Well I'm gleaming a lot of interesting stuff outta this. Even if it just barely brushes the original topic
I really hate to say it but Theo had an awesome post. We don't always see eye to eye but that was dead on. So... ya know 
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So How Many Subscribers In UO?
- Thread starter Capt. Lucky
- Start date
- Watchers 9
I really hate to say it but Theo had an awesome post. We don't always see eye to eye but that was dead on. So... ya know 
Theo kinda hit it for me. No longer have time to build a new and unique world. We've all aged and have other responsibilites. The drawback to me is that (and I've said it before) I can't just hop on and do a peerless. My hunt time willl be spent collecting keys...Kinda ruins it for me. And yeah, need to work on simpler formulas for items too. Everything new has even more and more props on it, pretty soon will have to have a scroll bar to look at them all.
Seriously devs, it's almost 2015, the social experiment is over, and was succeessful. Now, we want a game where we can just log in and do what we want to, plain and simple
You also said what I keep thinking. We need to bring in new blood.... but lets face it the game is way too complicated there is NOTHING that really helps new players. The price of starting a new character is TOO high. Many who try to start get extremely frustrated trying to get the gold they need to get a decent suit crafted. Powerscrolls are hard to get and expensive. Most newer players get totally upset when they get 50 gold or less from killing a mob and then find the things they need cost 30million or more... Without a Young player experience for newer players it's almost impossible for them to figure out how to even play. If they start with the CC there isn't ANY tutorial at ALL. If they start in the EC there is barely one... and it is HORRIBLE. I've found many of the new players don't even know about the BANK... They toss things on the ground because they don't know they can put it in safe storage in the bank.
And lets face it the 90's graphics aren't really selling for us either. And in the EC they look like poop... Not really very attractive. Compared to newer games like EQ Landmark they look like an old Comadore game compared to a XBox game.
We as vets know that UO has more content and more things to do than 90% of the games out there. There is way more you can do.... and heck.... even if they never added a new thing we as players with the EM's and the Governor system etc can create our own fun... RP can last on and on without anything at all ever being added to the game as it feeds off imagination... Not new stuff. But we have to not only bring in new folk.... but we need to stop feeding the Greed. We need to cut down on the complication of things and get things back to community... Some of my fondests of memories was going to Britain to the Smithy to have my things repaired. Repair deeds ruined that community...
We really do only have a very few devs left... which is so very, very sad. Seriously we need to make things easier... Not more complicated.
To bring in new players we need a comprehensive NPE that explains everything from the ground up. Movement, talking (world, chat, party, alliance), banking, combat (including healing/ressing), magic (including potions and other consumables), and a starting quest for EVERY SKILL IN THE GAME (what they do and how they interact).
This isn't going to be an easy task. However, there are chunks of this already in game, but they have curiously been disabled. Some skills, like chivalry, necromancy, ninjitsu, etc, had nice walkthroughs. Most of that still exists, I'd suggest updating and then turning them back on. Make gates to them available in New Haven.
Yes, New Haven.
When Mesanna offhandedly said they'd be 'returning New Haven to Ocllo' and then have newbs start out in the world, I facepalmed. Its an atrocious idea. It may have worked in 1997 when populations were high, but it would be disastrous now. Newbs need to all start in the same place and be given the same basic instructions, then moved into template specific side areas. Having them start in a centralized place, a la New Haven, makes it far easier for vets to offer them help and support. (Its also easier for them to find people to interact with)
In fact, sinceCounselors Advisors will be out and about soon, I strongly suggest having them loiter on the patio between Finely Woven and Bag of Many Things in New Haven when not on a call. First line of defense where its needed most.
This isn't going to be an easy task. However, there are chunks of this already in game, but they have curiously been disabled. Some skills, like chivalry, necromancy, ninjitsu, etc, had nice walkthroughs. Most of that still exists, I'd suggest updating and then turning them back on. Make gates to them available in New Haven.
Yes, New Haven.
