I want to prevent depopulation of my shard.
Why do people gather at the Atlantic Shard?
please teach me.
Why do people gather at the Atlantic Shard?
please teach me.
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depopulation of my shard
- Thread starter Julias Edo
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- Some people need to play in large groups, Atlantic is probably the only shard that's busy most of the time. Europa for example is ok between 5pm and 10pm but all other times it's pretty dead.
- Most of the wealth is now on Atlantic so people assume that's where to go if you want to get rich.
- NA based server so less lag for the Americans......UO hardware is massively unefficient, you can tell by the fact you play UO for more than 5 mins and you can hear your internal fan start up. lol
- Probably the largest PK / Gank / Grief community, some people like that. (note i didn't say PvP as that would be Seige where they actually play rather than just use the latest 3rd party programs and gimp suits)
- Mesanna only really cares about what happens on Atlantic. (i bet if Atlantic asked for the Phoenix to be restored to its original model it would be done in the next patch)
- Probably the biggest one though is Sheep will be Sheep
- Most of the wealth is now on Atlantic so people assume that's where to go if you want to get rich.
- NA based server so less lag for the Americans......UO hardware is massively unefficient, you can tell by the fact you play UO for more than 5 mins and you can hear your internal fan start up. lol
- Probably the largest PK / Gank / Grief community, some people like that. (note i didn't say PvP as that would be Seige where they actually play rather than just use the latest 3rd party programs and gimp suits)
- Mesanna only really cares about what happens on Atlantic. (i bet if Atlantic asked for the Phoenix to be restored to its original model it would be done in the next patch)
- Probably the biggest one though is Sheep will be Sheep
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I think it's wrong that all other shards are seen as less important than Atlantic, most of the much less populated shards have much nicer communities, but their economies are being destroyed by the need to feed Atlantic greed.
Agree with most of what you wrote and this to an extent. I am no Mesanna fan but I do believe she cares about all shards, the bulk of the population however is on Atlantic and catering to the largest shard population makes sense. I don't particularly like it but I do understand it.
I don't think the folks playing lower pop shards at this point are moving to Atlantic in general. If given the choice of play and live on Atlantic or leave UO, I believe most of us would leave UO. If 50 people leave say Origin the Orignin Community notices, if 50 people leave Atlantic no one really notices at all. So from what I see on low pop shards as people quit it is more noticeable and the lower a shards population gets the more noticeable it gets. It is almost mandatory to visit Atlantic to buy things that can no longer be reasonably obtained on lower population shards. This is because of what Shrinayne said anything of value farmed on low pop shards mostly makes the trip to the Atlantic market place and then is distributed back to the low population shards. It has been a long while ago but I suggested since Atlantic has been officially or at least manipulated into being the UO central trade hub that every account should get two shard shields free one Atlantic and One to their home shard. I suspect the accounts that to perm move to Atlantic are younger accounts that can't access shard shields and can't or won't spend the money on store transfer tokens. UO shards were much healthier before transfers were introduced and later shard shields. Part of what I like so much about Siege is nothing leaves Siege and Nothing comes to Siege from off shard.
Yea all these people pay a sub to play an online game and actually want to see other people... SHEEP! This could have been answered without the snarky, fedora-speak.- Some people need to play in large groups, Atlantic is probably the only shard that's busy most of the time. Europa for example is ok between 5pm and 10pm but all other times it's pretty dead.
- Most of the wealth is now on Atlantic so people assume that's where to go if you want to get rich.
- NA based server so less lag for the Americans......UO hardware is massively unefficient, you can tell by the fact you play UO for more than 5 mins and you can hear your internal fan start up. lol
- Probably the largest PK / Gank / Grief community, some people like that. (note i didn't say PvP as that would be Seige where they actually play rather than just use the latest 3rd party programs and gimp suits)
- Mesanna only really cares about what happens on Atlantic. (i bet if Atlantic asked for the Phoenix to be restored to its original model it would be done in the next patch)
- Probably the biggest one though is Sheep will be Sheep
This ties in to vendor fees, shard shields, and access to goods/supplies. There are primary factories why almost all other shards have become wastelands.
Who wants to play on a shard where you can't sell any items, or save up your gold to buy an item?
Thankyou Messana, and Devs for causing irreparable harm to Ultima Online with your shortsightedness.
Who wants to play on a shard where you can't sell any items, or save up your gold to buy an item?
Thankyou Messana, and Devs for causing irreparable harm to Ultima Online with your shortsightedness.
