I hope one day you'll unify both the shards so we could have a proper population.
What do you think about this?
What do you think about this?
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Unify Drachenfells with Europa !
- Thread starter Kiss Of Death
- Start date
- Watchers 4
- Status
R
Roc01965
Guest
Yes please, I play in Europe and it seems not very populated.
hmm. What is your solution to the problem of two houses occupying the same co ordinates, one on Europa and one on Drachenfels?
E
Evlar
Guest
Players have to have an arena fight for the right to the spot? 
L
Legacyee
Guest
aye.. and what about those who have seven active characters on both shards?
R
Roc01965
Guest
No solution, but what's the point in having 2 semi-deserted shards?
K
[King_Fisher]
Guest
Im sure Drachenfells attempted this before. (Twice) and they got beat back by Europe.
here we go WWIII baby!
here we go WWIII baby!
Youre right, in a sense. Drach and Europa's playerbase would fit comfortably on one shard. Should they go down this route then Europa would be that shard simply based on current population levels. Drach is deserted. I found a spot that would fit a trammel keep a few weeks back (good location on grass) and couldnt even give it away! I usede to play Drach but transfered 12 characters across to Europa over a year ago simply because I like my multi player games to be multi player. I still have 1 Drach character though and I pop back occasionally to check it out...
However ... the housing problem as in what do you do with people who have Drach houses, and the multiple characters across both shards means that its most likely that they will never merge them.
B
Babble
Guest
Why not keep the 2 shards seperate?
Anyone who wishes can transfer anyway.
Anyone who wishes can transfer anyway.
This has been discussed many times and has some merits and some downsides. Existing Moongates would be the obvious method. EA probably wouldnt go for this on a large scale, as in connecting all the shards due to the loss in revenue from transfer tokens, but they may consider it on a more localised scale i.e. Drach/Europa. Then again maybe not ... im sure theyve got the stats to show how many transfers occur between those two shards and therefore what the revenue is...
Im also unsure as to what this would solve ... you'd still have exactly the same number of players and exactly the same landmass so its no different to now.
I think the only way this would work is if the 250/500 players on drachs requested there shard to be decommisioned and transfer to the 1000/1500 population on europa.. and the best outcome would be to open the vast land in malas ...or even make another new island and let drachs have there own german community ....house size for house size ....within europa shard to which they can play and if they want they can move out into the other europa landmass as they feel.
THIS IDEA WOULD BE THE ONLY WAY TO DO THIS SHARD MERGING MESS.
THIS IDEA WOULD BE THE ONLY WAY TO DO THIS SHARD MERGING MESS.
BTW the new island or landmass for the intergrating shard merging into the more popular shard will be like the old malas competition houses... placed by a EM/GM and not placeable again if they fall...but possible transferable only!!!!!
WE really dont need any more placeable landmass...... its a case of accomodating then snuggulating into the shard masses
WE really dont need any more placeable landmass...... its a case of accomodating then snuggulating into the shard masses
YOU ARE KIDDING RIGHT lets put all the Drachefelians in tenements like the ones they have in your country. even better put them on an island. For gods sake Drach's is a blending of people from all over some Russians, Spaniards, Dutch, Danish, Brits, Germans, Italians, Americans and the occassional Canadian like me. calling this a German shard means you know nout.
Well if what I hear on the low grape vine pans out they might not need to merge.... but its a hope not a guarantee. As for a merge if it has to come down to that , it would be prudent to allow the houseing athority to open malas for their homes to be replaced there.
Strictly Drac transfers only and this wouldnt go against the 1 house ruleset as some do have grandfathered accounts there. As for the 7 char limit...... I cant see why they cant ether make a second page of chars for this kind of thing or enlarge the list. If they can add in to make it 7 from the 6 why not more. But the object is not to kill off shards.
We need a buildup of new players- period.
Strictly Drac transfers only and this wouldnt go against the 1 house ruleset as some do have grandfathered accounts there. As for the 7 char limit...... I cant see why they cant ether make a second page of chars for this kind of thing or enlarge the list. If they can add in to make it 7 from the 6 why not more. But the object is not to kill off shards.
We need a buildup of new players- period.
Basara
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Re: Unify Drachenfels with Europa !
