Free to play?

[Captn Norrington]

Personally, I think the game has been going backwards in terms of graphic quality the longer things go on.

An overview of the graphics of Ultima:

Ultima 9, from before UO existed:




UO Classic Client and Kingdom Reborn side by side:



That "UO 3D" thing they tried after Kingdom Reborn but before Enhanced Client:



UO Enhanced Client:

 

[TheDrAJ]

I agree that the biggest problem with the classic client was the unscaleable graphics. Mystic did a partly good job by offering several new graphics resolutions, but these fall vastly short when compared to the graphics settings on several of the 3rd party clients available on free shards. (which the mystic changes made no longer funtionable on OSI shards I have heard.) Why Mystic couldn't let the player set there own graphics resolutions is beyond me.

 

[ShriNayne]

@Captn Norrington The swamp dragon in your KR screenie there is actually quite pretty, the big problem for me personally with KR was that overall it just looked a bit vague and washed-out, the CC has a crispness to it and everything is clear, it's what I miss playing in EC now, I have to be very zoomed out to get that. The picture of Ultima 9 is very interesting, I don't think I ever played that, last I remember playing was Underworld. I would imagine most of the people who play in CC would hate the way Ultima 9 looks too!

 

[Slayvite]

Personally, I think the game has been going backwards in terms of graphic quality the longer things go on.

An overview of the graphics of Ultima:

Ultima 9, from before UO existed:

View attachment 67525


UO Classic Client and Kingdom Reborn side by side:

View attachment 67526

That "UO 3D" thing they tried after Kingdom Reborn but before Enhanced Client:

View attachment 67528

UO Enhanced Client:

View attachment 67527

Oh dear lord!! Why did you have to make the Enhanced client pic so large.......my eyes cannot Un-see that abomination now
A reminder to all as to why any sane person uses the CC and NOT the EC.

 

[Lore]

Personally, I think the game has been going backwards in terms of graphic quality the longer things go on.

An overview of the graphics of Ultima:

Ultima 9, from before UO existed:

View attachment 67525


UO Classic Client and Kingdom Reborn side by side:

View attachment 67526

That "UO 3D" thing they tried after Kingdom Reborn but before Enhanced Client:

View attachment 67528

UO Enhanced Client:

View attachment 67527

Maybe it's my settings, but my EC looks nothing like that hot mess.

 

[Archnight]

Maybe it's my settings, but my EC looks nothing like that hot mess.

Pinco's version is better than just the normal EC but it's still ugly and a "hot mess" in my opinion lol

 

[Uvtha]

Why Mystic couldn't let the player set there own graphics resolutions is beyond me.

If it were as technically simply as that, it would have been done years ago.

 

[Uvtha]

@Captn Norrington The swamp dragon in your KR screenie there is actually quite pretty, the big problem for me personally with KR was that overall it just looked a bit vague and washed-out, the CC has a crispness to it and everything is clear, it's what I miss playing in EC now, I have to be very zoomed out to get that. The picture of Ultima 9 is very interesting, I don't think I ever played that, last I remember playing was Underworld. I would imagine most of the people who play in CC would hate the way Ultima 9 looks too!

Monsters in KR and a lot of the tilesets were just fine... item art on the other hand was simply atrocious.

Also, yes, I do hate U9. It's a blocky polygonal nightmare from the period where 3d was technically functional but still ugly as ****. My least favorite period in gaming by far where 3D was the craze and every new game was this minecraft level of blockiness.

3d is great now, as computers can handle very high poly counts. D3 for example, which IMO would be the best possible visual outcome for UO. Even low end stuff like Marvel Heroes looks decent.

 

[CovenantX]

Pretty sure trial accounts won't get event drops

i'd hope they would be very heavily restricted, especially if EA/BS have no intention of cracking down on scripting/multi-boxing.

I'm really not much of a fan of the whole F2P idea, because it's something EA hasn't done well at all, obviously the scripting/multi-boxing is a major factor in it as well.

I do believe that it could bring in a fair amount of players though, at least in the short term, then again, so would advertising the game...

I vaguely remember there being talk about a New Player Experience (NPE) I wonder where they are in development with that? (or has it even begun development?)

 

[Uvtha]

I vaguely remember there being talk about a New Player Experience (NPE) I wonder where they are in development with that? (or has it even begun development?)

heh wasn't that like 3 or more years ago? I think it's safe to say that idea has floated away.

 

[Coco_Zamis_DF]

According to Cpt. Norrington i may able to give you some information from an insider.
There are no restrictions in f2p, except they have to use a new client specially for thoose accounts.
The insider also leaks me a screenshot.
......

 

[The Craftsman]

According to Cpt. Norrington i may able to give you some information from an insider.
There are no restrictions in f2p, except they have to use a new client specially for thoose accounts.
The insider also leaks me a screenshot.
......
View attachment 67546

Looks better than EC

 

[Uvtha]

According to Cpt. Norrington i may able to give you some information from an insider.
There are no restrictions in f2p, except they have to use a new client specially for thoose accounts.
The insider also leaks me a screenshot.
......
View attachment 67546

cutting edge!

