There is a big issue with people working on or with UO

[Pink Floyd]

I am pretty sure, and most people will agree with me, 90% of the staff we deal with (EA/Mythic, GM's, email/phone support people) have NO clue about the game they are working on. I feel this is one of, if not the worst things going on in UO right now. I actually called EA support to buy gametime (because UOgamecodes refuses to accept my credit card), they offered to split 6 months between my two accounts (I don't even know why), and the guy told me "well, I get about one UO call a month so if I mess up splitting this code between your two accounts you will just get free gametime." Needless to say I got 6 months on both my accounts (instead of 3) because the guy had no clue what he was doing. While this worked out VERY well for me in that instance it woke me up to a harsh reality - Mythic/EA just doesn't give a **** about this game anymore. Period.

Thoughts?

 

[Chardonnay]

Reallyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?

Nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

 

[Pink Floyd]

I know I am stating the obvious in the most stupid of fashions but I feel this needs to be said in its own thread.

 

[Chardonnay]

I know I am stating the obvious in the most stupid of fashions but I feel this needs to be said in its own thread.

Who cares...consider it some payback for money you've wasted on this game...

 

[canary]

Well, there are issues with the game code site as far as buying things.

There are issues with the GMs not understanding the game.

There are issues with having a team that have some of them (ie, the producer, for one) not understanding the game itself. Just because you might claim you understand what makes it 'special' doesn't mean you understand the game itself or its mechanics.

Hack, we had a community person before on the UO team that didn't know the difference between the Totem of the Void and Spirit of the Totem. We currently have a producer that just realized in August what a 'sampire' is. I think that speaks volumes of some of the teams inability to do what is right for the game or their general disassociation with what is in the actual game. But hey, at least I've heard from several over the years discuss how awesome WOW is. Yay.

Which is not to say they are all bad. I have no doubt that there are some on the dev team that are passionate about Ultima Online. I just have the gut feeling we have some there because it is the only place that might hire them in that field or that they know they can 'get by' with minimal effort. Just an opinion, of course, of what I've seen as a player for eleven years.

Just because they might state they go into work every day with the intent they want to do good work, doesn't mean that is the end result. And when you start getting more bad than good... that's never a wonderful thing. In all the games I've played, I've never seen such a low standard set for professionalism and customer courtesy (well, the obvious exception easily being Mesanna).

 

[Pink Floyd]

In all the games I've played, I've never seen such a low standard set for professionalism and customer courtesy (well, the obvious exception easily being Mesanna).

Thank you for saying it better than I ever could.

edit: and Mesanna is pretty awesome he (she?) actually knows wtf is going on in UO and I respect that

 

[Babble]

Nice, but why te hell should the customer service really know UO anymore - I guess they really have so few customers

I am at the point where I am surprised ea gives support for UO at all

Half of the time the Community manager needs to fix it

 

[Chardonnay]

QFT...

 

[Ashlynn_L]

It's odd. UO is in a unique position because it is an old game. Most of the people who know anything about it either play it, or moved on to other things long ago. Given how long the game has been going, I am hardly surprised that most new support staff don't know anything about it.

I think perhaps the same is true of other games. They probably have support staff who have never played the game, but those games haven't been going a decade and a half like this one and probably have better support processes in place (due to lessons learned from games like this) so there's not as much they need to know. =P

 

[Pink Floyd]

I would probably do the work of five of their current GM's solely because I know my way around UO too well for my own good.

 

[SchezwanBeefy]

Maybe it's a horrid idea, but I'm pretty sure that UO would benefit by making certain players GMs for other shards the way EMs work.
These people would probably be happy by just having free game time and working however many hours is set for them by answering questions and given the powers GMs have. I think that most people, especially veterans that are 5+ years would love to help out because they understand the frustations others have with the game.

 

[Uvtha]

Thats pretty funny stuff there heh.

Myself I have been really lucky actually, I think ive had to page a GM like4-5 times in the last year or two, and each time they were clearly competent, didn't tell me to go to a web site or anything, and helped me with my problems each time.

Not saying there arents lots of clueless ones, but there are good GMs out there too.

 

[Budwieser]

I agree with Pink 100%.
It won't be long untill EA pulls the plug, or UO kills itself. IMO.
And I love the game, Played since 99, but it has serious issues.
There will always be free shards however.

