Easy.
Prime is the time you (= the person bringing forward the argument) played the game and had a blast and the other one (= the person the argument is targeted at) did not play the game.
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Prime is the time you (= the person bringing forward the argument) played the game and had a blast and the other one (= the person the argument is targeted at) did not play the game.
So subjective nostalgia. *sighs*
Sounds good to me. UO has been in its prime since ML came out and is now the primest ever!
I think I pretend trying to find some objective truth about this! I'd say "prime" began at release of Tram and ended around 2002. This is when game's popularity and visibility was at it's highest in a consistent fashion. This was when the game was still pretty new and exciting. Around 2001 or so, game was much never than it's release date would suggest; ISDN and concept of a fixed monthly cost for accessing Internet wasn't really there yet during 90's. In Europe and US alike, this began becoming common around 2001. Fixed price was what most people kinda expected or needed til they'd consider playing an MMO in any serious fashion. Around 2000-20001 was also when EA still invested in Ultima franchise by pouring a pretty good measure of utterly mismanaged resources to bullshït they'd either cancel or fail at.
I know AoS had most active subs ever for a time..but it was a very short lived spike in comparison to Renaissance, Pub16, post-Pub16. I'd purely guess most active players ever(Rather than most active subs) was in late 2001/early 2002.
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I was not to impressed with this months Newsletter.
Seems like there could have been a lot of other meaningful topics to provide updates on. We have been through the Legacy Shard Discussion several times over the last few years. It's old news at this point. Now if there was a change in the stance on it sure then bring it up and have a discussion.
Seems like there could have been a lot of other meaningful topics to provide updates on. We have been through the Legacy Shard Discussion several times over the last few years. It's old news at this point. Now if there was a change in the stance on it sure then bring it up and have a discussion.
SERIOUSLY?!?!?
almost $18 (USD) for an 8GB thumb drive? PLUS shipping?!
really?!
REALLY?!
i dun care if there is a silk-screened or baked on logo or not... i can get the exact thumb drive for less than $2 RETAIL)... then pay only half that for a custom sticker logo! and that's NOT in quantity with bulk rates and blah blah.
Granted, doing "create on demand" with zazzle, but that's... ugh.
i luv UO, I luv Sosaria, but honestly, how much of my money will BS actually see from this purchase if you slap a spot-color logos onto a cheap @$$ thumb drive?! OMG! And the more doable one (128GB/3.0 USB) is $100+shipping?!
i am familiar with this business model, and no one really wins but the supplier...
i used to work in the print industry, i know what it costs to mass produce little swag. zazzle is too damned expensive... omg... if a marketing professional isn't hired for Broadsword soon, i just dunno what will become of our beloved world...
did NO ONE look at other businesses/suppliers?
$18+ for a trash thumb drive that will hardly hold my coursework for a single class... oh geez...
*returns to her Void and just ignores everything else but thesis*
$18+ for 8gb is stupid, as is $100+ for 128gb. This isn't 2006.SERIOUSLY?!?!?
almost $18 (USD) for an 8GB thumb drive? PLUS shipping?!
really?!
REALLY?!
i dun care if there is a silk-screened or baked on logo or not... i can get the exact thumb drive for less than $2 RETAIL)... then pay only half that for a custom sticker logo! and that's NOT in quantity with bulk rates and blah blah.
Granted, doing "create on demand" with zazzle, but that's... ugh.
i luv UO, I luv Sosaria, but honestly, how much of my money will BS actually see from this purchase if you slap a spot-color logos onto a cheap @$$ thumb drive?! OMG! And the more doable one (128GB/3.0 USB) is $100+shipping?!
i am familiar with this business model, and no one really wins but the supplier...
i used to work in the print industry, i know what it costs to mass produce little swag. zazzle is too damned expensive... omg... if a marketing professional isn't hired for Broadsword soon, i just dunno what will become of our beloved world...
did NO ONE look at other businesses/suppliers?
