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UO is a Sunk Ship
- Thread starter JC the Builder
- Start date
- Watchers 20
- Status
UO might be leakie and need of a infusion of players but nothing that cant be fixed with a little TLC. The big problem is people leaving for this reason... the doom and gloom. I had this from one lady who I played with for years. She would get dispondent over the game's headding and cry out its gunna die! Well, she did this for 9 years!!! UO kept going. UO is still going even now her accounts are active and I run around on them all the time! But sadly she left for greener pastures she hoped.... from what I hear those greener pastures dont exsist. (she just told me she is on her 12th game sence leaving UO)
UO goes down you can only blame yourself, think about it... With the paying input of money the EA Board would see a 15 year old game still worht giving a frack about. You see, THEY see only the bottom line... If each one of us thought about it and the $$ was still in the game I seriously dont think UO would be so leakie.
Grim has pointed out one thing we all should take to heart. I am not going anywhere, HE isnt ether. We dont see the gloom only the rays of sun that are the Dev and Players of UO.
Come on 14.13$ is too much to keep your favorite game up and running??
Thats what... 2 starbucks cups of coffee! 2 packs of smokes.... 1 movie ticket...
For shame on those who read Stratics on UO and dont keep at least one account open and running... IT's you who run away when the fight gets tough? Show EA we care about the game. I know it sounds weird but $$ runs the world.... i just speak the truth.
I LOVE ULTIMA ONLINE ! LUV LUV LUV IT<
Speaking for myself ,I have and will always promote UO and help new players. I have had more than a few players come looking for me for help on returning,cause they know this . I have given much away over the course of the past 14 years.
I have been here since close of beta and I will be here for the final day of UO, helping and enjoying people and the game. UO can evolve daily for you with a little imagination. That has always been it's strength.
Wrong,wrong and wrong again.
1. The only people saying that are those leaving or gone with you.
2. I love and use UO Guide and send all newbies to that site whenever I can. I have Also chosen much of the info there to put into many how to books in Luna Library Catskills and The Stygian Library Catskills.
3. Videos unless instructional are not for me I like to play not watch. It seems to me you can't find anything to hang your hat on anymore ,so UO is dying .
Well do you want a challenge while it is still here ? PM me and I have one for you .
Why not try turning your post into something positive and promoting :
Put your writing talents to work people .Try convincing Mythic to invest in it's player base instead of trying to get others to jump ship with you. Posts like this are just meant to influence people into looking to quit also. Just because you are bored ,don't pass the virus on. Leave quietly.
I will be here till the space I call up daily is "sorry website not found!.
A big problem for a lot a potential new players is likely the horrendous learning curve with no formal UO Guide to get people up to speed on playing this game.
UO is not the typical game out there that guides you by a ring in your nose from creating your set-skilled character to quest 1 with monster set 1, then on to quest 2 with it's monster set, and so on and so on, giving you a set skill boost as you dociley get lead along through the game. UO is a sandbox with a *lot* you can do and lets you vary your characters skills as you go along. It takes knowledge that isn't provided and has to be learned. It takes thinking to plan what you want to do. The game lets you do, or at least attempt to do anything you want to. There is something fun to do in UO no matter what mood your in or how your day has gone. It's not locked solidly into the usual rut of mashing certain monsters in a certain place until your XP count gets high enough you qualify for the next rut in the path of ruts like most games.
To the OP.
Roll up a character and dump the beginning skill points you get into skills you have no intention of using, and then to out and start hunting, logging, or whatever interests you, and re-explore the game world. To many seem to feel the game is only fun if you have maxed skills and super-dooper-uber equipment. Try the game as it was created to be, start by getting your rump kicked by mongbats and work your skills up by actually playing the game, no skill training macros while sitting around. Go out and take your lumps and explore the world from the beginning RG built into the game for a reason. There is a lot of fun in this game if you play it as it was meant to be played.
UO is not the typical game out there that guides you by a ring in your nose from creating your set-skilled character to quest 1 with monster set 1, then on to quest 2 with it's monster set, and so on and so on, giving you a set skill boost as you dociley get lead along through the game. UO is a sandbox with a *lot* you can do and lets you vary your characters skills as you go along. It takes knowledge that isn't provided and has to be learned. It takes thinking to plan what you want to do. The game lets you do, or at least attempt to do anything you want to. There is something fun to do in UO no matter what mood your in or how your day has gone. It's not locked solidly into the usual rut of mashing certain monsters in a certain place until your XP count gets high enough you qualify for the next rut in the path of ruts like most games.
To the OP.
Roll up a character and dump the beginning skill points you get into skills you have no intention of using, and then to out and start hunting, logging, or whatever interests you, and re-explore the game world. To many seem to feel the game is only fun if you have maxed skills and super-dooper-uber equipment. Try the game as it was created to be, start by getting your rump kicked by mongbats and work your skills up by actually playing the game, no skill training macros while sitting around. Go out and take your lumps and explore the world from the beginning RG built into the game for a reason. There is a lot of fun in this game if you play it as it was meant to be played.
I'd argue that any game which has past sale point revenue and upkeep costs is a ship with a hole in it. You just have to adjust the bail rate to keep it afloat. UO has managed to keep afloat for 14 years and is still chugging along. I've invested 14 years and probably more money than I've made this year working on UO, because I still think its worth playing, and worth improving, and I will continue to do it as long as they let me.
After having played, WoW, Eve, WHO, LoTR, Guildwars, Rift, Lineage and a few other titles, UO is the only one thats still in present tense.
After having played, WoW, Eve, WHO, LoTR, Guildwars, Rift, Lineage and a few other titles, UO is the only one thats still in present tense.
W
Woodsman
Guest
The fact that we share one community relations person with three other games is a problem that nobody can ignore.
If they thought more highly of us, we'd have somebody dedicated to talking to players, instead of us getting nothing out of Kai.
If they thought more highly of us, we'd have somebody dedicated to talking to players, instead of us getting nothing out of Kai.
I've been a subscriber to this game for fourteen years. And that's coming to an end because of EA. Playing UO and enjoying UO should not be a "fight." It should be an enjoyable experience.
Talking development is one thing. Hoping for new features is one thing.
Seeing the steady, downhill decline of a game into something that no longer holds anything worth discussing is not a good thing, but it's entirely different.
The current UO Development Team can't even properly develop and bug test SMALL implementations of things and they certainly didn't get in the way when it came to "upgrading" the billing system...
Tell me, oh wise one, just what the hell is left to fight for?
I don't want to give the impression that I think UO is beyond being salvageable (the amount of boat references is getting ridiculous). With the right leadership and development team, it is very possible. But the best person I saw left a couple years ago along with every developer I've had high hopes for. Grimm Omen seems like a great guy and has done wonderful things for UO's art direction, but he is not in the position to right this trainwreck unless he switched professions.
There, I did it. I switched tracks on the metaphors. If only fixing UO would be as easy.
(Also no disrespect to any of the current developers, I'm sure you are all great in your current positions. Mesanna has done lots of nice live events.)
There, I did it. I switched tracks on the metaphors. If only fixing UO would be as easy.
(Also no disrespect to any of the current developers, I'm sure you are all great in your current positions. Mesanna has done lots of nice live events.)
K
K_Sarai
Guest
Well I'm sure it gets old PvP'ing the same players over and over again, at the same bloody moongate night after night. Then the trash talk that ensues in General chat. Used to be if you wanted to chat with someone, you had to go visit them or leave them a message in their Mail Bag (which got scrapped a long, long time ago) on their paperdoll (again, requiring being in the same screen).
