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!¿! One of many questions i have about the implementation of EJ ^^
No one know how EJ will effect the game, possitive or negative. Lets get EJ and then we know and devs can try to balance it.
Will it be enough to draw new players, I don't know, but can we just get some of the players, who had been playing a few months or years over the 20 years, it is a good start.
Now it was possible to make the game in HTML5 and play it in a browser or in a mobil app, that would do the trick.
I like the idea of open the door, let all former and new players just login with the EJ rules and I'm naive enough to believe most will be real new and old players and only a little part will be players trying to abuse the system.
Also remember, even F2P games are not really for free if you want to complete in game. Without knowing the EJ rules, I believe the storage part will make many use cash to buy a kind of storage, maybe in a chest in one of the many townhouses.
If done right, we will se new and old players, who after a while can see, that they use as much cash for the game as if they paid each month and got rid of all the limits. Who do not dream about owning a house
I look forward to see EJ activated
Will it be enough to draw new players, I don't know, but can we just get some of the players, who had been playing a few months or years over the 20 years, it is a good start.
Now it was possible to make the game in HTML5 and play it in a browser or in a mobil app, that would do the trick.
I like the idea of open the door, let all former and new players just login with the EJ rules and I'm naive enough to believe most will be real new and old players and only a little part will be players trying to abuse the system.
Also remember, even F2P games are not really for free if you want to complete in game. Without knowing the EJ rules, I believe the storage part will make many use cash to buy a kind of storage, maybe in a chest in one of the many townhouses.
If done right, we will se new and old players, who after a while can see, that they use as much cash for the game as if they paid each month and got rid of all the limits. Who do not dream about owning a house
I look forward to see EJ activated
Get your new player welcome gifts and easy headstart items ready and support the devs and the game. Maybe you'll make a new friend or two.
Some things I wish I had when I returned...
A runebook for city banks, a runebook for dungeons, and a runebook to good player houses. Davies Locker, Portals, etc.
Recall Scrolls
A book detailing how to GM all skills on Haven Island and Blackthorn's Dungeon.
A full spellbook, necromancy book, and/or Book with url on where to go for Spellweaving.
A book with UO resources like Stratics and UOGuide.
A book detailing fun stuff you can do when bored from the grind. (Public net tosses, plants, etc.)
A book detailing how stats grow.
A book detailing some common templates. Mule, Tamer, Mystic, Archer, *Ugh* Sampire.
A bag of repair deeds, not too many because bank space seems more limited than ever these days.
A salvage bag for crafters.
Level 1 mastery books.
Things I wouldn't do...
Give more than 100k. And even 100k is excessive except for a mage in need of regs and a Paladin to tithe.
Give a 70s suit or LRC suit. They need to know how important 70 phys resist is on Haven Island. They also need to have that initial goal of an LRC suit to show them the reward for looting. If you give them these things they are looking at a long time of looting without much to actually gain other than gold.
Take on Peerless hunts before they GM some skills and max stat. Instead of taking them to do your content, slum it and do content they can do.
Some things I wish I had when I returned...
A runebook for city banks, a runebook for dungeons, and a runebook to good player houses. Davies Locker, Portals, etc.
Recall Scrolls
A book detailing how to GM all skills on Haven Island and Blackthorn's Dungeon.
A full spellbook, necromancy book, and/or Book with url on where to go for Spellweaving.
A book with UO resources like Stratics and UOGuide.
A book detailing fun stuff you can do when bored from the grind. (Public net tosses, plants, etc.)
A book detailing how stats grow.
A book detailing some common templates. Mule, Tamer, Mystic, Archer, *Ugh* Sampire.
A bag of repair deeds, not too many because bank space seems more limited than ever these days.
A salvage bag for crafters.
Level 1 mastery books.
Things I wouldn't do...
Give more than 100k. And even 100k is excessive except for a mage in need of regs and a Paladin to tithe.
Give a 70s suit or LRC suit. They need to know how important 70 phys resist is on Haven Island. They also need to have that initial goal of an LRC suit to show them the reward for looting. If you give them these things they are looking at a long time of looting without much to actually gain other than gold.
