Endless Journey - How will this affect the game?

[Tabin]

Anyone concerned about how Endless Journey will affect the game? While I do see potential for new players to try out the game and start subscribing, it worries me more that:
1) More scripters - they can script to build new characters and then script to farm gold/material for their main account. Not much risk if the account gets banned.
2) multi clienting - I get that there are a good amount of people who already do this. That's fine if they want to spend the money on it. I suppose you guys help keep the lights on. But with Endless Journey accounts, it might just encourage everyone to multiclient. Instead of trying to be social and find players to team up with me in PvM, I'm just going to use my free account and muticlient. Plus, I will get more loot that way and more chances at legendaries/artifact drops. I'd rather keep this game more social and have people actually seek out hunting partners/teams and do fun things together. This also helps out new players as experienced players are more willing to invite them to hunt together.

Not to be negative and all, I'm just a little worried and wonder how everyone else feels about this. Do you think Endless Journey will do more harm than good? Or will it spring UO back to life with new players?

EDIT: After reading many posts, I figured I should update this so people don't get the wrong idea. I'm glad the developers made some sort of a statement about multiclienting specifically with FREE EJ accounts and according to many users here, the act of doing so will result in a banning. So...please don't do it! Let's keep this game fun and social for everyone!

 

[Nexus]

Anyone concerned about how Endless Journey will affect the game? While I do see potential for new players to try out the game and start subscribing, it worries me more that:
1) More scripters - they can script to build new characters and then script to farm gold/material for their main account. Not much risk if the account gets banned.
2) multi clienting - I get that there are a good amount of people who already do this. That's fine if they want to spend the money on it. I suppose you guys help keep the lights on. But with Endless Journey accounts, it might just encourage everyone to multiclient. Instead of trying to be social and find players to team up with me in PvM, I'm just going to use my free account and muticlient. Plus, I will get more loot that way and more chances at legendaries/artifact drops. I'd rather keep this game more social and have people actually seek out hunting partners/teams and do fun things together. This also helps out new players as experienced players are more willing to invite them to hunt together.

Not to be negative and all, I'm just a little worried and wonder how everyone else feels about this. Do you think Endless Journey will do more harm than good? Or will it spring UO back to life with new players?

My concerns are almost in line with yours. Multi-clienting they said will be bannable on site for EJ accounts. I do think Scripting will increase, and my other concern is that the EJ will backfire, we'll see an influx of new people, enough to increase the operating cost of the servers (yay for scalable cloud computing!) without enough return, lowering overall profitability without cutting costs elsewhere (can we say 3 day wait times for GM's instead of the current 24 hours).

 

[Uriah Heep]

Truth be told, I doubt you see much change after the initial blush is over. When they realize they can't do so much, most will move on, I suspect.

 

[Keith of Sonoma]

Multi-clienting they said will be bannable on site for EJ accounts.

If I am not mistaken, actually what was said, was that multiBOXING would be bannable. MASSIVE difference between Multi-clienting and multiBOXING.

 

[Uriah Heep]

If I am not mistaken, actually what was said, was that multiBOXING would be bannable. MASSIVE difference between Multi-clienting and multiBOXING.

You're right, but most people don't understand that. It took forever one time to get Mesanna to understand the difference LOL

 

[Nexus]

If I am not mistaken, actually what was said, was that multiBOXING would be bannable. MASSIVE difference between Multi-clienting and multiBOXING.

Yea you're right, my fingers were working faster than my brain.

 

[DJAd]

Unless the advertise it I would imagine it will mainly be current subscribers opening up an endless journey account or five.

 

[Keith of Sonoma]

Yea you're right, my fingers were working faster than my brain.

FYI, on a slightly related topic, I wonder if the "no memory" bug might have something to do with the devs changing some code, to "combat" multiboxing, that is interfering when anyone tries to open a second client? The only time it happens to me is when I try to open a second client. About half the time. Just a thought.

 

[Uriah Heep]

FYI, on a slightly related topic, I wonder if the "no memory" bug might have something to do with the devs changing some code, to "combat" multiboxing, that is interfering when anyone tries to open a second client? The only time it happens to me is when I try to open a second client. About half the time. Just a thought.

OMG... That sounds about right, lol. The onslaught of bugs will be bigger than the onslaught of new players.

