Returning player and his thoughts

[DENNAR]

I left UO about 2 plus years ago. I sold or gave away everything. I came back recently. Yes all my skills were in place but I came back naked with 2-300k gold in the bank.

I dont have uber gear so with GM and some above gm skills I quickly found out I am not equipped to fight much of anything. Liche kicked my arse. I guess not having a suit makes a huge difference. But my 120 archer cant take out a Liche with gm equipment. Kind of sad. But the bigger question is what does this do to new players?

But I lived with it and decided my goal was to play a relaxing UO.

I mainly chop wood or mine. Then I go and do heartwood quests. When the High Seas expansion came out it killed Heartwood Quests. Before High Seas I got some sort of runic nightly. I have not gotten a runing in over 10 nights of doing heartwood. I fished before High Seas and got SOS pretty well. Since High Seas not so much.

I am not complaining merely pointing out my observations.

I decided to use my skills and build some wealth to play the Magnincia lotto. My chopping wood rewarded me with 7 mill in gold for a week of chopping wood for a total of about 15 hours. Not bad !!

I also got tons of wood and amber as well as the others ingredients.

But I would ask the developers to re-examine what it takes for people to fo any PVM as well as the drop rates that High Seas seems to have changed. Maybe its just my bad luck. I would like to hear what others are experiencing in Heartwood and with fishing WITHOUT buying the High Seas expansion. Maybe my results are because I didnt buy the expansion.

But to all my old friends in case I havent seen you, its good to be back.

 

[Trebr Drab]

Don't forget that newbs also need to get powerscrolls, and build all their skills up. So it's like,
"Ok, I've built my skills to GM, now I need to buy expensive powerscrolls?"
"Ok, I've worked my butt off, but I am mince meat to anything worth anything, now I need Imbued armor and weapons?"
"Ok, I have worked even harder for even longer, now I need an assortment of slayers?"
"Ok, I've got some slayers, I have quality imbued armor, I've eaten an assortment of powerscrolls, but I still don't have any money to speak of. Now I need to hunt for ingredients to sell, so I can replace my gear?"
"Ok, damnit what's this about artifacts!?"

"Ok...*sigh*... what templates the best? Oh, heck, are there any other games out there? You could have my gold, but I don't have any."

 

[Tinsil]

To Trebr

I'm sort of shocked that you think having the very best items, skills, and gear should be incredibly easy for a newb to obtain.

It's easy enough..

 

[DENNAR]

To Trebr

I'm sort of shocked that you think having the very best items, skills, and gear should be incredibly easy for a newb to obtain.

It's easy enough..

Uh no its not.

Maybe if you are in an active guild or you play alot. I am a passive player and I limit my game play to about 10 hours per week. If someone works for a living and has a family I dont see them putting more than 10 hours a week into a game. Sure tons of people have more time but I am talking about the AVERAGE player.

I dont care about having uber gear or being sick rich anymore. I am happy chopping wood or skinning sheep. I will make more than enough to keep me in what I need or keep me busy. But I am a boring player.

What the other person was referring to was a player who wants to compete without turning his soul over to mythic. Wants to experience most of what UO has to offer. Explore the dungeons--other than as a ghost. I understand a solo player isnt supposed to take on all comers. But a Liche with GM Skills and GM gear. Im not even saying a Liche Lord--a plain freaking Liche. GM means nothing in UO anymore. Oh and how can a player with GM get a good power scroll without huge money if he cant kill anything? Do you think your average new player will be content chopping wood for 2-3 months to build his skill and get enough items to sell to get the power scrolls and gear?

I wont join a guild because I cant guarantee what times I will be on nor can I guarantee how long I can play for. Besides how many good guilds are left?

Please if it is so easy explain how so. How is it easy for a Casual Player or new player. Maybe this is why UO does not get more NEW people.

Again this is not to be a complaint merely a comment on what I have noticed. Some people like me use UO to relax. I could care less about experiencing UO. But does that work on attracting new players? I have seen what not getting new players has done to my shards population since I have been back. How is your shards population holding up compared to 5-6 years ago? How is that making it hard for newbies working out for your shard?