Some previous suggestions:
1. Reconfigure Fel T2A into its own facet, shared by two shards (and not allowing travel by characters that way to the other shard's own facets).
This would allow for multi-shard fights and spawns in T2A (while reserving the dungeon spawns specifically for the shard residents - complete with the T2A spawns having their own separate star room from the regular shards; Harrowers instigated in the T2A star room would only occur in the merged T2A), and cross-shard transactions being done in Delucia & Papua (with the usual Fel guardzone dangers). Chat would not cross in or out of the merged T2A. Guild tags would of course have a tag added to keep someone from accidentally joining another shard's guild on cross-over.
Another option:
2. Much more labor intensive. Change the scale of the housing-enabled landmasses outside the dungeons from the current approximate 1 step = 4 minutes to 1 / 2, thereby enlarging the world map by a factor of 4 (this would be for all shards). Areas not measured in degrees and minutes, and non-housing locations such as T2A, dungeons and Ilshenar, would retain their current scale (two new spots in the Abyss would be created for the two residents, perhaps in other spots to make them more unique)
Announce a date. State that after "X" date, nothing in the game will be saved for those shards, or be movable off or onto those shards - scheduled differently for different shards - and that nothing imortant should be left on goza constructs.
With the new map constructed & debugged (and perhaps tweaked a bit - such as a second ring road to Luna, to accomodate the new houses), have Mythic employees make a save on "X day" of the old shards to be merged, then start moving houses by hand to the corresponding locations on the new map. As each area is now twice as wide and twice as long, both shard's houses will fit, with 50%-100% more room to spare (which will allow the homeowners room to resize after the merger). Pre-Trammel Player-run towns from Fel would be given the option to relocate to Trammel, but at the cost of as many as 2/3 the houses in their new location would be strangers. Of course, all the houses of accounts inactive for more than 90 days would not be copied at all (unless special reasons exist).
Once all houses and event related locations (including player town stuff) are transferred, and the guilds retagged to prevent accidental merger, the new shard would open - with the character slots of both parent shards. The ghosts of the old shards would then close. This would happen to pairs of shards, about once per month (would go quicker once the base new map was done for the first merger, as it would be reused). Shard Transfer would be down for the duration of the process, and no major events would be scheduled during the period.
Some shards (Atlantic, maybe some of the other Eastern and Asian shards) would not merge, but would get the larger landmass anyway. SP might or might not get the larger land size (if it did, it would probably also include allowing people to pay a for a code that allowed a SP house in addition to one elsewhere - but ONLY after the SP regulars had settled in for a month and expanded all their houses).
I don't think very many people would be upset with these.
Some previous suggestions:
1. Reconfigure Fel T2A into its own facet, shared by two shards (and not allowing travel by characters that way to the other shard's own facets).
This would allow for multi-shard fights and spawns in T2A (while reserving the dungeon spawns specifically for the shard residents - complete with the T2A spawns having their own separate star room from the regular shards; Harrowers instigated in the T2A star room would only occur in the merged T2A), and cross-shard transactions being done in Delucia & Papua (with the usual Fel guardzone dangers). Chat would not cross in or out of the merged T2A. Guild tags would of course have a tag added to keep someone from accidentally joining another shard's guild on cross-over.
Another option:
2. Much more labor intensive. Change the scale of the housing-enabled landmasses outside the dungeons from the current approximate 1 step = 4 minutes to 1 / 2, thereby enlarging the world map by a factor of 4 (this would be for all shards). Areas not measured in degrees and minutes, and non-housing locations such as T2A, dungeons and Ilshenar, would retain their current scale (two new spots in the Abyss would be created for the two residents, perhaps in other spots to make them more unique)
Announce a date. State that after "X" date, nothing in the game will be saved for those shards, or be movable off or onto those shards - scheduled differently for different shards - and that nothing imortant should be left on goza constructs.
With the new map constructed & debugged (and perhaps tweaked a bit - such as a second ring road to Luna, to accomodate the new houses), have Mythic employees make a save on "X day" of the old shards to be merged, then start moving houses by hand to the corresponding locations on the new map. As each area is now twice as wide and twice as long, both shard's houses will fit, with 50%-100% more room to spare (which will allow the homeowners room to resize after the merger). Pre-Trammel Player-run towns from Fel would be given the option to relocate to Trammel, but at the cost of as many as 2/3 the houses in their new location would be strangers. Of course, all the houses of accounts inactive for more than 90 days would not be copied at all (unless special reasons exist).