The Bud

 

[Vyal]

Why can't we get the best of the best? I mean after all UO was the first of it's kind and it's still alive and actually has a company like EA looking over it (sorta) is it to much trouble to ask for some good staff to run it?

This is like a daily thing and it just isn't one person saying the same stuff over and over again. This is hundreds of people complaining about real issues in a game they have been paying on for years and years. I for one am tired of seeing post after post on Stratics about some screwy bug that hasn't been fixed for 5 weeks or some new patch thats coming out that will mess everything up while trying to fix the last jacked up patch....

 

[Restroom Cowboy]

I like pie, with lots of ice cream on top.

 

[Quenchant]

You are all talking like there is or should be a long term strategy for UO. As of now I'm sure there isn't. That was the underlying context of the booster pack. No more expansions, boosters from now on.

This can also be seen in the game with the lost or non existent story arcs that used to be so popular in the past. Now, this isn't to say they won't work on things in game (such as what is on test right now). The long term strategies of the past no longer exist.

EA has given themselves over to Scrum. Scrum methodology is not for the long term, it's for short, obtainable goals. For those who care to do some reading: Scrum (development) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not to say we can't hope for progress to be made for the long term in the game, but I doubt you will see many long term solutions that actually get into the game. I'm sure after the fixes on test go live and the Holidays are over it will be time for the next booster and on to another cycle of short term fixes.

I know part of the thread was about the staffers knowing / playing the game. With a focus on these new shot term things, I think you will even see less continuity as more and more boosters come into the game. I expect that you might even see development staff rotate in and out of different boosters. This would also decrease the the number of folks that even have an inkling about the game.

We can always hope for the best, but I would not expect it.

Q

 

[Pink Floyd]

I like pie, with lots of ice cream on top.

What kind of pie? Better yet, what sort of ice cream?

 

[Restroom Cowboy]

Pumpkin pie, with natural vanilla ice cream. mmMmMmmmmm

 

[Lady Storm]

In UO's early days we had the Oirgin Dev team who created our world of fun, GM's who lived close to the Austin area and played UO(requirment). The play was required for work there so the GM's could understand and assist players more efficently. They were gamers like us, into the game and UO's success.
That said now to the bad part.

When Origin Systems were sold to EA, EA out and out lied to Garrett and his dev team. They had no intention to keep any of the Origin staff. It is quite common in large corporations to do a takeover in this fashion. The only saving grace was our GM's. They being low on the totum pole were only mildly effected by the grab so we played on oblivious to the comming threats EA was about to toss our way.

Ea's first action that effected the support of UO was the "Great move" to Redwood Shores.
We lost 90% of our caring GM's. The GM players who cared about us were given an ultimatum ether move to redwood or your out of a job. Most were unable to do so. We lost big time. (I knew most of them well, and was friends with many, They were our best friends/hope in the EA purchase.) GM's had help prior to EA purchase, we the players volenteered to become Counselors,Seer's, Troubodors to name but a few players is a who's who of good fine players who gave their time to enrich UO. The did what they could when they could and all was good. That was till EA decided they needed to treat them like employees and order them about like chess men. Hence the lawsuit and our loss of helpfull service. Many a Counselor took on the more mundaine calls to assist the GM's, their help is sorely missed and they too did the best for us.

EA hired and transfered in personel from other games it had aquired and the call went out for replacements for the loss of GM's...... Our worse nightmare..

Many tried to fill in and be like what we had and along with the few GM's that made the move, as examples of how to be a good GM. Slowly even the Dev of the day were slowly routed out GM's left or were kicked off. We went through many Dev teams as you know.
The last batch hiring for the position at EA for GM's for UO was the worst in our history.
They didnt care for us because many didnt play UO, and a few of the "new" GM's used their positions to cash in on the game's lucrative money making potential. It was no myth that a party who will not be named with outside help commited theft of player property for finacial gain. It spelled the end for many GM's They even tried to buy help from India to replace the call center, paid counselors, and general help. It was a night mare as all you know. We caught a break with the Mythic grab of our game and we are doing a hell of alot better. Though we are lacking alot of things GM's most of all.