Lack of community will kill a multiplayer, community-based game every time. This isn't rocket science.
Lack of community will kill a multiplayer, community-based game every time. This isn't rocket science.
Canary no I dont. I have it right.
If you want to ruin a business talk it down to all who will hear and within weeks its doors will shut down.
Well many here have done the very same thing... oh not that they know they played a part mind you. For every doom and gloom statement written here how many are voicing it in game?? Even if it was true to a point, the influence of word of mouth speaks vollumes.
EA is a very large business with billions in revenue in its coffers a year. UO was its darling money maker once. We still make a decient profet or I assure you we wouldnt have a word in edge wise they would just pull the plug.
SA was not a bad expantion it just didnt go far enough. High Seas is a good x pac but then again it didnt go as far as it should have.
UO may be old and on a even older graphics mode but it is what made people come play it. The ability to have and do almost anything. You cant do that in any other game not even WoW.
Some say:
Pvp is dieing out ... how many times can you beat harry over the head with your hammer?? before he just logs out ....? Bored. Quite simply players get real sick and tired of going to fight and doing the same thing over and over. NO challenge.
Remember the firday night poker games? It was the same deck of cards, the same jokes, the same stack of chips, the same people. Why did it go on for years, and in some cases still does for some people? It is quite simple, friendship. Friends make a game, I could care less about the graphics as long as we have a good time and talk. So George cant play tonight, Fred is here and so is Alfie... lets rumble!!! (names were changed to save face of the inocent) But this is how UO is. NOT was. IS
Your right EA needs to give a little back, but its up to all people who love UO to support the game and that takes the little bit of guts. If your given lemons make lemonade!! It only takes a little sugar.
If you want to ruin a business talk it down to all who will hear and within weeks its doors will shut down.
Well many here have done the very same thing... oh not that they know they played a part mind you. For every doom and gloom statement written here how many are voicing it in game?? Even if it was true to a point, the influence of word of mouth speaks vollumes.
EA is a very large business with billions in revenue in its coffers a year. UO was its darling money maker once. We still make a decient profet or I assure you we wouldnt have a word in edge wise they would just pull the plug.
SA was not a bad expantion it just didnt go far enough. High Seas is a good x pac but then again it didnt go as far as it should have.
UO may be old and on a even older graphics mode but it is what made people come play it. The ability to have and do almost anything. You cant do that in any other game not even WoW.
Some say:
Pvp is dieing out ... how many times can you beat harry over the head with your hammer?? before he just logs out ....? Bored. Quite simply players get real sick and tired of going to fight and doing the same thing over and over. NO challenge.
Remember the firday night poker games? It was the same deck of cards, the same jokes, the same stack of chips, the same people. Why did it go on for years, and in some cases still does for some people? It is quite simple, friendship. Friends make a game, I could care less about the graphics as long as we have a good time and talk. So George cant play tonight, Fred is here and so is Alfie... lets rumble!!! (names were changed to save face of the inocent) But this is how UO is. NOT was. IS
Your right EA needs to give a little back, but its up to all people who love UO to support the game and that takes the little bit of guts. If your given lemons make lemonade!! It only takes a little sugar.
Thata Boy !!! you said it.
Fight for UO, fight for your friends and family who play. Fight for you most of all. I have been here from beta. Yes i have played other games, most are long gone. Many that survive are sooo much ghosts of their former selves.
UO is alive and well. For JC ill use a train metafore.... WE are on a track but the destination is all messed up. Wish my railman uncle was alive he would know a good line.... hehe
We all agree we need help, but pulling out the vital support is not the way to go. I dont know the new head honcho nor his motives. From what Tina posts he thinks we are good to work on. Ok I say give him time. Lets see what he is made of and how he thinks. (he could get on stratics and say hello) Give us some word of hope.... something I can stick under canarys nose and say THERE! see.... Remember he IS a BioWare head... not EA. We might get somewhere once he gets in gear.
/agree
Until UO shows that it can produce a major update again I am in full agreement with JC. It has nothing to do with not liking the game or thinking the game has no future. It has everything to do with what is being shown or given to us.
When an MMO that has a monthly subscription cannot produce a quality expansion it's time to pull the plug. Boosters are what you get for F2P games. Where is my subscription money going?
Until UO shows that it can produce a major update again I am in full agreement with JC. It has nothing to do with not liking the game or thinking the game has no future. It has everything to do with what is being shown or given to us.
When an MMO that has a monthly subscription cannot produce a quality expansion it's time to pull the plug. Boosters are what you get for F2P games. Where is my subscription money going?
Given the age of the codebase, I would expect that any additions and modification require a lot more effort than any modern MMO. Things would tend to break in unexpected ways.
Eh???? No clue how you got that impression from anything I posted.
Anyway, just wanted to say thanks to Logrus for posting. It was a relief to see you posting. I miss seeing responses from you and the other developers/designers in the Ask The Devs section. I also miss things like Sakkarah's blog about being a UO dev. And I am also sad that Cal never was able to pull off the "dev diary" or a blog about playing on Baja with some other members of the team that he mentioned. That is the type of information I would dearly love to read much more often from members of the UO team.
Maybe I can throw a question at you now that you can try? Don't worry...it's an easy one and a fun one!
Whose idea was it to have gargoyles wear kilts?
(A question much inspired by your awesome SA beta kilt!)
Exactly.
People don't need to "fight for uo" by giving them money EACH and every month. The only way TO get a change is to hit a big company like EA where it hurts, the wallet. They couldn't explain why so many subs ended so something would have to be done with customer relations or jobs would fully be in danger. It's not rocket science.
People want a pre aos classic shard even though i'd never play it.
People want a true 3d client
People want to keep the 2d client (like myself because i get physically ill)
People want full expansions.
People want monthly updates.
People want weekly news from someone with a voice and a plan.
People want ADVERTISING to bring in new subs.
Mainly people want answers.
I mean i like EAUO but there's free alternatives from people that DO actually care enough to update and let people know the direction of their game.
I'll say this on the subject.
I grow tired of seeing my friends leave.
I grow tired of the lack of communication.
I'm tired of having to deal with the account management changes... they don't even make things "Better" or more secure...
I'm fed up with things not functioning... I'm very tired of not being able to write in a book in the EC. I wonder all the time if my PM's are even legible to the GM's since it seems to work as poorly as book writing and I KNOW that's not legible.
I'm sad when I look at the outdated graphics... and even more discouraged when they replaced them with even worse art.
It saddens me to see things on my paperdoll that look horrible like the Gargoyles in a robe... it's hideous... and I look at it and know why folk who play games like WoW laugh at UO. I hate to say I see better graphics on things that are Free to Play on my stinking phone...
Why are large shooters better looking than UO?
There is no excuse for it. Really... But how much of the blame is on the players???
It's not like they haven't tried but I agree with horrible engines that are 10 times worse and more buggy than the old 2d.
I love the EC and use it almost exclusively but I'm constantly finding things that are broken... things that have no graphics in the EC... things that don't work... It's darn near impossible to do a transaction with people in the 2d client.... they can't see what I put in the freaking trade window half the time.... it's BS...
Do I try to help the game..... Hell yes..... I'm constantly sending in bug reports... I expect I send things in DAILY.
If I find that I don't like the action on something I take it to the top... sending PM's to the DEV's if I have to...
But it doesn't always help...
I'm tired to hearing from friends why they quit... why they won't come back.... and why the game I love sucks...
