To those that are unhappy with UO....

[old gypsy]

So a nice thing new haven could have would be a place where to put player vendors that sells stuff with a low price limit (like 1000gp max).

Actually, that's one of the best ideas I've heard in a long time. As a crafter that doesn't have embuing, I'd love to provide GM quality beginning gear, tools, basic necessities, etc. for extremely low prices (almost free ) on a New Haven vendor if they set up such a system. It would help brand new players and give non-embuing crafters a reason to feel useful.

 

[Tina Small]

I really thought things would change last year after BioWare publicly started claiming UO as being under their complete control and stating that EA had nothing to do with the decisions made about UO. But while UO has advanced a bit, and Camelot as well, in the end, UO, Camelot, and Warhammer are still being treated about the same as they were a year or two ago.

Nobody wants to talk about the really big picture of UO because it's some kind of huge secret that could jeopardize EA's future or something. Meanwhile, I just got another email from Star Wars: The Old Republic, and from EVE Online, talking about their upcoming major plans.

Some people made the claim early last year that there will be a new UO game and that we just need to wait for it, but that completely overlooks the fact that if we wanted to play a new MMO where we are starting new, we would have already moved on to other MMOs. There are a lot of people who have played off and on since 1997 and who come back to UO for a reason. A new game has no real incentive to draw us since we prefer certain things about UO that few companies seem interested in replicating.

I had a lot of hope for Jeff Skalski's plans, but we're right back in the same rut. If he reads this and wants to respond, great! But please Jeff, do not give us vague "we have exciting things planned for UO types of statements, because we don't care about vague anymore.

I am going to stick it out through the 15th anniversary, but after IDOCing yesterday, this weekend I'll be going through my houses and clearing a lot of things out - turning them in for points, unraveling, etc. and basically putting myself in the position of being able to bank everything and drop my houses if I need to.

I suspect that many folks are still just barely hanging on in UO because of the continuing vague promises about increased communication that never quite seem to materialize. I read statements like the one Jeff made in his one and only producer's letter saying that it wasn't the appropriate time to discuss certain topics and wonder when exactly it will be a better time to discuss at least some of them. At that time, it was feasible to theorize that Star Wars was getting most of the focus and no one at EA wanted to shift much of the public's focus to anything else. Now I suppose you might be able to excuse the lack of communication on the fact that EA is in the last quarter of their current fiscal year and perhaps UO's development budget is running really thin and/or more layoffs are in the works (it's happened before at this time of the year). However, when April rolls around, if the status quo is still an almost complete lack of official communication from UO's producer, I know I will have almost run out of theoretical explanations that give any kind of benefit of the doubt to EA/Bioware for the continued silence about UO's future.

With UO's 15th anniversary fast approaching, I'm sure many UO players are hoping to see something happen with UO that will give it new life and a true influx of new and returning players. However, the only solid detail we've seen of any plans to celebrate this monumental anniversary were in Mesanna's recent interview with MMORPG. In response to the question, "What would you like to say to true Veterans of the game, to players who still log in consistently," her response was, "Let's get together on our 15th birthday and have a party!" I sincerely hope the party doesn't amount to just new fireworks wands and a fireworks show. While I enjoyed Draconi's fireworks show on the 10th anniversary, I think each and every one of us secretly hopes for the celebration to amount to something "really big" that draws back the crowds of players we still remember from our earliest years in UO, whether that was 14 years ago or, as in my case, a mere seven years ago. I really hope that whatever is planned doesn't end up being a bittersweet farewell party and makes people feel that the subscriptions they have paid for over the last couple of years were only used to let EA get the publicity for keeping UO running to its 15th anniversary. With the almost complete lack of silence from UO's producer about the game's future beyond the obvious push to keep it running until its 15th anniversary, it is very difficult to not feel that recent publishes are nothing more than experiments to see what customers will and won't accept in a sandbox-type MMO, with the results to be used in some other as yet unnamed project. I hope I'm wrong on that, but with no one at a high level on the development team spending any time talking about goals and directions for the game, it's hard for me a lot of the time to feel that UO's players are nothing more to EA than just a bunch of very gaming-addicted guinea pigs.

I'm not at all trying to suggest that EA "owes" us constant updates on their plans for UO. However, if they want to keep people as subscribers, I do believe that it is in their best interest to really strive to avoid making vague promises that they apparently have no intentions of keeping (e.g., additions to the game specifically designed to enhance a new player's introduction to the game, updates to the enhanced client, doing something about cheating, etc.), and at least occasionally to schedule some opportunities for live interaction with the team. And by "live interaction," I don't mean a video where the team sits and giggles their way through a handful of trite and mostly meaningless questions, but a real Town Hall-type meeting or House of Commons chat that players don't walk away from feeling like the tough questions were avoided or moderated right out of existence. I do so miss Jeremy these days....

 

[Woodsman]

I read statements like the one Jeff made in his one and only producer's letter saying that it wasn't the appropriate time to discuss certain topics and wonder when exactly it will be a better time to discuss at least some of them.

Like I said, every week I get emails from other MMOs talking about all of their plans for the next year, about expansions that don't even have release dates.

UO? Apparently it's classified information.

Now I suppose you might be able to excuse the lack of communication on the fact that EA is in the last quarter of their current fiscal year and perhaps UO's development budget is running really thin

Not buying it for one moment. The people who run BioWare have publicly claimed that they and they alone control UO and the other Mythic MMOs and that EA is not involved in the running of UO.

