=(Sadly, the glory days of Ultima Online are long over. There's still a small community left playing
We all know it's true.
I am thinking that sometime past the 20th anniversary they will have one of those "it is with a sad heart that we are announcing UO will be shutting down . . ." announcementswonder how much longer it will last; technically it's past it's "shelf" life. they don't push it anymore really, they need a relaunch and some advertizing on youtube and facebook might get the players going in and definitely an email with incentive to come on back like they did in 06
Unless the game has become unprofitable, I don't think that would be the case. If Broadsword / EA are still making a reasonable amount of profit from it, I don't see them doing that. The latest expansion isn't even a year old and they keep adding new content. If margins were tight, they could probably reduce staffing and overhead costs even further, stop adding content, and put the game into pretty much maintenance mode until it became revenue negative. And even then, unless they saw value in the brand name, they could probably collect a nominal fee to sell the property to someone else.I am thinking that sometime past the 20th anniversary they will have one of those "it is with a sad heart that we are announcing UO will be shutting down . . ." announcements
Ah, ok. Sorry, my mistake.Sadly, the glory days of Ultima Online are long over. There's still a small community left playing AND plenty of private servers like ****** ****** ******* that are worth checking out
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Actually NO they are not. Ive bolded the AND.
Well it because they don't get paid..yea that's it!!I don't play any of these but holy hell...
Why couldnt real UO do this.
Uo guild enhanced free shard systems...
Even look at some of the achievement systems..a simple google search. Amazing...with the amount we all pay how could none of this ever see the light of day yet this is the normal on some free shards.
Keep telling yourself that...As far as the "Small Community" - they were referring to "Private Servers".
Heh, I remember when Messanna poohpoohed all the cool stuff on free shards explaining they were able to do cool stuff because they stole the game. Makes sense?Well it because they don't get paid..yea that's it!!
Unfortunately the community is quite small these days, if it weren't for the need for multiples of accounts it would be shut down..it's just the way it is.I wish devs wouldn't treat free shards as such gigantic insult or taboo or what not. You could easily make the accusation Mesanna did, of them stealing the game. It'd be very benefical to return the favor; there are plenty of really, really good ideas to be found among rulesets and mechanics of free shards. Ones that'd be easy to implement.
It wouldn't be worth the dev hours. They'd waste the hours on it, the pkers would go there, and finding no sheep to slaughter for their jollies, the pkers would leave. A dead server that was a waste of time to make.Wish a legit prodo vanilla server could happen. Vanqs, no tram, no crap art and no tack af dino log in screen, old school midi music, old status bar, etc. Make it a ruthless world again. But as always this will be proposed and quickly met with simply "No - its too complicated".
As I recall from a strong request like this some years back, it was stated that the actual code to support such a move had been deleted/written over by the newer versions that had come into play since T2A. At that time, I believe the servers used for shard support were smaller and did indeed have space that was limited enough to actually make this a possibility.Wish a legit prodo vanilla server could happen. Vanqs, no tram, no crap art and no tack af dino log in screen, old school midi music, old status bar, etc. Make it a ruthless world again. But as always this will be proposed and quickly met with simply "No - its too complicated".
And yet the freeshards somehow manage to find code that will do this.As I recall from a strong request like this some years back, it was stated that the actual code to support such a move had been deleted/written over by the newer versions that had come into play since T2A. At that time, I believe the servers used for shard support were smaller and did indeed have space that was limited enough to actually make this a possibility.
I'm betting a lot of them have the base code from years back and that is what they have built on. I'm not saying BS/EA is full of ca-ca, BUT corporate management of MMORPG code and the management by a small dedicated group are hugely different. Typically the larger the organization, the more lax they become about asset protection/saving.And yet the freeshards somehow manage to find code that will do this.
I would call BS but I could see it happen as one team moves in and and others moved out. It seems insane but I imagine each new team probably cleaned house and threw some old junk out. Personally I can't imagine anyone tossing out back ups of major world changes in a situation like this though. Maybe in the early days they never dreamed the game would stray as far from the original game as it did. EA in general isn't able to keep an MMO active very long Who'd have guessed we'd still be playing this that this would be a topic?As I recall from a strong request like this some years back, it was stated that the actual code to support such a move had been deleted/written over by the newer versions that had come into play since T2A. At that time, I believe the servers used for shard support were smaller and did indeed have space that was limited enough to actually make this a possibility.
