I don't think so, honestly I don't think anything drastic has changed in UO since Publish 5 (UO:R Launch).
Back years ago it was E-bay, then all the RMT folks got banned from selling virtual goods there, so they opened shop elsewhere, namely their own sites.
Now what I do think has changed is the player base, and I"m not talking population changes, or Tram vs Fel. I'm talking our expectations as individuals of what UO should or could be. Open up a new tab on Uhall while reading this, I'll wait.......
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Back with me? Ok how many "Positive" posts do you see in those threads? How many have positive topics? UO is still UO, nothing has changed really in a decade, PvP and PvM are separate and have been for over a decade, sure new skills have been added and item mods, which make the game "easier" and more complex at the same time, but that's just evolution and expansion on trends that were started 11 years ago. Most of us that have been kicking around UO for the past decade or so are pretty set in our ways, Me I think I have a slight advantage in some ways. I left UO right before AoS and came back during SE with all new accounts, I didn't expect to come back to the same game, and I can honestly say I feel UO is better as a game now than it was then. Sure X-fers got screwy for a few days, I'll take not having access to one character for a couple of days vs the server crashing every 30 minutes with a 20 minutes revert each time. I see folks complain that the player base is too spread out... I'll take that over seeing every level of every dungeon camped by folks. I see gripes that the economy is out of wack.. No it's not it's working exactly how it should based on the model it was established on. And don't feed me this duping junk, UO's lost over 100k subs since it's peak, how much gold left with those 100k subs vs how much was created via duping? I call it about even. What's got the economy outta wack is Gold isn't leaving the system because if they put in Gold Sinks that only cater to those with huge sums of gold it puts the Haves and the Have Nots farther apart.
I see people complain about no advertising. What does UO have to sell itself on. You can't slap a screen cap from the CC on a box and expect people in Best Buy to take it seriously when it's on the shelf next to WoW or Halo. What talk about it's history and how you can be what ever you want to be in the game? I'll tell you right now most who have never played UO care any more about it's history any more than we did listening to our aged grannies tell us how they had to walk uphill through the snow both ways. Sure they'll listen, the might find some humor or it might temporarily peak their interest but it doesn't effect them.
So here's the facts. And you can call this overly long posting of mine a rant or heck brand it "Nexus' State of the Game"
UO is working as intended.
It's a game where the economy is working tried and true based on the model it was developed on. Gold goes in, it shifts around and those that like in the real world have the means seem to collect most of it. And like every real world economy there is a certain measure of corruption and greed, deal with it, every game gets hit with these issues. Fixing it now won't stop it from cropping up again later. And be glad UO doesn't go to an extreme like some games have. Atlantica Online for example adopted a policy of you can only hunt an area and gather loot for a set amount of time before you have to move on to somewhere else. Try finishing a quest requiring an item when RNG hates you in that game.
It is a game where what you invest in time you get back out in reward.
So you don't get a 120 mage at every spawn.... Hey several hundred thousand gold dropped on the ground, I know I rarely leave a spawn without collecting close to 200k myself on top of scrolls, and possibly arties. Oh you got raided, big deal your insurance saved your gear making it possible for you to try again at a minimal cost to your character. They invested time in honing their PvP abilities, they were rewarded for doing so no different than the real world, you don't always go straight up the ladder of success sometimes you have to perch on a ledge for a bit, or climb down a couple of rungs in order to better prepare yourself for progress later.
UO in many ways has gone beyond being simply and aged MMO, it's become a real virtual society, You have crime, corruption, greed, jealousy, success, victory, joy, nobility, compassion etc. It allows you freedom, if I want to be a Noble Paladin that moonlights as a gourmet Chef, I can do it. If I want to Masterful Animal Tamer that has a side job as a musician, I can do it. If I want to be socialite that sits at a commerce hub trading the local gossip, guess what I can do it. UO thanks to it's Sandbox nature better reflects the real world more than any Virtual society I've ever been involved with and for many of us I'm sure that is why we are still here. People in our little social groups we consider actual friends often times, not just someone we game with.
The point of all of this comes down to just a few choice words....
UO hasn't really changed, we have, some of us have grown children who now play, some of us have parents who introduced us to UO. Some of us are just experiencing it for the first few months and for others of us UO is an old friend. And just like with our familiar friends try not to scrutinize it's small vices, look for the good in it. Make your own way in Sosaria it's what it was created for, take pride in what you accomplish during your travels through the realm, and don't worry if so and so is buying is way to fame and glory, he's really accomplishing nothing. Help the new generation of players, just as some of the older generation of players might have helped you. The golden rule still applies, it's honestly what the virtues are all about.