$18+ for a trash thumb drive that will hardly hold my coursework for a single class... oh geez...
*returns to her Void and just ignores everything else but thesis*
Personally, I "love" the $41.30 for 12 Oreo lollys. That's $3.44 for an Oreo with a stick crammed up its cream, smothered in icing, rainbow sprinkles, and a logo applique of dubious edibility.
I hope we get less ridiculous choices. (But I know we won't)
Of course. Everyone knows that the numbers peaked after trammel. And after a honeymoon period where everyone enjoyed a safe PvE game the numbers tanked once the realisation of what it had become sank in. Thats not what I was referring to. Its not just a numbers game. Pre trammel the game was a risk v reward experience where skill played a part. Not ultima spreadsheets online that we got after Age of Items. Like I said .. you never played UO in its prime.
But prime implies highest peak time... therefore you are referring to after Tram. Pre-tram was it's infancy... when RG and company learned the true extent of human greed and how immoral players could be. I think prior to that they had a delusion that people were decent. Consider it a social experiment gone horribly wrong... And trying to correct for it in all the wrong ways. Trammel was the quickest way to end the terror they had unleashed upon decent folk.
I played pre-trammel.
I knew the risk. Just please enlighten me about the reward. What exactly was that?
Oh, and about the skill part... how much skill did you need to survive a gank squad of reds, which looted you dry?
Yes, there was this sensation of success and achievement every now and then, but the times I felt fed up and close to never log in again outweighted it. Non-consensual pvp is just a chore. And those numbers proved, that I wasn't the only one.
UO "tanked" when other games came out and they weren't the only game in town. People moved on to the next best thing. Plus pre-Tammel left such a bad taste in their mouth they weren't coming back. Pre-Trammel was a bug ridden gank fest. At least the first few years. The only reason it had any following was there wasn't any other options in that style of MMO gaming. AND CC looks tons better than EC
The only thing I honestly miss from the pre-Trammel days was the community, the people that actually wanted to play together. Once Renaissance hit, most communities were scattered between two facets and unable to quickly recapture the magic they had before. (Some shards managed, but on many it took years to get clusters of nearby buildings.) At the time, Fel was all risk, no reward. (carrots rewards didn't really come until the '02 champ revamp) The risk vs reward debate also falls apart when one looks at the paucity of Siege/Mugen players - most people simply have no interest in being sheep.
Garriott has admitted that UO was a sociological experiment of sorts. He's also admitted that it failed spectacularly. Anonymity bred unrepentant sociopathy as soon as people figured out that there were no real consequences (and that what few consequences were introduced were easily evaded). Subscriber unrest demanded that the wolves be kept at bay and Trammel was tacked onto UO in 2000. UO subs increased after Renaissance by nearly 100K, fyi.
Three years later, they bait-and-switched AoS in our faces and changed the game from skill-based to item-based. Many people, including me, were not happy with this...but we learned to adapt. This is also where UO subs peak just north of 250K for about six months, then it went on a slow decline until nobody could find reliable sub numbers after January '07 (subs were just north of 100K at that time).
So, was it Trammel that started the decline? Clearly not, as the decline didn't begin until three years, and three expansions, later. Trammel being UO's death has been resoundingly debunked. The wolves didn't win.
Was it AoS? Maybe, though I believe it was only a contributing factor. Starting in '99, UO faced a slew of arguably superior competitors (almost all of which were heavily item-based). EQ, WoW, SWG, even DAoC trounced UO's numbers.
UO simply hasn't kept up with the times, preferring to skate along by pandering to a niche market that, while wanting to play UO, doesn't want it to actually change (see Third Dawn, KR and the EC as the attempt to drag the luddites into the 21st century). Now, not all of that is due to subscriber reticence, EA myopathy and just plain epically awful managerial F-ups played their nasty roles as well (i.e. low Third Dawn poly counts and muddy textures, canning nearly the entire SA dev team after launch, contracting a poopy studio to make the KR art, prematurely releasing KR as "Gold" just to save face for a suit at EA Japan, the entirety of Calvin Crowner and Jeff Skalski's tenures, etc).
