NEWS [UO.Com] What’s next for Ultima Online

[UO News]

9/20/2024 During the earliest span of the age of darkness, lived a world born of mystic arts and ancient sorcery… For nearly three decades players from all over the world have come together to experience the magic that is Ultima Online. From humble beginnings in 1997 the persistent world of Britannia would become a place where stories were told, friendships were forged, and legends were made! As we look to the 27th anniversary of the launch of Ultima Online, this iconic game moves into its 28th year of production and we are pleased to welcome everyone to build their legacy […]

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[Pawain]

What’s next for Ultima Online
Posted on September 20, 2024 by UO Dev Team
9/20/2024
During the earliest span of the age of darkness, lived a world born of mystic arts and ancient sorcery…
For nearly three decades players from all over the world have come together to experience the magic that is Ultima Online. From humble beginnings in 1997 the persistent world of Britannia would become a place where stories were told, friendships were forged, and legends were made! As we look to the 27th anniversary of the launch of Ultima Online, this iconic game moves into its 28th year of production and we are pleased to welcome everyone to build their legacy in, Ultima Online: New Legacy!
This custom rule set shard is a fresh start with unique changes that offer players a chance to experience classic RPG elements that we all know and love. Whether you wish to experience a more story driven quest or forge your legacy on your own path – the choice is yours!
For the past eight weekends players have had a chance to try New Legacy and offer their feedback to really make this world their own. From the bottom of our hearts we thank those dedicated beta testers that have spent countless hours playing and providing feedback!
The New Legacy Beta server will once again open on September 24th, 2024 for 1 week as a final stress test before launch. This stress test will start with a clean wipe – this is your opportunity to help us identify any remaining major issues before we launch. Again – we thank everyone for their participation!
Fall has always been a magical time in Ultima Online with holidays a bustle! We have a full slate of events for Live coming this fall and into the winter. With the launch of New Legacy we will be expanding the duration of some of these events to give everyone ample opportunity to participate!
The highlights of the fall include old favorites like our 27th Anniversary Collectibles, Trick or Treating, Pumpkin Carving, the Huntmaster’s Challenge, Holiday Gifts, and the Artisan Festival. We also will be introducing some new decorative items to the Pirate’s Black Market.
This fall will also kick off our live event series beginning with Shadow’s Awakening before we introduce Shattered Sanctum and finally Eclipsed Dawn. We look forward to sharing more details on these events and our full fall production road map next week.
This is an exciting time for Ultima Online and we can’t wait to see you in Britannia!
-UO Team

 

[Merlin]

I wonder if these events mentioned (Shadow’s Awakening , Shattered Sanctum and Eclipsed Dawn ) will be production or New Legacy.

It will be helpful to have some week days to do the last test instead of it being focused around the weekend. I'm guessing after this last test period, they will make whatever final tweaks and hopefully go live sometime end of October / early November.

 

[Coco_Zamis_DF]

Stresstest for whom?

 

[Cinderella]

I wonder if these events mentioned (Shadow’s Awakening , Shattered Sanctum and Eclipsed Dawn ) will be production or New Legacy.

It will be helpful to have some week days to do the last test instead of it being focused around the weekend. I'm guessing after this last test period, they will make whatever final tweaks and hopefully go live sometime end of October / early November.

production. sounds like that will be the TOT Kyronix had mentioned that we were having soon. looking forward to it

 

[Anon McDougle]

It will be tough for people to balance time between nl and the production shards...

 

[Merlin]

production. sounds like that will be the TOT Kyronix had mentioned that we were having soon. looking forward to it

I assume this is the quote you're referring to:



He is mostly spot on here - ToT is popular and most of them have been generally good content with worthwhile rewards. They've cycled through alot of the dungeons now and have kept it fresh with the locations they've done. It's also an opportunity for players of all skill levels and play styles to get some rewards or sell some drops to make gold. There's also alot of players (like myself) who buy quite a bit of those Glorious Potions so I'm guessing it generates a nice little chunk of revenue through the UO Store. So yeah sure they're somewhat repetitive, but these positives largely outweigh the negatives.

Personally, I've enjoyed just about all of the ToT style events. I think the only one I wasn't happy about was when nearly every single reward was a re-run. When Kyronix says "in the context of a ToT", I am assuming this time around we might get something a little different than the typical dungeon mob smashing event. Hopefully it will be something a little more exciting than the green thorn event or mysterious eggs. We will see.

