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NEWS [UO.Com] Producer Letter

Ludes

Babbling Loonie
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Could be a good thing... or not. I'm withholding my opinion for a few months.
 

GalenKnighthawke

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Could be a good thing... or not. I'm withholding my opinion for a few months.
I don't see how it could be bad, it can only be good or neutral/negligible. We'll see.

Is anyone except me simply pleased that EA appears to have realized that it doesn't understand the MMO model and has hired someone else to run these games for them?

-Galen's player
 

Tina Small

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I don't see how it could be bad, it can only be good or neutral/negligible. We'll see.

Is anyone except me simply pleased that EA appears to have realized that it doesn't understand the MMO model and has hired someone else to run these games for them?

-Galen's player

At this point, one thing that I am concerned about is the extent of support that Broadsword is going to be able to provide to the non-English speaking shards. With a staff of just 14 people to support two games, I'm really wondering if that includes ANY of the headcount from the UO Japan team.

Although I do notice that the Broadsword e-mail address appears on the Technical Support contact page at http://ultimaonline.jp/support/contact/contact_2.html, there is no news at all about the transition to Broadsword on the home page of the UO Japan website. Also, the news page at http://ultimaonline.jp/news/ is coming up completely blank. When you try to jump to the details of the few news articles that are visible on the home page, you go to blank pages. The community page at http://ultimaonline.jp/community/ is also showing up blank.

If EA has farmed out all aspects of UO, other than account management, to Broadsword and they are unable to keep the UO Japan website updated or provide GM support in Japanese, will Japanese players stick around? If they don't, will UO be able to survive?
 
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Tina Small

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
It's also irritating to see that the DAoC Facebook page and website have been updated with several new posts, while the UO Facebook page was last updated in August 2013. And DAoC has a new "community lead" (Carol Kenny) while UO apparently has nothing of the sort.

https://www.facebook.com/DarkAgeofCamelot
https://www.facebook.com/UltimaOnline

(You should not need to be logged into Facebook to look at either of those pages.)

Grrrr.....
 

Lady Storm

Grand Inquisitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Ah... but your already a Honeybunny.....:rolleyes: now go take your yearly bath like a good bun bun...

Tina Give Bonnie time she has alot more people to please then the very small handfull at DAoC... those players have been running on sheere guts and hope for a long time.
Now as for the asian shards....
If I am correct EA had to set up a totally seprate system for them conforming to Japan's rules and Laws.
Bonnie has as I remember worked with them many times and I would not be surprised if they are in the loop to be handled too as is by Broadsword under Bonnie as they are now.
I seriously doubt one of our bigger contributing sectors of population will be over looked.


Oh that reminds me they are looking for EMs who can read and understand japaneese/english so any of you out there who fit the bill put in and serve your fellow player.

Many are willing to give this a shot and are also willing to give them time.... to work out the kinks and give us a better game. ;)
 

Tina Small

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Ah... but your already a Honeybunny.....:rolleyes: now go take your yearly bath like a good bun bun...

Tina Give Bonnie time she has alot more people to please then the very small handfull at DAoC... those players have been running on sheere guts and hope for a long time.
Now as for the asian shards....
If I am correct EA had to set up a totally seprate system for them conforming to Japan's rules and Laws.
Bonnie has as I remember worked with them many times and I would not be surprised if they are in the loop to be handled too as is by Broadsword under Bonnie as they are now.
I seriously doubt one of our bigger contributing sectors of population will be over looked.


Oh that reminds me they are looking for EMs who can read and understand japaneese/english so any of you out there who fit the bill put in and serve your fellow player.

Many are willing to give this a shot and are also willing to give them time.... to work out the kinks and give us a better game. ;)
I just checked a few minutes ago and all the town criers on the Japanese shards and Balhae have no news at this time. Formosa's town criers say all events are cancelled until further notice. However, EM Hanarin of Arirang is once again completely on top of things! My hat is really off to him.

According to the info on his new website, which already carries the Broadsword logo and announcement regarding Broadsword, he is going to do a meet-and-greet on February 15th where he hopes to give some attention to actual Korean players to hear what their issues with UO are, what they've been through, what they want, their stories. I hope he will do the same on Balhae or that someone will update the town cryer system there to carry the same message as on Arirang so Korean players on Balhae will know to go to Arirang on 2/15 for the meet and greet.

I am REALLY happy to see this finally happening, i.e., that someone is actually going to try to engage Korean players on their home shard(s). I hope that he and the EM Takako can put their heads together with Mesanna and figure out how to breathe some real life into Arirang, Balhae, and Formosa and not just from non-local players.
 

Viquire

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Okay! So good news, bad news? Maybe the important thing at the moment is that it is undoubtedly, news!
Captain Obvious aside, it is a step in the right direction.

Even though I am currently exploring another title that has recently seen some major overhauling of key game elements I remain a very interested UOer with three active accounts and I am constantly looking for the reason this game deserves my full attention again. To wit, the reason for my post I thought I would take time to give the short list of things that I think need to happen for UO to be a title that is in "thrive" mode. Some of these have been stated before. So, in no particular order:

UO is in need of a community person, and real support of some sort for active player groups.
I don't know that it has to be MyUO, but there needs to be a place where regular communication about what is happening now, and what we can expect in game. And, there needs to be some platform that allows folks to see what guilds are doing in game over the course of the last thirty to ninety days.