 

[Soulstomp]

am looking at it a bit like doing a rp char with restrictions on armor and scrolls , and yes a lich can be hard then, gm made armor and gm skills for pvm usage

i kinda would say it aint enough these days were most is itembased , game changed to much and rely mostly on special items or imbued suits if you want to solo something bigger , on the other hand imbue as skill is great even at lower lvl,s of making things not using every special ingredients that much to max out everything.

you would be able to get a decent suit and a bow with slayer and leeches etc , wich would give your game play ,feel alot better , and that doesnt have to cost an Arm and a Leg.

about guilds , most guilds well ones i know, it aint a must to be online 24/7 there are loads of players that only play a certain amount of time or even on odd hours , guilds are more as a big database and for suport so now and then , and if you want to join up hunting something bigger you be able to.

recourche gathering , never has been a bad thing in uo , mining , lumbering , getting leather anything will do to get you on the road ,


your expireance and feeling is right , when newer or returning players that are in my guild play , they almost always expierence the same thing on pvm, their older gm suits and sometimes lower skills arent sulficient enough now days.

personaly i think imbeu in general fixed this all , and at a generaly low cost usualy gems and a few ingredients can help your chars back on track.

 

[AtlanteanAngel]

It's like in RL : the rich have it increasingly easy and richer, while the poor have it increasingly tough and poorer.

Right now, UO is ridiculously tough for new / casual players, while at the same time ridiculously easy for power-gamers / cheaters.

See the problem? Just like in RL, there is never an easy solution, or perhaps any solution at all.

 

[KoolAidAddict]

Sure tons of people have more time but I am talking about the AVERAGE player.

Shouldnt you as an "average" player (meaning what exactly?) expect average?

What the other person was referring to was a player who wants to compete without turning his soul over to mythic. Wants to experience most of what UO has to offer. Explore the dungeons--other than as a ghost. I understand a solo player isnt supposed to take on all comers. But a Liche with GM Skills and GM gear. Im not even saying a Liche Lord--a plain freaking Liche. GM means nothing in UO anymore.

Correct. So wheres this whine heading? Im just saying, the game has changed, evolved, moved on in your two year absence. Get with the program, not whine about woe is me. And what skill were you using, cooking and tracking? Cmon, wep, tacs, chiv and resist, AT GM ONLY will drop a lich in short order, with GM wep and GM armor. Add GM bushido, honor the dang thing and drop it in two hits........please!
What, you just got it in for Mythic that you just lambast them with your soul comment for not knowing how to set up a template to compete at GM only in todays UO?
Nice.

Oh and how can a player with GM get a good power scroll without huge money if he cant kill anything? Do you think your average new player will be content chopping wood for 2-3 months to build his skill and get enough items to sell to get the power scrolls and gear?

Your average, or mine? What up with this "average" junk anyway? This aint lego for xbox dennar.
This mytical "average" player will prolly NOT be interested in blah blah blah if said average joe has you for a mentor. Yikes. Just try it yourself, go for Swords, Tactics, Parry, Bushido, Anatomy, Healing, Chivalry as a GM ONLY template, for gods sake, and go MOW down the lich! Then pass this template along as a STARTING template for your average player to progress from.
PS......hint.......holy light the lich.....see what happens!
(same thing for doing an undead champ spawn and see the power scrolls fall into your average lap)

I wont join a guild because I cant guarantee what times I will be on nor can I guarantee how long I can play for. Besides how many good guilds are left?

Sounds like an excuse but whatever. Plenty of good guilds left, naysayer, but prolly not much of em will be interested in you with that attitude. Just my opinion.

Please if it is so easy explain how so. How is it easy for a Casual Player or new player. Maybe this is why UO does not get more NEW people.

I Did.
Even easier way......join a shard, get in GLOBAL chat, say.....Hi folks, Im AVERAGE JOE, Im new to UO, Im new to (insert shard name), and Im looking for some guidance, advice, and a friendly sort to assist me in getting started in this wonderful game!
Try it once, dennar, sans the attitude, and see where it leads to!!
Ima tell ya straight out, Legends folks overwhelmed me with their attitude, assistance, and downright friendlyness when I moved from Atlantic. All I can say is ......WOW.....!

 

[Nimuaq]

(..) But my 120 archer cant take out a Liche with gm equipment.

This is true, it is hard to take out a lich with using gm crafted (not runic) equipment alone for a 120 archer. However, if you use Chivalry spells Enemy of One and Consecrate Weapon, it suddenly becomes quite easy. Lich, however, is not much of a problem for a GM Tamer, Mage or Mystic, again using GM equipment.

