West Coast Merger Consideration

[Locker]

This has probably been posted before and I'm not sure it's possible but I believe this game would seriously improve for west coast players if some sort of server merge was considered.

I am a fairly new UO player (4 months) but old time gamer who has really, REALLY been enjoying UO after all of the cookie cutter games I have been playing for the last 15 years. My only real complain other than lack of attention from support staff is the fact that the population seems VERY low on the west coast servers.

I started on Napa Valley with some RL friends who got me into the game but the problem is we play at different times. My guild search turned up basically nothing and no real interest from anyone.

Someone told me that Pacific was the most populated server on the west coast. I made a new character and even though new haven was a ghost town and the luna action seemed light I started a new necro mage, got him up to GM, placed a Fel house 2 weeks later.... only to have the same problem as Napa Valley. Can't find anyone around, can't find a guild... nothing to do but solo....

So one day on a lark I made a character on Atlantic... WOW! People all over new haven, guilds recruiting... met some cool people and was picked up in about 30 mins into an active guild doing major spawns. I wasn't looking for gear or cash, just some group PvM and PvP activities. I seriously wish I could stay but living in California the 200+ ping is KILLING me and I can barely move in Luna sometimes without constant stuttering.

It seems that the one place where there is any action is technically out of my reach and I really think the folks here on the west coast would enjoy and support some sort of merge that would increase our server pops to somewhere above graveyard status.

Once again this is just some thoughts to consider. I love this game and hope to enjoy it into the future.

Peace,

Locker

 

[Glacier-GL]

Even for most East Coast shards I think it'd be a good idea.

Many people would get mad because they'd lose their houses, but I really think it'd bring back more people to the game with fewer, but more active servers. More people to do things with and fight with is never a bad thing to me anyways.

I'd like to see maybe 4 servers? 2 East Coast, 1 Central (Actually Located in the Midwest, not in California), and a West Coast Shard. Of course could be adjustable to increasing the # by 1 per area, or whatever is good.

I've been for this for a while now. I think less shards would lead to more activity from players, more players coming back to play active shards where there's more to do with people, etc.

I don't know though. I'm sure the Anti-Everything crowd will come in here and say it's a terrible idea because they spent 50 hours decoing their house. I'm thinking about the well-being of the game.

 

[Locker]

It would be great if any one of any crowd would make suggestions towards making something like this work. I'm sure the house deco people are some of the most creative in the game and I bet they could figure out some merger strategy that would work and make the majority happy.

Anyway thank you for the response and it's nice to feel that I'm not completely alone in my thoughts regarding this issue.

Peace,

-L

 

[Rubican]

If they could figure out a way to deal with the housing issue, I would certainly go for a merger. Tired of playing alone.

 

[Tina Small]

Why not try to get more of your friends to play instead of suggesting stuff that's likely to just anger people who've been playing on the shards you consider so empty?

Earlier this year, EA did something similar to a shard merger to one of its other online games (The Sims Online) because of the game's low population. A month or two after their "city merger" was completed, they announced the game was going to close down in August.

I have my doubts that EA/Mythic would handle a shard merger for UO any better than they did with TSO. I have my doubts that many would stick around to see the end result.

There's usually more than one way to skin a cat and I think the better solution to get what you seem to seek (more people to fight with) is to try to get more of the people you know to play and to urge EA to do a much better job of marketing UO.

 

[AesSedai]

- simply put:
no.

why? read some of the links.

Let UO grow;
If it cannot, will not, or does not grow, then go to a shard that is more lively and more to your liking (~200 ping is nothing, next to what all of our pings used to be);
Else, do as Mark Jacobs suggested and quit if you are unhappy with UO ~ 'vote with your credit card'

But please, give up on the plea to merge any shards: It does not favor many of your fellow UO players.
Why? Read some of the links I provided.

 

[Viper09]

Why not try to get more of your friends to play instead of suggesting stuff that's likely to just anger people who've been playing on the shards you consider so empty?

That still wouldn't fix it...adding a couple of new people who might not enjoy the game as opposed to merging multiple shards with a lot more people who enjoy the game; which sounds nicer? Probably merging. The only issue is housing, nothing else is a real issue aside from unique spots from EM events and whatnot. I wouldn't mind losing my house to merging (and no, I don't have a dinky small house). But I know many would have this issue, particularly those with castles.

A merger would be kind of nice.

