Shard populations

[petemage]

[Reply] I may agree to Shard Merges IF the fuller shards had to relocate to the lower population shards. However I doubt most on higher active populated shards would agree to that.

Apart from the necromancy in here, this also does not make much sense. Not sure if you are just a bit hurt over somebody suggesting your shard to get merged, but closing a high population shard to spread them out over multiple low-pop shards would not make those low-pop shards much more full at all. Also the reverse wouldn't make much sense, as in merging low-pop shards into an already high-pop shard.

Hypothetically spoken, the idea should rather be to "combine" multiple low-pop shards to one shard with a decent population, so we have 4 or 5 shards with decent population.

Of course, these days all those things "high", "low" and "decent" are pretty subjective too, as even us Atlantic players are not really happy with the decline in players here.

 

[Cymidei]

Let's design a study to measure shard populations. Method 1, use uo journal, or something similar to record incoming names, sit at Luna/Britain Bank (other key hot spots) for X amount of days. Make a chart of names and the frequency they appear, give each name 1 point for each time it is viewed per day. Rank shards by score. I had a friend who was handy with Fiddler who was able to track player log ins on another game; it was a browser game. Fiddler works by reading web traffic incoming and outcoming. Perhaps something similar is possible in UO and a lot less work? Then we could rank shard populations by your chances of encountering another player.

 

[Fridgster]

Oh goodie this again. Shard condensing in any way, shape, or form will simply never happen. It would be the death blow to UO.

 

[Swordsman]

have busy days in real life, I like quiet shards when I want to relax.

 

[Skalazar]

Oh goodie this again. Shard condensing in any way, shape, or form will simply never happen. It would be the death blow to UO.

lol so wrong but ok.

 

[Fridgster]

lol so wrong but ok.

Really? Tell me if your shard was selected to be removed and condensed will you continue to play? No you wouldn't. So please stop spouting nonsense.

 

[Martell]

Really? Tell me if your shard was selected to be removed and condensed will you continue to play? No you wouldn't. So please stop spouting nonsense.

I would...only folks who have overly invested themselves time-wise and emotionally would care if their shard changed from Great Lakes to 'US Server' or whatever.

If you were a new player and you randomly picked Napa Valley, Legends, Baja, etc. as a shard to start playing on would you continue to play? No you wouldn't and you'd want a refund because the MMORPG you paid for looks like a single-player game.

 

[Marquis de Sade 209]

I have played on pretty much every North American shard at one time or another. As dead as some of them are, i have always been able to find other players if I really wanted to. Not everybody banks sits or spams gen chat with nonsense or juvenile, excuse laden pvp pissing contests.

 

[Fridgster]

I would...only folks who have overly invested themselves time-wise and emotionally would care if their shard changed from Great Lakes to 'US Server' or whatever.

If you were a new player and you randomly picked Napa Valley, Legends, Baja, etc. as a shard to start playing on would you continue to play? No you wouldn't and you'd want a refund because the MMORPG you paid for looks like a single-player game.

I play on Napa and it is not a dead shard. In case you havnt noticed most that play this game are attached to their shard. It is a moot argument anyway. It simply will not occur.

 

[Martell]

I play on Napa and it is not a dead shard. In case you havnt noticed most that play this game are attached to their shard. It is a moot argument anyway. It simply will not occur.

Besides at EM events, Luna bank, or a guild meeting, do you ever see more than 10 people on your screen on Napa? The answer is no. It's a dead shard.

The only reason it won't happen is because of your attitude. It's clear that self-interest outweighs the game's interest. Bravo.

 

[Merlin]

Folks... keep the personal comments out of the conversation please.

 

[Lady Storm]

I have on many occasions gone on Napa, Baja, Lake A and more, and asked in chat if anyone was home...
I will say 99% of the time I will get back almost a dozen reply's if not more from players ... yes you don't see them.
They are doing the same thing most of us are doing.
Happy to play by themselves or with a friend in a corner of UO your not in.
Some guilds are on and running some dungeon... yea that busy but not seen.
Bank sitting has gone the way of the dodo bird when there is tons to do and if you need to talk there is chat.
Chat has opened up the shards to this more "empty" feeling you get when you go sit at a bank.
So.. yea the shards look empty... but touch them and die is the words of the day..