 

[Riyana]

FYI, on a slightly related topic, I wonder if the "no memory" bug might have something to do with the devs changing some code, to "combat" multiboxing, that is interfering when anyone tries to open a second client? The only time it happens to me is when I try to open a second client. About half the time. Just a thought.

It happens to me with just one client sometimes.

 

[Lore]

How will it affect how you play the game? That would be a good indication of what others are going to do. I plan on making some spellweavers for arcane circles. That's pretty much it.

 

[Ruppy2]

I will use terms I can relate with... sometimes for a diversion I like to play Hearthstone. I find that I 'win' at Hearthstone 30% more if I have paid for the most recent cards/decks/upgrades.

Two points from this... 1) There are times that I accept the difference and realize my odds are less, but I still like to play 2) I sometimes pay for the upgrades to enjoy a more balanced opportunity.

I soooo dearly hope they get enough 'fun' for the EJ player that they can still feel like they 'win' even with the knowledge of lesser tools/access to things. This could get royally screwed up, or be great... mediocre (sp?) will just contribute to fewer paid subs and the end glide pattern.

 

[Riyana]

I share the scripting and multiboxing concerns--and I am concerned, given the way scripting complaints often result in game changes that hurt honest players rather than scripters--that it could precipitate painful and unnecessary changes for everyone.

I am also very disappointed that multiboxing penalties are going to be enforced differently for EJ and paid accounts, and I am concerned about what that implies for other rules enforcement.

I know what -I- will do with Endless Journey: have a boatload of RP alts that I don't have to pay for. EJ sounds pretty good for RPers that way.

Will it push me toward making any of those accounts into subs? With what we know of EJ right now, probably not. I won't mind living out of bank boxes and backpacks on alt accounts. I've done it before, and as of what we know right now I don't see enough incentive to pay for another sub when I already buy things out of the store and pay the subs I have. I have in the past added accounts for RP and event housing. With EJ, I won't need to sub to have more RP character slots, and I can use existing settings for events.

EJ represents a fundamental shift in how UO operates. UO was not built with a F2P or F2P hybrid pay model in mind and has twenty years of messy and conflicting strategies for game utility and useful item acquisition. I fear that it's going to be a huge confusing mess that will both make little sense to new/returning players and that will frustrate current players having to compete with free accounts and/or pay the same extra store fees that free accounts pay for the same things. There needs to be a balance that keeps sub players from getting nickeled and dimed to death in the store as they put more and more emphasis on it, while EJ players operate their characters almost exactly the same except for storage concerns. I'm not seeing that balance as of right now.

Limiting EJ account storage is a double edged sword. Yes, it's probably a reasonable limitation, but it also reduces the likelihood of EJ players buying much from the store because they will have to be more selective with what they hang on to. Quite frankly I think that in light of EJ the store--and probably a lot of other items/perks in the game--needs some serious strategic thought put in with regards to who is likely to buy or need what and why before they keep adding to it, but that's a whole other topic.

One thing I do anticipate is a new schism in the UO community. We already have Tram vs Fel, RP vs PvE, PvP vs PvE, cross shard vs home shard... we will soon have sub vs EJ, which will be both a new argument in and of itself and that will intersect with all the other divisions that already exist. Exactly how that will unfold is of course uncertain, but I could see it potentially getting ugly.

Whether EJ actually brings new life to UO depends on a few things in my mind: whether word gets out effectively to old and potential new players, whether a decent new player experience is put in, whether new/returning players can find a community that works for them, and whether EJ is set up effectively to nudge players into subscribing and putting money into Broadsword rather than third parties. I guess we'll see.

 

[MalagAste]

My concerns are like most Scripting, Multiboxing...

But more importantly my concerns are that the game is in pretty sad shape. It looks awful... ranging from some pretty hideous art... to inconsistancies, the zipper holes down all the coasts in the EC... I was noticing the other day that candles don't sync with flames in the EC when you care carrying them.. little things that add up to the game just looking terrible... To no real NPE, outdated, misguided information available on game play, no information available to new players starting or coming back, lack of in-game support, poor to no support from the account mismanagement if anyone who came to try EJ decided to actually sub...