Our country is in a finacial bind as you all know and EA didnt get left out of the money crunch. They fired the fat they could aford to loose and many they shouldnt have lost. Its water under the bridge... I cant blame Cal or his dev team... they got handed UO. They are trying their best with the limited and I do mean limited budget.
EA is a corprate giant with a board of directors I doubt that has ever touched UO in play. Outside the bottom line of what millions we bring in a year is all they know of us. We are a line in a finacial statment at the board's stock meeting.
We forget Cal answers to someone and that person answers to another in a chain of command. He is limited to how far and how much he can do. He dont head the support thats another person he can ask but not order his peers. UO has evolved to a true business rather then the friendly family business. We ask for GM's but if recient rumors were to be beleaved EA has been looking to cut more... UO was at one time a powerfull body that was coddled to keep the money flowing.. now we are a slot in the EA tree of games.

I know I have over simplified this, and left out alot of pertent data. Truth is we dont have GM's that are ours alone. We have to share with the other games. Think of your own companys who have laid off workers and you see what Mythic has to work with. Dont cut Cal short he is doing the best for us he can, Mesanna is a bright spot in the world of UO and I for one would call her friend. Our only hope for better is not to quit, cut back or stop supporting our game, thats why we are in this pickle. Being a stuborn child and having temper tantrums about how things are and how your pissed wont fix it. I wish I could prove it to the many who have left us over the years how their selfish moves have crippled UO. Yes EA is the cold fish that see's us as $$ and not the real people we are.
If I could tell everyone who played or plays the game from day 1 of EA's purchase of UO to do something that woudl help, its to buy the EA stock.. did you know as a stock holder you have a bigger voice?? By now we the players could have owned EA.

Ok flame me if you like and I know its a big read for many... I miss the old days as you do. I miss my blue robe and all it represented: helping my fellow players.

 

[Babble]

Sad thing is EA is right from their big business standpoint. Streamlining and making content programmable and have less seers makes the game more profitable.

I mean wow shows it. And f.. UO when swtor is out, because that is where the money is.

I still think UO would be best lead by a smaller not full greed oriented company which could give it more attention like EVE gets.

 

[jack flash uk]

I would probably do the work of five of their current GM's solely because I know my way around UO too well for my own good.

Then if you did, you would know Messana is a woman (?)

 

[Draxous]

You are all talking like there is or should be a long term strategy for UO. As of now I'm sure there isn't. That was the underlying context of the booster pack. No more expansions, boosters from now on.

This can also be seen in the game with the lost or non existent story arcs that used to be so popular in the past. Now, this isn't to say they won't work on things in game (such as what is on test right now). The long term strategies of the past no longer exist.

EA has given themselves over to Scrum. Scrum methodology is not for the long term, it's for short, obtainable goals. For those who care to do some reading: Scrum (development) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not to say we can't hope for progress to be made for the long term in the game, but I doubt you will see many long term solutions that actually get into the game. I'm sure after the fixes on test go live and the Holidays are over it will be time for the next booster and on to another cycle of short term fixes.

I know part of the thread was about the staffers knowing / playing the game. With a focus on these new shot term things, I think you will even see less continuity as more and more boosters come into the game. I expect that you might even see development staff rotate in and out of different boosters. This would also decrease the the number of folks that even have an inkling about the game.

We can always hope for the best, but I would not expect it.

Q

Ugh... say what?

EA implementing Scrum is probably the best thing to happen in a long time...

Maybe you all don't realize it, but most of Mythic has been cannibalized by EA to work on Star Wars... which is an epic disaster on the highest level. More money has been dumped on it than was spent on Avatar and the games lightyears away from ready. Spielberg already walked away from it.

Scrum tells me EA's still investing in this game and should tell you all that it still has a future.

 

[Draxous]

That said now to the bad part.

When Origin Systems were sold to EA, EA out and out lied to Garrett and his dev team. They had no intention to keep any of the Origin staff. It is quite common in large corporations to do a takeover in this fashion.

Um... EA acquired Origin in 1992... EA is what brought you Garriott's project called Ultima Online.

I stopped reading everything you wrote shortly after finishing what I quoted.

Your post is utter rubbish.

