Dear EA, UO is too complicated

[Omnius]

Dear EA,

Over the last year, things in UO have become exponentially more complicated. PvP requires days of research to try and understand a few months worth of patch notes.

Not to mention the enormous increase in item mods with no clear area to check exactly how any of them work.

It's very complicated. The only information in the game about the game is like 7 years old. The website doesn't provide useful information either. UOGuide is out of date. Stratics isn't better.

Do the developers think it's fun playing in a game where it's patently unclear what anything does? I've had 3 friends try UO in the last year. All 3 left UO within 2-3 weeks on the basis that it's totally unclear what anything does. There is really no way to learn. Players rarely know the right answer and you can't even google an answer.

Please, Please, Please provide an updated player guide. EA is in the best position to provide information. You could make this game player friendly. Providing information what things do doesn't take the sense of adventure from the game, it just removes the hours of research to get a clear understanding of how 1 thing works away.

 

[Picus of Napa]

+1.

I've been playing this game for a long time but there is a ton of stuff that I don't know. What on earth are all the new "hit"'s on the shame items, how do they trigger and what do they do?

IMO this issue is just like the years old reliance on UOA to cover stuff that should have been added to the game 10 years ago but were looked over because a secondary program that one had to pay for would do the trick. Why bother making a decent web site that would provide information when players would get tired and do it for you? Why review skill progression when a secondary program does this also?

Get with the times team and finish these.

 

[Uvtha]

Its not too complicated, but it DOES desperately need up to date official documentation. That's been a UO problem for a looooong time.

What ever happened to the in game codex of knowledge idea?

 

[Uvtha]

Its not too complicated, but it DOES desperately need up to date official documentation. That's been a UO problem for a looooong time.

What ever happened to the in game codex of knowledge idea?

 

[Viper09]

Its not too complicated, but it DOES desperately need up to date official documentation. That's been a UO problem for a looooong time.

What ever happened to the in game codex of knowledge idea?

I concur. Not too complicated but does need a more up-to-date guide.

 

[Snyder330]

Have you guy tryed uoguide.com? If has alot of info about this GREAT game

Thanks,

 

[Storm]

While I agree it would be nice to have the "official guide".
Keep in mind we here at stratics are all volunteers that means The ME's,The mods,the reporters everyone!
So if at anytime any of you would like to put together a guide or expand on one we have or even correct errors we may have made feel free to send it to petra or for that matter anyone in charge of that area below you will find a link describing who does what areas!

UO Stratics *New* | The UO Stratics Team

 

[Uriah Heep]

Over the last year, things in UO have become exponentially more complicated. PvP requires days of research to try and understand a few months worth of patch notes.

Not to mention the enormous increase in item mods with no clear area to check exactly how any of them work.

Exactly. Once upon a time, you could have asked me almost anything about the game, and I could give you a good answer. When AoS came out, I quit studying, and since then, there's always another mod, another special, another another another. Who can keep up with it all? Better yet, if we are playing a game for fun, fantasy, and entertainment, who thinks we want to have to study study and keep an encyclopedia open in front of us all the time to keep up with whats going on? I'm still here, I'm still playing, old school, dont have an elf, nor a mystic, lol. But honestly, I can see why people would leave to go on to something else. Something where they can sit down and get into it right away, without it becoming more or less a second job. One more ramble, and I'll be quiet. But Omnius has valid points. Not only with the playguide, but the system as well. New char starts off with crap. No way for em to be competitive even against lightweight mobs. I went to a shard and started a new char, to see how the new player would do it. I'm gonna tell ya, it is difficult to do, and not, NOT, entertaining. You don't have enough gps to buy decent armor, or weap, or LRC stuff. It's a pain in the ass to get a full spellbook...Just give em one, fer crying out loud!
Without begging on the corner, or having a friend ingame already established, that curve is really really a chore. People have been talking about improving the new player experience. Well don't spend so much time revamping Haven and the noob quests, that by the time you get em done, there's no game left to instill em into. Let a new char have what they need for a modest start, and let them get on with the fun from the start!
[/rant]
Okay, back to the topic at hand

 

[Uriah Heep]

Plus, it needs to be easy enough for me to kill Omnius in the field

 

[Viper09]

Have you guy tryed uoguide.com? If has alot of info about this GREAT game

Thanks,

But of course. The complaint is not that there is no guide but that the guide that is hosted on the main UO website and that codex of wisdom is highly out dated. Or at least that's my complaint.

