are you going to tell me that some random guy or gal on the interwebz is going to find UO and give it a go? No information on how to play, no advertising at all and you have to pay? Google "I want to try a new MMORPG" and show me that link to this game.

I understand the passion for this game and the true desire to protect every aspect of it but please don't try to sell me something that isn't real.

 

[Bethany_lg]

I think the point wasn't some random person wandering into the game, it's the people who have been gone and return. The only new blood is returning people at this point, and if you return to a shard with nothing for sale and without the ability to move shards, you're not going to stay.

I can only speak for myself, I used to idoc until the youngs and scripters appeared in mass. I still did some but not as much. My response was to close a couple accounts. The new changes make it so there is no fun for me, so I packed up my vendors and have abandoned my "dead" shard and moved to atlantic, which meant i closed 2 more accounts.

So I guess that's the impact of changing parts of the game that people really enjoy. Those of us that are left when we go, often take 7 or 8 accounts with us. For me, it's all the non-combat bits and pieces that make this game still worth playing. If i want to fight stuff just about every other mmo is more enjoyable to me.

I'm gonna give Atlantic a try and see if I find any enjoyment there. If not I'll close the last 3 and be done.

 

[Flutter]

I'll play with ya Scrib! We can do all sorts of fun things! Don't leave!

 

[The Craftsman]

We also need to remember that not everyone playing UO uses Stratics. Its most probably a very very small minority that do.

For every player that complains to the Devs here in UHall, and who debates the changes to various aspects of the game and the continued screw ups, there are possibly 10 or even 100 players for each one of us, who dont use Stratics, see yet another ill thought out, badly implemented change that destroys the game for them, and simply quietly close down there account, walk away, and leave UO forever.

This game isnt slowly dying. It is slowly being killed off.

 

[MalagAste]

I'd say over the half the people I know not only don't read Stratics they don't read the UO Website either...

They only pay attention when something doesn't work... or there is a patch at which they always ask "Willa.... what was in that patch we got?"

So they rely on word of mouth to get info... Many of them have no clue what half the publishes are about.

 

[Bobar]

The majority of those who IDOC didn't spend the rest of thier time filling vendors, some did for sure like the above poster but to attempt to say this was the case for most is a blatent lie.
.

Afraid I must disagree with you on this point. Until the recent stupid elongated time system making them impractical for a lot of players I have done idocs for more than 10 years. For long periods during that time I have worked as part of a team. I cannot think of one of those I worked with who did not have vendors. Indeed, some of them ran shops which included vendors with free stuff on them (from idocs of course). As has been stated goods from idocs provided a steady flow of reasonably (sometimes a lot cheaper) goods. Yes idocs were a good source of income but the side effects were beneficial to the game providing goods which would otherwise be lost, thus at least keeping a degree of check on prices. So whilst the majority may well have not spent the rest of their time filling vendors ( a somewhat ridiculous statement) a very great many in my experience certainly spent some.

 

[AtlanticRealtor]

I'll play with ya Scrib! We can do all sorts of fun things! Don't leave!

that sounds so Dirt @Flutter

 

[Queen Arya]

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Two+Cent+Piece&FORM=RRIMGI

My two cents.....
Scribbles and I have done many events where we took both our funds and items derived from idocs and created an adventure for our shard.
We also dropped by Haven with many items to give away to newer players.
Both our guilds were active and it is our way of giving back to keep our shard active.
You need stocked vendors, active PVP & PVM to keep a shard busy.
As Governor of Jhelom, during our town event, one of the booths we had available was advertisement of this Stratics site. Also a booth advertising the Rares Fest.
Each month we tried to bring some aspect of the game to the forefront. the funds derived from idocs and sold on vendors was a win win situation.
Idocs are someones misfortune, but if your out there hammering away, teaching, helping, advertising for the game it seemed to be level ground.
Just saying, I know where Scribbles is coming from. I work a full time job, so sitting for 15 hours to find an empty house isn't working.
Let us be able to use cntl + shift to see if its worth the effort?

 

[Picus at the office]

Well I'm sorry to be such a thorn in the bush but for ages I've been calling it as I saw it.

Afraid I must disagree with you on this point. Until the recent stupid elongated time system making them impractical for a lot of players I have done idocs for more than 10 years. For long periods during that time I have worked as part of a team. I cannot think of one of those I worked with who did not have vendors. Indeed, some of them ran shops which included vendors with free stuff on them (from idocs of course). As has been stated goods from idocs provided a steady flow of reasonably (sometimes a lot cheaper) goods. Yes idocs were a good source of income but the side effects were beneficial to the game providing goods which would otherwise be lost, thus at least keeping a degree of check on prices. So whilst the majority may well have not spent the rest of their time filling vendors ( a somewhat ridiculous statement) a very great many in my experience certainly spent some.

I'm glad you were a part of a group who did such things, it is rare and you should be commended for such actions but from my view point you and these friends are a small segment of the game. In the years of seeing 100's of different people come and go I never met anyone who did the same as others preached here on a semi regular basis.

Blah Blah. Everyone has a different take on this game.

 

[Scribbles]

@Mesanna confirmed it at the napa M & G last night. 5 10 15 hours is the way its going to be. With that, ill be slowly walking away from the game. Its been fun all, Thanks for the good times.

*waves*

 

[Uriah Heep]

I already told y'all. It's gonna be what they want, not what we want, not even what's the best for the game. We're playing in their sandbox, if we don't like it we have to take our toys and go home. Or to the neighbors

 

[cazador]

Granted I see that idocs should be work..since well..it's free loot basically, but 15 hours max? That's just insane. It should be no more than 2/4/6..even that is a bit much. They never ever should of changed the way it was. There's a small select group of players who actually IDOC. Maybe 20-30 "game wide" that are "Grandmaster IDOCers" it was a complete waste of coding and time to even try and combat the scripters from it..no casual player will ever ever ever hang in game or out with a freaking timer to check ever 5 hours. All they did was alienate a super small fraction of the player base for literally 0 reason! I don't IDOC and with these changes I guess it's good because Id be pissed :/ fix the thousands of bugs in our 17 year old game before you fix some dumb **** that's actually working next time @Messana


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[The Craftsman]

Or to the neighbors

Providing of course that your neigbours house hasnt gone idoc and youve been wiped from the access list