Can we bring UO back to its glory days?

[Guest]

Frankly, I often wonder if I'm sinking a lot of my spare time developing my place in a game that may well be gone a few weeks hence.

I still love Ultima Online (obviously). I still love the Ultima style isometric presentation. I think the KR client was an excellent facelift on the game.

But it's impossible to ignore that our numbers are dwindling constantly.

I've read posts that the devs don't care about UO. That may be true in some cases, but I think most of them do care. The problem is, as many of us who work in the software industry can tell you, budget is the lifeline of any project. If the funding is reduced, the developers will have to make do with less. Less time, less personnel, less resources. EA has proved time and time again they acquired UO as a vehicle to exploit, not to develop, so they throw token resources to keep the money flowing in with minimal upkeep. They care nothing about the rich UO history (God I hated how they shat all over the UO legacy in LBR by whoring it out to the immensely overrated hack/skull fetishist Todd McFarlane). I wish OSI still ran it -- UO was crafted with love and pride, even if it had problems. Why? Because it wasn't a moneyflow first and foremost -- it was furthering the mythology they spent 2 decades building.

Ultima Online blew my socks off when I first loaded it up. I was so hooked on the game that I spent 2-3 years where I only got 3 hours of sleep a night.

Can we go back to the old days, or is Mr. Wolfe right about going home again?

 

[Guest]

These aren't glory days?

 

[Hooli Gan]

I think yeah these are the glory days, this is the best this game has ever been.Just the population blows thats what i miss about the old uther than that i think its mucho better nowadays.

 

[Fayled Dhreams]

Oh Come ON! *takes quatloo back* ... at least take a pass at substantiating your analysis ...
ie. base it more on facts and less on impressions ...

"... budget is the lifeline of any project ..." FINE ...

Now ... what IS the current budget and staffing for UO ... ??? ...

*vaguely waves hands*

sheesh .... sorry ... but ...

ahhhhh screw it ... if you don't know what Mr Wolfe was talking about .... too late to learn it.

well ...

at least I broke even on my quatloo count ...

 

[Hooli Gan]

Yeah what he said!!

 

[Hooli Gan]

Ultima Online blew my socks off when I first loaded it up. I was so hooked on the game that I spent 2-3 years where I only got 3 hours of sleep a night.


Betcha thats why My first GF blew my socks off too but i slept like a baby afterwords.

 

[Tanduay]

Posted by PrinceCaspian,
"But it's impossible to ignore that our numbers are dwindling constantly."

my humble replies to that statement are as follows:

-its because they are trying to change UO from its winning, original format into a [censored] version of every other game out there on the market now.

-its because some jerks, who likes that loser kids game dark age of camolet are now running things instead of the people from OSI who love OU.

-its because no one ever asks those of us who have played UO for over 10 years what keeps us around as customers.

-its because people who don't have the wealth to upgrade their computers can see that soon OU woulnt run on their machines anymore.

-its because they just dont understand that the 2D old school look and style of play in UO......IS...... why people play it.

let them work there ass off on destroying UO with KR, me and everyone else i know will still be using 2D, then me and my four accounts will be gone.

it really chaps my ass that when i joined the UO beta in december 1997, that was the last time anyone asked for my input. do you want to know when the glory days of UO were, between LBR and SE.......BECAUSE..... there was no changes to the game for at least a year (it seems like that, let me know if you know the exact timeline).

can you imagine a time were they (the devs) just left us alone and let us play UO everyday and didn't try and cater to the event of the week crowd.

please devs just let us play, don't worry there is enough content that we can entertain ourselfs for several years.

feel free to chew up my commentary and spit out your replies, I do love constructive criticism.

P.S. you can always come home, unless someone burns it down.

 

[Guest]

NOOOOOBS!

 

[Guest]

Didn't I just read this over here "Why not? Whats your motivation?"?!

 

[imported_BlacK RaiN]

<blockquote><hr>

-its because they are trying to change UO from its winning, original format into a [censored] version of every other game out there on the market now.

[/ QUOTE ]

Bingo...

Been saying this for 9 years now... since they gave us that pile of crap called Trammel just because a lot of people in Asia started playing a game created by an Asian company named Sony.

I REALLY wish they would stop trying to inject the rest of the MMO industry into this game already... If we wanted to play the other crap that's out there... wouldn't people think we'd already be doing so?

<blockquote><hr>

-its because no one ever asks those of us who have played UO for over 10 years what keeps us around as customers.

[/ QUOTE ]

You're absolutely [censored] right on that one.