Take on Peerless hunts before they GM some skills and max stat. Instead of taking them to do your content, slum it and do content they can do.
I'm really looking forward to popping open some really old accounts just to see if they got anything cool on them
Thanks!
You wouldn't feel that way if you had over 40 accountsI'm really looking forward to popping open some really old accounts just to see if they got anything cool on them
Don't have to do them all on the same day or anything lolYou wouldn't feel that way if you had over 40 accounts
They would have been far better to go full free to play model and create a new server for it (no transfers on or off, or maybe the option to transfer to a regular shard if you upgraded to a sub). This would have generated new players AND income (which EJ doesnt) to help keep UO afloat. If it was a success they just open a second F2P server. The current player base is not impacted, UO rakes more coin. Everyone wins.
Their idea is that this will bring in people for us to play with.... some silly notion that people don't want to pay to play to come kill people in Fel... Hence their allowing them to farm PS... But IMO it's only going to add more sheep to the slaughter so that will just irk more players but whatever... I agree with you that they should put them on their own server... not allow them to further corrupt and destroy the fragile economy as it is... but time will tell I suppose.
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This might actually have been a good idea, to see if there was any real interest in a free version of the game, but in my opinion they would also have to implement a much more robust version of the cash shop on that server with a lot more desirable items.
Absolutely. For a separate F2P server the options for cash purchases would be tremendous, including houses (with house refresh turned on with a 28 day cycle). I could also list dozens of other cash options, which of course would have no impact on subscription shards or their players.
What I would give to sit at the EA meeting where Bonnie explains how their going to give out the whole game for free. That would be brutal.
How is this any different than a freeshard? or OSI just creating another low populated server?? The purpose of EJ is to bring people back within the existing communities, let them rediscover the game and hopefully sub in the process... it's not to alienate them on their own server while charging micro transactions in the process
It's a way to get them to experience UO without the freeshard drama. If they want the additional things they could make the upgrade. Having them on a separate shard doesn't stop them from rediscovering the game. The existing communities are selfish and toxic. They have these obscure ethic rules in their head that don't make sense. They have horrible economies without a need to try and make it better. They own way more accounts than are fun to play with if you're the other player. They have RMT sites they cheat to stock.
It's just better to stick the returning players on a fresh shard and let them enjoy themselves again without that toxic noise "vets" bring. A lot of people are worried that the players coming will be exploiters and forget that you all already have exploiters.
I can see that point but if the free accounts are limited to certain areas how could you expect them to put money down on a sub if they have no idea if they'll like the content or if they even have the ability to do it. Once they sub, if they do not like the content they'll be banished for 120 days until that account is able to be free again. I think that 4 month time will be the major downfall of EJ.
I'm sorry but that doesn't makes any sense and your generalizing the whole UO population for a few bad apples on the Atlantic shard, community is key in this game and it needs more people to survive... sending them off to another shard is like saying "Ok your not paying so we're sending you to your own shard, the gameplay and economy is better there for you to learn the game"
. You mind as well send them to Siege if that's the case but again that's not the point of EJ, what you both are proposing is a freeshard and there's already dozens of thoseI see the 4 month timer as a means to avoid abuse personally, we still don't have the full details so it's still early to judge the outcome. Other games (like RuneScape) do the freemium model very well, I could see them adding other monthly micro transactions to offer more content but still need to make it fair for everyone... the restriction were always about limiting the abuse on these free accounts
There are dozens of freeshards. There aren't dozens of official freeshards free from creator drama and favoritism.
Also, it's blatantly ignorant to think the majority of players aren't bad apples. Even the EMs are exploiting. And I play on Atlantic and Chesapeake. Chessy definitely has bad apples as well. For example, you can run around outside Umbra right now and see most of the large houses are owned by the same person. For what reason do you need 20+ private empty plot houses? Hmm... probably to sell.
I have a strong feeling that it is more than "a few bad apples" unfortunately. After talking with a good amount of people at the 20th party, I got the feeling that my belief that people who cheat/script/RMT should be banned wasn't as popular as I would have thought. It almost seemed that a "fair" of people left in UO were using it as a source of income. It was kind of sad.
