[UO Herald] Producer's Update

[MalagAste]

Strange how Patrick Stewart and Excalibur is mentioned in this thread. I watched Excalibur on the BBC America the other night

Ah one of my all time favorite Movies.

 

[Woodsman]

Strange how Patrick Stewart and Excalibur is mentioned in this thread. I watched Excalibur on the BBC America the other night

And a few minutes ago I ran into a young player named King Arthur in Delucia on LS.

Bizarre.

 

[Demonous]

the verdict on the classic server better be yay, or i'm going to be in a bad mood for the rest of this year

 

[Sargon]

The video tape will cover:

The verdict on the classic shard, how we plan to grow the game, updates for the Enhanced Client, and finally our plan for increased pace for arcs, updates, storytelling and connecting with the community over the next 10 months.

Absolutely our focus this cycle is to improve the existing game (which also means progressing existing story lines). We like to share information we have a level of certainty on to prevent misinformation and confusion as features and changes come and go.

You'll see that the team is quite passionate about the upcoming months and focused on improving the game for everyone in the upcoming video.

Thanks all

Based on the bold text, it looks like they want to improve on the existing train wreck of a game they call UO, and not waste any effort on a classic shard. Such a shame, and I really hope i'm wrong.

I read it the same way you did. I expect the answer to be "we decided against a classic shard, BUT this is what we're going to do to in an attempt to pacify those classic shard supporters." I hope I am wrong, but I guess we will find out soon.

 

[HD2300]

The video tape will cover:

The verdict on the classic shard, how we plan to grow the game, updates for the Enhanced Client, and finally our plan for increased pace for arcs, updates, storytelling and connecting with the community over the next 10 months.

Absolutely our focus this cycle is to improve the existing game (which also means progressing existing story lines). We like to share information we have a level of certainty on to prevent misinformation and confusion as features and changes come and go.

You'll see that the team is quite passionate about the upcoming months and focused on improving the game for everyone in the upcoming video.

Thanks all

Based on the bold text, it looks like they want to improve on the existing train wreck of a game they call UO, and not waste any effort on a classic shard. Such a shame, and I really hope i'm wrong.

I read it the same way you did. I expect the answer to be "we decided against a classic shard, BUT this is what we're going to do to in an attempt to pacify those classic shard supporters." I hope I am wrong, but I guess we will find out soon.

T2A ended around 1999 or whatever, more than 10 years ago. I doubt more than 20 people will stop subscribing just because there wont be a classic shard.

Mythic et al. are still deciding what to do this year or what the new carrots for this year are, hence the delay. Ho Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum

 

[Gunga_Din]

T2A ended around 1999 or whatever, more than 10 years ago. I doubt more than 20 people will stop subscribing just because there wont be a classic shard.

Mythic et al. are still deciding what to do this year or what the new carrots for this year are, hence the delay. Ho Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum

More than 20? Silly rabbit ! I've already cancelled 3 accts myself.

 

[Cogniac]

This entire thread is nothing but dozens of arguments, wholly unrelated to the original topic or each other, all featuring several sides, each of which are subtly wrong in subtly different ways, all adding up to a tangled web of faulty logic, deliberate obfuscation, and outright lies.

I hereby declare this thread a total loss.

I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

 

[Fayled Dhreams]

This entire thread is nothing but dozens of arguments, wholly unrelated to the original topic or each other, all featuring several sides, each of which are subtly wrong in subtly different ways, all adding up to a tangled web of faulty logic, deliberate obfuscation, and outright lies.

I hereby declare this thread a total loss.

I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

I find that rather ironic considering that UO's overall demographic is one of the least likely to care for your insight/analysis.
You get banned from twitter?

 

[Viper09]

This entire thread is nothing but dozens of arguments, wholly unrelated to the original topic or each other, all featuring several sides, each of which are subtly wrong in subtly different ways, all adding up to a tangled web of faulty logic, deliberate obfuscation, and outright lies.

I hereby declare this thread a total loss.

I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

This thread was a total loss the second people started turning this into a dev bashing thread. If this thread was purged of all the flames and pointless arguments we would probably see this thread go down to approximately 20 whole posts as opposed to over 150.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

People who currently play UO aren't going to quit because of the classic shard

I cancelled 3. 4 of my friends cancelled 9 between them. I have seen others cancelling multiple accounts.

This IS going to cost EA/Mythic accounts if they decide not to create a Classic Shard.

EA abandons us, we abandon them.

 

[Hanokh1967]

Going to comment this one...