The loot system is a disjointed mess!
That opinion is mine alone and in no way reflects the official stance of any player or group of players, living or deceased.

Lore and the Virtues should be key.
We have spent a lot of time trying to be more like game X. What will make the game appealing is the stuff we have to offer with a high degree of quality, that sets us apart.

A Live Team, and regular story arcs.
Nothing generates interest like well thought out stories that introduce or reintroduce content.

I could go on and on, but I will spare myself, and any who read, a diatribe.
There is soo much potential, for High Seas, Custom housing (there really is nothing else like what we have) recipe systems, crafting, taming, integrated new player experiences, open world PvP, and a User friendly interface and supporting client. Its a great game! I just hope it gets a vision towards something unified, story driven, and fun for groups. Wrapping up the loose ends and having a very worthy game to offer in time for the Twentieth would be outstanding. :)

Kudos to the long suffering team for doing the best they could with what they have had, open vendor searching, systems that reintroduce popular collectables in a new way, and maintaining a running clean up program are all very bright spots for the game in recent years.

TTFN!
 

Lady Storm

Grand Inquisitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Tina I spoke to a friend stationed in Korea and is a avid UO player when he is not on duty.
The word is alot of the balhea and the other asian shards players were effected by the law the government put up on game play as a whole.
Korea prides itself on having a well educated public and children were in its view playing a bit too much and neglecting their studies.
Parents now had the tool to block all game play thus inforcing the children to study more and less games.
This also put a light on the adult gamer as well and from what his counterpart relayed to him that many companys push the work ethic and have discouraged break time game play for more group employee activities.
I am not sure but I beleave the child is not of age till 21 in their society.
This might be why numbers have dropped in the last few years.
As for the EM letting us know that they are up and running on the new Broadsword teams side is good to hear and I look forward to the rest of the EM's posting as well.
 

Minerva Foxglove

Lore Keeper
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Loved this part: with Ultima Online? Do you have some updates in store for players? Can you tell us your plans for Vendor Search?
BONNIE ARMSTRONG, Producer of Ultima Online: It’s really exciting for us to finally be able to bring back popular community building features such as MyUO and new game features like our new Vendor search, to support the game economy. We are also looking forward to creating a new/returning Player Experience to seamlessly welcome both new and former players to Britannia. With the Hi Def Art update we are excited to present our game sharper than ever before to foster in a new generation of UO players. Thinking of our veteran players we are looking forward to revisit popular features such as Animal taming, Global Loot, The Quest System, and a new exhilarating PVP experience.
MMORPG.com: Dark Age of Camelot also has an epic histo
 

startle

Siege... Where the fun begins.
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Loved this part: with Ultima Online? Do you have some updates in store for players? Can you tell us your plans for Vendor Search?
BONNIE ARMSTRONG, Producer of Ultima Online: It’s really exciting for us to finally be able to bring back popular community building features such as MyUO and new game features like our new Vendor search, to support the game economy. We are also looking forward to creating a new/returning Player Experience to seamlessly welcome both new and former players to Britannia. With the Hi Def Art update we are excited to present our game sharper than ever before to foster in a new generation of UO players. Thinking of our veteran players we are looking forward to revisit popular features such as Animal taming, Global Loot, The Quest System, and a new exhilarating PVP experience...
Be still my heart..........
 
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Petra Fyde

Peerless Chatterbox
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Wouldn't "bolshie" be short for Bolshevik?
Maybe we have a case of "two nations divided by a common language" I am British, therefore I meant it in the context I quoted - 'British informal'.
Words change their meanings over years too. In the 1920's anyone described as 'gay' was seen to be joyful and carefree. Not the modern meaning of the word by a long way.
 
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Lady Storm

Grand Inquisitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Do not feal out of it Petra .. to me gay means happy and full of life..... how it became what it is is way out of my league to fathom.....
 

cazador

Grand Inquisitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
New exhilarating pvp? Did they start developing a new game?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Viquire

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Loved this part: with Ultima Online? Do you have some updates in store for players? Can you tell us your plans for Vendor Search?
BONNIE ARMSTRONG, Producer of Ultima Online: It’s really exciting for us to finally be able to bring back popular community building features such as MyUO and new game features like our new Vendor search, to support the game economy. We are also looking forward to creating a new/returning Player Experience to seamlessly welcome both new and former players to Britannia. With the Hi Def Art update we are excited to present our game sharper than ever before to foster in a new generation of UO players. Thinking of our veteran players we are looking forward to revisit popular features such as Animal taming, Global Loot, The Quest System, and a new exhilarating PVP experience.
MMORPG.com: Dark Age of Camelot also has an epic histo
Holy Crap!
Thanks Bonnie Really sorry I missed the chance to talk last July. Hope things are as awesome as they sound, and, thank you for reading. :)
 

Flagg

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
It's also irritating to see that the DAoC Facebook page and website have been updated with several new posts, while the UO Facebook page was last updated in August 2013. And DAoC has a new "community lead" (Carol Kenny) while UO apparently has nothing of the sort.

https://www.facebook.com/DarkAgeofCamelot
https://www.facebook.com/UltimaOnline

(You should not need to be logged into Facebook to look at either of those pages.)