Do you think your average new player will be content chopping wood for 2-3 months to build his skill and get enough items to sell to get the power scrolls and gear?

You really have lots of options to make gold in UO, even if you're a new player.

If the lumberjack chops wood in Ter Mur, he can sell the crystal shards he finds (a very sought after imbuing ingredient, there is always a market for these, I used to sell 10 for 500k) to make additional gold.

Most of the first level creatures of the mini-champs in Abyss are quite easy to kill for a GM warrior. Again, these creatures has the same chance to drop an imbuing ingredient as the creatures spawn in higher levels. Especially in Cavern of the Discarded, first level ratman are too easy to kill and they might drop a seed of renewal, again a very sought after imbuing ingredient. Slime-like creatures in Ter Mur, Korpres, drop Void Orb which can be sold for quite some gold.

The new player might not have SA expansion yet, but he/she still has lots of options: The loot of the treasure map chests are increased and Scroll of Alacrity is now a common item, even for Level 2 chests. Again, there is always a merket for the SoAs of hard to train skills. Also, Level 2 chests have 10k gold now.

An adept fisher can seek treasure chests from shipwrecks. These chests give an average of 20k and lots of magic items. 1 in 25 mib yield an ancient sos, a fabled fishing net can be found inside the ancient chests (along with 40k gold) which can be used to spawn Scalis. Fabled fishing nets were around 500k in Europa couple of months ago.

What I did when I returned? I killed paragon shadow wisps in Forrest Lord Champion Spawn in Ilshenar. I sold the minor artifacts and occasional SoTs I got from them.

 

[Amber Moon]

I think some of you are being way to hard on Dennar. A lot has changed in UO since the early days and it is very item and template based now compared to what it was.

And this brings us back to the New Player Experience problem. Without a guild or specific mentoring, all the little tricks and methods mentioned in this thread will be unknown to a new player. And in this day and age of gaming, most players coming from the general mmo market don't expect to need hand holding from things outside of the in game context. The new games teach as you progress.

A good up to date new player guide might go a long way help the problem. It would have to be official though so it could be at least pointed to from the training context of the game. Call it 'From New Player to Boss Killer, conquering UO PvM' or some such. Without such basic documentation, a lot of new players will just move on to the next new game, never experiencing the depth we have in UO.

 

[Farsight]

The problem with an official in depth guide is that you don't get any information that isn't available either here on stratics or over on uoguide. It's also a truly daunting task that involves a lot of repeat work and so forth.

A simple guide would be very welcome, but that would also take a lot of resources from something (likely in the form of money out of another department)... It would have to be a how to guide in place of a simple list of skills and their abilities, which on the current form of their site, is probably sorely out of date (last I looked was a year ago and it was out of date then... don't know what has changed since, so I could be wrong).

Then an in-game guide should also be updated. Or removed... the current in game help section is so out of date it does more harm than good, even if a new player can find it.

But it would help the topic at hand to quantify just what is "competitive" in Trammel (Felucca is a whole different beast), as well as how much an "average" player plays and what the "average" player wears...

Take me for example, I play usually less than 6 hours a week (1 hour Mon, 1 hour Wed, up to 4 hours over the weekend), but I have so much gold (more than 200 million) and stuff that it doesn't fit in my collective banks and have scrolled up/top of the line characters after 4 years since my return to UO (mostly collected during brief periods of intense powergaming or lucky item drops). Am I "average?"

I also have a character who has never killed any monster bigger than an ogre and only wears GM gear that I consider "competitive" in the place I play (Europa-rp). But other people apparently don't think the same way.

 

[Amber Moon]

Yeah well, what are the chances that even the small sample of players here on Stratics can come to consensus on what is 'competitive'

But we could start with this: In the modern DIKU games there are levels and most players have the expectation of hitting the top level. There would be nothing wrong with the game suggesting a 'top level' template as a goal for a new players based upon their stated goal. i.e. Melee Adventurer or Treasure Hunter.

To some extent they already do this with advanced character templates but new players need to be directed to a resource that explains this to them as well as to the concept that one of the strengths of UO is open skill system and the freedoms it allows.

 

[DENNAR]

Please do not consider this thread a "whine", it is merely an observation.

