The end is nearing

[Spartan]

I had a total of 3 accounts that served various purposes. Tonight, I canceled one sub and deleted the CC info from the account pages. This one was a monthly sub, so in 2-3 weeks it's really gone.

The other 2 are 6-month subs due in February. In January, I'll scrap them as well. Only one has anything on it and whatever is in the house at the time will belong to whoever gets the IDOC winnings! I will not be emptying it as I have no intentions of ever playing again.

I've put in my time since 1998, left and returned 3 times. Each return was more difficult to simply enjoy things around the lands. <shrug> I've told others - if you are finding it hard to even log in, it's time to leave. I'm taking my own advice.

Just a heads up so you won't be surprised when it's all done.

 

[Penderrin]

Will you still be posting here?

 

[Keven2002]

Will you still be posting here?

Of course... just like 50% of the other people who stopped playing but want to still chime in about the current state of UO.

 

[Anon McDougle]

The thing is IF we could convince the former players to return i might be crazy but isn't the ave used to play stratics user the target audience for the biggest thing ever NL a thing so big it needs no mention and certainly no advertising for 3 years.

 

[Blues Topside]

I had a total of 3 accounts that served various purposes. Tonight, I canceled one sub and deleted the CC info from the account pages. This one was a monthly sub, so in 2-3 weeks it's really gone.

The other 2 are 6-month subs due in February. In January, I'll scrap them as well. Only one has anything on it and whatever is in the house at the time will belong to whoever gets the IDOC winnings! I will not be emptying it as I have no intentions of ever playing again.

I've put in my time since 1998, left and returned 3 times. Each return was more difficult to simply enjoy things around the lands. <shrug> I've told others - if you are finding it hard to even log in, it's time to leave. I'm taking my own advice.

Just a heads up so you won't be surprised when it's all done.

Can I have your stuff? *kidding*

 

[Arcus]

Don't let anything cherished drop. You will regret it.

 

[Spartan]

Will you still be posting here?

yes ... just like now - Unleashed. maybe other forums where I can contribute something worthwhile.

 

[Spartan]

The thing is IF we could convince the former players to return i might be crazy but isn't the ave used to play stratics user the target audience for the biggest thing ever NL a thing so big it needs no mention and certainly no advertising for 3 years.

When I first started, UO was advertised ... then that stopped. I am a 3-time returnee and like I said, each time it was more difficult to even get into things.

 

[Spartan]

Don't let anything cherished drop. You will regret it.

I have a collection of miniature houses from way back. They're available from the store now, but back then it wasn't so. There really is nothing I am "glued" to as far as being cherished.

Am debating opening the house to public and putting it up for sale. I would unlock chests, etc if/when sale goes thru. Still debating.

 

[HRH Liz]

Sorry to see you leave. Pack away all your vet rewards/soulstones and such

 

[skett]

Sad to see you leave again.
maybe something might change your mind in the next few months I hope. If not happy trails will follow till the end im sure.

 

[GarthGrey]

There will be the usual eyecandy coming up for Halloween, and then the usual eyecandy for Thanksgiving, and then the usual....etc etc...they'll put just enough in to string many along. The true diehards will never leave until the servers are no longer active, the rest of the crowd barely hangs on by a thread....a thread like this one..

 

[Anon McDougle]

There will be the usual eyecandy coming up for Halloween, and then the usual eyecandy for Thanksgiving, and then the usual....etc etc...they'll put just enough in to string many along. The true diehards will never leave until the servers are no longer active, the rest of the crowd barely hangs on by a thread....a thread like this one..

But NL has snow

 

[Danpal]

But NL has snow

I remember a time when we had snow as well I think that was before AOS cant remember when they turned it off.

I had a total of 3 accounts that served various purposes. Tonight, I canceled one sub and deleted the CC info from the account pages. This one was a monthly sub, so in 2-3 weeks it's really gone.

The other 2 are 6-month subs due in February. In January, I'll scrap them as well. Only one has anything on it and whatever is in the house at the time will belong to whoever gets the IDOC winnings! I will not be emptying it as I have no intentions of ever playing again.

I've put in my time since 1998, left and returned 3 times. Each return was more difficult to simply enjoy things around the lands. <shrug> I've told others - if you are finding it hard to even log in, it's time to leave. I'm taking my own advice.

Just a heads up so you won't be surprised when it's all done.

I will be stepping away from this game as well and right now working on selling everything so I do not lose it then the gold will be held on my account incase I do make a come back. Plan on one account being active with nothing of value in the idoc if i do leave.

