NEWS [UO.Com] Publish 99 Comes to Origin, Izumo & Baja

[UO News]

Greetings, We are pleased to announce Publish 99 will be deployed to Origin, Izumo, and Baja occurring after 1:00pm ET March 29, 2018. We will be manually taking down these shards at approximately 12:30pm ET. This release only includes the following features, Towncrier update & related quests Global Chat (Please note this feature will require a database update and will not be immediately available when shards are back online) Miscellaneous bug fixes Endless Journey access will not be available until Publish 99 is deployed world wide. While Origin, Izumo and Baja are being updated Vendor Search, Character Transfer, and Housing […]

Continue reading...

 

[jopromol]

They removed the pet revamp for this patch... interesting... Exploited pets will continue to exist for at least another month...

 

[jopromol]

I don't know if its just me but since that patch, i'm not seeing any numbers from damage I am receiving or delivering pop up ...

 

[King Don Juan]

I don't know if its just me but since that patch, i'm not seeing any numbers from damage I am receiving or delivering pop up ...

same, thought i was the only one.. fix this asaaaaaap

 

[James Krieg]

yep same, no damage displays.

 

[DJAd]

This is laughable.

 

[Basara]

Most likely they found where their "fix" for the broken pets would break 1 legal pet for every 10 illegal ones it fixed.

If you ask me, the easiest "fix" for the exploited pets would be to remove ALL skill/stat loss from release/going wild & retaming (thereby keeping the exploit from ever happening again), then to quarantine all pets that appear to have been exploited. Quarantined pets could be appealed via a help response (and placed in a queue separate from normal help), and the pet cleared or nerfed as someone at Broadsword progressed through that backlog. Most legacy (pre-patch) pets that accidentally flag should be easy to clear, while the exploited ones would be equally obvious, so that they could probably have a GM or staff member do at least one a minute.

 

[CovenantX]

They seem to have updated the EJ restriction list (at least since the last time I checked it)

New EJ accounts are limited to 2 character slots on all shards.

and a few other minor changes.

the current notes: Here

 

[Phantasmagorian]

Exploited pets go to the pet jail beneath the banned pets area. Pets fight every day. Players can place bets.

 

[Lord Frodo]

They seem to have updated the EJ restriction list (at least since the last time I checked it)

New EJ accounts are limited to 2 character slots on all shards.

and a few other minor changes.

the current notes: Here

So are old accounts that will be opened under EJ considered NEW ACCOUNTS and what happens to our other chars.

 

[Dot_Warner]

Since there is probably nothing limiting someone from opening multiple EJ accounts, limiting them to two characters is just bad decision making.

Broadsword seriously needs someone with some logic to slap down bad ideas.

 

[CovenantX]

So are old accounts that will be opened under EJ considered NEW ACCOUNTS and what happens to our other chars.

I would assume older accounts probably ignore this restriction, unless you end up deleting a character, you might not be able to create a new character.

Unfortunately, many of the restrictions lack specific details, so they could be interpreted a few different ways.

Hopefully it'll be clarified soon enough.

 

[Thrakkar]

I would assume older accounts probably ignore this restriction, unless you end up deleting a character, you might not be able to create a new character.

Don't think, that age has something to do with this restriction.
New account = most probably an account which never received any payment.
So basically all accounts which have been paid at least for a single month and are now suspended for 120 days should have access to all of their created chars. At least thats my assumption. Otherwise EJ will be a no-go for me.
But yeah, if you delete or xfer off a char, you theoretically might not be able to create another one.

 

[Fridgster]

Honestly I think they would have been more successful bring folks back just by running return to Brit 2 weeks a year with announcements and advertising than they will from EJ.

 

[Keith of Sonoma]

Honestly I think they would have been more successful bring folks back just by running return to Brit 2 weeks a year with announcements and advertising than they will from EJ.

Ya, it's very hard for me to believe that EJ will generate more than few, if ANY paying customers. I feel if they had spent as much time KEEPING the paying customers they have NOW as they did/are putting all the time and effort into EJ it would been MUCH more cost effective in the "long run".