I feel like we also haven't had a Global EM storyline type of event in a while, so I am wondering if one of these named events from the update ( "Shadow’s Awakening , Shattered Sanctum and Eclipsed Dawn" ) will be something along those lines.

 

[Pawain]

Wonder if we are getting all 3 types of dynamic events. Quest, spawn, and a dungeon.

That will keep us busy.

 

[Anon McDougle]

Wonder if we are getting all 3 types of dynamic events. Quest, spawn, and a dungeon.

That will keep us busy.

Something like the yukio arc would be perfect

 

[Pawain]

They like the guarding things. Covetous with Halloweeny mobs.

 

[Dol'Gorath]

I wonder when they will announce the official launch of NL, I am looking forward to dedicating a few days from the get-go to just devote to it.

 

[Dol'Gorath]

It will be tough for people to balance time between nl and the production shards...

I think it will be alright. With the skill gains being very fast you aren't really grinding out for hours and can just do what you need to do on NL and go back and forth to your main shard as needed. Though I am hoping for a full time community to establish itself on NL so that there are people on at peak times to do group content with.

 

[Keven2002]

Wonder if we are getting all 3 types of dynamic events. Quest, spawn, and a dungeon.

That will keep us busy.

I think you are spot on and we haven't had this since last year so it would make sense.

Personally, I've enjoyed just about all of the ToT style events. I think the only one I wasn't happy about was when nearly every single reward was a re-run. When Kyronix says "in the context of a ToT", I am assuming this time around we might get something a little different than the typical dungeon mob smashing event. Hopefully it will be something a little more exciting than the green thorn event or mysterious eggs. We will see.

I think it will be like the typical fall/Halloween style ToT where we hunt a dungeon (wouldn't be surprised if it's back in Deceit since they've been able to laser in with the spawns etc here and it has the feel of Halloween w/ the undead spawn). I'm not sure if there will be another way to get drops like we've seen in the spring events because I feel like that's "one more thing to maintain" for the Dev team when they have NL opening up and that will likely be their focus on a hotfix.

I just hope the rewards are worth the time/effort (as they typically are for Halloween) so that I feel the need to keep working the event compared to some of the past Spring events where the rewards are few and/or mostly repeats. I am a little concerned that they haven't put the reward items on TC1 to test them and receive input, but we will see.

 

[HippoRedux]

It will be tough for people to balance time between nl and the production shards...

That's why I will wait until after the New Year to do build a character on NL...

 

[Pawain]

That's why I will wait until after the New Year to do build a character on NL...

Which will make it easier for you. By then, beginners will have better armor and weapons.

The hard-core players will get the prime housing, that's the only reason to rush into it.

 

[Anon McDougle]

One thing is certain the team will continue to refuse to answer any questions about NL and the end of season...

 

[Dol'Gorath]

Which will make it easier for you. By then, beginners will have better armor and weapons.

The hard-core players will get the prime housing, that's the only reason to rush into it.

Which is how it should be. The people who dedicate time to NL should get dibs on the prime housing. Though item drops should get better as time goes on so even people who don't play frequently can catch up easily as the shard crafters build up the tower in Moonglow.

 

[Pawain]

Which is how it should be. The people who dedicate time to NL should get dibs on the prime housing. Though item drops should get better as time goes on so even people who don't play frequently can catch up easily as the shard crafters build up the tower in Moonglow.

I sux at UO and would not have good items to sell. I m more of a shopper and begger.

I hope the prime houses have active vendors.

 

[Dol'Gorath]

One thing is certain the team will continue to refuse to answer any questions about NL and the end of season...

I imagine they are still working the details but it simply can't just be you get wiped at the end of the season and then get to start over plus whatever progress you made toward your legacy which will then carry into the next season. That would be fairly disappointing. But at least maxing out a character on this shard is quick and easy so there is that.

 

[Dol'Gorath]

I sux at UO and would not have good items to sell. I m more of a shopper and begger.

I hope the prime houses have active vendors.

I think the Ice Island ones are the best ones for vendors cause they are right next to the docks and have quick access to Moonglow. The housing area in Skara Brae is far from the town center.

 

[Coco_Zamis_DF]

What does a wipe means?i would assume Chars and Houses deleted?

