A man who builds characters and sets goals, I like that
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How to revive the dying shards
- Thread starter Yadd of Legends
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Yup can use all the same macros and stuff. Makes it all seamless.
But back to topic. If we could have some additional houses of the same account for different shards it would make a big difference. I really don't get why SP is special in that respect. It's pretty tough to tear down your current house and head off to another shard without knowing if your gonna like it or not. Having characters on a less populated shard with no house isn't very inviting. They can even cook up some one time $9.99 deal if they want. That would be ok with me.
Imagine the burst of activity if we were allowed to build a house on each shard. That would be a bigger stimulus than a new expansion.
Would be nice but some genius thought it would be smart to make the new VvV tiles and stuff non-transferable.... so what's the point ... can't do it on my shard and I "could" do it on a dead shard but why? Can't take it home with me.
Another thing that makes me suspect somebody's master plan is to herd everybody onto one shard
Ooooooh do tell me more. I *love* conspiracy theories!
Hey, listen! The people, you people, the people of Stratics, you all need to listen, I'm risking my life to tell you this but, you all need to know!
Well, we all know that ever since Blackthorn came back to life and became king, there has been an increase in cybernetic activity in Ilshenar. Around that time, there was a hiccup in the server plates, that caused a tremendous amount of damage, causing the dev team to migrate the servers to the cloud, and to cover up their inability to deal with the damage to the plates because of rogue cybers in Ilsh, they just said they moved to the cloud because it was more affordable, better for the current scope of the game etc.. At that point, the people who operate the cloud servers began to charge more, because they knew they could take advantage of the situation, because where else is UO gonna go? So in order to cut costs, the mandate was decreed that a covert ops style campaign to merge the servers would have to take place... that would have to be shot down by former franchise producer Jeff Skalski, and Head of the Dev Team Bonnie Armstrong in order to maintain its clandestineness.
Whilst you are correct, it would probably add a little life to lesser used shards, it does not address the root of the problem.
The root of the problem and the reason why shards are underpopulated is that UO subs are through the floor and we simply need new players. Existing players creating characters, building houses and playing on little used shards gives a false impression. When they are playing new shards then they arent playing their old shards. Its the same dwindling playerbase spread more thinly across existing shards.
We need new players and in significant numbers if this game is to survive.
But would do nothing for UO as a whole. Whilst you are playing one shard you aren't playing another. Spreading the population isn't the answer. New players is.
I still think Physical copies of the game should be sold in some manner.
I don't think allowing xfers for everyone like that would really "revive" shards. But I think something like that would certainly help even the playing field a bit for those who don't have shard shields by having some sort of access to do so.
I see no reason why we couldn't maybe use our Mailbox or something to send up to 125 items through the "mail" once a month per account or something to a shard of our choice.
Still not as awesome as having the ability to choose several shard shields but does at least gives those with years an years to wait for em the ability to sent items around once a month for whatever reasons they may have be it to sell stuff easier or buy stuff they need easier or whatever. It would actually help out the people that could use the help so i'm all for that.
I see no reason why we couldn't maybe use our Mailbox or something to send up to 125 items through the "mail" once a month per account or something to a shard of our choice.
Still not as awesome as having the ability to choose several shard shields but does at least gives those with years an years to wait for em the ability to sent items around once a month for whatever reasons they may have be it to sell stuff easier or buy stuff they need easier or whatever. It would actually help out the people that could use the help so i'm all for that.
Find a good friend with shields and send stuff with them... or offer them some gold to make a transfer for you. Then you both win. Or give them something from your stash to keep for making the transfer... not only do you both win but it will go a long way towards building a good bond and perhaps to making them more willing to do it again.
Of course this comes down to trust just like in the old days when you gave your armor and weapons to a smith or crafter and they repaired it for you.... or you risked them stealing it.
But as a general rule most gifty crap that gets transferred shard to shard isn't worth stealing anyway. What I wish is that clean up points were tied to my account... not just one individual character on one shard. If they were tied to my account I could use one account to throw stuff in the trash and not have to drag the crap back to GL's to throw it away. I tried moving my "trashman" to other shards but found that when I do a couple of his crafting talismans are "owned by" and they no longer would recognize him as their owner. Which to me was a massive pita so I quit sending him to collect the trash.