 

[Guest]

people who joined since pub 16 wont understand, and a few from pre-publish didnt even discover the game fully, and so they may also not, but there was, just like he said, a huge difference between OSI UO, and EA UO, since EA has owned UO they have given it a facelift, and though there are many who think and preach otherwise, the reason that people come here, isnt because of the graphics, obviously, it is for the variety of what they get here, and the people they meet here, and last but not least, FOR THE FREEDOM. in this game you arent led from one place to another because that is the next place you are suppose to go, and you can try your hand at a dragon, or a balron on your first day ingame. What is sad, is that if someone has enough money, they can defeat a balron or ancient wyrm on their first day here, advanced chars?

what is also sad, is that anyone thinks that this is the glory days, because that person could not have encountered UO's extremely rich heritage.... there were thrills everywhere, and the dwindling population isnt because of the lack of graphics, or the lack of new things to do, or people to meet, it is lacking because EA has been taking what we had, and what we built, as a community, and tearing it apart since they bought it..... PVP is just a small example, there isnt a race, or profession that hasnt been touched by the massive changes.....

this is why we want a test- allbeit retro shard..... to prove our point, and there are thousands that will back that point, sadly, those people arent the voices that are listened to...... it is the ones that leave their chars un-attended at luna/brit bank, while they worked all the forums they could find..... the voices i want to hear are the ones just like this one that started this thread, that immersed themselves in the game for 18 hours a night, i know i use to, i dont know how many jobs i lost, and how many tests i failed 7 to 10 years ago because of that.... and i mean IN GAME, not char in game, and them here or there at a forum, or whatever....

 

[kennykilleduo]

I miss the hunt for Vanq weps and Slayer weps or even the bone knight room training wall..

 

[imported_Sip-n-Shine]

<blockquote><hr>

people who joined since pub 16 wont understand, and a few from pre-publish didnt even discover the game fully, and so they may also not, but there was, just like he said, a huge difference between OSI UO, and EA UO, since EA has owned UO they have given it a facelift, and though there are many who think and preach otherwise, the reason that people come here, isnt because of the graphics, obviously, it is for the variety of what they get here, and the people they meet here, and last but not least, FOR THE FREEDOM. in this game you arent led from one place to another because that is the next place you are suppose to go, and you can try your hand at a dragon, or a balron on your first day ingame. What is sad, is that if someone has enough money, they can defeat a balron or ancient wyrm on their first day here, advanced chars?

what is also sad, is that anyone thinks that this is the glory days, because that person could not have encountered UO's extremely rich heritage.... there were thrills everywhere, and the dwindling population isnt because of the lack of graphics, or the lack of new things to do, or people to meet, it is lacking because EA has been taking what we had, and what we built, as a community, and tearing it apart since they bought it..... PVP is just a small example, there isnt a race, or profession that hasnt been touched by the massive changes.....

this is why we want a test- allbeit retro shard..... to prove our point, and there are thousands that will back that point, sadly, those people arent the voices that are listened to...... it is the ones that leave their chars un-attended at luna/brit bank, while they worked all the forums they could find..... the voices i want to hear are the ones just like this one that started this thread, that immersed themselves in the game for 18 hours a night, i know i use to, i dont know how many jobs i lost, and how many tests i failed 7 to 10 years ago because of that.... and i mean IN GAME, not char in game, and them here or there at a forum, or whatever....

[/ QUOTE ]

Signed.


Oh how i do miss the good ol days of Uo. I still keep my accounts just because of the thought we might get a retro Pre Pub 16 shard..

 

[Guest]

Mr. Wolfe was correct, but we can still have an incredible future if the devs recognize the value of PVP, crafting, and balance. I think they do and I'm willing to wait for a strong SA product (course we've already waited a couple years).

 

[imported_Splup]

Signed.

Pre pub16 would be dream come true (for me, not my girlfriend

).

Too bad EA has announced that we will never get it.

 

[legs]

Tanduay's post pretty well says it all.

I speak not in anger, but in frustration. Quit improving things, please. We don't need better armour...... and if you can't kill whtaever you are after with the weapons already in game, take up crafting..... well, that is, if you can manage to get the resources needed anymore. We don't need new tiles to build houses... oh geez.. i wish we still had locks for the door... the keys worked, you know.

What we do need is Dev's and GM's and Seers that come into the game and do wild things. preferably not shard-wide, but randomly, no need to bring 500 or 600 people to the same screen. (Maybe you had to be there to known how much fun they were.)

And for heavens sakes, get the PVP situation under control -- i don't pvp, but it obviously is a very critical part of this game. It was a big part or the original UO!

This game has been so "Improved" that it has "improved" a heck of a lot of players away.

Each time you do one of the major "improvements" a lot of ppl (including myself) start looking around at other games, using the 10 day trials, etc.

You can go home... it won't be the same exactly, and the innocence will be gone, but the basic structure is still there.

(well, i ranted and raved and hope it makes some sense. in any case, i feel better now.)

 

[Guest]

You mean the glory days from last week?