I never planned on coming back to UO. When I did I decided that it would be more of a casual gamer. I would not strive to have a Castle full of rares and run 60-80 vendors. My game play is not hunting or pvp. I am quite content at chopping wood-mining-sheering sheep and doing heartwoood quests. I can start and stop when ever I like with no worries.

But I did experiment a little. I took my shill capped paly archer out and found out mobs that he used to have no problems with (aka Liche) now kicked his arse. My bet it was his suit (gm only and same for the weapon). I know I can get him a slayer and build the suit.

My question is about NEW players. For the people that think this is a whine or a cry, let me ask you one question.

If the NEW player experience is so good---WHERE ARE THEY ALL?

I dont want to hear about returning players. I understand there is no advertisement nor shelf presence. Is that because the NEW player quest is no longer a concern for Mythic? Without new players what is the future?

 

[Amber Moon]

My question is about NEW players. For the people that think this is a whine or a cry, let me ask you one question.

If the NEW player experience is so good---WHERE ARE THEY ALL?

I dont want to hear about returning players. I understand there is no advertisement nor shelf presence. Is that because the NEW player quest is no longer a concern for Mythic? Without new players what is the future?

Actually, revisiting the new player experience and area is on their current stated task list. This is the reason your thread is so topical.

 

[silent]

Please do not consider this thread a "whine", it is merely an observation.

I never planned on coming back to UO. When I did I decided that it would be more of a casual gamer. I would not strive to have a Castle full of rares and run 60-80 vendors. My game play is not hunting or pvp. I am quite content at chopping wood-mining-sheering sheep and doing heartwoood quests. I can start and stop when ever I like with no worries.

But I did experiment a little. I took my shill capped paly archer out and found out mobs that he used to have no problems with (aka Liche) now kicked his arse. My bet it was his suit (gm only and same for the weapon). I know I can get him a slayer and build the suit.

My question is about NEW players. For the people that think this is a whine or a cry, let me ask you one question.

If the NEW player experience is so good---WHERE ARE THEY ALL?

I dont want to hear about returning players. I understand there is no advertisement nor shelf presence. Is that because the NEW player quest is no longer a concern for Mythic? Without new players what is the future?

I doubt UO draws many new players anymore. Most sub increases are from returning players like yourself, but those numbers are wiped out by the people that leave the game I'm sure. I think mobs were beefed up at some point to try and stay in line with power scrolls and new equipment. Honestly you can find better equipment nowadays laying on the ground than what most of us had back when we started. So all in all fight what your skill level and equipment can handle and work your way up, just like before....

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

I think some of you are being way to hard on Dennar. A lot has changed in UO since the early days and it is very item and template based now compared to what it was.

And this brings us back to the New Player Experience problem. Without a guild or specific mentoring, all the little tricks and methods mentioned in this thread will be unknown to a new player. And in this day and age of gaming, most players coming from the general mmo market don't expect to need hand holding from things outside of the in game context. The new games teach as you progress.

A good up to date new player guide might go a long way help the problem. It would have to be official though so it could be at least pointed to from the training context of the game. Call it 'From New Player to Boss Killer, conquering UO PvM' or some such. Without such basic documentation, a lot of new players will just move on to the next new game, never experiencing the depth we have in UO.

I agree 100%

Uo needs an updated & OFFICIAL guide.
Don't make new players have to find/subscribe to anyone elses forum(no offense)

Take the time to make a comprehensive official guide with a link right from the start-up screen and have an employee monitor a feedback/input area on the guide. Let existing vet players have a means to leave input also.

I am sure it has been proposed before but why cant we once again use vet players ingame as counselers to new players?

IMO this would be a great way towards building community spirit & the game in general.

It cant be that hard to find & qualify the honest vet players that are willing to help.
If this isnt supposedly feasible due to some kind of liability issue I call BS to that.

IMO the bottom line is that new players do not need to be elite in a short period of time. They just need to be able to understand the game more in the beginning so that they can know what it will take to get better & go as far as they want.

 

[Tinsil]

10 hours a week is plenty of time to be able to explore everything UO has to offer and obtain very high quality gear.