 

[SippyCup]

Make "housing" available from any inn, with a directory, and house runes go to a non-blockable tile on the front porch; then consolidate one or more shards.

 

[Tina Small]

That still wouldn't fix it...adding a couple of new people who might not enjoy the game as opposed to merging multiple shards with a lot more people who enjoy the game; which sounds nicer? Probably merging. The only issue is housing, nothing else is a real issue aside from unique spots from EM events and whatnot. I wouldn't mind losing my house to merging (and no, I don't have a dinky small house). But I know many would have this issue, particularly those with castles.

A merger would be kind of nice.

Even if the developers managed to figure out a way to let everyone keep their current house in its current location and set up common non-housing areas for combined shards, I think the fact that the game had to do a shard merger to survive would send such a tremendously negative message to current and potential players that all the effort involved would be a waste in the long run.

 

[Locker]

Even if the developers managed to figure out a way to let everyone keep their current house in its current location and set up common non-housing areas for combined shards, I think the fact that the game had to do a shard merger to survive would send such a tremendously negative message to current and potential players that all the effort involved would be a waste in the long run.

Send a negative message? This isn't politics and even if it were, taking action to as a response to a changing situation sends a GOOD message like someone cares enough to adjust things when necessary. Especially if it keeps existing players interested as it's much harder to attract new customers than keep existing ones.

I believe your attitude of do nothing and let it die sends a very negative message.

 

[Poo]

your assuming, of course, that everyone wants to play on a packed shard.

a very common assumption and one that people who like to live in a packed city assume that everyone must want.

i for one dont like playing on a buisy shard.
i dont like getting into fights with 3 or 4 groups of 20 people on each side.

i much prefer small fights, 3 on 3 or 5 on 5.
when a new event comes out, i dont wanna be 156th in line to get my turn.
id rather be number 7.

when i wanna do a dreadhorn or a mel, i dont wanna have to take a number and wait, and if i do have to wait, i dont wanna have to wait hours on end.

ive never had a problem meeting people on a new shard.
i think it all comes down to your personallity.

i can start on a new shard, meet new people and be playing with them in minutes.

i guess a question would be, what do you do with people who have developed characters on all shards.
what do you do with them when you start closing shards and mixing shards up.
your talking toons that took years and year to make.
and you wanna start deleting them?

i cant move any of my characters to another shad... as i have developed characters on all shards.
granted, not many people have that, but its a big kick in the nuts to those of us who do.

 

[THP]

I dont think it can and will ever happen!!!

But make no mistake the devs do not have a problem with housing.

They can simply say on date xxxx then 'xxxxx' shard is the lowest populated shard and will be closing down ...Alas each char will be given a xshard token so pack up up ya things and move to a new land and meet new freinds....also i ya pack u will find a free token to try warhammer for 3 months etc etc etc

[end of problem- end of story]

 

[Tina Small]

I believe your attitude of do nothing and let it die sends a very negative message.

Locker, I'm not the one with a "do nothing" attitude. I'm afraid the responsibility for reviving this game rests squarely on EA's shoulders. The only thing I think we as players can realistically do to bump up the population is try to get our friends and family to play....which is what I suggested in one of my earlier posts which you apparently missed. It is not up to the players to sacrifice characters they worked on and properties and objects they managed to acquire to "save" the game and give the illusion that UO suddenly has more players. I believe only a handful of players will actually "win" in the short-term with solutions like that.

And although I say the responsibility for reviving this game rests on EA's shoulders, I don't have a lot of confidence they are up to the challenge. I definitely don't think they have the resources or corporate backing to successfully pull off something as complicated as a shard merger. If you haven't noticed yet, publishes keep getting postponed and new relatively simple stuff that has been added (e.g., a few new plants, most of them non-reproducing) is definitely not bug-free. They're scrapping or rebranding their much-touted user interface because it didn't live up to the hype. And instead of using the last town hall meeting they held to talk about publishes planned for the near future, they tried to wow us by once again pulling out SA and waving it in our faces. It becomes more obvious by the day that UO currently doesn't have the staffing needed to push out relatively routine publishes every other month. Maybe it will once Warhammer hits its stride, but I'm really starting to doubt that.

 

[Uvtha]

Let UO grow;
If it cannot, will not, or does not grow, then go to a shard that is more lively and more to your liking

I... think they already tried the let it grow approach. The result: people asking for shard merges.

