Return To Britannia

[Mesanna]

Hello everyone,

Just watned to correct a previous post. We have not turned on RTB due to Monday being a holiday and wanted to be in the office when it was turned on. We will turn it on Wednesday, September 5th.

Sorry for the confusion!

Mesanna

 

[Driven Insane]

Thanks for the clarification.

Won't waste my time this weekend roaming the lands looking for IDOCs.

 

[sablestorm]

*grumbles* It'd be a good idea to alter your uo.com post to reflect this decision. Also, while I can understand wanting to be around in case anything falls apart, let me also point out you are missing a prime opportunity to really get players hooked again. This was a holiday weekend that returning players could've spent playing UO and falling back in love with it. Right after a publish too when the current playerbase will be most active and could welcome back and assist returning players. It just seems like a wasted opportunity to me and I'm already hearing "Same old EA."

 

[Skunk]

Well...good to know I guess.

 

[pacific lily]

Seriously. Seriously?

Four old UO friends and I planned to log in this long work-free weekend and see what was new... we're sitting here in vent discussing how we'd probably all grab a 6 month sub if things looked good so we could have houses, etc... and you aren't turning it on till WEDNESDAY?

That was a really good way to remind us of why we left, not why we might want to come back.

 

[sablestorm]

Sorry Pacific Lily. I'm really pissed off about this too but it did give me a bit of a marketing idea. I was thinking of making T-Shirts for UO with the slogan: UO - surviving 15 years despite EA.

 

[legendsguy]

I was thinking of popping on this weekend but this really is just more of the same old EA mismanagement. Labor Day weekend is such a perfect time for everyone to return and yet they still managed to totally screw it up. How completely inept can this team be? You know what, I won't be bothering to log in on Wednesday.

 

[LordDrago]

*wonders how many people complaining about the delay would also complain if it wasn't delayed, but there was an issue that could not be resolved until after the long weekend?*

 

[Slayvite]

I'm afraid that made my mind up, was planning on using the Holliday weekend to explore and such.
I'd been gone long enough to 'forget' the way they treat the playerbase with false promises and down right lies.

I'll stay gone and try to hold onto what happy memories i still have of UO rather than returning and wiping them.
Good luck for the future, UO sure was good in it's day.

 

[christy1221]

*wonders how many people complaining about the delay would also complain if it wasn't delayed, but there was an issue that could not be resolved until after the long weekend?*

I'm thinking maybe they may know there is something bad that may happen and that's why it's being delayed. I hate it's being delayed but would rather it be pushed off then everyone to lose things or houses.

 

[LordDrago]

I'm thinking maybe they may know there is something bad that may happen and that's why it's being delayed. I hate it's being delayed but would rather it be pushed off then everyone to lose things or houses.

just thinking that many times there are unintended consequences when changes are made in UO...

what would be worse

1. delaying rtb
2. enabling rtb but there being some bug involved (who knows what it might be)

Something small might not be an issue...something big, and everyone would be posting how they brought back their friends thanks to rtb, but the bug has shown that EA/Mythic doesn't care so they all quit again.

 

[Slayvite]

just thinking that many times there are unintended consequences when changes are made in UO...

what would be worse

1. delaying rtb
2. enabling rtb but there being some bug involved (who knows what it might be)

Something small might not be an issue...something big, and everyone would be posting how they brought back their friends thanks to rtb, but the bug has shown that EA/Mythic doesn't care so they all quit again.

Either way UO loses. They should have tested it before plastering it across the games networks.
I wonder how many more players, old or new UO can afford to lose.
If this were a dog i'd be ringing the RSPCA and reporting EA for animal cruelty.
Just do the decent thing and kill the game before it becomes remembered as that 15 year old game thats an embarrasment to be associated with.

 

[LordDrago]

Yeah, that's my guess too. I will just let friends now to wait.

Maybe we could get some clarification in the meantime of exactly which steps our old friends need to follow to be able to log in if they can't remember old UO account names and passwords or old e-mail addresses, and never linked their accounts. And also whether they will be able to just download the client, patch up, and log right in during September without having to mess with the Account Management site if they still remember their old UO account name and password and their account was still in good standing when they quit playing. I know there is a little bit of information in the announcement on the Herald, but without being able to test the instructions myself yet on one of my closed accounts (all of which happen to already be linked), I really can't tell if the instructions are solid for someone else who hasn't played in over a year.

x10

you know that there are going to be a lot of issues with account management on Wednesday!!

