What has happened to UO?

[Mygel]

I have been away from UO since 2003, when I last had access to a fast internet connection. I have however kept my account suspended, just to get in at times when I had access to some good internet connection. However, when I logged in in March this year I noticed that a lot seem to have changed in terms of the activity in the game. I used (and still do when I can) play on the Lake Superior shard, and when I went to Brit bank as I logged on I noticed few people around and those who were there spoke Chines/Japanese.

As I started to move around I noticed that there was almost no one around. Went to Shame, which used to be a busy place for new players and gold farmers alike, and found myself having the whole 1st level for myself - on prime time!

I checked Tradespot.net where the posts used to come in so fast that if you did not have a creative headline, you might lose out on potential buyers. I only found a few posts for the last month.

I have read some of the posts in here and it seem to appear that a lot of players have left the game. But I do not understand why that is. Is there any other game that can offer a similar gaming experience as UO? What I have seen of WoW it is not at all the same, with the linear gameplay and 3D, first-person view, which I and many others who I used to play with despised. UO was special in the number of options available and the great overview that the 2d view offered.

Recently I started to think of returning back. My inspiration came as I read "Play Money", describing the UO economy. In the book, the price for UO gold was put as I remember it, aroun 15 - 20 USD per 1 million. But when I looked at UOtreasures I found that 2 million GP now went for 3,something USD!

Is it possible for someone to narrate for me what has happened to my favourite game over the 5 years that I have been gone?? How is it possible that it has died off as much as it has? It can not be WoW and the other level/3d styled games. UO players were never appealed towards those kind of games anyway. Is there anyone interested in narrating the history of what went wrong to me?

 

[Ender]

The economy has been taken over by dupers and scripters, cheaters rule on the Fel side, you have to be a tamer or a dexer with lots of necro items to play in high-end PvM.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Welcome back.

LS is actually pretty vibrant at the moment.

UO is off-peak, and will likely never recover its peak.

Prices are all over the place, which I personally don't mind.

I don't see the point in judging the in-game economy by how much in-game stuff sells for RL money.

*shrugs*

-Galen's player

 

[Phoenix]

Well for starters this is just only an example of there train of thought nuke mages ev's and report the purpose of such action as causing to much lag, Then add in firespells lets say spellweaving that adds twice as much lag, Really if you want to enjoy real uo you would need A pre pu 14 shard, After all were going on 54 changes to the original.

 

[MoonglowMerchant]

I have been away from UO since 2003, when I last had access to a fast internet connection. I have however kept my account suspended, just to get in at times when I had access to some good internet connection. However, when I logged in in March this year I noticed that a lot seem to have changed in terms of the activity in the game. I used (and still do when I can) play on the Lake Superior shard, and when I went to Brit bank as I logged on I noticed few people around and those who were there spoke Chines/Japanese.

As I started to move around I noticed that there was almost no one around. Went to Shame, which used to be a busy place for new players and gold farmers alike, and found myself having the whole 1st level for myself - on prime time!

I checked Tradespot.net where the posts used to come in so fast that if you did not have a creative headline, you might lose out on potential buyers. I only found a few posts for the last month.

I have read some of the posts in here and it seem to appear that a lot of players have left the game. But I do not understand why that is. Is there any other game that can offer a similar gaming experience as UO? What I have seen of WoW it is not at all the same, with the linear gameplay and 3D, first-person view, which I and many others who I used to play with despised. UO was special in the number of options available and the great overview that the 2d view offered.

Recently I started to think of returning back. My inspiration came as I read "Play Money", describing the UO economy. In the book, the price for UO gold was put as I remember it, aroun 15 - 20 USD per 1 million. But when I looked at UOtreasures I found that 2 million GP now went for 3,something USD!

Is it possible for someone to narrate for me what has happened to my favourite game over the 5 years that I have been gone?? How is it possible that it has died off as much as it has? It can not be WoW and the other level/3d styled games. UO players were never appealed towards those kind of games anyway. Is there anyone interested in narrating the history of what went wrong to me?

UO has been run for years now by a succession of development teams who at the behest of EA found ways to make money rather than ways to improve the game.

 

[love2winalot]

Hail: IMHOP, here is what I think. "the whole world stops to listen"......

It is a 10+ year old game. I don't care what you have, how long can you play the same game? Thus a lot of vets left.

Hackers/scripters/cheaters/ galore. People quit all the time because of this. There is no cure all to fix this, and it seems no one is trying to anyway.