 

[Mishra_]

They did it with DAoC so I see it coming in the future

 

[Ailish]

It occurs to me that your issue is not shard population ... it is the hours you play. You say that Pacific was empty? I find that extremely unlikely. Yet Atlantic was full of life an bustling ... sounds to me like you are playing during East Coast Prime Time ... which is, of course, the middle of the afternoon when people are still at work and school on the West Coast. A shard merger would not help you in the least.

Also, you may be looking in the wrong places for people. Not all shards use Luna, nor New Haven. Several use West Brit Bank. Smaller shards also tend to have people out DOING things instead of hanging out at the bank.

 

[Viper09]

I dont think it can and will ever happen!!!

It can definitely happen, without a doubt, they would know how to do it. Will it happen, though? Probably not any time soon

 

[Mitzlplik_SP]

Since no one wants a server merge,why not have the ablility to travel between servers? That`s what DAoC did and it worked great.No one lost their home server pixel crack but everyone had the option to travel to a busier server.The peaple who wanted a low pop area still had it so it worked great for both sides of the fence.

I mean they already have shard transfer tokens,why not just have a teleporter to atlantic or whatever servers got clustered.

Shard transfer tokens would still have a place since their would be shards that didn`t get clustered into whatever other shard.

Thats my 2 cents.I think that would rock to be able to hang out at a busy bank tryin to sell my wares for a change.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

This has been discussed many times, indeed.
I am pretty sure that no server merge is going to happen. There are many reasons against it. Most important, many players would leave if they'd lose their house or their guild towns.

I'd personally accept a merge of servers, if I could keep my characters and my bank box content. But that's just me.

However, I don't think merging servers will solve any problems. The low population is not caused by a surplus of servers. It is caused by other things, and those things need to be solved:

• Cheats, hacks, dupes, scripters.
• Antiquated graphics no new player will find attractive.
• New content all the time, instead of improving the existing content.
• Encouraging of item-based playing instead of community playing.
• Lack of marketing.
• Lack of support.

 

[Connor_Graham]

Someone told me that Pacific was the most populated server on the west coast. I made a new character and even though new haven was a ghost town and the luna action seemed light I started a new necro mage, got him up to GM, placed a Fel house 2 weeks later.... only to have the same problem as Napa Valley. Can't find anyone around, can't find a guild... nothing to do but solo....

There are plenty of people on Pacific. We just don't hang out at the banks, and are usually found out actually DOING something. A small crowd will build up for a while around prime time in Luna, but for the most part you'll have to venture out into the world. There are also plenty of guilds around that are recruiting, it's just a matter of finding them, as they're normally either out doing Peerless, running Doom, or working champ spawns. If you want to find a group of people, head to Yew gate. You'll always see at least a few PvP'rs there at most times of the day.

As for your suggestion to merge shards....no way. We'd lose more people than we'd gain with something like that, as people would quit if they lost their houses.

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

If they could figure out a way to deal with the housing issue...

Simple.

All mergered shards would have their houses, all drop. All goods from each house would be placed in a central bank for each home owner, and general bank boxes would have their size increased (to a number determined later).

Once the new shard opened up, no housing would be allowed to be placed for the first week or two.
All housing areas now not authorized would be opened up (outside of guardzones only).
A size limit for homes would be in place for the first month of the new shard to eliminate a bunch of keeps and castles from being placed immediately.
The day of placement would be on a weekend day (based on server timezone).
Only existing accounts (of a predetermined age) would be able to place to prevent people from opening accounts for placement only.

Just a few thoughts I figured I'd throw out.

*please note, I don't want to see Siege mergered, unless it retains it's current ruleset and the production shard is changed...la

If you get a house...you get a house.

 

[Connor_Graham]

Simple.

All mergered shards would have their houses, all drop. All goods from each house would be placed in a central bank for each home owner, and general bank boxes would have their size increased (to a number determined later).

Once the new shard opened up, no housing would be allowed to be placed for the first week or two.
All housing areas now not authorized would be opened up (outside of guardzones only).
A size limit for homes would be in place for the first month of the new shard to eliminate a bunch of keeps and castles from being placed immediately.
The day of placement would be on a weekend day (based on server timezone).
Only existing accounts (of a predetermined age) would be able to place to prevent people from opening accounts for placement only.

Just a few thoughts I figured I'd throw out.

*please note, I don't want to see Siege mergered, unless it retains it's current ruleset and the production shard is changed...la

If you get a house...you get a house.

Worst idea yet. People would quit in droves.

