NEWS [UO.Com] Housing Status Update

[UO News]

Greetings everyone, We hope everyone is staying home and safe. We understand this is very trying but know we are all together on this. The team has talked about this several times and we feel the best decision is not to turn off housing decay. It would impact everyone by not allowing housing to be placed, housing to be transferred, as well temporarily turning off house decay. The problem is if we did turn it off when the housing is turned back on all the status fast forwards to the point it should have been at when we turned them […]

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[Pawain]

 

[Picus of Napa]

That was very poorly written.

 

[Xare]

May I summarize?

While we care about your houses (snicker), we care more about your money. Please believe this extended excuse that we don't know how to make the system work.

 

[Lord Nabin]

That's fine. Thank you

 

[Lord Frodo]

I mean they could pretend to give a ****.

LOL Talking to adults like adults is no longer PC then. They know what is going on and they made a decision on what is best for all of UO and all the new/returning players sorry if they weren't touchy feally enough. They did give a **** about all of the players. Just how many houses do you think have IDOCed from the covid

 

[Xare]

So, you're going to take this statement at face value? That they do not find the worth in figuring out the systems that would allow them to suspend automatic demolition?

 

[Lord Frodo]

LMAO You want them digging around the old code, that would be a big HELL NO.

 

[ShriNayne]

I'm not sure I understand what the point of that message was, did someone ask her to turn off housing? Since everyone is stuck at home there isn't really any excuse to make sure your payments are all going through okay, it's totally the opposite to a natural disaster where people are forced to leave their homes. Is there any point to making a post saying we are doing nothing and changing nothing?

 

[Jelinidas]

Where did this even come from? I have not seen much mentioned on this subject. As for the RUDE comment, this goes both ways. Have you seen some of the snarky comments on the UO Forums by the mods? Some of your comments are the same. smh

 

[Xare]

It was a follow up to this post several months back.

I can only speak for Final Fantasy XIV, but typically when there's a situation where either people can't get to their computer, they deactivate automatic housing demolition. I'm guessing that the large number of people who have lost their jobs was the concern here. I do know that FFXIV has turned off demolition at this time.

@Frodo, I want them to at least try to look into it. I understand that the code is ancient as dirt, but these are the people who's livelihood depends on the game receiving money. I would have expected them to either come up with a solution that doesn't screw over players who can no afford an account with something other than "No, we can't do it"

 

[Uriah Heep]

The less code they touch the better off UO is, it seems. And that goes for adding new stuff too, sadly

 

[TheGrimReefer]

The need to keep their websites stocked with items so they need the houses to fall. SCRIPTORS +1 REST OF UO 0

 

[Picus of Napa]

The problem with Bonnie's message was it had nothing as a reference and was confusing. @Xare sorted it out and did what she should have done. It wasn't much, added value and provided clarity.

@Lord Frodo of course people want them playing with the code, they are the only ones that can so how else can this game work if they don't?

And ya, it sucks when people are rude. Life is hard and even more so when you are in a power position. They took the job in running this game despite it all and are still getting a portion of my monthly fee. People get passionate about things they enjoy, I never really got the same impression from any of her posts and rarely from the other people either....I guess we all could see that.

Never in my wildest dreams would I see Bonnie post "8 hour bender grinding out Paroxysmus's!!!! Not sure if I won or not as I got one swampy and 0 crimmy's.....stupid RNG"


Right?

 

[ShriNayne]

@Xare thanks for giving us context, which is what the original message was missing! I wish she would hire someone to write these messages for her, they are always badly written, have poor grammar/spelling and end up looking unprofessional, which reflects badly on the game and the team.

 

[Hazel868789]

Even if written BLUF, ie "We are NOT turning OFF house decay", the comments would have been the same. YEA, even someone would have commented about the (intentional) Capital Letters.

 

[Keith of Sonoma]

The REAL reason, They didn't want to "hurt" the RMT housing, brokers/realtors/sites business. LOL

 

[Lord Nabin]

Let's be honest. It doesn't mater what they write or how they write it. These posts and comments will all still be the same.

A tremendous amount of thankless people exist here now a days. Its a shame and a sad state for this community.

 

[Keith of Sonoma]

Perhaps some people have finally just had enough of the Devs allowing the RMT crowd to run rampant, with zero sanctions/penalties

 

[Lord Nabin]

Perhaps some people have finally just had enough of the Devs allowing the RMT crowd to run rampant, with zero sanctions/penalties

Perhaps most people are tired of your conspiracy theories and the stupid drama.