The extra house on Siege did not work. It seemed like a good idea but ultimately people placed a home and then realized that the shard was dead and went back to their own shard. People want to play and interact with other players. If they allowed everyone to place an extra home on each shard you would just have prime spots owned and never used.
After the burst though of building a char, farming gold to place people would get bored and stop logging in the slower shards again and migrate back to where it's busier. More people playing the game is what is needed. Without heading back to that old argument (again lol) some way of enticing older players to log back in is needed. Steam will be a start...but they also need some form of F2P to get the population back up to bustling.
Have you been inside a Gamestop in the last 5 years? Physical copies of PC games are very nearly a thing of the past unless it's a very big AAA title.
I jump on there from time to time... but most the time when I'm around no one is about... and your right I don't want to play by myself, I can do that on GL's. I want to be in a group and have some fun... I enjoy hanging out in Vent and chatting... Typing all the time gets dull... and honestly it's hard to play and type at the same time.
I really enjoy RP but there isn't much of that anywhere... rather hit and miss when 2 or 3 people happen to be about to get something going then another 2 to 3 weeks before the same 3 people get on again so the story stagnates... Used to be not so many years ago.... I couldn't WAIT to get home from work and hop online and RP with my friends. There was ALWAYS something happening. If you went to Skara Brae you could more often than not "test" your skills by picking a fight with some orc over shinnies... I could go to the local Tavern and hang out get a few drinks and load up on the latest news about this group or that group of troublemakers and find out what's going on... or I could hang at the Armory and spar a few rounds with the Grand Marshall or whatever. Often there were half a dozen or more things going on one could get involved in and that didn't even include setting foot in a dungeon or killing anything. Then there was always heading down to doom with a gold skull and you could often find a dozen or more folk down there doing the runs and I'd do 3 or 4 until my quivers were empty and bandages all gone. We used to gather at the Abbey every Saturday and roll out for Muster which meant we went to some dungeon and cleared it of spawn for the night.... working on getting whatever the guild needed. Or we used to go to Illshenar and kill stuff there and try to get the mini-arties to drop... or we'd do a peerless dungeon for the night.... usually Travisty or Lady M... It was fun... mostly because we did it as a group and were all in vent chatting having a good time.
But of late most folk solo everything... people don't want to be in a group because they might not get the drop and someone else might get it.... they don't want to be in a group because going in a group means you spend 75% of the time standing about dinking around waiting for something to spawn that 2 people in 10 jump in .02 seconds and it's dead. So then you stand about some more for the next 10 min waiting for you .02 second opportunity to hit something. BORING. Kinda like doing Navrey.... Kill it loot it wait.... wait... wait..... wait.... get bored forget why you went down there... almost decide to leave then remember why you came down there.. it spawns finally you kill it, loot it and then start the waiting game again... That's the way most of the crap is anymore.
Adding 10 billion HP to the mob doesn't make it more fun it makes it more boring... Having mobs that 1 hit kill does not make them fun it makes it annoying and irritating. Having nothing that can keep an entire guild busy makes being in a guild pointless. There honestly aren't reasons to be in a guild anymore since 95% of the game is soloable... and the other 5% is either such a grind no one wants to do it or the "reward" is so miniscule no one WILL do it. Kinda like the "newest" High Seas boss..... Who does it anymore? No ONE. First off the bait and such that you need to summon the thing is so impossible to get that almost no one could summon one.... and secondly it's "reward" is a joke.
And finally the old ML stuff, Doom stuff, mini-arties, and 10 anniversary items and all that are all so overly obsolete no one cares or wants it... making it not worth anyones time to go do.... so what do you do? Wait till the one day a week or month that there is an EM event on your shard so you can do something worthwhile??? No.
UO has forgotten about community.. there is NO incentive anymore to be in a guild or group... no incentive to hunt in a party.... since you don't get individual loot in a party it's not worthwhile and no one wants to "share".... Everything is built around single player greed. Problem with building a game on that is that you MUST continually up the ante... if you don't people grow bored and have "done it all"... meaning they have all the spiffy stuff and they are bored wanting more.
