Reforge the Gem of Immortality... sorta....

[Restless]

Please read the whole thing before bashing the idea.

I'm sure it has been mentioned before (possibly recently, i don't go to UHall very often), but this game needs to merge some shards together. The game is just too dead on many shards (there are a few open luna housing locations on LA currently....), and all that does is cause more people to leave, and when people do come back to the game (which they do all the time) they don't stay long because nobody is around. I understand there are some problems with doing this, namely housing. I would propose leaving the shards as they are but merging some together simply through the moongate feature. On shards that are merged when you enter a city moongate you will have a tab to choose the shard you wish to go to before choosing the facet and city. Any runes in your runebook will simply take you to the location in it on whatever shard you happen to be on at the time, and i propose a vendor that sells shard teleportation books which will let you teleport to a different shard in the same location you are currently standing (moved to a close location if that location is blocked).

There are of course other issues with this, a couple i can think of are:
People with shard shields may complain that their vet reward has become a little less useful (possibly offer a vet reward trade-in vendor that allows you to trade in a reward for one of the same or earlier year reward).
There are probably some people that actually enjoy the low population, but this is an MMORPG which in itself outright states multiple players.

Logistically I am not sure what doing this would entail, but it has to be worth it. There are very few shards prospering and many shards dying, and not everyone is able to take all of their belongings to another shard with more people/commerce/etc... and a lot of times those are the people that quit.

This method is in my opinion the best way to retain returning players, which is a lot easier endeavor than even considering bringing in new players.

It could also have a cool storyline added to it... some powerful wizard getting his hands on some shard of the Gem of Immortality and finding a way to fuse some of the pieces together... waves crash... volcanoes erupt... a new threat possibly emerges?....

@Mesanna - make it happen

 

[Spartan]

<sigh>

 

[Restless]

<sigh>

like i said, i never read uhall. but it needs to happen.

 

[Jason-]

I heard some talk of this a while back...the way I heard it was that when you entered into a dungeon it would merge you to all the shards in that group or something like that. This idea had me super excited. I am on a FB group with a lot of old PVPers and when I mentioned this a TON of people said that would be the change that brought them back to the game. When UO was at its best(from a PVPers POV) it was during the time that farming spawns was a big deal. Most people that like to PVP prefer to do it in a dungeon. If all the shards, or at least a group of shards all shared the same dungeon despise then the possibility of a Dungeon Despise Spawn fight would increase greatly...and I believe that possibility would bring back a large number of PVPers.

I would imagine that there would be a way to do this where the housing area and cities didn't have to be merged. If just all the dungeons and fighting areas were merged together then it would solve the issue I feel. I have known numerous friends that came back to the game only to quit a month or 2 later because Baja was dead. I have begged tons of them to come to ATL since ATLs PVP scene seems to be almost as busy as it can be....but most people cant afford to move all their characters to ATL so they just give up. If they didn't have to move but could stay on Baja, have their home on Baja and all their belongings on Baja, but yet still fight in Atlantics Dungeon Destard at a HOT Rikktor spawn or raid another guilds Harrower with their friends on ATL then I see a huge number of people coming back and even staying active.

If all the people that want to do Dungeon DOOM or Exodus or whatever other PVM stuff there is were merging into the same instance when they went into the dungeon then there would always be people there to help. They wouldn't spend a hour trying to find a team to do DOOM only to log off pissed and bored. That is what makes people quit UO..it doesn't have **** to do with Graphics or anything like that...its just having people to play with. I honestly think this is the thing that can save the game. I don't think its going to bring back 50 thousand people...but I do believe that it would keep those of us here from leaving, and when you get the people that are all excited to turn their old UO account on they wont say "UO is Dead" and quit...they will be telling their friends that they found a spawn to raid and had a blast.

I don't know what it would take to make something like this happen. Maybe it would require equipment that no one is willing to invest into UO. But if it is possible then it really needs to be looked into and seriously considered. I know of about 50 old Cartel guildmates that would be turning their accounts back on the same day this took place.

 

[Jason-]

like i said, i never read uhall. but it needs to happen.