 

[Petra Fyde]

I think the Ice Island ones are the best ones for vendors cause they are right next to the docks and have quick access to Moonglow. The housing area in Skara Brae is far from the town center.

yes they're far from Skara, but there's an obelisk in the guard tower where you can mark a rune.

A wipe will remove all characters and houses, we'll all be starting fresh in Ocllo

 

[Pawain]

One thing is certain the team will continue to refuse to answer any questions about NL and the end of season...

They have not decided. Sounds like a lot want their char to stay. Would that include pets?
Maybe all the toons just stay there. We click a totem on prodo shard and get a box with NL goodies.

They have changed the mechanics many times in beta. They are still looking at feedback.

 

[Anon McDougle]

They have not decided. Sounds like a lot want their char to stay. Would that include pets?
Maybe all the toons just stay there. We click a totem on prodo shard and get a box with NL goodies.

They have changed the mechanics many times in beta. They are still looking at feedback.

Then why not communicate that...

 

[Thrakkar]

They have not decided. Sounds like a lot want their char to stay. Would that include pets?
Maybe all the toons just stay there. We click a totem on prodo shard and get a box with NL goodies.

They have changed the mechanics many times in beta. They are still looking at feedback.

The FAQ clearly states:

At the conclusion of the Shattering characters will be able to transfer off the Ultima Online: New Legacy shard keeping all their skill, stat, and legacy progress they earned to shards with available character slots. Non-shard bound items and items earned via the Legacy System can also be transferred off.

Are you saying, the FAQ is not accurate? Did they confirm, that the FAQ is not accurate?

 

[Thrakkar]

What does a wipe means?i would assume Chars and Houses deleted?

Wipe means, they trash/delete the shard as a whole. Then they create just a brand new one for the next season.
It just doesn't make sense, to delete individual chars, houses, items etc. That is way too time consuming and way too prone to error.

 

[Pawain]

The FAQ clearly states:


Are you saying, the FAQ is not accurate? Did they confirm, that the FAQ is not accurate?

I am saying they may decide to add more options at end of season.

 

[Thrakkar]

I am saying they may decide to add more options at end of season.

I don't really see, what else could be done other than offering a free transfer off the shard at the end, but then that's just me. Anyways, more options are always a good thing.

 

[Dol'Gorath]

I don't really see, what else could be done other than offering a free transfer off the shard at the end, but then that's just me. Anyways, more options are always a good thing.

As far as I know, its a full wipe minus whatever progress you made toward the Legacy System, in which case in the next season, items should spawn with your family name, referencing events in the last season.
Having to start over again each time is annoying, but at least you can max out a character in a matter of hours so its ultimately not a big deal.

 

[Anon McDougle]

It's the developers mistaken belief that UO players would enjoy a seasonal shard..with a wow style quest system I'm just not sure how much further out of touch they can get

 

[Dol'Gorath]

It's the developers mistaken belief that UO players would enjoy a seasonal shard..with a wow style quest system I'm just not sure how much further out of touch they can get

Well. tbh I think a quest system CAN add to UO. People love stuff like The Hag's Quest, and some of the limited time quests over the years like the one that gave the white candles. Quests can be an additional thing to do in the game and give players objectives to do. I don't see why you can't have both an open sandbox and questing.

I do admit the seasonal shard aspect is a tough sell and we'll have to see what the long term implications of this are for New Legacy after 2 or 3 seasons. I imagine a lot of people will give it a shot at first and then get turned off by the yearly wipe.

I think they just want a shard that is always a fairly fresh start that doesn't have a ruined economy like on production?
The idea of a fresh start on a brand new shard is appealing, but yearly?

 

[Coco_Zamis_DF]

The new Quest system should find its way into the prodo shards. After Playing several weekends it is very frustrating to start from Scratch loosing all.

 

[Petra Fyde]

But we're testing, so we need to test the changes they've made to the early stages of playing the shard?

 

[Rieley]

I don't really see, what else could be done other than offering a free transfer off the shard at the end, but then that's just me. Anyways, more options are always a good thing.

I think it's the details of the transfer off the NL shard that players are curious about.

Such as will the transfer be free? There has also been interest as to will there be a choice to keep character on NL? These decisions may still be undecided at this point, or simply not wanting to confirm without further thought.

 

[Anon McDougle]

How many years do they need to decide these things? I mean honestly

 

[Discord]

It will be tough for people to balance time between nl and the production shards...

Nah. Spent "x" amount of years investing in production shards. It's where I shall remain