Simple:
Too many shards for way too small playerbase. Since it is an MMO, most people try to stick to a shard with decent population or move there. (Except a very vocal group of players (or just posters, who knows) here on this forum, which try to keep it a single player experience).
It could have been any other shard, but atlantic seemed to be a very crowded shard from the beginning (please correct me, if I'm wrong) and thus it just stood the test of time.
People seem to forget that not everyone wants to play on a populated shard though... some like it quiet with their friends/guildies, away from the greed and gen chat mess of Atlantic. Others just want to role play in a tavern with a few people, decorate their homes or fish in peace. Also, you can't forget that some started their UO lives on some of those dead shard and would probably quit the game if it closed down or was merged. That's what the Dev's are thinking about and trying to come up with ways (like Endless Journey) to fill up those empty shards again
Note: I've always played Atlantic and love it there, just saying hehe
I agree with you..your preaching to the choir. As someone who plays on secluded shards as well as Atlantic (cause I like to buy stuff and make $$). I'm not one who favors shard mergers, but that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the damage done to lower populated shards via shard shields and current vendor fees.People seem to forget that not everyone wants to play on a populated shard though... some like it quiet with their friends/guildies, away from the greed and gen chat mess of Atlantic. Others just want to role play in a tavern with a few people, decorate their homes or fish in peace. Also, you can't forget that some started their UO lives on some of those dead shard and would probably quit the game if it closed down or was merged. That's what the Dev's are thinking about and trying to come up with ways (like Endless Journey) to fill up those empty shards again
Note: I've always played Atlantic and love it there, just saying hehe
Shard Shields have been the catalyst for a mass migration to Atlantic (both players and items). People who want access to top level gear have been forced set up shop on Atlantic in order to engage in commerce/level playing field. Also, if you want to make a buck in this game you have to sell it on Atlantic...otherwise your 'giving it away' for free or half the value.
Price items below market price on your home shard and a shard shielder scoops it up, and sells it for double on Atlantic at no cost. Price that item as the same as you would sell it for on Atlantic, and it's sits there in perpetuity, and you lose your ass cause there is no one around on that shard to buy it, and they can't wait a little longer to snatch up a deal on Atlantic.
Really shouldn't have to pain a picture here..anyone whose not in favor of shard mergers has seen this happen on their respective home shards since the introduction of shard shields...current vendor fees only compound the issue.
These are terrible decisions that have been made, and nothing has been done, and I mean NOTHING to mitigate the damage to the game.
Think of the new player who logs in to Shard X...sees NO ONE...can find no equipment.
It's mindblowing....it's a real shame there is no oversight to this game because people should have been replaced a long long time ago.
They don't want to give up the coin they make on transfer tokens (probably the only factor). They'd rather people just finally get sick of not being able to find stuff on their home shard and quit than actually do something progressive. Mesanna was talking about being able to buy a token or something to add account age (make a 12 year account a 14 year account or whatever) but as typical nothing has happened. She mentioned something like maybe pay in full for every month you want to add which would be nuts. Some things she wants to do but doesn't have the guts. She stated she didn't like the buy 1 month get 3 free, that she was going to act on it. Nothing... She knows very well that if your on any shard but Atlantic it's near impossible to get things you want and need. Does nothing... She does many things very well but I find her ignoring these 2 issues completely leaves me saddened by her intestinal fortitude and creative ability for what's good for the game and the players. While most things the team as a whole does I'm either behind or at least understand. But when you have major problems out there and keep ignoring it, it'll be a long time before I'm interested in getting a cheer leader outfit.
*tries to erase that image-in vain*
How come we got transfer tokens and shard shields? Was it the devs poor desision or was it ppl lobbying for it? I cant remember for sure, but I have a feeling ppl posted and wanted it and the devs gave it to us.. And the devs and the players back then had no idea how it would end up? Or did people post here about the consequences before it was too late?. I can see now how bad it was, but when they came I picked them all and had no idea how it would end. I use mine to transfer stuff for guildies for free, but I wish they had not been implemented. Easy to see now how much damage they did.
Well the cats outta the bag now. Even the store transfer tokens are like what? $20 bucks, $15 bucks? That's nuts. I could see like $3.95 maybe. But that's crazy money for one transfer considering you probably need 2.
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I'm not sure why transfer tokens were made originally (probably profit since they are priced so high) but I think shard shields were most likely introduced because of the complaints of people on smaller shards that everything was on Atlantic.
It wasn't feasible for people to pay for two transfer tokens just to go to Atlantic and buy a slither that wasn't available on their home shard. The shards were already dying, shard shields were just an attempt to make life easier for small shard veteran players.