 

[pacific lily]

*wonders how many people complaining about the delay would also complain if it wasn't delayed, but there was an issue that could not be resolved until after the long weekend?*

That, right there, is what I used to do. Always giving them the benefit of the doubt. I did it again this week... got friends together, got them excited about playing, convinced them that it could be fun... and then the devs didn't hold up their end. "The Whole Month of September" - to me, that means September 1 through September 30. Not September 5th, if they get around to turning it on, at 9am pacific time, or whatever. They posted that with plenty of time to LOOK for issues and RESOLVE them.

So no, dude, I don't think for even one second that there is some unresolved issue, nor would I care if there was. I think they dropped the ball because they either weren't thinking, or because nobody wanted to work on the holiday weekend. Unfortunately, I'm done (again) before I even started.

 

[legendsguy]

Hey, it's the whole Stockholm Syndrome thing. People who play UO are so used to being abused and taken advantage of by EA that they have psychologically come crave it. I think someone ought to write a paper about this sort of thing.

 

[Warpig Inc]

Just flash record the game as it is and then hit the red buttonj and turn it on. Those of us with a strong enough backbone wont have issues with a rollback, if it is for the greater good. Vet players been around long enough to know fresh code is a sign to go mining or fishing for a few days and not push the RNG and be heart broken and bitchy.

 

[Thrakkar]

1. delaying rtb
2. enabling rtb but there being some bug involved (who knows what it might be)

You forgot option 3: Istead of telling us "the whole september", they should just have announced "from sept 5th to 30th" in the first place, since here in this thread it sounds, as they already knew it back then...

 

[LordDrago]

You forgot option 3: Istead of telling us "the whole september", they should just have announced "from sept 5th to 30th" in the first place.

True. However, teh best answer would have been to enable rtb last monday (and announce it) giving 5 days for account issues to be resolved before the long weekend.

Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

 

[kelmo]

Hey, it's the whole Stockholm Syndrome thing. People who play UO are so used to being abused and taken advantage of by EA that they have psychologically come crave it. I think someone ought to write a paper about this sort of thing.

This is for people that no longer play UO. The people playing are still here and paying.

 

[kelmo]

Wow... Some of you have gotten really bitter. *shakes head*

 

[Tanivar]

Wow... Some of you have gotten really bitter. *shakes head*

Kelmo, lighten up a bit.

It's likely we're just lab rats in a psychological study of Internet Gaming Addiction meant to see how much severely addicted gamers will put up with before their addiction breaks and they quit the game.

I mean seriously, what actual game would hand it's paying customers this much bull and bad service. Certainly not one that was out to make a profit.

 

[Flutter]

This is kind of silly.
People have time off to actually play. Turning it on yesterday would have been the best idea. Give them the weekend to play and really get into it.

 

[Ladybird]

Hello everyone,

Just watned to correct a previous post. We have not turned on RTB due to Monday being a holiday and wanted to be in the office when it was turned on. We will turn it on Wednesday, September 5th.

Sorry for the confusion!

Mesanna

This is extremely odd, as some people on my server (Europa) have been able to log in their old accounts!

 

[Spiritless]

Oh dear. Off the back of a really positive producers letter discussing the many upcoming things, including RTB, EA falls at the first hurdle of delivering on their promises.

Wow, they almost had even me believing them for a minute there. Seems the status quo resumed pretty rapidly, however.

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

EA falls at the first hurdle of delivering on their promises.

I don't see how it's a fall. Sure folks would have liked to have had is turned on yesterday, but then again SOME folks would want it to be free ALL the time too. Keep in mind they did not have to do it at all. Not a fall to me, people wanna play that bad they can plunk down the $13.... ain't like that's gonna break the bank, and if it would... then they need to be out earning a little more $$$ instead of playing a dang game anyway. Just my .02 of course.

 

[Spiritless]

I don't see how it's a fall. Sure folks would have liked to have had is turned on yesterday, but then again SOME folks would want it to be free ALL the time too. Keep in mind they did not have to do it at all. Not a fall to me, people wanna play that bad they can plunk down the $13.... ain't like that's gonna break the bank, and if it would... then they need to be out earning a little more $$$ instead of playing a dang game anyway. Just my .02 of course.

Dress it up how you want. All of your points are irrelevant in regards to buying the game or them not having to do it.

The crux of the issue is that they announced RTB would be active for the entire month of September, giving the impression to users that this would begin on the 1st. Instead of this, however, they now say that it won't be turned on until the 5th. Great.