There are a whole range of issues my mind thinks of when it comes to EJ... Who's going to help these people? Are they going to get scammed and cheated by all the greedy SoBs currently in-game... there will be a whole new incoming group of fresh meat for the scammers and cheaters...

The servers are still plagued by the spam bot gold seller... not to mention him leaving all that literature all over everywhere... you know I was pretty disgusted when I was getting the new Valentines clicky as I saw his propaganda right there next to the statue on at least a couple of shards... I picked it up and threw it in the nearest trash bin... but I just can't help but think about how pathetic it will look to new and returning players... and how disappointed they will be. They can't use ships, can't access housing, can't be friended... which means no safe log outs save for town Inns and Taverns...

I'm not sure exactly what they think these people are going to do... most of what keeps many of us logging in and such is the housing... and not wanting to lose it... EJ people won't have that keeping them around...

Systems IMO are overly complicated... making even Vets scratch their heads at times... New/Returning players will be so lost.

The only good thing will be the grindiness of the game will seem familiar if they play other MMO's... However on the same token at least many other MMO's look better and more modern graphics wise...

I just hope people aren't getting their hopes up too high for this...

 

[Slayvite]

Personally i see it as a waste of time. effort and funds.
If they won't upgrade the clients, graphics, bugs ect....then just let the game die gracefully.
No point trying to lure new players into a game with no real new player experiance and limited access (missing the whole parts that make UO...well UO)

Only thing this is is another excuse to not do the ACTUAL root work and fix the game.
Like we say at work...."These band-aids sure are expensive, maybe soon management will realise it would have been cheaper to fix the machine in the first place".

 

[ShriNayne]

From what I have heard most of the people who take up EJ will be returners and alt. accounts held by people who already pay for at least one account. I don't think we will see many true new players, which is probably a good thing with such poor and confusing New Player quests. I'm also concerned about scripting, even if they are banned on sight, there is nothing to stop them just making another account. I already feel there is a divide, people are resentful of others playing for free, the same way there has been resentment towards those who only pay one month in four to keep their house. I don't think it will help build community spirit!

 

[Merion]

Well, the thing I'm most concerned about are the pretty harsh restriction on EJ accounts. They are so crippled that I have serious doubts if it's fun to play. And we want it fun to play so the ones who use EJ either spent cash on the store or pay for a "real" account. And foremost: populate our servers!

But with all the restriction I fear it's not going to be much fun and thus there's a high risk for failure. I mean, why not let them have at least the old boats? Why can they not be friended to a house? If I meet a newbie, all I can do is heal him and drop a bunch of items on him, but I cannot offer him a base of operations.

 

[petemage]

From what I have heard most of the people who take up EJ will be returners and alt. accounts held by people who already pay for at least one account. I don't think we will see many true new players, which is probably a good thing with such poor and confusing New Player quests. I'm also concerned about scripting, even if they are banned on sight, there is nothing to stop them just making another account. I already feel there is a divide, people are resentful of others playing for free, the same way there has been resentment towards those who only pay one month in four to keep their house. I don't think it will help build community spirit!

How should new players know about it? I doubt anyone except for us UO players noticed they are going free to play. If WoW would come up with something called "Endless journey", I would rather think it's a expansion than a free-to-play model. It's so beyond me how they don't call it free to play. Are they trying to invent something that's been around for 10 years?

 

[petemage]

Well, the thing I'm most concerned about are the pretty harsh restriction on EJ accounts. They are so crippled that I have serious doubts if it's fun to play. And we want it fun to play so the ones who use EJ either spent cash on the store or pay for a "real" account. And foremost: populate our servers!

But with all the restriction I fear it's not going to be much fun and thus there's a high risk for failure. I mean, why not let them have at least the old boats? Why can they not be friended to a house? If I meet a newbie, all I can do is heal him and drop a bunch of items on him, but I cannot offer him a base of operations.

UO is not for fun, it's for a dozen people's profits. And they give Mesanna a pat on the back for keeping the status quo.

 

[ShriNayne]

They refuse to call it free-to-play because they don't want the players currently paying to get any ideas about a reduction in the subscription cost...

 

[Merion]

UO is not for fun, it's for a dozen people's profits. And they give Mesanna a pat on the back for keeping the status quo.