Reminds me of baby birds in a nest. Mom or Papa bird comes and they are all chirp, chirp, chirp.... they give one guy a worm and off they go to get more and the other two pounce all over the guy who got the worm. Eventually the worm gets knocked from the nest and they all grow hungry. Or one bird gets all the meals and throws the others to the street below.
MalagAste hit it spot on.
My additions
To revitalize a dying shard depends on the players of that particular shard are willing to do to make it more alive.
* Set aside old differences and work together for the betterment of the shard not themselves.
* Be active and try to organize shard events. No matter what the event is from RP to PvP. Announce them in-game, forums of all UO related websites and participate in them. Use social media to help organize events. You just cant announce on one site when all may not read this site and another UO site only.
* Work with both type of player bases, PvP'ers should have events that all are welcome to and same goes for PvM'ers that all are welcome. This us against them mentality is really old news anymore.
* Eliminate greed and focus on community.
* Make it fun!
Even if you usually have 20 players active and you added 8 more ( even 2 player) playing on a constant basis with some effort you still win. Its not a numbers game all the time its the fun that comes out of it.
Sometimes being on a more populated shard isn't the best thing. Quality over quantity. Just as long as you have participation and I should emphasize EM events don't count because that falls under the greed issue and just xsharders who are there for pixels.
My additions
To revitalize a dying shard depends on the players of that particular shard are willing to do to make it more alive.
* Set aside old differences and work together for the betterment of the shard not themselves.
* Be active and try to organize shard events. No matter what the event is from RP to PvP. Announce them in-game, forums of all UO related websites and participate in them. Use social media to help organize events. You just cant announce on one site when all may not read this site and another UO site only.
* Work with both type of player bases, PvP'ers should have events that all are welcome to and same goes for PvM'ers that all are welcome. This us against them mentality is really old news anymore.
* Eliminate greed and focus on community.
* Make it fun!
Even if you usually have 20 players active and you added 8 more ( even 2 player) playing on a constant basis with some effort you still win. Its not a numbers game all the time its the fun that comes out of it.
Sometimes being on a more populated shard isn't the best thing. Quality over quantity. Just as long as you have participation and I should emphasize EM events don't count because that falls under the greed issue and just xsharders who are there for pixels.
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The trust issue...
Make a new guild member able to talk in guild chat but unable to access permanent members backpacks.
PVP, PVM & vendors. Make it an they will come.
You need everyday items available for newer players. So vet members keep vendors stocked with everyday items.
Make a new guild member able to talk in guild chat but unable to access permanent members backpacks.
PVP, PVM & vendors. Make it an they will come.
You need everyday items available for newer players. So vet members keep vendors stocked with everyday items.
This is the reason I do not go to Gamestop, and I think a reason why many of those game stores are having financial troubles.
Also want to add most games really suck nowadays. Typical check list, [Zombies? Nudity? Cuss words?] There's not depth, or plot or anything other than explosions with the occasionally scantily clad girl and overly stupid dialogue that doles on and on, and offers no real entertainment value other than chatting with your friend on Xbox live or whatevs. "Hey dude which girl did you pick in Mass Effect? You bro that headshot was sick dawg."
The games suck. And ya, digital games and all that grey area sucks right along with it. Still, does not change the absolute fact that I wish physical copies of this game were still sold.
Fix the danged account management where it's completely usable. Then, advertise and sell cds. Or just an empty box with a ode in it to use to download and get a month free...anything visual.
I basically only buy digital anymore, with Steam being such a big thing. The majority of PC games redeem on it regardless of where you buy them from, so just buy a CD key online on sale, redeem it, download, play. Easy. And I definitely disagree on most current games sucking.
To each their own, but in my honest opinion I can hardly make it half way through most games these days, they all just find some old trope and ride it til the franchise dies. If graphics are no barrier, I'd look into old greats like Wizardry 6, 7 and 8 [8 has pretty good graphics imo]. Maybe Wizardry 5 for a less storied setting. You can get the wizardry games on Steam, or I'd say get it on GOG probably better. GOG makes sure they get the games compatible before releasing, and if you have problems there is at least a semi responsive troubleshooting team to help, and the boards are active. If you want a more modern idea of a cool game. And there is a game I do like with no real story to it that came out kinda recently.. Hammerwatch pretty fun. Hehe.
