Baja Population Cont.

[Grey Eagle of Baja]

I had posted this on the other board about bringing people back to our shard and, someone, said it was a pretty decent idea but I should start a new thread on it . So here we go .




Hi all , Well I had thought on this for quite awhile, and I think I have something that might work (might not too) . OK this will take a whole shard Co-operation, but what if we all moved from Luna and back to Brit like the old times, WE would still all be baja but with our own unigue game setting. Making Old Britain our hometown may bring others around (hopefully ) and it seems as though most of the events originate there anyway. Does anyone remember going up and down the roads of Britain to a certain vendor instead of going around the Luna Marigoround? I think that as a whole we would attract more players like this and we could do all the old street corner selling and trading ., plus help new players out .
Well , just a thought ,
Feel free to comment.. but please leave my grammar out of it..

 

[RawHeadRex]

i like it.

part of that experience imho was that there was no tram or insurance
'back then.'

it put the fear of God in us to simply leave the house. of course getting jumped as you returned home and losing the house key and everything in the house was not the greatest... but everything else really put the fire under my arse when there wasn't any tram.

 

[BajaElladan]

Hail Folks,

I appear in West Britain/Trammel far more often then in any other City, Save Trinsic, of course. I visit Luna once in awhile. And While I am All in Favor of increased presences in Britain, and Trinsic, and in all the Virtue Towns, My Dear Friend Charlemagne is Caretaker at the Luna Community Center.

Our "problem" is at least Two-Fold and perhaps many Folded. How to increase overall Population of Baja, and How to encourage Larger Gatherings of the existing Population.

I welcome all ideas to accomplish any and all of these Tho I doubt we will ever see a return to those days when Britain was the Center of City Commerce.

Elladan

 

[Voluptuous]

I think the large area of space Brit covers to get to the smithy, to the stables, to the mage shop, etc. is why people preferred and stayed in Luna.

I after many years finally HAVE a Luna home...and would be sorely disappointed to have Luna devoid of people. It'd be like buying that covered chair serverbirth...right before they nerfed it in heritage tokens.

ouch.

 

[WarderDragon]

Been Discussed. Debated. Attempted.

I favor Britain. I favor the Capitol of Britannia.

But as a member of the White Stag Team on Stratics I have visited other shards. Learned about their Townships. Their RP Communities. And in doing so I have also passed through their Luna. Their Fairegrounds. Their Township Teleport Hubs and Decorated Buildings.

I have to wonder if our resistance - my resistance - to Luna is part of the reason we no longer get nice things. We are one of two shards - the other being Legends - whose bank design was never completed. When I brought this to their attention on U.Hall the Developers finished Europa. Baja is still waiting.

I will continue to advocate Britain. It remains the unofficial social gathering point for most of the RP Alliance through some of us have taken to going elsewhere. But perhaps we - I - need to accept that things will be done for Luna and not for Britain and put our efforts towards seeing that we have at least as much as other shards if not better.

 

[BajaElladan]

Hail Folks,

Perhaps we should EACH speak out for our Favorite Town or City of Choice, and rather than merely lamenting Luna or speaking ill of her, perhaps each of us could contribute to making our Luna the best Luna anywhere.

Vendors are obviously not leaving Luna anytime soon, if ever. However, let us challenge each Homeowner and Merchant in Luna to Design or Redesign their Buildings to Create a more Beautiful, even Stunning Luna while preserving the Commerce.

Perhaps the Owners could coordinate and give Luna a Crafting Guild Hall, a Magery, Scrolls, and Herbs Shop, a Tannery and Bowyer Shop, etc.

Maybe even the Building Names could reflect purpose or addresses.

These are mere thoughts, beginnings of an ongoing and hopefully productive discussion.

Maybe even a Theatre or Colliseum for Plays etc.

 

[jaashua]

Personally, I'm bouncing around between three servers. My heart has always been with Baja. I've been there there longest and go back to Oct 97, so I have a good grasp of its culture.