I still love UO... But I miss so many things...
I miss finding crafters standing near the forge at Brit... I miss seeing people in towns other than Luna...
I miss large guild battles...
I don't really care much for PvP never did... my love is RP... and I like PvP with PURPOSE.
Ganking isn't fun for either side... I mean really how much fun can it be if you hit a guy maybe once??? Big deal... I like a good fight... I like a fair fight... I like a nice battle that you can't predict the outcome of.
I enjoyed many aspects of RP... from running a town council to gathering up a group to do a dungeon crawl.... or defending our base from invasion by the URKs .... or guarding the High Council meeting... fending off those who would disrupt it...
Going to war against the Temple of Mondain...
These things are all gone...
Repair deeds and 7 character slots have taken away most everyones need to visit or use a crafter... Most everyone has their own 120 crafter... those who don't buy deeds...
Very rarely my services for Imbuing are called for...
With the move to changes in Armor and weapons you don't need anyone else to take down a dragon... Dungeon crawls as a guild or group are almost a thing of the past.... more often than not folk solo everything...
I'm fed up with playing a solo game of item hording... People come to the EM events just to get stuff and sell it... most of them don't care about the events... Those who do are quickly driven away by the horrible behaviors of those who come just for the items. I feel sorry for the EM's who devote hours of their own playtime to put on these events... Those of us who come to try to enjoy them for the content are so disgusted by the deplorable antics of others that we grow contemptuous....
Instead of looking forward to things we begin to loathe them. It's even more irritating when time and time again NOTHING is done about the behavior.
I'll say this it's the RP and community that keeps me playing UO.... it's the housing and customization that UO has that is unique to most all other games that binds me to UO... and the EM events and metafiction are but icing on the cake...
But when they are tainted... when the community is growing so small it's barely breathing... when the events are so full of childish rude and insensitive behavior you wonder if you are playing with adults or kindergarteners.... When your house doesn't work and things don't place right new items stick through the floors and you can see the fire from your brazier 2 floors down showing through your roof... or you come home to find that someone has hacked you and taken all that you own and EA will do nothing to help you.... when you know if you were playing WoW or any number of other games you'd have your things returned to you quickly and without hassle ..... when all these things happen..... you start to question WHY am I still here??? Why do I cling to this dream???
I keep hoping that someday EA will care about it's customers... I keep hoping that someday they will see what a Gem they have with UO and give it the love it deserves... but my dreams and hopes are fading more and more with each passing month that we hear NOTHING...
I can't keep dreaming of a better tomorrow if I have nothing to base dreams on... but a few wisps of news from those like Grimm ...
Grimm you have me hoping that there is hope... can you not convince the rest of the DEV's to let down the walls and open up???
I grow tired of seeing my friends leave.
I grow tired of the lack of communication.
I'm tired of having to deal with the account management changes... they don't even make things "Better" or more secure...
I'm fed up with things not functioning... I'm very tired of not being able to write in a book in the EC. I wonder all the time if my PM's are even legible to the GM's since it seems to work as poorly as book writing and I KNOW that's not legible.
I'm sad when I look at the outdated graphics... and even more discouraged when they replaced them with even worse art.
It saddens me to see things on my paperdoll that look horrible like the Gargoyles in a robe... it's hideous... and I look at it and know why folk who play games like WoW laugh at UO. I hate to say I see better graphics on things that are Free to Play on my stinking phone...
Why are large shooters better looking than UO?
There is no excuse for it. Really... But how much of the blame is on the players???
It's not like they haven't tried but I agree with horrible engines that are 10 times worse and more buggy than the old 2d.
I love the EC and use it almost exclusively but I'm constantly finding things that are broken... things that have no graphics in the EC... things that don't work... It's darn near impossible to do a transaction with people in the 2d client.... they can't see what I put in the freaking trade window half the time.... it's BS...
Do I try to help the game..... Hell yes..... I'm constantly sending in bug reports... I expect I send things in DAILY.
If I find that I don't like the action on something I take it to the top... sending PM's to the DEV's if I have to...
But it doesn't always help...
I'm tired to hearing from friends why they quit... why they won't come back.... and why the game I love sucks...
I still love UO... But I miss so many things...
I miss finding crafters standing near the forge at Brit... I miss seeing people in towns other than Luna...
I miss large guild battles...
I don't really care much for PvP never did... my love is RP... and I like PvP with PURPOSE.
Ganking isn't fun for either side... I mean really how much fun can it be if you hit a guy maybe once??? Big deal... I like a good fight... I like a fair fight... I like a nice battle that you can't predict the outcome of.
I enjoyed many aspects of RP... from running a town council to gathering up a group to do a dungeon crawl.... or defending our base from invasion by the URKs .... or guarding the High Council meeting... fending off those who would disrupt it...
Going to war against the Temple of Mondain...
These things are all gone...
Repair deeds and 7 character slots have taken away most everyones need to visit or use a crafter... Most everyone has their own 120 crafter... those who don't buy deeds...
Very rarely my services for Imbuing are called for...
With the move to changes in Armor and weapons you don't need anyone else to take down a dragon... Dungeon crawls as a guild or group are almost a thing of the past.... more often than not folk solo everything...
I'm fed up with playing a solo game of item hording... People come to the EM events just to get stuff and sell it... most of them don't care about the events... Those who do are quickly driven away by the horrible behaviors of those who come just for the items. I feel sorry for the EM's who devote hours of their own playtime to put on these events... Those of us who come to try to enjoy them for the content are so disgusted by the deplorable antics of others that we grow contemptuous....
Instead of looking forward to things we begin to loathe them. It's even more irritating when time and time again NOTHING is done about the behavior.
I'll say this it's the RP and community that keeps me playing UO.... it's the housing and customization that UO has that is unique to most all other games that binds me to UO... and the EM events and metafiction are but icing on the cake...
But when they are tainted... when the community is growing so small it's barely breathing... when the events are so full of childish rude and insensitive behavior you wonder if you are playing with adults or kindergarteners.... When your house doesn't work and things don't place right new items stick through the floors and you can see the fire from your brazier 2 floors down showing through your roof... or you come home to find that someone has hacked you and taken all that you own and EA will do nothing to help you.... when you know if you were playing WoW or any number of other games you'd have your things returned to you quickly and without hassle ..... when all these things happen..... you start to question WHY am I still here??? Why do I cling to this dream???
I keep hoping that someday EA will care about it's customers... I keep hoping that someday they will see what a Gem they have with UO and give it the love it deserves... but my dreams and hopes are fading more and more with each passing month that we hear NOTHING...
I can't keep dreaming of a better tomorrow if I have nothing to base dreams on... but a few wisps of news from those like Grimm ...
Grimm you have me hoping that there is hope... can you not convince the rest of the DEV's to let down the walls and open up???
UO's subscriptions may be at an all time low, everyone seems to be leaving, we have a new dev team every 6 to 8 months.. but you know what? It's still profitable. Wanna know how I know that?
Cuz it's still here.
For the time being, Revenue Generated by UO > Expenses Incurred by UO
Until that changes, or comes dangerously/forseeably close to changing, they will keep it around.
Cuz it's still here.
For the time being, Revenue Generated by UO > Expenses Incurred by UO
Until that changes, or comes dangerously/forseeably close to changing, they will keep it around.
"JC/Link speaks the truth. The guild he was in used to field 30+ people (i'm not talking about pvpers either just players in general)now it's lucky to field 2-3 at a time. Does that sound like HE decided no one is having fun? Sounds more like everyone else decided they're not having fun...