Once all houses and event related locations (including player town stuff) are transferred, and the guilds retagged to prevent accidental merger, the new shard would open - with the character slots of both parent shards. The ghosts of the old shards would then close. This would happen to pairs of shards, about once per month (would go quicker once the base new map was done for the first merger, as it would be reused). Shard Transfer would be down for the duration of the process, and no major events would be scheduled during the period.
Some shards (Atlantic, maybe some of the other Eastern and Asian shards) would not merge, but would get the larger landmass anyway. SP might or might not get the larger land size (if it did, it would probably also include allowing people to pay a for a code that allowed a SP house in addition to one elsewhere - but ONLY after the SP regulars had settled in for a month and expanded all their houses).
I don't think very many people would be upset with these.
I would be all for a shard merger if it would mean you'd end up with a bigger population to play. But as was said plenty of times before in this thread, due to housing and people with characters on both the DF and EU shard, you'd simply end up with a discussion about which side will have to give up first...
The only solution I could come up with is if they'd open up a fresh 3rd european shard and place moongates on DF and EU and combine the population that way. Would mean everyone has the same chance at housing spots again. Obviously, this would bring on a whole bunch of problems on its own (EM/GM placed historic items on both shards, etc, etc)...
So in short, I think it's quite impossible that this would ever happen, unfortunately...
The only solution I could come up with is if they'd open up a fresh 3rd european shard and place moongates on DF and EU and combine the population that way. Would mean everyone has the same chance at housing spots again. Obviously, this would bring on a whole bunch of problems on its own (EM/GM placed historic items on both shards, etc, etc)...
So in short, I think it's quite impossible that this would ever happen, unfortunately...
Firstly, Drach may not be a German shard but is a predominantly German speaking shard. Secondly, its not a spelling competition. Stop being so pedantic.
Do any of you even play on Drachenfels? As a Drachenfels player I say:
DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!!
Doesn't matter how you go about this, you would loose most of the Drachenfels population. And no, it's not as empty as everybody likes to make it seem.
DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!!
Doesn't matter how you go about this, you would loose most of the Drachenfels population. And no, it's not as empty as everybody likes to make it seem.
If you made a 'super shard' with a complete copy of the landmasses, or added 'gates' to travel between the existing shards, so you kept player homes, guilds, histories and locations intact, it might be possible to 'merge' playerbases to some degree without losing a large proportion of them - but the work involved building that, combined with the tiny reduction in server hardware capacity required, a miniscule cut in bandwidth costs, no noticeable reduction in staff and support costs, and a significant degree of uncertainty for the playerbase mean it's an idea that would never be pursued.
R
RavenWinterHawk
Guest
Here is how it is done.
Drac will be shutting down in 90 days. Please move your charactures to a new shard. All charactures on drac can be moved to Europa if you have room for free. Transfer tokens and soulstones will be available for exiting players, they can only be used to exit drac. VERY COMPLICATED
Or better.
Drac will be closing in 90 days. Please move your charactures. LESS COMPLICATED
Or better.
If you don't like the shard you are on just move yourself and stop making it so complicated. SIMPLE.
Drac will be shutting down in 90 days. Please move your charactures to a new shard. All charactures on drac can be moved to Europa if you have room for free. Transfer tokens and soulstones will be available for exiting players, they can only be used to exit drac. VERY COMPLICATED
Or better.
Drac will be closing in 90 days. Please move your charactures. LESS COMPLICATED
Or better.
If you don't like the shard you are on just move yourself and stop making it so complicated. SIMPLE.
B
Babble
Guest
Keeping the server open should not cost them a lot, so why go through the trouble of merging servers?
Yes, delete Europa! 
All exciting house on Europa will be deleted and replaced with all Drachs Houses that transfers with all characters to it.
I have no regret for all europa players who looses there houses when the Player run town of Drachental is complete moved to Europa.If we have to suffer cause we have to move then its only fair that when we are forced to move that the Europa players pay a price for it as well. After all they want more people on there shards.