 

[Lord Drakelord]

This has probably been posted before and I'm not sure it's possible but I believe this game would seriously improve for west coast players if some sort of server merge was considered.

I am a fairly new UO player (4 months) but old time gamer who has really, REALLY been enjoying UO after all of the cookie cutter games I have been playing for the last 15 years. My only real complain other than lack of attention from support staff is the fact that the population seems VERY low on the west coast servers.

I started on Napa Valley with some RL friends who got me into the game but the problem is we play at different times. My guild search turned up basically nothing and no real interest from anyone.

Someone told me that Pacific was the most populated server on the west coast. I made a new character and even though new haven was a ghost town and the luna action seemed light I started a new necro mage, got him up to GM, placed a Fel house 2 weeks later.... only to have the same problem as Napa Valley. Can't find anyone around, can't find a guild... nothing to do but solo....

So one day on a lark I made a character on Atlantic... WOW! People all over new haven, guilds recruiting... met some cool people and was picked up in about 30 mins into an active guild doing major spawns. I wasn't looking for gear or cash, just some group PvM and PvP activities. I seriously wish I could stay but living in California the 200+ ping is KILLING me and I can barely move in Luna sometimes without constant stuttering.

It seems that the one place where there is any action is technically out of my reach and I really think the folks here on the west coast would enjoy and support some sort of merge that would increase our server pops to somewhere above graveyard status.

Once again this is just some thoughts to consider. I love this game and hope to enjoy it into the future.

Peace,

Locker

First I hope no one considers this a good idea, as I have no problem finding folks on Sonoma to play with everyday. I also hate the idea of losing housing that took years to get to an idea of placing like we did when UO-R brought the birth of Trammel. As for the OP, I am sure if you had checked around during the prime times on Napa you would have found alot of folks, also posting notes in blue books and also on house BBoards would have got you the attention you are seeking.

Good luck with you continue playing of UO, and if you ever pop over to Sonoma give us a yell, our guild forum is in my profile. And we also have a PvP chapter of it that go to catskills once a month to moongate fight.

 

[THP]

Definate the dumbest idea of the lot....drop the servers to be merged...make new server!!! lol and then free for all new housing...LOL

The easy way and methinks only way to deal with housing=

Nay just tell the low population shard its time to evacuate and move on...time to join a new land..then give em a xfer token per char and they will move to a busier shard and place a normal house or pick another quite shard were they can get a instant keep/castle still.

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

People would quit in droves.

That's different then now...how?...la

 

[Connor_Graham]

That's different then now...how?...la

People aren't quitting in droves now. Your idea would change that.

 

[Kith Kanan]

Simple.

All mergered shards would have their houses, all drop. All goods from each house would be placed in a central bank for each home owner, and general bank boxes would have their size increased (to a number determined later).

Once the new shard opened up, no housing would be allowed to be placed for the first week or two.
All housing areas now not authorized would be opened up (outside of guardzones only).
A size limit for homes would be in place for the first month of the new shard to eliminate a bunch of keeps and castles from being placed immediately.
The day of placement would be on a weekend day (based on server timezone).
Only existing accounts (of a predetermined age) would be able to place to prevent people from opening accounts for placement only.

Just a few thoughts I figured I'd throw out.

*please note, I don't want to see Siege mergered, unless it retains it's current ruleset and the production shard is changed...la

If you get a house...you get a house.

well.... I got 8 houses ... 5 of em right next to each other , and your trying to convince me to give those up.... and maybe get one house if im lucky... nahhh i dont think so....

 

[THP]

well.... I got 8 houses ... 5 of em right next to each other , and your trying to convince me to give those up.... and maybe get one house if im lucky... nahhh i dont think so....

Shame u could not get that 6th one next to each other Kith!! *winks*

 

[Yalp]

At first blush you may think it's a GREAT idea to merge shards.. but when you consider the negative issues it would generate.. well.. if you could somehow manage to correct those.. then shard merging might be an option.. for now.. you always have the option of character transfer to a shard of your liking...



1) Previously stated housing issues
2) Scripting .. increase by a factor of 10-100
3) Hacking and cheat programs... increase by a factor of 1000-100000
4) Game economy affects.... increase average costs on hard to get items by a factor of 1,000,000
5) Lag... well you're new and you've not seen the lag monster rear it's head.. but it can get ugly real fast if you have more than 20 peeps in one area
6) Exploits... increase peeps using them by a factor of 1000
7) Play styles.. some peeps like a quieter shard, less spam, less grief.. these players would more likely leave the game.