 

[Picus at the office]

I have fairly recently stumbled upon a decent group on Napa when myself and a bud found a nice champ to raid. There was a bot guy with 5 toons and 5 of his friends plus the two of us. Sure it's not like 10 years ago but it's not dead yet.

 

[Martell]

You all are taking my words far too literally (it's like Siege players who claim Siege is "active"). Sure...there are people there, playing singleplayer/closed-off style of gameplay, and/or farming stuff.

Just cuz there's someone to respond in chat doesn't mean that a healthy, multiplayer environment is there.

Again, if a new person logged into most any of these shards, they'd probably be pretty disappointed if they were expecting a true MMORPG game

 

[Lady Storm]

ah................... no
That is where your wrong...
I have heard many times when I and others have popped in and inquired if anyone home the response has been yes we are here did you need something? or We doing **** dungeon or Champ wana come?
If you need to do something don't hesitate to ask if any others want to do it... I bet there is someone who will ether say yea or offer you a different time so they can join you. (some are at work peeking in uo) hehe

 

[Picus at the office]

I know, it's hard to admit that this game that we have all placed way to much time into is going the way of the dodo bird. Everyone has great ideas on individual things that might improve the game but without effort from the team it's hard to see how it will keep going. A person mentioned here that the game seems to be pandering to the multi account people more so than the single player, it seems this is the case indeed.

My children watch minecraft PVP on youtube nearly daily it seems(I must admit it does look fun) and how I would like to replicate those videos in UO. Sadly I can't see how these youtube "stars" would be able to join up to play this game without a years practice.

 

[Yadd of Legends]

My impression is that those who declare shards dead are pvpers measuring them by action around the yew gate or abundant opportunities to raid spawns - despite whatever else might be going on

 

[Marquis de Sade 209]

My impression is that those who declare shards dead are pvpers measuring them by action around the yew gate or abundant opportunities to raid spawns - despite whatever else might be going on

Or bank sitters who like to sit around spamming gen chat and showing off their nice shiny gear

 

[Captn Norrington]

I don't know how others judge whether a shard is dead, but I do shard transfers for people often which causes me to end up on most shards briefly about once or twice each per month for the last couple years.

My process is this:

1: If I rarely if ever see anyone in the virtue towns when I run through them on my way to the moongate (transfers drop you in a random city so I see them all at different times of day eventually).
2: If I rarely if ever see anyone speaking in general chat, regardless of the time of day
3: If I never see more than 1 or 2 people in Luna regardless of the time of day.
4: If I consistently notice that very good house spots which are prized on Atlantic, have few or no houses (the area around Trammel Yew moongate is the one I notice most, there are huge swaths of empty land directly around the moongate on many shards).

If all four of those things happen, I consider it a dead shard.

No one in the virtue towns shows a lack of players exploring the world.

No one in general chat shows a lack of communication and collapse of the social atmosphere of the shard, or a closed-off community where all communication is solely through alliance chats, making it look unwelcoming towards outsiders.

No one in Luna shows that the shard has a small population since that is the main bank, and no one was at the other banks in the virtue towns I mentioned earlier either.

Many great house spots being open shows the shard population has decreased so much that there aren't even enough people to take the good house spots, which also means all the rest of the house spots are most likely also empty if they can't even fill the good ones.

I'd say about 60% of shards fall into my "dead" category these days, with a few more in the "dying, will be dead soon" category.

 

[Pawain]

Bank sitting has gone the way of the dodo bird when there is tons to do and if you need to talk there is chat.

I didn't get the memo.

4: If I consistently notice that very good house spots which are prized on Atlantic, have few or no houses (the area around Trammel Yew moongate is the one I notice most, there are huge swaths of empty land directly around the moongate on many shards).

We have vendor search there is no reason to live in a tiny house there or in Luna.

Many great house spots being open

Your opinion on whats good. I have an 18x18 and will not move unless someone hands me a castle. Its too complicated to put it in customize mode. Too much stuff falls out of my water and walls. Then I have to remember how I got it to that spot.