If i have to loose all my houses and the player run town and community we have build over the years on Drachenfels. Forget that i will keep playing UO. And i can tell you when i leave i will take a lot with me who think the same. Keep your hands of our shard. If you don't have enough players on your shard, then move to another yourself
All exciting house on Europa will be deleted and replaced with all Drachs Houses that transfers with all characters to it.
I have no regret for all europa players who looses there houses when the Player run town of Drachental is complete moved to Europa.If we have to suffer cause we have to move then its only fair that when we are forced to move that the Europa players pay a price for it as well. After all they want more people on there shards.
If i have to loose all my houses and the player run town and community we have build over the years on Drachenfels. Forget that i will keep playing UO. And i can tell you when i leave i will take a lot with me who think the same. Keep your hands of our shard. If you don't have enough players on your shard, then move to another yourself
C
CatLord
Guest
No, I love my shard.
Touch Drachs... and you will have to deal with me.
Touch Drachs... and you will have to deal with me.
This
might not be totally german but theres a strong sense of it there, and you can see this in that everything thats done there is translated in english and german, even the EMs make all announcements in both languages
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.Yes, delete Europa!
All exciting house on Europa will be deleted and replaced with all Drachs Houses that transfers with all characters to it.
I have no regret for all europa players who looses there houses when the Player run town of Drachental is complete moved to Europa.If we have to suffer cause we have to move then its only fair that when we are forced to move that the Europa players pay a price for it as well. After all they want more people on there shards.
If i have to loose all my houses and the player run town and community we have build over the years on Drachenfels. Forget that i will keep playing UO. And i can tell you when i leave i will take a lot with me who think the same. Keep your hands of our shard. If you don't have enough players on your shard, then move to another yourself
Europa > Drachenfels
Ok, here's something to keep in mind...it doesn't really cost EA extra to have both shards. They cost the same in maintenance and the servers are already payed, so its only the power bill.
To solve the population problem without completely taking out housing, would be to give discounted or free transfers from Drachs to Europa, but full cost the other way. This way people would naturally start migrating slowly to the new shard and the old one would be kept.
To solve the population problem without completely taking out housing, would be to give discounted or free transfers from Drachs to Europa, but full cost the other way. This way people would naturally start migrating slowly to the new shard and the old one would be kept.
Well, assuming that the OP worded it a little as a deliberate provocation ^^ unification of shards is not the worst idea. But why Drachs?
Do you really think those 200+ active Drachs Players could improve the situation on Europe? (Actually, there are much more on our shard, but you´ll never see them)
Being an active IDOC hunter I would estimate the amount of paid accounts on Drachs at about 1000+ (without Multiple accounts and Return to Brit Houses). The majority holds houses due to nostalgic reasons, and doesn´t really play on a regular basis. I´m sure those people would cancel their subscriptions immediately, when forced to move to another shard.
So, if you want better community on Europe - ask EA to merge Europe with Atlantic. I wish you luck. ^^
/Claire - Drachs citizen from day 1.
Do you really think those 200+ active Drachs Players could improve the situation on Europe? (Actually, there are much more on our shard, but you´ll never see them)
Being an active IDOC hunter I would estimate the amount of paid accounts on Drachs at about 1000+ (without Multiple accounts and Return to Brit Houses). The majority holds houses due to nostalgic reasons, and doesn´t really play on a regular basis. I´m sure those people would cancel their subscriptions immediately, when forced to move to another shard.
So, if you want better community on Europe - ask EA to merge Europe with Atlantic. I wish you luck. ^^
/Claire - Drachs citizen from day 1.
How exactly do you know the difference between different players and a player with different accounts?
...Drachs is a village. After so many years you know a lot of names and what´s behind them.
But as I said, I estimate - I don´t claim to be absolutely correct.
/Claire
But as I said, I estimate - I don´t claim to be absolutely correct.
/Claire
T
Trevelyan
Guest
Swedish and German seem to be the two widest spoken languages on DF so it is fair to call it a "German" shard.
Merging the shards implies closure. We need more players, not less. The upside many would see is an increase in Europa population. That might be a downside too. In addition, some may like DF's lesser population.
Its an interesting idea and I like Europa to be "on top", but really we need more players to come from marketting, Return to Britannia programs etc and not from shard closure.
Merging the shards implies closure. We need more players, not less. The upside many would see is an increase in Europa population. That might be a downside too. In addition, some may like DF's lesser population.
