NEWS Live Interview with Producer Greg "Kyronix" Havlusch on 3/20/25!

[Merlin]

Live Interview with Producer Greg "Kyronix" Havlusch on 3/20/25!




Ultima Online - Interview with Producer Greg "Kyronix" Havlusch

 

[Lord Ron Fellows]

Cringe

 

[Anon McDougle]

We have 10000% better communication

 

[Poo]

he is drunk on power and wanting to bask in the sunshine of his own glory!
which, to be fair, is deserving i think.
i may just stop in for a listen.

 

[Lord Ron Fellows]

 

[Merlin]

Link to video here:

Interview with Kyronix on YouTube

 

[Pawain]

View attachment 160526 View attachment 160532

So, others have to get approval from you on how they dress?

He mentions how this is a game where people have an alternate reality.

 

[Lord Ron Fellows]

So, others have to get approval from you on how they dress?

He mentions how this is a game where people have an alternate reality.

View attachment 160546

People can dress however they want. It's very strange that the Community Manager is including her personal interests (weird anime stuff) that has nothing to do with UO, with official UO content.

 

[Merlin]

People can dress however they want. It's very strange that the Community Manager is including her personal interests (weird anime stuff) that has nothing to do with UO, with official UO content.

I tend to agree. The pink ears in virtually all her content was one thing... but now there is anime? Anime unrelated to UO?

Her narration of events has generally been good - and we need someone who has thick skin to deal with the community - I'm a UO nerd for sure, but the anime stuff is kind of on another level.

 

[Pawain]

People can dress however they want. It's very strange that the Community Manager is including her personal interests (weird anime stuff) that has nothing to do with UO, with official UO content.

So you think a game developer does not also include their personal interests? Did you listen to the video?

What game is made by someone who hates that particular genre?

 

[Anon McDougle]

Will take it with the increased communication let her have fun but keep it out of uo

 

[Pawain]

Will take it with the increased communication let her have fun but keep it out of uo

Keep fun out of UO? I don't watch anime but a lot of young people do. So the way to make UO grow is to just appeal to people over 60?

 

[Anon McDougle]

Keep fun out of UO? I don't watch anime but a lot of young people do. So the way to make UO grow is to just appeal to people over 60?

So fun you approve OK all other fun bad?

 

[Lord Ron Fellows]

I tend to agree. The pink ears in virtually all her content was one thing... but now there is anime? Anime unrelated to UO?

Her narration of events has generally been good - and we need someone who has thick skin to deal with the community - I'm a UO nerd for sure, but the anime stuff is kind of on another level.

My comment on youtube was deleted. I took a screenshot in advance anticipating it.

 

[Lord Ron Fellows]

Also, my questions were completely ignored. I dipped out after about 45 mins.

 

[Pawain]

So fun you approve OK all other fun bad?

Maybe you forgot what you said.

let her have fun but keep it out of uo

You are the fun judge not me. I don't care what color someone's hair is or if they have particular headwear. How does that affect you?

 

[Pawain]

My comment on youtube was deleted. I took a screenshot in advance anticipating it. View attachment 160587

Good, they remove troll posts. I like this new leadership.

 

[Pawain]

People were asking for riding brooms, spaceships, magic carpets to ride.

But Oh my a person with colored hair playing UO does not belong in UO.

How many people that play UO have dyed their hair, Id guess LOTS.

 

[Anon McDougle]

Maybe you forgot what you said.



You are the fun judge not me. I don't care what color someone's hair is or if they have particular headwear. How does that affect you?

I meant anime

 

[Pawain]

I meant anime

Oh no, someone made a fun video with anime. Yall ask for hype and stuff, then complain when someone makes a fun video for UO.

 

[Pawain]

I assume you are referring to this:

 

[Anon McDougle]

Oh no, someone made a fun video with anime. Yall ask for hype and stuff, then complain when someone makes a fun video for UO.

You're so full if it I said let her have her fun just Don't add it to UO

 

[Pawain]

You're so full if it I said let her have her fun just Don't add it to UO

Where did he say they were putting Anime in UO? I missed that part.

 

[Merlin]

Guys, please stop the personal comments. We're all allowed to have an opinion.