Unfortunately as we all saw it then caused what little life small shards had to disappear. I still think the intentions were good though.
As someone who was one of the first to get a large amount of shard shields, it was truly fantastic at the beginning. I helped probably 10+ people a week transfer stuff and they were all extremely happy they could move all their items to their main shard finally after so many years.
It only went bad when merchants started stripping shards dry... I watched one of my guildies do it, and I'm pretty sure he by himself was responsible for the death of Balhae... he took absolutely everything that shard had for months. People's ability to do that was overlooked and should have been prevented somehow.
It wasn't feasible for people to pay for two transfer tokens just to go to Atlantic and buy a slither that wasn't available on their home shard. The shards were already dying, shard shields were just an attempt to make life easier for small shard veteran players.
Unfortunately as we all saw it then caused what little life small shards had to disappear. I still think the intentions were good though.
As someone who was one of the first to get a large amount of shard shields, it was truly fantastic at the beginning. I helped probably 10+ people a week transfer stuff and they were all extremely happy they could move all their items to their main shard finally after so many years.
It only went bad when merchants started stripping shards dry... I watched one of my guildies do it, and I'm pretty sure he by himself was responsible for the death of Balhae... he took absolutely everything that shard had for months. People's ability to do that was overlooked and should have been prevented somehow.
I believe what they were thinking was people wanted to change shards with buying transfer tokens for cash. They'd buy 2 or 3 to transfer all their stuff to a new shard and that would be it, all done. Thus the insane price. They figured they'd sell 2 or 3 to an account every now and then. So as it goes over time everyone transferred to Atlantic and we're in the mess we're in now where Atlantic evolved into being the only place of commerce. I don't think they considered that would ever happen. But now it has and should be addressed. Round trip for like $4.95 sounds like a reasonable video game price to me. But 40 bucks for a round trip ticket is crazy.
being able to hop from shard to shard (with items) is one of the dumbest things UO has ever come up with.
I'll just name one of the many reasons.
People going to another shard multi boxing EM events and taking unique items from a shard is absolute BS.
I'll just name one of the many reasons.
People going to another shard multi boxing EM events and taking unique items from a shard is absolute BS.
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Yes, use the token and an hour later you are on the new shard. The new shard has to have an empty character spot, if it doesn't you have to delete a character first.
Yes the bank box, backpack, gold, and stabled pets all transfer with you if you want them to. If you use a normal transfer token instead of a shard shield one you can also bring five pack horses with 125 items each.
Real transfer token = 175 in bank, 125 in backpack, 625 in pack horses (five at 125 each) unlimited gold, clothes on your paperdoll, and a full stable = 925 total items plus gold, pets, and paperdoll clothes.
Shard transfer token = 175 in bank, 125 in backpack, unlimited gold, clothes on your paperdoll, and a full stable = 300 total items plus gold, pets, and paperdoll clothes.
I would argue making Shard Shields a 1st year vet pick would encourage more people to play on lower pop shards knowing they could make the Atlantic shopping trip and back home once per month. As it is a new or returning player without shard shields and looking at a few years to 14 years before they can obtain them is not going to be excited about how they are cut off from the economy at large. So playing Atlantic is the only real option for them to participate in the economy. Where the 14+ year vet accts with shields can farm junk for a month bounce to Atlantic and sell the junk for crazy prices and buy whatever they need that can't be found on their home shard and bounce back home. LOL I have kept the Tsuki Wolf house on Atlantic for years just to drop stuff off once per month and when I need gold will throw a vendor up inside and drop some runes around Luna. I don't even have a single developed character on Atlantic and have no interest in actually playing on Atlantic. Always amusing though to see people recall to the house and NOT follow the instructions on the rune "Run Onto the Porch" and get wolf whacked.
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There are many reasons to play on Atlantic. My personal reason to move from Pacific (my local time zoned server) to an east coast server was simply the guilds. Atlantic has some of the oldest longest term guilds (and player base) in the game. I played on Pacific exclusively for almost 20 years. Then I think two years ago? I packed up and made a new account over on Atlantic.
With the new f2p model coming I'm sure it's only going to get worse, most will come to Atlantic knowing full well that this is where everyone plays. Which in turn means more Lag for the Atlantic users, thus in the end will force alot of the freebie players to leave back to their free shards that they came from where there is less lag and more stability, which will leave us where we are today.
It should be a pretty good experiment either way.
With the new f2p model coming I'm sure it's only going to get worse, most will come to Atlantic knowing full well that this is where everyone plays. Which in turn means more Lag for the Atlantic users, thus in the end will force alot of the freebie players to leave back to their free shards that they came from where there is less lag and more stability, which will leave us where we are today.