 

[Sevin0oo0]

+1 from here too.
I was just thinking this earlier. People wanted less crap in dungeons, ok, give it a little boost, so it's above newbie garb. A raised min loot budget - how tough is that?? a slight increase to mob hardness - say double or triple?
I don't think i even heard a whisper about "Let's put in a whole new System!". Let's make all the mobs 10x harder, and really pack 'em in there for a nice challenge. Oh, and add a nice hidden acid effect to make their stuff wear out real fast.

I thought it was just me, thinking negative about all this, glad I'm not alone.

 

[Woodsman]

Its not too complicated, but it DOES desperately need up to date official documentation.

Especially if they are serious about attracting new players.

We know about UO Guide and Stratics and elsewhere, but new players who might see the MMORPG.com interview, or see UO reference elsewhere are going to go to the official website first.

It is not a good impression of the game and does not instill confidence in EA's support for the game for them to see UO Herald and not be able to find up-to-date information.

With our luck, they'd hire somebody to do official documentation, and then share him or her with Camelot and Warhammer.

 

[Naisikras]

Not complicated at all, I don't see what you guys are complaining about. I haven't had one problem at all. I just log in and play. Any time there are new items or abilities introduced I send a full report to my personal account/consultant who I hired to go through all the numbers/mods on the new items. He will spend a couple days researching and testing the new results in his algorithms he has developed to decide which piece will go where.

Really, no problem, for ME at all.

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

OSI/EARS/Mythic/Bioware Mythic hasn't had to keep this information up to date in over a decade since the players do it all for them (eventually) for free. Jeremy made a valiant effort to update the playguide, but as soon as her position got axed, so did the updating. From their PoV, why spend the money when rabid fans will do it?

Now, the predicament we are in now is not UO Guide or Stratics' fault. The "blame" rests squarely at EA's feet for not providing the money to keep the UO.com/UOHerald in working order, or for providing UO its own community coordinator to handle...well...anything.

Hopefully, a current playguide will be part of Jeff's plans to bring back uo.com. I'm just not going to hold my breath... Honestly, I'd first rather see a comprehensive in-game NPE that prepared the phantom newbs for the morass of skills/stats etc which UO has become.

 

[Omnius]

It wouldn't be bad if this info was all provided for and easily available.

 

[Surgeries]

Especially if they are serious about attracting new players.

We know about UO Guide and Stratics and elsewhere, but new players who might see the MMORPG.com interview, or see UO reference elsewhere are going to go to the official website first.

It is not a good impression of the game and does not instill confidence in EA's support for the game for them to see UO Herald and not be able to find up-to-date information.

With our luck, they'd hire somebody to do official documentation, and then share him or her with Camelot and Warhammer.

/Signed Pretty Darn Hard

 

[Travis82]

UO has become waaay more complicated i cant even get my wife or my kid interested cuz it confuses them with all the mods and they cant just get a good answer in one place.

Ea needs to simplify it a tad more and maybe new new players wont leave out of frustration. But it's not like EA cares about its gamers much at least it feels that way in the uo community.

 

[Theo_GL]

/signed

The learning curve is immense and getting worse.

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

The learning curve is immense and getting worse.

Very true. UO has always had a decent learning curve. It grew more formidable post AoS.

Even with what effort and attempts have been made in a New Player Experience, UO just keeps getting more complicated not less.

 

[Omnius]

when i learned UO many years ago, I had a good sense of the game within a few days. After you understand the mechanics and what things do, you really get immersed and enjoy a game.

 

[Ivor_MacGregor]

I have to disagree with this poster. I personally enjoy a game where you have to figure out virtually everything or seek others in the game who have the experience. What most seem to not quite get about Ultima is it IS the most complicated and in depth mmorpg out there. This is what keeps Ultima from becoming boring even after a decade of playing it. At least this is the case for me. Ultima is not for the average player base who wants things to be simplified and easier to get. You can't just create an account, log in, and experience everything or understand the game in its entirety. But, this is the beauty of UO. It truly is a virtual experience.

I do agree EA needs to keep its website for UO updated with some better information. But, I would never want to see it have a complete source of the game's information. This would take away from the learning experience of simply playing the game.

 

[elspeth]

UO herald definitely needs major updating. There are a lot of little basics that are very hard to figure out. And I do think staring mages oughtta just be given a full spellbook.