Only the Devs know what the populations are.

 

[Uriah Heep]

Only the Devs know what the populations are.

I'm sure they do, but they aren't talking.

My firm belief is that we are living now only because of the people (you know who you are) who are running 10+ accounts.
AND we are still running because of the people who are juggling the 90 day pay to keep the house up game. I know yall hate em, but hey, they contribute money every 3 months-much better than nothing-and they aren't costing you anything .

If everyone playing\paying was to suddenly cut back to one account only-we would probably shut down the next week LOL

 

[Great DC]

Lets be honest here, I don't think its feasibly possible to do this, especially with our current dev team. Just think about housing, banks, stables, character slots, vendors. The amount of prep work involved in something like this would take a long time, even then there is possibly of stuff going wrong. Besides if there happens to be a raise in population one day in the future, there would be less housing for the new players. These guys cant even fix the trade window crash bug that's been around forever, you think they could pull a merge off without mass destruction.

 

[Restroom Cowboy]

Oh goodie this again. Shard condensing in any way, shape, or form will simply never happen. It would be the death blow to UO.

But condensed milk is wonderful with coffee, so shard condensing can't be all that bad.

 

[Restroom Cowboy]

I'm sure they do, but they aren't talking.

My firm belief is that we are living now only because of the people (you know who you are) who are running 10+ accounts.
AND we are still running because of the people who are juggling the 90 day pay to keep the house up game. I know yall hate em, but hey, they contribute money every 3 months-much better than nothing-and they aren't costing you anything .

If everyone playing\paying was to suddenly cut back to one account only-we would probably shut down the next week LOL

The trouble is, they aren't contributing. All the gametime they use is paid for through bot farming and purchased from third parties getting deep discounts on codes...

So while you are paying 12.99 a mo they are paying around half of that or less when coverting gold to USD.

Don't forget to factor in the number of players who quit and/or closed accounts during the last 5-6 years over their conduct...

 

[Fridgster]

The trouble is, they aren't contributing. All the gametime they use is paid for through bot farming and purchased from third parties getting deep discounts on codes...

So while you are paying 12.99 a mo they are paying around half of that or less when coverting gold to USD.

Don't forget to factor in the number of players who quit and/or closed accounts during the last 5-6 years over their conduct...

Dont the codes at one point or another have to be purchased from broadsword? They dont come from thin air....

 

[Fridgster]

But condensed milk is wonderful with coffee, so shard condensing can't be all that bad.

Dont drink coffee... though might be good in chocolate milk....

 

[Restroom Cowboy]

Dont the codes at one point or another have to be purchased from broadsword? They dont come from thin air....

Do you think the price point is always the same as well? These players DO NOT purchase from broadsword, but rather from 3rd party brokers. I don't desire to delve deeper into that one as it may violate the stratics ToS.

Don't come out of thin air? Depends on your definition of thin air...

 

[Restroom Cowboy]

Dont drink coffee... though might be good in chocolate milk....

Chocolate syrup in condensed milk, served over crushed ice...with a glazed donut for dipping.

 

[Lord Arm]

no to combining shards. it is great not having any jerks or scammers. smaller populated shards do have some issues which I have posted before.
- sometimes u cant find any repair deeds. do u think any new player will stay if they cant repair their armor. I asked for a book to put these deeds in and can price all option. can have npcs repair stuff.
- very few venders. many lose money trying to sell stuff. most already have what they need or will get themselves. new players cant buy anything or get things they need/want. I wonder if they will stay. I wish stuff under 10k didn't have a vender charge. only way for some to make good money is to take to atl.
- some players, especially new players, cant find people to hunt with because many are using multi accounts and don't need anyone else. good luck new players.
- I wish arrow/bolt prices had a cap. ive seen new players make a archer kill stuff loot gold and run out of money to buy more even after looting tall he gold. they leave the game.
I'm general, I see a lot of new player leave the game. new players are more likely to leave the game without help.

 

[Tyrath]

Dont the codes at one point or another have to be purchased from broadsword? They dont come from thin air....

