K
kennykilleduo
Guest
This could be real good for returning players or new players , but my question is when are we going to start seeing some of this information come to a reality , the closer we get to WAR and WOW's expansion is the harder it's going to be for UO to pick up more new players. Unless theres something bigger than ( UOKR , UOX, UO2) brewing..
Thoughts......
Part one of our last 8 months:
Part 2:
Part 3 :
Part 4:
========================================================
Part 5:
============================================
Thoughts......
Part one of our last 8 months:
=============================================Greetings From the New Director of Community
Jeremy Dalberg
04 Dec 2007 15:54:23 EST
Greetings All,
I’m Robert Mull, the new Community Relations Director for EA Mythic. I oversee the work our team of Community Coordinators do for Warhammer Online (James Nichols), Dark Age of Camelot (Missy Hatch and Joanne Laroche) and Ultima Online (Jeremy Dalberg). They are a great team and I am lucky to have inherited them.
As a gamer who got his start in MMOs with the Ultima Online beta, being allowed to support the same community that made that game so enjoyable to me is a real pleasure and I feel like I have come full circle. Since then a decade has passed and I have played countless MMOs. A few of these became part of my daily routine for years as I worked to found guilds, build cities, run player-events, engage in pvp conflicts, roleplay, and be an active member of the gaming community. While the games have changed over the years, the real draw for me has always been the people. A strong well-supported community makes good games great.
Prior to coming to EA Mythic, I worked at Wizards of the Coast supporting brands such as Avalon Hill, Axis & Allies, Dreamblade, Duel Masters and other products. I learned many lessons there that I have brought with me to EA Mythic, but first and foremost is that you have to be honest and open with your community.
In the coming months you will be hearing much more from me. I want to continue and extend the reputation EA Mythic has built for integrity, honesty and quality in community and customer support. Our job here is to be the voice of the community inside EA Mythic and the voice of the people working hard at EA Mythic to the community. The Community Relations team is a feedback loop and our goal is making the community better, day by day. I, for one, take that job very seriously and enjoy it immensely.
I look forward to talking to you all on the boards and at Road Trips, conventions and other public events.
Bob
More...
http://www.uoherald.com/news/news.php?newsid=287
Part 2:
===============================================Hi From CalCalvin Crowner
05 Feb 2008 16:49:31 EST
I'll introduce myself by stating what the heck my job title means. I am the Development Manager for Ultima Online. Hold on a minute, that kind of just caught up to me. No pressure. This means that server crashes, staffing the team, schedule decisions, prioritizing bug fixes, squelching rumors, and emanating a general sense of well-being are well within my responsibilities for delegation. Restated: when it’s “broke” I try to figure out who is going to fix it. If it’s not broken I do my best to make sure it remains that way. Did programming once. Hated it. Did sales. Had such a sense of self-loathing I often tried to determine whether to expense gas on business reports or suck straight from the nozzle holding a cigarette. Like many who are reading this letter: I love games. All games. I am an old school Efreet-cover carrying purveyor of Dungeons and Dragons who still has d100s in a mustard yellow TSR dice bag next to my boxed copies of Privateer 2 and Crusader: No Remorse. Run on sentence complete.
From this perspective, I am more than honored to hold the torch for Ultima Online. I spent a bit of time with the group at EARS before the team transitioned to Mythic here in Fairfax. During those few weeks I learned more than a bit from the experts of Ultima Online -- I was introduced to a lot of passion for Ultima lore, and respect for the entity that is Ultima AND the Ultima Online community.
I named a rock group Smock Llama Mama once. But that’s a different story all together.
I am here to break radio silence. First and foremost: by no stretch of John Cleese’s imagination is Ultima Online going away. On the contrary, if you could see and smell the amount of right and left brain molecules burning between developers here, you might wonder how we could stand to work among the palpable sulfuric fumes. We have some great plans in the coming months. There are three major story arcs in the works culminating in what I can only describe for legal and marketing reasons as an “Epic Event” coming this Spring … Applying my First Rule of Molyneux, make that late Spring.
The first of said events will literally incorporate showing a little love to the players. Well a lot of love to the players. Our lead designer spends way too much time studying chocolate. So if you have an endorphin deficit, the Valentine’s Day Event is for you. Next, the Mad Mage will finally make his way into Britannia. Look for the sightings of general mayhem and schizophrenia some time late March. I’m sure you’d like to know more. I would like to tell you more, however already understanding that these few words have obligated me to several years spinning straw into gold for a wee man, I’ll hold off on any other announcements.
In addition, we are taking a bit of course correction from Jeremy on prioritizing our feature list. You should know that we have been working pretty steadily on answering the mail for both live events and several major systems the community is clamoring for. Understand we are by no means idle, and against all sanctioned methods of scope and project planning, we are doing a bit of parallel engineering. Do not try this at home without a certified project lead.