Ha! EJ will fail miserably as there is no investment from the players. New players will see how far behind the curve they are and that they’d have to subscribe to get on the housing ladder and simply walk away. Old players know what UO is about and it might bring back a few but not in any great numbers that will make a difference.
On the other hand there are games out there that make a great living off nikel and diming players in a free to play environment. Players don’t generally like the subscription model these days but will pay in micro transactions for things they want. I’d wager the new server would become busier than all but Atlantic in a true F2P model. It’s a lost opportunity and instead a half arsed solution in the EJ. Doomed to failure.
UO, the original work from home job.I have a strong feeling that it is more than "a few bad apples" unfortunately. After talking with a good amount of people at the 20th party, I got the feeling that my belief that people who cheat/script/RMT should be banned wasn't as popular as I would have thought. It almost seemed that a "fair" of people left in UO were using it as a source of income. It was kind of sad.
Not everyone needs a house full of pixels to enjoy a game. Many MMOs do not even have housing. Not every MMO has a massive quantity of items, and storage for those items, in order to offer an enjoyable PvP experience. RP has very little need of anything at all beyond a decent imagination to be fun. All of those players can still enjoy UO even with the severe restrictions of EJ, and many new players testing EJ will be coming from those other worlds. Furthermore, the restrictions are not carved in stone. I am hopeful that, over time, as EJ is slowly tested and the world does not end, some of these will be lifted or altered.
But now let's say none of them ever subscribe. Let's say they increase server fees, and that none of them ever buy anything from the online store, ever. I, a paying player, will enjoy having more people to play with. Let's say older players who left due to low population start subscribing because now they actually have folks to play with. Players who enjoy running a shop will have customers. PvPers will have new competition to trash talk about. (As a plus, they will have to go to Help channel to do so.) Let's say a percentage of freeshard players 'visit' the official UO, on even an infrequent basis, and eventually get hooked into the world that Sosaria has become instead of living in the virtual dark ages of the game. Simply having a larger population, even part timers, has a lot of potential to raise subscriptions and store sales.
The OPs concern about increased scripters is valid. But the fact of the matter is that they exist. The only way to stop them entirely is to make the CC code impervious to 3rd party programs. ALL of them. With greater population would also come more cheaters. Most of the scripting is done on free trial accounts, to make banning pointless. EJ will make it slightly more convenient for them, but won't be the end of UO imo.
And there is so much more to be gained.
But now let's say none of them ever subscribe. Let's say they increase server fees, and that none of them ever buy anything from the online store, ever. I, a paying player, will enjoy having more people to play with. Let's say older players who left due to low population start subscribing because now they actually have folks to play with. Players who enjoy running a shop will have customers. PvPers will have new competition to trash talk about. (As a plus, they will have to go to Help channel to do so.) Let's say a percentage of freeshard players 'visit' the official UO, on even an infrequent basis, and eventually get hooked into the world that Sosaria has become instead of living in the virtual dark ages of the game. Simply having a larger population, even part timers, has a lot of potential to raise subscriptions and store sales.
The OPs concern about increased scripters is valid. But the fact of the matter is that they exist. The only way to stop them entirely is to make the CC code impervious to 3rd party programs. ALL of them. With greater population would also come more cheaters. Most of the scripting is done on free trial accounts, to make banning pointless. EJ will make it slightly more convenient for them, but won't be the end of UO imo.
And there is so much more to be gained.
Not really. Trial accounts can't get colored ore or wood. Those little bots you used to see recalling around doing the jobs us normal players don't want to do are paying customers.
I don't think half the people will enjoy having other people to play with simply because it's one less chance at getting their prize. Greedy bunch we are.
We don't know that EJ will have the same limitation. But I still find it funny that people are worried about scripters when we have so many scripters.
Certain areas of scripters don't bother me. Skill working has been the sole cause of crippling the hands of tens of players through history. Those resource bots have guaranteed every player will be able to buy what they need when they need it to continue gaming. Anyone that actually enjoys mining or lumberjacking just isn't right in the head. Now the idoc looters and house placers, that does hurt others gameplay the same as duping and exploiting for an advantage.