 

[Macrophage999]

I agree with the OP, pub 16 and then AOS made the game incredibly artificial and hard. It also became extremely linear. The add ons don't make it for the vanishment of player interaction.
Put back skill loss upon the death of reds, and you'd have a ton of people back into the pvp competition again (there are many reasons for this, one of them is reds pkilling their faction mates on sight), which is always a unique experience. Maybe put the felucca rules on some of the trammel facets as well.

 

[Trebr Drab]

Myself, I don't think gamers want to have to "get help" when they play a game. If a game is so complicated and reliant on specific "do this now, then do that, then come back when you get there for more help", I mean, that's not good. Core game play needs to be simple and flow with the player.
There's a place for complication, but that should be sort of an end game, or over the top game play.

Mostly, players want to play the game and enjoy it. Even if they aren't hard core. Earning your stripes? Sure. But not to the point of frustration. And not to the point of grinding up ala WoW. If you do that, you also need to have WoW's quest driven control, to lead players through it. But that's not what players come to UO for. There are a lot of players out there looking for something else.

 

[Adora]

I left UO about 2 plus years ago. I sold or gave away everything. I came back recently. Yes all my skills were in place but I came back naked with 2-300k gold in the bank.

I remember you from way back, Dennar -- I never knew you personally, but I remember what a great reputation you had in-game. I thought I still had a couple of your bows stored away somewhere, but can't find them.

Pay no attention to all the negative people here, a lot of us are pleased to see you share your impressions as a returning player

Great to see you back!

 

[Zosimus]

Here is my opinions of this thread.

A player who doesnt have much time (real life is #1 priority) and is more of a casual player is restricted in UO. If the player also does not want to be in a guild for various reasons there is nothing wrong with that. Players can be solo if they choose. Yes it does make it harder if they choose that route but they shouldnt be forced to play with groups all the time either so they just can compete. People deal with enough drama IRL so if its their choice not to get caught up in drama in a game they shouldnt be faulted for it. Guilds do carry some baggage from time to time. I didn't know UO became guilds online only. I must of missed that expansion.

Returning players do have an edge since they know most of what UO was to them. Completely new players are at a lost since they dont have that knowledge. Both returning and new players have to learn UO to its current state.

Is UO to hard and complicated for new players that have never played UO or have any knowledge about it? Yes it is. There is ton of information ( even outdated info out on the net ) to learn for a new players on the net. They just cant go out and play the game because they can waste alot of time on their first character to realize later they have a messed up template. That may cause them to just quit and go play something easier. Hopefully the devs will make the new player experience improved and easier for new players. The major issue is to make the new player experience very UNDERSTANDABLE for new players not just easy. It's a daunting task for them. UO is UO and not like any other game out there.

Welcome back Dennar and hope things work out for you .

 

[Woodsman]

It's a huge task. They have the right idea - revamp the new user experience and the quest system, but while the quest system may benefit everybody, they really need a lot of solid new player quests to teach them a little bit of everything. It's a much more difficult task for the UO developers given UO's "open" nature versus something like World of Warcraft where they throw you on the rail and it's fairly easy to figure out where to go and what to do next.

It's even more difficult for UO developers, given that they are going to have to deal with people coming from other MMOs. It's one thing when it was 1997 or 1999 and very few people had any expectations or experience with MMOs. Now it's 2011. How do you take somebody who most likely experienced a rail-like MMO such as Warcraft and had their expectations for MMOs shaped by Warcraft, and change their mindset to a more open/sandbox MMO like UO?

I think there is actually hope though - look at the number of people that flocked to Minecraft. It's more of a sandbox than UO will ever be.

But I don't even know how you'd go about shaping the new player experience and quests for people coming from Warcraft or other rail MMOs.

 

[DENNAR]

I have to post a quick THANK YOU to many people who have sent me PM's offering to help get me started with equipment, guilds, gold and offers of all kinds.

It is that kind of kindness and generosity that truely makes UO special.

 

[Amber Moon]

Is UO to hard and complicated for new players that have never played UO or have any knowledge about it? Yes it is.

Yep, it is complicated which is what many of us enjoy about it. And as pointed out, this makes the task of training complicated as well.

The trick is to boil the frog slowly, so he doesn't jump out of the pot.

 

[Zosimus]

Yep, it is complicated which is what many of us enjoy about it. And as pointed out, this makes the task of training complicated as well.

The trick is to boil the frog slowly, so he doesn't jump out of the pot.