-The guild i was in fielded 30 people in vent 4 years ago, dropped to 15 when SA came out and then vanished last year.
-My friend's smaller guilds are no longer here.
-One of the other largest guilds on Atlantic fields 2 active people now."
Guilds come and go. Chat eliminated much of the need for guilds i.e. it's easier to talk to people now. No guild is needed. Just because a thing changes doesn't mean it's dying.
With vent and chat, why does anyone need a guild? I think guilds were an interesting phenomenon at the birth of mmos, but their usefulness has declined.
My experience has been that I have never had so many gaming friends as I do now, but unlike 10 years ago, we are not now all in the same guild.
If you are not having fun, then by all means go find something else to do. But first ask yourself if the game has become no fun, or if you have become no fun.
-The guild i was in fielded 30 people in vent 4 years ago, dropped to 15 when SA came out and then vanished last year.
-My friend's smaller guilds are no longer here.
-One of the other largest guilds on Atlantic fields 2 active people now."
Guilds come and go. Chat eliminated much of the need for guilds i.e. it's easier to talk to people now. No guild is needed. Just because a thing changes doesn't mean it's dying.
With vent and chat, why does anyone need a guild? I think guilds were an interesting phenomenon at the birth of mmos, but their usefulness has declined.
My experience has been that I have never had so many gaming friends as I do now, but unlike 10 years ago, we are not now all in the same guild.
If you are not having fun, then by all means go find something else to do. But first ask yourself if the game has become no fun, or if you have become no fun.
S
Serine
Guest
I would say make todays UO Free to play and keep uocodes up for supporting updates etc . And Simply make a new REAL 3D version of UO , and market it all over the world . I would think the new game would have many 100 k more users in no time than the old UO . Maby even millions ..
Well, I actually like that you brought this up here, as I can make a point with itFirst psychology rule on that is not to use the term change.
Evolve
Transform
Improve
Modify
Convert
but never Change
Note that while similar, these words all have somewhat different meanings. Now, for a game to grow properly, when the players already enjoy the game (as UO was) what it needs to do is evolve, keep it's best traits and expand on them. T2A was like this, a evolution of the game without sweeping changes. After T2A though something happened, and the developers completley lost touch, every expansion after T2A could be DIRECTLY linked to a different game and EA trying to draw in that game's players by "changing" UO into a clone of it. Changing core gameplay is VERY bad, by making a different game you will invariably lose a good portion of your stable player base, and in a MMO the stable player base is the most important part of it. Yes, you'll always have people that play for a while, then move onto the next cool game released, but the stable player base is the ones who stick with the game for years and years, they are the core of your game's community. This was wholly apparent when Ren was released, EA saw the success of Sony with Everquest and a few other MMO's released around that time and decided to cater to that crowd as well, and what at the time was a very vocal minority within UO itself (that was already leaving for other games at the time). The result of which was a massive...temporary flood of players, and the loss of almost 50% of the existing player base. The vast majority of the players who came though, due to the very nature of the new expansion, were more casual players, who would quickly leave when a shiny new game was released. The next expansion, third dawn, took this even further. The third dawn client was DIRECTLY aimed to pull even more everquest players. EA never cared about UO players, all these early expansions were aimed towards gaining EQ players, the UO players were already paying customers. It was shortsighted though, the temporary boom these expansions caused cost them easily 100k players who would still be playing to this day (and in a way, many still are)
Lets skip over lord blackthorn's revenge, being that it was now much more than an attempt to draw players using the name of Todd McFarlane, and go to Age of shadows now
Age of shadows most people remember as the "diablo 2" patch, and that's not too far from the truth. If you don't remember back then, Blizzard had announced shortly after the release of third dawn their MMO in the works....World of Warcraft. EA, once again in their infinite wisedom...decided they wanted to make sure they got those players too, which is why all the dev effort on UO was spent for the next few years (while WOW was in development as well) revamping the ENTIRE game for "Age of Shadows", something that the vast majority of the playerbase HATED then and quite a few still hate now. So once again, same as their grab at everquest players, but worse, costing them yet more long time subscribers. Fast forward a year from that and guess what....WoW is released and quite a few of these newer UO subscribers are drawn to this flashy new game that's making rave reviews everywhere, and is all over TV (heck, even their non-gamer friends are playing it now!). UO has basicly never recovered from this point, by quite stupidly dumping their older playerbase to get a temporary boost to numbers EA sealed the fate of UO completely at this point.
Only a few die-hard players are left, and the only thing keeping the game alive is the history many have on their home shards, which makes it hard to leave. Yeah, since then they've tried with the "Ninja's are cool" and "make all older items in the game useless" patches to draw more interest but they just keep doing more long-term harm than good, even the best designed landmass since T2A, the stygian abyss, decided to add such "cool" things to drive sales as a summon more powerful than any pet at the time, new skills and artifacts that put all othe old ones to shame, and of course imbue, which overnight killed off need for monster looted items. (basicly meaning there's no reason to kill anything but bosses anymore)
To sum it up, EA doesn't know how to evolve gameplay, each new dev team that comes in decides to change the game completely to be what they think is "cool" (generally copying whatever the latest/greatest mmo out is). Those other terms dont exist in EA's vocabulary.
Sorry for the novel, but I've been an Ultima fan since U1 and watching EA do this to what should have continued to be the "jewel" of the ultima series has pained me. I'm just tired of seeing EA constantly trying to change UO into other games instead of simply evolving UO as it was. UO was sunk as of AOS, instead of patching the giant hole they'd blown in the deck they pointed the cannons downward and fired.... but the die-hard fans put on scuba gear to stay with it as long as possible. Only difference now is the tanks are starting to run out of air...can't stay with a sunk ship forever.
C
canary
Guest
Please. Yes, please have me be wrong. I'd actually be happy if the new producer actually said something positive, constructive and made a promise to invest. Not the typical producer BS, but something that actually delivered.
Trust me, I'd love to be proven wrong. You have no idea (obviously).
But sadly UO is full of hollow promises and a stagnant game that is in dire need of attention. It needs a dedicated dev team that really loves UO as well as some focus from EA itself. I would not expect someone whose UO addiction spans 50-some accounts to understand the reality of the situation.
The key things in this post, I argue, are the following.
1. The error in naming Draconi as a Producer. To those who say this isn't a significant error? I say this: If you look at his post, Draconi's status is actually a pretty key part of his argument. Look at how he uses it:
2. This phrase is also quite important:
Now, granted "a cool guy" isn't necessarily a praise of his ability. But in context it sure feels that way to me.
Now I'm not a Cal hater. But, come on now. Ain't it funny how little good people had to say about him, in fact I used to be criticized for being too kind to him, until he leaves?
Also, do we have any actual evidence that he left voluntarily? He may have but it wasn't my impression. Note that he was replaced by someone whose job description appears bigger, at least to some degree.
3. This phrase is also key:
As to the first part of the quote....Well, how many of us criticized AoS in large part because it was such a major change? Now suddenly the nexus of the criticisms is the lack of such a change?
I could go on but....I know it's pointless.
Two things worry me about UO.
One is EA's complete irrationality. Rarely have I seen a case of such a shocking degree of institutional irrationality.
Two is us the players. Have we hit a point where if we woke up tomorrow and everything was 3 times better, we would no longer notice or care? Have we hit a point where our criteria for what we like or do not like is so totally out-of-whack that we've literally started reversing ourselves? Have we hit a point where facts are so in-essential to our arguments that incorrect facts, rewrites of known history, or the like are just not terribly concerning to us? Where we criticize those who point them out because they point them out?