People who currently play UO aren't going to quit because of the classic shard (well some will do, but not a consistent part). The lack of a classic shard will simply keep some old players who would otherwise return, away.

3 down, 1 to go.

 

[Ganondorf00]

If you were still playing the game then you were enjoying the trammel/itemized version of it with a bit of wow imitation. Just because a few of you are canceling their accounts now doesn't mean most people interested in a classic shard haven't done so already years and years ago.

What i'm trying to say is that they will lose subscribers, in the form that potential subscribers will move to other games (there's a lot of sandbox open pvp full loot mmos out there, one even has permadeath for the ultrahardcore players). While the maior commercial mmos are all wow clones (which is sad, because indie mmos are of lower quality and i can't stand playing one for more than 3-4 months), there's a lot of smaller companies working on sandbox mmos.

 

[BajaElladan]

Speaking as a 13+ years Baja Player, Pacific can drop into the ocean for all I care. Baja will be happy to become the West Coast "super shard" should any such thing EVER come to pass. Folks touting "shard mergers," especially like Jaashua here, should put THEIR money where their mouth is and move off their shard!!!

And since I'm taking the time and opportunity to post here, I play the Original Client and am perfectly happy with it.

As to this Topic/Thread, my only concern is seeing Baja's future brighter than its already awesome History. This HAS been a generational bad winter for most of the United States and has contributed to work stoppages, lower productivity, increased stress etc. We all know the dubious history of EA and its UO Team's communication, or lack thereof, and their abuse of their PlAYing subscribers. The current crop has a lot of poor performance history to overcome. That said, they seem to be working hard, seem passionate about UO, and are making progress. I'm for supporting their efforts and contributing ideas, suggestions, and feedback in constructive ways. Negativity rarely breeds positive results.

Yeah! Transfer token for multiple characters would be good too.
What's the super shard?

I hadn't thought of that, but I can imagine it would be too complex as, right now, you can bring followers. Maybe a non-transferrable "join shard token" for all characters on an account that has had a character transfer to a shard. It could be used to join the other character at whatever shard he went to. eExpires after like 7 days or something.

And, yes, it would be Pacific. And it wouldn't be easy to get people to move there. Cheaper transfer tokens removes one huge hurdle though.

 

[Woodsman]

I cancelled 3. 4 of my friends cancelled 9 between them. I have seen others cancelling multiple accounts.

This IS going to cost EA/Mythic accounts if they decide not to create a Classic Shard.

EA abandons us, we abandon them.

If you were this serious about a shard with a classic ruleset and were actually around for those days, you would have quit sometime in the past 8 years since AOS launched, or sometime in the past 8.5 years since Publish 16, or sometime in the past 10 years since Renaissance/Trammel launched.

8-10 years is an awful long time to be holding your breath and getting angry over a classic shard. That's also at least $3,000 - $3,800 that you've given EA for those three accounts over that time.

To add, I look forward to the video and see what they are planning. I hope that they are moving UO forward. I don't think a classic shard will happen, but if it did, my belief is that they are stretched too thin to do it properly and the end result would leave you and others angry. I would much rather they put the resources into things that will attract new players or working with existing shards such as Siege or Mugen. Not returning players, not your or me or anybody else that's active, but new players, because without new blood, UO will not make it to the 20th anniversary, not unless everybody left chips in for 20-30+ accounts.

 

[phantus]

I've made may jabs and points but I don't really recall seeing something that I thought would have had more support.

Why the hell do we need a video to tell us how the game is going forward ? I don't recall the team having some great movie producer. I don't recall acclaim for the last video we saw from the team. Am I alone in thinking we need to tell them to discontinue with this great video garbage and just type into the herald what the hell the plan is and ask for feedback?

It's it a little bit like writing a cookbook on microwave pizza when you can just print the instructions on the side of the box?

 

[Woodsman]

Why the hell do we need a video to tell us how the game is going forward ?

Coming back and seeing all of this hoopla over a video, I thought it weird as well.

I'd rather they just have typed in something to UO Herald as well.

To me, the only reason to have a video is if they've done some kind of serious work on the graphics and client and want to show off what it looks like in action. That was actually my first thought, and it would explain the long delay as well - something wasn't finished graphics/client-wise and they wanted to have it finished before rolling out gameplay footage.

Actual gameplay footage of any graphics/client upgrades would generate a lot more interest than some static screenshots.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Coming back and seeing all of this hoopla over a video, I thought it weird as well.