 

[Pawain]

Samurai Catpire would have be a fun expansion.

Guys, please stop the personal comments. We're all allowed to have an opinion.

An opinion and personal attacks on UO employees. At least UO YouTube saw it for what it was.

 

[Lord Ron Fellows]

Pawain, when is the last time you disagreed with the dev team?

 

[Coco_Zamis_DF]

I would like to ask about a hot air ballon and a rollator walker

 

[hungry4knowhow]

Any good meat in the interview? I only made it 20mins or so, it was awkward to me lots of ummm....hmmmm....let's see...seemed like she wasn't prepared.

Glad they are atleast getting out there again. Any publicity is good publicity at this point.

 

[Pawain]

Pawain, when is the last time you disagreed with the dev team?

I only play games that I like. I only eat food I like etc. The team has kept me entertained since 97.

I have employees that grew up on aneme. Funny to see a guy taking something apart and talk about things with weird names and super powers.

If that makes new people relate to UO and play. I love it.

 

[Skunk]

@Pawain How will the fursona of our CM, which has nothing to do with in game content at all, bring in new people? How is it fun for anyone but her? Look at the reactions she gets on Facebook and the forums, no one is having fun with this stuff. She is in her own world, has been since she was an EM, and in the opinion of many, she is creating a divide within the community.

 

[Fortis]

what a great community we are...Reading comments here lol

 

[Halister Marner]

Keep fun out of UO? I don't watch anime but a lot of young people do. So the way to make UO grow is to just appeal to people over 60?

Server down at 9:00PM, server up at 5:00AM. But also server up multiple times in between for 30 minutes at a time because everything hurts and I keep waking up without my sleeping pill.

 

[Pawain]

@Pawain How will the fursona of our CM, which has nothing to do with in game content at all, bring in new people? How is it fun for anyone but her? Look at the reactions she gets on Facebook and the forums, no one is having fun with this stuff. She is in her own world, has been since she was an EM, and in the opinion of many, she is creating a divide within the community.

I play games I like. Some person on a video will not cause me to not play.

Like I said, yall want more advertising for UO. Welcome to 2025. My wife is a teacher. Many kids of all races dress like she does. I wouldn't do it but others do. We are now the target audience for pharmaceuticals and adult diapers.

Seems like this is for a different audience anyway.

NEWS - [UO.Com] Announcing: New Legacy Japan

3/21/2025 こんにちは！ 日本でこの春、ニューレガシーをローンチすることを発表できることを嬉しく思います！ ニューレガシー日本サーバーは、日本のプレイヤーに自分たちのレガシーを偽造する機会を提供します！フェネ子とリョウコがウルティマオンラインで彼らの冒険に参加しましょう！ ブリタニアで会いましょう、 UO チーム Greetings, We are pleased to announce we will be launching New Legacy in Japan this spring! The New Legacy Japan server will offer...

community.stratics.com

 

[Victim of Siege]

We all have the ability to disagree with each other without attacking each other. Let's try to remember that. If what Fenneko does isn't your thing, ignore it and move on. There is zero need to belittle someone for being themselves and doing their job the way they see fit. If @Kyronix and team have issue with it I believe he will handle it accordingly. Personally, I am happy to see something being done to promote UO, the least us old dinosaurs can do is support her and hopefully keep this game afloat. And I will agree with the people saying that only marketing to one demographic is pointless, we have enough crotchety old ****ers yelling "GET OFFIN MAH LAWN" around here (I include myself in this btw). Let's try for something different.

 

[Stinky Pete]

Anime is stupid af, but younger people like it. Getting younger people to play UO is a problem that I am glad is not one that I have to work on for a living. I think Fenneko is fairly young so maybe she can relate better than us. Myself? I just didn't watch it.

 

[Merlin]

Here are some notes I made from the interview and reading the rest of this thread:

• I have very similar story to Kyronix’s journey in UO, especially in the early days as a young person convincing their parents to let me have this game subscription, the social experience, dropping the game around the time of HS / College but coming back in full force after. I'm glad to know I wasn't the only UO nerd navigating these late 90's troubles as a young gun growing up on the Jersey Shore!