But, I couldn't tell you the last time I saw a resource bot and that worries me with that one thread pushing for a crafting boost.
Actually my miner/sampire loves hunting val elementals.
Mystic Lightweaver
Adventurer
Has there been any information on the release date for Endless Journey?
Just asking, why has shard merging not been mentioned? I resubbed after a few years away, and the populations seem even lower then when I quit, which was a huge factor in my leaving. I imagine it's due to the housing? Why not open up Malas to castles? There is so much unused space there already.
Endless Journey seems cool, and I imagine I'll demote down to that when it happens because I don't really care about a house anymore, pixel crap isn't interesting to me. It's about the fights and always has been. I can live out of a bank box or whatever, I rarely farm gold because.. who cares as long as I can PvP, and PvP has always made me money. I don't see the point in hording billions of gold. As far as I'm concerned a game wide gold wipe would be a good thing. My love of this game has dwindled a lot in the past few years, mostly due to not agreeing with the direction the game has gone and lack of people to play with.
I enjoy RPing too, but I find it difficult to RP when you can't steal from anyone, there is no need for regs and everyone is a 'god' not a person struggling to exist. If I want to roleplay a 'champion' there are a lot of games that do it better. Yeah imagination, I get it, but it's different. The feeling isn't there the way it used to be.
To me this new expansion has one purpose and if it doesn't do it I won't be around much longer either.. bring back more people. Since I started playing every year I find myself saying, damn there's less and less of us here. Hard to say what the F2P will do.. but if you can bring some of those freeshard players over..there are hundreds of people playing elsewhere.
Game saturation is the key issue tho. When UO was in its infancy there were not many options for people to play, so we attracted a wide array of individuals. Some just fell in love and never left, but many others left to find a game that offered more to their preferred playstyle. Mix in the common complaints, cheating, scripting, etc etc and it's not surprising I log in and don't see anyone anywhere. (And don't give me that, just because you can't see us doesn't mean we aren't here crap, I've heard that for too long to believe it! )
My hopes are high but my expectations are more of the same.
Endless Journey seems cool, and I imagine I'll demote down to that when it happens because I don't really care about a house anymore, pixel crap isn't interesting to me. It's about the fights and always has been. I can live out of a bank box or whatever, I rarely farm gold because.. who cares as long as I can PvP, and PvP has always made me money. I don't see the point in hording billions of gold. As far as I'm concerned a game wide gold wipe would be a good thing. My love of this game has dwindled a lot in the past few years, mostly due to not agreeing with the direction the game has gone and lack of people to play with.
I enjoy RPing too, but I find it difficult to RP when you can't steal from anyone, there is no need for regs and everyone is a 'god' not a person struggling to exist. If I want to roleplay a 'champion' there are a lot of games that do it better. Yeah imagination, I get it, but it's different. The feeling isn't there the way it used to be.
To me this new expansion has one purpose and if it doesn't do it I won't be around much longer either.. bring back more people. Since I started playing every year I find myself saying, damn there's less and less of us here. Hard to say what the F2P will do.. but if you can bring some of those freeshard players over..there are hundreds of people playing elsewhere.
Game saturation is the key issue tho. When UO was in its infancy there were not many options for people to play, so we attracted a wide array of individuals. Some just fell in love and never left, but many others left to find a game that offered more to their preferred playstyle. Mix in the common complaints, cheating, scripting, etc etc and it's not surprising I log in and don't see anyone anywhere. (And don't give me that, just because you can't see us doesn't mean we aren't here crap, I've heard that for too long to believe it!
) My hopes are high but my expectations are more of the same.
Is it the sentimental value of the actual homes? Or is it the idea of the castle..
Because I still say give everyone a damn castle if that's the case. Malas is huge and boring, add castles to it.
If it's the sentimental value then yeah.. hard to give that up. UO friends are very real.
Because I still say give everyone a damn castle if that's the case. Malas is huge and boring, add castles to it.
If it's the sentimental value then yeah.. hard to give that up. UO friends are very real.
Those freeshard players are playing with full benefits tho, banks, skills, new items, you name it. I seriously do not think playing some version of Crippleware is gonna attract many people from fully functioning freeshards.