The latter few points, unfortunately the answer is quite clearly yes.
-Galen's player
1. The error in naming Draconi as a Producer. To those who say this isn't a significant error? I say this: If you look at his post, Draconi's status is actually a pretty key part of his argument. Look at how he uses it:
Draconi's being Producer is important to the argument; it's a good sign that came to naught after SA. However, it's based on a false premise.
2. This phrase is also quite important:
The reference is clearly to Cal. It ignores the fact that Cal was one of the most-controversial producers of all time in this game. He was tone-deaf to most of his player-base, calling us "care bears" and saying "everyone wants" a return "to the wild wild west." Demonstrably wrong when you look at the game's history. And let's not forget the fiction and odd scenarios produced under his reign. In the Shadow of Virtue could have been great, but it's telling that the reviews were mostly negative, or at least middling, everyplace but Great Lakes. Great Lakes had EMs Elizabella and Malachi to add depth to the story arc and make it make way more sense, be way more meaningful, and be much longer and more-intense. The rest of the game was not as fortunate.
Now, granted "a cool guy" isn't necessarily a praise of his ability. But in context it sure feels that way to me.
Now I'm not a Cal hater. But, come on now. Ain't it funny how little good people had to say about him, in fact I used to be criticized for being too kind to him, until he leaves?
Also, do we have any actual evidence that he left voluntarily? He may have but it wasn't my impression. Note that he was replaced by someone whose job description appears bigger, at least to some degree.
3. This phrase is also key:
Last thing's first....Something that's acceptable to 90% of the players is a bad thing? How often to we criticize them for giving us things we don't want? In fact, JC does it himself, right here:
The key part of that is the Faction revamp, which I believe JC's written about elsewhere as well. The Faction revamp, as many will recall, was one of those things criticized for being a change nobody wanted and nobody asked for. Exactly the kind of change JC criticizes them for not doing.
As to the first part of the quote....Well, how many of us criticized AoS in large part because it was such a major change? Now suddenly the nexus of the criticisms is the lack of such a change?
I could go on but....I know it's pointless.
Two things worry me about UO.
One is EA's complete irrationality. Rarely have I seen a case of such a shocking degree of institutional irrationality.
Two is us the players. Have we hit a point where if we woke up tomorrow and everything was 3 times better, we would no longer notice or care? Have we hit a point where our criteria for what we like or do not like is so totally out-of-whack that we've literally started reversing ourselves? Have we hit a point where facts are so in-essential to our arguments that incorrect facts, rewrites of known history, or the like are just not terribly concerning to us? Where we criticize those who point them out because they point them out?
The latter few points, unfortunately the answer is quite clearly yes.
-Galen's player
W
Woodsman
Guest
I think on #2, we act the same way Warhammer players do. Camelot players are seeing actual work done to attract players - they even got a major publish today for new players. But Camelot players also still act like we do. I should clarify - Warhammer and Camelot players who post on forums act the same way we UO forum posters do. Players it's another matter. The majority of players do not read or post on forums.
As for #1, I agree. They truly act as though UO, Camelot, and Warhammer don't really exist. When the BioWare VP in charge of those three came out, he was trying to calm Warhammer players who were scared Warhammer was going to be canceled in light of the arena Warhammer game or Star Wars. But otherwise, they don't seem to exist for him and others within.
Hundreds of millions have went into Star Wars, but they can't spare a few million for UO? Especially when UO is "widely profitable"?
Maybe I'm off the wall with this thought, but EA seems to have a culture of only being able to support games with constant sequels, where the previous game is forgotten. EA Sports is a huge player within the EA executive branch. Sims, Battlefield 3, same way. The EA Sports games, the Sims games, the Battlefield games, these are all games where they try and churn out "new" versions every year or two, and stop supporting the previous versions.
With MMOs, you can't apply that thinking. You can with RPGs to an extent, you push out an RPG with "2" appended to it, and somewhat forget about the previous one. But not with MMOs.
There isn't an Ultima Online 2009, and then the following year, UO 2009 is forgotten about as Ultima Online 2010 is rolled out, and then UO 2010 is forgotten about as you roll out Ultima Online 2011.
I'm optimistic because of people like TheGrimmOmen, but the corporate culture is still deeply entrenched, even if it seems to have been ingrained in BioWare, since the two guys who run BioWare claim they call the shots.
I asked this in the Skalski Twitter thread, but I'll ask it again, worded slightly different: How ****ing hard would it be for somebody to post a few ****ing paragraphs every single ****ing Friday. If two-way-communication is too much of a hassle, too fraught with some kind of danger in their eyes, fine, make it one-way. Have somebody post a few paragraphs every single Friday talking about UO present or future.
First off, JC is a legend in the UO community... Has been around forever, and operates an amazing database with lots of useful game information. Who cares who produced what, who cares who did or didnt want faction whatnots...
Half of you are missing the point of his post ( now some troll add up all the replies, and tell me that only 47% of you are missing the point, making my entire post invalid. )
He has poured his heart into UO, and done more than most of us, actually spent out of his own pocket to support a game. He is frustrated with the lack of real game development. have you seen the graphics on some of the free games compared to our cutting edge 2d client? I will stick around for about as long as I can, but already had to transfer shards, just so I didn't have to play in a ghost town. you CANT EVEN BUY THE GAME IN A STORE... I havent seen it at best buy, walmart, anywhere.
We need a new client, new code, a fresh start... again, I will share my ideas below...
Honestly the game needs to be started in again from scratch. New modern client, all new coding, remove all the useless skills, re balance all of the over powered skills and templates, get rid of botting programs all in one sweep. Remove the features that were a bad idea or damaged the game.
Basically take the very best of UO and repackage it in a new bug free, modern client. Then have a turn in system, all of your skills, stats, scrolls used, account age, your house, pets, everything can be turned in. Gold however will have a capped amount to be turned in. Once you have cleared your account, you can log into the new version on a fresh new server, using a fresh client. Current UO players will get a 2 week head start as a reward, and everything turned in will be worth points that can be spent on perhaps ethy mounts, advanced character templates, or lottery tickets with a chance to win a prime housing spot.
Then after two weeks, new players are welcome, and vet players can sign up as new player helpers.
There would be no real need to add new areas, just overhaul and revamp old areas. Make it one house per account PERIOD, with nothing as large as a castle. Have instanced housing areas inside the cities, for those who simply want a house as storage, or to occasionally invite friends. remove lag inducing vendors, and set up a new magincia type market, or auction house. Simplify the new ship combat system... it is currently ridiculous and not worth the effort.
Give everyone a lag free, bug free, fresh, beautiful start, with a moderate head start and rewards for vet players. Attract new players, and bring back old players, who cant wait to see the new Doom, or try the new orc race, or play the new Monk class, or craft a ballista or catapult, or just want to explore blackthorns castle again.
Half of you are missing the point of his post ( now some troll add up all the replies, and tell me that only 47% of you are missing the point, making my entire post invalid. )
He has poured his heart into UO, and done more than most of us, actually spent out of his own pocket to support a game. He is frustrated with the lack of real game development. have you seen the graphics on some of the free games compared to our cutting edge 2d client? I will stick around for about as long as I can, but already had to transfer shards, just so I didn't have to play in a ghost town. you CANT EVEN BUY THE GAME IN A STORE... I havent seen it at best buy, walmart, anywhere.