• Greg loves the game, and that has come through in all of these interviews he has done.
  • This guy clearly has passion of what it means to grow up in UO... someone who surely has experienced all of the trial and tribulations as a player, as an EM, and now is taking that long history of knowledge to fuel his passion as the lead developer. There's really few other games out there where a story like his that dates back multiple decades exists.

• It’s clear that he is doing a little bit of a ‘media’ tour since his promotion , atleast through some of the various corners of the UO community.
  • For the years that everyone has complained all over the place about the lack of communication - between Fenneko as CM and Greg as the lead dev, it appears they're making some efforts to quell this noise. In the world of YouTube, Twitch, Discord and the number of other platforms where you can click a few buttons at any time and have a live video interview, this really helps and I hope continues well into the future. Fingers crossed.

• The endurance of UO… the way it has affected ‘people’ beyond just the pixels in game
  • Greg touches on how this community is more than just pixels on a screen, which I think the wider community can certainly attest to. "UO" is more than the game, but it's also these forums, the Discord communities where people talk about everything from soup to nuts and get in voice chats every night, the fact that people have met in UO and now have families (I even know of a couple with children named Luna and Vesper)... again, this speaks to Greg's full breadth of having experienced the community as a young player... he is able to communicate this better than Bonnie did.

• Not thrilled to hear if they’re deleting comments
  • this is more of a reflection from this thread... while I know the community can be toxic, if they're deleting comments just because it's an unpopular question, that's kind of a bummer. Greg seems alot more transparent though and I probably need more context on what was deleted - I just hope it's the exception and not the rule.

• Toxic forums
  • This is more of a comment from one of the other interviews he has done whereby Greg implied they just have to ignore the forums sometimes... which is really just a shame. The official UO forum still gives alot of people login issues and my guess is that alot of the positive voices out there just stopped bothering with that particular forum. Not saying Stratics always focuses on the right stuff either, but it's a shame that one of the few mediums the developers do read is filled with negativity (and doesn't work for certain browsers). This is one of our ways to get through the developers and it sucks when it's clouded with stupidity and personal drama.

• Greg noted that the only way a new player can get involved is by coming to the community… guilds, Discord servers, etc.
  • I can't be clear enough to anyone caring to read my notes here that for a community the size of ours... we're all ambassadors of this game. When you see someone out there looking for help, sometimes five minutes of kindness (and a couple million gold!) really do go a long way. I think being active in Discord is almost a minimum requirement at this point if you really want to know where to connect and find people.

• Ryoko makes more sense now why they incorporated some Anime
  • In respect to other comments on this thread, I think now that I understand the purpose of some of the focus on anime is probably for reaching out to Japanese players... especially if they're going to have a launch of their own NL server.

• Greg mentioned the spaceship easter egg in SMB II from Nintendo days
  • What about instead of incorporating that into the wagon or ballon idea that people are always rustling about?

• Publish in the summer? New mounts? Sweet looking new horse?
  • This is welcome news - we could use some more horse mounts.
  • My assumption is that Kyronix is going to start trying to earn more income in the UO Store. This is whether its through updating with new items more often, more hues that people have been demanding or expanding on the new system for the outfitter tickets. With the UO player base skewing older and having more disposable income, I think this will be a smart move for generating revenue.

• Pineapple on Pizza FTW!

• Addressing the botters and scripters
  • I think it’s a good thing they address the fact that they are aware of the botters and whats going on, even if they don’t want to talk about actions being taken. I wish there were some high profile examples of actions they're taking against some of the bad actors, but I'm guessing that will never happen.
  • The "O" Constellation program is really hurting the game, IMHO. Competing with the automation in PVP is difficult, if not impossible, if you're only in CC or EC without modification. Some of the recent events were really overrun by the botters farming 24/7. I wish we knew of best way to report these folks, since alot of them seem to come out late at night when there are no GMs available. Never the less, I am hopeful Greg will address it more forcefully.

