I'm with Connor... this over-glorification of the Olden Days of Yore is laughable to those of us with a very detailed memory of it, because we haven't conveniently forgotten all the bad things of that time.
I remember all the bugs and exploits. I remember when houses didn't have keys, and then when they did, when they were useless because of an exploit that let people res in the doors and walk right in. I remember when runes were consumed on use. I remember when any half-arsed blue could PK you in a fire field and take no punishment. I remember when nothing stacked - not even regs and bandies. I remember when standing in a city bank was a free-for-all for freshly-rolled thieves. I remember when most of the skills did nothing useful at all, and many didn't exist at all, so I remember when everyone had the same template. I remember when skills had no locks, and any jerk could run through Britain banging on a drum to get everyone's music to raise and their real skills to fall, unless you refreshed your best ones EVERY time you crossed a zone line. I remember when the land was very small, when it was overcrowded, when it was dominated by the people who found the exploits first. I remember trying to play a bard, and having anything I'd provoke turn on other people, flagging me grey, and getting me noto-pk'd unless my guild babysat me. I remember 20 on 1 gankfests. Those guild wars you mention? Yeah I remember those... maybe a dozen that actually went down as awesome. The rest was just random ganking of noobs, which caused a lot of potential friends and UOers to just leave the game in frustration, trapped in a sandbox that let powerful gankers keep all the toys. I remember a game full of wolves preying on sheep, telling the sheep they should enjoy the "adrenaline-rush" of constantly being killed and robbed.
I can't say old school UO wasn't fun. But I also won't pretend it was better. About the only thing that really worked better then, was the economy. PvP was just as broken then as it is now - they have never found a good solution that properly balances risk, punishment, and reward, and frankly there's too much cowardice at EA to ever do so.
I remember all the bugs and exploits. I remember when houses didn't have keys, and then when they did, when they were useless because of an exploit that let people res in the doors and walk right in. I remember when runes were consumed on use. I remember when any half-arsed blue could PK you in a fire field and take no punishment. I remember when nothing stacked - not even regs and bandies. I remember when standing in a city bank was a free-for-all for freshly-rolled thieves. I remember when most of the skills did nothing useful at all, and many didn't exist at all, so I remember when everyone had the same template. I remember when skills had no locks, and any jerk could run through Britain banging on a drum to get everyone's music to raise and their real skills to fall, unless you refreshed your best ones EVERY time you crossed a zone line. I remember when the land was very small, when it was overcrowded, when it was dominated by the people who found the exploits first. I remember trying to play a bard, and having anything I'd provoke turn on other people, flagging me grey, and getting me noto-pk'd unless my guild babysat me. I remember 20 on 1 gankfests. Those guild wars you mention? Yeah I remember those... maybe a dozen that actually went down as awesome. The rest was just random ganking of noobs, which caused a lot of potential friends and UOers to just leave the game in frustration, trapped in a sandbox that let powerful gankers keep all the toys. I remember a game full of wolves preying on sheep, telling the sheep they should enjoy the "adrenaline-rush" of constantly being killed and robbed.
I can't say old school UO wasn't fun. But I also won't pretend it was better. About the only thing that really worked better then, was the economy. PvP was just as broken then as it is now - they have never found a good solution that properly balances risk, punishment, and reward, and frankly there's too much cowardice at EA to ever do so.