Most players are Maxed out. Go look at most areas andd a lot of players do not even bother picking up the gold anymore. Newer players have no chance of getting anything high level in the game, and thus quit after a while.

Bring on UO-2 already..................

 

[Mygel]

I do not really care about the game-economy, as I play the game for fun and not, as in "Play money", to earn RL cash. But still, one part of the game when I played it was to try to accumulate money and "climb" the ladder in terms of houses and other stuff. I guess my hard earned (took me some years of playing) 20 mill or so stowed away in the bank is quite useless now then. I also guess there is no longer any chance of meeting random and/or new players ready to take on a dungeon a night or so.

My old guild, 8*Virtues, seem to have dissolved as well. Apparently most of them moved to a private shard.

I guess many things that I liked by UO has gone and I therefore need to think if I should go back full time again. I saw that a new game, Darkfall, similar to UO is being developed. However, that would include the horride 3d graphic and no housing

 

[Joyous2K]

Depending when that book was written... $15-20 was the old days. It's easier to get gold now and the fact that there is real money to be made from scripting gold farm jobs, the price of it went down.

Last year and half for me in UO world has been massive propaganda for KR, mass exodus of dev team followed by move across the country, "new" events that introduce a wide variety of, probably, long-lasting bugs with no lasting content.

But... Dert, dats my you oh!

Also I have lived my whole life on Lake Superior and never met a Chines/Japanese player.

 

[galefan2004]

How is it possible that it has died off as much as it has?

It is an older game its got a dwindeling population. They have made a lot of stupid changes that managed to upset everyone off in the name of stopping scripters.

It can not be WoW and the other level/3d styled games. UO players were never appealed towards those kind of games anyway.

The old 3d level grind games were never as polished as WoW is. WoW is actually a damn good game. Once you get used to it, it is easy to get sucked into it. It doesn't offer as many play styles as UO (really needs housing), but the play that it does offer is much better than what UO has, so if that is the type of play you are into then you will probably enjoy WoW.

Is there anyone interested in narrating the history of what went wrong to me?

Dupers, scripters, cheaters, griefers, and developers.

They tried to listen to everyone and fix everything, and in the end everything ended up broken.

 

[galefan2004]

I guess many things that I liked by UO has gone and I therefore need to think if I should go back full time again. I saw that a new game, Darkfall, similar to UO is being developed. However, that would include the horride 3d graphic and no housing

Darkfall has housing (it is even customizable). 3D games are the rage now. They take some getting used to, but once you get used to them they actually look pretty good.

 

[Mygel]

I have played 3d games many times and still do. Nothing really against it, as many games are good with it. But not UO, which is so beautifully made in 2d. I like the overview it gives when I play.

Then I can't play WoW for the reason that I don't find particular interest in games built on levels in general. Neither as multiplayer games or single player games. Being a stretgy game freaky, liking hexagon based games with as simple graphic but high complexity, I feel these kind of games are way to much Nintendo style.

But I will give Darkfall a shot when it finally comes out. Just wished they could give a 2d view at least as an option

 

[Tjalle]

Come back, get settled on a shard, find a guild to play with. Give it a try and later on you can decide if you want to continue playing or not...

As for your 20 mil, that´s twice as much as I have and I´ve been playing for 3 years now...
You don´t need 100 M+ to enjoy the game...

 

[Ender]

Darkfall is vaporware, will probably never be released as much as I am looking forward to it.

 

[Maximus Neximus]

Darkfall is vaporware, will probably never be released as much as I am looking forward to it.

According to Darkfall Devs: "There were also many questions on the public beta and release dates. To this I can say now, that during a planning meeting we determined that our launch date will be inside 2008, with the public beta preceding it by a few weeks. This is official and internally we're a lot more specific, but pending an announcement, we cannot say more at this time."

I remember reading that they were looking at a 4th quarter release but I can't find that quote anywhere.

 

[Ender]

According to Darkfall Devs: "There were also many questions on the public beta and release dates. To this I can say now, that during a planning meeting we determined that our launch date will be inside 2008, with the public beta preceding it by a few weeks. This is official and internally we're a lot more specific, but pending an announcement, we cannot say more at this time."

I remember reading that they were looking at a 4th quarter release but I can't find that quote anywhere.

That sounds to me like they're hoping to get it out by the end of 2008, not that it will for certain be released in 2008. And delays do happen...