Yes it is but it's easier for us Vets to understand and adapt quickly to changes in UO versus a brand new player.

Is UO made for todays society, when time irl we are multitasking this and that which keeps us very busy? No it's not. Compared to most MMO's out there you are equal to other player at your level. Meaning even casual players can play with others at the same level until they eventually progress into higher levels. There is no rushing or donate an x amount of game time a week to just be able to play to be competative. You can get items at low levels that still allows you to PLAY the game versus UO which you have to constantly train to gain. You progress at your time.

The same could be said about UO but its very different then those games. UO is very unique versus other games out there. It's a good thing UO has that difference but it does hurt any new players UO could get when they just dont have the time. Besides power gamers and more active players, I feel UO kind of leaves the casual solo players out of the loop. People want to play and not feel like they are grinding or training for the olympics.

UO should be different then all MMO's out there but to get those new players they need to have their own website updated constantly with current information first. Make the new player experience understandable and very informative.

Something really has to give though. Some vets dont want the game to be "easy" for new players and items so easily obtainable. Others would like to see the game "easy" for new players so shards could be more alive. With change comes fear sometimes. When AoS came many players that enjoyed the classic left. Each expansion you gain some players and you lose some for various reasons. Will vets leave if new players are given way to much where vets have played for 13 years to gain? Some would some wouldnt. If skills could be gained in no time would that make the current player base mad? It may but to gain new players sacrafices have to be made. Making it a little easier isnt going to hurt the game. UO has more to offer with it's rich history and unique templates that can be built. Players can amaze the developers on how they can build character templates.

UO needs to capture those new players and make that player feel they are part of it. There is such a learning gap between new players and vets thats what make the veteran player the most important factor in UO.

 

[Sean]

Hey Dennar, good to see you again!

 

[Woodsman]

UO should be different then all MMO's out there but to get those new players they need to have their own website updated constantly with current information first. Make the new player experience understandable and very informative.

This is so incredibly important, and to me it's a sign that somebody higher up in EA does not like UO. Almost every successful MMO has an up-to-date and active website, because that is where interested would-be players will always go first. Most have forums of some sort, and BioWare takes it to the extreme with a large amount of forums and staff to support those forums. They even have official forums for their DOS games from the 1990s that they still have moderators for. They even have official forums for Warhammer: Age of Reckoning...but no UO and no Camelot. They don't exist on the official BioWare social networking/forums website (which is huge). Warhammer, yes, UO and Camelot no. That social networking/community website is going to be the first place a player would logically go for official forums because it is literally front and center on the main BioWare.com website and cannot be missed.

The second place would be Google, and "Ultima Online forums" will get you to Stratics and UO Forums, but it's not a good impression. An excellent job is done by third party websites in helping new/would-be players whether it's Stratics, UO Guide, or UO Forums, but if they are coming from other MMOs, they are going to be used to a lot of official support, and it would be confusing.

I also always thought it was a mistake to dump UO.com and have this UOHerald.com that is just another Drupal site that looks like it was thrown together in a haphazard manner to imitate CamelotHerald.com, and it was such a mistake to just throw out the original UO branding in favor of some kind of generic MMO branding.

UO needs to capture those new players and make that player feel they are part of it. There is such a learning gap between new players and vets thats what make the veteran player the most important factor in UO.

I'm going to start another thread for what was going to be part of my response, but I want to toss this idea in since it was brought up many years. It was an idea tossed out by a dev, and I don't even remember if it was on Stratics, UO Forums, or the original UO.com forums, but I do remember that it was before AOS.

The idea was to have a separate housing area for new players, with mini-quests showing them how to use housing. The houses would have strict limits - small plots, I think like an 100 item limit, one vendor with like a limit of 20 items or something, and could only be visited by new players and could only be owned for like I think either 3 months or 6 months. Because of the limits, there probably wouldn't be many vets willing to wast $10 on such a limited house.

The idea, and I thought it was pretty good, was to provide a "base" for new players and their characters (for transferring items between chars, etc.) and to give them a taste of house ownership in UO. This was at a time when there wasn't really any housing open, and the thought was that owning a piece of land that they might not normally get for many months (given the high costs associated with no empty spots on the normal areas) and providing them a base would give them an incentive to stick around as well as provide them with the education necessary in regards to owning a house - there would be some quest-like tutorials that would teach them about secures, locking things down, add-ons, etc. It would help them reach a point where they could buy/place their own house.