 

[Poo]

i dont know.
i can see EJ bringing back people, but i can also see it keeping people who are already here.
let me explain.
some people are cheap, he it either because they cant afford something or they just want to, say they have a new better game and dont want to pay to play UO.
but now its free!
so they can come back and PVP and have some fun when they want.
that in turn makes Bob who is a PVP player happier because now he has more people to PVP with.
Bob now stays engaged and active and is happy to continue to pay his monthly obligation.

so ya, i can see it not only bring back a couple people but making it funner for people who are already here and playing.
retention of players is always good.

ive already seen a lot of posts on Facebook of people getting old groups and guilds together to come back once EJ is here, so there is a lot of buzz already out there about this.

will it effect me any?
no, i pay for my 3 accounts.
but i will now let my kids play UO during the school year since its free in stead of only during the summer, so thats 3 more active players.

all im seeing is rainbows here people.

 

[SugarMMM]

Why do a publish on a Friday?

I'd rather do one on a Monday so you could monitor it thru the week and if something is broken take care of it.

 

[Dot_Warner]

EJ might bring in people and make shards look fuller...for a while...then UO's status quo will "shine" through.

I wager that within the first six months, UO looses upwards of 25% of its subscription revenue (remember, it takes 120 days for a closed account to convert). Probably around 5-10% of those subs will come back as people chafe under EJ restrictions (lack of meaningful storage). Those playing account roulette will mostly remain unchanged. Unless there are a metric crapton of unannounced store items ready to go right now, sovereign sales won't make up what is lost.

Honestly, how many new EJ accounts will convert to subscriptions? I'm guessing that number will remain depressingly low (significantly less than 50%). Why? Because of continued grosss mismanagement, ancient bugs, zero marketing presence, no global events (most games have something every month), a certain rampant ego remaining unchecked and complete lack of regard for community coherence and (even remotely) polished communication.

I'll be perfectly happy if I'm proven wrong.

 

[Lord Frodo]

Why do a publish on a Friday?

Did I miss a day somewhere?

 

[Keith of Sonoma]

Honestly, how many new EJ accounts will convert to subscriptions? I'm guessing that number will remain depressingly low (significantly less than 50%).

You have more faith than I do. I'm setting the "over/under" at 15% AND I am including the paying accounts that flipped over to EJ as well.

UO looses upwards of 25% of its subscription revenue

I think you MIGHT be a little high there. My guess is 10-15%.

Of course these numbers don't even include the number of people who get fed up and just leave for good. Or just "downsize" accounts. (I am close to considering myself in this group).

We will see! In any case it looks like we both agree that EJ will probably not end up as well received as hoped. The EJ scripters will be having a field day though. So I guess it will LOOK like more people are around.

 

[Spartan]

Why do a publish on a Friday?

I'd rather do one on a Monday so you could monitor it thru the week and if something is broken take care of it.

All the way back to when Origin actually had a hand in things, updates like this were on Friday. The reasoning is skewed but apparently they felt LESS players were around because they had other things to do in their lives. Your idea of when/how it should happen is the correct and responsible process.

 

[Dot_Warner]

You have more faith than I do. I'm setting the "over/under" at 15% AND I am including the paying accounts that flipped over to EJ as well.

I intentionally hedged the numbers in my post, since its all complete speculation. To be honest, I think even a 35% convert rate (for more than 3 months) is wildly optimistic.

I think you MIGHT be a little high there. My guess is 10-15%.

Of course these numbers don't even include the number of people who get fed up and just leave for good. Or just "downsize" accounts. (I am close to considering myself in this group).

We will see! In any case it looks like we both agree that EJ will probably not end up as well received as hoped. The EJ scripters will be having a field day though. So I guess it will LOOK like more people are around.

Downsizers/quitters are going to be the main loss of subs, which is lost revenue. People who convert to EJ accounts are lost revenue. Any way you look at it, UO loses monies. It would be nice to think that BS will pick up a bunch of subscriptions from EJ, but with UO's myriad issues...I'm guessing no. Had they been doing a pre-launch marketing blitz, several bug publishes before EJ, massively beefing up the in-game store AND shipping an NPE at launch, I would be significantly more optimistic. But, as usual, UO does it all assbackwards and with its head firmly...er...in the sand.