The reason they're having trouble is because physical media is becoming obsolete. That big shelf of PC games you remember being in the store when you went to buy UO:R fifteen years ago doesn't exist anymore. Not there, not anywhere.
Or Might and Magic 6, 7 or 8 - graphics are blocky but charming, story line is hardly there, but gameplay is totally addicting , in my opinion
Ya was gonna say M&M but they less story-centric. But yes the gameplay is amazging. I like Xeen pretty good. Never beat it but did love the gameplay.
Well your checklist consists of three things.
1. Zombies ... UO has those.
2. Cuss words ... UO out guns every game ever created thanks to general chat.
3. Nudity ... ok UO lacks this. But would probably benefit from it.
So im not sure what your point is.
Well, not exactly nudity, but you can take you doll's clothes off
Find players with the Xfer Shields to the shards you want and ask them if they would Xfer your stuff for you.
Transferring them myself would be more fun. But I can see my proposal isn't getting much support here on Stratics, so I imagine that's what I'll have to keep doing.
I like the ideea, heck, I would love to use it! But I don't see em turning loose of that money from xfer tokens
1) $19.99 New Game Account fully updated with all Expansions and content
2) $9.00 Monthly Fee
3) $24.00 3 Month Game-Time
4) $36.00 6 Month Game-Time
5) 3 New Character slots, free to existing players
6) Skill-Cap increase to 840 skill points total
7) 3 Houses per account on any shard, including Seige Perilous total 4 houses per account. 3rd and 4th house must be refreshed manually every 60 days by the house owner. Either by door or house sign. If not refreshed house immediately begins to decay and cannot be refreshed or traded.
8) Bank storage increase to 250 items per character
9) $10.00 8 x 100 Advanced Character Token from Origin
10) $10.00 7 x 120 Advanced Character Token, does not include power scrolls from Origin
11) $25.00 7 x 120 Advanced Character Token including 7 120 any skill power scrolls from Origin
12) Focus on bug fixes, broken content and incomplete systems and revamp some old systems.
2) $9.00 Monthly Fee
3) $24.00 3 Month Game-Time
4) $36.00 6 Month Game-Time
5) 3 New Character slots, free to existing players
6) Skill-Cap increase to 840 skill points total
7) 3 Houses per account on any shard, including Seige Perilous total 4 houses per account. 3rd and 4th house must be refreshed manually every 60 days by the house owner. Either by door or house sign. If not refreshed house immediately begins to decay and cannot be refreshed or traded.
8) Bank storage increase to 250 items per character
9) $10.00 8 x 100 Advanced Character Token from Origin
10) $10.00 7 x 120 Advanced Character Token, does not include power scrolls from Origin
11) $25.00 7 x 120 Advanced Character Token including 7 120 any skill power scrolls from Origin
12) Focus on bug fixes, broken content and incomplete systems and revamp some old systems.
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I like all of those except the increase in skill cap, and kinda don't see the need for more bank storage if they doing away with checks and also if they include the 3 characters slots. But yeah the price reduction probably a good step in the proper direction, and would be nice to see another house slot, if they can do without messing up our existing ones.. Siege didn't seem to cause too many problems, probably didn't turn out as well as expected but the mechanical aspects turned out ok I think.
I can't even imagine the effect of an 840 skill cap - I'm sure it would be a major game changer and fun to play around with - Messana and team has said it will never happen, but I suppose you're hoping they will change their minds
So are you still making those occasional trips from Legends to Atlantic?
Just my opinion but I always thought they should have raised the skill cap to 840 when power scrolls were introduced. If they had then everything the last 15 years would have been balanced accordingly. 7 x 120 isn't that huge a leap from 6 x 120. It's one extra skill.
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A lot of these suggestions won't really revitalize low population shards, they are more directed at spreading the existing player base from high population servers to lower population ones. The issue has to start with stopping the bleeding off of subscriptions, and I don't mean people with 5+ accounts downsizing to 1 or 2, I'm talking about people walking away from the game completely. There are a lot of things that need to happen to UO, that we as the player base simply can not do anything about.
