Shard of the Dead: Vampire Wars!

[Supreem]

That's right! Vampire Wars is back! The gate near West Britain Bank now teleports you to moonglow where the battle is taking place. Here are the details:

It is a vampire verse slayer all out bash. Players can pick their team and fight the opposite in a Factions style battle taking place in Felucca Moonglow. Each team has a base located in Moonglow that players can signup at by double clicking the signup stone. Each base stone also acts as a ressurection Ankh. Each side has a scoreboard gravestone which tracks each side's kill count.

Rewards
Killing a vampire NPC gives you a chance to get a cursed artifact
Turning an NPC into a vampire gives you a chance to get a minor artifact
Bringing 10 unique vampire heads or 10 unique vampire slayer souls to a faction stone gives you one of the following rewards randomly:
Major Artifact (not cursed)
Glass Weapon - Weapon that can be used once but does insane damage.
Bombs - Each faction has a bomb that when used causes an area effect explosion similar to the ones at the faction stones. The explosion only affects members of the opposite faction.

Vampire

Vampires can not heal and take damage slowly. Luckily they can heal themselves by attacking other NPCs and players. They receive full health upon turning another mobile into a vampire. Vampires can turn vampire slayers into vampires by doing a certain amount of damage to them (the amount of damage is tweakable by me, right now its at 50%) Vampires can not attack other vampires. Turning a player vampire slayer into a vampire awards you with his soul which can be used for special rewards. The only way to rejoin the living is to die and ressurect. -- Supreem, UO Programmer

Slayer

Slayers get a bonus to damage against vampires. This makes up for the fact that vampires only need to get you to half health to turn you. (Currently Slayers do 175% damage to vampires) Killing a player vampire awards you with his bloody head which can be used for special rewards. The only way to leave the slayers is to die and ressurect. -- Supreem, UO Programmer

Non-participants do 50% damage to slayers and vampires

BTW We removed all of the glass sword towers and placed one in the middle of the fray.

 

[olduofan]

I logged in and i don't like to play other race but human its nothing but a BLACK screen Thanx but No Thanx

(wont be going back because of that either wasn't how it was in 1998 all the way up to hmmm 2008 ? )

 

[Babble]

Thanks

 

[Supreem]

BTW the Slayers won last time. (Back in '06?) Let's see if the Vampires can pull off a win this time!

 

[Wojoe]

Just a lil confused...

Whats the difference between a cursed arty and a regular arty when there is no insurance?

And im not trying to rain on your parade but when can we expect to see pvp updates on the production shards...some of you have said they are coming..any idea when and what will happen?

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

*YAWNS*

 

[Apetul]

ohh... so many bugs on production shards but they keep wasting time on the temporary shard.

 

[Kiminality]

If it's anything like the previous Halloween shards, then the devs are working on it in their own time.

 

[Farsight]

Not to mention that it's pretty much all recycled code. I can't imagine too much time being spent to make this shard.

 

[JC the Builder]

Yeah, don't worry about them spending time on making this. It is the same system they had on a Halloween shard 4 years ago. It seems they somehow remembered it and brought it back for a second round.

 

[Gandie]

Cool.

 

[Bombastic Fail]

Fun so far; but glass swords are still dumb

How about you cant hide when you have a sword equipped? Then all the stealthers will be useless

 

[Vyal]

Remove the sword please..

 

[Ls Jax Ls]

Rewards
Killing a vampire NPC gives you a chance to get a cursed artifact
Turning an NPC into a vampire gives you a chance to get a minor artifact
Bringing 10 unique vampire heads or 10 unique vampire slayer souls to a faction stone gives you one of the following rewards randomly:
Major Artifact (not cursed)
Glass Weapon - Weapon that can be used once but does insane damage.
Bombs - Each faction has a bomb that when used causes an area effect explosion similar to the ones at the faction stones. The explosion only affects members of the opposite faction.

I'll start caring when the sword is removed.

 

[ScottishHero]

Without being funny, if the games company I work for kept ignoring the player’s comments and concerns we'd never survive.

There's a common thought amongst 'old school' developers that those on forums are the disgruntled minority, the ones who will complain about something but never praise the fix - perhaps this is true but I honestly don't believe it means you should ignore your player base.

I wonder if the QA team raised an issue in regards to the glass sword? It would have been one of the first things done by my team - it’s UNBALANCED.

Whatever though, a lot of players are enjoying SOTD and the opportunities its created for the future, one thing above all others is ruining this enjoyment.