• I liked the idea of eating food having a more measurable benefit.
  • I feel like this is one of the oldest mysteries of UO. Long have I heard people say things like if you keep fizzling on spells, eat something and you will be able to successfully cast again. I'm a big fan of the magical fish pies (very under-appreciated buff!), and if they can expand on that... and make gardening and cooking more valuable trades again, it would be another area to unlock. Maybe they could try something like on NL at the very least?

• KFC is way better outside of the United States!
  • OK so this was one of the silly questions that was asked, but I can definitely confirm KFC is much better in England and Ireland. Spent a college semester in London circa 2007 and it was a weekly go-to for a college kid on a budget. Compare that to the US.. and the stereotype that KFC is only in low income areas (per South Park!) is pretty dead on accurate. Just my two cents!

• Love the idea of “flavors of magery”.
  • A lot of other games have some sort of specialization you can focus on as you develop skill lines and abilities further. I feel like this has long been a missed opportunity in UO (some of the free shards address this?) and it could really open up more template diversity. Imagine a fire mage, an ice mystic, a lightning mage, etc. Another idea that could be tested on NL for one season and brought over to production shares if it's successful.

• Confirmation of pop up events by Greg
  • Mesanna has been doing some pop-up events the last few Fridays. I've not made any myself, but heard that the rewards have been cool - and due to low attendance - likely rare and valuable. The idea of Bonnie - and hopefully some day EMs too - doing pop-up events is a welcome type of community interaction that we need more of.

Overall was an interesting interview. Fenneko did a good job of keeping the conversation moving forward.. she has good cadence with her presentation. Would be nice to see more of these in the future. @Kyronix

 

[Victim of Siege]

Here are some notes I made from the interview and reading the rest of this thread:

• I have very similar story to Kyronix’s journey in UO, especially in the early days as a young person convincing their parents to let me have this game subscription, the social experience, dropping the game around the time of HS / College but coming back in full force after. I'm glad to know I wasn't the only UO nerd navigating these late 90's troubles as a young gun growing up on the Jersey Shore!

• Greg loves the game, and that has come through in all of these interviews he has done.
  • This guy clearly has passion of what it means to grow up in UO... someone who surely has experienced all of the trial and tribulations as a player, as an EM, and now is taking that long history of knowledge to fuel his passion as the lead developer. There's really few other games out there where a story like his that dates back multiple decades exists.

• It’s clear there he is doing a little bit of a ‘media’ tour since his promotion , atleast through some of the various corners of the UO community.
  • For the years that everyone has complained all over the place about the lack of communication - between Fenneko as CM and Greg as the lead dev, it appears they're making some efforts to quell this noise. In there world of YouTube, Twitch, Discord and the number of other platforms where you can click a few buttons at any time and have a live video interview, this really helps and I hope continues well into the future. Fingers crossed.

• The endurance of UO… the way it has affected ‘people’ beyond just the pixels in game
  • Greg touches on how this community is more than just pixels on a screen, which I think the wider community can certainly attest to. "UO" is more than the game, but it's also these forums, the Discord communities where people talk about everything from soup to nuts and get in voice chats every night, the fact that people have met in UO and now have families (I even know of a couple with children named Luna and Vesper)... again, this speaks to Greg's full breadth of having experienced the community as a young player... he is able to communicate this better than Bonnie did.

• Not thrilled to hear if they’re deleting comments
  • this is more of a reflection from this thread... while I know the community can be toxic, if they're deleting comments just because it's an unpopular question, that's kind of a bummer. Greg seems alot more transparent though and I probably need more context on what was deleted - I just hope it's the exception and not the rule.

• Toxic forums
  • This is more of a comment from one of the other interviews he has done whereby Greg implied they just have to ignore the forums sometimes... which is really just a shame. The official UO forum still gives alot of people login issues and my guess is that alot of the positive voices out there just stopped bothering with that particular forum. Not saying Stratics always focuses on the right stuff either, but it's a shame that one of the few mediums the developers do read is filled with negativity. This is one of our ways to get through the developers and it sucks when it's clouded with stupidity and personal drama.

• Greg noted that the only way a new player can get involved is by coming to the community… guilds, Discord servers, etc.
  • I can't be clear enough to anyone caring to read my notes here that for a community the size of ours... we're all ambassadors of this game. When you see someone out there looking for help, sometimes five minutes of kindness (and a couple million gold!) really do go a long way. I think being active in Discord is almost a minimum requirement at this point if you really want to know where to connect and find people.