Grrrr.....
I'm going to be so ****ing disappointed if UO ends up being on backseat. Possibility strikes as irratonal; imagine how much more cash UO brings to table. Then again, maybe Broardsword's deep driving Mythic roots work to DAOC's benefit.It sounds silly and infinitely unlikely.
Has anything - new - and exciting UO related been announced?
 

MalagAste

Belaern d'Zhaunil
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
Do not feal out of it Petra .. to me gay means happy and full of life..... how it became what it is is way out of my league to fathom.....
Same way thongs became something your wore up the crack of your a$$ and not those cheap things you wore on your feet every summer... Now known as "Flip-flops"..... go figure.
 
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MalagAste

Belaern d'Zhaunil
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
I'm going to be so ******* disappointed if UO ends up being on backseat. Possibility strikes as irratonal; imagine how much more cash UO brings to table. Then again, maybe Broardsword's deep driving Mythic roots work to DAOC's benefit.It sounds silly and infinitely unlikely.
Has anything - new - and exciting UO related been announced?

I'm getting my hopes up as Mesanna has put out word of hiring! That alone gives me hope. It's like the binds that EA placed on her hands are off... to me...... that means sky's the limit and it's time to see what she can REALLY do with a real team not a skeleton crew.
 

Zosimus

Grand Inquisitor
Alumni
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Stratics Legend
Good news for any DaoC former or current player definitely.

Mythic was a great company before EA got it hands on it. Hopefully Broadsword will bring back some of that old glory. DaoC has influenced many modern MMO's and produced many successful Devs which has moved on to other companies such as Colin Johanson for ArenaNet.


I know many times Mythic gets the bad rap for DaoC and UO of late but hopefully players will see that old Mythic successful influence with Broadsword since Rob Denton was a co-founder of Mythic. As I stated above, Mythic influenced many games of today with it's own PvP system, art, and how characters could do almost everything/interact in the game. Underwater combat was always my favorite.


Lets squash the untruth about Mythic when it comes to Warhammer Online. Mythic didn't fail. It was Games Workshop's and Mythic's licensing agreement came to an end.

Good luck to the Broadsword team and I wish you all the best in your future projects and improvements on two great game franchises.
 

old gypsy

Grand Poobah
Professional
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Campaign Patron
Same way thongs became something your wore up the crack of your a$$ and not those cheap things you wore on your feet every summer... Now known as "Flip-flops"..... go figure.
One day at work I overhead some of the girls talking about "thongs". I piped up and said, "I never wear them... they hurt my feet."

The laughter was deafening. :blushing:
 
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bsluspo

Adventurer
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Here it is a q&a about daoc http://www.postcount.net/index.php?pageid=grabbag_021414
This one in particular:
In terms of development time, what percentage of Broadswords time will be spent on DAoC and what percentage on Ultima Online?

Dark Age of Camelot and Ultima Online maintain dedicated teams. That is to say, 100% Team DAoC’s time is dedicated to Camelot – and the same for UO. There are some central resources which are shared between the games, and that time is simply dedicated on an ‘as needed’ basis.
 

MalagAste

Belaern d'Zhaunil
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
One day at work I overhead some of the girls talking about "thongs". I piped up and said, "I never wear them... they hurt my feet."

The laughter was deafening. :blushing:
LOL...... I bet!
 

Winter

Lore Keeper
Stratics Veteran
Anyone else notice that the Vendor Search now shows up in the menu on production shards? It's grayed out, but it finally made the list!
 
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Lady Storm

Grand Inquisitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Oh back then I walked into a department store looking for gym workout clothes and the saleslady said she had a full line of the newest styles and colors...
I thought ok lets get some nice sets so I have changes not to wear the same thing each day....
She brings out some very pretty suits in my size and they were fro that charlies angel lady... (i know her name)
Well leotards and sweat tops were out and this stuff was in... go try this on the lady said...
Latest design in thong art... thong? those go on your feet sence when do they go in gyms......
I nearly fell over in the changing room!
My goodness was out and omg if my mother ever saw that much of me in public view.....swam in my head....
You do not floss that part of the anatomy!!!
I thought of all the swimsuits and went to look ...every one was floss and a few scraps of colored cloth...
My son went behind me and bought the 3 outfits before I could stop him....
He had already gone to the car and was with his friends waiting for our trip to the gym...
How do you show to the croud why you want to return them... i was a beetfaced lady to even think of wearing them this was too much.
To this day they sit in my cedar chest ...brand new still in their mint condition....
 

Lady Storm

Grand Inquisitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
No way jose! I wore one once and that was in the dressing room..... if a pic was taken I will sue!!!
hehehe
those things are so close to a birthday suit its crazy!
 
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