However, while I played WoW, I often felt at a loss as well and would generally go to non-official sites that did theory-crafting to get some idea of what I should actually be doing with my chars. Now, something like that is easy to get started but very difficult to keep up with endgame and unfortunately, the endgame is pretty much the goal of the game. UO's sandbox style means there is less emphasis on endgame (afterall what is endgame?) and thus more easily playable without understanding what every little thing does. However, there are so many little tricks and things that yes, its very hard for a brand new player to get started.

In any case, I pretty much never went to the official WoW website for information, because that was usually just promotional stuff and much too vague. I used third party sites like wowhead and such for when I needed to know the nitty gritty. I think, improving the new player quests may actually be more important than the webpage. Give them a full spellbook and have a quest chain that teaches you how to use the stuff and how to get runes and etc. etc. This is what WoW does that makes it so easy to get going, you don't have to read webpages at all. Quests for depositing stuff into the bank and insuring items and maybe a tutorial on making your own bandaids for warriors, etc, etc.

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

It's not the depth or content or sandbox nature of UO that is really being discussed here. At least not in my view.

Just take armor for example and weapons for that matter. We went from two and three line descriptions of data pre AoS to five six or seven lines of information post AoS. Now we're up to fifteen, sixteen even twenty lines of information for an item.

When building a suit pre AoS the main concerns were med vs. non-med, dexterity and AR. Post AoS you needed five different elemental resists, Luck, LMC, LRC, regens, stat increases on armor and weapons had to have leaches, SSI, Hit effects, HCI and DCI.

Nowadays I've haven't even been able to keep up with and build new suits around all the new magic properties on armor or weapons.

I'm just saying it has gotten ridiculous looking at an item now and having to recognize, input, understand and calculate all of it. I can only imagine how crazy it all looks to a new player.

 

[elspeth]

I doubt there are many games where choosing armor is as simple as 3 lines or 3 properties. The new Shame/Wrong stuff doesn't seem so terribly overcomplicated to me, but I haven't looked at much of it. I feel that I had mostly figured out AOS stuff but the new properties from Stygian Abyss I actually have no idea about at all. I don't think Shame looting system introduced any new properties at all, but I admit I could be wrong about that as I haven't spent much time with it. Instead, it seems like they were trying to simplify some things by having package names and by giving it a separate label to give you an idea of its worth from a single line instead of having to figure out all the other individual lines. Something called "greater" should be a better item than something called "lesser". Other games do have "rankings" like this on armor, some use colors instead of a label or a "level". But we can't really do the "level" thing because UO isn't a "level" type of game. They also made some properties spawn with fewer gradations like having it go in multiples of 5 instead of 1s. Perhaps the effect isn't simplification but I do believe the intent was.

However, that being said, I was discussing the new player experience and how to keep new players playing. Whether armor choice gets simplified or not it has to be described and the various sources for such information could be uo.com, 3rd party sites like stratics, or ingame quests or help. I am arguing that for truly new players, ingame quests are the most important. For veterans who want the nitty gritty details, generally 3rd party sites and forums are the way. At least, that has been my experience.

 

[goldenpower]

(afterall what is endgame?)

I dunno how you define "endgame" but PvP is the hardest part of the game.

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

PvP is the hardest part of the game.

Hardest part of the game on some nights for me is actually turning the thing off and going to bed

 

[goldenpower]

Hardest part of the game on some nights for me is actually turning the thing off and going to bed

yeah that can be a problem. one of the Civilization games actually had an alarm feature built-in.

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

Hardest part of the game on some nights for me is actually turning the thing off and going to bed

yeah that can be a problem. one of the Civilization games actually had an alarm feature built-in.

I used to play Stronghold a lot.

At some point when it was late the narrator would say, "it's getting late sire, aren't you tired?"

First time I heard that I 'bout busted a gut.

 

[popps]

I also have the feeling that Ultima Online has become a very complex game.

I actually favour this, as it stands UO out of many other games out there and shows the depth of this game. BUT, I also understand how this complexity might be intimidating as often it is necessary to make complex calculations, keep in mind CAPs for modifiers which differ if one plays PvP or PvE, rules that apply differently when hunting monsters or fighting other players and so forth.

Personally, my main and most major uneasiness with the current status of the game is the lack of a template calculator which I think would ease up a lot of the difficulties or, at least, help in a good way when trying to build one's own characters.