 

[Salty Pete]

I picked Sonoma exactly because it wasn't the over populated shard when I first started playing (8+ years ago). Any time I have the itch to be around a lot of people I simply log in my Atlantic character.

 

[Yalp]

Simple.

All mergered shards would have their houses, all drop. All goods from each house would be placed in a central bank for each home owner, and general bank boxes would have their size increased (to a number determined later).

Once the new shard opened up, no housing would be allowed to be placed for the first week or two.
All housing areas now not authorized would be opened up (outside of guardzones only).
A size limit for homes would be in place for the first month of the new shard to eliminate a bunch of keeps and castles from being placed immediately.
The day of placement would be on a weekend day (based on server timezone).
Only existing accounts (of a predetermined age) would be able to place to prevent people from opening accounts for placement only.

Just a few thoughts I figured I'd throw out.

*please note, I don't want to see Siege mergered, unless it retains it's current ruleset and the production shard is changed...la

If you get a house...you get a house.

no thanks.. of course unless it's my shard, my house, my ruleset, my characters, my bank account that remains in place... which of course is absurdly selfish...

 

[Kith Kanan]

Shame u could not get that 6th one next to each other Kith!! *winks*

you own any property next to mine ??? I've more or less given up getting in contact with KITTEN and I dont speak russian , but there are one or two other houses close by I might wanted to buy

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

People aren't quitting in droves now.

Oh no, not at all. Next month, we should exceed 200 gazzilion subscribers too...la

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

well.... I got 8 houses ... 5 of em right next to each other , and your trying to convince me to give those up.... and maybe get one house if im lucky... nahhh i dont think so....

Well, of course there will be a handful of selfish players that wouldn't like this idea instead of looking out for the game, they'd rather hold onto their precious pixels...la

 

[Connor_Graham]

The entire game is nothing but pixels, and the quest to obtain more of them. What game are you playing that doesn't have them?

For a lot of people, their house is their most valuable asset. Why should they give it up when players that want a more populated shard can already find one?

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

What game are you playing that doesn't have them?

Sorry to break this to ya...there are many players of Uo that don't play to get a bigger house, or to get more gold in their bank. They play the game for fun. They kill monsters, not for the loot, but for the "fun". There are people who play the game, to be chased by other players who are intent on killing them...go figure...la

 

[Evilminion]

Absolutely NOT. One of the things I like most about Lake Austin is its sparse, friendly population. If you want a more populated server, go play on a more populated server. But don't decide for me.

 

[Lord Drakelord]

Well, of course there will be a handful of selfish players that wouldn't like this idea instead of looking out for the game, they'd rather hold onto their precious pixels...la

And there a few that talk of making tamers on Siege, yet post in threads that they agree with the OP, how about we take Siege and make them all move to Mugen. Just think, more folks to PvP, more folks to steal from. Now that sounds fun, and why do I love that idea, because I don't have a home on Siege.

As for being one of the "selfish players" please consider that it took years to get the two Keeps we have, plus the large tower, THB, that is a sister tower of the YMCA. And there is the vendor house we have, all by it self, on a island in Malas. None of these places we could ever hope to get again, not without playing for several more years. I really don't want to start over in the game anywhere. I happen to like my "precious pixels".

So if they [EA] said today, everyone that lives on a west coast shard prepare to move to a new shard, there would be alot of folks closing accounts before moving to a new shards. We would join the line to leave the game.

 

[Connor_Graham]

Sorry to break this to ya...there are many players of Uo that don't play to get a bigger house, or to get more gold in their bank. They play the game for fun. They kill monsters, not for the loot, but for the "fun". There are people who play the game, to be chased by other players who are intent on killing them...go figure...la

Uh yeah. So? What's your point? Last time I checked, those were all pixels and all required pixels to achieve.

Which still doesn't change the fact that your idea is terrible and would do nothing but make people quit the game in large numbers.

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

The how is the easy part and many ways to solve this issue were discussed in the first year UO went live.

The why is the thorn = Account Transfer Tokens = Real Life Currency.

Some might be myopic and say that doesn't resolve anything, well it does if everyone agrees on a Shard being the Designated Populated Shard.

I nominate Baja.

 

[Lord Drakelord]

I nominate Baja.

move to a new shard, which means Baja would be gone to, as the only way to be fair to all.

