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Is this what it takes for us to be heard?

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galefan2004

Guest
Regardless of any legal ramifications, the playerbase was up in arms in complete opposition. Even if these legality issues were put to bed, they would still not have implemented it. I was around back then and there was hardly anyone who embraced it. The trouble is, the old and aging UO playerbase is not used to programs such as Punkbuster but the younger gamers who play the most current games on the market, already have consistent contact with this program. And how many issues did they have? Very few. People simply don't know what they want.

Edit - Just saw your edit and yes, sadly many don't see this little piece of TRUTH.
Not true. I think PB isn't that wide spread outside of online shooter games, and we all know those get huge numbers of players. Any MMORPG worth its salt is using its own client to scan for harmful programs. Thats is what I would support EA doing.
 
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galefan2004

Guest
I've said this before, and I'll say it again. The decision to cancel PunkBuster was the single worst decision that has been made with regard to UO, in the history of the game. The sad thing is, this decision is completely reversible. They've already laid all the ground work for PB, including testing. All they need to do is hire some competent lawyers and they could have PB up and running within a month...
No they couldn't. It was an impossiblity. The reason they couldn't work out the terms is because EA is already bound by the terms that players of UO are playing under (when they bought the game). Sure its online gaming so game play changes, but the based rules don't change. Also, as I have said over and over...if you want to stop scripters you fix the reasons they script. If you just turn something like PB on to catch scripters its not going to stop them from scripting. You honestly believe that people actually care if they get banned or not, and I believe that at this point in the game people know the end is coming soon, so they don't really care if they have to move on tommorow or in six months.
 
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galefan2004

Guest
Fine, that's still better than being in limbo and wondering "should I spend money here or wait to hear if promises will be fulfilled. I have other uses for my money too. If EA don't see the value in having excellent customer service across the board, I'm sure the competition will be keen to show them.
You know what the game is. You know what it will most likely always be. It is your choice if you want to spend money on it or not given the current state of the game. Obviously, there is some reason that you still spend money on it or you wouldn't be spending money on it. If you are spending your money on this game hoping its going to magically improve then you are wasting your money.

Then again, shut down UO, if it's that bad. It's no worse than playing with a group of cheats and seeing a game we care about being reduced to trash. It's not like inaction is going to make UO better when it comes to dealing with cheats. And how many bots are even on paid accounts to start with? How many real players would return to UO if it was cleansed of cheating and improved? We can loose all the trial account bots and just 1 returning player would bring a profit to EA's pockets.
I honestly believe that the majority of players (other than PvPers) didn't leave because of cheats. I think just as many would leave if they had to hit make last 3000 times on their own as have left because of cheats. If no one wanted to use cheats then there wouldn't be any.

The track record with UO will affect take up from players who experience or hear about it - I know quite a few Warhammer players, several ex UOers among them. None are signed up for WAR yet or planning to. EA customer service = once experienced, never forgotten and rarely recommended. However unimportant UO is, we as customers might be lured into a second MMORPG. More money for EA. As it is, only the die-hards will be crazy enough to sign up.
UO is not WAR. UO has VERY little weight in the scheme of things. The last time the majority of gamers really cared what happened in UO was in 2001.

Even if the reputation of UO doesn't stop a player signing up for WAR, if EA can't control UO, it's not going to take long for cheats to wreck their shiny new game. So again, if EA ignore the problem it'll bite them up the backside. It has and will continue to do so until it's fixed.
If you knew anything about DAoC you would know that it has a 0 tolerance policy when it comes to cheating. The average time you can get away with a cheat in that game is 2-3 weaks before they fix and ban anyone that they logged using it. They have banned mass numbers of accounts for cheating on repeated occasions. EA is not making WAR...Mythic is. I believe that UO was just thrust upon Mythic when EA decided to cut almost all funding to it. I'm highly doubting that Mythic actually cares about UO at all.
 