 

[tanotan]

I quited for 3 times since 1998 and lost all stuff each time.

Nowadays, I do usually short breaks of 3-6 month and i dont stop paying my account and I am happy to find all my stuff, when I start playing again.

 

[Keven2002]

Sad thing is that it's basically the end of Aug (next week it officially will be) which means the player base has gone essentially 2 months without so much as an update of what is to come for the rest of the year (at this point everything including NL should be road mapped). This doesn't include the 3-4 months before that with the same thing (although we had an event to keep us busy).

At this point, from what we've seen, it's extremely difficult to tell if the Devs are hard at work or hardly working. I can't shake the feeling that, much like in 2020 when all they did was turn on some old events, they've taken the summer off. All it would take is a few sneak peak of more NL or a road map of regular prod content to give us an idea of what they've actually been doing the last 6 months. At this point, giving us Halloween / Artisan Fest / Krampus isn't enough as those are just repeat content and if that's the case they should have turned on the town invasions for August.

 

[Lore]

I quit and come back often. Can't beat just playing UO when you should be doing something else. Or turning to UO while a query is running or in a company meeting that doesn't involve the work you actually do or something.

 

[Tina Small]

I had a total of 3 accounts that served various purposes. Tonight, I canceled one sub and deleted the CC info from the account pages. This one was a monthly sub, so in 2-3 weeks it's really gone.

The other 2 are 6-month subs due in February. In January, I'll scrap them as well. Only one has anything on it and whatever is in the house at the time will belong to whoever gets the IDOC winnings! I will not be emptying it as I have no intentions of ever playing again.

I've put in my time since 1998, left and returned 3 times. Each return was more difficult to simply enjoy things around the lands. <shrug> I've told others - if you are finding it hard to even log in, it's time to leave. I'm taking my own advice.

Just a heads up so you won't be surprised when it's all done.

Sorry to see you go. I hope you have had the time/inclination to bank anything that would be truly useful if you decide to return, because you just never know how things will turn out. Take care in the meantime and as they say, "Happy trails!"

 

[Stinky Pete]

I personally hope you lose everything and decide to come back shortly after it's gone.

 

[GarthGrey]

I've quit several times, and will probably quit a few more times. Sometimes it's fun to lose a bunch of stuff and then see how long it takes you to recover, done that a few times, probably do it a few more times. My most recent "quit fit" involved me selling my castle and all of my stuff in it on Siege, for Atlantic gold. I then bought a bunch of crap on Atl and xfer'd it to shard I was playing on. Goofed there for a year or so, then sold all of that stuff for Atlantic gold, which I then traded for Siege Gold...true story.

 

[Maximus Neximus]

As someone else said, bank your vet rewards at least.

 

[Spartan]

I personally hope you lose everything and decide to come back shortly after it's gone.

Why, thank you Pete! That makes me feel all sorts of warm and fuzzy! I'll just bug ya over in Unleashed when the time comes.

 

[Spartan]

Sorry to see you go. I hope you have had the time/inclination to bank anything that would be truly useful if you decide to return, because you just never know how things will turn out. Take care in the meantime and as they say, "Happy trails!"

Tina, because of the issue here, I lost a house and all vet rewards I had at the time. So what I have now is what I have collected in a short time. There really isn't anything of worth to me should I return, but 5 or 6 soulstones. <shrug>

 

[ShriNayne]

I hope you find fun in some other game, bank everything you can, I banked all my stuff even though it's unlikely I will ever play again, you never know.

 

[Keven2002]

Tina, because of the issue here, I lost a house and all vet rewards I had at the time. So what I have now is what I have collected in a short time. There really isn't anything of worth to me should I return, but 5 or 6 soulstones. <shrug>

Player X loses pixels so they rage quit. This is not an insult to you, but I think this is unfortunately the thinking of a large part of the player base which is hypnotized by pixels.

There is another thread somewhere about this but for me UO (for at least the past 15ish years) has been about the memories and nostalgia of when I first started playing and all the countless hours I have spent (then and afterwards) playing the game. I've stopped playing quite a few times in the past 25 years, never out of rage but more out of boredom or other things are more fun (ie college) but I've kept coming back because to this day I can still remember being a kid playing UO at like 9pm trying to get another hour or 2 in before needing to go to bed because I had school the next day. A couple times I quit, I didn't have (or think about) a credit card to keep my accounts going so I've lost a ton of stuff (again I never really planned on quitting; it kind of just happened so I never banked anything) but that thought of UO would still pop up maybe a year later when I had some down time. Every time I came back, I ended up missing some stuff that I wanted to explore which easily held me for another 3 months.