I would like to see a self-updating utility that, having a database of all existing artifacts and of the imbuing possibilities within the current rules, would calculate item by item all of the items needed to build a certain Template.

For example, say that a player wants to build a template that has SDI, LRC, HCI and so on, perhaps all capped to the max size possible, the calculator would make all of the calculus necessary and provide what items will be needed to build up that given suit, what skills at what levels and on and on. Pick an artifact rather than another because it frees up room for more modifiers on some other items and so forth.
As I said, do all of the complex calculations and chosing work so as to avoid it to the player....

I do not know others, but my real life keeps my mind busy enough with all the problems I need to tackle in my daily life to want me not to clog my mind any further to have to get through all of the many different combinations and choices of items to build a competitive UO template.........

Such a calculator would basically do all of the complex calculating work for the player and the player would only be left with finding those items needed........

Of course, all those players who enjoy doing it manually could keep doing it that way but the availability of such a template calculator would ease up the complexity of UO for all those players who are now intimidated by it like myself.

 

[sablestorm]

I've played since Beta and there are still surprises that UO has in store for me. That's part of what keeps me playing. I boast about it to new and returning players: "I've played this game since Beta and there are still things that surprise me and that I learn about each day." I also tell them there are aspects about the game that new players encounter and learn quicker than I have. This is a great leveling factor in the game. They don't feel left behind because they can find their own area of expertise and advise players who have played forever. Your desire to simplify UO, your desire to be a UO expert, will kill the game in my opinion.

 

[puni666]

Don't worry they're obviously working on the simplification of UO if you take into consideration how overly simple mysticism has made things in any aspect of the game. Soon there will be more skills that have the ability to do more of the things that would take multiple actions to do but then combines them into one action...

 

[goldenpower]

I do not know others, but my real life keeps my mind busy enough with all the problems I need to tackle in my daily life to want me not to clog my mind any further to have to get through all of the many different combinations and choices of items to build a competitive UO template.........

I feel the same way, it's very tedious to get to the point where you feel you have a maxed out character. even 100's of millions of gold will not help you do it. it just takes a lot of work and patience and then BAM they change something and you have to start over.

 

[startle]

It seems to me that for the past decade, the vast majority of "game changes" have been overly focused on the - very passionate and very vocal - "top tier" playerbase. Like many of you who have spoken so passionately here in this thread, I too find myself musing on the increasing complexity of forces within our beloved Sosaria and how it has made gameplay become, dare I say - frustrating - for those of us unable or unwilling to experience her vast pleasures 12 to 20 hrs per (real) day. It's about those of us left that aren't (intentionally or not) in that elite "top tier" - who've witnessed the decline in the overall playerbase this past decade.

We all have our own thoughts about what has caused our playerbase decline over the years, and hell - we're all right. And if we sat down together I'm sure we'd agree that it's not any one thing for sure. But if we could all sit down together and talk about how the game has evolved, I'm pretty sure most of us would agree that there needs to be some serious focus on the needs of the "lower tier" and the new player experience. As most of you have said in one way or another - it's just too damn daunting a task for new players to overcome what they no doubt see as overwhelmingly difficult tasks and lack of up to date learning tools in todays UO.

And NEW PLAYERS are what we so desperately need. More income is always better than less income for any company interested in income - and I'm pretty sure EA/Origin/Mythic is a company interested in income. Thus, the ODDS of moving onward and forward towards new Sosarian horizons - are significantly improved with more of that income coming from NEW PLAYERS -and even older ones - that are sometimes given to wonder exactly - when - they'll be able to finally let Frost and Grindy and Thel just go into whatever that place is where old code goes to die, and quit this game.

In the meantime, it's getting quite lonely here on the majority of production shards, EA/Origin/Mythic... We need new players if UO is to survive....

Just sayin....

 

[The Craftsman]

UO is an incredibly complex game. Which is a good thing. However, the lack of documentation or official guides to updates is just yet another example of EA's lack of investment to UO. Its right up there along side lack of customer service, lack of in game GM's, lack of advertising, lack of fully testing things before release, lack of bug fixing, lack of regard for new players etc etc.

EA are running this on a shoestring to maximise profit. All of the above things are blatantly ignored as they are deemed not worth the time or money. Every new add on or expansion is cobbled together as quickly as possible, unfinished, again to maximise revenue.