I switched to Pacific, because I love the economic side of the game....running a vendor....etc. And Baja stuff would just sit for weeks. Pac seemed slightly better populated, but not very active in Felucca.

So I switched to GL when I found a plot inside Mokuto there. Finally, stuff is flying off my vendor and Felucca is packed. Of course, I ping 110-120 there and lag in crowds....unacceptable. On Pac and Baja, I have 10-20 ping and never lag.

So, now I'm stuck and trying to decide where to go.

The problem is, we, as west coast players, haven't consolidated yet. East coast players flatly abandoned Chesapeake and Catskills and consolidated in Atlantic. Lake Superior players moved to GL. But we've all stayed put.

So how do we get ourselves to consolidate?

1) Wait for EAMythic to do it for us. This is the worst case scenario. Will take too long if it ever happens and will almost certainly be horribly implemented.

2) Wait for people to gradually and organically migrate to one of the shards. It's been 14 years. It would have happened by now.

3) Do something about it.

 

[jaashua]

Do what?

Organize an exodus of the largest active guilds and communities from one or more of the west coast shards to another. Given that it is the oldest, most populous, and has the most universal name.....that shard will have to be Pacific. The idea is that smaller guilds and casual solo players would follow once Baja gets even worse.

There is nothing you can do to increase the population of Baja in a meaningful way. Beautifying Brit bank, being more friendly, having more community events, making Luna nicer......pointless. More so than any other MMO, UO needs activity and interaction. PvP, factions, buying and selling, chatting, role playing.......it all requires people. You assist in creating a west coast super shard and you create a place for new and returning players as well as players who might consider going inactive.

There are two issues.

1) Housing. There is a lot in this for Pac, so, if they want the influx of players, they're going to have to figure out a way to parcel out some Luna land to a few select Baja luna house owners. The longstanding communities like Dawn and the Golden Brew would need their corresponding plots. Aside from that, most of the choice plots for housing are taken, but there are still a lot. I would volunteer to find and catalog 200 nice plots for players. I also have a three story inside the city in Mokuto I'd give to somebody. Again, with some cooperation from the larger Pac guilds, it shouldn't be difficult.

2) Cost. Starting over just isn't practical. Plus, it would leave people with a foothold still on Baja. So this would need to involve character transfers. At $20 a pop, that's not cheap. But it looks like EAMythic has thrown us a timely bone. There are to be UOgamecode price drops this month according to the latest producer letter. If that involves transfer tokens, then this becomes a LOT more viable. Ideally, there would be a "To Pacific Only" token for $2 or something, but I can imagine that suggestion being ignored like most other ones. Still, if they cut the price in half or more, this might be the perfect time to organize this move.

 

[WarderDragon]

I appreciate the offer. I'll pass.

 

[BajaElladan]

Hail,

I will NEVER depart from Baja!!! NEVER! So long as Baja and I both exist, we CO-EXIST!

Clearly you value different things pertaining to a shard or you simply value the same things only higher on some other shard. I suspect your post was purely and simply a TROLL, for it added nothing on topic or helpful.

Shame on you!

Do what?

Organize an exodus of the largest active guilds and communities from one or more of the west coast shards to another. Given that it is the oldest, most populous, and has the most universal name.....that shard will have to be Pacific. The idea is that smaller guilds and casual solo players would follow once Baja gets even worse.

There is nothing you can do to increase the population of Baja in a meaningful way. Beautifying Brit bank, being more friendly, having more community events, making Luna nicer......pointless. More so than any other MMO, UO needs activity and interaction. PvP, factions, buying and selling, chatting, role playing.......it all requires people. You assist in creating a west coast super shard and you create a place for new and returning players as well as players who might consider going inactive.

There are two issues.