I know from my business years in IT that there were instances that we archived off software or even whole out-dated homebrew apps to make room for newer versions of them or replacement apps that absorbed them. After 5-8 years even the archives were destroyed. It may be the same in BS/EA-land for all I know.
As I recall there was a lot of talk that at some point with the move from Austin to CA that a bunch of stuff got lost... and such...I would call BS but I could see it happen as one team moves in and and others moved out. It seems insane but I imagine each new team probably cleaned house and threw some old junk out. Personally I can't imagine anyone tossing out back ups of major world changes in a situation like this though. Maybe in the early days they never dreamed the game would stray as far from the original game as it did. EA in general isn't able to keep an MMO active very long Who'd have guessed we'd still be playing this that this would be a topic?
Don't dance around. Just tell us straight what ya think!As I recall there was a lot of talk that at some point with the move from Austin to CA that a bunch of stuff got lost... and such...
If that is what I recall I'm pretty sure that's the story we were given.
Now I for one am sick and tired of hearing how if they built a pre-tram shard everything would be all peaches and cream and thousands of players would come back etc... etc... etc... which IMO is all a bunch of mallarky with a capital M... Because first off the only reason that things were so peaches and cream was there weren't any other games anything similar to UO at the time..... there was no WoW or EQ or anything like that... and the sheeple had no where to go but to be fodder for the PKs and thieves and such. But NEWS FLASH today there are a 100+ other games to draw players all with graphics and pretty shinnies and quests and such to lead the sheeple by the nose rings... the only ones that would come back would be the PK's and Cheaters and Thieves of old looking for that old school feel of dominance.... that they would not find... because without sheeple... it's all nothing but others ready to do unto you...
So no.... that era has come and gone... it's died like it should have...
To bring new players back well... I don't know that UO will ever again see those days... with horrible graphics and an artist that obviously doesn't care that what he adds to the game looks completely out of place... either too big, lacking all detail, or out of perspective... and a Producer that thinks it's good and acceptable... they just keep plugging away and we just keep paying for it... decades old bugs still plague the game, and the attitudes are still there as well... you have no idea how many people have returned only to leave again because first off there are a bunch of "fun" sucking scum in the game... who feel the need to ruin everyone elses gameplay by scamming, cheating and hacking... and NOTHING is ever done about it... People get frustrated when they page a GM and get no response for hours on end or get the canned comment of "we have investigated the issue..." and nothing gets done... or whatever... where in a toxic environment people are allowed in the game to personally attack other players... with verbal assaults and even the naming of houses, pets and guilds in ways to personally attack other players... They harass and further torment victims of scammers and cheats... and this behavior is allowed to continue creating a toxic environment that is worse than a correctional facility... and they wonder why players leave in droves and won't return???
Not a shock or surprise to me... Yet people still and this is what really baffles me... continue to look upon this stuff with nostalgia???
What I miss and wish we could get back is the people who came together to play... to make something wonderful... those who built the RP towns of old and defended them... those who gathered each day and each week to rally together to delve into the depths of some dungeon for an adventure with friends ..... not for some object to sell for as much gold as they could so they could make their weekly/monthly quota of RL dollars selling the gold...
Those who enjoyed playing Orcs and asking for Shinnies... those who brought the Dark Elves to life and let you drift into a fantasy realm with them at the tavern on a Friday night... Where if you were not careful you could start a brawl... but nothing was lost or gained but friendships and stories... and a few bumps to the ego perhaps...
That is what I miss... but that I'm guessing is also long gone and no pre-Tram or Pre-AoS shard is ever going to bring that back. Because for starters anyone wanting to get back to UO is going to have to suffer the Account Mis-managment system and perhaps struggle to wade through all the BS at Origin to get the updates and upgrades they need at extremely over-inflated prices for a near 20 year old game. And they are going to moan and groan and decide it just isn't worth the bother.
Where? Maybe it's based on your browsing history, hmmm? Comments aren't advertising.And they advertise *********, a free shard, in that article. More players do play there now though. Simple check out top 100s or uoportal and you can see an average of 4,000. Does real Uo still have these numbers?
Probably close but I doubt more.
He is correct that they advertise a particular free shard in their article, not just the comments section. Look at the very last paragraph of the article, the free shard's name is highlighted as a link.Where? Maybe it's based on your browsing history, hmmm? Comments aren't advertising.