 

[pallas]

Even the glory days had bad points, I loved things back in 'the day' but we ALSO have had quite a lot of good things happen since waaaay back when.

 

[ZippyTwitch]

[I think yeah these are the glory days, this is the best this game has ever been]

Ummmm What? This game has been getting worse and worse. Dumb idea after dumb idea being implemented. And lets see thats been going on now since hmmmmmmm The AOS patch. The glory days was when everyone hung out at the brit bank. The FEL brit bank. Oh im sorry wasnt fel then. It was the only brit bank. But regardless those were the glory days. When it was scary to actually leave town. Now those times were hell of alot funner.

 

[Karthcove]

<blockquote><hr>

And for heavens sakes, get the PVP situation under control -- i don't pvp, but it obviously is a very critical part of this game. It was a big part or the original UO!

[/ QUOTE ]

I have to respectfully disagree with the last part. Yes, pvp obviously existed but not that people were always in battle with another player - you could freely travel around fel, t2a and in dungeons and more times than not you were not attacked. There were certain roads you didn't travel, Brit xroads, near the bridge on the way to Trinsic and the road from Vesper to Minoc are a few that come to mind. I also played for hours and hours just about everyday and not be attacked at all, sometimes for days at a time. I remember talking to a bunch of friends who were red - PvP was on their mind but they didn't want an additional murder count, didn't want the stat loss which wasn't on a timer...you had to go re-learn the skill points. Todays PvP is not even close to the same - the "red" distinction doesn't draw the respect it once did, they might as well get rid of it altogether - or make it "pink" now out of respect from the people who used to EARN it and have to DEFEND it from potential consequence, consequence that was REAL.

 

[Guest]

actually, in your post, you didnt just disagree, you just said the same thing, i think....

 

[Guest]

I agree. Ever since EA took over UO has gone down the [censored] hole.

I miss the good old days of fights at Brit X-Roads, at Raiding/Defending the new players in Brit Cemetary as they attempted to get Bone Armor (Bone Armor innately gave the most AR, but wasn't craftable and was hard to find Magic Bone Armor), of laying in wait on a road with my Perma Red, waiting for someone to come along to ambush them (Which didn't take long). The days of going into Shame on my Perma Red and being chased out by half a dozen blues after killing a few of their friends. The days of picking up a Moonstone off a Headless One, wondering "Wtf is this" and double clicking it and getting the message "You cannot use this now, but it may become useful in the future" or something like that. Of walking to the Brit Forge on my blues and there ALWAYS being a crowd of Smiths and customers there. The days of being chased after on my Thief after i stole someones boat key at Brit Bank, or Disarm Punched someone and stole their Vanq Kat out of their pack in Buc's Den. The days of constant suspense and the thrill of wondering if some red was gonna chase me out of a Mine while i was mining with my craftsman. Training Parry by casting 2 Blade Spirits and attacking them (Went through a ****load of Bucklers and Bandies that way, good Healing gains too). Those were the most fun, thrilling, suspenseful, rewarding days of UO IMO.

The stat loss sucked, but other than that, PvP was great. Well, having to talk a blue into going into town and buying me a horse sucked too, since if i stepped a foot into a guard zone i would get whacked (Could avoid that by Teleporting in town, but if i moved in town other than with Teleport, *Whack*), plus NPCs wouldn't even deal with me. When i was without a horse, i got ganked alot by blues, thus further stat loss. Rez kills at Chaos Shrine sucked too (Damn griefing blues).

 

[Karthcove]

<blockquote><hr>

actually, in your post, you didnt just disagree, you just said the same thing, i think....

[/ QUOTE ]

<blockquote><hr>

It was a big part or the original UO!

[/ QUOTE ]

This is the part I was in disagreement with ^^^.

What I remember most about the early days and what was a BIG part of UO were chars like Versace (I can only comment on the Pac shard btw) as an example. Versace was a tailor, he was known throughout the land and most people wanted something he made. Yes, any tailor could make an item of the same quality but because of how the char was played, the personality and his very presents displayed demanded respect.

I remember one of the most bustling places was the Brit forge - smithys doing their level best to make a living. I remember having just a few thousand gold in the bank and thinking how well off I was. I remember it would take 2 GM warriors, cross healing to take down a dragon. I remember the dream of some day owning some pixel real estate.

Even murders had their "famous" people. One I remember named Earthquake. From what I do remember of the guy he didn't just PK to PK - he sought out challenge and would not attack people who he thought weak. He would even stop the weaker, less trained char and start up a conversation, even give ya pointers - yup, I was one of those he gave pointers too.

People "lived" back then and took what life offered. Today it seems people "exist" with the only goal to get enough planeswords to get a good turn in item.

So, could we ever return to the "glory days"?

I think there may be too many definitions and prospectives of what the "glory" was from a game mechanics and value/virtue belief system stand point.