They. Won't.
This is what’s called a straw man argument. No basis in factual reality, just 'passionate' opinion presented as fact. It's the staple of the Classic Shard propaganda machine.
They aren't really looking at it objectively. If the majority of people wanted Pre-AOS, there would be a lot more pancakes going on. A LOT more. More people would be on the classic shard bandwagon, making a lot more noise, and EA would be listening.
In the circles I travel in, at least, I hear nobody trying to relive the past, even though they have fond memories of it. But this is how nostalgia WORKS. It glosses over the not-so-good parts and makes it seem as though it were all sunshine.
Now, granted, Roland did make up his 98.9% number, however, all one has to do is talk to people on the shards and look at how they are playing.
Guilty as charged, I was trying to say "the overwelming majority" but it came out wrong.
If people didn't like imbuing, insurance, AoS, Trammel, etc with such passion then they wouldn't be playing. Sub numbers are down, but directly correlating them to any of those "reasons" is impossible... Even with that bogus MMO subscription chart they keep pulling out of their butts.
Is Trammel vacant? Are people giving imbuing the cold shoulder and passing on better armor? I think people want to roam Trammel in their imbued and insured armor, and I think people want to do their best to blow up bugged pirates, judging by where the population is currently.
And hard proof data probably doesn't exist, at least in a form that isimpartial and unbiased. For your hard data, you just have to go take a couple dungeon crawls through Fel, and look for people that aren't red. Then write down the grand total (it won't take an adding machine, it will likely be single digits), then repeat the experiment in Trammel (you might require an adding machine here). Then go to that sea port thing in the middle of the ocean, and try to get in. From all the pancakes I hear at the bank and in guildchat, it's loaded.
People who play on the free shards are most likely happy where they are and happy with the free shard’s lack of impact on their wallet. They won’t suddenly abandon these shards in droves and run to pay EA a monthly sub just so they can play an ‘official classic shard.’ Many, many games have free shards lurking on the interwebs. Those that play there do so because it’s FREE
And the people on the free shards and the public shards have a community and sense of belonging, and probably wouldn't want to pack up and leave. Even if they did, they would be pancakes from the first minute they stepped into the shard about how theye didn't do it right, and this isn't how they remembered it. Fire the devs, because it was all flowers and sunshine in their memories, and reality seems much harsher. This isn't what they paid for! LOL
When's the last time people went to Titan Valley in T2A?
I was actually there yesterday! A guildmate was messing around with Dryad Allure and had herself an ogre lord escort and we were having fun sicking it on various things and betting on the outcome. It was actually quite entertaining, I'd highly recommend it.
News flash, the game has been more about a running storyline over the last 5 years than at any other time in UO history. Aside from a few story arc events (Invasion of Trinsic being one of the most remembered) in the old days, after the Seers were lost and before Draconi started the Inu arc, the "story" of the game, if present at all, was almost always external to the game and then only to introduce new areas or content.
I really wish there was some sort of persistant evidence of the storyline, and it was a little more involving to the players. Take the Bane invasions for example, all that seems to be happening is they put a spawn in a random town, and the next day, it's gone. It would be far more interesting if the invasion happened like invasions do, they start with the bane entering the town, not just popping up in random locations all over it at once. There could be a "front line" where the opposing forces of meer and ophidians are clashing, and real progress could be seen as the players help move the line, and perhaps the remaining bane could be seen retreating. Maybe the news could start before the bane actually get to the town, and the players could form ranks to prevent them from entering the town. Maybe when the battle is finished, the players could stick around and help haul out the corpses. LOL