UO got ninety nine problems but Trammel ain't one.
Garriott has admitted that UO was a sociological experiment of sorts. He's also admitted that it failed spectacularly. Anonymity bred unrepentant sociopathy as soon as people figured out that there were no real consequences (and that what few consequences were introduced were easily evaded). Subscriber unrest demanded that the wolves be kept at bay and Trammel was tacked onto UO in 2000. UO subs increased after Renaissance by nearly 100K, fyi.
Three years later, they bait-and-switched AoS in our faces and changed the game from skill-based to item-based. Many people, including me, were not happy with this...but we learned to adapt. This is also where UO subs peak just north of 250K for about six months, then it went on a slow decline until nobody could find reliable sub numbers after January '07 (subs were just north of 100K at that time).
So, was it Trammel that started the decline? Clearly not, as the decline didn't begin until three years, and three expansions, later. Trammel being UO's death has been resoundingly debunked. The wolves didn't win.
Was it AoS? Maybe, though I believe it was only a contributing factor. Starting in '99, UO faced a slew of arguably superior competitors (almost all of which were heavily item-based). EQ, WoW, SWG, even DAoC trounced UO's numbers.
UO simply hasn't kept up with the times, preferring to skate along by pandering to a niche market that, while wanting to play UO, doesn't want it to actually change (see Third Dawn, KR and the EC as the attempt to drag the luddites into the 21st century). Now, not all of that is due to subscriber reticence, EA myopathy and just plain epically awful managerial F-ups played their nasty roles as well (i.e. low Third Dawn poly counts and muddy textures, canning nearly the entire SA dev team after launch, contracting a poopy studio to make the KR art, prematurely releasing KR as "Gold" just to save face for a suit at EA Japan, the entirety of Calvin Crowner and Jeff Skalski's tenures, etc).
UO got ninety nine problems but Trammel ain't one.
I actually liked the looks of KR.
Third Dawn and EC suck, in my opinion. KR woulda been great had it been finished.
You only get one chance at a first impression. first time I logged into EC and was sitting sideways on the head of my ossie, I was almost done. Then when I went to Nujelm, the gardens behind the castle where I usually logged at a lot of times, and it looked like a watercolor painting that had been left out in the rain, I was done with it.
I do agree with one thought here tho, it was AoS that really did a lot of people in, and not Trammel. The ones I hear pissing and moaning about trammel ruined UO are mostly the ones that liked to make a living off my miners and gatherers by looting them, and looting my mage dry when he was trianing and picking up regs lol. I actually enjoyed early Trammel, before Age of Stuffs.
It doesn't imply anything. You inferred it. I did state in my last post that I wasn't referring to peak usage, but by 'its prime' I was referring to its quality as a game. Not sure why you cant grasp this.
Quality? So you called the crashing and constant reverts quality???
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How do you quantify "Quality?" It's the same problem as the "Legacy Server" debate. Your idea what what made UO a quality game may vary from that of someone else. I was around pre-Tram, I wouldn't call it a quality game at that point. Buggy, prone to reverts, crashes, rampant PKing disenfranchising newbs, and quite a few quality of life improvements that came later I wouldn't want to go without.
I like the idea of UO Swag store, I would quite happily buy/wear/use UO Merchandise.
I have a lot of fond memories of UO, and would quite happily give them a boost via me attaching my brand image to them.
I have a lot of fond memories of UO, and would quite happily give them a boost via me attaching my brand image to them.
Might be cool advertising for them, we wear caps or t-shirts with UO on it. But I won't if they price them as outrageously as some of their stuff is priced.I like the idea of UO Swag store, I would quite happily buy/wear/use UO Merchandise.
I have a lot of fond memories of UO, and would quite happily give them a boost via me attaching my brand image to them.