 

[Xare]

Don't mind Keith, he's been like this for years. Don't bother trying to change his mind, he's pretty stubborn and would never accept an alternative to his "facts"

I think that there's been a slight change in the level of expected communication from a development team in the last 25 years that UO's team has not kept up with. Look at how other MMOs are communicating to their player base. It's a shocking difference. I might not agree with what they do, but at least they're taking sufficient time to explain their reasoning.

UO's team seems to be content with a half-assed explanation of what they're doing, and then an even more half-assed explanation of why. Rarely is there a two way communication that results in a changed course of action (hello IDOC!).

As a whole, it's disappointing. UO has so much potential and it could be a much better game than it is.

 

[Captn Norrington]

Moderator note:

Please don't personally attack each other in this thread, a report came in already. Criticism of a person's opinions or posts are fine, but attacks against their character traits, intelligence, credibility etc. are not.

Personal opinion:

I think they've made the correct decision not to turn off housing because of the Covid-19 stuff. The usual three month leniency on house decay exists for emergency situations exactly like this, so there's really no need to turn off the system entirely. If a person can't find $12.99 in 3 months to renew their account because of the Covid-19 situation, they have much bigger issues to deal with than their UO house collapsing. For the people with many houses, they can simply cut down on accounts/houses for a while until they have the financial means to reopen them again just like people do for any other resource during financial stress. It's a little weird that the devs randomly announced this without being prompted, but it's good that they put the information out like this instead of leaving people wondering what may or may not happen.

 

[Pawain]

Look at how other MMOs are communicating to their player base. It's a shocking difference.

True, I played Diablo 3 for years and never saw anything from a developer. I could not tell you the name of one.

 

[Picus of Napa]

UO's team seems to be content with a half-assed explanation of what they're doing, and then an even more half-assed explanation of why. Rarely is there a two way communication that results in a changed course of action (hello IDOC!).

As a whole, it's disappointing. UO has so much potential and it could be a much better game than it is.

You have to play the game to understand the dynamics.

 

[Xare]

True, I played Diablo 3 for years and never saw anything from a developer. I could not tell you the name of one.

Not an MMO. But beside that, you haven't tried looking, have you? That'd be the equivalent of playing UO and never reading the UO forums or Stratics. Its hard to know if you don't take even half measures to find it.

You have to play the game to understand the dynamics.

I umm have played and still do on occasion? What are you trying to say here?

Moderator note:

Please don't personally attack each other in this thread, a report came in already. Criticism of a person's opinions or posts are fine, but attacks against their character traits, intelligence, credibility etc. are not.

Personal opinion:

I think they've made the correct decision not to turn off housing because of the Covid-19 stuff. The usual three month leniency on house decay exists for emergency situations exactly like this, so there's really no need to turn off the system entirely. If a person can't find $12.99 in 3 months to renew their account because of the Covid-19 situation, they have much bigger issues to deal with than their UO house collapsing. For the people with many houses, they can simply cut down on accounts/houses for a while until they have the financial means to reopen them again just like people do for any other resource during financial stress. It's a little weird that the devs randomly announced this without being prompted, but it's good that they put the information out like this instead of leaving people wondering what may or may not happen.

Opinion note: I can understand that point, and while I give you that your opinion is well reasoned and I can understand why you believe the way you do, I disagree on it being the right call. I'm sure its just me, but in some really unprecedented times like the ones we have, it would have been a gresture of good faith to relieve this one small item from players' minds if they needed, especially considering there is very little way a player can store the number of items within a house into ANY other storage medium. It is purely a pay up or lose it situation.

 

[ShriNayne]

You have to play the game to understand the dynamics.

I umm have played and still do on occasion? What are you trying to say here?

I thought he was referring to the devs lack of actually playing UO, or at least not playing as an ordinary player, but I might have misunderstood!

 

[Xare]

I thought he was referring to the devs lack of actually playing UO, or at least not playing as an ordinary player, but I might have misunderstood!

Oh!
I think the Dev team does play, and they do love the game. I just think they're playing differing aspects than a majority of players.

 

[Picus of Napa]

Oh!
I think the Dev team does play, and they do love the game. I just think they're playing differing aspects than a majority of players.

Sorry for the confusion. I hope they play but, after all these years, I find it hard to imagine they do to the same extend the rest of us do.

