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A LETTER TO THE CREW

hawkeye_pike

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Ahoy fellow pirates!

My activity on Catskills will decrease significantly in the future. Mostly due to time zone issues (you all know my problem of not being able to be online at prime time) I have decided to wreak havoc on the Europa shard instead. It hasn't been an easy decision, since Catskills has been my home for 13 years and my heart is attached to this shard and its people. But my life requires a lot of attention and I simply cannot afford playing games at 2am in the night anymore. I also can't guarantee that my decision is final since I still have to learn a lot about the Europa shard. But from what I've seen so far it looks like Europa is the place for me to be.

Under these circumstances it would be unreasonable if I'd remain guild master of the United Pirates. Technically I still could be, since Hawkeye Pike will not vanish from Catskills, but an active captain would obviously make more sense.

Being a guild master of the United Pirates does not necessarily require a lot of effort. The main thing is to be available in the long term and to have the right attitude towards other guilds and our own goals. The main duties of the United Pirates Captain are:
  • Administering the guild roster (ranks and titles).
  • Enforcing the guild rules.
  • Being the main contact for guild relations.
  • Mediating disputes.

I hereby ask anybody who feels that he can become Captain of the United Pirates to step forward!

I strongly believe that the oldest pirate guild in Sosoria is worth being sustained and preserved. It is one of the most fun RP guilds on Catskills. That's why I am optimistic that I will receive some messages and suggestions.


I would be willing to transfer the UP headquarters, the Jolly Roger Inn, to the new captain. Since this house is the center of the pirate town, it should be in the hands of the one leading the guild.

If you are interested, either reply here or send me a private message.

Hawkeye Pike
 

Farsight

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Dear Captain,

I regret to inform you that I'll be taking the lion's share of my time to Europa as well.

There's a certain kind of warm feeling I get to visiting a neighboring village and actually seeing people there!

As this is the case, I have neither the time nor the will to be a captain of a crew (both here and there!).

I have not decided if I will maintain control of the Black Market or offer it to a crew mate, but as the Jolly Roger Inn is the center of the pirate town, the Black Market is certain a little bit off center!

In the mean time, you can find Aneirin or Dedigan in the Swagger's Inn drinking up a nice cool Vesper Ale.

Aneirin will show up for Catskills events. The rest of my portion of the crew is hereby considered "On Vacation."
 

Scarst

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
You know my situation, I was already kicking about Europa before you guys and there is no sign of stopping that I enjoy having people to play with every day as opposed to there only being tavern nights on Catskills, I've nothing against the people of Catskills if I did I wouldn't even still being playing there but I like activity and I don't see it happening on Catskills. I've done the solo thing but honestly it's more boring than walking around in circles all day, but I'll remain on Catskills as long as there are people there.
 

Schuyler Bain

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Ahoy Capn' and crew!

Tis sad to read this news, but I have to admit that I completely understand. My timezone and play time has severely hindered my ability to participate in a number of UP events. Unlike when I started playing UO, I don't have the stamina to pull off the "late-nigters." Nor do I have the care-free lifestyle I had in my twenties. It seems we suffer form the same issues, but in reverse.

That said my son, who wasn't even born when I started playing UO on launch day, has been playing an old secondary account that I had laying around from years ago. He received SA and HS for Christmas in fact. My play time has been more because of this, but at times that are off from other crew members.

Schuyler Bain will remain a member of the crew for as long as he is welcome and act as a steward of the Catskills UP whenever possible, but I cannot commit to growing the crew or even maintaining the current activity level. I will be happy to act in any capacity that is appropriate to my availability as outlined above.

Lastly I have to say that it has been a pleasure sailing with you scallywags and I thank ye for allowing me to be a member of the crew. I wish you all the best on Europa and perhaps I will visit one day.

Schuyler Bain
 
S

Sydrik Harpune

Guest
If I played at regular times I would take a crack at it...

Unfortunately, eventhough I am on the East Coast, I tend to be on at odd hours compared to most of the players.

I really wanted my time on Catskills to pan out, as I had such fond memories of the Shard from back in my Shadowclan Orc days. It just is not populated enough for me, and with Pike and Aneirin heading for Europa I think it might be time for me to set sail over to Atlantic to try and find my fortune. I had really hoped that the OvC thing would drum up enough community playing to make it worthwhile but that was a bust as well...