UO's problem's begin when the suits recognized the success other MMOs were having and tried adapting this game to offer what other MMOs were. Pretty much when Sony's EQ surpassed UO's subs. Nevermind the asian influence/reputation sony has... EA decided that rather than putting out new games that fit their target market, they ruined this games target market by trying to change it. Anyone can pull up the subscription numbers... within 1 year after Trammel was released, UO's subs plateaued. Say hello to our current niche market.

Now-a-days, most won't even pay attention to the fact that the industry is recognizing and going after the target market UO originally touched. While EA is blowing cash on a royal screw up called Star Wars, the industry is putting out games like Darkfall, Faxion, Aion, Guildwars 2, APB, MO, etc. etc.

Everyone wants a slice of the pie EA passed up 10 years ago and EA seems to want a slice of the pie Blizzard already ate.

GG

 

[lucitus]

Um... EA acquired Origin in 1992... EA is what brought you Garriott's project called Ultima Online.

I stopped reading everything you wrote shortly after finishing what I quoted.

Your post is utter rubbish.

UO's problem's begin when the suits recognized the success other MMOs were having and tried adapting this game to offer what other MMOs were. Pretty much when Sony's EQ surpassed UO's subs. Nevermind the asian influence/reputation sony has... EA decided that rather than putting out new games that fit their target market, they ruined this games target market by trying to change it. Anyone can pull up the subscription numbers... within 1 year after Trammel was released, UO's subs plateaued. Say hello to our current niche market.

Now-a-days, most won't even pay attention to the fact that the industry is recognizing and going after the target market UO originally touched. While EA is blowing cash on a royal screw up called Star Wars, the industry is putting out games like Darkfall, Faxion, Aion, Guildwars 2, APB, MO, etc. etc.

Everyone wants a slice of the pie EA passed up 10 years ago and EA seems to want a slice of the pie Blizzard already ate.

GG

I hope Star Wars is a big flop, but iam sure it is and if so they will see the only game they could establish is UO they should focus on that or maybe a new project which is based on UO.

 

[Flutter]

I DEMAND EQUAL FREE TIME ON ALL OF MY ACCOUNTS!!!
*RAGE*

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

In this day and age of "customer non-support" I guess we should all be somewhat grateful we are not hearing "I am thanking you for calling Ultima Online" in an Arab/foreign voice like we hear any time we call our local cable company, tech support or just about ANY other customer service number. Most everywhere else you get that "My name is Peggy" treatment we see on the Discover card commercial

 

[Quenchant]

Ugh... say what?

EA implementing Scrum is probably the best thing to happen in a long time...

Maybe you all don't realize it, but most of Mythic has been cannibalized by EA to work on Star Wars... which is an epic disaster on the highest level. More money has been dumped on it than was spent on Avatar and the games lightyears away from ready. Spielberg already walked away from it.

Scrum tells me EA's still investing in this game and should tell you all that it still has a future.

Yes, they are still investing. The point was that Scrum is designed to obtain short term goals / projects. It has been very successful in doing so. The downside to scrum is that long term goals aren't really considered. Long term goals really have no place in a scrum development cycle.

Scrum has no focus on the long term or continuity of the game. As such, the folks that develop the game probably wouldn't have a focus on overall playability or where the game was headed. They are more concrened with the content that is in the Scrum cycle.

That was the point of the post. The other point was that the people that play the game could expect less continuity in the game than say what we had even 3 years ago, due to this project style. Which was also the topic of the thread.

So to sum up...
Yes UO has a future. If your lamenting about how people that don't know the game are involved as Developers, GM's, and Support the future might not be as bright as you were hoping. I would expect that to get worse.

Q

 

[Draxous]

Ugh... say what?

EA implementing Scrum is probably the best thing to happen in a long time...

Maybe you all don't realize it, but most of Mythic has been cannibalized by EA to work on Star Wars... which is an epic disaster on the highest level. More money has been dumped on it than was spent on Avatar and the games lightyears away from ready. Spielberg already walked away from it.

Scrum tells me EA's still investing in this game and should tell you all that it still has a future.

Yes, they are still investing. The point was that Scrum is designed to obtain short term goals / projects. It has been very successful in doing so. The downside to scrum is that long term goals aren't really considered. Long term goals really have no place in a scrum development cycle.