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galefan2004

Guest
I'm not an old Ultima player, but I have gotten the impression that the current events in UO are mirroring events from the old Ultima series and that we are almost caught up with where things left off with the last in the Ultima series. If that is the case, where does UO go from here? Does it make sense to perhaps roll out a grand finale for UO that leads to an announcement saying the game is over but don't run away yet, because EA's rolling out something new and exciting that they know we're gonna love and the developers for it include some of the folks who worked on UO?
This is how I see the event progressing also. I think its a storyline arc which will eventually lead to the armagedon of UO. At least they are nice enough to send UO out in style.

I suppose anything is possible. And to those that say EA/Mythic would never shut down UO, don't bet the farm on it. If UO has the bad reputation in the gaming community that many say it has, what do they have to lose by shutting it down and perhaps replacing it with a new and improved game that somehow picks up where UO left off, but without most of its problems?
I think most people are realistic about UO having maybe 1-2 years left, and I think the vast majority would welcome a UO2 that learned from UOs mistakes and took up where UO left off.
 
G

galefan2004

Guest
KR ?
IF it would run on more systems and were finished......(bugs,graphicwise etc etc etc etc...)
KR is very crafterfriendly if one invests a bit of time to learn the UI - Ah sorry I dont want to relearn the UI - 15 min is too long.......*sarcasm*
Last I checked the crafting UI didn't actually work. I tried make all and that didn't work. I tried chosing the numbers to make and that didn't work. I said screw it and went back to using 2D with UOA. You act like people that dislike the KR client never played it.
 
A

Africanus

Guest
You know I am suprised they just don't hire some people specifically for quality control.

Just a nice little team of people who can simply watch each game and catch these problems before they get to be a problem.

They could infiltrate scripting sites easily and groups by pretending to be one of the gang. Note all the different accounts and then on a specific day shut them down.

UO is still a profitable game and as long as it makes money for them, they aren't gonna shut it down. The UO is gonna die people have been saying that for years now!
 
T

thenow

Guest
Just today on my shard,Oceania, a player from USA recently on our shard running as fast as me.I ping normally at 30ish and a good PC, from his area,Baja, it norm 350ish ping. When I made comment of his speed from USA to here, he said the funniest thing.He says,"I have a real good connection", lol. I've played from Australia to Pacific shard with cable internet for couple yrs and no way could I run as fast or faster then the locals.
"I have a good connection." lol And he honestly thought us 'silly' aussies would believe that?
EA/Mythic will lose out if they do not fix this whole problem, as will we all.
 
N

Nenime

Guest
... UO is still a profitable game and as long as it makes money for them, they aren't gonna shut it down. ...
Right! According to MMORGChart Ultima Online has 75.000 active subscribers. (Ok, WoW has about 10 mil. but the three next following only have 1 mil.) That's not bad for a ten year old game. It has far more than Vanguard or D&D online. Interesting that even games with only a few thousand subscription are still running for years.
Note on grahic: Tibia with it's anachronistic (IMO crappy, much worse that UO's) graphic has about 100.000 subs. Maybe because it's free.
 
F

Fayled Dhreams

Guest
... he said the funniest thing.He says,"I have a real good connection", lol. I've played from Australia to Pacific shard with cable internet for couple yrs and no way could I run as fast or faster then the locals.
"I have a good connection." lol And he honestly thought us 'silly' aussies would believe that?
Well my ping to
Europa is 160-5ish
Atlantic is low 70's
Baja stable at 60's for the last little while (west coast usually mid 40's closer geographically)
Mugen ... holds at 150
Formosa ... 210-20
Arirang ... 145-55
Oceania is only mid 190's
(maint clusters)

not calling you "silly", just saying ... him to you could well be different than you to him ...

*shrugs*
 

Wenchkin

Babbling Loonie
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
You know what the game is. You know what it will most likely always be. It is your choice if you want to spend money on it or not given the current state of the game. Obviously, there is some reason that you still spend money on it or you wouldn't be spending money on it. If you are spending your money on this game hoping its going to magically improve then you are wasting your money.
Well I would hope that no games developer would rank dealing with cheats as a magic improvement, for their own sakes. But with EA, after 9 years, nothing surprises me.