I'd rather they just have typed in something to UO Herald as well.

To me, the only reason to have a video is if they've done some kind of serious work on the graphics and client and want to show off what it looks like in action. That was actually my first thought, and it would explain the long delay as well - something wasn't finished graphics/client-wise and they wanted to have it finished before rolling out gameplay footage.

Actual gameplay footage of any graphics/client upgrades would generate a lot more interest than some static screenshots.

My guess is that Cal just likes the idea of recording a video, and once he'd committed himself to it, it was too late.

I'd have preferred text as well, myself.

My guess on the delay is that the team got things done about when they said they would, then they E-Mailed it off to EA to get approved, and EA, being EA, dragged its feet, kept putting approving it at the low priority end. (Text would have been, I think, vetted quicker.)

EA is a very irrational institution. UO's small but steady revenue stream is very important to them continuing to meet their obligations on an ongoing basis while they are losing billions on, say, that new Star Wars MMO that everyone knows is going to suck. But, their irrationality probably means in part that they don't recognize how important our steady income stream is to them.

EA's irrationality has always been, and remains, the gravest threat to UO.

-Galen's player

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

EA's irrationality has always been, and remains, the gravest threat to UO.

Isn't it about time for another cross-country move?

*ducks*

 

[phantus]

...

EA's irrationality has always been, and remains, the gravest threat to UO.

Isn't it about time for another cross-country move?

*ducks*

Oh man! Don't put that thought out there. That's not even funny anymore.

 

[Evlar]

I already know what to expect of this video...

A little about why no "classic" option, quickly brushed over by what the next failure...*cough* erm... booster will be.

Woo... neon rideable orcs!

 

[phantus]

To me, the only reason to have a video is if they've done some kind of serious work on the graphics and client and want to show off what it looks like in action. That was actually my first thought, and it would explain the long delay as well - something wasn't finished graphics/client-wise and they wanted to have it finished before rolling out gameplay footage.

Actual gameplay footage of any graphics/client upgrades would generate a lot more interest than some static screenshots.

Absolutely agree. The problem being is this is still something that should be posted on upcoming development and be hosted on the website. Why download(stream/whatever) a big movie to see something they could just post on the herald and click on individually? I want their time invested in working on the game and not on a video about the game. I don't think that is an unreasonable request or anything that is against ROC B.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

I don;t think that "gameplay video" is something you can fault the devs for, I'm sure Cal would have rather had the Dev video done and out to us without it.

The gameplay video issue rests on the higher ups at EA PR, not with the devs.

Also, I'm going to predict that said video will be done in the EC because they will want to push that client and because it's better formatted to give a larger/full screen gameplay window than the Legacy client. I could be wrong, but I doubt it in this case... HOPEFULLY if the EC is used for such videos, we'll have some significantly visible upgrades to see as well.

 

[phantus]

I already know what to expect of this video...

A little about why no "classic" option, quickly brushed over by what the next failure...*cough* erm... booster will be.

Woo... neon rideable orcs!

*jingles purse*

Bet ya half a quatloo they are gonna make one.

This one is a little bit of a gamble that I don't normally make but I'm betting they have a number to meet this year or the plug is gonna be pulled. They can keep putting trash in the gamecodes stores but I don't think it's going to cut it.

That's not to say they won't take a classic shard idea and blend it to something that most people will only marginally agree with but it will suffice for the most part.

 

[Woodsman]

This also made me think that the reason why they were pushing a video is that the client/graphics are being upgraded in some manner:

Addendum:

For the Video: The devs are done shooting but PR has to put their STINK on it. They wanted extra game footage and stuff.

That is all.

I can't see them wanting extra game footage of what we already have.

Game footage of what we already have is not going to make non-UO players sit up and take notice, and it's not going to impress existing players since we experience it all the time, and the devs/Cal/etc. know that.

It's also not the time for any kind of retrospective anniversary-styled stuff.

Which leads me back to my point of the only reason for a video is something that would be more impressive in action than say a static screenshot.

 

[Evlar]

Which leads me back to my point of the only reason for a video is something that would be more impressive in action than say a static screenshot.

What could possibly be more impressive, than visuals of someone riding a neon coloured orc?

Apart from a choice of brightly coloured neon orc riding accessories, like saddles and whatnot...

Yours for only $5.99 from the gamecodes store.

 

[phantus]

...

I don;t think that "gameplay video" is something you can fault the devs for, I'm sure Cal would have rather had the Dev video done and out to us without it.