Scrum has no focus on the long term or continuity of the game. As such, the folks that develop the game probably wouldn't have a focus on overall playability or where the game was headed. They are more concrened with the content that is in the Scrum cycle.

That was the point of the post. The other point was that the people that play the game could expect less continuity in the game than say what we had even 3 years ago, due to this project style. Which was also the topic of the thread.

So to sum up...
Yes UO has a future. If your lamenting about how people that don't know the game are involved as Developers, GM's, and Support the future might not be as bright as you were hoping. I would expect that to get worse.

Q

Um... no.

You obviously aren't grasping what I'm saying. Scrum is pretty much the same project management style you would have found before. What you'd find in almost every project-based business. Its more of an "invigorating" or "reinvigorating" thing for the team working on a game and it's players, than a change in the way things operate. *smoke and mirrors* so to speak.

Instead of calling things "milestones" as one would, in say.. another business, they are called sprints in scrum. It focuses more on the work at hand, than the goal the work is trying to achieve. It's a lot of pressure to get results done and done quickly. Scrum is the same ole, wrapped in a new bow. It's quite genius actually - from a psychological level.

For you to insinuate there's no "long term" planning is hilarious and speaks volumes to how little you understand about what's going on. You obviously didn't grasp that the content in a scrum cycle is a part of the bigger cycle.

To sum up - I'm not not sure where you got the idea I was lamenting about what you accused me of. Probably the same place you got the idea that UO has lost sight of any and all long term goals.

The up and down "continuity" of this game has to do with the developers constantly trying to adapt it to be more like other games.

Thanks,
Drax

 

[Babble]

So you tell us UO has a plan?

UO's master plan is to do boosters and that warhammer and daoc do the same is just coincidence with UO's master plan?

EA has no real plan for UO as you can see in the wild development or story cycles

 

[Draxous]

So you tell us UO has a plan?

UO's master plan is to do boosters and that warhammer and daoc do the same is just coincidence with UO's master plan?

EA has no real plan for UO as you can see in the wild development or story cycles

So you're really saying that you don't think you like the plan it has. Not that it doesn't have one.

 

[Babble]

Let's just say that if ea manages to do more than 2 boosters for UO I think they have a plan

 

[Babble]

As for EA plans

SIMS Online : they expected 200.000 accounts at start and up to 500.000 in a year and somehow I think they never reached that

Warhammer: They did well enough with Warhammer, they delivered over a million boxes to the outletts and probably sold most of it to customers. A few months down the line you don't hear anyone bragging WAAAAAAAAAAAR

Like someone said . UO lives despite EA

 

[Rakoth]

Now-a-days, most won't even pay attention to the fact that the industry is recognizing and going after the target market UO originally touched. While EA is blowing cash on a royal screw up called Star Wars, the industry is putting out games like Darkfall, Faxion, Aion, Guildwars 2, APB, MO, etc. etc.

I haven't been paying attention to things like I usually do, but, uh... as I heard, Darkfall kind-of sort-of rather flopped, Aion isn't anything special (it's extremely pretty though), APB closed a month after release (though I hear it's going f2p in the future,) and altho' Mortal Online seems the best bet so far for a UO successor type of game I've heard some fairly negative things about the company running it and that it was released as a buggy beta (I'd still like to try it out and/or read a good, objective review on the game though.)

Never heard of Faxion, going to look that up in a sec, but the only game shaping up to be an awesome doozy of a game, there, is Guild Wars 2. You prolly ought not down-play Star Wars then trump APB as some kind of winner. :O

 

[Draxous]

Now-a-days, most won't even pay attention to the fact that the industry is recognizing and going after the target market UO originally touched. While EA is blowing cash on a royal screw up called Star Wars, the industry is putting out games like Darkfall, Faxion, Aion, Guildwars 2, APB, MO, etc. etc.

I haven't been paying attention to things like I usually do, but, uh... as I heard, Darkfall kind-of sort-of rather flopped, Aion isn't anything special (it's extremely pretty though), APB closed a month after release (though I hear it's going f2p in the future,) and altho' Mortal Online seems the best bet so far for a UO successor type of game I've heard some fairly negative things about the company running it and that it was released as a buggy beta (I'd still like to try it out and/or read a good, objective review on the game though.)