I don't read it either....if we are beating a dead horse, then so be it....But our opinions can be heard.

If this has been thoroughly discussed and an explanation has been given as to why it cannot happen, then please post a link to where so I can read it.

 

[Restless]

I would like my idea over just the merged dungeon idea for things like more vendor commerce between the dead shards. But yes, larger groups for fighting stuff is definitely a key bonus to merging

 

[Spartan]

like i said, i never read uhall. but it needs to happen.

How do you propose housing be handled? A merged server for dungeons is (IMO) possible, but housing is unique to the shards - as are some special places on each shard. Mergers as you wish for would destroy the special places of shard history and cause problems establishing housing for everyone.

That's why the dead horse.

 

[Restless]

I mentioned my way to solve housing in my post, clearly you didn't read it.

 

[S_S]

This poor horse of shard merging has been beaten, kicked, stomped on, lit on fire and slaughtered to no end.

Leave the damn horse alone!

 

[Restless]

This poor horse of shard merging has been beaten, kicked, stomped on, lit on fire and slaughtered to no end.

Leave the damn horse alone!

Maybe it keeps coming up because it needs to happen?

 

[S_S]

Maybe it keeps coming up because it needs to happen?

Need and Want are two different things.

 

[Restless]

It needs to to help proliferate the game in my opinion.

 

[Spartan]

Merging shards implies removing equipment from service eventually. Even your housing idea requires the server to be up and running. A shard merge in the proper sens is a combination of the electronic assets of 2 or more servers into one to reduce hardware. Your housing idea does not serve that purpose and only adds complexity to travel through the lands.

I live on LA, have a Malas house. Luna is not the only place to have a building you own. It's a status symbol IMO. Rarely are any of the vendors holding items worthwhile to me and my shopping is done elsewhere.

 

[Restless]

I play LA too. It is dead as hell. It may not reduce actual game hardware but that is not the intent here, it is to allow more players to play together, which was the intent of the game to begin with. When you have situations where people refer to servers as dead then something is wrong and needs to be fixed.

 

[Spartan]

I play LA too. It is dead as hell. It may not reduce actual game hardware but that is not the intent here, it is to allow more players to play together, which was the intent of the game to begin with. When you have situations where people refer to servers as dead then something is wrong and needs to be fixed.

Agreed. And when I get to that point, I will pack up all my stuff and do a shard transfer. Simple.

 

[Parnoc]

So move to Atlantic already and leave us all to what we like, most of us certainly do NOT want a shard merger and the devs have said many times that it ain't gonna happen.

 

[Restless]

Agreed. And when I get to that point, I will pack up all my stuff and do a shard transfer. Simple.

It isn't that simple for everyone. Some would just quit the game instead, and that is what i am trying to prevent. I actually like the game and it needs players or the game will eventually be gone. Player retention is needed

 

[Restless]

So move to Atlantic already and leave us all to what we like, most of us certainly do NOT want a shard merger and the devs have said many times that it ain't gonna happen.

When did you start playing? When the shards were already dead and that is what you like? You wouldn't want some more players around to do things with?

 

[Basara]

The only way I could see a merger working (and, would be limited to 3-5 shards per merger).

1. All the housing landmasses would be expanded to 16 times their current size. 4 Times wider E/W, 4 times longer N/S (or, essentially, making each step a minute change in position, as opposed to 4-5 minutes)
2. All shards would be examined to determine items that are unique, and those that are valuable would be duplicated on the new shard in as close of a position as possible, with a little spacing added for those that would overlap. The stuff that's totally unnecessary leftovers (and, we've all seen those over the years pile up) could be left behind.
3. Each account would be given the opportunity to have the system compile all their belongings, and move (house and all) to the new server. The player will be given a tool that allows their house to be put within 2 degrees, any direction of its signpost's current latitude & longitude. Once an area is vacated, the spot on the old shard is locked out of placement.
4. past a certain point, all remaining houses would get moved in a similar manner by staff. If you don't like the new location you are SOL, but you are still going to be about where you were before. Distances are just going to be longer.
5. At that point the old shards would be shut down.