Again, I will be happy to be proven wrong.

 

[Zeke]

And how many EJ's are going to shell out $10 for a robe???

 

[skett]

If they allowed us to enhance or transfer stats to the store robes I’m sure more people would buy them

 

[Pawain]

They removed the pet revamp for this patch... interesting... Exploited pets will continue to exist for at least another month...

Dragons that are legit are being reverted. They do not want to ruin legit pets also just to rush it thru.

 

[Anon McDougle]

Might just be me but Origin a sea of lag since patch...

 

[Pawain]

They seem to have updated the EJ restriction list (at least since the last time I checked it)

New EJ accounts are limited to 2 character slots on all shards.

and a few other minor changes.

the current notes: Here

All shards, limited to 2 characters on new Endless Journey accounts

So can an old account that opens under EJ create more toons? Wont any account be a NEW EJ account since there are no old EJ accounts?

 

[Lord Frodo]

Might just be me but Origin a sea of lag since patch...

That is because a lot of people log on to see what is new and how to beat it so they can rule on their shard.

 

[Lord Frodo]

All shards, limited to 2 characters on new Endless Journey accounts

So can an old account that opens under EJ create more toons? Wont any account be a NEW EJ account since there are no old EJ accounts?

2 characters on new Endless Journey accounts They are hoping to get a DEV to reply

 

[DSC Napa]

"All shards, limited to 2 characters on new Endless Journey accounts"

I think the answer is rather obvious.

 

[Lord Frodo]

"All shards, limited to 2 characters on new Endless Journey accounts"

I think the answer is rather obvious.

You are ASSUMING that UO states the obvious. Vets opening old accounts under EJ keeps all of their Char Slots and someone else new to UO trying things out only gets 2 chars, sounds like a good reason to get old accounts from those unnamed sites.

 

[Dot_Warner]

sounds like a good reason to get old accounts from those unnamed sites.

 

[Great DC]

Dragons that are legit are being reverted. They do not want to ruin legit pets also just to rush it thru.

If they didn't rush the original taming patch, this wouldn't be an issue now. I was there explaining these things to them and seemed like id have better off talking to a wall.

 

[SugarMMM]

Did I miss a day somewhere?

Hehe whoops looks like I lost a day also! But either way they should do it on a Monday!

 

[OREOGL]

Still no bank boxes. Oh well, there's always next year, I guess.

 

[drcossack]

So basically all accounts which have been paid at least for a single month and are now suspended for 120 days should have access to all of their created chars. At least thats my assumption. Otherwise EJ will be a no-go for me.

That's my thought too. I paid for the 7th character slot a while back, so I'm not sure what would happen if I were to xfer or delete. I would guess I'll be "Capped" at 6 on that shard (due to them already being there), but at 2 everywhere else?

 

[Lord Frodo]

That's my thought too. I paid for the 7th character slot a while back, so I'm not sure what would happen if I were to xfer or delete. I would guess I'll be "Capped" at 6 on that shard (due to them already being there), but at 2 everywhere else?

Assuming that UO lets you keep them.

 

[Nereus]

Dragons that are legit are being reverted. They do not want to ruin legit pets also just to rush it thru.

By dragons; is it regarding a specific type, or is any originally-less-than-5-slot dragon potentially affected?
Thanks.

 

[Pawain]

By dragons; is it regarding a specific type, or is any originally-less-than-5-slot dragon potentially affected?
Thanks.

Pre Patch Dragons are the ones that can have issues. Im not sure it affects the fresh tamed Dragons. The Pre- Patch ones have better stats.

 

[Rimeny]

Anyone else’s EC client crash when trying to use the UO Store from the main menu?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Nereus]

Pre Patch Dragons are the ones that can have issues. Im not sure it affects the fresh tamed Dragons. The Pre- Patch ones have better stats.

Was hoping that wasn't it. Pre-patch imps also affected?