Never heard of Faxion, going to look that up in a sec, but the only game shaping up to be an awesome doozy of a game, there, is Guild Wars 2. You prolly ought not down-play Star Wars then trump APB as some kind of winner. :O

Maybe you ought to better read my posts? My claim that star wars is a failure comes not from what I *think* of the game, but rather how the development of it has gone. I pointed out the style of the game the industry has been focusing on and did not give a review on any of them. OBVIOUSLY, no company has "hit the ball out of the park" on any game produced for the target market I'm talking about. When it does, I'll be sure to mention it in my posts.....

As to what you "heard", you may want to double check that. I find your understanding of these games you speak about... lacking. You give MO credibility (even though the developers are having players write code for them) and you call Darkfall a flop when it's been anything but. I suppose I could chalk it up to your limited understanding of indy dev. companies... though, I'll reserve this claim for when you've removed any doubt about it.

 

[lorail]

we had that at one time long ago till some decided they needed to be payed got a lawerand sued no free game time game time is not pay

 

[Lady Storm]

Um... EA acquired Origin in 1992... EA is what brought you Garriott's project called Ultima Online.

I stopped reading everything you wrote shortly after finishing what I quoted.

Your post is utter rubbish.

UO's problem's begin when the suits recognized the success other MMOs were having and tried adapting this game to offer what other MMOs were. Pretty much when Sony's EQ surpassed UO's subs. Nevermind the asian influence/reputation sony has... EA decided that rather than putting out new games that fit their target market, they ruined this games target market by trying to change it. Anyone can pull up the subscription numbers... within 1 year after Trammel was released, UO's subs plateaued. Say hello to our current niche market.

Now-a-days, most won't even pay attention to the fact that the industry is recognizing and going after the target market UO originally touched. While EA is blowing cash on a royal screw up called Star Wars, the industry is putting out games like Darkfall, Faxion, Aion, Guildwars 2, APB, MO, etc. etc.

Everyone wants a slice of the pie EA passed up 10 years ago and EA seems to want a slice of the pie Blizzard already ate.

GG[/QUOT

No you got your history wrong. Origin Systems and Garrett put forth UO.. EA only owned Origin Systems and started undermining UO well after our 97 launch

As for the smaller support staff at ether wow or UO.. I hate to blow you out of the water but WOW has a very large support staff/GMs , WE had a large staff of GMs, counselors, seers, etc.. The counselors and seers and others were players who assisted for the good of the game. The early GM staff was the best we have ever had.. they cared about UO.

Ultima never took the other games on as rivals for the $$. Contrary to that thought Ultima was happy to have EQ, DoaC, and the rest come to the mmo world. The player base expanded as years went by. WoW/Blizzard is now looking forward to making a new world when the WoW world starts to wain...if ever they have 12 million accounts ... EA should have learned the ways of a good company.

 

[Lady Storm]

we had that at one time long ago till some decided they needed to be payed got a lawerand sued no free game time game time is not pay

Yes they did, their reasons were due to EA. Yes it hurt the game, it was meant to. Thats not saying I agreed with them.

EA took a easy system of player help and made it a JOB. Early counselors could log in at their free time and help in the Q for players. No time was set for this it was at the players own time table. It worked... GM's did their work when counselors were not on and all was fine. EA saw a way to put the Counselor program in a corprate setting, thus making it a job. You had days and hours set by them, and you had a little input to the time changes.
These people who served the players had RL jobs and lives and didnt work for EA. They were told where and when to log in as a Counselor. All they got was 1 account free, please note this was to be lifetime but EA the minute the suit was done sent bills out to these player accounts for the time they had it free. All the way back before EA owned Ultima. The lawsuit ended all player help.
Our loss..
Instead of the Q moving and you getting your problem solved in a few minutes the time got so long and hard to get a GM to reply. We get a GM so rare now its a miricle to get help.

I admit I dont know of this system "scrum" but to be honest Im not sure I want to know about it. UO is in mythic's hands and for once I feel safe in how the game is going sence EA bought us.

 

[Babble]

Is something we have to thank wow for
They really whipped incomplete released games into bancruptcy

Half assed is finally not enough for mmos

 

[a slave girl]

I would probably do the work of five of their current GM's solely because I know my way around UO too well for my own good.