We need a new client, new code, a fresh start... again, I will share my ideas below...
Honestly the game needs to be started in again from scratch. New modern client, all new coding, remove all the useless skills, re balance all of the over powered skills and templates, get rid of botting programs all in one sweep. Remove the features that were a bad idea or damaged the game.
Basically take the very best of UO and repackage it in a new bug free, modern client. Then have a turn in system, all of your skills, stats, scrolls used, account age, your house, pets, everything can be turned in. Gold however will have a capped amount to be turned in. Once you have cleared your account, you can log into the new version on a fresh new server, using a fresh client. Current UO players will get a 2 week head start as a reward, and everything turned in will be worth points that can be spent on perhaps ethy mounts, advanced character templates, or lottery tickets with a chance to win a prime housing spot.
Then after two weeks, new players are welcome, and vet players can sign up as new player helpers.
There would be no real need to add new areas, just overhaul and revamp old areas. Make it one house per account PERIOD, with nothing as large as a castle. Have instanced housing areas inside the cities, for those who simply want a house as storage, or to occasionally invite friends. remove lag inducing vendors, and set up a new magincia type market, or auction house. Simplify the new ship combat system... it is currently ridiculous and not worth the effort.
Give everyone a lag free, bug free, fresh, beautiful start, with a moderate head start and rewards for vet players. Attract new players, and bring back old players, who cant wait to see the new Doom, or try the new orc race, or play the new Monk class, or craft a ballista or catapult, or just want to explore blackthorns castle again.
You are not at all off the wall. Not one bit.
Not hard at all, I'd like to see something like that.
In fact we had it.
The Five on Friday.
It was roundly criticized until it was gone.
Then we missed it.
-Galen's player
I've played a few other games, but nothing compares to UO. Sorry. Played LOTR recently and liked it, but still got pulled back to UO and shut down the LOTR account even though I was still enjoying playing. I'll join Petra and Kayne with the bucket brigade as I'm not through decorating my castle either Kojak.
And give hearty thanks to both Grimm and Logrus for posting in this tread.
It's a sad, sad day when someone's "legend"ary status is more important than correct facts.
Oh well.
-Galen's player
Oh well.
-Galen's player
...
As for the "state of UO", yeah it kind of sucks right now as far as we know as players, and as an event team, the Cal era was a bit of a disappointment when compared to when Draconi, Leuro and team were busy...
BUT...
... the artwork update thread interaction with Grimm was VERY needed and shows what looks to be something to look forward to in terms of how the EC is going to evolve graphically and technically in the near future, so on that front, personally I am quite a bit relieved and looking forward to seeing the outcome.
As for the new Producer, we don't know what is going on "behind the scenes", so I'm willing to give him some time to get things in order, get a coherent outline together and get it presentable.
UO hasn't "sunk", nor is "at the bottom of the ocean"... otherwise I, you, and everyone else wouldn't be able to log in right now because it would be CLOSED DOWN. Since UO is OPEN then there are plenty of opportunities to improve the game and move it forward. That's NOT saying everything is "hunky-dory" and that "happy days are here again" or that it's a "summer of recovery" (or maybe it is, considering... bah.. off topic), but it's not quite the dire situation being presented.
Many of the issues are legitimate, but the conclusions... well other than on a personal level, they don't really hold up.
I'm willing to see where things go, but we DO need to see more open communication and more of a dedication to the community from the UO team as a whole.
Not the first time... I lost count of the number of corrections I had to make in regards to the KR client due to posts from said "legend".
As for the "state of UO", yeah it kind of sucks right now as far as we know as players, and as an event team, the Cal era was a bit of a disappointment when compared to when Draconi, Leuro and team were busy...
BUT...
... the artwork update thread interaction with Grimm was VERY needed and shows what looks to be something to look forward to in terms of how the EC is going to evolve graphically and technically in the near future, so on that front, personally I am quite a bit relieved and looking forward to seeing the outcome.
As for the new Producer, we don't know what is going on "behind the scenes", so I'm willing to give him some time to get things in order, get a coherent outline together and get it presentable.
UO hasn't "sunk", nor is "at the bottom of the ocean"... otherwise I, you, and everyone else wouldn't be able to log in right now because it would be CLOSED DOWN. Since UO is OPEN then there are plenty of opportunities to improve the game and move it forward. That's NOT saying everything is "hunky-dory" and that "happy days are here again" or that it's a "summer of recovery" (or maybe it is, considering... bah.. off topic), but it's not quite the dire situation being presented.
Many of the issues are legitimate, but the conclusions... well other than on a personal level, they don't really hold up.
I'm willing to see where things go, but we DO need to see more open communication and more of a dedication to the community from the UO team as a whole.
Boy! Just gotta love all the optimism on UHall! Fyi, it's a sunken ship not a sunk ship. 
Worldwide Shipwreck Database go fish some of this loot up.
I can say I left UO for a while because of the graphics or lack of graphics rather. I found that despite some games such as Aion having epic graphics, it sucketh so hard I don't even have the desire to make an effort to adequately describe just how bad it doth suck. Rift was terrible also BUT the common denominator I found with people who were playing either of these games, was they were looking for something just like UO except with some quality graphics. I met several people who had played UO and left for Aion only to discover just how bad poor management can really, really be and some left due to not only the horrific management but also because it is a pretty heavy duty PvP game with a grind that most people could not tolerate. Rift's management wasn't that bad but it wasn't UO nor was it fun imo.
It's just an opinion but if the graphics were brought up to "modern" year 2000ish instead of the 2-d everyone cries about wanting to keep, I'm pretty positive that the game would draw in a lot of subs including a lot of subs who went looking for something "pretty"and flashy and who are still looking because nothing will ever be UO.
Personally, I have found that I would rather play an ugly, dated game than a polished turd like Aion, Rift or WoW for a lot of reasons. One reason is simply because it doesn't require having to constantly group and have my time wasted by people who can't get on the same time schedule or get their collective acts together. Nothing like getting ready to do an instance after hours of advertising for a group, getting inside the instance and some bonehead has to go take a bio, another has to go eat dinner, another is watching a movie laying there dead and unresponsive, another person is on the phone afk and NOT healing people, someone else has to go to bed, yet another is there only to ninja a roll so he can sell the item and then sell the gold/kinah/plats for rl money and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Yeah, that's exactly the way I dream of playing an MMO. /facepalm Hours wasted trying to get a group of semi-responsible people :gun: to act as a unit only to have it fail time after time is not only frustrating it would make a great priceless pic.
In the guilds I am in on UO, we know each other, we get things done, no BS, no drama, no excuses and you are not required to group if you don't want to. Those of you who insist "Grouping is part of every MMO and that's the ONLY way it is supposed to be!!!111!!" need to get over whatever shame/guilt/fear complex has conditioned you into being a control freak and learn to enjoy what you have while you have it, in-game and irl. I enjoy my guild mates on 3 different UO servers so I'm not antisocial I just despise dealing with incompetence.
There are other things UO has that are superior to other MMOs it's NOT a cookie cutter type of game for one. It is a wonderful sandbox game, despite how ugly it can be graphically, all the options make up for the ugly. I'm not really happy EA is in charge but after seeing just how bad several other game companies have been, EA looks like a shining example as sad as that is lol. There are many other qualities UO has above other games and I could point them out but if you're programmed negatively that's all you're going to see, why waste anymore of my time trying to point out the obvious? I'm not above anyone fyi and the voices in my noggin all love everyone of you!