UO becomes more niche with every patch. EA have deliberately gone down this route to milk this cash cow until its dying day from a loyal but dwindling player base. I have now accepted that UO will never be given the resources it deserves ... we are stuck with what weve got and itll only get worse.

 

[Uvtha]

It's not the depth or content or sandbox nature of UO that is really being discussed here. At least not in my view.

Just take armor for example and weapons for that matter. We went from two and three line descriptions of data pre AoS to five six or seven lines of information post AoS. Now we're up to fifteen, sixteen even twenty lines of information for an item.

When building a suit pre AoS the main concerns were med vs. non-med, dexterity and AR. Post AoS you needed five different elemental resists, Luck, LMC, LRC, regens, stat increases on armor and weapons had to have leaches, SSI, Hit effects, HCI and DCI.

Nowadays I've haven't even been able to keep up with and build new suits around all the new magic properties on armor or weapons.

I'm just saying it has gotten ridiculous looking at an item now and having to recognize, input, understand and calculate all of it. I can only imagine how crazy it all looks to a new player.

Personally I don't think its at all complicated. Anyone who has played diablo, or one of its legion of clones, or WOW or any modern rpg should be familiar with most of the basic concepts in UO and have no hard time understanding that 30 fire resists is better against a fireball than 20 fire resist.

Its not that complicated, and the concept of "preferred" suit specs shouldn't be in an official guide anyway, they should be on fan sites like stratics and UO guide, because its not a matter of understanding the systems, but of preference in play style.

That said, I think that every item property along with the regular item caps (one of the most mysterious elements to newbs I would imagine) and all other pertinent, yet sadly invisible elements of game play (such as armor and meditation, how to tithe and where etc) and information that people are unlikely to know unless they were active at the time of inception like bard skill mastery, where to get scrolls for spell skills (how would a newb ever know about heartwood without having to rely on others to tell them) should all be part of some honestly very basic IN GAME documentation.

And some of the new item properties are much less self explanatory than the old ones. Its easy to know what "lower mana cost" means, but with "battle lust" you really have to just take a guess at it.

It should all be in game. Don't know why they don't bother.

 

[Mervyn]

Whoopeeeeee,

FINALLY SOMEONE TALKS SENSE (the original poster)

Signed

Anyone who doesn't think uo is complicated, clearly doesn't know much about the game.

 

[atlanticScorpion]

I have said it before. It was alot easier when we just had Might, Power, Vanqs, and silver weapons. And the armour worked the same way. You did not need to be a math wiz to figure stuff out. You knew a katana was faster than a broadsword and metal armour was better than leather but not for mages. I know that adding all this stuff kept crafters busy and players busy trying to keep up with the changes but thats all this game is about today. Just keeping up. I remember when going toe to toe in a pvp battle would last for several minutes instead of seconds. The only thing that is not complicated is the story line because there dosen't seem to be one. Just events and new expansions. i hope this new town loyalty thing will have some kind of plot or reason behind it that will keep us interested.

 

[Orgional Farimir]

Dear EA,

Over the last year, things in UO have become exponentially more complicated. PvP requires days of research to try and understand a few months worth of patch notes.

Not to mention the enormous increase in item mods with no clear area to check exactly how any of them work.

It's very complicated. The only information in the game about the game is like 7 years old. The website doesn't provide useful information either. UOGuide is out of date. Stratics isn't better.

Do the developers think it's fun playing in a game where it's patently unclear what anything does? I've had 3 friends try UO in the last year. All 3 left UO within 2-3 weeks on the basis that it's totally unclear what anything does. There is really no way to learn. Players rarely know the right answer and you can't even google an answer.

Please, Please, Please provide an updated player guide. EA is in the best position to provide information. You could make this game player friendly. Providing information what things do doesn't take the sense of adventure from the game, it just removes the hours of research to get a clear understanding of how 1 thing works away.

This goes right along with what Colin Cowherd was talking about on ESPNRadio a few weeks ago. He was comparing the TV show 30 Rock to Friends. His underlying argument is that Friends was extremely more popular because it didn't cause you to think at the jokes. 30 Rock, although extremely well written will not be as popular because of the higher inteligence level of the jokes. He said, and I agree, that most people work and think EXTEREMLY hard during the day and when they get home from work they want dumb entertainment what doesn't require a lot of thought.

I am the exact same way. I work in a bank and deal with numbers/money all day. Last thing I want to do is an advanced math problem to build me a new suit.