I will keep Hunter Smythe around and a member of the UP for now... but who knows what the future will hold.
 
S

Sydrik Harpune

Guest
I'll think about it... but chances are I would run into the same problem there that you do here.

11pm EST time is the middle of the workday on Europa and by the time the shard gets moving it is way passed my bed-time.
 

Scarst

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I'll think about it... but chances are I would run into the same problem there that you do here.

11pm EST time is the middle of the workday on Europa and by the time the shard gets moving it is way passed my bed-time.
Umm europa is only 5 hours ahead of Est haha 11pm est is the middle of the night actually, but yeah your points still valid.
 

Pandora_CoD

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
This would be a big blow to Catskills if UP doesn't continue onward. If both Pike and Aneirin move to Europa, someone must take up the charge for this historic, long-standing important guild. I hope it is someone that has been part of UP for a long time and can at least continue the tradition that UP brings to this shard. Someone that keeps UP stable and can work well with others.

I can certainly understand Pike and Aneirin's decisions because of where they live --- they are in fact in Europe, so Europa makes sense. At the same time, Pike and Aneirin bring unique characters to UP and without those characters (and the players that play them) it will not be the same. I have so enjoyed getting to know you both again and play with you guys again after sooo many years.

I know the holidays have seen a lot of us take some "leave of absence" from the game, but I am sure after New Year's it will pick up once again. Personally, I have been awfully busy (and I got ENGAGED!!! yay) this month...

I do sincerely hope that you guys do not leave Catskills and still make it for all the cool RPvP stuff that may crop up. I would have no one to PvP, and SUCK AT IT, with! :)
 

hawkeye_pike

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Happy New Year my friends!

Unfortunately nobody agreed to become guild master of UP or take over the Jolly Roger Inn. So here's what we'll do:

Hawkeye Pike will remain guild master of the United Pirates. I won't be around on Catskills after I moved, but at least the guild will be upheld indefinitely since I will not move this character to another shard.

The Jolly Roger Inn will go to Hook. For now he does not need a house elsewhere, so the Jolly will not be lost. Should Hook decide to give up the house I will try to talk Mesanna into making the Jolly Roger Inn a public building "owned by OSI", so it will remain as a landmark on Catskills.

I wish you all good luck for 2011!
 

Farsight

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Update from Aneirin:

I will be holding on to the Black Market, and I'll try to hold a February Market. If that fails, it will be my last black market.

If the other parties in OvC plan something, I'll try my best to attend, hopefully taking some of you down with me. (We're looking at next week, Sunday afternoon for the next step)

My day-to-day activities will be strictly Europa, since I actually see people there, but all my Catskills characters will stay on Catskills. For those of you who remain behind (or those in other guilds), this means that I'm available for role-play by appointment, but you won't be likely to find me by chance.

And Happy New Year folks!
 
L

Lumberlord

Guest
Sad news but probably inevitable. Since i only play on weekends for a few hrs i am not around enough to take over guild. Was enjoyable while it lasted. Thanks to Pike for all his efforts and good times, You will be missed
 

Bianca_CoD

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I had really hoped that the OvC thing would drum up enough community playing to make it worthwhile but that was a bust as well...
I disagree. I don't think OvC is a bust at all... I think Catskills in general is a bust. There are not enough quality RP'ers on the shard. Also December was a terrible month for many of us, not just the OvC guilds. I think you'll see OvC pick up now that folks are done with the holidays. We have one battle plot in play, another one under development, and had a very successful event on Jan. 1st with a lot of the RP'ers on the shard co-mingling with non-RP'ers (lots of you were there btw), which has in fact generated some additional interest in RP!

But alas, what I hear most of you saying is that the population of Catskills is incondusive to what you wish to do with your game time, and that I do agree with. Every player should do what they feel is best for them.
 

hawkeye_pike

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Honestly, Catskills RP has been nearly dead for over a year now. There was little participation in our events. The only RP battles we had was with the RBG, and they were banned from the RP community for whatever reason (please no discussion about this!). I had high hopes for Order vs. Chaos and the energy of Pandora, but I guess nothing could resurrect the Catskills RP community at its current state. I haven't seen our most favorite enemies, the PGoH, in months. The last battle against the Umbra landlubbers was fun, but it was the first battle in months and had only 6 participants. Sea battles don't happen at all. Instead, the few people I actually see are hunting for items all the time.

