Thoughts on a cool new UO... Sandwich

[Ned888]

Okay, so I was diving back into the threads a bit and I noticed that there were several comments about having a classic shard brought back into the mix of the game. I don't know how feasable that is as far as programming goes, but I had an idea that just popped into my head and I figured 'what the heck', so here it is:

The UO 'Sandwich' Shard:

3 Facets!!!!

Trammel - Factions Council of Mages and True Britannians Only (The 'Good Guys'). No PvP, pretty much the same Trammel Rules as now. Thieves can operate against NPCs only. Blue Moongates/Gates Spells

Midlands - All Factions can enter and the cities are split up and controlled by factions. Lots of PvP between factions, and cities can switch control based on all out player battles/raids etc. Guards don't exist in the towns, players make the laws and protect the civilians. Thieves can operate with impunity here. Green Moongates/Gate Spells

Felucca - Factions Minax and Shadowlords (The 'Bad Guys'). No PvP here either, but the world is a more desolate place (sort of like Siege looks). Cities have an evil feel to them, but are otherwise the same. Thieves can operate against NPCs only. Red Moongate/Gate Spells

So this would create extra land for houses, a PvP Zone for everyone and integrate the factions into all the parts of the game. The Midlands would be in constant flux and a state of war would be the norm. I don't know how the other continents would work yet (SE for instance) but this is still a young idea. Anyone have any thoughts?

This would work especially well if (heaven forbid) they decided to consolidate some of the servers.

 

[Mirt]

It would really cut back on the trammel rule set RP options that I know a lot of people currently like. The idea of a midlands is I believe what is supposed to go on in factions in fel now. It just doesn't due to numbers.

 

[Ned888]

From my perspective this would do some pretty interesting things to the game.

1. It would allow players to play good or evil and thrive in the environment of their choice. Allowing them to connect with like minded players more easily and operate in a world that is suitable to their tastes and style.
   
2. It would provide a 'classic' shard in the form of Midland that is contested and a good meeting place to PvP against your enemies, be they good or evil.
   
3. Open world PvP would have a solid place to happen but both sides would have their 'trammel' style place of relative safety.
   
4. It would provide the development team the opportunity to start an economy from scratch and monitor it with that super-secret spreadsheet of Cal's that gets referenced every once in a while.
   
5. The development team would be given the opportunity to implement some rules that they would like to try on a new shard, instead of disrupting the existing shards. This seems to ruffle quite a few feathers when it happens, good or bad.
   
6. Perhaps a new race could be introduced with the discovery of Midland. I noticed some interest in this recently.

As loathe as I am to mention it, this would be like the Alliance and Horde set up in WoW. Midland being the PvP area for cross faction combat. Since the arenas seem to be in process, this would allow PvP experimentation in the security of your faction's facet as well.

Just some thoughts I had.... I did promise to throw out my ideas as they came to me, right?

 

[SugarMMM]

I love Sandwiches!

 

[Mirt]

I am not saying that its a terrible idea. I am only saying that I would be concerned with the numbers. You would pretty much cut out a large chuck of the RPers with this format (No not all but a sizable chunk). Also my concern would be numbers for the midlands. Its not a terrible idea but is there really the room for another shard right now. Or the time to code something like this? I guess it would be nice to actually know how many devs we do have becuase it does sound intriguing. Maybe they could set it up like the Arena TC?