 

[Falon of Eldor]

@ OP /+1

*boggles the mind*

 

[Vyal]

I can't think of a better time for a classic shard then right now. I am so tired of playing UO with all this crap. I mean I have been trying to figure out how I should imbue a suit for close to a month now and still can't figure it out. I just don't have time to sit around and crunch numbers for a day straight so I just go with what I got and because of that I fall behind or pay billions for a good suit...

Please I just want to pvp and play the game the way its supposed to be. Now the developers have gone so far with all this mess, there is no turning back it can only get more confusing from here. Just open up a classic shard and let people have fun again?

 

[Warpig Inc]

UO is not for those that need to win to feel an endgame. Yae the boss is dead let me take this to GAMES STOP and find a new challenge for the weekend. The gaming world has become meateaters and vegans playstyle. Nothing good comes from sitting down at the same table.


There is not and would not today be the poppulation to support some dumbed down version of UO. UO had to change and grow. UO has today a difficult time holding returning or new players very well. Just go to a new shard and start from scratch. Even an up to date player will find it difficult without the years of gathered skills and items. And CHAT should be a usefull tool. Sure there are no on call helping players for free game time. With CHAT there could be a new free game time for being on a short leash for a few hours a day. Just need the ability to target player on CHAT for party option. Then go for a face to face without noob public taunts. Way General CHAT is used today is no way to promote UO to a new player. Help channel works if you like to talk to yourself.


Sure there needs to be F2P. A F2P shard that is only the tram map and playstyle. Across all shards an NPC New Haven quest system that actually informs players on skills with quest to teach a skills finer points. Not a quest of do this till 50 skill and get some cool item. 2 character slots allowed. Pay to play and after three months can purchase transfer tokens to bring your free shard characters to a regular none SP shard. Only stacked item that can come off the free shard is gold and nothing in form of a deed or BOD book. Besides putting a locked door on Shame what powerful item could be brought from a free shard. Not like can go Pirating without an upgrade or expierence a new race or skill.

 

[Vyal]

UO is not for those that need to win to feel an endgame. Yae the boss is dead let me take this to GAMES STOP and find a new challenge for the weekend. The gaming world has become meateaters and vegans playstyle. Nothing good comes from sitting down at the same table.


There is not and would not today be the poppulation to support some dumbed down version of UO. UO had to change and grow. UO has today a difficult time holding returning or new players very well. Just go to a new shard and start from scratch. Even an up to date player will find it difficult without the years of gathered skills and items. And CHAT should be a usefull tool. Sure there are no on call helping players for free game time. With CHAT there could be a new free game time for being on a short leash for a few hours a day. Just need the ability to target player on CHAT for party option. Then go for a face to face without noob public taunts. Way General CHAT is used today is no way to promote UO to a new player. Help channel works if you like to talk to yourself.


Sure there needs to be F2P. A F2P shard that is only the tram map and playstyle. Across all shards an NPC New Haven quest system that actually informs players on skills with quest to teach a skills finer points. Not a quest of do this till 50 skill and get some cool item. 2 character slots allowed. Pay to play and after three months can purchase transfer tokens to bring your free shard characters to a regular none SP shard. Only stacked item that can come off the free shard is gold and nothing in form of a deed or BOD book. Besides putting a locked door on Shame what powerful item could be brought from a free shard. Not like can go Pirating without an upgrade or expierence a new race or skill.

Umm free t2a shards have more people on one server then all the shards EA has combined. Please don't tell me no one wants a dumb down version of UO. Clearly thats all people want & the only real players sticking around all this time are only doing it because they have been playing here for so long. Theres this whole HUGE other world of UO 95% of EA shard players have no idea about. This is why I have & others have been asking for a classic shard for so long, many have just quit asking and left to go play the other shards I mentioned. wtf do I know tho right? Not like creating a single classic shard would bring SO MANY new people to UO and bring back so many more old players just so they can start there when it opens. Not like all those new players wouldn't play other shards & returning players wouldn't stop in to say hi to old friends.
Nope thats crazy talk. Not like UO right now isnt so complicated it's actually ******** to play.

Ok back to Nyan Cat 100 HOURS - YouTube I am two hours in...

 

[Capn Kranky]

Absolutely correct. I would not recommend UO to anyone 100% new today unless they were a) a masochist or b) loved solving complicated puzzles.

As good as Stratics is, there is no reasonably easy way for a total rookie to learn anything. EA pages were always near useless to me any way.