 

[Scratch]

uo is item based now
hackers cheaters dupers and lil teeny boppers with egos run the game
content is the same boring crap

mages all stack dci to not get hit by dexxers
necro mages rule with their high damage low cost fast casting spells
resist spells is useless
enhance potions makes reg pots like greater pots thus shortening the timers on them
archers with double strike bows have hit lightning and velocity on balanced bows so they can chug while shooting you for 60+ points an arrow every 1.5 secs
fenchers (fencer/archers) disarm you and shoot you repeatedly with with moving shots for 25+ damage an arrow while chasing you and chugging pots

vets left
fel players buy duped gold for cheap to buy the items to make them unstoppable
and hard to kill
ea consistently creates new eye candy for trammies while overlooking the fixes that pvp needs

dont come back
its not worth the time
unless, like me, you enjoy the people youve known for years

the game is at an all time bad state of play
the end is near

 

[kennykilleduo]

UO has been run for years now by a succession of development teams who at the behest of EA found ways to make money rather than ways to improve the game.

Makes you wonder if thats all UO is now a profitable training ground for future devs of EA , think about our dev cycles over the years , almost like a college degree path..

 

[Basara]

Don't listen to people like Scratch....

Most of them haven't played in years and only troll the forums when bored with their new game of the month - or consider PvP the only game style in UO, and try to scare off anyone that might dare pose a threat to that sick mentality.

Britain bank hasn't been the center of game activity in almost 4 years. Check Luna.

The only thing broken about the majority of UO is the record of the UO-bashers constantly rehashing things that aren't real issues, as straw man arguments.

 

[Azureal]

Don't listen to people like Scratch....

Most of them haven't played in years and only troll the forums when bored with their new game of the month - or consider PvP the only game style in UO, and try to scare off anyone that might dare pose a threat to that sick mentality.

Britain bank hasn't been the center of game activity in almost 4 years. Check Luna.

The only thing broken about the majority of UO is the record of the UO-bashers constantly rehashing things that aren't real issues, as straw man arguments.

+1

Yeah, its not all bad. Unless youre on Oceania. During peak theres maybe 20 people at Luna.

Le sigh.

 

[Eslake]

What happened? The "stay forever" veterans are finally considering this the end of forever.

The bulk of those who have stuck around for the long haul are those who felt like they put in the time and had something to show for it, or a place in their shard's community.

But now a character can punch in a code and skip all of the effort you ever put in and have the same abilities you do (minus a few points on skill/stat caps). Used to be the veteran mounts were a plus - but now you can buy a charger for $. So there is no pride or recognition for the hundreds/thousands of hours you worked getting where the new guy gets in their first week of play.

That leaves the social aspects/feeling a part of the community. But as more leave, there is less of that community. And if you do something valuable for those who are there, chances are it can be done via script and you'll be obsoleted. (resource gatherers, crafters)


So... Old players leaving. And the game off-shelf for how many years now? = no new players in significant numbers.


I've always laughed at those Doomsayers (EQ will kill UO!!, DAoC will kill UO!! and so on). But now I am seeing the actual death of the game. It is a slow death but a death none the less. If what I've been able to determine regarding the account base is even remotely accurate, I suspect a reduction to fewer than 15 servers within the next 18 months.
Which will of course cost many more players... and result in a followup reduction to maybe 6 servers within a year after that - and they will be so underpopulated every account can have an 18x18 with no neighbors.

-- feel free to tuck this prediction away and call me on it if I'm wrong. But be willing to admit I was right when I am. --

 

[Hanna]

Dupers, gold farmer bots, hacks that's part of it. But most of the people they lost were PVMers, because they screwed up all the monsters, starting with adding necro to alot of spell casters which is extremely over powered at the speed monsters cast and they can stack spells.

Then they helped distroy reason to PVM, like dumping tons of UBER items in the game when ML started. Throw in the over spawn rate of minor arties, not a whole lot to bother with it for.

Then the dumped a ton of major arties on everyone, so the PVPers could basicly all have the same level of gear.

Then they decided to screw the crafters, by making resource gather completely random, now mostly only scripters mine, because it is such a futile effort for the casual player.

Then the made it so BOS would only send 10 stones, with that they pretty much have taken almost all reasons to PVM away.

So now they have the turn in to get rid of the of the massive amount of stuff the threw at us, and then they add ways to get more tickets to try to get people to PVM at least temporaily.