 

[Uriah Heep]

Let there be housing for the F2P accounts. Have em pay $20 for a 6 month code to allow placement...and those houses have to be refreshed at least once a week.
Seems fair, best of both worlds

 

[Uriah Heep]

antipodean

Okay cool, learned a new word today

 

[Archnight]

Let there be housing for the F2P accounts. Have em pay $20 for a 6 month code to allow placement...and those houses have to be refreshed at least once a week.
Seems fair, best of both worlds

Financially it wouldn't make any sense... right now someone holding a dummy account for housing with the 90 day rule is paying $60 a year. Assuming there's a lot of these dummy accounts or just people paying the monthly sub to keep their current house with belongings active while taking a break, the loss of revenue would kill the game. F2P is a step in the right direction but needs to be done right, free housing wouldn't be the right way of doing it. Now someone mentioned in another thread having the rights to a small house in a specific area of the game that would need to be manually refreshed, something like that could work as long as it doesn't get abused

 

[The Craftsman]

Financially it wouldn't make any sense... right now someone holding a dummy account for housing with the 90 day rule is paying $60 a year. Assuming there's a lot of these dummy accounts or just people paying the monthly sub to keep their current house with belongings active while taking a break, the loss of revenue would kill the game. F2P is a step in the right direction but needs to be done right, free housing wouldn't be the right way of doing it. Now someone mentioned in another thread having the rights to a small house in a specific area of the game that would need to be manually refreshed, something like that could work as long as it doesn't get abused

Yeah exactly. Housing in UO is the best that any online game has managed to produce. Miles ahead of anything else Ive seen. However the housing system, despite probably being one of the reasons UO is still running, is also its bane. EA have Im sure become used to the income on those 90 day rule accounts so cannot (or will not) change that as they would lose subs. Scrapping the 90 day rule however is the only way to introduce F2P housing (ie selling houses to F2P accounts as a shop item, with refresh required). They darent do it though as its too much of a risk that the lost subs from the 90 day rule wont return and the F2P crowd may not cover that income wise. Im sure if you were doing it now from scratch you wouldnt do the 90 day rule.

 

[MalagAste]

@Captn Norrington The swamp dragon in your KR screenie there is actually quite pretty, the big problem for me personally with KR was that overall it just looked a bit vague and washed-out, the CC has a crispness to it and everything is clear, it's what I miss playing in EC now, I have to be very zoomed out to get that. The picture of Ultima 9 is very interesting, I don't think I ever played that, last I remember playing was Underworld. I would imagine most of the people who play in CC would hate the way Ultima 9 looks too!

The pile of gold behind the Swamp Dragon in KR is the reason I HATED it... looks "muddy" as did much of the graphics... you couldn't tell where one thing ended and another began... trying to run through trees that looked exactly like grass was nearly impossible.

While yes I agree that swamp dragon was better but it did one major thing that STILL Irks me to this day and they kept this in ... It cut off 2 of the swamp dragons legs... So now instead of being a 6 legged Stanley Steamer... It's only got 4 and it's no different than any other dragon. Poor Stanley.

 

[Uvtha]

Financially it wouldn't make any sense... right now someone holding a dummy account for housing with the 90 day rule is paying $60 a year. Assuming there's a lot of these dummy accounts or just people paying the monthly sub to keep their current house with belongings active while taking a break, the loss of revenue would kill the game. F2P is a step in the right direction but needs to be done right, free housing wouldn't be the right way of doing it. Now someone mentioned in another thread having the rights to a small house in a specific area of the game that would need to be manually refreshed, something like that could work as long as it doesn't get abused

It should just be trial account as it is right now, and subs as they are right now. That's it. Simple, concise, serves it's purpose without turning the game into a piecemeal nightmare.

 

[Uvtha]

The pile of gold behind the Swamp Dragon in KR is the reason I HATED it... looks "muddy" as did much of the graphics... you couldn't tell where one thing ended and another began... trying to run through trees that looked exactly like grass was nearly impossible.

While yes I agree that swamp dragon was better but it did one major thing that STILL Irks me to this day and they kept this in ... It cut off 2 of the swamp dragons legs... So now instead of being a 6 legged Stanley Steamer... It's only got 4 and it's no different than any other dragon. Poor Stanley.

Yes item art was garbage. I was so let down when I log on in my carefully arranged house to see everything looking dull formless and weird. I knew I could never get used to that art. I loved some of the monsters though.

 

[MalagAste]

Yes item art was garbage. I was so let down when I log on in my carefully arranged house to see everything looking dull formless and weird. I knew I could never get used to that art. I loved some of the monsters though.

And the chest neatly stacked in your house become something that looked like a swayback mule? Like someone had gone through your house with a sledgehammer...

My main irritation was that the beautiful Mahogany looking wood I chose on my home became something akin to wood from an old barn. So my "rich" and beautiful looking theatre turned into a dilapidated Barn.

 

[railshot]

A successful F2P model requires vision and a lot of smart design choices. I do not think the current tiny team can deliver on those. And without them F2P is just a death sentence because it will break old systems without replacing them.

 

[RhelHalcyon]

I think resolution is the biggest limiting factor this game has. Dated or even poor graphics don't stop people from playing games. When the graphics are too small to comfortably see without altering your zoom settings then yes, that is a problem. I don't know how fixable that problem is.

This is very true but I think mileage varies based on game type. I know a lot of my friends are playing the new platform games that are coming out. They personally remind me of something from 1989, but my friends enjoy them. But thats specific to that genre. For online, massively multiplayer games they want something more visually appealing - ex. Path of Exile, Diablo 3, or the "3A" MMO titles like WoW, FFXIV, EVE, Blade and Soul etc.

I feel if the engine that run UO isn't updates to be on par with say Diablo 3 or Path of Exile then it'll be a major turn off for people interested in UO's genre.