• Ryoko makes more sense now why they incorporated some Anime
  • In respect to other comments on this thread, I think now that I understand the purpose of some of the focus on anime is probably for reaching out to Japanese players... especially if they're going to have a launch of their own NL server.

• Greg mentioned the spaceship easter egg in SMB II from Nintendo days
  • What about instead of incorporating that into the wagon or ballon idea that people are always rustling about

• Publish in the summer? New mounts? Sweet looking new horse?
  • This is welcome news - we could use some more horse mounts.
  • My assumption is that Kyronix is going to start trying to earn more income in the UO Store. This is whether its through updating with new items more often, more hues that people have been demanding or expanding on the new system for the outfitter tickets. With the UO player base skewing older and having more disposable income, I think this will be a smart move for generating revenue.

• Pineapple on Pizza FTW!

• Addressing the botters and scripters
  • I think it’s a good thing they address the fact that they are aware of the botters and whats going on, even if they don’t want to talk about actions being taken. I wish there were some high profile examples of actions they're taking against some of the bad actors, but I'm guessing that will never happen.
  • The "O" Constellation program is really hurting the game, IMHO. Competing with the automation in PVP is difficult, if not impossible, if you're only in CC or EC without modification. Some of the recent events were really overrun by the botters farming 24/7. I wish we knew of best way to report these folks, since alot of them seem to come out late at night when there are no GMs available. Never the less, I am hopeful Greg will address it more forcefully.

• I liked the idea of eating food having a more measurable benefit.
  • I feel like this is one of the oldest mysteries of UO. Long have I heard people say things like if you keep fizzling on spells, eat something and you will be able to successfully cast again. I'm a big fan of the magical fish pies (very under-appreciated buff!), and if they can expand on that... and make gardening and cooking more valuable trades again, it would be another area to unlock. Maybe they could try something like on NL at the very least?

• KFC is way better outside of the United States!
  • OK so this was one of the silly questions that was asked, but I can definitely confirm KFC is much better in England and Ireland. Spent a college semester in London circa 2007 and it was a weekly go-to for a college kid on a budget. Compare that to the US.. and the stereotype that KFC is only in low income areas (per South Park!) is pretty dead on accurate. Just my two cents!

• Love the idea of “flavors of magery”.
  • A lot of other games have some sort of specialization you can focus on as you develop skill lines and abilities further. I feel like this has long been a missed opportunity in UO (some of the free shards address this?) and it could really open up more template diversity. Imagine a fire mage, an ice mystic, a lightning mage, etc. Another idea that could be tested on NL for one season and brought over to production shares if it's successful.

• Confirmation of pop up events by Greg
  • Mesanna has been doing some pop-up events the last few Fridays. I've not made any myself, but heard that the rewards have been cool - and due to low attendance - likely rare and valuable. The idea of Bonnie - and hopefully some day EMs too - doing pop-up events is a welcome type of community interaction that we need more of.

Overall was an interesting interview. Fenneko did a good job of keeping the conversation moving forward.. she has good cadence with her presentation. Would be nice to see more of these in the future. @Kyronix

Pineapple is only good on Pizza if you pair it with Bacon and Jalapeño's

 

[Merlin]

Pineapple is only good on Pizza if you pair it with Bacon and Jalapeño's

My go-to is Pineapple and Pepperoni. Something about the sweet fruit and spicy meat mixed with the cheese and dough... mmmm!

However, my wife is Italian and doesn't let me hear the end of it when I order this!

 

[Victim of Siege]

My go-to is Pineapple and Pepperoni. Something about the sweet fruit and spicy meat mixed with the cheese and tough... mmmm!

However, my wife is Italian and doesn't let me hear the end of it when I order this!

I believe i'd have to throw banana peppers on it with the pepperoni.

 

[DM Wyvern]

+1 to the banana peppers @Victim of Siege

 

[Veldrane]

It was a good interview and I think that for the first time in a long time, the community communication is heading in the right direction.