The blame lies completely on the shoulders of the BioWare executives. Star Wars? We are constantly hearing about upcoming plans and heard about them for years before Star Wars was even released. Mass Effect 3? Constantly hearing about it, and heard about it a lot last year. Dragon Age 3? A long ways from release, yet they are already talking it up publicly.

UO? Warhammer? Camelot? What are those?

and/or more layoffs are in the works (it's happened before at this time of the year).

I think they've laid off as many as they can. If they laid off anybody else on the UO team, I would definitely bank my stuff, drop my houses, and cancel my subscriptions, because any layoffs would be a sure sign that BioWare doesn't care about UO and that UO is being maintained long enough to hit 15 years.

I really hope that whatever is planned doesn't end up being a bittersweet farewell party and makes people feel that the subscriptions they have paid for over the last couple of years were only used to let EA get the publicity for keeping UO running to its 15th anniversary.

Amen to that. EA/BioWare have been fast pushing me away. After my free time ran out with Star Wars, I didn't subscribe.

it is very difficult to not feel that recent publishes are nothing more than experiments to see what customers will and won't accept in a sandbox-type MMO, with the results to be used in some other as yet unnamed project.

If that was true, it is not unnamed. It's name is Kingdoms of Amalur. If the single-player game does well, and it's a AAA title with a lot of interest in it, I mean a lot, they have plans to make it a huge MMO which would be EA's biggest fantasy MMO since Warhammer, and possibly UO. Kingdoms of Amalur is an open world sandbox single-player game that EA is publishing, and they have publicly mentioned a big interest in turning it into an MMO if the single-player release this year does well.

Kingdoms of Amalur is being released in two weeks or so.

I hope I'm wrong on that, but with no one at a high level on the development team spending any time talking about goals and directions for the game,

Some will disagree with me, but Cal communicated a lot more. This twitter stuff..not much gets communicated.

I'm not at all trying to suggest that EA "owes" us constant updates on their plans for UO.

Given that EA/BioWare gives us constant updates on Star Wars, Mass Effect 3, and just about every other major game they have in production or released, and given that every other major MMO out there is constantly sending out updates to subscribers, I think we are owed a lot.

Some people defend EA/BioWare and make the claim that UO is somehow different and that they don't like to release information because they might change something or get peoples hopes up, but I'm tired of UO being treated like this. NO OTHER GAME IS TREATED LIKE UO, WITH ITS RIDICULOUS SECRECY AND ATTITUDE THAT PLAYERS DON'T NEED TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON OR WHAT'S PLANNED.

And by "live interaction," I don't mean a video where the team sits and giggles their way through a handful of trite and mostly meaningless questions, but a real Town Hall-type meeting or House of Commons chat that players don't walk away from feeling like the tough questions were avoided or moderated right out of existence.

Don't forget where they had to turn the camera off and have a discussion about whether they were allowed to discuss something.

BioWare runs UO. BioWare executives said they and not EA make the decisions about UO. Either they are lying or they aren't as committed to UO as they claim they are. I'm leaning towards them not really caring about UO for one reason (Star Wars) or another (a small blip on their revenue screen).

I've been back for a year and it feels like we are back to where we were in January of last year.

It's so disappointing to say that.

 

[Uriah Heep]

Some will disagree with me, but Cal communicated a lot more. This twitter stuff..not much gets communicated.

True.
He did communicate, but he never said anything. He would make a good politician.

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

My question is, what keeps you in the game you are SO obviously unhappy with?

Nothing. I quit years ago...la

Your fairly quick response leads me to believe that although you say you quit, you certainly read these boards quite regularly so that you dont miss an opportunity to get a dig in against the game.

I feel sorry for you. No joke.

Anyhthing I can do to help please PM me.

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

The reason I am still kinda lurking is I keep hoping to see some signs that someday UO will return to being a simpler game that almost anyone can sit down and enjoy with friends for an hour or two a few times a week. Not some soul-leeching experience that ends up feeling more like a job than simple entertainment.

I really hate what UO seems to have become for so many people, i.e., a competition to see who can amass the biggest fortune. I even tried Siege, hoping that maybe it would be different there. But in the end, even Siege seems to be somewhat infected with the same sickness that seems to plague the rest of the game. I found that the only reason I had to play there was to focus my game play around being a merchant. After a while it really felt like nothing more than a job that I actually paid someone else for the ability to be able to perform and that could be yanked away from me without a second's notice and with nothing to show for it in the long run but an emptier bank account than I started with.

There have been times when I've thought about dabbling in role playing. It would have made perfect sense to do that on Baja, where I once truly enjoyed playing. Any more, if you go by what you see on the Baja forum, Baja seems to be a role player's paradise. However, not being a long-time player, still more or less a newb in the eyes of many on Baja, and having no real claim on its history (I was always just a Malas "trailer park trash" kinda player I guess), that idea didn't go very far. After asking a few questions about player-run towns a year or so ago and getting the impression that I was out of line asking about them since I wasn't one of Baja's original players, I gave up on Baja. It really hurt to know that the few years when I was active there meant nothing in comparison to people who had been there originally, left for many years, and then came back again when the EM program started up again. My little group of friends who had so enjoyed our simple fun on Baja for a few years and who might possibly have returned in force if we could have "earned" a town plaque were unworthy of consideration as true Baja residents simply because our pedigree was lacking. Yes, we could have survived without a town plaque, but I don't think we could have survived feeling like many of Baja's most vocal residents thought we were just upstarts who didn't deserve to play there.