I don't prioritize UO nearly as high anymore because I don't really get that feeling much at all these days (except for the first few days of the recent dynamic events) but there are times where I will log in and head to a place I spent (a lot of) time first playing and reminisce, like when I hit Fel Brit GY around Halloween to remember my small wooden house there 20+ years ago and all the fun of the server down wars. For the time being, the $13 a month I pay to log in (which technically could be 0$ and I could play as EJ.... stupid me) at this point is well worth it to take a trip down memory lane a couple times a month.

I say all that to say, just save some QoL things because even if you don't resubscribe there might be some downtime in a year where you want to check out what UO has been up to. There might be something that pique your interest and at that point you will just kick yourself for being stubborn now.

 

[petemage]

It all gets blurry after a while and you sometimes think you would like to log in again. But then try to recall the last 10 times you logged in before you quit and how boring or painful it felt. It's just getting blurry when nostalgia sets in.

 

[John Knighthawke]

Proof that Trammel killed UO.
*looks at year*
Hmm.

 

[John Knighthawke]

I don't want your stuff, by the way.

 

[Arcus]

Player X loses pixels so they rage quit.

So because someone is not satisfied with the service they pay for and that dissatisfaction is because of a buggy product the inclination is to say that they "rage quit"? Were you there? Was there a mouse thrown? Lots of expletives? Or are they silently speaking with their wallet and just leaving?

It's almost like you are insulting the person for making a decision that you see to be upset with. If everyone in your monkeysphere rage quits things they I can see why your brain is wired this way. Sad really.

 

[Danpal]

Proof that Trammel killed UO.
*looks at year*
Hmm.

Trammel saved UO to many players where complaining about the unwanted killings. I remember a few that left the game because of it then came back after Trammel. The number peeked during the age of Trammel then started to fall at the age of shadows if I remember right. So we go back to a what if. If there was no Trammel then I do not think there would of been a game that lasted 25 years and counting.

Proof that Trammel Saved UO.
*looks at year*
Hmm.

I fixed it for you.

 

[Keven2002]

So because someone is not satisfied with the service they pay for and that dissatisfaction is because of a buggy product the inclination is to say that they "rage quit"? Were you there? Was there a mouse thrown? Lots of expletives? Or are they silently speaking with their wallet and just leaving?

It's almost like you are insulting the person for making a decision that you see to be upset with. If everyone in your monkeysphere rage quits things they I can see why your brain is wired this way. Sad really.

Silently speaking? Is that an oxymoron?

If someone is truly unhappy with services rendered then they are free to quit (silently) which means they don't have to post about it. If there comes a day I decided to quit UO; I can reassure you that you will not hear about it. One day I will stop logging in and that's that. Feel free to do the same and stay silent as you quit.

Additionally, why would I be upset about someone I've never met or played with leaving? I honestly do not care if this person or you quits and loses all their junk. I can guarantee that.
Sounds like I hit a nerve of someone who has rage quit before because they lost their pixels

 

[Arcus]

Silently speaking? Is that an oxymoron?

If someone is truly unhappy with services rendered then they are free to quit (silently) which means they don't have to post about it.

So posting is "RAGE QUITTING" now? Interesting...

 

[Anon McDougle]

So posting is "RAGE QUITTING" now? Interesting...

While the culture is not as bad here yes any complaints are instantly attacked by the fanbois

 

[Keven2002]

So posting is "RAGE QUITTING" now? Interesting...

Care to point out where I said this person specifically was rage quitting because he posted? I was making a generalization but I guess a former/current rage quitter might get upset by this.

I will try to break it down for you to help you out.

Tina, because of the issue here, I lost a house and all vet rewards I had at the time. So what I have now is what I have collected in a short time. There really isn't anything of worth to me should I return, but 5 or 6 soulstones. <shrug>

Spartan wrote this (above). Important point here... Notice he says he already lost a house and all vet rewards (ie pixels). After reading his post I decided to respond and that's why my post (below) was in direct response to his post.

Player X loses pixels so they rage quit. This is not an insult to you, but I think this is unfortunately the thinking of a large part of the player base which is hypnotized by pixels.

Here is my response above. Again to ensure there is no confusion, this was a response to Spartan's post above about losing pixels and quitting BUT was not actually directed at him personally. Confusing for some, I guess.