In closing, please stay tuned. We have some amazing, well-scoped, and thoroughly achievable plans – a lot of them silly, most well-intentioned, but all of them passionate about the continued evolution of the Ultima universe. The most important thing to remember is the team now dedicated to Ultima Online is growing and so thrilled about what’s to come … your best chance for survival is a +5 Helmet of Endurance … and your seatbelts.
http://www.uoherald.com/news/news.php?newsid=306
Part 3 :
=======================================================Ain't Five, but it's Friday
Cal Crowner
11 Apr 2008 16:08:23 EST
My introduction to the Ultima Online Community was met with the same fanfare as Gallagher at a Kiwanis Club bake sale: “Sure I hear claims he’s entertaining, but I ain’t gonna clap for the same old watermelon/sledgehammer shtick! Show me something funny, boy!”
Well, since the “hello” in February, a substantial publish in March, and the launch of Mad Mage … I am going to say this: we aren’t done yet. Yes, I am going to continue to state that we have big plans. What we have on the schedule for the next six months does not even begin to describe the amount of effort, creativity, passion, and downright ultra-engaging- sultry-deliberately mind-altering-should have swallowed-the blue pill, psyche-shattering, toe-sweating, eye-ball tearing goodness that we have in store.
We are on track for the Epic event still planned for the end of May. Given this, I want to announce our publish for April is light on bug fixes. The team is currently focused on a deluge of events to deliver during May culminating in the event mentioned above. However, do not despair. Draconi should be announcing a fairly tasty intervention planned for late April for all you adventuring addicts. However, we reserve the right to change our mind and fix anything we darn well please! You can’t stop us from trying to make a better game, so there!
On a side note, I’d like to say a quick hello to the UO team in Japan. Draconi, Kil, and I had a chance to go sit with the team for a week of embarrassing moments trying to speak Japanese, and Draconi translating that I “are noob.” Kilandra made him promise not to try to teach me anything else for the rest of the trip. While we were there, we had the honor of interviewing with Okata-san from 4gamer.net. The questions made us smile, as well as ponder the future of Ultima Online for Japan, and the international player base. Overall, I thank EA Japan for a fantastic stay and I will never look at an egg the same way again.
There is something else I learned in Japan, but I will save that for the end.
Next, I have two fairly serious topics that I’ve been addressing with the team here, and I’d like to share them with the community.
First, I’d like to hear boisterous applause for the crew that delivered Pub 51. The team right now is both growing and excited about what’s to come. It’s my responsibility to make sure they press forward while keeping perspective that we have a huge loyal community that deserves our response, and simultaneously insuring no one gets a shiv in the parking lot, because a fix didn’t make it into the client publish. (I’m kidding, there have not been any serious shiv incidents for at least three weeks). Given this, we’re striving toward perfection. Perhaps its that obsessive compulsive side of us that makes us gamers in the first place, but I can assure you, every one of us reads the boards almost fanatically. We heard the gnashing of teeth and screams from the lower balcony of Gehenna regarding Archcure. It was reverted, and we are still looking into the balance for that system. There are hundreds of similar gameplay fixes, bugs, and system design enhancements. Within reason we’d like many of them fixed and/or implemented to some degree. (With the exception of anything regarding lederhosen and mint jello because that’s just weird).
I’ve shown members of my team a small folder in my Outlook that has features from players that we are hoping “some day” (cue elevator music) we’ll implement. So please, keep writing. We’re watching. But, remember you catch more flies with honey and vodka, than just plain honey. Can you spell Stolichnaya? I knew you could.
Next, I’d like to share a quote I keep on my desktop. The context for this message is from a website at the time EA announced moving the team from Redwood Shores to Fairfax. The contributor cited a note from someone on the Ultima Online team who’d recently been released:
“… Business as usual, but you know it's that stinky EA business. While it's plausible Ultima Online will benefit from this move later down the road; thanks to more resources available under one roof, all the UO and DAOC devs doing quality assurance on Warhammer: Age of Reckoning, that sort of thing. One thing is certain and that is you can't replace a dedicated developer who worked on the project for years and poured everything they had and expect the same results from their replacement or non-replacement in some cases. I guess we can expect a skeleton crew for UO from here on out.”
The UO team covers four countries, and six times zones. Any team meeting we have, I must account for schedules in Japan, the UK, the West Coast, Texas (where time actually folds and gets bigger), and here in Fairfax. We have local, remote, and an extended team now in Asia. We’ve had one of the more significant publishes in seven months just days ago, a comprehensive plan that takes us through the next two years of development, an increase in player activity and subscribers, and increasing interaction with the community.
I’ve got your skeleton crew right here.
Now, for what else I learned in Japan. Okata-san from 4gamer.net shared a word that I tried to translate, and I will apologize now if I spell it incorrectly. The word (phonetically) is kai-ko-shugi. Loosely translated, it is that aspect of Ultima Online that pays homage to the “retro” or ‘old-school” game design when graphics were a bonus, and sound meant you listened to the Tom Cruise and Mia Sara movie Legend soundtrack on cassette tape while dungeon crawling. There is a reason Ultima Online, and the Ultima series are legendary. It’s the return to something indefinable, unquenchable, and epic because of the vision Richard Garriott had $250,000, a dream, and millions of players ago. So ten years later, we’re still here. For the person who released the above quote, good luck with your website … this skeleton crew will see you on the 25th Anniversary of Ultima Online.