We have all heard of the GMs of old who placed castles and then sold them for cash on ebay.

You do mean you could do the work of five of THOSE GMs correct?

Since you have already learned a way to line your pockets at UO's expense I have to agree that you'd be a perfect one of THOSE type of GMs.

You have played UO since you were born, oh I mean since it began, so you also know all the exploits as well...You do run around Pac wearing an exploit created ethereal cloak do you not?

You are a Mod here (Pac forums) so I don't expect this post to remain for long.





When you were running for Pac forums Mod it was between you and Tesla and some of your UO pals jumped in to tell how great you are, so I posted how you pose as a noob to get free stuff then laugh about it in your vent.

You told me yourself in game that you did that but then you lied about telling me that on Pac forums. Now I can understand you lying you were the typical politician trying to win the office of Pac forum mod.

But later in game you apologized to me and said you didn't remember saying it and if you did you must have been drunk.

Maybe that was the customer service guys excuse for giving you free game time? He was drunk? But don't you think it's ok to do anything you want if you are drunk?

Perhaps that is a requirement to be an EA customer service rep, being drunk? If so then I would again have to agree with you that you'd make an excellent on of THOSE.

The actual point of your post was EA doesn't care enough about UO to hire competent workers, therefore UO is being robbed/strangled to death. You suddenly see your WHOLE life flashing before your very eyes. You aren't sure what is on the other side of life without UO and it makes you pee a little, maybe it makes you pee a lot?

Since I left test shards to play real shards I have seen this happening for the past 4 years, so I can assure you that if UO is still around four years from now, you will care a lot less, because EA doesn't care and eventually you will learn not to as well.

Meanwhile keep giving EA your money until they give you 30 days notice that UO is being shut down, like they did the Sims online. (Hey! I wanted to try that game one day!)

It's kind of hard to say who's the silliest in this case, EA for not collecting the proper amount of sub fees, or the people who keep paying sub fees to fund EA's incompetence.

Oh yes, EA is the one who is laughing all the way to the bank.


Lunchladies and ice cream truck drivers UNITE! hehe


Oh yes i finally figured out who in UO was worth saving and the answer is:

Me!





(Thanks to the musical Hair and specifically the song: I Got Life!)


I'd post a link but it's got the T and A words in it Oh My!


Hair - I Got life


Be a Berger, Mr. P., not a BOB, and your troubles with a EA customer service and UO will seem oh so trivial.


Of course if being a Berger just isn't in you, then you should remember the words of a certain old UO player you know very very well who, when asked why she dated minors in UO, replied:


IT'S JUST A GAME!


You should liisten to your guildie sir. (Not about the it's ok for old people to date kids, just the "it's just a game part".)


Hair - Let the Sunshine In - for more about Berger (The video poster spelled it Sunshine I know it should be Sun shine)


(This post will be removed in: 5...4...3...2...1...)

 

[Thrakkar]

No you got your history wrong. Origin Systems and Garrett put forth UO.. EA purchased Origin Systems well after our 97 launch

Ultima 7 was released 1992. The blackrock generators were shaped like a cube, sphere & pyramid. Now guess why! (Hint: Do you know the EA logo?)

 

[Lady Storm]

No you got your history wrong. Origin Systems and Garrett put forth UO.. EA purchased Origin Systems well after our 97 launch

Ultima 7 was released 1992. The blackrock generators were shaped like a cube, sphere & pyramid. Now guess why! (Hint: Do you know the EA logo?)

Origin Systems - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sugest you do your background work before you step onto this playing field. Ea might have bought Origin but Garrett ran it till they parted ways.

 

[Thrakkar]

Origin Systems - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sugest you do your background work before you step onto this playing field. Ea might have bought Origin but Garrett ran it till they parted ways.

I honestly don't know, why you're posting this link. Well, since you already did, let's quote a paragraph:

History

The company was founded in 1983 by brothers Robert and Richard Garriott, their father Owen and Chuck Bueche after Richard had terminated his contract with Sierra On-Line to publish the third part in Richard's Ultima series, Ultima III: Exodus.

In September 1992, Electronic Arts acquired the company.