When Mesanna offhandedly said they'd be 'returning New Haven to Ocllo' and then have newbs start out in the world, I facepalmed. Its an atrocious idea. It may have worked in 1997 when populations were high, but it would be disastrous now. Newbs need to all start in the same place and be given the same basic instructions, then moved into template specific side areas. Having them start in a centralized place, a la New Haven, makes it far easier for vets to offer them help and support. (Its also easier for them to find people to interact with)
In fact, since
That's not very high at all, they aren't making much off UO could probably get a million subs though with a $1 sub fee.. With proper advertising, I bet you they can!! Since nobody is going to pay 12 bucks for a 16 year old 2D game.. Lower sub fee, more players, everyone is happy.. And more profit..Prob 8k active if that , with a majority of those with more than 1 account
So say in the range of 15k at top end thats roughly $14 per account =210,000 a month x12 months
2.5m a year
Servers have been set in place for awhile. I guess one of the only major cost would be the dev team but with such a small team and no advertisement/future expansions/additions to UO, it looks like a WIN for someone.
So there is still some kind of profit in there which is most likely were still around playing it
Just keep giving me that pixel crack and ill keep coming back
1 million subs paying 1 dollar a month = profit
On that note; I cannot imagine the servers for UO being very costly..
I had heard that Garriot was never interested in re-obtaining the rights to UO because he no longer had any interest in it.
I believe we are going the right direction to get new players.
Advisors will help explain the game
Vendor search will help them finding cheapest items, they won't have to pay 30 mills for items.
New global loot will make it easier to find useful items and will lower price on relic so a good suit or weapon get cheaper.
Traders Quests will help them traveling the land
I'm not sure New Haven are a good thing, it had been better to let newbie quests stay in the old towns, Britain have a lot unused buildings, there could be room for both the New Haven NPC's/Quests and the Heartwood Quests in and around Britain. Just remove Heartwood, that place do not belong in UO anyway.
With the new global loot, the hunter quests from Heartwood would be great for newbies. There need to be a few Imbue quests too, like make 10 leather sleeves with 18 LRC or make 10 rings with 13 magery skills or 10 nose helms with 1 HPR or a weapon with a 44 hit fireball.
New players need something to do and they need to interact with older players. On Siege, there are a lot stuff out NPC's do not buy, that do help trading between players and limit the gold added to the game. Lets take gems, if NPC's did not buy or sell them, we would see more trading between players, we would also see more killing mobs to get them or do mining to get them. Even on Siege, you still can buy regs and gems from NPC vendors. I rather saw a better drop of regs and gems on loot and a nice increase to the count of gems you get from mining. For regs, remove the delay between using green thorns and no one need to buy from NPC's.
Add stall vendors to more towns to help the town community.
Advisors will help explain the game
Vendor search will help them finding cheapest items, they won't have to pay 30 mills for items.
New global loot will make it easier to find useful items and will lower price on relic so a good suit or weapon get cheaper.
Traders Quests will help them traveling the land
I'm not sure New Haven are a good thing, it had been better to let newbie quests stay in the old towns, Britain have a lot unused buildings, there could be room for both the New Haven NPC's/Quests and the Heartwood Quests in and around Britain. Just remove Heartwood, that place do not belong in UO anyway.
With the new global loot, the hunter quests from Heartwood would be great for newbies. There need to be a few Imbue quests too, like make 10 leather sleeves with 18 LRC or make 10 rings with 13 magery skills or 10 nose helms with 1 HPR or a weapon with a 44 hit fireball.
New players need something to do and they need to interact with older players. On Siege, there are a lot stuff out NPC's do not buy, that do help trading between players and limit the gold added to the game. Lets take gems, if NPC's did not buy or sell them, we would see more trading between players, we would also see more killing mobs to get them or do mining to get them. Even on Siege, you still can buy regs and gems from NPC vendors. I rather saw a better drop of regs and gems on loot and a nice increase to the count of gems you get from mining. For regs, remove the delay between using green thorns and no one need to buy from NPC's.
Add stall vendors to more towns to help the town community.
What ever it is its not enough and since they don't advertise the game it won't get more.