By the way gold is selling for less than $1 per million, because people are cheap and they will always support the lower priced dupers, and gold farmer bots.

 

[Barrakketh]

Don't listen to people like Scratch....

Most of them haven't played in years and only troll the forums when bored with their new game of the month - or consider PvP the only game style in UO, and try to scare off anyone that might dare pose a threat to that sick mentality.

Britain bank hasn't been the center of game activity in almost 4 years. Check Luna.

The only thing broken about the majority of UO is the record of the UO-bashers constantly rehashing things that aren't real issues, as straw man arguments.

Actually Scratch is right and prolly unlike Basara has no reason to sugar coat the truth.
I have been playing UO for the last month after taking a long break from the game , here's my assessment of UO on Atlantic.

Like others have said the cheaters rule , duping , scripting , speed hacks makes playing UO pointless. The economy has skyrocketed out of sight eventhough very few people play , prices have gone exponential , the only way a new player could hope to play UO is to go to the gold websites and buy gold from the dupers , scripter's , and hackers.

So there's UO , the content is poor to awful , hackers sell gold to new players , new players use hacks or don't use hacks and quit , players that don't use hacks decide its pointless to play. Some vets hang around hoping in the face of all the bad stuff that UO will be turned around other vets such as myself are giving up on UO banking as much stuff as possible and canceling our subscription.

IMO UO is like a bad highway wreck in process a few people are hanging around to see how badly it ends others are moving on knowing in the end there's no point in watching as it will not be pretty.

 

[Sneaky]

The economy has been taken over by dupers and scripters, cheaters rule on the Fel side, you have to be a tamer or a dexer with lots of necro items to play in high-end PvM.

Wow, completely wrong about the needing to be a tamer/vamp dexer to be able to PvM, in fact its probably one of the silliest statements I seen in awhile...

And dupers and scripters have impacted the economy no doubt at all, but 'taken over' would be going a bit far IMO...

As for your dealings with 'cheaters ruling on the fel side' I dunno, but I know on my shard at least this is not the case.

 

[Sneaky]

IMO UO is like a bad highway wreck in process a few people are hanging around to see how badly it ends others are moving on knowing in the end there's no point in watching as it will not be pretty.

I hope you remember this statement in a year or so, look back, and I bet you UO will still be here. In fact UO will be in a MUCH stronger in position in a years time than it is now, because by that time SA will be released which is really what UO needs right now (its been way to long since ML).

People were saying almost the same things you were back 10 years ago, so you might be 'hanging around to see how badly it ends' for awhile longer...

 

[Azureal]

Actually Scratch is right and prolly unlike Basara has no reason to sugar coat the truth.

Why would Basara sugarcoat the truth? Oh...because hes a volunteer mod working for a forum that isnt affiliated with EA?

Nice try.

One guy obviously dislikes the game, and says it the way he feels, the other guy loves the games, and responds. You pick which is which.

 

[Barrakketh]

Why would Basara sugarcoat the truth? Oh...because hes a volunteer mod working for a forum that isnt affiliated with EA?

Nice try.

One guy obviously dislikes the game, and says it the way he feels, the other guy loves the games, and responds. You pick which is which.

Dont pay any attention to Az , hes got no life and spends more time working on his msg board post count than actually playing this game. If Az actually spent time playing UO these days he would be posting more about Darkfall and saying good by to UO too.

 

[Barrakketh]

I hope you remember this statement in a year or so, look back, and I bet you UO will still be here. In fact UO will be in a MUCH stronger in position in a years time than it is now, because by that time SA will be released which is really what UO needs right now (its been way to long since ML).

People were saying almost the same things you were back 10 years ago, so you might be 'hanging around to see how badly it ends' for awhile longer...

Nope while you guys have been spewing your propaganda to the unaware players I've been gating and vendoring all my uo junk , I'll have it all down to bank chest for each of my characters soon and then I'll transfer my house to a guild member who wants to upgrade.

 

[Azureal]

Dont pay any attention to Az , hes got no life and spends more time working on his msg board post count than actually playing this game. If Az actually spent time playing UO these days he would be posting more about Darkfall and saying good by to UO too.

Hahahaha, as soon as you mentioned Darkfall things became a lot clearer. Another DF fanboi beating his chest about the great Vaporware project and having a **** and moan about UO.

This sealed it for me though...