In 1997, they released one of the earliest and most successful graphical MMORPGs, Ultima Online. After this title, Electronic Arts decided that Origin would become an online-only company after the completion of Ultima IX in 1999. However, within a year's time, in part due to Ultima IX's poor reception, EA canceled all of Origin's new development projects, including Ultima Online 2, Privateer Online, and Harry Potter Online. Richard Garriott left Origin shortly after and founded Destination Games in 2000.

 

[Lady Storm]

Exactly... why I posted the link.

Our troubles are EA... read it carefully what it says in that last paragraph. EA ended UO2 and the rest. EA killed off everything that was working. How we got to be 13 years old is an amazing feat of player will.

 

[Jhym]

They were forced to stop doing this because it's against the law for a FOR-profit company to use VOLUNTEERS to staff their customer support at far below minimum wage.

Which I fully agree with. Sometimes people's good will gets the best of them on something they love, and they forget that their time is actually valuable. That's when you have to kick the company so it stops taking advantage of folks.

 

[Rakoth]

Maybe you ought to better read my posts? My claim that star wars is a failure comes not from what I *think* of the game, but rather how the development of it has gone. I pointed out the style of the game the industry has been focusing on and did not give a review on any of them. OBVIOUSLY, no company has "hit the ball out of the park" on any game produced for the target market I'm talking about. When it does, I'll be sure to mention it in my posts.....

As to what you "heard", you may want to double check that. I find your understanding of these games you speak about... lacking. You give MO credibility (even though the developers are having players write code for them) and you call Darkfall a flop when it's been anything but. I suppose I could chalk it up to your limited understanding of indy dev. companies... though, I'll reserve this claim for when you've removed any doubt about it.

Breathe, mang, breathe. :O

Apparently I did mis-read your post a bit, at least that section that I addessed - But that said, APB, Aion, and (just going off the trailer) Faxion don't really seem to have been what UO's original market was going (I've played the first two, and the latter doesn't strike me as anything particularly unique - No FAQ or much of a website that I could discern didn't help the first impression, alas). Guild Wars 2 is shaping up to look like a very close contender though, and DF and MO... well, yes, they were both inspired by UO, though whether or not they succeeded, of course, being in the eye of the beholder!

On the side - DID Darkfall come out alright, DID it get the target audience properly? The only other person I know who was interested in it besides myself said it stunk to high Heaven and catered to mages, with Aventurine crapping out on promises and dragging their feet on fixes, and that it was hemorrhaging users in a month or two; if it's contrary to truth, educate me, I really wanted to try this DF.

With MO... I'm not really trumping it - It seems like it has a lot of awesome to it, but, yes, the company comes off as exceedingly seedy, to put it nicely - A case of "neat game, crap owner," sort of thing.

 

[ikaikaman]

LOL,A few years ago,UOSS composed of the members only saying "UO is Great!" "GOOD Publish!" but now..................................
NO,NO.Things change, but not all.Devs are always avoiding these negative opinions If beneficial ones.Sweep a troublesome problem under the rug.Ahahahahaha.

 

[[JD]]

Leave it to board warriors to get anal at things which matter not... way to drown a good idea out with nitpicking.

Anyways, It's a good idea to force GM's to play an hour of UO per work day. Many don't seem to have a clue about UO mechanics, community, bugs, or anything else. By forcing them to play even a minimal amount they will begin to understand better and provide better service.

 

[Draxous]

No you got your history wrong. Origin Systems and Garrett put forth UO.. EA purchased Origin Systems well after our 97 launch

Ultima 7 was released 1992. The blackrock generators were shaped like a cube, sphere & pyramid. Now guess why! (Hint: Do you know the EA logo?)

Origin Systems - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sugest you do your background work before you step onto this playing field. Ea might have bought Origin but Garrett ran it till they parted ways.

You can't spell Garriott right. You couldn't get the history right. I'm sure you've got the relationship between Garriott and the corporation funding and running the show... right.

Riiiiight.

 

[Draxous]

educate me, I really wanted to try this DF.

Sure, but I will have to do so later.

Check out these two videos though.

Player created 1v1 tournament the developers (AV) attended and made a video for
YouTube - Player created events: Tournament Impressions (EU)

Player created race war. No one knows the total number of players in attendance, but it was pretty damn laggy.
YouTube - Darkfall Online - Bloodmoon Brigands at the first Racial War (NA)

Tks.