...
What a ride over the past week in UO terms. SUPPOSEDLY, the only real new dev team member is the new producer, but we've gone from hearing next to nothing to several straight days of info-overload with a Publish that's as big as High Seas in terms of content upgrades (and this time we're not being charged $15 for it!) and the promise of a higher level of communication.
Dungeon Revamp + EC graphics updates (subtle for now, going to be VERY noticeable next publish) + new high quality dyes + higher communication efforts + a bunch of quick bug fixing and actually LISTENING to feedback... it's like there's a whole new team at the head.
I know logically that most of this was at least started under Cal's supervision, but I never really liked a lot of his tenure (especially after Draconi, Leuro and others left). The communication dropped to almost nothing, his attitude wasn't very professional, and the ingame events were... dumb ("Let's create a stupidly hard to kill monster that can insta-kill people, give it the CHANCE to drop an item, then make people need 10 of that item!"... can I smack the person who thought THAT one up?). The danger of the methods used by Cal (and by extension Messana under Cal) undermined all of the behind-the-scenes upgrades they were doing to the game (new servers, new databases, etc) because they kept hush-hush about everything which left the players out in the cold for months at a time.
When KR came out, it was a good time to feel like UO was starting to really turn a corner and take off again. There was a client I could point to and say to people to "check this out". The non-UO players seeing the two side by side were impressed at the changes. When it was replaced by the EC, that feeling of excitement really went away because now it was the older graphics, but distorted and pixelated... one of the biggest problems the old 3d client had. With the previews of the upcoming EC artwork updates, the info provided by Grimm, and the terrain textures already done, I have a good feeling that "Hey check this out!" excitement will be back, and the newly revamped dungeon(s) will only enhance this.
Once Publish 73 is done and released, then the real test of the new direction and attitude of the Team will begin... and we will be watching.
What a ride over the past week in UO terms. SUPPOSEDLY, the only real new dev team member is the new producer, but we've gone from hearing next to nothing to several straight days of info-overload with a Publish that's as big as High Seas in terms of content upgrades (and this time we're not being charged $15 for it!) and the promise of a higher level of communication.
Dungeon Revamp + EC graphics updates (subtle for now, going to be VERY noticeable next publish) + new high quality dyes + higher communication efforts + a bunch of quick bug fixing and actually LISTENING to feedback... it's like there's a whole new team at the head.
I know logically that most of this was at least started under Cal's supervision, but I never really liked a lot of his tenure (especially after Draconi, Leuro and others left). The communication dropped to almost nothing, his attitude wasn't very professional, and the ingame events were... dumb ("Let's create a stupidly hard to kill monster that can insta-kill people, give it the CHANCE to drop an item, then make people need 10 of that item!"... can I smack the person who thought THAT one up?). The danger of the methods used by Cal (and by extension Messana under Cal) undermined all of the behind-the-scenes upgrades they were doing to the game (new servers, new databases, etc) because they kept hush-hush about everything which left the players out in the cold for months at a time.
When KR came out, it was a good time to feel like UO was starting to really turn a corner and take off again. There was a client I could point to and say to people to "check this out". The non-UO players seeing the two side by side were impressed at the changes. When it was replaced by the EC, that feeling of excitement really went away because now it was the older graphics, but distorted and pixelated... one of the biggest problems the old 3d client had. With the previews of the upcoming EC artwork updates, the info provided by Grimm, and the terrain textures already done, I have a good feeling that "Hey check this out!" excitement will be back, and the newly revamped dungeon(s) will only enhance this.
Once Publish 73 is done and released, then the real test of the new direction and attitude of the Team will begin... and we will be watching.