Yeah, maybe I could have tried to get involved with roleplaying on another shard, but after what happened on Baja, I just didn't have the stomach for it. Didn't really want someone else to act like I was an intruder.

Sorry for the disjointedness of this post, Kyle. You asked and this was the best I could come up with.

No offense Tina but based upon your post I would have to say that no game in existence could ever stand up to your 'personal' issues/values. That and the obvious fact that alot of people just dont understand that UO (like marriage ofc) has a honeymoon period. Too many people hang around disenchanted for years because they foolishly believe that it is the fault of the game that they cannot replicate a honeymoon.

Lastly, IMO the amount of honest hard work and goodwill a player may have put into the game does not entitle them to anything other then TOS. I believe too many people also just dont get this. Just a brutal fact.

Peace

 

[Madrid]

Calvin was horrible, one of the worst ever. Now we got Jeff who is even worse. I don't mean to be a pessimistic jerk but you have to look at the facts. I don't want to sugarcoat the service and communication we've seen the past 18-24 months it's been the worst in UO's entire history as an MMORPG.

The best communication we received was when Jeremy was around. She actually made an effort.

What essentially is happening is someone from the powers that be will come forth out of nowhere and announce the UO team is working on "this or that" and people who are thinking about leaving the game end up sticking around anticipating the upcoming changes.

Six Months later rolls around and nothing has been changed or implemented...out comes another announcement from UO that they are working on "something else" to keep people glued for another 6 months. Rinse and repeat...this appears to be the current business model.

Lips service and smoke and mirrors is all it is.

I find it hard to believe that even one person from the so called "UO Team" dedicated to working on strictly UO, 5 days a week 8 hours a day. My guess is the guys on the payroll are being used for other games that don't involve UO and every now and then there sent to a corner to do something an UO.

There are freeshards that get more content than we do.

Look at what Pinco has done with the EC Client...1 person.

Get ready for another announcement... "coming soon". I guarantee they are "working on it!".

 

[Petra Fyde]

Actually Jeff is communicating quite a lot, just not through here. We have made an effort to include Stratics users
UO Stratics *New* | The Sparrow’s Nest

 

[Mirt]

Tina I only RP on baja and I have always been made to feel welcome there. I most certainly am not one of the "founding" members of anything there and yet I always receive a warm welcome.

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

Your fairly quick response leads me to believe that although you say you quit, you certainly read these boards quite regularly so that you dont miss an opportunity to get a dig in against the game.

Or...wait for it, wait for it...or, I happened to come to the page shortly after the time the post was originated and thus it was at the top of the first page I entered the site on.

Oh my goodness, sorry you failed at your failed dig at me, but please feel free to try again while you are feeling sorry for me, ROFL...la

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

News Flash:

Any unhappy player that has extensive knowledge of EA/Bio employee names, time of hire/exit, company financial statements, etc... has lost their way and probably shouldnt be playing anymore.

Are you just frikkin kidding me?

The same things that made you fall in love with the game are still there 100% intact - crafting, housing, pvp, pvm, hanging around bank chatting, wandering around the land for no reason...
Did anyone think that they were never gonna change/evolve? Did you think that nobody was ever gonna leave or that the names wouldnt change?

Just play the game and stop worrying about bs you have no control over(which btw you never had control over)or quit.

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

Your fairly quick response leads me to believe that although you say you quit, you certainly read these boards quite regularly so that you dont miss an opportunity to get a dig in against the game.

Or...wait for it, wait for it...or, I happened to come to the page shortly after the time the post was originated and thus it was at the top of the first page I entered the site on.

Oh my goodness, sorry you failed at your failed dig at me, but please feel free to try again while you are feeling sorry for me, ROFL...la

Uhh bud, you havent played the game forever yet you responded to my reply within minutes lmao. Thanks for perfectly illustrating my point

 

[pgib]

Actually Jeff is communicating quite a lot, just not through here. We have made an effort to include Stratics users
UO Stratics *New* | The Sparrow’s Nest

Jesus... now that i've read that i seriously want to quit .

Please, no more communication, that's enough, have mercy.

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

Uhh bud, you havent played the game forever yet you responded to my reply within minutes lmao. Thanks for perfectly illustrating my point

The only point you have is covered by your hat. I figured you would respond back, so I hit F5 and presto...there it was. Your attack...la

 

[PitrGri]

Wait, what?

When has it ever been that nonpaying customers should have the right to own a house?

The last time I took a break, my houses fell. When did they change it so that your houses didn't fall if you stopped paying?

Account Migration.

 

[Petra Fyde]

With posts from four of the team in the past week, two major publishes in less than 3 months and almost daily tweets from Jeff the team must be wondering what the hell it would take to satisfy people. - Every minute spent reading posts here is a minute they're not working on the updates you demand for the game.

Housing rules have not changed. Houses start to fall when an account has been inactive for 90 days, exactly as they have done for years.

 

[Carharrt]

With posts from four of the team in the past week, two major publishes in less than 3 months and almost daily tweets from Jeff the team must be wondering what the hell it would take to satisfy people. - Every minute spent reading posts here is a minute they're not working on the updates you demand for the game.

Housing rules have not changed. Houses start to fall when an account has been inactive for 90 days, exactly as they have done for years.