1) Toxic forums - yes, I think we’d all agree that things can get a little heated. However, I also think that the lack of communication and them supporting rabid fanboys behind the scenes to shout down anyone with an opinion or feedback ratcheted up the toxic. So they need to own up to their part in that.
2) The Community Manager - Is their attire unprofessional? Eh, arguablely since the style she's channeling has little to do with UO. That being said, I'll take it if it means we get better communication. Fox ears and anime on official UO channels is not a hill I'm dying on.

 

[Pawain]

True that lady in Petra Fydes avatar would better represent the average UO player.

 

[Veldrane]

True that lady in Petra Fydes avatar would better represent the average UO player.

Its not about customer representation, its about being the public face of a business. As much as I like a good fursona, its not professional and erodes their gravitas as the voice of UO. However, since you're part of point one, I'm sure you'll come back with something snarky that I'm not interested in engaging further.

 

[Finley Grant]

ah the "O" problem.... we all know they wont simply ban all people using "O" due to missing out on money they most likely need.

so just make it simple

state that you no longer care which client is used (which seems to be the truth anyway and which would indirect allow it without getting into "offiicial" legal crap with Hotride) but you can only guarantee proper safety and updates to the clients provided by UO (CC, EC, CUO Web)
also state that if you get caught afk running a script you get your account striked

level playing field for everyone, problem solved

from what i see on youtube about it this would give everyone the chance to use the best existing client which is capable to be compettative (if the word is correct) and end the discussion.

and the focus on maybe selling some nice stuff on shop to make some money for more programmers (like a 31*31 plot)

lets face it, the whole "we need to spot bots" went out the windows years ago each of them paying accounts which again makes them needed money.

to make it clear, i would love to have OU without all of that but iam realistic, aint gonna happen

 

[Anon McDougle]

ah the "O" problem.... we all know they wont simply ban all people using "O" due to missing out on money they most likely need.

so just make it simple

state that you no longer care which client is used (which seems to be the truth anyway and which would indirect allow it without getting into "offiicial" legal crap with Hotride) but you can only guarantee proper safety and updates to the clients provided by UO (CC, EC, CUO Web)
also state that if you get caught afk running a script you get your account striked

level playing field for everyone, problem solved

from what i see on youtube about it this would give everyone the chance to use the best existing client which is capable to be compettative (if the word is correct) and end the discussion.

and the focus on maybe selling some nice stuff on shop to make some money for more programmers (like a 31*31 plot)

lets face it, the whole "we need to spot bots" went out the windows years ago each of them paying accounts which again makes them needed money.

to make it clear, i would love to have OU without all of that but iam realistic, aint gonna happen

I agree with more income from micro transactions who wouldn't pay $50 for customized keep or castle

 

[Keven2002]

Thank you for the cliff notes @Merlin !! Few thoughts from reading your notes.

Here are some notes I made from the interview and reading the rest of this thread:

• I have very similar story to Kyronix’s journey in UO, especially in the early days as a young person convincing their parents to let me have this game subscription, the social experience, dropping the game around the time of HS / College but coming back in full force after. I'm glad to know I wasn't the only UO nerd navigating these late 90's troubles as a young gun growing up on the Jersey Shore!

Similar story with me, but luckily for me both my parents were either into UO or other online games so the subscription wasn't too hard for them to agree with. I also dabbled in high school though, but didn't really broadcast it because that was still a time where over half of my friends still didn't have internet so I was an undercover nerd.

• Greg loves the game, and that has come through in all of these interviews he has done.
  • This guy clearly has passion of what it means to grow up in UO... someone who surely has experienced all of the trial and tribulations as a player, as an EM, and now is taking that long history of knowledge to fuel his passion as the lead developer. There's really few other games out there where a story like his that dates back multiple decades exists.

I completely agree and honestly I think it's a great move because he has already doubled/tripled the communication from the team in his short time compared to when under Bonnie. The days of keeping everything under your hat and expecting the hype to build until you decide to release it are dead and gone; that seems to be the approach Bonnie refused to change. People want to hear from the team and be excited about the new stuff and just giving us a few interviews to get to Greg (and the team) and what to expect down the road is a breath of fresh air for me.