Please revaluate your overall goals for UO, make sure your current decisions are making these goals attainable, have your QA, Design and Production teams drilled with the "Question everything" mentality and hire a Community Officer.

 

[Ls Jax Ls]

Without being funny, if the games company I work for kept ignoring the player’s comments and concerns we'd never survive.

I guess that's obviously not true, as they've been doing it since I started playing UO.

 

[Mook Chessy]

Even a crack dealer can take a day of standing on his corner...we will be back the next day.

The above fact is not the problem...the problem is EA knows we will be back!


Woot!


Hail all Junkies!

 

[Picus at the office]

After reading about the sword I decided not to bother working this shard. Sad though as I would have liked to simply for some sort of throw back to the old days but at least back then it was a two hitter hally, you might live but not here.

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

Everyone on the Dev Team is 120.0 in Denial, 120.0 in Self-Delusion, and 120.0 in cluelessness.

And there is no QA team, how else do you explain the last year's worth of bug-riddled publishes?

 

[jtw1984]

Man you guys are negative. Hopefully I can give it a try tonight Supreem.

 

[Ls Jax Ls]

Man you guys are negative. Hopefully I can give it a try tonight Supreem.

Interesting, another person telling me how I should feel about something they haven't experienced.

 

[jtw1984]

Interesting, another person telling me how I should feel about something they haven't experienced.

lol.

You just let me know where I was telling you how you should feel. Calling everyone in this thread negative is a FACT. I don't give a crap how you feel, or how you "should" feel. Go slice your wrists over UO.

Go slice your wrist = Me telling you what you should do.

 

[Ls Jax Ls]

lol.

You just let me know where I was telling you how you should feel. Calling everyone in this thread negative is a FACT. I don't give a crap how you feel, or how you "should" feel. Go slice your wrists over UO.

Go slice your wrist = Me telling you what you should do.

Calling someone "negative" implies that they have negative expectations without reasonable cause. Everyone here has experienced how stupid this sword is. You have not.

 

[jtw1984]

Well, I hate to burst your bubble but I have experienced this sword. Yes, it is lame.

However, with or without reasonable cause you all are being negative. I know the truth hurts. See let me give you an example:

Positive: These vampire wars sound great, but I wish you guys would remove the sword!
Negative: I'll start caring when the sword is removed.

Regardless of what causes you to be negative...you are still negative.

 

[ScottishHero]

I guess that's obviously not true, as they've been doing it since I started playing UO.

Could the lack of listening to the community and obtaining its feedback have a direct impact on player numbers? I think so.

 

[Ls Jax Ls]

Well, I hate to burst your bubble but I have experienced this sword. Yes, it is lame.

However, with or without reasonable cause you all are being negative. I know the truth hurts. See let me give you an example:

Positive: These vampire wars sound great, but I wish you guys would remove the sword!
Negative: I'll start caring when the sword is removed.

Regardless of what causes you to be negative...you are still negative.

I'm pretty sure I have a right to be "negative" when every single person who has played the shard wants the sword removed, and yet it has not even been acknowledged by the dev team. I think you confuse negative with realistic, being as the changes will not affect me, since I will not be playing the shard until the sword is removed.

 

[Vyal]

There is only one tower now and it should be a bit more difficult to get the sword but still ide say remove it or make it so it cant just one hit kill a regular person.

 

[Gandie]

Interesting, another person telling me how I should feel about something they haven't experienced.

It sucks that i cannot translate the word i want to use. It is a Danish word which is unique to our vocabulary.

But. Just because someone use the word you, does not mean that you have to take offence. Its like telling people that you think that there is a couple of things wrong with this game. And when you list a few things some idiot will tell you that a couple is in reality only TWO. That just annoying. I notice this is not the first time you act this way.

So relax dude, you are not the center of the world.

 

[Skrag]

Glass swords are probably the single most universally hated thing in the history of UO. Almost any stupid thing will have at least a FEW defenders, but the hate for glass swords appears to be unanimous.

 

[Zosimus]

So UO went gothic. Between one hit kills, no insurance but giving cursed arties which is strange, and a new artie that would still be considered cursed since there is no insurance I have to give the SOTD a

 

[Supreem]

We reduced the number of towers from 8 down to 1 and put it in the vampire wars area. We hoped that this would cause more fighting to take place at the tower and therefore make it much harder to get them.

And Kiminality and JC are correct, the work for this shard was done on our own time and used lots of recycled code. We do SOTD because its fun and we get to do stuff we wouldn't normally get to do on live shards. If you don't like it, then don't play it.