No, at least not only. It is for both - for us to have fun and for Broadsword/EA to make money. I'm sorry I have to break it to you, but this is how the gaming industry or the entertainment industry in general works.

 

[petemage]

No, at least not only. It is for both - for us to have fun and for Broadsword/EA to make money. I'm sorry I have to break it to you, but this is how the gaming industry or the entertainment industry in general works.

Ah, sorry, it was a not meant very serious. When I said "a dozen people's profit", I didn't had Broadsword in mind I 100% agree with what you said in the first place and I wish they would focus on leveling the playing field, but the reality I see is rather that they try hard to keep the status quo, which helps a small part of players making real money off the game, but doesn't help the broad majority of players.

Like the 20 anniversay event design. Top item to get: Crazy SDI slayer spellbooks. How they designed it: A couple multiboxers grab them all. How they fixed it: They didn't. How they made people joining late getting ahold of the books: Pay a multiboxer!

And that is only one rather recent case out of half a hundred of those..

 

[MoxZinnia]

I really think they are trying to make Endless Journey mostly for old accounts which are fallow. I think they hope old players will take old accounts, drop in, run around, search for old friends, and maybe find them because old friends can do the same. No more applying time cards to the wrong account because they guessed wrong about which of multiple old accounts that character they wanted to play was located. And then I think the hope is that those players will then want to sub. I think that's what they are best for, so people can drop in at any time with an old account and see what's going on.

 

[GarthGrey]

My concerns are almost in line with yours. Multi-clienting they said will be bannable on site for EJ accounts. I do think Scripting will increase, and my other concern is that the EJ will backfire, we'll see an influx of new people, enough to increase the operating cost of the servers (yay for scalable cloud computing!) without enough return, lowering overall profitability without cutting costs elsewhere (can we say 3 day wait times for GM's instead of the current 24 hours).

Where does it say they will ban for multi clienting ? I have a brand new pc that finally runs the EC client, I can load up my 3 active accounts quite easily now. Why in the hell would I get banned for doing this perfectly legal tactic ?

Ok I did what a lot of people do and I posted before reading the whole thread. In all seriousness though, some of you people need to write down Multi boxing and the definition, and Multi Clienting and the definition..and then read it over and over and over and over and over...until it sinks in. Then start using the terms appropriately.

 

[ShriNayne]

...some of you people need to write down Multi boxing and the definition, and Multi Clienting and the definition..and then read it over and over and over and over and over...until it sinks in. Then start using the terms appropriately.

Is that why it took Messana so long to get the right idea?

 

[GarthGrey]

My concerns are like most Scripting, Multiboxing...

But more importantly my concerns are that the game is in pretty sad shape. It looks awful... ranging from some pretty hideous art... to inconsistancies, the zipper holes down all the coasts in the EC... I was noticing the other day that candles don't sync with flames in the EC when you care carrying them.. little things that add up to the game just looking terrible... To no real NPE, outdated, misguided information available on game play, no information available to new players starting or coming back, lack of in-game support, poor to no support from the account mismanagement if anyone who came to try EJ decided to actually sub...

There are a whole range of issues my mind thinks of when it comes to EJ... Who's going to help these people? Are they going to get scammed and cheated by all the greedy SoBs currently in-game... there will be a whole new incoming group of fresh meat for the scammers and cheaters...

The servers are still plagued by the spam bot gold seller... not to mention him leaving all that literature all over everywhere... you know I was pretty disgusted when I was getting the new Valentines clicky as I saw his propaganda right there next to the statue on at least a couple of shards... I picked it up and threw it in the nearest trash bin... but I just can't help but think about how pathetic it will look to new and returning players... and how disappointed they will be. They can't use ships, can't access housing, can't be friended... which means no safe log outs save for town Inns and Taverns...

I'm not sure exactly what they think these people are going to do... most of what keeps many of us logging in and such is the housing... and not wanting to lose it... EJ people won't have that keeping them around...

Systems IMO are overly complicated... making even Vets scratch their heads at times... New/Returning players will be so lost.

The only good thing will be the grindiness of the game will seem familiar if they play other MMO's... However on the same token at least many other MMO's look better and more modern graphics wise...

I just hope people aren't getting their hopes up too high for this...