I can understand though, a cake maker doesn't want to eat cake every day but you should have a good understanding of what makes people buy your cake.

 

[GarthGrey]

I thought he was referring to the devs lack of actually playing UO, or at least not playing as an ordinary player, but I might have misunderstood!

That's been my feelings for years. I would voice it more over at Mariah.com but it would just lead to her inserting her personal opinion into the thread before locking it and repremanding me or anyone else involved. It such a tiring act over there I"m to the point now where I'm just going to read the threads, laugh and move on.

 

[Lord Frodo]

And what do you tell all the new/returning players that they are paying customers and they can not own a house because we turned off the housing servers. What about all the players that want to redo their house but can not because they turned off the housing server. Alls you people can do is whine about the scriptors and the rest of the bull ****. What about the players that want a house or want to change their house. You all are just a bunch of selfish UO haters that can not wait till the next thing to flame UO about.

 

[Xare]

Actually, I agree that if there was absolutely no way that they could turn off auto demo without totally shutting down housing, then there is a valid reason to not.

But the way the posting is worded, it appears that they didn't even try to come up with a workaround. They said oh, it's all one system and can't be broken apart. It's a cop out.

Oh, Frodo? I'm just waiting for a good reason to play, not a reason to light the torches. Shame I'm only being given one of those options.

 

[Keith of Sonoma]

Perhaps most people are tired of your conspiracy theories and the stupid drama.

It's not a conspiracy theory if it's true! Also, why do my comments against RMT's bother you so much? They ARE still against the rules

 

[Picus of Napa]

And what do you tell all the new/returning players that they are paying customers and they can not own a house because we turned off the housing servers. What about all the players that want to redo their house but can not because they turned off the housing server. Alls you people can do is whine about the scriptors and the rest of the bull ****. What about the players that want a house or want to change their house. You all are just a bunch of selfish UO haters that can not wait till the next thing to flame UO about.

I don't understand the issue, I returned and placed a place on Napa, Atl and Seige without any problems in the last 2 months and the housing server seemed fine then.

It's not a conspiracy theory if it's true! Also, why do my comments against RMT's bother you so much? They ARE still against the rules

@GarthGrey It is a bummer, even the well put posting from popps got the old lock. Can't say much about anything or have the smallest expectation of improvement.

 

[Pawain]

It is a bummer, even the well put posting from popps got the old lock. Can't say much about anything or have the smallest expectation of improvement.

Of course you did not notice that was his second post on the subject. They explained to him why they will not change the event before he made his first thread.

Hopefully they never listen to his ideas.

 

[Xare]

IMHO Unless your paying for the game I really dont give a **** what you think
popps is a joke and when he was posting here you all flamed him and now that he is posting on the official forums he is the wisest poster going, what a joke.

Hey guess what! You've got something in common with the Dev team! Unless we're paying, they don't give a rat's ass what we think.

Really, is this surprising?

 

[Lord Nabin]

It's not a conspiracy theory if it's true! Also, why do my comments against RMT's bother you so much? They ARE still against the rules

RMT Doesn't bother me except when it takes advantage of my fellow community members. Which it did to a very extreme many years ago.

"It's not a conspiracy theory if it's true!" well those conspiracy theories are not true so time to move on.

Seems like you do not want to have anything to do with anything that was involved ever in RMT. In fact if something was ever involved with the RMT position it should be pretty much annihilated in your theory. A total detriment to the community. I think you might want to rethink that.

 

[ShriNayne]

I didn't think they were turning off any part of housing, which is a good thing with so many people playing right now, it's not like people are trapped somewhere other than their own home. I just wish Mesanna would have put some actual context in her statement, some reason why she was mentioning the housing at all so everyone knew what was going on. Turning it off made a big mess last time after it came back on and a lot of people were pretty annoyed about that too. I know, I know, sometimes you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

 

[Dot_Warner]

This thread needs snacks to go along with it...

 

[Lord Nabin]

This thread needs snacks to go along with it...

View attachment 108555

That plate needs some honey !!!

 

[Dot_Warner]

That plate needs some honey !!!

Do murder hornets produce honey?

 

[Lord Nabin]

Do murder hornets produce honey?

Hello No, Praying Mantis are the answer to that. We just release several hundred in our yard! Gahh!

I hear they are crunchy on the BBQ. I will let you know my friend!