Exactly this. Well said and I couldn`t agree more.

Why would they pay any attention to the holier than thou,you owe us everything we want crowd. I mean please. LOTS has been added with LOTS more to come. Just because its not things that certain people feel it should be,the fact remains the same. The game IS getting upgraded. New content IS being added and plans for the 15th years AND beyond is planned and talked about. What more do you people want? I could care less about communication when we are gettin updates and new content and fixes,that says all I need to know. If the day comes where we get neither,than its almost over. No time soon.

Its an ancient game on an ancient platform. Be happy the lights are still on and we have Devs that do care working on it and improving things..... Or don`t and quit. If ya quit.... go away! We don`t need your negative rhetoric clouding the waters. You quit! Be gone.... its like complaining about government and who did or didn`t do what..... When you don`t vote!

 

[Woodsman]

With posts from four of the team in the past week, two major publishes in less than 3 months and almost daily tweets from Jeff the team must be wondering what the hell it would take to satisfy people. - Every minute spent reading posts here is a minute they're not working on the updates you demand for the game.

My problem is this:

January of 2011 - UO Producer: "Big things are promised, but we are going to be vague as Hell and can't tell you much. And big things that were promised last year and that we started working on are now delayed."

January of 2012 - UO Producer: "Big things are promised, but we are going to be vague as Hell and can't tell you much. And big things that were promised last year and that we started working on are now delayed."

We have literally jumped back in time to January of last year.

The only thing that is changed is the names of the producer and BioWare executives publicly stating that BioWare is fully in charge of UO and that EA doesn't make decisions about UO, they do. They even laughed at the notion that EA meddles with UO. And BioWare was upgraded to a label, which was big for UO. Somebody else mentioned that BioWare publicly taking control of UO and BioWare being upgraded to a label was potentially the biggest thing to happen to UO in many years. And yet, BioWare doesn't seem all that interested in UO other than occasional namedropping.

Outside of UO, Camelot, and Warhammer, I have never seen any MMO in production shrouded in such secrecy. Never. Yesterday afternoon, Dungeons and Dragons Online sent me a message about plans for things that won't happen until later this summer. Last week with Star Wars: The Old Republic, I received solid information about upcoming plans. Within a day, from EVE Online, I also received solid information about upcoming plans. I don't subscribe to either of those games currently, and Blizzard is constantly sending me emails about upcoming changes and plans.

I receive more communication from games I don't even currently subscribe to, than a game that I'm currently spending over $30 a month on.

Over the past few months, Jeff Skalski disappointed a lot of folks by being vague when he had promised a lot more openness and communication. When he started being more vague and having to get the latest producer's letter passed around to a bunch of executives or PR people, a lot of us groaned and sighed because we took a step back.

With all of that said, Jeff Skalski has a huge advantage in his favor: He has the ability to break the trend. He could tell us that they have big plans and then describe those big plans.

If he comes out with a bunch of vague statements, it's not going to be good for UO. UO is in its 15th year, vagueness is not going to help UO at this point.

 

[Woodsman]

plans for the 15th years AND beyond is planned and talked about.

Specifics?

 

[Zosimus]

This thread is allowed to have debates as long as they are civil.

If you don't like what is posted I suggest dont respond to them.

 

[Woodsman]

I'd add that some people are convinced that UO needs advertising. First you have to have something to advertise, and that includes solid plans about UO's future.

However, if you follow MMO websites, almost every week UO is mentioned, and comparisons made to playstyles or game mechanics. Especially on Joystiq/Massively. Those guys are all former UO players for the most part and it shows.

 

[Celestial Knight]

I'm not unhappy with Ultima Online 13 year player
patience and plus i mixup my game play with little pvp,roll playin,crafting,house deco and monter hunts like t-maps>might add a note >Things i couldnt do in World of warcraft <
They will have to close down the game or
the grim reaper kocks on my door before ill leave..
yes i understand this post is for unhappy player's BUT i am
trying to cheer ya up (_)>CHEER'S >LOL

 

[HD2300]

Seems to me, at least in some areas, that a lot more is happening now than prior to the last 6 months. Other areas, nothing much has changed in the last 5 years, and I doubt much will change in the next year.

I think they need to look really closely at catering to the 95%, not just the 5%, which means EM events, revamping vendoring, champs, and I think a lot of progress can be made in some areas if they bring Saph on board.

 

[popps]

With posts from four of the team in the past week, two major publishes in less than 3 months and almost daily tweets from Jeff the team must be wondering what the hell it would take to satisfy people. - Every minute spent reading posts here is a minute they're not working on the updates you demand for the game.

Yes, working on the game is very important, but also interacting with players on Forums like Stratics is, at least as I see it, and also providing good quality in-game customer service is.

What I am trying to say, is that, at least to my view, the success of a game like Ultima Online is not dependant on just 1 thing, adding new content to the game, but more, on a combination of things like fixing bugs, adding new content, interact with the player base and provide a good quality in-game customer support.

Sure, when resources are scarce it becomes more difficult to cover all bases but nonetheless, focuisng on just one aspect of the game without also covering the others I would see this as detrimental for Ultima Online.
One way or the other, I think for the better being of UO ways should be found to cover all bases or, at least, as many as possible.