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Shame EA probably wouldn't let them just do a cafepress store where it could be done easily and without all the drama (and probably a MUCH better selection than any in-house swag store could offer).
Shame Mythic/Broadsword don't buy the well known emulator, they wouldn't have to do much in the way of work then lol
Regarding UO, who's the producer of UO these days? I notice Mesanna's facebook page says "Former Producer at EA" and "Worked AT Mythic Entertainment".
If a new producer has taken over, it'll be interesting to see the direction UO is heading in.
Regarding UO, who's the producer of UO these days? I notice Mesanna's facebook page says "Former Producer at EA" and "Worked AT Mythic Entertainment".
If a new producer has taken over, it'll be interesting to see the direction UO is heading in.
Mesanna is the producer. Has been for quite some time now...
She is still the Producer... She is just at Broadsword now...
Then what? Are you suggesting they should maintain a third client, which is compatible with that server-emulator?
or *gasps at the concept* make a finished completed client which functions on it's own and has the best of both worlds...
novel idea
novel idea
Last I checked, both current clients work with it. (Both post AOS and Pre AOS set ups)
I always had the answer that the code was released in select overseas retail boxes. Maybe it was an abbreviated answer. Either way, we'll have some form of UO forever and that's pretty cool in itself.
Server emulator works just fine with the retail client. They would not need to make a 3rd client.
Control.
Maybe there will be a section we can "out" all the scripters/multiboxxers/RMT people. So Mesanna and Co. can start banning them. As she alluded to at the 25th party
*crosses fingers, but not holding breath*
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Quick, wrap that crazy orange in a granny's draperies and we'll call him Hawkwind!
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You can email her, you know. I'm sure she knows some of them already, though.Maybe there will be a section we can "out" all the scripters/multiboxxers/RMT people. So Mesanna and Co. can start banning them. As she alluded to at the 25th party
Cant wait for the Official Forum!! I think We will have a lot more "Freedom of Speech" and a lot less "personal attacks"
In some cases "Personal Attacks" is a valid point as your actual game account will be tied in with the official forumsCant wait for the Official Forum!! I think We will have a lot more "Freedom of Speech" and a lot less "personal attacks"
, but "Freedom Of Speech" is laughable as if you get banned from the forum it will probably get you banned from the game. I'm actually sad the devs are going through with the Official Forums... just feels like there's other more important things needed for the game than another dead forum like others that can't be named here
It is pure madness there hasn't been one since 90's. Official, good& lively forums always add a large measure of value, visibility and hits to the official home site and to the game itself. When it comes to MMS, official forums are one of the biggest display windows of a game for people thinking about trying it.
I can't even begin to guess how much traffic official forums released in 2018 will generate. UO sure could have used one in early 00s and thereabouts.
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I think them working on uo.com to make it more user friendly, launching Endless Journey with online advertising and spamming those million account emails from the past would be a better idea than an Official Forum at this point. Some seem to forget that lots of Stratics users are either lurkers, occasional players, non active account holders thinking of coming back or need help to recover their account and freesharders... how will they use the site if you need an active account? Also think of all the resources needed to maintain and moderate that site... the game already needs those resources elsewhere with the small team we have left
If a person can't behave on the forums, it probably can't in game as well. So what's the issue here? Besides, you'd have to violate the ToS to get a ban or something similar. They're not banning people out of the blue. If you can't stick to the ToS, tough luck...
If I google "ultima online forums" i get links to various forums, some even being forums of freeshards. How is the average EJ player supposed to know, where to go? Official forums are the only answer. That's also what should be in the email, you're talking of.
That simply doesn't add up with EJ around the corner. How do you know, you are going to need an active account? Crystal ball?
I highly doubt they would read an official forum any more than they read this one... nor do I have any delusion that they would respond on the "official" forum any more than they have here...
And besides which I have no intention of posting on that forum as I have no intention of getting banned because I can't help but speak my mind. I refuse to patsy and ***** foot issues and I don't candy coat my thoughts and feelings.
