I agree that people will complain regardless of what global content is released. It's never going to make everyone happy but at the end of the day at least everyone will have the ability to try the content at a time that works for them and form an opinion. At the very least people will have something new to try before they really start complaining.
It's not a binary choice regarding content: either we get EM events or Global Events. We get both. Some years we get more of one than the other, it's been that way forever. This year, we're getting less on the global event end because they have "other things" in the works, hence
part of why they turned on old content to satisfy people (something that a lot of games are doing right now). It's not ideal, I agree, but EM events aren't taking anything away from anyone.
We can't assume that because last year we didn't get that at all. It was a big miss IMO as a lot of people look forward to that every year.
Actually, we did, it was the Screaming Fleet and collecting their souls in the soulbinders for rewards. The armor collecting piece was just saved for the Shrine battles. The devs wanted to try something different that was on theme.
Last year we had Triton's in the first release as well bounty hunting etc with the T-Map "upgrade" well in the works. We also had a playbook sent out early in the year to give us an idea of what to expect. This year has been far different, pandemic aside, because they have been very tight lipped about any releases or things in the works. In my opinion they have put a good amount more effort in adding things to the UO Store as opposed to actual bug fixing/upgrades (jewelry box filter).
Last year's publish schedule was somewhat unique, a lot of it had been planned out the year before, so they had a jump on things. Again, the overall player reaction may have put a damper on their willingness to reveal plans like that again - which, while I can understand it, I don't personally agree with. The cone of silence mentality is fairly silly for a 23yo game. The days of trying to tantalize people with a carrot on a stick are long over, but it may be preferable to announcing something and then not being able to deliver in a timely fashion (or at all).
They pretty much have to add things to the store, it's kind of the whole point of its existence. Also, to be fair, that's pretty much just all art (from the artist, who doesn't do any code). Very few pieces have added new functionality to the game. So the dev overhead time is relatively low.
For the record I'm 100% fine with them creating an EM tool to help them out but my issue with it is that they are actually trying to push it in the newsletter as some fresh content. It's already been said that EM Events will undoubtedly exclude people that can't log on during that very specific time; but another reason I have issue with it being passed along as a "hot new thing" is that players can't even use it so let's just say that I do partake in events; it's still not increasing my drop rate or chances of staying alive. The only people it's really helping are the EMs. I'd liken it to the Devs putting in the newsletter that we should be excited because all the Devs are getting new computers and better workstations post-pandemic.... cool but how does that improve overall game play to the general public? It doesn't.
A player's inability, disinterest or unwillingness to attend an EM event doesn't mean they're "excluded." Exclusion requires intent. The player makes the choice whether to attend or not (Yes, having to go to work/school/whatever constitutes a choice). Everyone is welcome.
Allowing players to use EM tools would probably be a ****ing epic disaster, considering some of the character/pet names I've seen, or what some people do with bagballs and candelabras, say in general chat, etc.
They told us about them in an attempt to hype changes to the EM program and help keep it fresh. It benefits the general public by theoretically allowing for better events. (BTW EM event participation is FAR higher than virtually every piece of static content. You never see that many people fighting the invasions or any static spawn/boss) But without knowing exactly what the new EM tools are, who knows what we, as players, will or will not see. We can only speculate.
My feeling is that 2020 is going to be a wash of a year content wise for UO which sucks (I could be wrong). It really annoys me to think that I've paid all year long to really get nothing new (as it seems right now) except for some recycled content. The first publish this year was primarily for IDOCS (a subset of people), the second publish appears to be for an EM Tool that players can't even use (but again only applies to a subset of people), and the third and typically "meatier" publish hasn't even given a slight teaser to keep people interested...and typically things go on autopilot after that for the rest of the year to begin work for next year. If there isn't some sort of global content released this year it's going to be a huge slap in the face of all the loyal UO subscribers that stuck around anxiously waiting for "the biggest announcement ever" for the game
They've already told us what the new content will be for the 110 fall publish: Halloween, the two "Christmas" events and the dynamic quest system. There will probably be a publish in Dec as well. UO is full of subsets of players, all games are, UO's
five devs can't possibly hope to satisfy them all at once.
They should never have pre-announced the "announcement," I think we've established that. It was a complete marketing fail which has only led to much angst and gnashing of teeth. It was worse than those teaser movie previews that are little more than overly dramatic music and a title card. But I don't think that players continuing to pitch a fit is going to encourage them to announce something sooner. In fact, I guarantee it will have the opposite effect.