Now, all we need to do this is for someone to hit the lottery and donate a few million dollars to Broadsword to pay for the thousands of hours of coding and manual item relocation that this would require.

 

[transcendent]

I like the idea of a merged dungeon server. That way people can keep their houses, but still be able to interact with more players once they enter a dungeon. It might be too difficult to code with the current dungeons. Maybe in a future expansion, the Devs can add a new area that would be accessed through the moongate and shared by several servers

 

[Parnoc]

When did you start playing? When the shards were already dead and that is what you like? You wouldn't want some more players around to do things with?

Well lessee what you would call a newbie, came in just before the birth of Malas, been around since then, never missed a month payment on any of my accounts, never left for a sabbatical nor let a house drop, never ever went on the 90 day rope-a-dope keep your house schedule, and almost defy anyone to say they've got more game time actual playtime than me even if they started at beta.

If I would have came in before that time in the game like my daughter did I wouldn't have been around now, getting PK'd, losing my stuff and house would not have set well with me, I play to enjoy, not to compete except in friendly ways. Oh yeah, important point, I'm not a PVPer so my view of the world is much different.

As for the "more players to play with" --- ummm, I don't think so, I belong to the closest knit, best guild on the UO planet and we do anything in PVM we want at anytime we want with great people and a fantastic strategist as the guild leader. I'm proud to call them my UO family and proud to be a part of it. Oh and most of us spend real life time together too, so this is not a "wish I knew what you were really like" group.

Sooooo nope, to pick up and move to some other fully packed shard, not for me, no thanks. Condense the shards? -------- then say goodbye to me and my accounts and I'm sure many others just like me.

 

[Restless]

The only way I could see a merger working (and, would be limited to 3-5 shards per merger).

1. All the housing landmasses would be expanded to 16 times their current size. 4 Times wider E/W, 4 times longer N/S (or, essentially, making each step a minute change in position, as opposed to 4-5 minutes)
2. All shards would be examined to determine items that are unique, and those that are valuable would be duplicated on the new shard in as close of a position as possible, with a little spacing added for those that would overlap. The stuff that's totally unnecessary leftovers (and, we've all seen those over the years pile up) could be left behind.
3. Each account would be given the opportunity to have the system compile all their belongings, and move (house and all) to the new server. The player will be given a tool that allows their house to be put within 2 degrees, any direction of its signpost's current latitude & longitude. Once an area is vacated, the spot on the old shard is locked out of placement.
4. past a certain point, all remaining houses would get moved in a similar manner by staff. If you don't like the new location you are SOL, but you are still going to be about where you were before. Distances are just going to be longer.
5. At that point the old shards would be shut down.

Now, all we need to do this is for someone to hit the lottery and donate a few million dollars to Broadsword to pay for the thousands of hours of coding and manual item relocation that this would require.

My method wouldn't require moving any houses, no additional landmasses needed, you would simply be linked to a few other shards through the moongate system, nothing would change except for the ability to pop over to a couple different shards at any time to play with other people and expand on commerce.

 

[Restless]

Sooooo nope, to pick up and move to some other fully packed shard, not for me, no thanks. Condense the shards? -------- then say goodbye to me and my accounts and I'm sure many others just like me.

Who said anything about packing up and moving anywhere? You wouldn't lose anything from this, you would simply be able to walk into a moongate and go into another shard and be able to use their resources too (players, vendors, whatever). I'm glad you have a nice guild and group to play with, but not everyone does, and especially not returning players who log in and see nobody and so they just leave again.

 

[Fridgster]

I say we close Atlantic so they can fill all the other shards.

Kidding aside it just simply never going to happen. Ever.

 

[Restless]

perhaps saying merge the shards was the wrong terminology because some people are just seeing that and not reading any further and just dismissing the idea. Connecting some shards is probably the better terminology for it.

 

[Restless]

Well lessee what you would call a newbie.

I wasn't calling you a newbie, I was simply wondering how long you had been playing based on your sentiments to more players... because there were certainly more players to play with in the past, and that is all I am trying to do here, let more players interact.

 

[DJAd]

Merging a few of the dungeon servers would be a good start.