It should be a pretty good experiment either way.
TYVM for info..
Population of uo Is literally dying on top of players also quitting. Even if I were to offer free transfer services to move items between servers I doubt it would Revive the dead ones. Would just promote more item movement to Atlantic.
I personally can't stand seeing nobody around and having to get everything done in global chat. On Atlantic you always run into someone random and start some fun day. Even if you sometimes just smash a boss together and don't talk at all, it gives me a warmer feeling than playing alone.
I tried Europa and Siege a while ago, but I stopped because I too rarely saw people on the streets, at banks, etc.
IMO they should just add number of online players to the shard list, than people can decide if they login to the shard with 2 players or the one 50 players online. I like how they do that in ARK. I can see which server has a decent population and start there instead of an already dead server. What some don't seem to get: Player won't login into dead servers when there is no active servers. They will simply login into other games with active servers.
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I play Sonoma and Siege. For Siege, it is a lot easier to deal with the greed there as there are no shard transfers allowed and you play one character per account so there is a lot of interaction with people across the shard. On Sonoma, I am in a really good guild, group of older players, that has been around for a good long time, We lack the people to gather resources that Atlantic and other larger shards have, so when I get a bit of gold on another shard I go shopping and bring it home. Just the other day I got 28 million for my xmas tokens, so I bought two community deed boxes for 13 million had them transferred to Sonoma and gave them to two returning players as early xmas gifts. I do all my imbuing shopping across larger shards bringing stuff home that I cannot get on Sonoma.
This way I am able to stock and sell suits and weapons on my vendor for Sonoma players.
Totally agree. They also do this in Albion with the different zones. Each zone you are in tells you how many other players are there. They also only have one server which is a great idea. Many people hate the idea but I would be all for some shard mergers with UO.
I'll kick Atlantic while we're at it
The chat is like a 7th grade locker room lol. I assume EJ will be aimed for adults. Of course it's a minority of people who talk in such a immature manner, but once it starts it doesn't stop. Sure I swear in real life all that, but the level of crudeness and classlessness is really unbelievable and unending. I'd like to think I'm smart enough to razz someone without mentioning genitals, questionable behavior with animals or being homophobic to just mention a few. I was really surprised at how far Broadsword has let this get out of line. If there were a massive warning before you signed up that would be one thing but I don't think that's the case. I really thought it was bad before but some of the population is really striving to take it to the next level. I appreciate witty and funny, seeing who can be the crudest is neither. It just screams of low intelligence to me. Well that's my rant of the day... so far I don't remember if they started selling the tokens or if they came out as a gift but I do recall a time where EVERY char you had got one during Christmas but that was well over a decade back. At that time people still did the shard trading thing but ATL wasn't the shopping mall it is today, still in hindsight it was the start of the end.
What you seem to neglect about Atlantic GC: You don't need it at all to have a good life. While people from small shards might be used to *having* to monitor GC all day, on Atlantic you can talk to people at banks, etc. and leave GC to the keyboard warriors that don't play the game anyway.I'll kick Atlantic while we're at it
I just had an awesome day last week with a random player I met in Haven. Didn't read GC once that day although its on screen all the time.
Of course, I agree as far I would see it punished as well. But on the other hand, when I'm honest to myself, it doesn't really disturb my gameplay at all.
I don't remember exactly how they came out but I want to say it was buying on of the CD add ons back in the day. But I do remember free transfer tokens were popped out either before or shortly after they were announced as something you could buy. There was a pretty good discussion back then about how fast they were being duped.
That would be a good one for the folks that run the RMTs sites Stratics Alts to answer
Are you saying Stratics has RMT web site?That would be a good one for the folks that run the RMTs sites Stratics Alts to answer
If you need something on Sonoma, you might try hollering out in general chat before going through the trouble to shipping it in from ATL. Chances are good someone will have what you need.
You would be AMAZED at the supposedly "honest" people here on Stratics who have tried to do RMT's with me! Just sayin'.That would be a good one for the folks that run the RMTs sites Stratics Alts to answer
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No, there is no Stratics RMT site. He meant the owners of the RMT sites have Stratics accounts and they post here sometimes, occasionally trying to steer topics in favor of their own profit, which is true. None are staff members though.
Correct in what I was saying, other parts are debatable but not here
Had to Google RMT
Same, i'm so down for a Registered Massage Therapist... perfect time of the year for that hehe
I like it when a thread has a happy ending.