I'll have it all down to bank chest for each of my characters

Be a man and delete all your characters. Why put stuff in the bank if you never plan to play UO again?

Epic Fail.

 

[Barrakketh]

Hahahaha, as soon as you mentioned Darkfall things became a lot clearer. Another DF fanboi beating his chest about the great Vaporware project and having a **** and moan about UO.

This sealed it for me though...

First -When I cancel I'll be turning over my account to our guild leader so guild members can use it if they want to or not.

Second - Actually I had never heard of Darkfall before I looked at your past replies Az. Typical board spammers like you Az rarely start any new threads that would require to much thought , spamming one liner replies with quotes is all that is needed to up post count.

So here Az is your reply to a thread on " Most anticipated MMO"

Originally posted by Azureal
Darkfall for me too, and whilst Im not normally a negative guy, I dont like our hopes of this ever seeing the light of day. I'll keep on hoping though.

http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?t=532

You should keep that "epic fail" in your sig it suits you Az.

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

I guess many things that I liked by UO has gone and I therefore need to think if I should go back full time again. I saw that a new game, Darkfall, similar to UO is being developed. However, that would include the horride 3d graphic and no housing

Darkfall has housing (it is even customizable). 3D games are the rage now. They take some getting used to, but once you get used to them they actually look pretty good.

Darkfall is vaporware...la

 

[AirmidCecht]

Hello Mygel *grins*

I think it would be easier to sum up your questions with your own experiences. People leave, sometimes due to personal reasons or boredom or finances. You took a hiatus and decided to come back. We see this almost weekly anymore and while you are testing the UO waters again, others are in the position you were when you first left.

For me, the longevity in UO is the uniqueness it offers to players that draws some back because other games, while great and new, lack something. Put your finger on it yet? I found it was community and freedom to do what you want when you want. This is like that old pair of shoes you just can't throw away because although worn and tired from one too many walks with the lawnmower, its an easy fit when you want to feel at home. Are our shoes in need of repair and some new laces now and then? You betcha, we have some great elves who work tirelessly sometimes while we sleep so we can open up our closet doors and find that miraculously we can wear our shoes at least one more day.

We will never again draw the same numbers of WoW or whatever else is new and shiny and I'm ok with that. Those that stay and form communities and friendships beyond mass chat talks and like to interact with each other on a more personal level it seems are ok with that too. Those that want to enjoy their gaming experience on a different "level?" We should all do only what we enjoy and pay for. I'm a consumer first, always.

When players like yourself come back, even if for a short while, you are always welcome by those of us sitting here and we are more than happy to update you on any changes along the way. I hope your time with us is a long one and you get involved with the community, beyond the bank! LS has some great people but so do all shards. UO is and always will be a gold standard for what gaming should be, even if it doesn't always live up to it's own standards at times. So again, welcome back and I hope to meet you in game.

Hugs,
Air

 

[Gidge]

You had to of been that guy on the bank roof saying the place was like a ghost town. i was the person who had just recalled in and said... OOooOoOoo to you.

i like many others don't have time to sit at the bank, we dedicated people are actually out playing, ganing skills the old fashion way, enjoying the company of guildmates. *thinks*
and stopping at the bank to drop off gold and gather more bandages and arrows!

Use the 20 million to upgrade your armour and get into action!

check out the new templates, a few new since 93 i'd think! Surely more new pets! Don't think twice about what your missing, think about what they are missing! those that wish to not play.

3 day weekend!?? Yay!


*turns her eyse to the tv* fireworks are just as pretty on tv.

 

[the 4th man]

Hail: IMHOP, here is what I think. "the whole world stops to listen"......

It is a 10+ year old game. I don't care what you have, how long can you play the same game? Thus a lot of vets left.

Hackers/scripters/cheaters/ galore. People quit all the time because of this. There is no cure all to fix this, and it seems no one is trying to anyway.

Most players are Maxed out. Go look at most areas andd a lot of players do not even bother picking up the gold anymore. Newer players have no chance of getting anything high level in the game, and thus quit after a while.

Bring on UO-2 already..................

Well, gold is being left, because alot of players are lazy....they don't earn it, they support scripters and buy it.

If I offend anyone who legitimately sells gold, I'm sorry, and get over it....they're just words.

 

[Nosuperiors_Damnfewequals]

Darkfall is Vaporware, and as such cannot hurt UO.

EA's management is killing UO, like a slow growing cancer.