And, if focus should be made on something, I think that should be on increasing revenues for the game somehow and thus, is my opinion, on making life easier for all those players who want to return to Ultima Online. I have read several posts of players having extreme difficulties in re-activating their past accounts. Unless I recall wrong, a returning player mentioned taking 3 months to be able to find and re-activate the old account. How many returning players might have given up well before those 3 months and thus not have returned to UO thus not bringing new resources to the game ??

This may sound reasonable and acceptable to some, not to me. It is not good that re-opening a UO account might be so difficult and, as I see it, this should really be looked at.

I mean, if there are complaints that UO resources are scarce, then why on earth the process to increase this resources is not made more simple and faster like making it a walk in the park for returning players to re-activate their accounts ??

Also, make it so that IDOCs do not cause the loss of an account's items. Save them into temporary storage (like an extra bank box specific for that...) so that when the players returns, they can find them. Make it an option available for a fee which could bring in more revenues to the game. The House would still fall for an inactiva account but as empty.......
This, perhaps, might convince more players to re-open their accounts (as they'd find their old items again) and even bring in added revenues for the special storage fee.....

I recently read some posts from players who were buying UO codes or items and lamented having difficulties applying a promotion. Eventually, they were able to receive the promotion but only after expenditure of their time and efforts.
Not to mention the fact that if one is buying several codes for UO, it is necessary to make several purchases (I have not at least been able to find the way to make multiple purchases of the same one item in the same one purchase....).
My point being, that when it comes to Ultima Online it seems to me that players might have to go through additional difficulties whether to get customer support or buy codes, who knows why...........

Bottom line of my opinion is, that I think that while adding new content may certainly be important, it is not the only aspect that makes a game succesfull, other aspects of the game, including customer support and assistance, should be cared for also.

 

[Madrid]

My gripe is with the low resolution graphics. I simply cannot understand how you can go from a higher resolution artwork to a lower resolution artwork.
KR was wonderful compared to what we have with the EC. EC looks awful and is essentially the 2d client with the KR UI.

Get this game looking good again and I'll be out with my pom poms drinking the kool aid with the rest of the sosarians and maybe just maybe UO could attract some NEW players as well.

I'm tired of the empty promises and the lip service and it's BS that the KR artwork is out there and hasn't been made available to those of us who would like to toggle it on.

My problem is this:

January of 2011 - UO Producer: "Big things are promised, but we are going to be vague as Hell and can't tell you much. And big things that were promised last year and that we started working on are now delayed."

January of 2012 - UO Producer: "Big things are promised, but we are going to be vague as Hell and can't tell you much. And big things that were promised last year and that we started working on are now delayed."

Ding Ding Ding! Ladies and Gentlemen we have ourselves a winner. Spot on as usual Woodsman.

 

[Viper09]

Like UO, every game I have played there is always BOTH good and bad. I find myself to be more content and pleased to simply enjoy the game as a game and enjoying what I am here to enjoy. If I were one to concentrate on all the bad stuff and blowing it out of proportion whilst ignoring all the positive stuff that the game has to offer as well as content that is still in production I would no longer be here. I wouldn't play a game where all I do is focus on the negatives and it would simply be an unhealthy obsession for anyone to do that. If I cannot enjoy something enough I will not pay for it or spend hours ranting about it; I would rather relax and enjoy the game. I am starting to think that much of the negative posters here are only using stratics to vent and rant, afterwards happily skipping back to their UO paradise.

I particularly like single player games as they rarely change, thus if I enjoy it I can play on and off for a long time. MMO's in particular change often as it is clearly labeled on the box or whatever other places saying "experience may change during online play." So one cannot particularly hold much stock in hoping a MMO will be just as fun years down the road. I played WoW for about a year and for that year I enjoyed it a lot. Towards the end and with many changes I started getting bored with it. Did I go on the forums and complain about those changes? Nope, I quit and moved on. Although on and off I went back to see how the game was going but I couldn't find the fun anymore (I found that the best part of that game was the growth from newbie to experienced which I naturally cannot get back). UO is unique in that what I enjoy doesn't change too often or at least it hasn't changed yet which is the sandbox element and, of course, the housing. This game is just completely open ended.

What will become of UO I look forward to seeing. I would almost say that UO at the moment is slowly moving into a UO2 with all the changes that appear to be growing, such as dungeon/monster/loot revamps, crafting weapons/armor being more complex. As with the early stages of UO and many other games changes that come need to adapted to, bugs and unbalances will appear that will have to be fixed along the way. Certainly all this work is in no way deserving of much of the slander and blatant rudeness towards the developers as some have apparently taken up the hobby of giving out (by which I mean the over-the-stop and continued negativity not the standard feedback or constructive complaints). After all for an old game as this to survive it must change. Us older players are only getting older and thus younger and newer crowds must be brought in. If this game no longer suits some people and they can't enjoy it anymore I encourage them to get off at the next stop and quit painting this game in a negative light, I'm happy to stay on board and see where this game is headed.

EDIT: Given that this thread is re-opened I want to empasize on something here as someone previously mis-read a part of my post earlier. I am not saying people shouldn't complain or rant at all. My only point on that is that the developers don't deserve the extreme rudeness that a few handout on occasion and that if one cannot enjoy the game anymore it might be time to move on. I am also not referring to anyone in particular either.

 

[Petra Fyde]

Granting a request that I take another look and try cleaning instead of locking. A considerable number of posts have been removed.

 

[Vyal]

Granting a request that I take another look and try cleaning instead of locking. A considerable number of posts have been removed.