- Customer Service has to be improved, EA is well known for poor customer service, which cost them more than few subs over the years. Unfortunately Broadsword doesn't appear to have the resources to provide adequate coverage, they got caught holding the bag on this one. It's not their fault but there has to be a solution developed.
- UO needs to be "Out There" somehow. Once they get it on Steam it may help, for all the talk from people saying the CC looks like, well what it is late 90's fare, it's still graphically on par or superior to many Indie games out there. Before Indie games came out I strongly argued that UO needed a truly modern client graphically, today that is less of an issue. Steam provides a great way to get the game out there with less investment from Boardsword in terms of marketing.
- UO needs to tap into what really made it great, longevity is one thing, but that isn't what makes or made UO a great game, it is the aftereffect of what makes UO a great game. Maybe if UO was to tap back into that primal spirit it could gain a bit of it's player base back. I'm not talking getting rid of Trammel, or making the game completely open PvP, but possibly rolling back everything that AoS brought and working it into some type of story arc. Make the game truly skill based, and not a contest to see how much you can twink a character.
I agree. Community has taken a huge hit in Ultima Online. Somewhere along the line UO just went to easy and single player mode forgeting that people like the game but love the memories of playing with online friends or vs online enemies. I have said it before, my favorite memories were pre AOS at Atlantic's old Haven bank. No one had homes, people met at the bank and a real community was evident. Players were regarded only by their actions and reputation, not by whether they were wearing the latest in EM event rares. Guild's actually had hunts and meetings.
Ive always liked the idea. The UO system was build around being able to maximise 7 skills. It wasnt overpowered to have a 7x max skills character. 840 skill points would in effect just bring that back. 7x 120. It would also allow for some interesting templates utilising more skills by dropping some 120's and we would get more variation.I can't even imagine the effect of an 840 skill cap - I'm sure it would be a major game changer and fun to play around with - Messana and team has said it will never happen, but I suppose you're hoping they will change their minds
EA has decided though that this is an item based game, rather than a skill based one.
Lots of us make that trip on occasion. If ya need something moved, either way, we can get it done as long as you're not on a short timetable lol
What I'd really like is to shut down all but 2 or 3 shards. Give everyone a transfer token for each character. Open 2 new clean shards to replace the shut down ones. One Saturday open em both up and watch the fun begin I'd rather see 4 active alive shards over the waste lands we have out there now. I've been playing Legends so this would effect me too btw
I'd rather see 4 active alive shards over the waste lands we have out there now. I've been playing Legends so this would effect me too btw
It really would be great. Never gonna happen
You'd have to wipe Atlantic or all the other displaced players would really get hosed. That's why I'd like to see a couple fresh clean servers open up if your gonna shut any down. Something like one new clean server for every 6 or 7 you close.
Thanks, just every once and a while, no rush
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Exactly .... and guilds HAD to hunt together... The dungeons were rough... much wasn't meant to be solo'd. It was fun though. It took several folk to kill a dragon. Even the Styngian Dragon can be solo'd now. It's sad. You shouldn't be able to solo a Styngian. Not that he should one shot kill you but he should be more difficult.
Also with the advent of the repair deeds no one needs to even see a crafter. It's sad. You can even get an alteration deed and stuff that is just wrong.
There is ZERO incentive to belong to a guild anymore. It's of almost no benefit and many don't want to BE in a guild anymore because too often some A$$ joins the guild and starts killing and looting people and there is NOTHING they can do about it but quit the guild. Guildleaders are powerless to find out who's doing it and it's just really sick. People should be able to NOT allow guildmates to steal or loot from them. Of course that wouldn't apply in Fel but it always should in Tram.
And that is yet another reason why community has fallen apart and been allowed to be destroyed. Yet another failing of the "system" to protect the victim rather than treat them like a fool and laugh at their misfortune. Folk want to be in a community and get burned for it. Meanwhile the anti-social psychopath gets to rob them blind. Greed has RUINED UO. Plain and simple.
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