Of course if EA was to do this to the west coast shards, then the outcry to also do the same to the East coast shards would be very loud. Making everyone start over in UO. God what a nightmare of a dream that would be. To wake up and fine your butt planted on a new shard, pennyless, no skills, no weapons, nothing.

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

And there a few that talk of making tamers on Siege, yet post in threads that they agree with the OP, how about we take Siege and make them all move to Mugen. Just think, more folks to PvP, more folks to steal from. Now that sounds fun, and why do I love that idea, because I don't have a home on Siege.

Yeah, I thought about that, however that really doesn't work, since the two shards are on completely different time zones. (besides I already have a character on Mugen). The suggestion I made didn't favor one shard over another anyway. All shards merged would start over on a new shard. ...la

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

move to a new shard, which means Baja would be gone to, as the only way to be fair to all.

Of course if EA was to do this to the west coast shards, then the outcry to also do the same to the East coast shards would be very loud. Making everyone start over in UO. God what a nightmare of a dream that would be. To wake up and fine your butt planted on a new shard, pennyless, no skills, no weapons, nothing.

My suggestion solved those issues...the only thing players wouldn't have is their homes...la

 

[Flora Green]

I picked Sonoma exactly because it wasn't the over populated shard when I first started playing (8+ years ago). Any time I have the itch to be around a lot of people I simply log in my Atlantic character.

Exactly what I do.

 

[Yalp]

Well, of course there will be a handful of selfish players that wouldn't like this idea instead of looking out for the game, they'd rather hold onto their precious pixels...la

So what is your definition of "the game"? PVP? well that ignores the whole crafter/gardener/role playing/pvm portions. PVM? Well that ignores the whole pvp, crafter/gardening/role playing/event portions. ROLE PLAYING? well that ignores the PVP, PVM, crafting/gardening, event portions.. in other words. the beauty of UO is that it can be all things to all people.

Guess that makes me selfish.. I like my one and only one house. .. I like the effort I've put into deco.. I like the effort I've made to collect items to display in it.. I like it's location.... I like my small shard.. where everyone knows your name.. I like our small community.. where everyone knows who are the hackers and scripters.. I like our small shard.. free of lag.... I like where I am.. If I someday don't like where I am.. no one could force me to stay there.. I would transfer to another shard in a heartbeat.

 

[Surgeries]

Well, of course there will be a handful of selfish players that wouldn't like this idea instead of looking out for the game, they'd rather hold onto their precious pixels...la

Yeah...like the selfish, self righteous, self absorbed thieves and thugs on Siege that only want THEIR interests maintained, by allowing no transfers in or out, and only one character per account, and no insurance, and no blessed items?

Like that, you mean?

Like that kind of selfish? Like that kind of "Pixel Protection"?

Yeah...we get it, Rico.

We get it, all too well.

How transparent can one Moderator be?

I guess we weill find out...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...la...

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

So what is your definition of "the game"? PVP?

Nothing like starting off with a false premise to begin your post...la

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

Yeah...like the selfish, self righteous, self absorbed thieves and thugs on Siege that only want THEIR interests maintained, by allowing no transfers in or out, and only one character per account, and no insurance, and no blessed items?

My interests are for the shard, and keeping it's integrity. Not becoming another production shard. Is that selfish? Not at all, but nice try...la

 

[Yalp]

Nothing like starting off with a false premise to begin your post...la

I'm just wondering what your idea of "protecting the game" looks like... since you think selfish players (ie. anyone that wants to keep their house where it is on the shard they have chosen to play) are not looking out for it. We need as a building block a definition of what "IT" is... in order to discuss our positions from.

Well, of course there will be a handful of selfish players that wouldn't like this idea instead of looking out for the game, they'd rather hold onto their precious pixels...la​

for instance.. i wouldn't call it protecting the game to create significant and unrelenting lag on a regional shard... I'd consider that damaging to "The Game". No matter what your definition of the game might be.

 

[Rainforest]

My interests are for the shard, and keeping it's integrity.

Exactly like you said, your interests are for the shard --- but may not be for the game as a whole. When ppl lose their home, ppl leave. I would rather ask for a retail box of SA and proper uo marketing instead of merging the shards. Shard merger is the easy way out but it's a passive move in long run. Sorry to say but I think what u really care is the enjoyment of your game play rather than uo's long term plan.

P/S: I have 2 houses and i am so damn lazy that i never deco it, so losing houses/deco is none of my concern.