I honestly believe that the majority of players (other than PvPers) didn't leave because of cheats. I think just as many would leave if they had to hit make last 3000 times on their own as have left because of cheats. If no one wanted to use cheats then there wouldn't be any.
I never said the majority left because of cheating, ever... But people have and continue to leave because of cheating. I've also said it umpteen times now too - EA need to change the game so cheating is less "necessary" for certain players, as well as banning the cheats.

UO is not WAR. UO has VERY little weight in the scheme of things. The last time the majority of gamers really cared what happened in UO was in 2001.
I didn't say UO was the most well known game in history now, did I? But the thing is, whether you agree or not, reputation passes through a company's customers to those around them. If they love the company, they'll recommend it. If it sucks they do the opposite. UO has customers, past and present. My friends who are ex UOers haven't seen UO for years, yet still don't think a lot about EA and don't recommend them. I sure don't. So by doing what EA do, they've lost some word-of-mouth recommendations. Not ground breaking necessarily, but a customer is a customer. They all pay money. I wouldn't take any chances if I was planning to compete with games like WoW, but that's just me.

If you knew anything about DAoC you would know that it has a 0 tolerance policy when it comes to cheating. The average time you can get away with a cheat in that game is 2-3 weaks before they fix and ban anyone that they logged using it. They have banned mass numbers of accounts for cheating on repeated occasions. EA is not making WAR...Mythic is. I believe that UO was just thrust upon Mythic when EA decided to cut almost all funding to it. I'm highly doubting that Mythic actually cares about UO at all.
Yeah, I was aware of Mythic's reputation, thanks. The proof will be in the pudding as to how long that lasts under the ownership of EA. Argue otherwise if you like, but nobody will know till WAR is launched, running for a while and trying to ride out against the competition.

Wenchy
 
S

Saris

Guest
Hmm I play everday and have trained well over 40 char, I prob have tendon and nerve damage from the the way skills gain.

I think most ppl overreact yes we have problems with goldfarmers and ppl using speed hacks.

So does ever other mmo I have played.

I dont think the game is dying, form an EA veiw I see that UO cost 250k to make for Origin, they make about 20 times that a year from subscription alone and how much do you think theire game codes.com sight produces.

WOW cost more to make and advertise than a AH64D or a high tech attack helicopter that has an easy price tag of 26M


All the ppl that keep predicting the demise of UO have been nay saying since the game got crappy reveiws.

Only time I even have to deal with cheaters is when trying to get powerscrolls, cause its the only reason to even play in fel anymore.

UO was never about PVP sorry ive been with it since the beggining most ppl prefer to kill evil beasties than PVP, its certainly more profitable anyway.

As far as ppl who use 3rd party programs to train... so what, how do they cheat you?

UO will live forever, cheaters or not.

I would like to see speed hacking go away but if you stopped all the scripeters you would be getting rid of 90% of the player base that uses them train.

UO2 lol never it died a long time ago along with UXO

I played WOW and the reason they have millions is it more fun for most KIDS.

KIDS play more computer games than adults and they got the market but so what, we are better without them.

UO has always been hurt by the actions of ppl, and it dont take cheating to lose a person, how many do you think get banned for harrasment?

All and all though its only as game! Do EA's math if ou want to know why they dont ban ALL the scripters, cause there woulod be less that 1k that still played with its tedius and repeditve gain system for most skills, and when was the last time you sat down to do BODs?

No one ever wonders why they never used the punk buster crap?


So to save UO please please fix speed hackers, and dupers and unnatened gold farmers, but leave the rest alone cuase it would be nice to have someone left on the shard to talk to.
 
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Fayled Dhreams

Guest
If you knew anything about DAoC you would know that it has a 0 tolerance policy when it comes to cheating. The average time you can get away with a cheat in that game is 2-3 weaks before they fix and ban anyone that they logged using it. They have banned mass numbers of accounts for cheating on repeated occasions. EA is not making WAR...Mythic is. I believe that UO was just thrust upon Mythic when EA decided to cut almost all funding to it. I'm highly doubting that Mythic actually cares about UO at all.
Interesting that you bring up that "point" about DAoC acting so swiftly ...