I started UO in 97' and stopped shortly after ML was released. I remember a few years later i had heard the UO themesong Stones playing on youtube, and got "the itch" again so i re'subbed. I remember logging in and porting to WBB in fel and saw nobody there.....that used to be our hub. I went to tram side and only a few ppl there. It was very saddening to say the least. I went to my old WYU guild house to reminisce about the better days and had accepted that UO was a dead game and uninstalled.
Then, a cpl weeks ago i found a coworker who plays and told me everyone migrated to Atlantic.....needless to say, i was curious, so i contacted Broadsword to get my account current again and became completely enthralled again. I got on chat, and was greeted with several responses of "Welcome home"......... i logged out that night with a huge smile on my face. The game i grew up with as a 17year old and was able to fall right back into it so many years later.
My point is, i understand it sux that other populations feel so dead, but with such a large migration to a diff server, the game has come alive all over again.
Then, a cpl weeks ago i found a coworker who plays and told me everyone migrated to Atlantic.....needless to say, i was curious, so i contacted Broadsword to get my account current again and became completely enthralled again. I got on chat, and was greeted with several responses of "Welcome home"......... i logged out that night with a huge smile on my face. The game i grew up with as a 17year old and was able to fall right back into it so many years later.
My point is, i understand it sux that other populations feel so dead, but with such a large migration to a diff server, the game has come alive all over again.
Superb comment, not sniggered like that in a long time. Bravo!
Everyone knows Origin doesn't have 50 active players.
Basically every shard outside of Europa and ATL have very few players, most players like to interact or have a sense of community. Most shards can no longer offer this, people are very prideful in their shards, hoping to bring back what once was. The reality is these shards will continue to bleed till every shard is completely dead, forcing people to move to ATL or Europa (or quit). There is nothing Mesanna or her staff can do to reverse this trend, the lack of activity is forcing people to make a tough choice.
Atlantic players might like to believe Atlantic is the only active US shard, but it isn't necessarily so. Look at the thread asking about orange seeds on Cats. I posted that I would be surprised if someone on Cats wouldn't give her the seeds - and I was totally right, several generous players on Cats replied with an offer. Only a portion of players post Stratics - or even know it exists actually, so Cat's population exists.
Admitted some things aren't available on vendors on all shards. How much of that is because they don't want everything bought and shipped to Atlantic? It's been my experience that many of the more needed items, like power scrolls, are sold through general chat instead of vendors and the transaction is mostly initiated by the buyer asking 'does anyone have?'
I mostly, I admit, play on Europa, since I'm English, but I have played on a couple of East US shards, but never Atlantic. I have no desire to play there.
Admitted some things aren't available on vendors on all shards. How much of that is because they don't want everything bought and shipped to Atlantic? It's been my experience that many of the more needed items, like power scrolls, are sold through general chat instead of vendors and the transaction is mostly initiated by the buyer asking 'does anyone have?'
I mostly, I admit, play on Europa, since I'm English, but I have played on a couple of East US shards, but never Atlantic. I have no desire to play there.
My default server is I believe Legends. When I came back, i tried playing it and got a character pretty good set up. I went to do a champ spawn and found five in a row that were being camped.
Then I created a stratics, and saw the info about it being a dead server and farmed for loot for Atlantic.
That second, I decided to go back to Drachenfels and suffer the ping differential. Also helps that I speak German fluently and knew a bunch of people from ye olden days. But I’m able to play without running into those problems. I know of 10 people I work with who play and chose different shards than their “Home” shard simply because of this reason.
I see a lot of stuff on here about the economy affecting or not affecting the player base, new/returning included, but the sad reality is that it is true. Not to say all of it is done by those who do RMT but I know of one account through some sleuthing that it is.
Greed is powerful. Unfortunately the lack of oversight has bred the population we have today.
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Then I created a stratics, and saw the info about it being a dead server and farmed for loot for Atlantic.
That second, I decided to go back to Drachenfels and suffer the ping differential. Also helps that I speak German fluently and knew a bunch of people from ye olden days. But I’m able to play without running into those problems. I know of 10 people I work with who play and chose different shards than their “Home” shard simply because of this reason.
I see a lot of stuff on here about the economy affecting or not affecting the player base, new/returning included, but the sad reality is that it is true. Not to say all of it is done by those who do RMT but I know of one account through some sleuthing that it is.
Greed is powerful. Unfortunately the lack of oversight has bred the population we have today.
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You work with 10 UO Players?
Hell, I can't find one in my whole county...
Hell, I can't find one in my whole county...
I was actually talking in chat with someone from my town. Rather small town actually. But we never met or anything.