I am still struggling to come to terms with the full import of a sentence in the latest Producers letter, namely 'Last but not least, I am sure everyone has seen an increase in the decay rate of items on the ground, houses, and boats. This is due to a fix we had to put in for a shard crash.
Now as the effects of this 'fix' started to become apparent to some of us shortly after the last patch (Aug 6th) the results of this accelerated decay have been with us for a full week before anyone thinks to let us know?. Surely the introduction of a change of this significant nature warranted some notice to us, the players who would be affected by it?. I am not personally aware of any player who suffered a significant loss but it seems reasonable that some players did, or maybe still will be as it is still with us.
And what about the players who do not use, know about, or read the forums? Until this letter was posted they would have been unaware for a full week of things which might cause them to lose items in various ways.
It would almost seem that the intent was to alienate the player base because if it had been it would have been remarkably successful, It has been said many times that information is the bedrock of good customer relations and lack of it injurious to them.
Ever since I started playing UO we have suffered from a distinct lack of communication. At times it actually improved and it seemed there was light at the end of the tunnel, but it was never sustained.
So we are left with this almost throwaway remark to satisfy the 100 odd posts about the shields, idocs and other associated items made during the last week. Despite one bearing the heading ' *DEVS - Can someone PLEASE explain what is going on with IDOCS' obtaining zero response and ultimately being answered with the sentence from the letter I have quoted. Is this the future?. Can we expect more major unannounced changes to the game? If it is and there are we are surely hastening to the point where we will hear 'Will the last player to leave please turn out the lights'.
Now as the effects of this 'fix' started to become apparent to some of us shortly after the last patch (Aug 6th) the results of this accelerated decay have been with us for a full week before anyone thinks to let us know?. Surely the introduction of a change of this significant nature warranted some notice to us, the players who would be affected by it?. I am not personally aware of any player who suffered a significant loss but it seems reasonable that some players did, or maybe still will be as it is still with us.
And what about the players who do not use, know about, or read the forums? Until this letter was posted they would have been unaware for a full week of things which might cause them to lose items in various ways.
It would almost seem that the intent was to alienate the player base because if it had been it would have been remarkably successful, It has been said many times that information is the bedrock of good customer relations and lack of it injurious to them.
Ever since I started playing UO we have suffered from a distinct lack of communication. At times it actually improved and it seemed there was light at the end of the tunnel, but it was never sustained.
So we are left with this almost throwaway remark to satisfy the 100 odd posts about the shields, idocs and other associated items made during the last week. Despite one bearing the heading ' *DEVS - Can someone PLEASE explain what is going on with IDOCS' obtaining zero response and ultimately being answered with the sentence from the letter I have quoted. Is this the future?. Can we expect more major unannounced changes to the game? If it is and there are we are surely hastening to the point where we will hear 'Will the last player to leave please turn out the lights'.