And besides which I have no intention of posting on that forum as I have no intention of getting banned because I can't help but speak my mind. I refuse to patsy and ***** foot issues and I don't candy coat my thoughts and feelings.
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I think the game should have an official forum--a place for direct public communication with the team right there on uo.com, which is logically going to be the first place players interested in prodo UO are going to look.
However, I also know that there is a LOT more work involved than meets the eye, and a lot of conflicting agendas at work. Broadsword is already stretched thin. I get that. Stratics is too.
An official forum will doubtless have challenges and restrictions that Stratics doesn't (or doesn't have to at least). I hope they are putting very careful consideration into what they are doing and how they do it, and I wish them luck.
However, I also know that there is a LOT more work involved than meets the eye, and a lot of conflicting agendas at work. Broadsword is already stretched thin. I get that. Stratics is too.
An official forum will doubtless have challenges and restrictions that Stratics doesn't (or doesn't have to at least). I hope they are putting very careful consideration into what they are doing and how they do it, and I wish them luck.
Wow, that is your opinion? I find that quite disturbing.
Noone is going to ban you, because you're disagreeing with everyone else.
They're not going to censor everything, which isn't conform with their opinion.
This is also no dictatorial regime, which tries to suppress freedom of speech.
Are you not civilized enough to have a discussion, regardless of your own point of view, pro or con, without being offensive, insulting or personally attacking or harrassing people?
Thrakkar, were you around for the original forums?
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Mesanna said you'd need an Active Account at the 20th Anniversary Party. It was also implied that Active = Subscribed, so the EJ account likely will either be heavily restricted or have read only access to them, in which case Official forums aren't going to do them much good.
Bleak has supposedly already put me on ignore because he doesn't like how I spell out the issues with the EC... and he kept denying the problems... took over 2 years of continual complaints and such to get them to add turn off AoE in the EC so I wouldn't lock up and crash at every EM Event...
I can't help they don't like how I word things but what are you supposed to do or say when they refuse to acknowledge issues that IMO are GAME BREAKING? I'm supposed to candy coat that so as not to offend them for not doing their jobs and ignoring major issues? Nope I'm going to tell them like it is... Kyronix gets it... but yeah... apparently some of the DEVs don't appreciate being told they are full of poop when they tell you it's not broken when it is...
They also frown on being told their perspective is off on new art items... and don't want to hear that something they put in is the most fugly or hideous thing you've ever seen...
And finally I'm guessing you don't remember how the old "official" forum worked... nor have you read any of the posts from the DEVs regarding how it's going to be on that forum.... because yes... you can get banned for speaking your mind if they find it "offensive"... and before if you got banned from the forums you got banned in game. SO yeah not really inclined to post on their forum...
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Well, I was posting on the official forum back then. Same nick as here. I always spoke out, when I didn't like something. Never got banned. That much I can say.
There's a huge difference between being offensive and voicing an opinion others don't share or criticism. People with just a little bit of professionalism should easily be able to distinguish between those two. You make it sound like they were some small minds, just looking out for confrontation, banning people on the first sign of opposition. I definitely don't remember it that way.
Hmm, ok. Didn't know that. But yes, that won't help fellow EJ'ers much... kinda pointless...
That also means, you definitely won't see me posting there, since I'm not planning to pay anymore once EJ goes live (Not that I'm paying often right now, just roughly once a month per year to satisfy my nostalgia. With the exception of this year, for which I spent a 6 months token right after the taming pub hit live. Was kinda wasted, as I didn't even play the first 5 months, just 2-3 weeks in the last one).
While in general I don't think official forums are going to be what people expect... as in be VERY careful what you type.... I think UO should have official forums. If I were a new player I'd want to look at screen shots and read what the players are saying about the game. I've always felt a game that didn't have forums was kinda 2nd rate and cheesy. If they had a bold noticeable link from UO.com to here, that would be fine, but I don't see that happening.