"Player X" is a generic player (hence player X and not "Spartan) that might think similarly to what Spartan said. My post in a nutshell, is saying that some people (ie player X - not specifically Spartan because I don't know him) have a fascination with pixels and when they lose those pixels they get mad and quit (Rage quitting? not sure what you'd call it) and unfortunately a large portion of players feel that way and tend to do the same.

To digress a bit, I even know people that get killed in PvP and get mad and log (Rage log?? Does that make sense or should a different term be used there too?)).

Notice how I specifically said this was not meant to be an insult directly to him because it wasn't directed at him (I figured people with common sense would know that my observation of the general player base was inferred here - sorry). I then follow up those 2 sentences with how UO has always been nostalgia for me (not pixels) and then suggest that he may eventually come back after quitting so he should save what he can instead of tossing it all and having zero pixels to come back to.

Does that make more sense?

**EDIT** This is not a direct shot or insult to you as I understand sometimes things get lost in text.

 

[Tina Small]

Tina, because of the issue here, I lost a house and all vet rewards I had at the time. So what I have now is what I have collected in a short time. There really isn't anything of worth to me should I return, but 5 or 6 soulstones. <shrug>

You just never know how things will go with UO and with your own life. I hope someday you will be back! And don't feel bad about posting here while you aren't actually subscribed. The way I look at it, this is a community made of people who all have UO in common and that connection doesn't disappear just because you take a break for a while. Even if we don't all agree about everything related to UO, it's pretty clear that we all have some amount of fondness for it and the people we met while playing it, even if we have never met in person.

 

[tanotan]

UO is an economic and social simulation in 3 dimensions according to its 25 year timeline. Very interesting model. I stay and take part

 

[Merlin]

Really bummed to hear a long term player is leaving. As with others, I would also encourage you to fill your banks with valuables that you might regret if they fall. I too have been one of the people who leave and come back multiple times. The last time I left, one of my houses fell and I regret not caring enough. Smacked myself pretty good because I specifically lost some vet rewards and soul stones.

I view all aspects of this community as the "UO experience". From in-game activities, to chatting in Guild Discord servers, to these crazy forums. I have always felt that as long as you're active in one of these, you're still a member of the UO community - even if you don't have a paid OSI sub anymore.

I can only hope that @Spartan will hang around a bit longer. Until then... catch you on the old dusty trails.

 

[Destiny<3]

I remember a time when we had snow as well I think that was before AOS cant remember when they turned it off.

A few years back, maybe 2012 or so, they used to give us snow around Christmas. One year they even left it on until about March. I don't think we have had snow on the ground since about 2016 or so.

 

[Destiny<3]

Sorry to see you go Spartan, I wish you the best of luck with deciding what to do before you leave, and hope you have a lovely journey wherever you end up!

 

[Whitewolf of *VK*]

well dont quite give up yet, if rumors are true and Amazon gets their hands on UO things might turn around, MIGHT being the key word here, hopefully they learned their lesson from New World.

 

[Danpal]

well dont quite give up yet, if rumors are true and Amazon gets their hands on UO things might turn around, MIGHT being the key word here, hopefully they learned their lesson from New World.

I would quite and not come back if they bought it.

 

[Miretar]

I had a total of 3 accounts that served various purposes. Tonight, I canceled one sub and deleted the CC info from the account pages. This one was a monthly sub, so in 2-3 weeks it's really gone.

The other 2 are 6-month subs due in February. In January, I'll scrap them as well. Only one has anything on it and whatever is in the house at the time will belong to whoever gets the IDOC winnings! I will not be emptying it as I have no intentions of ever playing again.

I've put in my time since 1998, left and returned 3 times. Each return was more difficult to simply enjoy things around the lands. <shrug> I've told others - if you are finding it hard to even log in, it's time to leave. I'm taking my own advice.

Just a heads up so you won't be surprised when it's all done.

It has to be asked: Can I have your stuff?

 

[Captn Norrington]

well dont quite give up yet, if rumors are true and Amazon gets their hands on UO things might turn around, MIGHT being the key word here, hopefully they learned their lesson from New World.

This is one of the rumors that makes no sense to me. Problems:

- Amazon focuses pretty exclusively on things that can be rolled out on a massive assembly line type scale. Internet shopping, pharmacy, data hosting, easy to advertise games etc. what could they possibly do to make UO generalizable to the public knowing how old it is?

- UO is a customer of Amazon's data hosting already. By purchasing UO they'd be losing themselves money for their data hosting.

- UO is worth so little compared to everything else Amazon owns, it would probably cost them more in resources and man hours just setting up their ownership than the profits would be since it's an expensive and slow moving Fortune 500 that needs a thousand signatures to move forward with every single step.