This is my view of the Catskills situation, and after I moved to Europa it became very clear how different things can be. Last night we had a smuggling event with a sea battle with 9 smugglers alone on our boat, not counting the enemies. And that's on a weekday, and despite Europa players are saying that the activity has decreased. On Catskills I am lucky when I have a crew of 2 people on Saturday night, but then I still will have no enemy to fight.

Of course my view is biased since I have trouble being online at Catskills prime time, but from what I hear and have seen it doesn't make much difference if you log in at 3pm or 8pm EST.

I really hope that one day Catskills will flourish again. But I have doubts that it will ever reach the RP quality of Europa. The strict RP rules there are a huge benefit for the RP community, and all RP guilds stick to those rules. For example, the armor restrictions. Even my new character (Expert skill level, no powerscrolls, crappy stats) can contribute a lot in PvP events, since everybody wears only non-magic armor and weapons. On Catskills, he'd be dead in a second. I remember that my attempt to introduce such a rule on Catskills was rejected by most guilds. Also, look how guilds refused to get fully integrated into the OvC scheme. You all know how much this bothered me, but my criticism was ignored.

This is by no means a complaint or slander. I just think that in order to resurrect RP on Catskills you have to take much bigger and more consistent steps. Unfortunately most guilds reject change, and to my opinion this is one reason why RP on Catskills faded away.

Anyway, as much as I miss my very good and very old friends on Catskills, I am having a blast on Europa. Every evening I log on I meet lots of people. RP and PvP events happen more than once a week. I'm not even interested in monster hunting anymore, and most of the artifacts and items I transfered remain unused or were dumped. In fact, my small house on Europa has half the storage of the Jolly Roger Inn, and it still is half empty...

[Edit: Screenshot added]

 

Scarst

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Yeah, it's a major reason I do my rp pvp on Europa. Uriel has literally 77. something healing and 83 archery currently with like 102.6 fencing and I still can consistently contribute to whatever is going on. The rules are enforced and if someone breaks them they are swiftly corrected and forced to obey or leave there is no bargaining, no coercing, and no leeway for people who can't follow the RoE. It leads to a lot less fights and even fewer arguments, Although I've not given up completely on Catskills I've just kinda mellowed down a lot because I don't see myself having any say there.

And the GM armor makes it so skill is valued over money, the only real scroll you need is a +15 or higher stat and i run a +5 on Uriel because he's never alone and doesn't need as much mana because of that.
 

Bianca_CoD

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I'd like to address a few points made in Hawkeye's reply above. First... RBG was not "banned from the RP community", we interact with them all the time in various ways. They were just not invited to join the OvC theme, because they are in itself a theme of their own. Themes are different than alliances.

As for OvC itself, no one shared your passion for getting everyone joined to the two available alliances more than we did, I think you know that. But unfortunately, in execution that proved difficult. And I agree with you that the inflexibility of some to make those hard decisions and change and adapt in order to progress Catskills seemed an impossibility. They saw this as giving up control of their guilds, where we saw it as improving control over declares and making it easier for folks. But we had to adapt, even if others were not quick to do the same. We did that simply because we love this shard, and we don't think about just CoD...

I agree with you that Catskills population is dwindling at best, but we've really started to crank up the interactions this month, and Pandora is planning on at least one ship battle this month. December was just a throw-away month, too many unavailibilities due to the holidays. But this month is going to bring amount a lot more. My goal is to have something happening at least 4x a week.

My hope is that whatever UP is left on Catskills (Aneirin and others, even if part time) do try to make those events as well. UP is a very importance piece of the pie, however small that pie may currently be. I truly do thank you all for your dedication to helping us. Aneirin especially for his participation, even with such low attendance (my husband had a book signing and I couldn't attend myself), and braving that all on his own.

Thank you Hawkeye for letting us interact with you on your forums. We have loved having you as the Capt of this fine crew, and VERY MUCH hope someone else picks up that torch!!!
 
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