LOL this entire thread serves no good purpose. Yet you unlocked it...
You think something good will come of this? Or did you just open it back up to annoy people?

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

LOL this entire thread serves no good purpose

I don't know Vyal, it serves the purpose of folks being able to voice their displeasure in a decent way. The main reason I started it to begin with is for insight into those that are unhappy, and reading the responses ALOT have explained that rather well, in detail on occasion. Also, IF a dev or higher wants to know the pulse of the unhappy player base and what keeps them around, they can also get a good idea of that here. I for one have seen some of those with the team lurking in the thread on occasion. Maybe a thread like this can point them in some right directions to solve some of the larger issues the unhappy crowd has, without flames all over the place. *shrugs* Maybe not tho.

 

[Vyal]

I don't know Vyal, it serves the purpose of folks being able to voice their displeasure in a decent way. The main reason I started it to begin with is for insight into those that are unhappy, and reading the responses ALOT have explained that rather well, in detail on occasion. Also, IF a dev or higher wants to know the pulse of the unhappy player base and what keeps them around, they can also get a good idea of that here. I for one have seen some of those with the team lurking in the thread on occasion. Maybe a thread like this can point them in some right directions to solve some of the larger issues the unhappy crowd has, without flames all over the place. *shrugs* Maybe not tho.

This has been done a ZILLION times and they always get locked.
& how does this serve purpose but the continued lag threads don't?

Makes no sense that this thread is allowed to stay open when it doesn't do any good at all. Yet the threads that where made to discuss ongoing REAL issues with the servers get blocked and deleted.

It should be locked with some bogus mod making a post saying "If you have problems with the game contact Bioware/Mythic."

 

[Viper09]

I don't know Vyal, it serves the purpose of folks being able to voice their displeasure in a decent way. The main reason I started it to begin with is for insight into those that are unhappy, and reading the responses ALOT have explained that rather well, in detail on occasion. Also, IF a dev or higher wants to know the pulse of the unhappy player base and what keeps them around, they can also get a good idea of that here. I for one have seen some of those with the team lurking in the thread on occasion. Maybe a thread like this can point them in some right directions to solve some of the larger issues the unhappy crowd has, without flames all over the place. *shrugs* Maybe not tho.

And it works well. I think I got a bit carried away into more than what you asked in my post which happens a lot when I write. But the answer of what keeps me here is there, the sandbox gameplay, housing and look into what comes.

 

[Vyal]

Can we please get a classic shard? I am unhappy with UO because they have not made a classic shard. There I just voiced my displeasure & did not break any rules, let's see how fast this post gets deleted.

 

[Madrid]

A few things:

First time I've EVER seen a thread unlocked on stratics. It never should have been locked in the first place but cheers to whoever had the integrity to open it back up.

Second...The title and topic of this thread clearly is "To those who are unhappy with UO". I'm willing to bet if I was "happy" I wouldn't be posting in this thread so I don't know why those of you who are happy with the status qou take issues with those of us who are in the "unhappy" category. If your happy why post in this thread at all?

Third all too often we have a member of the stratics forum jump in the thread with no other intention than to sabatoge the thread and see the thread get locked. This happens all too often on stratics. Quite often we see those who are in disagreement and don't want others to have a voice jump into a thread and start talking about duping, classic client, throw slurs or slander simply for the purpose of sabatoging the thread. I favor posts getting deleted over threads getting locked to subvert this behavior.

And last... Those of us who are unhappy with UO and how it's been mis-managed aren't just making this stuff up off the top of our heads.

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

And it works well. I think I got a bit carried away into more than what you asked in my post which happens a lot when I write.

I am not saying people shouldn't complain or rant at all. My only point on that is that the developers don't deserve the extreme rudeness that a few handout on occasion and that if one cannot enjoy the game anymore it might be time to move on. I am also not referring to anyone in particular either.

I dunno about that. The way I usually see things, a person can not give too much insight into that type of thing. The only draw back is when people rave, ridicule and get abrasive like you are talking about. That causes most folk to just shut down to what is being said and focus on how it was said. While some folks may have GREAT feedback it gets lost because of how they go about shedding light on it. That happens, and imo both sides lose out. Maybe with folks shedding light on the good things that keep them around, maybe higher ups will try to build more on the positive things and make it better. Call me an optimist if ya have too

 

[Viper09]

I dunno about that. The way I usually see things, a person can not give too much insight into that type of thing. The only draw back is when people rave, ridicule and get abrasive like you are talking about. That causes most folk to just shut down to what is being said and focus on how it was said. While some folks may have GREAT feedback it gets lost because of how they go about shedding light on it. That happens, and imo both sides lose out. Maybe with folks shedding light on the good things that keep them around, maybe higher ups will try to build more on the positive things and make it better. Call me an optimist if ya have too

That is true. Perhaps I just didn't consider that the devs will indeed shutdown to the people who go overboard. Perhaps I am just not as optimistic as you are though, lol.

 

[ahardy]

A lot of people are hoping that one day BioWare will wake up and do something with UO. Not a new game or anything, because if people wanted a new game, they would have already went to one of the dozens of other MMOs out there.

It's frustrating because the communications between BioWare and UO players can be so incredibly lacking.

And I'm saying BioWare because last year BioWare executives said they were fully in charge of UO and they laughed at the idea that EA was screwing with UO. They claimed full responsibility for UO and said EA didn't dictate to them.