EA/BS must be giving huge discounts to a couple of sites that sell 5 packs of transfer tokens for $50 and those sites still able to pull a profit on them

 

[Fridgster]

EA/BS must be giving huge discounts to a couple of sites that sell 5 packs of transfer tokens for $50 and those sites still able to pull a profit on them

Tend to agree. They sell those artifact tools for nearly half price. Would love to know how they do that too.

 

[Uriah Heep]

EA/BS must be giving huge discounts to a couple of sites that sell 5 packs of transfer tokens for $50 and those sites still able to pull a profit on them

You reckon they have to buy them one item at a time?

 

[Yadd of Legends]

I never did understand why @Mesanna never made resources, legendaries and some other obvious items shard bound.

Because it would shut down a lot of the smaller shards completely?

 

[Uriah Heep]

Yeah, I am totally against anything being shard bound. What's the point of tokens, whether shield or bought, if you are gonna choke commerce down to a trickle?

 

[MalagAste]

I'm against stuff being shard bound... how would you encourage people to go places less populated if they had to leave 1/2 their stuff behind on another shard and try and gather it all again on the new shard???

Some things aren't easy to get anymore and it's a MASSIVE GRIND.... I would HATE to have to grind out all that crap again.

STUPID idea. If the idea is to keep people on smaller shards those who were going to leave have pretty much already done so... your about 8 years too late.

What is needed is a way to keep people on the smaller shards or encourage people to go there... but since as everyone is so good at pointing out all commerce tends to go to Atl then it's time to look at making ways for commerce to NOT MATTER... rather like Vendor Search has done with allowing people who don't have Luna homes to do just as good of business from places OTHER than Luna...

My suggestion would be to have a global marketplace for many things... So even if you live on a "dead" shard you can still sell stuff to people anywhere. This would eliminate the funnel of all stuff going to Atl... But my guess is those sitting on mass vendor homes charging insane amounts for vendors on Atl wouldn't like that idea.

 

[Martell]

My god.... so the same folks who are saying it's their choice and their playstyle to play on a dead/small shards and are vehemently opposed to shard mergers.....are the same ones who want to move items to Atlantic for free and take advantage of the economy there while they farm their dead shard...because getting valuable items without competition is their 'playstyle' and 'choice.'

Again, Stratics regulars showing that self interest > the game's interest.

Bravo

 

[Uriah Heep]

Actually, because its harder to find some necessary things we need on the small shard, I tend to make quite a few purchases on Atl and move them back home...

make it all shard bound, we can't go shopping

 

[Restroom Cowboy]

EA/BS must be giving huge discounts to a couple of sites that sell 5 packs of transfer tokens for $50 and those sites still able to pull a profit on them

You do understand that there are various price points for these goods depending on region alone right? I am surprised Capt. Norrington hasn't commented, since he posted a thread about regional pricing.

Again, I can't go further with this without violating rules...sorry.

 

[Restroom Cowboy]

People are free to 'play' on whatever shard they wish but as far as economy goes all production shards are feeder shards for Atlantic, not including Siege of course.

Unless a lot of stuff suddenly becomes shard bound that's not going to change. I never did understand why @Mesanna never made resources, legendaries and some other obvious items shard bound.

If what you mentioned were shardbound the entire game would be a ghost town...

 

[Fridgster]

are the same ones who want to move items to Atlantic for free and take advantage of the economy there while they farm their dead shard

Seems like vastly over exagerated statement. Also as stated by several others often times resources are actually brought from atlantic to lesser populated shards.

Again, Stratics regulars showing that self interest > the game's interest.

I disagree and I believe you would as well if they wanted to close down atlantic.

 

[Lady Storm]

I wanted to add a small fact we might be not counting in not seeing anything in the Chat.
On Most of the Asian shards I was told and invited to join in a external chat program....
Seems they use one of their "home" talking programs the allows them to play any game and chat to each other.
I have played Hokuto for a long time... and have dabbled on many others of the Asian groups.
They keep to their players most times due to the language issues.
We started to loose them when they lost their dedicated stuff UO/EA let them have outside us. ...
This game is all around the world. I have run into Russians, Chinese, Italians, Greeks. 99% of Europe, South America...Aussies and NZs
We are not alone in UO.

