Connection from EU to US isn't bad. I'm from EU myself and when I started with UO Sept. 2000, I picked PAC as it had the best ping. I "moved to" (=started over on) Drachenfels short time afterwards and that's where I spent most of my 70+ subbed months. Tried even starting over on ATL, but it didn't work out, due to other reasons than connection. Connection to ATL nowadays isn't bad. Really playable.
So I don't see an issue playing on the US based legacy shard.
I agree. It was one of the top 5 reasons I quit. And compared to other shards like ATL, where population is relatively high, Drachenfels' population is almost non-existant. So yeah, I always played a low pop shard. And TBH, it can only get better on the new legacy shard. That's one of the reasons, I'm looking forward to this new shard.
I don't have any problem with 100% of UO's playberbase playing on that new shard and 0% pop on prod shards. It's an unrealistic number. You don't have to tell me. But I can imagine, that lots of players want to at least try it out. And if in those first few weeks most people are on legacy and prod population is dwindling during the first weeks of release, even some hardcore opponents might give it a try, just to see what's going on there. Besides, just because you make a char there, doesn't mean you have to stay 100% committed to that shard. Play one day on prod and the other day on legacy. I don't see an issue here.
It is just a single new shard. If you want to try it out, you have to go there and just there. Yes, some people might not go there for various reasons. But whoever goes, is channeled into that one shard. I don't see a contradiction here.
From my point of view a temporary shard is a shard, which isn't reachable/online all the time. Like TC or some seasonal shard.
I don't even see the content (world, items, characters, etc...) of that shard as temporary, because you can transfer off chars with items at the end. If I would want to keep those chars, I could.
Also the cataclysmic event covers it even from a lore perspective.
But everyone probably has a different opinion, what temporary means in the context of a shard, that gets wiped.
Transferring off that legacy shard is most likely just there, so people can keep the char, should they get attached to that char or just as a container for all those unique items you managed to aquire to bring home to your prod shard. So if it comes at a disadvantage, I'm perfectly fine with that.
Where did I admit, that I will just play the new shard for 2-3 weeks?
I said, that's how long I play the season in D3. And that's just because the season journey (a set of milestones, you can try to reach) is completed roughly in that timespan. Yes you can stay longer and try to get/stay on the leaderboards or try to get the perfect items. But that's not my cup of tea.
So how long am I going to play on legacy? Heck, how should I know? Maybe a week. Maybe a month. Maybe half the season. Maybe the full season. That all depends on so many factors: How is the shard going to look like and how bold they go with trying out new/different things. Also how will the community be there?
No. I don't like prod shards anymore. That's why I'm not playing.
It is all around getting your PS, build your suit or have some boring bosses with a millon HP.
I've got several hopes for that new legacy shard:
No PS.
No item properties (or just some dumbed down version up to just the old vanq & fort stuff or similar).
Make early "leveling phase" gameplay worthwile again, so that people don't feel the urge to max out their char in the shortest amount of time possible. (which ideally means, that there is a seamless transition from early to mid to endgame gameplay).
I don't know, if they can pull that off, but I really have my fingers crossed. They said they want to go bold. Really hope, they will. For the better or the worse.