We're in the middle of the same pattern we've been going through for years - we'll get some vague communications about the future, we see some work being done, then silence.

Meanwhile, every other mainstream MMO out there is doing everything they can to talk to their players about their future plans, giving plenty of specifics, etc. Hell, BioWare says more about games that aren't even released yet than they have about UO.

I don't know when people are hoping that things are going to change. If they aren't going to change under BioWare, they aren't going to change. We'll get the higher resolution graphics, we'll get events, we'll get bug fixes, but I don't see much beyond that. I wish I was wrong.

Tibia have 1980 graphics and is more populated then uo.

 

[pgib]

Start to charge them 100 euros per account and you'll see those 300 thousands armed with pitchforks and torches walking down the main street.

 

[Kylas]

First this is not a troll, I am asking in earnest.

Reading the boards, hearing some folks in game, I have found there are those that always seem to be unhappy with UO as a whole. I don't mean the ones who find a thing here or there that makes them unhappy with that certain aspect. But, there seems to be CHRONIC unhappiness by a good bit of folks. These are the ones who gripe and complain about any and almost everything that goes on, or what the Dev's do. My question is, what keeps you in the game you are SO obviously unhappy with? And again, I am not saying your viewpoint is wrong, or that you are wrong for staying. Just wondering what it is that keeps you hanging in there is all. Is it the hope that things will one day change?

UO was a world and a community. The new developers (we're talking 2000 time frame) changed and turned it into a grind game. Now UO is a ghost town.

Dig

 

[Woodsman]

UO was a world and a community. The new developers (we're talking 2000 time frame) changed and turned it into a grind game. Now UO is a ghost town.

It's a grind if you make it a grind. It's still a helluva lot more sandboxy than most MMOs. If it wasn't, a lot of folks would have left years ago.

As for ghost town..I see quite a few people on medium-sized shards, and well, Atlantic, and a couple of the Japanese shards are very busy at certain times of the day.

 

[pgib]

I don't think the topic is about what doens't work but the game has become grinding at its purest level. They could freely rename it "The Grinder".

 

[Frey Wavestrider]

With posts from four of the team in the past week, two major publishes in less than 3 months and almost daily tweets from Jeff the team must be wondering what the hell it would take to satisfy people. - Every minute spent reading posts here is a minute they're not working on the updates you demand for the game.

Housing rules have not changed. Houses start to fall when an account has been inactive for 90 days, exactly as they have done for years.

I realize that tweeting is the in thing, however tweeting has never really been about giving out relevant information. I do not tweet and I suspect a lot of the older players do not tweet. Communications are vital to the success and growth of a game and it has been getting worse. You point out every minute spent reading posts is a minute not working on the game. Well sometimes taking a minute to read and communicate to the clients is a better use of time. Again for most players the biggest issue is communication or lack of it. We use to see devs on hear, not always fully communicative but at least you could get a response, to some of your questions.

And yes I read The Sparrow's Nest, not a lot of really informative information.

 

[MalagAste]

With posts from four of the team in the past week, two major publishes in less than 3 months and almost daily tweets from Jeff the team must be wondering what the hell it would take to satisfy people. - Every minute spent reading posts here is a minute they're not working on the updates you demand for the game.

Housing rules have not changed. Houses start to fall when an account has been inactive for 90 days, exactly as they have done for years.

I realize that tweeting is the in thing, however tweeting has never really been about giving out relevant information. I do not tweet and I suspect a lot of the older players do not tweet. Communications are vital to the success and growth of a game and it has been getting worse. You point out every minute spent reading posts is a minute not working on the game. Well sometimes taking a minute to read and communicate to the clients is a better use of time. Again for most players the biggest issue is communication or lack of it. We use to see devs on hear, not always fully communicative but at least you could get a response, to some of your questions.

And yes I read The Sparrow's Nest, not a lot of really informative information.

I agree I don't Tweet never have never will... Communication is important... if customers feel they are not being heard and that the DEV's do not care then they will soon go elsewhere.

I'm glad someone is taking the time to tweet things to Jeff... that's great but Jeff needs to realize that Stratics is a staple for many "old" players. Those that have been here for YEARS ... This is where we are not on Twitter.

And even more of us are in GAME. I know more than 80% of the people I play with do NOT read the forums... and they don't tweet.

Instead they rely on other players for their information as well as relying on those same other players to express their opinions and ideas as well as their concerns and needs.

So if some of us are EXTREMELY vocal it's because we are speaking for more than just ourselves.


But many quit reading forums and even the Herald years ago because most everything said was the same old empty promises followed by months and months of waiting...

To get folk back and interested again would take a lot more than a few tweets and one letter a year.

People want to know what is going on... what is coming up and what there is to look forward to and they don't want to wait weeks on end to find out about things.


I remember years ago with MYUO they actually had a section for "In Development"... Where things that were being worked on were featured... now those things didn't always make it into the game but at least they showed you what you might expect later.


Many still want to know when MYUO is coming back... yet we haven't heard jack about it in ages.

 

[Cirno]

I don't think the topic is about what doens't work but the game has become grinding at its purest level. They could freely rename it "The Grinder".

Really, UO was always destined to become a grind.
The only reason it didn't seem so in the early days was because the genre was still new, with players with no "endgame" expectation.
You could still have fun in the game, but whatever you try and do in the game, higher skill levels and better equipment are better. As knowledge and expectation of the later stage in the game, so did the drive to that stage in the game. It's rational; why do something you suck at, when you could train some and suck less at it. also, you do the things you can with your skills, and higher skills mean more things you can do.