You need to realize that everyone who would take advantage of the RTB program are not current subscribers and many left because they were disenfranchised with the game or how it is run and the first thing they were greeted with after hearing about this promotion is being told that they actually meant something different than what they said. As evidenced by a few replies in this thread, people are just gonna chalk it up to "same old, same old", shake their head and stay away. Wonderful PR there. It's not hard to foresee exactly how this would have been perceived frankly and they should have simply watched their wording in the producer's letter. Their clumsiness just leads to pissing people off further who were already pissed off to begin with.

 

[Selurnoraa]

I just want to know why an Ultima Online player(returning player) has to come to a fansite to find out they cannot return for free until the 5th, when the official uo.com site clearly still states today.

 

[whiterabbit]

*bangs himz lil goblin head ona da table* dis beees not da way to gets peoples back *growls*

 

[Lady Storm]

Lily I do understand your groups fustration ... but look at it from the players side.....
If it had major bugs in it that say............ wiped out houses due to a glich from the part of not allowing house placement by RTB players .... the results if they were not in the office to quickly stop the game and revert it would be BAD. Bugs happen in UO, as old players you know its not wise to turn on anything without the Dev watching for goofups. Please be patient and reset your visit for next weekend....... We here welcome you to come and we hope you decide to stay. UO has changed.
Whiterabbit as your Queen I ask you to hold on to your club. Sooon it will be. ( I was made Orc queen for the rest of you by the kids back when they were 14 or so I had orcs in my house invading every cupboard and crevice.... they were in my freezer, the flour bin, and even in my undies drawer!!!! So I had a round up of Orcs .... I was made Queen. I still have orcs running around the house.... so far they have kept their tails out of my linen.)

As for the rest of you complaint artists.... Grow up you sound like 4 year olds who didnt get to go shopping with mommy. Geesh.
The RTB is a gift to players who have long or short left the game. It is for them to come and to try it now that changes have been made.
It has advantages for ALL.
Some of us who have shut down accounts can do a little work on them. And the returning players get to see all the great changes to the Dungeons and the new advancements we have.
Invite your old friends who left, give them the news and be happy they will at elast not have to pay to try it again. Invite new people tell them to come visit your game... Give it a try.... It just might surprisse you.

 

[Goodmann]

if a returning player cant afford $14 to come see what uo is like again they probably should be looking for a higher paying job.

 

[Reth]

if a returning player cant afford $14 to come see what uo is like again they probably should be looking for a higher paying job.

Or just make a trial, made a build in TC and test it that way if you want to experience high level play.

 

[Viper09]

if a returning player cant afford $14 to come see what uo is like again they probably should be looking for a higher paying job.

If these players know they want to come back then of course they will have no problem paying the fee. However RTB is about giving a free month to players who have left so they can come and see if they want to get back into the game. What better way to try and sucker people back into this game then letting play their own account for free for a month?

 

[Woodsman]

I don't see how it's a fall. Sure folks would have liked to have had is turned on yesterday

Maybe you're not in the US, but in the US it's a 3-day weekend for a lot of people. Some people who might not otherwise have the time, might have had a chance to play it.

I don't care if it's not quite 30 days, but it would have been good to have it ready to go for a holiday weekend.

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

I am in the states and am fully enjoying some UO time for the first time in a while during my 4 day weekend thankfully. And like I said above.....

Keep in mind they did not have to do it at all. people wanna play that bad they can plunk down the $13.... ain't like that's gonna break the bank, and if it would... then they need to be out earning a little more $$$ instead of playing a dang game anyway.

And I still stand behind that

 

[Storm]

Wow... Some of you have gotten really bitter. *shakes head*

some people just are not happy if they cant complain! ah well at least it gives them something to do!

 

[Lord X]

Thanks for the clarification.

Won't waste my time this weekend roaming the lands looking for IDOCs.

What does this news have any effect on IDOCs?

 

[DJAd]

I'm on a monthly billing cycle. Does this mean I get next month free then? or only for old closed accounts?

 

[Storm]

I'm on a monthly billing cycle. Does this mean I get next month free then? or only for old closed accounts?

its closed accounts!

 

[Aurelius]

Seems clear the person responsible for the Herald is on holiday, since this is so obviously something that should be made crystal clear THERE - but it still has the post from 31 August clearly stating

"We would like to once again invite old friends to Return to Britannia for the month of September!"