Publish in the summer? New mounts? Sweet looking new horse?

• This is welcome news - we could use some more horse mounts.
• My assumption is that Kyronix is going to start trying to earn more income in the UO Store. This is whether its through updating with new items more often, more hues that people have been demanding or expanding on the new system for the outfitter tickets. With the UO player base skewing older and having more disposable income, I think this will be a smart move for generating revenue.

This is huge IMO. I've complained for the last 5 years or so how the Dev team seemingly worked a school teachers schedule where they had limited releases and basically had off all summer and "winter break" (ie Jan/Feb). Having a couple months "off" from an event/publish is fine but nothing new from June-late Sept every year was not good for business (I actually stopped all my subs last summer).

I've seen the uptick in UO Store limited time items... it's definitely a money grab IMO, but I get that he's looking to build revenue which might mean more resources or at the very least not losing resources. As long as publishes with meaningful content continue to roll with the UO Store items, I'm fine with it; especially because there are many people who will pay for the X hued reskinned mount/etc. My only complaint on the UO Store items is that they will need to "fix" the Outfitter if they really want to see an uptick there; meaning the inherent LMC needs to transfer as is AND it should be on the more tan just the paperdoll.

Addressing the botters and scripters

I'm glad he's at least acknowledging them, but I think this goes back to the point above where he's trying to get the revenue stream rolling so banning those paid accounts would be a big hit to the bottom line. Honestly, if the botting scripters weren't so damn obvious about it during these events I wouldn't care. I saw one of the botters scripting in the Yosemite Mines a week or two ago and honestly had I not gone to tame a beetle, I would have never know they were there. That didn't really bother me as there were elders in other parts people can kill. What does bother me is when I see the trains running around killing everything before I have a chance to hit my macro.

Confirmation of pop up events by Greg

• Mesanna has been doing some pop-up events the last few Fridays. I've not made any myself, but heard that the rewards have been cool - and due to low attendance - likely rare and valuable. The idea of Bonnie - and hopefully some day EMs too - doing pop-up events is a welcome type of community interaction that we need more of.

I've been a huge fan of pop-up style events from the early days in UO where a Seer or whoever would spawn a few bad guys randomly in places like Brit GY and people would work together to kill them and then loot their different looking armor etc. I can see how these sort of one-off events could be seen as favoring certain people's friends though given that, as you said, the drops are likely extremely limited and worth a lot.

I've been a big advocate of doing these pop-up events for holidays but make it the entire day (or couple days leading up up to it). So for St. Patty's Day there would have been leprechauns randomly spawning (maybe you needed tracking & detect hidden) that when you killed them you would either get their clothes (labeled "leprechauns hat" etc) or their pot of gold. These would all be decoration only (no major stats). Easter same thing... randomly in the woods there would be a larger rabbit ("Easter Bunny") that you could kill/steal from and you would get like "Easter Bunny's carrot" or something for the holiday.

Like I said, these things would be available on every shard from server up to server down (or a few days) and would occur randomly. This is how I think they combat the bots because the scripters would literally need to send all of their bots randomly through the woods/mountains if they wanted to script it.

 

[Finley Grant]

I agree with more income from micro transactions who wouldn't pay $50 for customized keep or castle

there are games where people pay thausands for stuff so why not use the desire of some to make the game better by getting enough for more staff

 

[Naitch]

Keep fun out of UO? I don't watch anime but a lot of young people do. So the way to make UO grow is to just appeal to people over 60?

60 is a conservative estimate
sorry i'm so late to the posting, i still hold a full time job, im not in the nursing home quite yet LOL

 

[Merlin]

Thank you for the cliff notes @Merlin !! Few thoughts from reading your notes.



Similar story with me, but luckily for me both my parents were either into UO or other online games so the subscription wasn't too hard for them to agree with. I also dabbled in high school though, but didn't really broadcast it because that was still a time where over half of my friends still didn't have internet so I was an undercover nerd.