1) Housing. There is a lot in this for Pac, so, if they want the influx of players, they're going to have to figure out a way to parcel out some Luna land to a few select Baja luna house owners. The longstanding communities like Dawn and the Golden Brew would need their corresponding plots. Aside from that, most of the choice plots for housing are taken, but there are still a lot. I would volunteer to find and catalog 200 nice plots for players. I also have a three story inside the city in Mokuto I'd give to somebody. Again, with some cooperation from the larger Pac guilds, it shouldn't be difficult.

2) Cost. Starting over just isn't practical. Plus, it would leave people with a foothold still on Baja. So this would need to involve character transfers. At $20 a pop, that's not cheap. But it looks like EAMythic has thrown us a timely bone. There are to be UOgamecode price drops this month according to the latest producer letter. If that involves transfer tokens, then this becomes a LOT more viable. Ideally, there would be a "To Pacific Only" token for $2 or something, but I can imagine that suggestion being ignored like most other ones. Still, if they cut the price in half or more, this might be the perfect time to organize this move.

 

[Amber Witch]

So how do we get ourselves to consolidate?

1) Wait for EAMythic to do it for us. This is the worst case scenario. Will take too long if it ever happens and will almost certainly be horribly implemented.

I've seen this brought up in UHall or someplace else.. not sure where. I've tried to find out where EAMythic said this and I have not been able to find anything. Is this drama or is there actually something posted somewhere? If it's posted could someone provide a link to the URL?

Thanks

 

[WarderDragon]

The Developers have announced there is no plan - or future intention - of merging the Shards.

Some have discussed merging the subservers - i.e. Ilshenar and the Dungeons - allowing someone from Baja to hunt with people from Origin or Pacific and then return to their respective Trammel [Baja] or Trammel [Pacific]. But that is a discussion for another thread.

 

[WarderDragon]

Found it.

You can find the thread it was posted in here.

For the record we have discussed this, and have not done it for all the reason you are mentioning.

First, we have to respect the players who have invested time and real world money, and virtual blood in their real estate. Merging would be a bit of a nightmare right now ...

Secondly, we have to think of benefit v. pain in something so expansive.

So for right now, in an "off expansion" dev cycle (notice I said Dev Cycle not Year), we are focusing on live and getting our core things fixed to try to drive players toward playing, and activity.

- Cal

 

[jaashua]

Hail,

I will NEVER depart from Baja!!! NEVER! So long as Baja and I both exist, we CO-EXIST!

Clearly you value different things pertaining to a shard or you simply value the same things only higher on some other shard. I suspect your post was purely and simply a TROLL, for it added nothing on topic or helpful.

Shame on you!

Shame on me?

I value the people. They are what make a shard. Not some arbitrary name.

 

[SuperKen]

I don't know if posting that makes it a troll...it made sense and seemed sincere.

As for the merging of shards, there are still pvpers on Chessy and Catskills, and most of them play Atl as well.

 

[Amber Witch]

By the standards of the RoC it wasn't a troll. It was respectful and there wasn't anything that violated the RoC. I would say the post is not off topic as it attempts to address the issue as a whole.

You may not like the suggestion, you may respectfully disagree but there is no shame for anyone to post their thoughts or ideas as long as they are in accordance with the RoC.

Statics is a place where all should feel safe to post. Lets not jump all over someone who has made the effort to express themselves.

Back to topic.

 

[siyeng0]

Oh calm down, Elladan. Posting that everybody on the Western shards should just up and move to Pacific is unhelpful and slightly annoying, but it's still a legitimate suggestion, put forth politely and, I believe, with good intentions.

And leave your capslock key alone before it dies of exhaustion.

Edit: The post that this was in response to died a tragic death. However, I'll leave this reply up because capslock key labour laws are very important to me.

 

[BajaElladan]

Obviously we disagree.

Oh calm down, Elladan. Posting that everybody on the Western shards should just up and move to Pacific is unhelpful and slightly annoying, but it's still a legitimate suggestion, put forth politely and, I believe, with good intentions.