 

[Restless]

maybe, depending on what you are fighting, and whether you need to be organized before going in. I feel it is best to get your party together before walking into a dungeon to fight some big baddies, but it isn't a horrible idea for doing things, I just feel the moongate connections would be just as easy to do with a lot more benefit

 

[Fridgster]

Who said anything about packing up and moving anywhere? You wouldn't lose anything from this, you would simply be able to walk into a moongate and go into another shard and be able to use their resources too (players, vendors, whatever). I'm glad you have a nice guild and group to play with, but not everyone does, and especially not returning players who log in and see nobody and so they just leave again.

Problem with that is you take $$$ from EA by making transfer tokens irrelevant.

 

[Restless]

Problem with that is you take $$$ from EA by making transfer tokens irrelevant.

not irrelevant, just used a lil less, not all shards would be connected together, just a few to each other to widen player base. I would hope retaining some returning players would offset any lost proceeds from token sales, but I do not know the numbers behind it so I don't know

 

[DJAd]

I just feel the moongate connections would be just as easy to do with a lot more benefit

It would be interesting to see. I feel people on the "dead" shards would just simply come to Atlantic, buy stuff they needed and go back home. This would also devalue the sale of transfer tokens if you could just walk through a moongate and buy what you wanted on another shard.

I play on a relatively quiet shard (Europa). Its not finding people to hunt with that is the problem. Its finding the items i need which I can't find on vendors or general chat that is the problem.

Even all shards being connected the I think the lands would still seem dead and empty. I like to see people about. Even if I don't interact with them its just nicer to see people around.

As @Jason- says above about Doom. That is a great example. If all the shards dungeons were merged I'm sure you would bump into way more people out hunting. The only downside would be the lag and connection issues.

 

[DJAd]

If they are going to merge shards then I feel they would literally have to merge them. 2 into 1 for example. Then you have the whole problem about housing etc.

I personally wouldn't really have a problem with this. I would give up my house to have more players or a busier shard/community. I feel others wouldn't though.

If I had the same amount of storage space in my bank box as I do with a house then not having a house wouldn't really bother me either.

 

[Uvtha]

Please read the whole thing before bashing the idea.

I'm sure it has been mentioned before (possibly recently, i don't go to UHall very often), but this game needs to merge some shards together. The game is just too dead on many shards (there are a few open luna housing locations on LA currently....), and all that does is cause more people to leave, and when people do come back to the game (which they do all the time) they don't stay long because nobody is around. I understand there are some problems with doing this, namely housing. I would propose leaving the shards as they are but merging some together simply through the moongate feature. On shards that are merged when you enter a city moongate you will have a tab to choose the shard you wish to go to before choosing the facet and city. Any runes in your runebook will simply take you to the location in it on whatever shard you happen to be on at the time, and i propose a vendor that sells shard teleportation books which will let you teleport to a different shard in the same location you are currently standing (moved to a close location if that location is blocked).

There are of course other issues with this, a couple i can think of are:
People with shard shields may complain that their vet reward has become a little less useful (possibly offer a vet reward trade-in vendor that allows you to trade in a reward for one of the same or earlier year reward).
There are probably some people that actually enjoy the low population, but this is an MMORPG which in itself outright states multiple players.

Logistically I am not sure what doing this would entail, but it has to be worth it. There are very few shards prospering and many shards dying, and not everyone is able to take all of their belongings to another shard with more people/commerce/etc... and a lot of times those are the people that quit.

This method is in my opinion the best way to retain returning players, which is a lot easier endeavor than even considering bringing in new players.

It could also have a cool storyline added to it... some powerful wizard getting his hands on some shard of the Gem of Immortality and finding a way to fuse some of the pieces together... waves crash... volcanoes erupt... a new threat possibly emerges?....

@Mesanna - make it happen

I doubt it would be at all simple to just link shards via the moongate. It would be nice I guess, but I just don't see it happening.

 

[Restless]

No... they wouldn't go to atlantic to buy stuff because atlantic wouldn't be connected. Not all shards would be connected together, just a few lower populated ones would be. And I really don't see why you feel that literally merging shards together is the only way to do it.