A lot of people thought it was frivolous, but anything that simple seems frivolous when you have a house already and it's second nature to you.

To me it could be the equivalent of taking your first flight in World of Warcraft - that flight is a very moving experience for many players new to it. In this instance, it would be playing upon UO's strength - telling players "hey, you are a part of this world, here is where you are going to live for the next X amount of months until you are at a point at which you can buy or place your own house outside of this area"

If anything, such an idea is even more important now - the vast majority of MMO players have never experienced housing, never experienced what it's like to have a place for your characters to call their own. Outside of the EverQuest or Darkfall games, at most they might have experienced the crappy housing in Lord of the Rings or the rental game in Camelot. It's something that could really tie a new player into the game.

I would much prefer that over boosting their skills from the beginning or giving them a bunch of money. Just a small house, 7x7, with a limit of 100 items (to "encourage" them to move out to something larger somewhere else on the shard) that is meant to get them used to the idea that UO is unlike most MMOs - that you can own a piece of it and your characters can have a place to call their own. None of this crap like in WoW and other games where you presence is only there when you are logged in.

 

[DENNAR]

Hey Dennar, good to see you again!

Good to see you again as well.

 

[Gilmour]

my suggestion which i have posted a few times is give new chars an "owned by" basic suit, that is decent and will make them able to survive most thing in the open world.

i had imaged a 55-60 in all resist + one basic stat useful for the template your rolled.
- lrc for mages, necros
- stam or hpi for warrior types.
- etc

retricted to this suit with be the very old and hardly ever used anymore "NO-TRADE" tag, that makes you unable to trade or vendor it, while also making it "owned by XX" meaning only you can wear it. however not making it blessed.

downside of this is obvious: that it undermines regular gm crafted stuff., unfortunetly

Greetings
Gilmour

 

[AesSedai]

- You can't take a liche out with GM only gear? - You newb

Good to see ya' back. Only UO rule is: have fun.

 

[Zyon Rockler]

I think they changed some of the drops for fishing because it goes to 120 now. So, you probably get less pearls and SoS, until you have 120. It's kind of like being 80 again, I guess.

UO should focus on some new suits for new players that you can get from loot and arty drops. I know we have a bunch now, but in my opinion they should add another 20 or 40 complete suits, making some of them available on NPCs to buy, so that people will shop around different NPCs.

Plus, they could make killing the spawn alittle more exciting by adding possibilities of different drops. Add a bit of variation, maybe age the spawn and increase hit points and then allow them to die, so they can respawn. This way, a new character could fight an earth ele that has maybe 5,000 hit points and gain better skill off of it. Something to make spawning more interesting.

One of the problems for me is, slayer types don't really have any matches that affect a large group unless it's a super slayer, like deamon slayer, undead slayer, affect a large group.

A lizard slayer doesn't seem to kill much more than a lizard and the variation of lizards doesn't seem that great. Like, when the orcs were redone, there was alot of new types of things added that made them more interesting and an orc slayer, more viable.

Something like this should be done with all of the spawns, where the lizard men have mages and they have a giant lizard. Another thing that seems lacking, they don't have pets and their mages don't summon. Something like that, would make them challenging to us. Like, if an orc was a tamer, maybe they could create an orcish beast.

What i'm trying to say is, that the vet gets tired too of doing the same thing or they don't feel challenged. So, by adding in these different things, you could bring back the new player and the vet to the same creatures and bring back life to the slayers. The game is continually getting better though. It can be alot of fun.

 

[UOKaiser]

I think they changed some of the drops for fishing because it goes to 120 now. So, you probably get less pearls and SoS, until you have 120. It's kind of like being 80 again, I guess.

UO should focus on some new suits for new players that you can get from loot and arty drops. I know we have a bunch now, but in my opinion they should add another 20 or 40 complete suits, making some of them available on NPCs to buy, so that people will shop around different NPCs.

Plus, they could make killing the spawn alittle more exciting by adding possibilities of different drops. Add a bit of variation, maybe age the spawn and increase hit points and then allow them to die, so they can respawn. This way, a new character could fight an earth ele that has maybe 5,000 hit points and gain better skill off of it. Something to make spawning more interesting.