 

[Cymidei]

Make a moon gate accessible inter-shard area for events, trading, pvp, etc. Stay on your home shard for your house and community.

 

[Captn Norrington]

You do understand that there are various price points for these goods depending on region alone right? I am surprised Capt. Norrington hasn't commented, since he posted a thread about regional pricing.

Again, I can't go further with this without violating rules...sorry.

It isn't against the rules to talk about them buying items from the Origin store of other countries, since it is still a legitimate way to buy gametime directly from UO itself and not a third party site. I did see this but I figured someone else would explain it eventually so didn't respond to it.

For anyone wondering how those sites sell things cheaper than the real UO store does, this is a brief explanation of their main process:

1. Use a proxy to make the Origin store think they are from a different country
2. Buy whatever they want from the Origin store using the currency of whichever country they picked instead of US Dollars. Preferably they have it coincide with an Origin store sale as well, so they get double savings
3. Take the newly bought items and put them for sale on the illegal third party website for US Dollars
4. Make profit while still undercutting the American version of the Origin store

Mexico usually has the cheapest prices, and you can save quite a bit by buying things from the Mexican Origin store instead of the United States version.

Some third party sites have also been known to do some illegal things such as stealing their customer's credit card information to buy items with, and using a random number generator to basically steal the codes right out of the "redeem a code" section purely by luck of correctly guessing the code. Those methods aren't used as much now compared to years ago though.

 

[Tyrath]

It isn't against the rules to talk about them buying items from the Origin store of other countries, since it is still a legitimate way to buy gametime directly from UO itself and not a third party site. I did see this but I figured someone else would explain it eventually so didn't respond to it.

For anyone wondering how those sites sell things cheaper than the real UO store does, this is a brief explanation of their main process:

1. Use a proxy to make the Origin store think they are from a different country
2. Buy whatever they want from the Origin store using the currency of whichever country they picked instead of US Dollars. Preferably they have it coincide with an Origin store sale as well, so they get double savings
3. Take the newly bought items and put them for sale on the illegal third party website for US Dollars
4. Make profit while still undercutting the American version of the Origin store

Mexico usually has the cheapest prices, and you can save quite a bit by buying things from the Mexican Origin store instead of the United States version.

Some third party sites have also been known to do some illegal things such as stealing their customer's credit card information to buy items with, and using a random number generator to basically steal the codes right out of the "redeem a code" section purely by luck of correctly guessing the code. Those methods aren't used as much now compared to years ago though.

All legal up to step 3 Although I guess it could be argued using the proxy to trick the system is not legal.

 

[Uriah Heep]

Price is only one concern tho. Some people also prefer using a trusted 3rd partt site because of the immediate delivery

 

[Restroom Cowboy]

It isn't against the rules to talk about them buying items from the Origin store of other countries, since it is still a legitimate way to buy gametime directly from UO itself and not a third party site. I did see this but I figured someone else would explain it eventually so didn't respond to it.

I understand it isn't against the rules to discuss regional pricing, but beyond that falls trade secrets...and I would rather not get sued let alone banned.

 

[Restroom Cowboy]

@Captn Norrington, thanks for explaining regional pricing again, I could not have worded it better.

 

[Lord Gandalf]

The deadest North American Shards

1) Sonoma (very low)
2) Baja/Napa Valley (tied for 2nd lowest population) (low)
3) Origin/Lake Austin (tied for 3rd) (low)

The most active North American Shards

1) Atlantic (High)
2) Great Lakes (Medium)
3) Lake Superior (Medium)
4) Ches/Catskills/Legends (tied for 4th) (Medium/Low)
5) Pacific (Medium/Low)

I know those are old statistics, anyone can give us an idea about the current population status? i have 7 full chars of 3 shards, europa, drachs and atl, which american server should i consider next to pvp/pvm?

 

[Stinky Pete]

which american server should i consider next to pvp/pvm?

Come to Siege! I did and I'll never go back to production shards.

 

[Pawain]

Lets just quit necroing this thread.

Official numbers pulled from my @$$.

Atlantic has 800 active accounts

Each other shard has between 5 and 50.

Until you get something from EA go with those and quit asking.