Worldwide Shipwreck Database go fish some of this loot up.I can say I left UO for a while because of the graphics or lack of graphics rather. I found that despite some games such as Aion having epic graphics, it sucketh so hard I don't even have the desire to make an effort to adequately describe just how bad it doth suck. Rift was terrible also BUT the common denominator I found with people who were playing either of these games, was they were looking for something just like UO except with some quality graphics. I met several people who had played UO and left for Aion only to discover just how bad poor management can really, really be and some left due to not only the horrific management but also because it is a pretty heavy duty PvP game with a grind that most people could not tolerate. Rift's management wasn't that bad but it wasn't UO nor was it fun imo.
It's just an opinion but if the graphics were brought up to "modern" year 2000ish instead of the 2-d everyone cries about wanting to keep, I'm pretty positive that the game would draw in a lot of subs including a lot of subs who went looking for something "pretty"and flashy and who are still looking because nothing will ever be UO.
Personally, I have found that I would rather play an ugly, dated game than a polished turd like Aion, Rift or WoW for a lot of reasons. One reason is simply because it doesn't require having to constantly group and have my time wasted by people who can't get on the same time schedule or get their collective acts together. Nothing like getting ready to do an instance after hours of advertising for a group, getting inside the instance and some bonehead has to go take a bio, another has to go eat dinner, another is watching a movie laying there dead and unresponsive, another person is on the phone afk and NOT healing people, someone else has to go to bed, yet another is there only to ninja a roll so he can sell the item and then sell the gold/kinah/plats for rl money and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Yeah, that's exactly the way I dream of playing an MMO. /facepalm Hours wasted trying to get a group of semi-responsible people :gun: to act as a unit only to have it fail time after time is not only frustrating it would make a great priceless pic.
In the guilds I am in on UO, we know each other, we get things done, no BS, no drama, no excuses and you are not required to group if you don't want to. Those of you who insist "Grouping is part of every MMO and that's the ONLY way it is supposed to be!!!111!!" need to get over whatever shame/guilt/fear complex has conditioned you into being a control freak and learn to enjoy what you have while you have it, in-game and irl. I enjoy my guild mates on 3 different UO servers so I'm not antisocial I just despise dealing with incompetence.
There are other things UO has that are superior to other MMOs it's NOT a cookie cutter type of game for one. It is a wonderful sandbox game, despite how ugly it can be graphically, all the options make up for the ugly. I'm not really happy EA is in charge but after seeing just how bad several other game companies have been, EA looks like a shining example as sad as that is lol. There are many other qualities UO has above other games and I could point them out but if you're programmed negatively that's all you're going to see, why waste anymore of my time trying to point out the obvious? I'm not above anyone fyi and the voices in my noggin all love everyone of you!
So ,who here is willing to fore go all they possess for a brand new engine with pretty Pixels and new updated content? .will you lose all your worldly goods and Characters to Start over?
Next who thinks that that game will get any attention any more than old UO?
And Lastly, how many of us will whine for the old UO.
Somehow I think that as soon as it is "mastered," someone will have to leave because it isn't any good .
That could very well happen... Everyone could hate the new UO.
But unfortunately you wont attract new players with our current graphics. I love UO, WOW was ok for about a month, SWG was a great amazing game, before Sony ruined it.
UO with its original game play, skills, housing, crafting, imbuing is amazing, it has lasted 14 years.
But I would delete every character, and give up all my UO pixel crack, for a fresh new 3d client. A chance to fix the economy, remove every duped item, stop scripting dead, and no one will make a nickel selling UO goods for a good while.
But unfortunately you wont attract new players with our current graphics. I love UO, WOW was ok for about a month, SWG was a great amazing game, before Sony ruined it.
UO with its original game play, skills, housing, crafting, imbuing is amazing, it has lasted 14 years.
But I would delete every character, and give up all my UO pixel crack, for a fresh new 3d client. A chance to fix the economy, remove every duped item, stop scripting dead, and no one will make a nickel selling UO goods for a good while.
...
I think it's VERY feasible for UO to have a "fresh start". Not sure if I'd want to call it UO2 or not though as I haven't been fond of the concept of MMOG sequels to begin with (how do you have a sequel for something that doesn't exactly end?), and yeah I could probably sit here and list at least 50 things I would love to see in terms of a revamp/relaunch as we all could.
However...
If you're going to start from scratch, you have to make sure you do it RIGHT. And right now, that doesn't seem to be happening with ANY MMOG at the moment really. Sure there are bits of this one, or some aspects of that one, and a smidge of a concept over here, and some fundamental things over there, but nothing that has successfully reinvented the MMOG. Right now you have UO as the main "sandbox" skill-based game, EQ "created" the level-raid ideal for MMOGs (well really just ported it over from DikuMUD in the early days), and WoW jumped on top of that through refining and distillation, and then you have EvE handling the space-war setting. Everything else, good, bad, or otherwise has been an "also-ran" for one reason or another.
So in order for UO to revamp/relaunch, it would have to be a HUGE project.
I think it's VERY feasible for UO to have a "fresh start". Not sure if I'd want to call it UO2 or not though as I haven't been fond of the concept of MMOG sequels to begin with (how do you have a sequel for something that doesn't exactly end?), and yeah I could probably sit here and list at least 50 things I would love to see in terms of a revamp/relaunch as we all could.
However...
If you're going to start from scratch, you have to make sure you do it RIGHT. And right now, that doesn't seem to be happening with ANY MMOG at the moment really. Sure there are bits of this one, or some aspects of that one, and a smidge of a concept over here, and some fundamental things over there, but nothing that has successfully reinvented the MMOG. Right now you have UO as the main "sandbox" skill-based game, EQ "created" the level-raid ideal for MMOGs (well really just ported it over from DikuMUD in the early days), and WoW jumped on top of that through refining and distillation, and then you have EvE handling the space-war setting. Everything else, good, bad, or otherwise has been an "also-ran" for one reason or another.
So in order for UO to revamp/relaunch, it would have to be a HUGE project.
I shared this with Cirno in skype chat today but I wonder if this gives cause for discussion here. It is why I don't feel 'all is lost' from the community team aspect. We've seen it with CCP like JC said and for me, the communities that truly care that tap into the UO team that truly care generate more positive energy with better results.
Fumbled Your Community? Here's How to Recover
The reason I tapped into that article is because it also acknowledges what to when a larger playerbase overwhelms the few in charge of responding. I think we can build towards that.
Fumbled Your Community? Here's How to Recover
The reason I tapped into that article is because it also acknowledges what to when a larger playerbase overwhelms the few in charge of responding. I think we can build towards that.
Dermott , you're a good man.
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Woodsman
Guest
There is no "few in charge of responding", there is one - Kai Schober, and while I think he could do a very good job of handling a community, he is having to handle three communities, as well as PR for the Warhammer arena game. The majority of his interaction is on the Warhammer forums.
Makes you wonder if they rate it by priority and that Warhammer Online is first priority. Then the rest..............................
hmm give up your pixels that you rent from EA and get a new UO game?
Or lose the rented pixels anyway when EA pulls the plug when UO hits the point where it costs more to pay the handful of employees then incoming sub cash.
Im holdin out through the holidays in hope something changes and we get some answers.
If they did want to make a new UO they could probably set up something like a community collection in current game where you can turnin your precious pixels for some kind of reward in the new game.
Or lose the rented pixels anyway when EA pulls the plug when UO hits the point where it costs more to pay the handful of employees then incoming sub cash.
Im holdin out through the holidays in hope something changes and we get some answers.