One of the problems for me is, slayer types don't really have any matches that affect a large group unless it's a super slayer, like deamon slayer, undead slayer, affect a large group.

A lizard slayer doesn't seem to kill much more than a lizard and the variation of lizards doesn't seem that great. Like, when the orcs were redone, there was alot of new types of things added that made them more interesting and an orc slayer, more viable.

Something like this should be done with all of the spawns, where the lizard men have mages and they have a giant lizard. Another thing that seems lacking, they don't have pets and their mages don't summon. Something like that, would make them challenging to us. Like, if an orc was a tamer, maybe they could create an orcish beast.

What i'm trying to say is, that the vet gets tired too of doing the same thing or they don't feel challenged. So, by adding in these different things, you could bring back the new player and the vet to the same creatures and bring back life to the slayers. The game is continually getting better though. It can be alot of fun.

Actually is not that we don't feel challenge we just dont feel the reward is worth the trouble. Seriously if any of us vets want a challenge we can go try to take on a ancient wyrm with gm armor and weapons. Or fight in the abyss naked or use only magic instead of weapons or summons against a greater dragon. Plenty of different ways we can challenge ourselves if we want a challenge. But thats not it. We just feel it's a waste of time.

 

[Zyon Rockler]

Maybe challenge is the wrong word. It's like earth elementals. If you go to Shame, you know that those earth elementals are one hit and done. So, you're really not going to go to Shame to kill earth elementals and you know what kind of drops are going to be on them.

I think if there was a chance where one lived for maybe, 6 hours or 12 hours, it would gain in hit points and if they added like, mage types or other kinds of earth elementals, where they could increase their mana or even have special moves added to them, you might be curious and decide to take a walk through Shame and see what you could find.

Maybe, you could tie different types of loot drops to the age because it would be harder to fight. Maybe, the gold could increase on a percentage and the artifact level or the type of suit pieces that would drop could change, that way, the same spawn could become 5 or 6 different stages.

I don't know if I would do something like that to every spawn but I think if the aging was done right, it might give you more of a need to explore.

The other day, we killed a paragon deamon in 3 seconds. It would of been neat if it was an elder or an ancient and had different powers than a normal one. Like, the ability to summon imps around it or call more paragon deamons to help it fight. It would just add that twist, where you really don't know what to expect.

 

[LoL/Sonoma]

The other day, we killed a paragon deamon in 3 seconds. It would of been neat if it was an elder or an ancient and had different powers than a normal one. Like, the ability to summon imps around it or call more paragon deamons to help it fight. It would just add that twist, where you really don't know what to expect.

I like this idea. It would be neat to decide to do a run of lower activity areas on hopes of finding an "Ancient" or "Elder" mob that hadnt been killed in a long time ... increased loot and chace of neat item "x".

Basically like a renowned. You arent guarenteed to get anything, but definitely worth killing when you find one.

 

[popps]

It's like in RL : the rich have it increasingly easy and richer, while the poor have it increasingly tough and poorer.

Right now, UO is ridiculously tough for new / casual players, while at the same time ridiculously easy for power-gamers / cheaters.

See the problem? Just like in RL, there is never an easy solution, or perhaps any solution at all.

I think that this, is a big problem in this game as in regards to returning or new players.

The issue is, as I see it, that existing, well developed and outfitted (and wealthy) players in a game that relies so heavily on items and their modifiers, already have them all or at least those that most matter.

This makes the game for them a walk in the park since their outfits, their maxed out skills, make it easy for them to meet most challenges with ease.

The games becomes dull to them and they ask for more challenge to make the game more interesting to them.

So the Developers "beef up" existing monsters or introduce new, beefed up Monsters with the new loot "that matters" so as to make the game again challenging and interesting to existing players.

But this means, that new and returning players are going to have it harder, and harder, and harder...........

And what does this do ? It deters them from keeping to play the game.

Ultima Online looses subscriptions.

I think it should be in the very best interest of the game (and its ability to raise new subscription....) if the Developers made sure that the GAP between existing players who are well developed, outfitted and wealthy and new, or returning players, does not widen too much and the ability to "catch up" for new or returning players should be one that even the average player, with occasional time to invest in the game, should be able to "get up to speed" in a reasonable time.

That's at least how I see it.