 

[CovenantX]

I find devs, listen to the majority too much, and fail to realise that the majority know jack sh*t, they should listen to just a select few elite. Listening to the majority caused trammel.

Luckily i'm the latter.

A few friends and I thought the same exact thing... *thought we were the only ones*


This much is true, not to say Every change to the game has a more negative effect on things than positive.



Play guide needs to be Updated to current info and updated whenever things change as well.

In-game tooltips need updating as well, descriptions of spells in all spellbooks, a basic tooltip to skills would be nice as well... beyond the obviouse... (show other skills that compliment each other and such) I'm sure there are threads on these forums that would be useful, to use in such a manner.

With that said, Shard population is the only thing I truely dislike about UO.
*I'm not asking to make UO F2P or to Merge shards either...* (Except a somewhat shard merge for the PvP Arena System)

I like most of the new content that's been added to UO lately and new content is important as well, keep it coming, But I think focusing on new players should take priority over all else, you can never have enough people playing UO.

IMO priorities should be getting UO Herald updated & Running+Player guide, and high resolution for both EC & CC users. and then build from there (new content w/e).

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

With posts from four of the team in the past week, two major publishes in less than 3 months and almost daily tweets from Jeff the team must be wondering what the hell it would take to satisfy people. - Every minute spent reading posts here is a minute they're not working on the updates you demand for the game.

Housing rules have not changed. Houses start to fall when an account has been inactive for 90 days, exactly as they have done for years.

I realize that tweeting is the in thing, however tweeting has never really been about giving out relevant information. I do not tweet and I suspect a lot of the older players do not tweet. Communications are vital to the success and growth of a game and it has been getting worse. You point out every minute spent reading posts is a minute not working on the game. Well sometimes taking a minute to read and communicate to the clients is a better use of time. Again for most players the biggest issue is communication or lack of it. We use to see devs on hear, not always fully communicative but at least you could get a response, to some of your questions.

And yes I read The Sparrow's Nest, not a lot of really informative information.

Kinda ironic.

You say you want more communication and you talk about growth but you have issue with tweeting? Even though it is no secret that tweeting is quite relevant to younger, new players. Hrmmm...

 

[popps]

Kinda ironic.

You say you want more communication and you talk about growth but you have issue with tweeting? Even though it is no secret that tweeting is quite relevant to younger, new players. Hrmmm...

I do not do any social networks nor I have any interest in doing it, still, I can see that Ultima Online is quite unknown to young players, and so, talking about UO where new, young players might be, I think it is a good way to get them to know about the game.

Getting to its 15th birthday, Ultima Online is as old as many teenagers out there but who do not even know it exists and how it is much different (and more complete) than many games out there........

 

[Viper09]

Kinda ironic.

You say you want more communication and you talk about growth but you have issue with tweeting? Even though it is no secret that tweeting is quite relevant to younger, new players. Hrmmm...

Think it's just time to admit it whether one likes it or not, twitter is the new form of communication that some companies use to pass on information that isn't quite ready for an "official" letter. That just how technology goes, one day it's through forums add blogs next day facebook, now it's twitter. The up side is that you don't have to sign up to read the twits...or is it tweets? I'm not exactly up to date on the terminology. lol

 

[MalagAste]

I guess perhaps I may be alone in my feelings on Twitter and Facebook but having grown up and all in the 80's I remember talk about the Government and a scare over everyone getting a barcode tattoo ....

Supposedly we were all to be barcoded and "money" was to be a thing of the past... all your earnings and anything you bought was done via computer and you would get "scanned" whenever you purchased something... this was a form of "control" to you know weed out the criminals. However it never came to pass... But also in this time there was a lot of talk about wiretaps and "big brother" listening over phone conversations and with the satellite imaging that they could watch your every move.


Now they don't need to they have things like Twitter and Facebook to have you tell them everything you do... and everything you like and dislike.

Personally I find it repulsive. I've no desire to be "watched". I don't want to give big bucks to the tiny few who run these sites so they can report and sell your life to big corporations... And yes I know you don't "have" to do that stuff... but in my opinion just going along with any of it and signing up in the first place means you accept it. Well I don't. Maybe it's because I watched "V" and find that sheep often become prey... I don't know but I find it increasingly disturbing the number of folk who do follow along... liking and disliking all over here and there... Just too creepy.

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

Yeah, Jeff posts to Twitter... and that's great and all... but the UO community would be better served by posts here or on the Herald. However, honestly, 140 characters isn't enough to say anything of true substance. While I appreciate that he does use Twitter to chat back, and forth with a few players and I take the time to read his tweets, many (if not most) players probably don't even know he tweets, or wouldn't want to wade through 90% of his irrelevant (to UO) trash tweets.

And seriously, trying to trot out "new, younger players" as a reason to tweet is ABSURD. Tweets won't bring in any players once they hit the official site, or bother to see that most of the UO Twitter conversations are complaints about things most companies would be highly ashamed of.

Tweets are great for bite sized tidbits of conversation that should be followed up with more in-depth posts. 140 chars is not "increasing communication" as we've been repeatedly promised.

 

[Llewen]

Basically.......

[youtube]pPXM7i0dv30[/youtube]

Wow, Junior High flashback... Thanks for the trip down memory lane, and clarity on those words I never quite got...