 

[Stinky Pete]

This is one of the rumors that makes no sense to me. Problems:

- Amazon focuses pretty exclusively on things that can be rolled out on a massive assembly line type scale. Internet shopping, pharmacy, data hosting, easy to advertise games etc. what could they possibly do to make UO generalizable to the public knowing how old it is?

- UO is a customer of Amazon's data hosting already. By purchasing UO they'd be losing themselves money for their data hosting.

- UO is worth so little compared to everything else Amazon owns, it would probably cost them more in resources and man hours just setting up their ownership than the profits would be since it's an expensive and slow moving Fortune 500 that needs a thousand signatures to move forward with every single step.

I too was questioning what rumor mill this popped out of.

 

[Spartan]

It has to be asked: Can I have your stuff?

If you buy the house! Everything in it at present (minus soulstones) will be sold as a package. It's not much but what the heck.

 

[Anon McDougle]

This is one of the rumors that makes no sense to me. Problems:

- Amazon focuses pretty exclusively on things that can be rolled out on a massive assembly line type scale. Internet shopping, pharmacy, data hosting, easy to advertise games etc. what could they possibly do to make UO generalizable to the public knowing how old it is?

- UO is a customer of Amazon's data hosting already. By purchasing UO they'd be losing themselves money for their data hosting.

- UO is worth so little compared to everything else Amazon owns, it would probably cost them more in resources and man hours just setting up their ownership than the profits would be since it's an expensive and slow moving Fortune 500 that needs a thousand signatures to move forward with every single step.

Amazon was possibly buying EA

 

[Danpal]

Did not Amazon come out with a game system or am I thinking of someone else. I know they have some kind of game thing with prime but never looked into it.

 

[Anon McDougle]

Did not Amazon come out with a game system or am I thinking of someone else. I know they have some kind of game thing with prime but never looked into it.

It turned out to be more rumors than truth but either way UO is irrelevant in today's world especially with our current developers....

 

[Merlin]

There is quite a bit of conflicting information within the finance community about whether or not Amazon is buying EA. There are credible agencies reporting both sides of the story, so I will believe it when I see it.

Having said that... EA's 2022 revenue was $5.6 billion. Their 2022 EBITDA was $1.6 billion. UO is a very small drop in a relatively big bucket for EA and anyone who thinks that UO would be anywhere on the radar of some type of EA/Amazon transaction is probably not truly realizing the massive size of either company.

There was an EA earnings call back during the Q4 2016 / Q1 2017 time frame and a question was asked about smaller titles and EA's policy on keeping them open and selling off units. EA's CFO responded that their policy was to keep alive any titles that were "remaining in the black" and "contributing positively to EBITDA". Effectively confirming that as long as a title has positive net revenue, EA will maintain that title. Assuming that policy to still be true, I would venture it is fair to say that UO/BS still must be making some sort of a profit. My guess would be they make a $1.5 to $2.0 million in revenue and contribute atleast half a million USD toward EBITDA margins.

Also consider that EA also does not have much of a track record of selling off properties or spinning out titles. If UO is ever shut down, do not count on the title or copyrights being sold to another group. While my guess is as good as any, my sense is that EA will hold onto anything it brought from Origin Systems, even if those titles are no longer operating. Lord British be damned.

Also, it would be wise to remember the age old adage: 'better the devil you know than the devil you don't know'. If Amazon became owners of UO by way of transacting with Electronic Arts, there are no guarantees for them to operate in a similar fashion as EA or to improve any aspect of the smaller subsidiaries and business units. They could have a different standard and set a minimum EBITDA contribution threshold that is well over Broadsword's head. Or they could just decide not to re-up certain contracts and let the whole game die. Or... [INSERT HERE].

Knowing what to expect would be murky at best, and unlike other doom and gloom predictions that we've heard over the years about this Ultima world of ours, ownership changing hands would be one of the actual ones that would be a real cause to worry. Count me in with those who are weary of Amazon becoming the owner of UO.

 

[Whitewolf of *VK*]

I too was questioning what rumor mill this popped out of.

ok so EA owns it all, big newscast on NBC a few days ago that Amazon was tryin to purchase EA games, then about 30 minutes later it was retracted, well one thing about Amazon is they are very secretive, they dont like info like this getting out until its a done deal, so where there is smoke there is fire. So in a month or 2 it wont surprise me to see a big announcement by amazon that they now own EA games, if they own EA games will then they now own UO.