He wanted the rights because he wanted to name shroud of the avatar ultima II.
Funny that even though he is a billionaire he crowd funded his new project, maybe he is just a tightwad.
Wow, I must be playing UO COMPLETELY wrong then, because I can have fun in just basic GM crafted armor and weapons, nothing magical or enhanced or imbued or anything.
I think it is about the same as it has been for last 3-5 years; Maybe 7-10k active players, prolly bit over 20k active accounts. So from EA's pov, game has over 20k paying subs running. It appears sustainable.
People who'd leave UO for any other game have done so already years back.
People who'd leave UO for any other game have done so already years back.
I just dropped $150 on ArcheAge. I've played it more than I have UO in the last month. Probably won't affect any of my three UO accounts. It's really easy to justify keeping them open because hell, what's $10-14 a month?
I imagine there's a lot of people in that position.
I imagine there's a lot of people in that position.
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They're overdoing the crowd funding thing quite a bit, it's not just the game itself they are trying to crowd fund. There is a section of the store where people can donate money towards things like "horses" or "ships". There is just no possible way it costs $150,000 to put elves in a game $250,000 to put horses in a game and $600,000 to put ships in a game.
Well, you can be sure that what ever the shroud of Avatar crowd funding is making isn't anywhere near to a budget of a typical AAA video game in 2014.
Yes you can have "fun" just by making a new character... but people want to participate and do things together... Which if you start out you want to go down to the Abyss or do a Peerless ..... Or PvP..... if that's your thing... your not going to be doing that in GM gear without getting your A$$ handed to you 40 times. Also you aren't going to earn looting rights on anything if you are on a dexer... Mage maybe... but not likely. And with the stronger and stronger mobs in a lot of the dungeons and such your pretty limited on stuff to do.
Though I will say that if you are looking for a "challenge" in UO go fight a shadow wyrm in GM gear... with a GM weapon... and no mods on jewels.
But the truth is most people who are coming to UO are going to want to participate in the bigger events not just hunt overland little stuff. They want to do what everyone else is doing... and they get really seriously disappointed quite quickly when they start checking everyone elses gear to see why they get all the drops then check the prices of some of that stuff. I will say that Blackthorns dungeon has come a long way to helping that gap in helping folk get their own gear without having to pay 40+ million for some stuff. But again they are discouraged... when they find they have to gather 100 of those things and can farm all day and get 2 or 3 when not doing the invasion part which lets face it your seriously NOT going to do in GM gear either.
No no,, I think Star Citizen has raised over 10X as much as SotA by crowd-funding, and even they have raised ~half of what was spent to develop ESO. Suspicion of what kind of game will be turned out for this side of five million dollars is quite justified.
The number of subscribers obviously isn't large enough to lower the subscription rate so that it isn't more expensive than games 15 years newer.
I don't think Garriott is anywhere near a billionaire, but even if he was I can't fault someone for obtaining funding for a project. If I'm running a business, better someone else's money at risk than my own.
Yeah, I don't think he's even close to a billionaire, lol. I agree, though. Using ones own money to fund ones own business/game isn't too smart if funding can be found elsewhere. It's too risky and expensive. Never any guarantee...
He is. Or was, he was in the top ten richest game designers and was estimated to have over 1.2 bill in 2012.
He forked out thirty mill in the early noughties for a ten minute space flight. What a waste, imagine how many hookers and blow he could have had.
He forked out thirty mill in the early noughties for a ten minute space flight. What a waste, imagine how many hookers and blow he could have had.
He forked over 30 mil for a stay on the ISS...for far longer than 10 mins.
Could you provide a source that mentions him being worth that much (at least for 2012)? It would be interesting to see. I knew he was a millionaire, but never heard of him being worth that much...
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What is this based on?
Lucky Guess?
I did before I even posted that reply, but I am looking for the source that lists him as a billionaire. At best he is listed as a multi-millionaire.
How dare you! How dare you! How dare you cast aspersions on a post from a drug addled poster funded by a not to be named billionaire that may or have may not met me when he spent thirty million to look at Uranus.