*IF* UO went F2P, what would you want to see?

[canary]

...

How about this...

They make a "classic shard", free to play and only accessible by the 2d client. Once open, the shard would be attended to to keep stable and a Gm or two to keep things in line between players, however there would be no new content or features added to the shard or the client past the initial opening and stabilizing of the shard.

Then they shut down the 2d client on the pay side and devote time to revamping the game technologically to take advantage of newer client and server hardware and software allowing for a higher resolution isometric world not relegated by a tile system that allows the use of higher end graphical capabilities both for object and for effects and the environment.

Maybe also rebalance the economy to lessen the amount of ingame gold and keep it lower than it currently is, reset the for-pay servers when the newly-completed updated client and server worlds are complete and call them Classic (Free) UO and Ultima Online: The New Age.

Or I could just be full of it

well, nothing in there is about F2P but I actually would support this decision, providing they could actually support a decent client on 'The New Age' side of the game.

 

[Dermott of LS]

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The classic shard on the Legacy client would be the free to play portion.

 

[canary]

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The classic shard on the Legacy client would be the free to play portion.

Sorry, you mean actual real honest to goodness Free To Play or Freemium?

 

[Dermott of LS]

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Whichever way would work better. I would assume honest free-to-play unless there were ways to allow for the Freemium model without having it take away from the Premium service. Not sure what would be desired in terms of "freemiums" on a classic F2P server that was limited to the Legacy client without completely borking the idea of a classic server.

 

[Derium of ls]

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Whichever way would work better. I would assume honest free-to-play unless there were ways to allow for the Freemium model without having it take away from the Premium service. Not sure what would be desired in terms of "freemiums" on a classic F2P server that was limited to the Legacy client without completely borking the idea of a classic server.

I'd want to see UO go free to play, and a classic server be sub based. the money from the subs will supply for bug support, dedicated GM and EM. since it won't need many updates I could care less if EA took the overflow money, so long as they pump it back into UO

 

[Lord Frodo]

...

How about this...

They make a "classic shard", free to play and only accessible by the 2d client. Once open, the shard would be attended to to keep stable and a Gm or two to keep things in line between players, however there would be no new content or features added to the shard or the client past the initial opening and stabilizing of the shard.

Then they shut down the 2d client on the pay side and devote time to revamping the game technologically to take advantage of newer client and server hardware and software allowing for a higher resolution isometric world not relegated by a tile system that allows the use of higher end graphical capabilities both for object and for effects and the environment.

Maybe also rebalance the economy to lessen the amount of ingame gold and keep it lower than it currently is, reset the for-pay servers when the newly-completed updated client and server worlds are complete and call them Classic (Free) UO and Ultima Online: The New Age.

Or I could just be full of it

So you are saying that if we do not use the EC then we can not play on the reg shards.

NP

Closing all my accounts because I refuse to be froce to use a substandard client.

 

[Nexus]

So you are saying that if we do not use the EC then we can not play on the reg shards.

NP

Closing all my accounts because I refuse to be froce to use a substandard client.

They why by that logic haven't you been long gone? By looking at what's available else where the 2D client goes well beyond the realm of "substandard".

The EC even with it's flaws is vastly superior in functionality than the 2D client. This is especially true once you bring in some of the really good UI mods like Pinco's that focus' on adding ease of use and Functionality and not just aesthetics.

I'm not saying the EC is "Great" or that it's "Perfect" what I am saying that in comparison to the 2D client there is no comparison on which one is superior in terms of overall potential. Guess what the 2D client as much as I love it, isn't it.

 

[Lord Frodo]

They why by that logic haven't you been long gone? By looking at what's available else where the 2D client goes well beyond the realm of "substandard".

I do not play anywhere else. I play UO.

The EC even with it's flaws is vastly superior in functionality than the 2D client. This is especially true once you bring in some of the really good UI mods like Pinco's that focus' on adding ease of use and Functionality and not just aesthetics.

I will give you the part on functionality but the graphics on the EC are a joke. Sorry I will not download anything from anybody that I do not know and I should not have to. If these UIs are so great then they should be tested by UO and be downloadable from UO.

I'm not saying the EC is "Great" or that it's "Perfect" what I am saying that in comparison to the 2D client there is no comparison on which one is superior in terms of overall potential. Guess what the 2D client as much as I love it, isn't it.

Potential %100 agree and if our Devs would fix it then maybe, but that is asking way to much. The EC has been in testing for how long now. At this rate UO will die before the EC is ever done.

I try to use as few keys as possible (disabled). With the new crafting menu the EC is not needed. Mining and Woodcutting to me is far easier in the CC, 2 hot keys is all that is needed.

I can play UO with the CC all day long and have no problems. Play EC 1/2 hour and I am done for the day. To those that say you can not get sick using the EC are wrong. 21 years Navy with 14 years at sea so I know what motion sickness is. I have been in some of the worse weather you can think of and in 21 years I never had to leave my post because of motion sickness. With the EC I walk away or leave my cookies on the keyboard.

Want me to use the EC only then give me the ability to use the CC's graphics with the EC's UI from UO only, not another site and I will switch over. Until then UO can keep EC in testing.

 

[Tangled Metal]

*IF* UO went F2P I would like to see me playing again.

I am not sure that I would play again but if it was free I would at least give it another go. I played off and on for 12 years.

I would like to see everything I have "grandfathered" in. That would be the only fair way of doing things. I would not mind paying for a quarterly expansion pack.

That is my $.02

 

[olduofan]

I for some reason feel uo being FTP could even separate the "Haves and the Haves not"

The times we are live in currently are very economically challenging world wide. lets say they make a new area to play in and only those that can afford it buy it, that could leave a lot of players feeling left out and quite possible ?

 

[Pink Floyd]

I want to see EA put gold/item sellers out of business by offering all the items they sell for cheaper. It would have little detriment considering how many of these sites exist already and it might actually fund some real development. If they did that, and made it so you could play for free with no home, or pay $13.99 a month to own a house, I bet tons of people would come back and current players would still pay for their accounts.

 

[Woodsman]

If they did that, and made it so you could play for free with no home, or pay $13.99 a month to own a house, I bet tons of people would come back and current players would still pay for their accounts.

Why would any returning vet come back to play UO and not want to have a house?

That'd be like a WoW player coming back to WoW and not having a mount or not using the AH or Gryphon flights or an EVE Online player coming back and deciding to only fly around in noobships.

Getting into gold selling would be really dicey, especially since EA would just find themselves undercut by the gold resellers as well.

Just to add, housing and UO go hand-in-hand. A lot of us forget that, but decent housing in MMOs is rare. None of the modern MMOs really support - you have to look towards UO and Everquest and maybe Darkfall if you want a recent example. The major MMOs have decided that housing is pointless or very little should be done with it. It's one of the most frustrating things about Lord of the Rings Online.

It's really bizarre when you think about it, because housing creates another bond between players and a game, and it reinforces the whole persistent world thing. Counter-point to that, all of the major MMOs that have beaten UO out have done so without housing, although some added it later on. WoW has 12 million players and no plans for housing and so the other companies aren't going to put a priority on it.

 

[Black Majick]

Didn't they clearly state they ARE NOT going to go FTP.

I think it would help bring people in tho

They are putting the nail on the coffin without doing that....