Finally, what am I personally working on? *Girds himself with cast iron +2 flame retardant and troll repelling forum gear* I am working on uo.registration.com …
I KNOW!! It’s borked. Mesanna has taken to sending me every e-mail regarding the registration site. I missed an e-mail for a parent-teacher meeting within the deluge of e-mails … actually wanted to say thanks for that – I can’t stand those things. Anyway, I am doing what I can about the site and working with the powers “Who Be.”
In closing, thanks for sticking with us, wait your tip staff, and please safe drive homely.
http://www.uoherald.com/news/news.php?newsid=347
Part 4:
More From CalCalvin Crowner
14 May 2008 12:25:25 EST
I’ve seen the slew of questions that arose from my last post, so I wanted to take the time to respond to a smattering of them:
What is the size of the team?
I will answer this as I answered the post to 4gamer.net: "As many as we need, but not as many as I'd like." I will tell you simply, I really enjoy the team as it is. The team relates well, plays well, and everyone enjoys their job.
Raining down fire on malcontents, or contributing to a legendary tale of good and evil that's lasted longer than any other community … yes, we do love our jobs.
Along with this subject, you may know that we lost a few folks in the transition from Redwood Shores. Fortunately we've been able to find other talent who both love the game, and are passionate about being part of the team. So what are we doing with these new people?
Three things: Fixing, designing, and training.
I will tell you we recently had to figure out where to put some new team members coming in next week without sitting them in Draconi's lap.
Next:
Why don't you tell us what's on the schedule?
Simply because the schedule is subject and subjected to changes every six hours to six days, and in the case of the Epic event ... six MONTHS. We discussed the content for the Epic Event last October, and had to postpone it. We are still on target for the bulk of the content by late May, and it's going to be a prelude to something realm-changing.
Some of the team saw the new art last week, and the Art Director himself was quite impressed. Our concept guys leapt at the chance to create this new content. Look for it in June.
"Hey! Wait a minute! You said in late May!" I just proved my point.
Why does it take so long to provide ?
We are constantly going through levels of refactoring while we're implementing fixes and content. Often, problems we expected to take several hours can extend to a couple of days. To make something worthwhile, and to fix more than we break takes time. We've actually been getting the Evil Eye from QA a lot the last few days. So we would rather make sure it's fixed -- when at all possible -- before releasing it.
In many ways you have all provided your own answers: "I've seen this for years and it's still broken." Historically, and presently the constant demand for content sometimes outweighs the time and resources to fix old features and systems. We'll try to do our best.
Not only for the community but also for the respect and love of Ultima itself, that’s what keeps us pressing forward. I'll try to avoid the kumbaya moment, but there is so much behind the scenes that we can't share and at times we tend to draw blood from our bottom lip because we can't.
I know you have all been very patient with multiple iterations of the Ultima Online team concerning bug fixes and content delivery. All I can say is thank you, and bow respectfully.
Finally:
What about KR? What about SA?
As far as Kingdom Reborn is concerned – We have a couple of fixes going in this publish: walking as a ghost across the bridge in the Wind dungeon, and a legacy toggle issue with pink tiles around cave entrances. I’m not a fan of the color pink, sorry about the delay on this. There are a few others, but know we’re still working on more goodies. Also, we’re still investigating most of the topics discussed here on the boards. To this end, in the near future we’d like to do some server load/stress testing. We’re discussing between 20-25 players chasing a few devs and GMs around. Please be prepared to share frame rates, machine and OS specs.
Also know all new content will be updated for both Kingdom Reborn and the Legacy clients for the Epic Event.
Sighs. So much for the light publish.
Begins to walk away...
"WHAT ABOUT Stygian Abyss?! ..." He pauses slightly, without turning, a mild chuckle pressing the corners of the room, “We announced the expansion over a year ago, and you should be hearing more news about it soon.” He continues a slow shuffle into a dark room, most likely to be eaten by a grue.
Door closes ... footsteps fade. Following you open the door to discover a beach at sunset. There is a blue page here.
http://www.uoherald.com/news/news.php?newsid=365
========================================================
Part 5:
Focus Group: The Council of War
Jeremy Dalberg
12 May 2008 18:58:18 EST
Update 6pm CST:
The first batch of invites has gone out, but there will be more coming tomorrow!
As the conflict heats up in Britannia, we’re looking for a few players to join a Focus Group to test the final portions of this event arc. We’re looking for the following types of people:
- Players who are familiar with large-scale, high-end PvM – paragons, champ spawns, previous event invasions, any and all of the above.
- Players with significant PvP – specifically Faction – experience
- Roleplayers – those of you who have been diligently following the storyline and can put your hand on all the loose threads with a moment’s notice
Please keep in mind that being in this focus group means that you will see spoilers about the event content, and being a part of it means you are willing to agree to keep those spoilers to yourself.
http://www.uoherald.com/news/news.php?newsid=361
============================================