If they did want to make a new UO they could probably set up something like a community collection in current game where you can turnin your precious pixels for some kind of reward in the new game.
Exactly... I dont want to start over, but I am not sure if you can build a new beautiful client, with new coding, and transfer every single full jars, copper wire, event sash ect...
But the current client, and code is outdated, and cant last forever, and will not attract the players needed to make UO a priority for EA.
But the current client, and code is outdated, and cant last forever, and will not attract the players needed to make UO a priority for EA.
October 23, 1997. I've been here since the beginning. Maybe not as long as you, but certainly from the beginning.
My friends and family who play? I have no family that plays. My family can't get beyond the 18-year-old graphics of the game. My family can't get beyond the fact that the in-game quest system by and large sucks. My family has no interest in playing UO because truly, what we would play it for (RP) we have more enjoyment sitting around a table playing with pens, pencils, and dice.
My friends who play... have been gone for years. Presently, I have a handful of people I would call friends who still play on the server I play on, and one who plays on another server.
The community that I was a part of back so many years ago is dead. The community that grew up out of the ashes of Felucca and onto the Trammel landscape... is dead.
So what, exactly, would I be fighting for again?
UO is far from alive and well. It's only a distant echo of a faint reflection of what it used to be. The thriving days of UO are long behind it, and at every opportunity that EA/Mythic/Bioware has had to breathe new life into it, they've instead brought people back to demonstrate to them why they should stay away.
I mean, come on, let's not pretend that the past five years haven't been an unmitigated disaster for Ultima Online. From an inability to create a thriving, modern client (please, everyone, save the "KR was awesome, and the EC is the best thing since sliced bread" speeches... if either were true, the whole situation for UO would be different) to an inability to meet development deadlines to an inability to properly beta test expansions to the inability to even create expansion level material and on and on and on, not to mention the skeleton crew that UO is operating on, Ultima Online is FAR from alive and kicking.
It may be standing in the corner screaming, "I'm not dead yet, I think I'll get up and go for a walk now," but like the old man in Monty Python, it's not fooling anyone, and it's only time before EA comes along and whacks it upside its head.
Look, I'm not on the development team. I'm not the producer of UO. Believe me, if I were either, the game would not be in the sorry shape it's in today.
Do I believe UO has potential? Absolutely. It's ALWAYS had potential. What it's lacking are developers with the wherewithal to put it all together and come up with something truly exciting. Right now they're stomping out fires and playing guessing games with what the playerbase wants and needs, and all while trying to balance the act of keeping the game alive with a development team that's probably a lot smaller than any of us would like to admit.
Sure... the guy in charge now may be from Bioware. Bioware's going to care about UO about as much as they do DAOC. And, really, at least DAOC got a new website out of the deal. We've still got some half-assed third-party contractor handling the UO Game Codes site that hasn't updated the look of it since the day it was released and really, if we didn't all KNOW it was an official UO website, NONE of us would put our CC info in there because it looks about as reputable as a website that is put together by someone claiming to have tons of Nigerian funds to send your way.
Look... I liked UO.
But the UO I liked is a million years away.
Even when I do log into play to RP, there's no one there to RP with. Cities are dead. Player run cities are dead. And even if I decided tomorrow to log back in and say, "Hey, I'm going to go make the best of this and rally people up to play like we did 10 years ago, or even 5 years ago," guess what... there aren't those kinds of people in any kinds of numbers anymore.
In short, the UO that we all want UO to be is dead for a great many of us.
I'm glad you still enjoy it. Enjoy it while you can. But don't try to ignore fourteen years of history, and five years of horrific development of the game you and I used to love and pretend that UO is, indeed, alive and well. Ultima Online is on a respirator, and it'll be lucky if some overzealous relative doesn't flatline it soon.
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Woodsman
Guest
Warhammer Online probably needs more reassurance since some of those people panicked when members of their dev team went to work on Star Wars PvP and when some of them went to the arena game. We lost a producer for whatever reason, they lost a bunch of dev team members.
But the problem is still that we are sharing one person among 3-4 games.
That wouldn't be the case if the game had been properly documented.
But we know that Origin wasn't in the habit of properly doing ANYTHING. They were more about creativity than proper procedure. They created some great games in an era where it didn't matter so much what proper procedure was. But since the entire 3D model base of the original game got lost during the move from Austin to EARS, you know that they weren't exactly on the cutting edge of preservation.
In the fourteen years the game's been around, they could have gone through and properly cleaned up and documented segments of the game, both server and client side.
And yet... we can fairly well guess that the game's still a lot of spaghetti code, and that's completely sad.
It's probably well beyond too late to clean up that mess.
Bleh... don't worry... another couple of years and Games Workshop will yank the Warhammer license from EA for a failure to produce acceptable results. One thing you can say about Games Workshop: They work very hard to protect their licensed material.
I'm actually surprised they haven't yanked it yet, to be honest.
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Woodsman
Guest
I am as well. I think the Warhammer Arenas game maybe their last chance to save that license. I was not surprised when I found out that the Warhammer 40k MMO license went to another company.
The majority is on Kai as community manager, yes and goes along with the point of being overwhelmed. It would be unfair to say that there is only Kai. There is also a community director for all titles, used to be Bob and now it is Rowland. We are talking about a community team that at the greatest count I think was around six? (Bob, James, Andy, Jess, Chrissay and Joanne?) Then major layoffs all around. I think Kai came over to mainly support the Warhammer title and found himself with three worlds. Someone make this man a l33t magik karpet
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Woodsman
Guest
For the sake of argument then, we have Kai and Rowland as the community team. There is a Dave Crooks that is listed as a BioWare Mythic Web Journalist since April of 2011. Not BioWare, but BioWare Mythic and he's posted on uoherald.comThe majority is on Kai as community manager, yes and goes along with the point of being overwhelmed. It would be unfair to say that there is only Kai. There is also a community director for all titles, used to be Bob and now it is Rowland. We are talking about a community team that at the greatest count I think was around six? (Bob, James, Andy, Jess, Chrissay and Joanne?) Then major layoffs all around. I think Kai came over to mainly support the Warhammer title and found himself with three worlds. Someone make this man a l33t magik karpet
In theory they are working, between them, at least 120 hours a week. They maybe working a lot more, it is the gaming industry after all.
I watch the Warhammer forums on BioWare, and the Camelot forums on IGN. Kai posts in both. Warhammer - Kai posts around a dozen or so posts a week. Camelot, very sporadic, maybe once every few weeks. Now Kai does have some duties in regards to the Warhammer forums - overseeing the lone volunteer moderator and dealing with troublemakers. Between Kai and Rowland and Dave, they post maybe 15 posts on all three Mythic websites every week, but usually less.
Between all three games, I am not seeing 80 hours or 120 hours of community relations or PR work. I'm not even seeing 20 hours a week.
Just not seeing it.
Matter of fact, the BioWare Mythic VP has said more about UO publicly in the past month than Kai has in the past several months when you ignore the uoherald.com postings about bugs or publishes. Even then it the VP expressing his pride in UO.
I've looked through the Star Wars forums on SWTOR.com and they aren't doing community relations there. Star Wars has a rather large community relations/PR team. I've looked through the Warhammer arena interviews and press and while they are involved with some of that, it's sporadic and usually they aren't the ones being interviewed.
If we were getting press releases every week that required some actual writing, it'd be one thing, but we're not.
Hahah! Gargoyle kilts... Ehhh I wonder where that came from? ;-)
-Grimm
-Grimm
- Status