Mind you, you can have doubts about the things that get through on the Herald being particularly accurate, since that same post also states "See you in Birtannia"

 

[Woodsman]

Keep in mind they did not have to do it at all.

And I still stand behind that

If they want people to come back, they actually do have to do that kind of stuff. This isn't something they are doing from the kindness of their hearts, this is an attempt to bring back players, to bring in more money, to help stay employed.

Videogame companies, especially ones making MMORPGs, are constantly offering free weekends to get people to come back. SWTOR has offered me free weekends. They didn't do it because they feel generous, they did it because they wanted me to come back and look at the new content and maybe start giving them money again.

There were two mistakes made: The first is that it should have been ready to take advantage of a holiday weekend. That's on the UO team.

The second is that there were no emails sent out to former players as far as I know. That's on EA since EA seems to have a central system for all of the numerous emails and newsletters they love to send out to former and current buyers of their products.

You can't give people a free month to come back if they don't know about it. Their target audience isn't exactly checking out UOHerald.com on a daily basis. I get emails all the time from EA about things like pre-ordering Battlefield 4, some 20% off sale on some stupid soccer game, or asking me to come back and play SWTOR for a free weekend.

Think about that for a second. It's been a few months, but I got a really fancy email from SWTOR asking me to come back and play for a weekend. EA doesn't even offer a plaintext email for a free month of UO.

They should be sending out emails to former UO players about this kind of stuff. They should send out emails to current UO players whenever there is a relevant sale in the Origin shop. I usually hear about those sales because somebody else mentioned it. That's one thing that amazes me - EA doesn't exactly try to increase its revenue from UO, but that's for another thread.

Mesanna's letter was in fact worthy of being sent out as a newsletter through email, both to former and current players. I get emails on other EA titles that are a waste of my time and they barely have any information. Mesanna's letter was informative enough to be worth sending out.

These kinds of things make me wonder what the hell is going on with EA in regards to UO.

 

[Lord X]

Well you know, advertising has never been a UO strong point.

 

[Wenchkin]

If you know you're going to do a Return to Britannia and you want to ensure it's done while staff are available, the first thing you do is look at a calendar and check that the start of that month is a weekday. If it's not, you'd take the first Monday as the start of the free month and put those dates on the announcement. Or the end of the previous week. Or y'know, it's our 15th anniversary, if that was me I'd have stuck with the promised dates, worked the weekend and perhaps taken a couple of days off the following week instead. It's not every day that a game hits a 15th anniversary and you run a promo on this scale.

I think the devs need a better (or actual) secretary/PA, because I'd have expected even an office junior to notice the dates thing. That's not being picky, I'm honestly amazed that got through the net.

And as for silly snarky comments about those of us who want UO to be F2P, they're both inappropriate and out of line. It wasn't the players who made this mistake, it was EA. If you set a date for anything then miss it, it sours what should have been a great promotion. Of course players are going to call EA on this, and they should. If I'd done that in any of my jobs, my butt would have been kicked and rightly so. All this has done is reminded some of us why UO doesn't feel like value for money any more.

It's true, EA didn't have to do a promotion. They could just rely on their regular customers to keep paying this month and not try to attract any new or former customers. I'd love to run my business like that too. But promotion is actually a fundamental part of running a business with competitors all around you. When you commit to doing one, your priority is to ensure the experience is as positive for customers as possible. If I can check my diary before I run a sale or commit to a deadline, I think a big company like EA can manage that too. EA rely too heavily on customers who won't quit when they mess up, eventually they'll run out of them. The challenge as a business grows is to remember that your customers are paying your wages, and not take them for granted when you're successful. To keep bringing in new and former customers to boost your income.

I'm not even angry about this, just sad that things like this keep happening to a game I love. I enjoyed my weekend, but I'd have enjoyed it a bit more if I'd been able to drag my partner into UO for a bit of reminiscing. We met in UO, it's kinda special to us and we just passed the anniversary of our RL meeting. For once I'd been saying to him "hey, you can reactivate your account and login again" just glad he's dopey enough and hasn't noticed the late R2B thing Glad he doesn't look at forums either lol.

Wenchy

 

[DarkChronus]

Well that's disappointing. I was super excited when I got home yesterday and saw the post saying to log in and play. Couldn't imagine WHY it kept complaining about my account until I poked around here. lol

Oh well... poor timing and a bad message. I agree with those who say the main website post should be updated or changed. :\

 

[Salivern_Diago]

Well that is a completely stupid thing to do. Why not actually post the DATE on the UOHERALD post instead of here?? What'll happen now is some people who were going to look in will now not bother and you'll get a ton of trouble tickets issued becuase people cant log in. Way to go...