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

Umm free t2a shards have more people on one server then all the shards EA has combined.

In ALL honesty I don't care what thieves want to play. Anyone to cheap to pay for the service they are using are folks I could care less are around or not. *shrugs*


Is UO getting complex? Yeah. Back when everyone started was it complex to you? Yes, remember all the monochrome screens you saw back then hehe. But that complexity is what draws me to it. Always something new to figure out. I guess I don't understand the mentality of "teach me everything", I have always been one to want to figure out things for myself, not have someone walk me through every step. Give me the high points on patch notes like they do, and I am a happy camper. Let me and the community figure out the rest. If you think the community feel is low now, imagine what it would be if they release a guide that explains everything in detail. UGH... no thanks.

 

[Vyal]

In ALL honesty I don't care what thieves want to play. Anyone to cheap to pay for the service they are using are folks I could care less are around or not. *shrugs*

Lol people don't play because they are free, people play because it classic t2a before everything got complicated and stupid. & I am in NO way supporting free shards all I am saying is one single t2a shard has more players on it then all the EA shards combined. Now stop & think about a minute then get back to me....

 

[Uriah Heep]

It's long been said that the freesharders aren't playing because they are cheapskates, but rather, EA is offering them nothing for them to pay for. If you're not interested in a game, then you don't pay. And UO today is nothing like what we grew up with

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

Lol people don't play because they are free, people play because it classic t2a before everything got complicated and stupid. & I am in NO way supporting free shards all I am saying is one single t2a shard has more players on it then all the EA shards combined. Now stop & think about a minute then get back to me....

Regardless of WHY they play, the point I make is still a valid point. They are a thief by playing ON those shards, just like the people that RUN the shards. And I could give a rats ass what those folks choose to play. That point stands no matter how anyone tries to rationalize it. I don't neeed any time to think that over and get back to you. However I would like to know how you get the actual numbers of players on EA shards to do your comparrison. Or are you just making assumptions when it comes to that point?



There are alot of PAYING players that have wanted a classic shard for years. And probably alot of folks who used to play that would start back up if a classic shard was started. No argument on those points from me at all. I have never, nor will I, argue against a classic shard.

 

[Mervyn]

I can't think of a better time for a classic shard then right now. I am so tired of playing UO with all this crap. I mean I have been trying to figure out how I should imbue a suit for close to a month now and still can't figure it out. I just don't have time to sit around and crunch numbers for a day straight so I just go with what I got and because of that I fall behind or pay billions for a good suit...

Please I just want to pvp and play the game the way its supposed to be. Now the developers have gone so far with all this mess, there is no turning back it can only get more confusing from here. Just open up a classic shard and let people have fun again?

The game is indeed too complicated now however the last thing I want is a classic shard, the game was awful back then, just awful.

They should just keep the game how it is however simplify it, too many hidden game mechanics, too many exceptions to rules, missing 'brittle' tags on items, missing clilocs, missing debuffs. There should be less arties and items, the shame loot doesn't help at all.

 

[Uriah Heep]

Regardless of WHY they play, the point I make is still a valid point. They are a thief by playing ON those shards, just like the people that RUN the shards. And I could give a rats ass what those folks choose to play. That point stands no matter how anyone tries to rationalize it. I don't neeed any time to think that over and get back to you. However I

As much as I respect Kylie, I have to confess to having mixed feelings on this subject. And that is because EA doesn't offer the product these people are playing. So are they reallly stealing anything? Now if EA offered a classic shard, and people still ran the fs, then yes, even I would have a problem with that. For the most part, at least they are keeping UO in peoples minds, and they can come back once in a while, re-up for 3 months, check it out before leaving again. This turn, is what keeps us rolling...otherwise it would just be an exit door. No matter what anyone says, the number of real, and I mean "real" noobs entering this game is way low.

Amazing to me tho, still, is that anyone out there with the slightest knowledge of CPUs can make a classic shard...but the paid programmers and owners of the actual IP can't get it done. *shrugs*

Anyway, we've wandered off topic

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

As much as I respect Kylie, I have to confess to having mixed feelings on this subject.

Thanks and the respect is mutual. I am a pretty hardline rascal when it comes to stuff like that. But have always had the ability to be able to agree to disagree

Anyway, we've wandered off topic

Agreed, and after that brief hijack we return you to your regularly scheduled topic specific debate..... well hopefully anyway