If we know for sure that EJ accounts can't use ships, they better damn well not be able to stand on an Arcane Circle either !! @Mesanna

 

[Legendary Rouser]

If EJ makes the game ftp forever, how is the housing going to be affected? There are several homes just sitting idle.

Sent from my LGMS550 using Tapatalk

 

[Tyrath]

The only way I could see EJ working is taking 1 of the lowest pop servers and closing them off from transfers. No content restrictions isolation would prevent free accounts from having a impact on the game at large, in short make it the wild west shard. At the same time drop a heavy hammer on cheating in all of its manifestations on the sub shards. EJ shard would get no further content beyond SA and no support beyond keeping the server up and running. If folks want to join the civilized side of the game without cheating and access to the broader economy then they simply sub, but nothing from the EJ shard can ever be brought to the sub shards. The mingling of Free and Subs across all shards I fear is going to be a total train wreck.

 

[Capt. Lucky]

The most pressing problem this game has is a lack of subscribers. No subscribers no UO. It's that simple. I'm optimistic EJ will help us get subscribers. Overall I think it's a great idea. Probably the most important thing BS has done so far. Will it work? Who knows? But it ain't gonna hurt. A lot of people will probably want to come back and look around, and who knows, they might get hooked again. At the very least it's a notable and noble effort. With ANYTHING there's a potential for negative side effects. But that can always be addressed later. Especially if there's enough subscribers to keep the lights on. As said, hopefully the word gets out once EJ launches and we can all easily be a big part of seeing that happens.

 

[Lore]

The only way I could see EJ working is taking 1 of the lowest pop servers and closing them off from transfers. No content restrictions isolation would prevent free accounts from having a impact on the game at large, in short make it the wild west shard. At the same time drop a heavy hammer on cheating in all of its manifestations on the sub shards. EJ shard would get no further content beyond SA and no support beyond keeping the server up and running. If folks want to join the civilized side of the game without cheating and access to the broader economy then they simply sub, but nothing from the EJ shard can ever be brought to the sub shards. The mingling of Free and Subs across all shards I fear is going to be a total train wreck.

Ya know... I agree.

UO should just make a freeshard with a cap on the expansion. No silly limits and still worth it to play. Maybe buying a first sub can come with a transfer. No worries about subscribers getting cheated.

 

[Fridgster]

The only way I could see EJ working is taking 1 of the lowest pop servers and closing them off from transfers. No content restrictions isolation would prevent free accounts from having a impact on the game at large, in short make it the wild west shard. At the same time drop a heavy hammer on cheating in all of its manifestations on the sub shards. EJ shard would get no further content beyond SA and no support beyond keeping the server up and running. If folks want to join the civilized side of the game without cheating and access to the broader economy then they simply sub, but nothing from the EJ shard can ever be brought to the sub shards. The mingling of Free and Subs across all shards I fear is going to be a total train wreck.

I nominate Atlantic.

 

[Uriah Heep]

I Second!

 

[Lore]

LOL Hey! ********. *Hands them haterade*

 

[Tyrath]

Wouldn't it be better to just create a brand new, isolated shard than to further wreck an existing shard? What you're suggesting would make it pointless for anyone who once played that shard and left characters there when they quit to ever want to come back again.

Highly unlikely they would create a new shard. Taking a shard that has a dozen active players on a good day on the other hand......................

 

[ShriNayne]

I bet nobody would want it to be their home shard though....

 

[Fridgster]

Taking a shard that has a dozen active players on a good day on the other hand......................

Is also very unlikely.

 

[kaio]

Ofcause every returning EJ player will multibox, cheat, script,h4x and what not in order to gain revenue so they can compete in this game
So in less than a month EA will have to scale up their cloud service to all the millions of EJ accounts that will come
A few months later, UO goes bankroupt, due to lack of fundings, because noone wants to buy the crap they sell for insane prices in their ingame store.
so EJ is end of UO...RIP UO 2018 you will be missed.