 

[pacific lily]

I'm not asking them to give me the game for free, they OFFERED IT.

They offered me the opportunity to look at my multiple accounts - 5 accounts if my notes here are accurate, and all closed for more than a couple of years now - to see if I want to open one, two, or maybe all of them back up. They offered me the opportunity to go look in my bankboxes and see if I left myself any gold to play with, or if I gave it all away. They offered me the opportunity to see what is new WITH my existing characters instead of having to start a new one from scratch just to have a peek at the new features.

Not that my personal life is any of your business but... I have a full time job, I'm a graduate student, and I'm a single parent. My children are at their dad's house this entire weekend. They go back to school tomorrow. They both play sports, which amounts to a 6-day-a-week after work hours time commitment for me, creating a schedule with very little free time. It HAPPENED that this weekend I had three days off from work, three days off from school, and no children here that I need to pay attention to. The timing was perfect. I was excited about seeing what was new/changed in UO. Sure, I could pay for all of my accounts, but what if I'm not interested in what I find... then I'm out $12 to $60... and maybe to you that's an okay amount of money to waste, but to me it isn't. It doesn't have anything to do with my job either. I make a very nice living, I just don't like throwing money away. If you do, then awesome. PM me and I'll give you my address. Next time you feel like throwing away $12, please send it to me. I will use it wisely.

It's pretty amazing the attitude that some of you have. They offered the opportunity to open up my accounts for the whole month of September and see the game again. They failed. It's September 3rd, and I could be in the game playing, possibly getting hooked again. Instead, I'm going to read these boards for 5 more minutes, then go do something else and probably forget all about this game.

 

[legendsguy]

As for the rest of you complaint artists.... Grow up you sound like 4 year olds who didnt get to go shopping with mommy. Geesh.
The RTB is a gift to players who have long or short left the game. It is for them to come and to try it now that changes have been made.
It has advantages for ALL.
Some of us who have shut down accounts can do a little work on them. And the returning players get to see all the great changes to the Dungeons and the new advancements we have.
Invite your old friends who left, give them the news and be happy they will at elast not have to pay to try it again. Invite new people tell them to come visit your game... Give it a try.... It just might surprisse you.

Are you completely daft or something? You tell us to invite new players because it might surprise us--and then when we do invite new and/or old players, the game isn't even working properly. The only surprise people will have is that this game is still functioning and there are still people like who you find ways to apologize for EA's total ineptitude. You say this is a gift to us--but this gift will be a slap in the face when people try to log in only to find they can't. Do you seriously expect new and returning players alike to flock to this one thread on a gaming forum to see that the return date has been moved back? You are blind then, to all the problems, and no amount of discussion will ever help you see the truth.

 

[Uriah Heep]

If you know you're going to do a Return to Britannia and you want to ensure it's done while staff are available, the first thing you do is look at a calendar and check that the start of that month is a weekday. If it's not, you'd take the first Monday as the start of the free month and put those dates on the announcement. Or the end of the previous week. Or y'know, it's our 15th anniversary, if that was me I'd have stuck with the promised dates, worked the weekend and perhaps taken a couple of days off the following week instead. It's not every day that a game hits a 15th anniversary and you run a promo on this scale.

Wenchy

Quote of the year...from someone who obviously depends on paying customers for her livelyhood.

 

[Lord Raven]

I am returning to Sosaria for the anniversary event. I would like to see more detail on how to re-open an account using the RTB credit. Can we get the FAQ up and running for this before folks start having problems?

As part of my return I am crafting a new interactive storyline. Search for hashtag #UO15 on Twitter for updates.

 

[Viper09]

I think for RTB all you need is the client up-to-date and remember your account name/password. I don't think there is anything special you need to do. Unless you haven't merged your account since the billing system was updated...?

 

[Lady Silverbrook]

I think most people here are upset because it just looks terribly, terribly unprofessional... which often and historically seems to be the status quo at UO.

I'm still unsure how most former UO players even know of this happening. There was no email and I have yet to see any articles posted to mmorpg sites. Strange. I was at least given an email by Champions Online stating they now had a new alert (a Champions story instance) out and vehicles (and typically receive a newsletter 1-2 times a month detailing updates). And that (imo) is far less important than a month of free gametime from a company.