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There are a LOT of free games out there, heck there are even free versions of UO, pretty much all of the older MMO's that had subscriptions now have tiered free-to-play sub models. People who are playing free games don't mind grinding for extras, a lot of them like the challenge of playing totally for free, but they do expect the basics and that includes some bank space. Most of the players we get after EJ will be returners, looking for a bit of nostalgia, how long they will stay, well that's another matter.
Both excellent points. I can’t see any freeshard players joining EJ for a less complete gaming experience nor can I see many new players sticking around once they see the limitations.
What EJ will be is a reason for people to drop existing subs (as had already been demonstrated in the stratics poll) and an opportunity for old players to stick there heads in, only to see that everything they still own is obsolete and that EJ has limitations that make it unattractive for a returning player to do anything more than have a short nostalgia trip.
End result, maybe a few more toons spotted out and about in the world and a crippling loss to UO financially which could result in it becoming nonviable.
Great job EA/BS. Abject lesson in how not to do it.
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I read all the notes and restrictions and I agree it's pointless and a waste of time.
No power scrolls gives little reason to do anything in Fel and limits a source of income for returners and noobs. The fact that random people would be spawning was an aspect I was looking forward to. I guess the idea of trying to 'preserve' the economy is the reasoning, but seriously the economy is so ****ed it's a joke.
No bank space gives little reason to collect anything, and assuming you do find something cool where are you going to put it?
What is the point of this expansion exactly? Lol. To lose subs as you said. Makes no sense to me why they couldn't restrict housing as that seems like something people would pay for if they got into UO. As it stands you won't be able to enjoy UO and so you won't pay.
I retract my free shard statement, why would they leave real UO for a confusing watered down restricted version.
I guess I'm harsh about UO anymore, it's truly a love/hate relationship
No power scrolls gives little reason to do anything in Fel and limits a source of income for returners and noobs. The fact that random people would be spawning was an aspect I was looking forward to. I guess the idea of trying to 'preserve' the economy is the reasoning, but seriously the economy is so ****ed it's a joke.
No bank space gives little reason to collect anything, and assuming you do find something cool where are you going to put it?
What is the point of this expansion exactly? Lol. To lose subs as you said. Makes no sense to me why they couldn't restrict housing as that seems like something people would pay for if they got into UO. As it stands you won't be able to enjoy UO and so you won't pay.
I retract my free shard statement, why would they leave real UO for a confusing watered down restricted version.
I guess I'm harsh about UO anymore, it's truly a love/hate relationship
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My own personal situation is that I have one paid account and three accounts that I pay occasionally if I need them, usually for holding a house temporarily. They do't have any chars that I play because they were inherited accounts, but they might be of use for crafting skills that I don't have on my own account. For example I don't have cooking or lumberjacking, so I could put those on one of those characters on an unpaid account once EJ is here, I don't need another house, but if reports are correct I can leave a boat beside my house for those other characters to use. I don't see EJ as being worthwhile for long-term play if it's your only account. Not sure what percentage of people trying it out will go on to pay for a sub. To be honest I find the whole EJ idea a bit worrying...
I actually agree with this.
Don't forget that just because she said would be bannable does not mean will be banned. IMHO they haven't done it all these years because thwey said they couldn't detect it and now with the wave of a magic wand they can detect it and they are going to ban them. I will believe it when I see all the whinning here about my accounts were unjustly banned here on stratics.
It just says they can't receive them but those paid accounts controlling will get them, EJ Accounts will make good fodder accounts to either beat down the spawn or to beat down the people doing the spawn. Don't forget that EJ Accounts can be in guilds also.
I'm always baffled that people think, this is so easy.
So how many developers does UO have? (producers, graphics artists & testers do not count as devs, just on a side note)
And you're suggesting to write ANOTHER client? That would be the hmm, CC, TD, KR & SA, did I forget any? Fifth client?
And also make it mobile/touch-device friendly? Like you could do everything, you can with keyboard & mouse?
No, just no...
Hand this over to a team of 10-20 experts and you could probably expect some result in about 2 years...