I mean, we are talking about Devs and GM's "abilities" for "busting scritters and cheats" ... right?
DAoC game engine .... hmmmm Gamebryo sounds familiar ...:eek:snap:Now I remember ... k r ...

doh ! .... whole lot of "pieces of the puzzle" ought to fall into place ...


oughta ...
 
T

thenow

Guest
... he said the funniest thing.He says,"I have a real good connection", lol. I've played from Australia to Pacific shard with cable internet for couple yrs and no way could I run as fast or faster then the locals.
"I have a good connection." lol And he honestly thought us 'silly' aussies would believe that?
Well my ping to
Europa is 160-5ish
Atlantic is low 70's
Baja stable at 60's for the last little while (west coast usually mid 40's closer geographically)
Mugen ... holds at 150
Formosa ... 210-20
Arirang ... 145-55
Oceania is only mid 190's
(maint clusters)

not calling you "silly", just saying ... him to you could well be different than you to him ...

*shrugs*
lol , are you saying that even at your '190ish' to oceania[my cable to pacific was about 220ish] that you could keep in front of me at 30ish ping?
 
S

Saris

Guest
UO used to be Origin and we shall see how long Mythic exists lol

Never give EA credit for UO never, its like spiting on our beloved Lord British.

UO was made by OSI and they did indeed creat a world.


WAR is EA, just as much as UO and Ultima was purchaced by EA when they aquired Origin.


Anyway cheating or not, I will play UO till something comes out better and to me WOW is not it and I dobt WAR will be, I did not even like a certain Tabula Rasa.

Also for the record if its not as pretty as Oblivion, I wont give any game consideration based on graphics
 
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Fayled Dhreams

Guest
I ping normally at 30ish and a good PC, from his area,Baja, it norm 350ish ping.
lol , are you saying that even at your '190ish' to oceania[my cable to pacific was about 220ish] that you could keep in front of me at 30ish ping?
Pacific SHOULD equal Baja ... both are in the west coast cluster ... and in the space of your two postings ... some 130ms just "dissappeared"

Probably I could keep up with you on Oceania ... LIKE you originally said:"on our shard running as fast as me" ...
Likely I'll out run you on baja ... IF your ping is swinging by 130 ms ...

thats all I'm saying ...
 
T

thenow

Guest
I ping normally at 30ish and a good PC, from his area,Baja, it norm 350ish ping.
lol , are you saying that even at your '190ish' to oceania[my cable to pacific was about 220ish] that you could keep in front of me at 30ish ping?
Pacific SHOULD equal Baja ... both are in the west coast cluster ... and in the space of your two postings ... some 130ms just "dissappeared"

Probably I could keep up with you on Oceania ... LIKE you originally said:"on our shard running as fast as me" ...
Likely I'll out run you on baja ... IF your ping is swinging by 130 ms ...

thats all I'm saying ...
It seems u just be argumentative then. I originally was saying this guy from Baja was outrunning me on my home shard of oceania and you came here saying that u probably could keep up with me and what not, nothing to do with the context of what I was saying.At first I thought u were justifying ppl who hack, thus making me wonder about you in the subject matter. Now however it seems you just be argumentative so it is not as bad as my intial conclusion about your points.
 
S

Saris

Guest
OSI once reported they could detect speed hacking btw.

So....why dont EA ban speed hackers or at least a few to scare the masses?
 
S

Saris

Guest
Also once the economy dumps so much that gold is no longer woth $$$$ then all the gold fmers will leave :)

How do you stop someone from feeding their family by cheating in a game, to them, their family comes way before a game.

How do you cure something like the virtual economy in UO when all major powers in the world have to use terror tactics and shock and awe and disaster captialism to control thier economy. Big words for putting ppl in a state of shock to make them more compliant.

Should UO not have the same probelms that the real world have?

It has real ppl that play it so it is doomed to have the same problems.

UO is but a sign of the times and things to come in the RL.
 