The gameplay video issue rests on the higher ups at EA PR, not with the devs.

Also, I'm going to predict that said video will be done in the EC because they will want to push that client and because it's better formatted to give a larger/full screen gameplay window than the Legacy client. I could be wrong, but I doubt it in this case... HOPEFULLY if the EC is used for such videos, we'll have some significantly visible upgrades to see as well.

I wish you luck with that Dermott. If it's not apparent the EC will not get wide-spread usage without EC only content then this is a pipe dream. There are not enough people that are going to play it until they are made to. This should be obvious to most people that even if it had the old 3D graphics and Sapphireena on the art team it's not going to happen without a shove or a big carrot. Update promises and pretty screenshots are not going to do it. I doubt this is news to you.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

Oh yeah, I agree with that, my statements on the EC were basically two-fold:

1. They will use the EC as the display because it's more suited to video presentation than the 2d client

and

2. If they are using the EC that there will be significant improvements visible.

As for wide-spread useage, I speak of that in the "bring more players" thread, not this one.

 

[Woodsman]

I don;t think that "gameplay video" is something you can fault the devs for, I'm sure Cal would have rather had the Dev video done and out to us without it.

The gameplay video issue rests on the higher ups at EA PR, not with the devs.

In-game footage of anything new is not something that can be whipped out in a weekend. My speculation is that it contains gameplay footage (not what EA PR added), and given the issues they had with High Seas setting them back, if they were looking at doing footage of an improved client (EC) or graphics upgrade, what they needed in-game could have been pushed back as well (and would have been pushed back).

If it were just a video of Cal sitting around or interviewing other devs, it could be banged out in an afternoon or a week tops.

If it's in-game footage, then it's completely at the mercy of development and subject to a lot of delays.

In-game footage of any major changes would also have to be heavily vetted by upper EA types as well.

The fact that PR wants to add more footage to it is...interesting. If nothing major was being added/upgraded, they would have looked at it, throw on the official EA logos, and be done with it. They wouldn't waste their time on it.

People are focusing on classic shards, etc., but I think people need to look at how long this was delayed and the fact that EA PR wants to add to it. Those two things, I think, are very telling, and possibly the bigger story.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

...

EA's irrationality has always been, and remains, the gravest threat to UO.

Isn't it about time for another cross-country move?

*ducks*

You know I've been thinking just that for months actually. Didn't they put Mythic under Bioware or something some months or a year or so back? (Wikipedia says it was actually June 2009.) I had expected it back then!

-Galen's player

 

[Ender]

Some of the talk in the last few posts has gotten me somewhat cautiously optimistic. Hope the video is out soon.

 

[Aurelius]

To me, the only reason to have a video is if they've done some kind of serious work on the graphics and client and want to show off what it looks like in action. That was actually my first thought, and it would explain the long delay as well - something wasn't finished graphics/client-wise and they wanted to have it finished before rolling out gameplay footage.

Actual gameplay footage of any graphics/client upgrades would generate a lot more interest than some static screenshots.

You know, my first thought reading that was 'when's the next booster due', since that would also 'justify' video footage...

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Some of the talk in the last few posts has gotten me somewhat cautiously optimistic. Hope the video is out soon.

That's interesting.....What has me optimistic isn't anything they've been saying, but some of the things that have been done.

The server upgrades means EA is spending money on UO (even if they hate to, and even if it's the minimum spending possible, they are still spending it). The new graphic for the villain means the storyline is being taken somewhat seriously. New event rewards in the game is rarely a bad thing when it comes to increasing participation. They posted new fiction and while it's not really that great it's way better than the two worst pieces of this cycle. The Producer's Update text version was nice, and at least now I'm marginally confident the video is coming eventually; I had had the working assumption that it was going to be scrapped.

What has me pessimistic, though, is some of the things they've been saying or not saying. Cal was stupid to fan the custom rules shard flames; it's unlikely they could get enough new/returning players to warrant the investment to create it. The communication has been laughably abysmal. And Cal should never have said anything that implied any kind of deadline for the video. Reaction to it is going to be bad no matter what it says, just because he built up anticipation.

'Course it occurs to me that you might mean that you're a custom shard supporter and you may have meant that you think we're going to get a positive announcement on that!

*chuckles*

-Galen's player

 

[Woodsman]

You know I've been thinking just that for months actually. Didn't they put Mythic under Bioware or something some months or a year or so back? (Wikipedia says it was actually June 2009.) I had expected it back then!