 

[Pawain]

There have been a lot of Tweeks the devs made to the game because of constructive feedback. They have changed a few things I have brought up. I asked for new things on the huntsmaster rewards they came up with the satchels for resources, a hat, and some recipes.

But, the rules over there are stated. Once a thread is closed you are not supposed to open the same topic again.
Follow the rules and give constructive ideas and feedback and the devs may implement your ideas. Some get mad when the devs do not change things based on their ideas. Most of those times I am glad the Devs did not change.

 

[petemage]

There have been a lot of Tweeks the devs made to the game because of constructive feedback. They have changed a few things I have brought up. I asked for new things on the huntsmaster rewards they came up with the satchels for resources, a hat, and some recipes.

But, the rules over there are stated. Once a thread is closed you are not supposed to open the same topic again.
Follow the rules and give constructive ideas and feedback and the devs may implement your ideas. Some get mad when the devs do not change things based on their ideas. Most of those times I am glad the Devs did not change.

The thing is he and you can post the same thread. But Poops will be locked within 2 days by Petra or her minion. Feels those moderators are just waiting for the first chance to close his threads.

 

[ShriNayne]

I can honestly say it's the first time I was ever in agreement with Popps, generally he's a menace! The things he has been saying are exactly what a lot of us said when this event was on the first time around, the way it's been done does not encourage people to all work together to complete every invasion, it only benefits the few players who are there first and then leave when the incentive is gone.
On quiet shards it maybe works okay but on Europa, not the most populated shard, we had three or four times the number of people for the first 10 minutes and then the same alliance was left cleaning up the rest of the invasion with not a lot of help. It makes everything take longer and longer and a lot of people just gave up.
The Devs never seem to allow for human nature and let's face it, when UO started and we only had Fel a lot of that human nature was not just unhelpful, it was downright nasty. If they do something like this again then the drops that are desirable should be spread out among the whole invasion, random drops, so the incentive to kill everything is clear.

 

[AntyvasII]

On quiet shards it maybe works okay but on Europa, not the most populated shard, we had three or four times the number of people for the first 10 minutes and then the same alliance was left cleaning up the rest of the invasion with not a lot of help. It makes everything take longer and longer and a lot of people just gave up.

I don't mind it much personally when that happens; I'm not really in any rush and just take my time collecting all the loot to unravel.

 

[Naxatilor Feluka]

Oh!
I think the Dev team does play, and they do love the game. I just think they're playing differing aspects than a majority of players.

The devs do play, but they will not release what server they play or what chars, for obvious reasons. i asked kyronix about it once

 

[Pawain]

The thing is he and you can post the same thread. But Poops will be locked within 2 days by Petra or her minion. Feels those moderators are just waiting for the first chance to close his threads.

Actually I did post the same type thread. But I did mine before the invasions restarted.
Here

Then he posted his book of concerns in a Thread. Then he started a new thread with the same concerns but in a Novel this time.

You cant repost the same topics over there or they get locked. I know how to follow the rules.

The difference is, I accept the answers and move on.

 

[Uriah Heep]

The devs do play, but they will not release what server they play or what chars, for obvious reasons. i asked kyronix about it once

Wonder if they play on regular accounts or if it's all god mode playing

 

[Lord Nabin]

Wonder if they play on regular accounts or if it's all god mode playing

Regular

 

[Riyana]

They know perfectly well how to shut off housing decay. They have done it before.

I agree with the decision not to turn off housing. There is a generous three month grace period already.

Exactly how long could they be reasonably expected to suspend one of the most unique and integral parts of the game and expect people who are paying to continue to do so? A month? Three months? A year? Longer? No one really knows when the economy will recover, or when players who can't currently pay will be able to do so again.

Housing is a significant, possibly the single most important, reason that people sub up. Especially right now when people are returning to or trying UO during quarantine and there are so many other options out there, they need to keep it available.

The last time they shut housing off was for the Florida hurricanes. I dropped a paid account over it. The account was specifically for event housing and there was no point paying for something they weren't letting me use. When they turned it back on, a whole bunch of houses collapsed anyway. Did they save anything? Maybe. Did they save enough to offset losing accounts and players who couldn't use what they were paying for? Maybe, but I'm guessing not since they aren't doing it again.

It is terrible that people are struggling right now, but UO can't cripple a core function indefinitely. It's easy to say "but think of the people who might lose houses because of the pandemic" but they have to be practical. Cutting off one of UO's best features for players who are paying in an effort to help players who aren't just isn't practical.