And leave your capslock key alone before it dies of exhaustion.

Edit: The post that this was in response to died a tragic death. However, I'll leave this reply up because capslock key labour laws are very important to me.

 

[jaashua]

Tell you what. You go ahead and get the Luna home owners to redesign their buildings to create a more beautiful Luna. Then I'll go to each shard and announce the incredible news. My only fear is that the stampede of players might crash the shard.

 

[Deaol]

To tell you the truth, I play pacific... and yeah, there might be a few more people.. but all in all the community on Baja far surpasses what is available on pacific right now. I would take a small active community over a larger player base any day.

 

[Voluptuous]

Well ya, a pretty luna isn't the grand solution by any means...heh. But it's one i can actually try to do. I like the fact i helped over 135 other players come to baja just to see a house. Hey at least they CAME and took a look.

Some asked me to duplicate houses on THEIR shards...to which I say nope. For now only Baja will get em.

Move here, I will build it for you.

 

[jaashua]

What are you hoping to accomplish? Beautify Brit, renovate Luna, offer home design, roll out the red carpet. You understand, of course, that implied in all of this is that you're going to be drawing people from other shards. Well, just look at how you all bristled when I suggested you be the ones to take that leap. You can be assured that people on other shards will have similar reactions. So it's okay for them, but it's not okay for you? Nice.

I picked Baja to bring it up because Baja has, imo, the strongest community. The kind that could handle a shard transfer. The kind of community that the new shard would be grateful to have join them and for which they would go out of their way to make allowances.

The fact is, you all see a problem with the low pop shards...of which Baja is one. That's why you're reading this thread and contributing ideas. But you don't want to be a part of the only pragmatic solution.

 

[Yalp]

Missing from the discussion is the fact that some people prefer to live in small communities. As in real life, more people live in small communities than in large cities. There are intangibles associated with Baja that can't be duplicated if the entire population were to transplant itself to another shard.

We (Baja) can continue to offer our particular twist of what is UO... but in the end, if EA doesn't do more to increase the overall player base, all shards will suffer... my hope is that they start investing in advertising for UO.

 

[jaashua]

When faced with the reality that only a shard merge can help the situation, the low pop may be preferrable, but I didn't read one post in this thread where somebody said they had no problem with the low population.

Advertising is the LAST thing they should do. You ever read comments on Youtube videos of UO that get posted? I posted a video of the EC on a general gaming forum and it elicited nothing but laughter. Nobody is going to give it a chance no matter how much you put it in their face.

If they plan to come out with a whole new client with modern graphics, then it will advertise itself. But it sounds like they're just planning to fix up the EC a little bit. So, apparently, EAMythic isn't going to come to the rescue.

 

[Yalp]

When faced with the reality that only a shard merge can help the situation, the low pop may be preferrable, but I didn't read one post in this thread where somebody said they had no problem with the low population.

Advertising is the LAST thing they should do. You ever read comments on Youtube videos of UO that get posted? I posted a video of the EC on a general gaming forum and it elicited nothing but laughter. Nobody is going to give it a chance no matter how much you put it in their face.

If they plan to come out with a whole new client with modern graphics, then it will advertise itself. But it sounds like they're just planning to fix up the EC a little bit. So, apparently, EAMythic isn't going to come to the rescue.

I for one have no problem with low population shards. We have everything a large pop shard does.. and we avoid most of the problems large pop shards do.. like LAG fests, exploitative players, selfish farmers, most unattended macro'rs, overblown prices on vendors, lack of housing, etc.

There really isn't any excuse not to advertise. Its a matter of where you advertise and to what market you go after. Advertising to hard core gamers who fall into the 18-26 year old group is probably not the best strategy. These people are used to cutting edge graphics. But advertising to an older population, retirees, fantasy lovers, could be a boom to UO. In any event, since EA doesn't do any advertising it is difficult to argue that it wouldn't work. You never know until you know.