 

[Old Vet Back Again]

They just need to be aggressive and consistent. If they truly are going to try and prevent the exploits of free accounts where they failed with trial accounts they have to actively enforce bans. Nothing else can be accepted. I think this is why they are re-addressing their 'approved' list of 3rd party programs. There is some buzz in the free server community about EJ and the devs need to realize that community has been using programs that have been deemed legal by that community for 10+ years. The only effective means to making any new player aware that playing this game for free is a privileged is to actively enforce bans

 

[Thrakkar]

1) More scripters - they can script to build new characters and then script to farm gold/material for their main account. Not much risk if the account gets banned.

I find this one of the most lamest arguments. If I can afk-script building a new char, what does anyone stop right now, creating a 14 day trial and doing the very same? At worst he's loosing 1-2 days every 14 days instead of having a char more or less forever, not taking into account, that he might get banned.

2) multi clienting - I get that there are a good amount of people who already do this. That's fine if they want to spend the money on it. I suppose you guys help keep the lights on. But with Endless Journey accounts, it might just encourage everyone to multiclient. Instead of trying to be social and find players to team up with me in PvM, I'm just going to use my free account and muticlient. Plus, I will get more loot that way and more chances at legendaries/artifact drops. I'd rather keep this game more social and have people actually seek out hunting partners/teams and do fun things together. This also helps out new players as experienced players are more willing to invite them to hunt together.

Multi-clienting is just a chore. You have to be that kind of person to actually bite through it. It's not something like multi-boxing, where you basically don't care about the other chars. You have to actively switch between chars, doing different things because most of the time you'll bring different templates, which synergize with each other.
I doubt, that a big chunk of the playerbase is tempted to start multi-clienting.

 

[Capt. Lucky]

Ofcause every returning EJ player will multibox, cheat, script,h4x and what not in order to gain revenue so they can compete in this game
So in less than a month EA will have to scale up their cloud service to all the millions of EJ accounts that will come
A few months later, UO goes bankroupt, due to lack of fundings, because noone wants to buy the crap they sell for insane prices in their ingame store.
so EJ is end of UO...RIP UO 2018 you will be missed.

Players exploiting a system? It's our way. A bit of a tradition. Millions of EJ accounts? I can only wish!

 

[Fridgster]

Ofcause every returning EJ player will multibox, cheat, script,h4x and what not in order to gain revenue so they can compete in this game
So in less than a month EA will have to scale up their cloud service to all the millions of EJ accounts that will come
A few months later, UO goes bankroupt, due to lack of fundings, because noone wants to buy the crap they sell for insane prices in their ingame store.
so EJ is end of UO...RIP UO 2018 you will be missed.

If only I had a nickel everytime someone claimed something was going to kill uo... well I'd have a lot of nickels

 

[Slayvite]

I'm still waiting to hear how the Dev team of 5 is going to police all the shards after EJ, that will be a full time job in itself.

 

[ShriNayne]

Poor GM River will not get a second to himself.....he always seems to be on call, I know he's like Superman but even he has to sleep sometime!

 

[Uriah Heep]

I'm still waiting to hear how the Dev team of 5 is going to police all the shards after EJ, that will be a full time job in itself.

Unless people show up and play EJ won't be a problem :/ As far as I have seen, with no advertisement, it's still a secret that it's coming out

 

[Lore]

You all don't know cheating when you see it so I anticipate a huge number of false reports anyways. It's going to be impossible. They shouldn't have promised such a thing, it should have been obvious that it isn't possible.

 

[Capt. Lucky]

You all don't know cheating when you see it so I anticipate a huge number of false reports anyways. It's going to be impossible. They shouldn't have promised such a thing, it should have been obvious that it isn't possible.

Sounds like something a hacker would say! *reports*

 

[Zaiko]

I don't know if it's going to really increase subs, which would be the goal of this whole thing right? I could see people dropping an account if they can still easily have continuity with their characters on a free account. They must have this same opinion or else there wouldn't be the restriction of 'has to have been unused for 3-4 months'. Also with no virtually no advertising not sure how many of the old players are even going to know about this.

 

[Slayvite]

Sounds like something a hacker would say! *reports*

Hmm...that sounds like something a Hacker would say to cover their own tracks!....
*reports*

 

[Lore]

Hmm...that sounds like something a Hacker would say to cover their own tracks!....
*reports*

I'm just going to report everyone for hacking just to be safe.

 

[Anonymous UOPlayer]

if ej actually happens ill be surprised. i still think rug gets pulled. is how EA works.