I suppose I didn't consider that aspect, have a few paying accounts there to get the scrolls or whatever while the EJ ones do the grunt work. From my point of view it would be a hassle and is a deterrent to coming back and enjoying Fel champs. But being guilded helps.
I also like the idea of the f2p server, and let them get a token when they upgrade to a sub so they can come over to regular servers. But this goes against what I was looking forward to, a more active player base on my slow shard. If anything I may end up on the f2p server if it has more people. But if they do that, I don't see the purpose in putting the entire land of UO in, as no houses, bank boxes etc would be kind of weird. Then again it maybe an economy that could work.. at first. What I'm getting at tho is give them a taste so they pay for the whole thing. Let them see why it's fun and why we still play after all this time, and let them decide if they want to upgrade to the sub. I don't see that working well on a solo f2p server. Maybe I'm wrong.
My biggest concern tho is them coming to a sub shard and seeing stuff going for 150mil and realizing that is way way way out of wack. Yeah one drop gets you some gold, but how long until a new/returer can get into the Roof and get the cameo or whatever? Then we have the issue of the older dungeons and such being underpowered. Maybe they work there guy up on f2p then come to sub? That would be smart but no one said a new player would be 'UO smart' . Returner perhaps tho..
Also not everyone wants to hear "make a sampire" I quit due to these things and I come back and they are still the hot template. There is little roleplay fun in a sampire either. A bushido necromacer warrior? What is he a dead samurai looking for revenge? Blah. It's nice to see tamers got some love tho. That was always a big draw (imho) for UO. What other game lets you control dragons or badass horses etc? And to me a tamer is prime roleplay material. So much potential.
I also like the idea of the f2p server, and let them get a token when they upgrade to a sub so they can come over to regular servers. But this goes against what I was looking forward to, a more active player base on my slow shard. If anything I may end up on the f2p server if it has more people. But if they do that, I don't see the purpose in putting the entire land of UO in, as no houses, bank boxes etc would be kind of weird. Then again it maybe an economy that could work.. at first. What I'm getting at tho is give them a taste so they pay for the whole thing. Let them see why it's fun and why we still play after all this time, and let them decide if they want to upgrade to the sub. I don't see that working well on a solo f2p server. Maybe I'm wrong.
My biggest concern tho is them coming to a sub shard and seeing stuff going for 150mil and realizing that is way way way out of wack. Yeah one drop gets you some gold, but how long until a new/returer can get into the Roof and get the cameo or whatever? Then we have the issue of the older dungeons and such being underpowered. Maybe they work there guy up on f2p then come to sub? That would be smart but no one said a new player would be 'UO smart' . Returner perhaps tho..
Also not everyone wants to hear "make a sampire" I quit due to these things and I come back and they are still the hot template. There is little roleplay fun in a sampire either. A bushido necromacer warrior? What is he a dead samurai looking for revenge? Blah. It's nice to see tamers got some love tho. That was always a big draw (imho) for UO. What other game lets you control dragons or badass horses etc? And to me a tamer is prime roleplay material. So much potential.
Mystic Lightweaver
Adventurer
We really NEED A RELEASE DATE for EJ....
There is no other way to get STYGIANS ABYSS on my 2nd account.
I know that I am not the only one who is waiting for Stygians Abyss to be available again.
Can't you put SA back in the Origin Store for Free???
We all know the release of EJ will probably drag on for another month or more....
Come on @Bleak @Kyronix can you give us some information?
There is no other way to get STYGIANS ABYSS on my 2nd account.
I know that I am not the only one who is waiting for Stygians Abyss to be available again.
Can't you put SA back in the Origin Store for Free???
We all know the release of EJ will probably drag on for another month or more....
Come on @Bleak @Kyronix can you give us some information?
It was stated: March 2018. Still a few more days to screw things up. <shrug>We really NEED A RELEASE DATE for EJ....
There is no other way to get STYGIANS ABYSS on my 2nd account.
I know that I am not the only one who is waiting for Stygians Abyss to be available again.
Can't you put SA back in the Origin Store for Free???
We all know the release of EJ will probably drag on for another month or more....
Come on @Bleak @Kyronix can you give us some information?