Its an interesting idea and I like Europa to be "on top", but really we need more players to come from marketting, Return to Britannia programs etc and not from shard closure.
Don't give me that Star Trek lingo to agree with this stupid idea.
Its sad that the "many" Europa players need to be entertaint by the "few" Drachs one. That woul only mean that you don't have fun on Europa and a "few" more of us from Drachs won't change that. Only tells me that size don't matter and that maybe that you are playing the wrong shard and better move to Drachs to learn what fun is about.
sounds a bit like ethnic cleansing to me
the more crap I hear from the rest of you the more I really feel lucky to be part of the Drachefels community clearly the fact that most of us know each other and care for each other here means the rest of you dont deserve us.
Leave us alone.
Actually, I think you'd find that the 'many' Europa players have no more interest in this crackpot scheme than you have, just a handful of pvpers.Don't give me that Star Trek lingo to agree with this stupid idea.
Its sad that the "many" Europa players need to be entertaint by the "few" Drachs one. That woul only mean that you don't have fun on Europa and a "few" more of us from Drachs won't change that. Only tells me that size don't matter and that maybe that you are playing the wrong shard and better move to Drachs to learn what fun is about.
IF such a thing were ever to be considered the only fair way to go would be to move BOTH populations onto a clean, new shard with a different name and close both current shards. However, both shards have history that should not be lost and I sincerely hope that such a move will never be necessary.
English is the most widely spoken language on Drachenfels.
Actually Drachenfels IS german. At least the word/name itselfs. 
Btw 'Drachenfels' translates into something like 'Dragonsrock' in english.
Btw 'Drachenfels' translates into something like 'Dragonsrock' in english.
There is many a true word spoken in film...
I played drach for around 8 years from 2000 onwards. I left because it was a wilderness. Like I said, I like my games to be multiplayer, not just a handful of diehards. Im having loads of fun on Europa ... just the way I used to on Drach when it had players ... but the more the merrier so I'd welcome a merge.Its sad that the "many" Europa players need to be entertaint by the "few" Drachs one. That woul only mean that you don't have fun on Europa and a "few" more of us from Drachs won't change that. Only tells me that size don't matter and that maybe that you are playing the wrong shard and better move to Drachs to learn what fun is about.
I actually quite like Petra's idea of a fresh European shard with both current shards closing to create on 'uber' shard, as you germans are fond of saying. There would be more than enough housing available for all players across both shards.
N
Novak(Caci)
Guest
For my opinion uo need to be in the pc games shops that every see it to buy it.
The most play wow Rhunes of magic Aion Star Trek onlne Eve online becasue they see the games in the games shops.
Rhunes of magic is item game buy shop so its free but you can buy items in game for relife money.I see for that game so much internt advertisment
i see it in every games sop and it has 3.5 milion player.I see their advertismant in internet and in magazines.And im not talking about wow.
I play olso other online games.If i ask the other player of other online games do you hear of uo?Most say dont hear anything about it.Some say i played it on free shard.
Drachenfels is a german word.If you translate it its Dragonrock.
I moved from Drachanfels all my 6 char to Atlantic shard becasue Altantic is real full.That means every player on Drachenfels has the joice to tranfer char to other shard.For my optinion uo needs more advertisment.It is the grandvather of all mmos online games.
The most play wow Rhunes of magic Aion Star Trek onlne Eve online becasue they see the games in the games shops.
Rhunes of magic is item game buy shop so its free but you can buy items in game for relife money.I see for that game so much internt advertisment
i see it in every games sop and it has 3.5 milion player.I see their advertismant in internet and in magazines.And im not talking about wow.
I play olso other online games.If i ask the other player of other online games do you hear of uo?Most say dont hear anything about it.Some say i played it on free shard.
Drachenfels is a german word.If you translate it its Dragonrock.
I moved from Drachanfels all my 6 char to Atlantic shard becasue Altantic is real full.That means every player on Drachenfels has the joice to tranfer char to other shard.For my optinion uo needs more advertisment.It is the grandvather of all mmos online games.
First of all i'm not german. Second closing to shards to make one "uber" shard is only a fantasy.
If you close 2 shards then you going to end up with one shard with less players then on the both ones together.
My apologies ... I didnt realise you had a crystal ball.
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