Is UO still popular?

[CodyK46]

The Origin shards of-course. I played this game from 2000-2003. Played it off and on since then. Last I've heard Kingdom Reborn wasn't that great and some of the players left.

 

[CodyK46]

I mean, what is the population like?

 

[Basara]

BTW, technically, the "Origins shards" were always the "EA shards", because Origin was a division of EA before UO was even developed. The Origin division has been defunct for 3 years, and the Mythic division of EA (Dark Age of Camelot, Warhammer: Age of Reckoning) is currently in charge (and, in fact, saved UO from being cancelled, by taking it over, according to the head of Mythic). One of the odd items that occurred shortly after you left was the creation of the "Origin" shard, to be a live shard that guinea pigs the stuff coming off test center first (rather than spreading the pain by rotating through the live shards). At first, I thought you were talking about it.

Populations are a bit down across the board, at least for the non-Oriental shards. However, there is hope that things will improve, with the events going on. One also has to consider a lot of people moved to Origin because of the novelty of Origin as originally created, and transferred back to their home shard when the newness wore off (not to mention realizing that being the "live test shard" meant occasionally losing stuff).

Kingdom Reborn got released when it should have still been in closed Alpha, due to hard commitments EA Japan made to retailers (In Japan, it was a box set release, not a free download like it was for everyone else). Needless to say, the US staff were not happy campers, because they were the ones that got the blame for the Japanese doing something stupid to "save face" and not break an unrealistic commitment for "product will be out before July 2007).

It's a LOT better now than it was (especially with a good "skin" that adds a few more features that didn't make it into the released version - the enhanced "bitter black" is good), but it still feels a bit like a beta product - especially since you have to go into the game options and set it to legacy chat and legacy keybindings, to be able to type as in UO (on the other hand, if you've grown accustomed over the last 5 years to other games where you "hit enter (before typing) to talk", you might like the default). KR/SA actually is a modified version of Gamebryo (which is used by at least 40 other games, including the other Mythic MMOs), altered to give the same viewing angle as 2D (which is still available, and unlike original plans, will be compatible with Stygian Abyss). This means it is much easier to program for, and in-game systems developed for other games can be modified for use in UO by the Devs - not to mention the player created skins/mod packages.

Now that Stygian Abyss is back on the schedule, and it is using a finished version of the KR client (the SA client) AND 2D (and the SA client will default to the 2D art for a lot of things), there will probably be at least a temporary upswing in players over the next few months, that might even become permanent.

 

[CodyK46]

BTW, technically, the "Origins shards" were always the "EA shards", because Origin was a division of EA before UO was even developed. The Origin division has been defunct for 3 years, and the Mythic division of EA (Dark Age of Camelot, Warhammer: Age of Reckoning) is currently in charge (and, in fact, saved UO from being cancelled, by taking it over, according to the head of Mythic). One of the odd items that occurred shortly after you left was the creation of the "Origin" shard, to be a live shard that guinea pigs the stuff coming off test center first (rather than spreading the pain by rotating through the live shards). At first, I thought you were talking about it.

Populations are a bit down across the board, at least for the non-Oriental shards. However, there is hope that things will improve, with the events going on. One also has to consider a lot of people moved to Origin because of the novelty of Origin as originally created, and transferred back to their home shard when the newness wore off (not to mention realizing that being the "live test shard" meant occasionally losing stuff).

Kingdom Reborn got released when it should have still been in closed Alpha, due to hard commitments EA Japan made to retailers (In Japan, it was a box set release, not a free download like it was for everyone else).

It's a LOT better now than it was (especially with a good "skin" that adds a few more features that didn't make it into the released version), but it still feels a bit like a beta product.

Now that Stygian Abyss is back on the schedule, and it is using a finished version of the KR client (the SA client) AND 2D (and the SA client will default to the 2D art for a lot of things), there will probably be at least a temporary upswing in players over the next few months, that might even become permanent.

Yeah, the pay servers is what I ment. Not the free-shard servers. But I would love to come back to Ultima Online.

 

[Basara]

IF you do come back (note the additional edits I was making when you replied), feel free to ask questions here - especially if you end up playing a crafter.

There have been some massive changes to the crafting systems (colored woods, and changes to how one acquires BODs and the frequency of the BODs, for the Smith & tailor) in the last 3 years, that are discussed in the Craftsman forum (whch I also moderate). Even the BOD rewards themselves were streamlined in late 2003 (publish 19 or 20?).

Two new combat related "casting-type" skills were added in Samurai Empire, and if you like PvM, there have been things introduced like paragons & peerless.

For PvP, various changes have probably made any existing characters you have in need of serious rework - but the addition of soulstones means you can rearrange them between characters on the same account.

I can't really speak on the play of the Bard or Tamer templates, but I'm sure others here can.

 

[Frarc]

After more then 10 years i'm stil liking UO.

Lots of changes have been done and more are coming. Pub 56 that going to be released this week is another big one. (Big event, lots of Halloween stuff and fixes). I'm looking forward to SA and will see what the future brings.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

[...]
Now that Stygian Abyss is back on the schedule, and it is using a finished version of the KR client (the SA client) AND 2D (and the SA client will default to the 2D art for a lot of things), there will probably be at least a temporary upswing in players over the next few months, that might even become permanent.

Thanks, Basra, for this comprehensive digest!
We all hope your forecast will come true.

Population (or player activity) has been dwindling during the past weeks. I still enjoy UO a lot, but communities are having a hard time these days. I, too, am optimistic that things will change again in the near future.

 

[Storm]

After more then 10 years i'm stil liking UO.

Lots of changes have been done and more are coming. Pub 56 that going to be released this week is another big one. (Big event, lots of Halloween stuff and fixes). I'm looking forward to SA and will see what the future brings.

Ditto