 

[Restless]

I doubt it would be at all simple to just link shards via the moongate. It would be nice I guess, but I just don't see it happening.

Right, i don't know the logistics of it

 

[Jason-]

@Parnoc you said most...but I honestly believe you are the minority here. With Restless idea you wouldn't have to pack up and leave. It wouldn't really effect you negatively at all. I fail to see how there being more players around messes up you and your guildmates doing things together.

Someone mentioned the loss of money from xfer tokens...but didn't they do that themselves when they made Shard Shields? Even if they lost money to that, I would be willing to bet that the new/returning subscriptions would cover that and then some.

I like Restless idea more than my suggestion of merging the dungeons/PVM areas. But if we can't have it all...I would settle for just the dungeons in fel, Tram and the other PVM areas. There are a lot of people that LOVE this game and wish it was what it once was. UO doesn't have to be a bunch of "dead" shards. They aren't playing other games because this one is old. Most of the people that played this game for years would be here playing it right now if when they logged on they had stuff to do. At least merging the dungeons gives the "Dead" shard players someone to interact with.

I myself spent years coming back for a couple of months and quitting and coming back and quitting. Finally 2 years ago I spent cash on xfer tokens and brought my characters and stuff to ATL and I haven't quit since. If everyone could afford to do that then I really think it would pull old players out of that loop of coming back and quitting over and over. Merging the dungeons will not fix everything...but it sure would help keep people active.

Maybe they could just give every player a xfer token and 2 months free game time. That way people could come back to the game and if they wanted to be on a more populated server then they would have the xfer token to do it and the game time to find out that there is still stuff to do. There are a lot of people that honestly have no idea that Atlantic is as populated as it is. There is a way to fix the "Dead" shard problem....it doesn't have to continue in the direction it is headed in.

 

[S_S]

Is it dead yet?

 

[Restless]

No

 

[Jason-]

I don't feel as tho a discussion that is about bettering the game or extending the future of UO can be related to beating a dead horse. We all want to be here playing this for many more years to come do we not? If so then these discussions need to continue until some sort of action is taken. I honestly believe that the game doesn't have to continue down the same road its on. So if that is true, then there is a fix...if there is a fix, then that fix needs to be discussed over and over again until we figure something out OR until the game management folks come out and say "We don't care about UO and it will stay as is until it dies". But if they do care about the game, then these discussions should continue.

 

[Aran]

Every time you suggest server merges, an angel loses its wings.

 

[Restless]

Every time you suggest server merges, an angel loses its wings.

"Server connections" the original lingo is misleading

 

[Lady Michelle]

On shards that are merged when you enter a city moongate you will have a tab to choose the shard you wish to go to before choosing the facet and city

never gonna happen reason why is transfer tokens are available to buy to transfer to other shards. so that is why it will never happen free gates to other shards and cities.
I did read your post

 

[Restless]

never gonna happen reason why is transfer tokens are available to buy to transfer to other shards. so that is why it will never happen free gates to other shards and cities.
I did read your post

Ya, the transfer token thing is a problem with it, but possibly retaining returning players might offset or outweigh those losses (i dunno the figures, but they did introduce transfer shields in the past, that had to cut down on xfer token purchases in exchange for continued monthly subscription fees)

 

[Restless]

But the tokens also wouldn't be worthless or unused, perhaps just used a little less. Would still need to xfer into and out of the connected shardgroups

 

[Lady Michelle]

But the tokens also wouldn't be worthless or unused, perhaps just used a little less. Would still need to xfer into the connected shards if you aren't currently part of the connection

true tokens wouldn't be worthless, but this will take away sales of transfer tokens if this does happens which it won't.

 

[Ender]

I'd gladly give up my houses and their location to play on a busier shard. But I'm not going to pay to transfer to one.

 

[Lord Frodo]

Bottom line is the Dark Lady said no that this will NEVER HAPPEN and on this i believe her %200

 

[transcendent]

Every time you suggest server merges, an angel loses its wings.

Maybe you should actually read the thread. These people are not suggesting merging servers.