 

[Vyal]

But it isn't fun due to the glass swords just a lil heads up.. Really I don't think anyone thinks its fun due to the glass swords. Just take it down if your going to leave the swords in.

 

[DevilsOwn]

If you don't like it, then don't play it.

yes

 

[Dakkon Blackblade]

Originally Posted by Supreem_EAMythic
If you don't like it, then don't play it.

Lol pwnage

 

[Vyal]

So if you made the shard just for yourself why don't you play it so we can at least one shot you over and over till you get fed up and log out due to the ******** sword.

Just login and play so we can just one shot you like 50 times in a row then you can tell us all how cool it is and how much fun you are having :/

 

[Ls Jax Ls]

If you don't like it, then don't play it.

I won't. Why would you develop a shard based on your wants rather than the people who actually play it? That makes no sense whatsoever.

 

[puni666]

If you don't like it, then don't play it.

What a coincidence I'm about to not play this entire game next month if you keep only focusing on one group of the players, and completely ignore the others.

 

[ScottishHero]

If you don't like it, then don't play it.

I won't. Why would you develop a shard based on your wants rather than the people who actually play it? That makes no sense whatsoever.

 

[Kaleb]

I won't. Why would you develop a shard based on your wants rather than the people who actually play it? That makes no sense whatsoever.

Maybe to play with systems that can some day be used as tools for EM's, devs for future content, it is a test shard after all.

 

[JC the Builder]

What a coincidence I'm about to not play this entire game next month if you keep only focusing on one group of the players, and completely ignore the others.

What group are you referring to?

 

[Vaelix]

I won't. Why would you develop a shard based on your wants rather than the people who actually play it? That makes no sense whatsoever.

Telling your subscribers (Revenue) to "Screw off" in nicer words has never made sense from a business perspective.. Lol

 

[Zosimus]

If you don't like it, then don't play it.

Just wow. If i had that kind of attitude with any clients I have done business for they sure wouldnt come back to do any future business. If any client has/have any issues I sure do listen and try to FIX the problem to keep them happy.

Doesn't matter if you did SOTD on your own time or EA's time. The shard was put up and people have made some complaints. A simple fix would just remove the sword. Its definetly not a true classic shard and its your pet project, but hey who cares if subscribers are happy or not. Its just a temporary shard and hope your comment does not come back to haunt you on production shards. When people decide not to play and not pay because of issues they are not happy with then your comment may ring very true.

 

[Ls Jax Ls]

They act like they spent 6 months of development to make a sword deal 10,000 damage. Give me a break.

 

[HD2300]

They act like they spent 6 months of development to make a sword deal 10,000 damage. Give me a break.

The scarey thing is, is that maybe it did.

 

[Vyal]

The developers can stick their stupid shard where the sun dont shine its freaking ********. They had a chance to do something cool and failed yet again.

 

[Viper09]

The developers can stick their stupid shard where the sun dont shine its freaking ********. They had a chance to do something cool and failed.

Eh, not necessarily. I have a feeling they will ultimately be removing those swords despite everything. Or at least do a bigger tweak to them. The only question is when will they. It is a test shard after all and aside from the swords it is pretty darn fun.

 

[Maltyr]

I just found out that Magic Reflection has been restored to its old form on SOTD and I'm giddy with delight. It actually reflects spells back at their casters again! It vanished after one reflection, and had a 20 second cooldown after it expired, but it's a welcome change from its post-AoS incarnation. I hope this is the sort of change that finds its way onto the rumored classic shard. Kudos to Supreem (I assume) for putting this in.

 

[Chardonnay]

If you don't like it, then don't play it.

Sorta like how people feel about UO now...then when your looking for a new job your attitude might change...Because less subscribers means your gonna be out of a job with UO right? Because as far as i'm concerned let's get to the next stage of devs because these ones are failing miserably...

 

[Skrag]

If you don't like it, then don't play it.

Did we just discover whose baby the glass swords are? It was nice of you to code them on your own time, but everyone absolutely hates them.

 

[Nyses]

I won't. Why would you develop a shard based on your wants rather than the people who actually play it? That makes no sense whatsoever.

Maybe to play with systems that can some day be used as tools for EM's, devs for future content, it is a test shard after all.

"Some Day"? By the time we get to "some day" UO will be long dead. It already seems to be surviving on life support, there is too much land and too few people. It is really desolate for a Massive Multiplayer Roleplaying Game. Do not get me wrong, I love UO and have played for 13 years, but nothing lasts forever.