Lucy of Kenton

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
How do you stop someone from feeding their family by cheating in a game, to them, their family comes way before a game.

How about getting a 'proper' job rather than playing a video game all day.

How do you cure something like the virtual economy in UO when all major powers in the world have to use terror tactics and shock and awe and disaster captialism to control thier economy. Big words for putting ppl in a state of shock to make them more compliant.

Should UO not have the same probelms that the real world have?

It has real ppl that play it so it is doomed to have the same problems.

UO is but a sign of the times and things to come in the RL.[/QUOTE]

I empathise with you over this but i think its a bit ott to compare uo to terror tactics and shock and awe.
we just want ea/mythic to enforce the rules they wrote! otherwise compare that to no enforcement of your country's laws. chaos
 

Llewen

Grand Inquisitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Supporter
No they couldn't. It was an impossiblity. The reason they couldn't work out the terms is because EA is already bound by the terms that players of UO are playing under (when they bought the game). Sure its online gaming so game play changes, but the based rules don't change.
Nonsense. A ToS can change at any time. Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but the ToS you are supposed to read when you sign up for an account in UO has changed more than once since UO was released. All that would be required would be a ToS that you have to agree to before you can start the game, similar to what WoW has, and I believe with WoW that agreement is displayed every time there is a major patch.

My guess is that somewhere at the heart of the "legal" problems there was a money issue. That's just a guess, but I expect that is a good guess...
 

Wenchkin

Babbling Loonie
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I think most ppl overreact yes we have problems with goldfarmers and ppl using speed hacks.

So does ever other mmo I have played.
Though if you compare UO with other MMO's you'll find that the good ones are clearly fighting cheats on an ongoing basis, which makes their customers feel that action is being taken. We all accept that cheating is a fact of life in games, but it's how a company responds that's important.

I dont think the game is dying, form an EA veiw I see that UO cost 250k to make for Origin, they make about 20 times that a year from subscription alone and how much do you think theire game codes.com sight produces.
UO is currently at the coughing and wheezing stage. EA do need to address basic issues like cheating in order to keep their customer base. I'm sure the game could be kept online for a long time, but for EA to invest heavily in developing it further, we really need a good supply of active accounts. Not to mention those other games out there, each of which can snag some of UO's players if EA don't keep them happy. UO isn't the only MMORPG.

All the ppl that keep predicting the demise of UO have been nay saying since the game got crappy reveiws.
Nobody is jumping over UO's gravestone, simply inserting a boot up the backside of EA before one needs to be made up.

Only time I even have to deal with cheaters is when trying to get powerscrolls, cause its the only reason to even play in fel anymore.

UO was never about PVP sorry ive been with it since the beggining most ppl prefer to kill evil beasties than PVP, its certainly more profitable anyway.

As far as ppl who use 3rd party programs to train... so what, how do they cheat you?

UO will live forever, cheaters or not.
Heh, care to hand over your blinkers and optimism tablets? Just because you can't see the problems or don't understand the impact cheating has on UO, doesn't mean neither exist.

Of course, poor little cheats never hurt anyone... there goes another flock of green pigs in kilts overhead... C'mon, it's been talked about so often I'm tired repeating it. Cheats begin cheating somewhere, often it's resources or skill gain. Both can be argued as "only for that player's use and thus not hurting anyone". Yet how does average joe know that's a casual or pro cheat? How many big cheats started out just gathering ore for their smith? A cheat is a cheat. When players see cheats unpunished, they think it's ok. They cheat too. And thus we have a situation like it is now, and players like yourself still have this happy image of the casual cheat who never hurt anyone. I'm sorry, that's just not true.

I would like to see speed hacking go away but if you stopped all the scripeters you would be getting rid of 90% of the player base that uses them train.
Another line that's banded around these discussions constantly. EA can simply issue warnings and 24hr bans first, if a player is still not "getting it" after that, ban them. There are ways of dealing with cheats, and there's ignoring the issue.