I completely agree and honestly I think it's a great move because he has already doubled/tripled the communication from the team in his short time compared to when under Bonnie. The days of keeping everything under your hat and expecting the hype to build until you decide to release it are dead and gone; that seems to be the approach Bonnie refused to change. People want to hear from the team and be excited about the new stuff and just giving us a few interviews to get to Greg (and the team) and what to expect down the road is a breath of fresh air for me.



This is huge IMO. I've complained for the last 5 years or so how the Dev team seemingly worked a school teachers schedule where they had limited releases and basically had off all summer and "winter break" (ie Jan/Feb). Having a couple months "off" from an event/publish is fine but nothing new from June-late Sept every year was not good for business (I actually stopped all my subs last summer).

I've seen the uptick in UO Store limited time items... it's definitely a money grab IMO, but I get that he's looking to build revenue which might mean more resources or at the very least not losing resources. As long as publishes with meaningful content continue to roll with the UO Store items, I'm fine with it; especially because there are many people who will pay for the X hued reskinned mount/etc. My only complaint on the UO Store items is that they will need to "fix" the Outfitter if they really want to see an uptick there; meaning the inherent LMC needs to transfer as is AND it should be on the more tan just the paperdoll.



I'm glad he's at least acknowledging them, but I think this goes back to the point above where he's trying to get the revenue stream rolling so banning those paid accounts would be a big hit to the bottom line. Honestly, if the botting scripters weren't so damn obvious about it during these events I wouldn't care. I saw one of the botters scripting in the Yosemite Mines a week or two ago and honestly had I not gone to tame a beetle, I would have never know they were there. That didn't really bother me as there were elders in other parts people can kill. What does bother me is when I see the trains running around killing everything before I have a chance to hit my macro.



I've been a huge fan of pop-up style events from the early days in UO where a Seer or whoever would spawn a few bad guys randomly in places like Brit GY and people would work together to kill them and then loot their different looking armor etc. I can see how these sort of one-off events could be seen as favoring certain people's friends though given that, as you said, the drops are likely extremely limited and worth a lot.

I've been a big advocate of doing these pop-up events for holidays but make it the entire day (or couple days leading up up to it). So for St. Patty's Day there would have been leprechauns randomly spawning (maybe you needed tracking & detect hidden) that when you killed them you would either get their clothes (labeled "leprechauns hat" etc) or their pot of gold. These would all be decoration only (no major stats). Easter same thing... randomly in the woods there would be a larger rabbit ("Easter Bunny") that you could kill/steal from and you would get like "Easter Bunny's carrot" or something for the holiday.

Like I said, these things would be available on every shard from server up to server down (or a few days) and would occur randomly. This is how I think they combat the bots because the scripters would literally need to send all of their bots randomly through the woods/mountains if they wanted to script it.

In terms of comments made that will affect game play, the two that stick out to me are the horse mounts and the potential for casting specializations.

With respect to the horse mounts, something I would love to see is some type of armored horse similar to a swamp dragon. In effect, something beyond just a new graphic or hued horse, but something that has actual function and purpose. Give us a reason to tame horses (or buy from store), craft 'horse barding' deeds, etc. I've long said that swamp dragons feel clunky, and I think it would be a big hit for melee fighters if we had a better graphic that could substantially act the same way an armored swamp dragon does. Heck... maybe even make the resistance work differently than swampies so we have some different option or flavor we can give to it. Fingers crossed.

With respect to specializations, it makes me think of character advancement in Elder Scrolls and how you're mages can effectively specialize in a particular damage type and focus on spell lines with that particular damage type in mind. The issue with UO is that while there are ton of Fire damage spells, a few Energy spells... Cold, Poison and Physical have rather slim options. So a specialization would either have to combine them - OR - do something like allow you to use the Mysticism spells that cast Chaos damage and instead transform them into a particular elemental damage type. I'm just spit-balling ideas here obviously... but the idea of specialization that encourages new character creation is something I think alot of folks would enjoy. My hope is that this is something they are actively working on somewhere out there and not just happy words. We'll see.

 

[Pawain]

60 is a conservative estimate
sorry i'm so late to the posting, i still hold a full time job, im not in the nursing home quite yet LOL

There have been quite a few times during an event on LS where I have heard, Hold on my nurse needs to give me meds. Hold on my nurse needs to empty my bag.