No one ever wonders why they never used the punk buster crap?
Because it wouldn't have worked. It would have caught the cheats you think we can't afford to lose - those who can't write their own scripts and use certain programs to train or gather resources. They'd be easy to snag. The hardcore players would simply have written scripts and programs which bypassed Punkbuster, thus it was pointless.

Wenchy
 
F

Fayled Dhreams

Guest
Just today on my shard,Oceania, a player from USA recently on our shard running as fast as me.I ping normally at 30ish and a good PC, from his area,Baja, it norm 350ish ping. When I made comment of his speed from USA to here, he said the funniest thing.He says,"I have a real good connection", lol. I've played from Australia to Pacific shard with cable internet for couple yrs and no way could I run as fast or faster then the locals.
"I have a good connection." lol And he honestly thought us 'silly' aussies would believe that?
EA/Mythic will lose out if they do not fix this whole problem, as will we all.
rolleyes: highlighted "what you said" ...
STILL a good chance that his conn is more STABLE to the server, at Oce, FROM Baja (California ... no one lives in Baja *snicker*) ...

Find a few others, From Cali, to race ...
It JUST might turn out to BE your gear/settings/ router hops ... to YOUR end of the internets.

thilly authie :cool:
 
T

thenow

Guest
lol whatever man, u sir are just being argumentative. No one on my shard can catch me, my connection and set up is fine and many ppl from those area come to our shard and no one has been as fast as this guy. So unless you come to my shard and see for yourself, then u are being just trying to be the all knowing god that u think u are or that u would be as fast as this guy on my shard.It is obvious he is much faster then he should. Maybe this guy is you actually and u are trying to fool everyone again. Instead of just trying to be in everyone's face why don't u come to oceania and test it with some of us here.

PS-did i have 130ms dissappear with this also? Whatever lol
 
F

Fayled Dhreams

Guest
What a perfect example of "the problem" ... re: reporting stuff and NOT getting the response desired ...

You said the ^above^(*points UP*) bolded and colored, then said that you didn't (quoted and bolded and colored)
It seems u just be argumentative then. I originally was saying this guy from Baja was outrunning me on my home shard of oceania and you came here saying that u probably could keep up with me and what not, nothing to do with the context of what I was saying.At first I thought u were justifying ppl who hack, thus making me wonder about you in the subject matter. Now however it seems you just be argumentative so it is not as bad as my intial conclusion about your points.
And HERE is where the 130 "dissapeared" (quoted and bolded and colored)
lol , are you saying that even at your '190ish' to oceania[my cable to pacific was about 220ish] that you could keep in front of me at 30ish ping?
Again ... What a perfect example of "the problem" ....GM's probably get a LOT of the same ...

Cause you STILL insist its "My problem" ... "My arguing" ... "My misunderstanding" ..."My probably being "the one" " ... pffft !

I'm "not the problem" ... here ... the "problem" is clearly on your end of the net ...

Problem is: you probably Still think it ain't ...

Fine ...
The universe IS laughing at your back.

G'day, G'luck, giddyup !
 
T

thenow

Guest
lol, again u prove my point. just being argumentative. Let me explain it again for u. IF you're 190 ping as you say and I'm 30 ping will u be as fast as me? Or maybe u can understand this. If on ur shard u ping 30 and someone else pings at 190, will they keep up to you and even be faster then you?[which u say u probably could keep up with me].I don't think anyone would say that is possible legally.
No wonder ppl are putting you on ignore.I bet you often have ppl ingame and out of game who put you on ignore. Again I say also you sound very much like those players ingame who use these proggies and then make all this BS to try to hide it. Do you also say that there are no illegal 3rd party programs in UO?
As I have said to you, if u ping 190ish and I ping 30ish and u are as fast and/or faster then me then u are cheating. FULL STOP .You want to argue but you won't come to oceania to prove your lame argument.Or are you alrdy here?
I'm done with you now.In my eights years of UO i've seen many like you so go hassle someone else and argue black and blue with them. You try to disguise you manner in you attempts at deluded intelligence but you are the same as all the others who are just trying to get in peoples faces and disguise their true nature.
 
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