Mythic's DAOC website has somehow remained functional and informational even after the EA buyout, so Mythic has something..mythical about them.

Some of the talk in the last few posts has gotten me somewhat cautiously optimistic. Hope the video is out soon.

If the video is just Cal talking to some people and EA PR tacked on some footage of what we see every time we log in these days, I will be the first to say "that was dumb as hell, how could that have taken a couple of months to produce?"

It is just speculation, but a delay of that length when it comes to a video just seems like a sign of them wanting to show something off and it not being ready, and we already know that they got backed up over High Seas and stuff got backed up into like December I believe.

And EA PR would not want to do some work on the video if it was just going to be Cal and others discussing things. And I can't really see them making such a big deal about a video if it's just Cal and others talking, since that is something that could be banged out over a few lunches. EA does still allow its developers to take a break for lunch. Even if it was existing in-game footage, it would not have taken all that long. In-game footage of new stuff on the other hand is a completely different story and is dependent upon development.

 

[phantus]

The server upgrades means EA is spending money on UO (even if they hate to, and even if it's the minimum spending possible, they are still spending it).

No it doesn't. Server upgrades could mean anything and are far too vague to assume anything. If the Oceania incident is any indication of that I'd more likely believe it was a downgrade but , again, it could have meant a whole range of different things.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

And EA PR would not want to do some work on the video if it was just going to be Cal and others discussing things. And I can't really see them making such a big deal about a video if it's just Cal and others talking, since that is something that could be banged out over a few lunches. EA does still allow its developers to take a break for lunch. Even if it was existing in-game footage, it would not have taken all that long. In-game footage of new stuff on the other hand is a completely different story and is dependent upon development.

See, my take is that EA is stupid and EA PR wanted to delay the video and demand changes to it as a means of showing important they were.

Cal was stupid to ever make a big deal about this video, to pin so much on it. Now, we'll think poorly of it no matter what it says, or does not say, just because it can't possibly match the anticipation.

-Galen's player

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

No it doesn't. Server upgrades could mean anything and are far too vague to assume anything. If the Oceania incident is any indication of that I'd more likely believe it was a downgrade but , again, it could have meant a whole range of different things.

*chuckles*

Yes, anything could mean anything. But if we're going to insist on realism, which is no bad thing, we have to insist it along both directions.

-Galen's player

 

[Woodsman]

You know, my first thought reading that was 'when's the next booster due', since that would also 'justify' video footage...

That's possible, except the video has been delayed from early January, and they probably would have little more than concept work for the next booster in early January. If the video was to announce a booster in early January, that would mean availability in March, and that's too soon - they were still working on High Seas issues into December/January.

 

[Woodsman]

See, my take is that EA is stupid and EA PR wanted to delay the video and demand changes to it as a means of showing important they were.

Except that EA PR has plenty of much higher profile projects to show how important they think they are., and some of those projects are launching in the next few weeks.

Do you honestly think they would try to change/add things to the video and then go around telling all of the executives "see how important we are, we did this, this, and this on the Ultima Online video!"

Name me an EA exec outside of Mythic that would care what EA PR did to a UO video. EA PR is doing it because somebody managing EA PR thought it was necessary, not because they were wanting to showboat. UO is not a title for them to showboat their skills with, not when Crysis 2 is launching so soon, etc.

EA PR has a lot on their plate - they've got plenty of titles that will probably make more in their first few months on the shelves that UO will pull in over the course of a year, such as:

Battlefield 3
Bullestorm
The Sims Medieval
Crysis 2
Dragon Age II
Mass Effect 3
SSX: Deadly Descents
Mirror's Edge 2
Darkspore

And of course Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning which is being designed by the guy behind Morrowind and Oblivion, as well as R.A. Salvatore designing the game world and Todd McFarlane doing the artwork. That's a little further down the road though.

Some of those - Dragon Age II, Crysis 2, Bulletstorm, Sims Medieval, Darkspore, are coming out in the next month (including some this month). If you think EA PR would tie itself up with a few days or so on a UO video to prove something when they have incredibly high-profile launches in the next few weeks, you're crazy. Executives aren't going to care about a UO video when they have major titles launching in the next few weeks.

Cal was stupid to ever make a big deal about this video, to pin so much on it.

I agree with that. But, because he has pinned so much on it, I can't imagine that it's going to be just him sitting around and talking with devs about UO and the future of UO and showing existing footage.

Plenty of people here question Cal's intelligence, but I don't care who you are, it does not take a couple of months to shoot some footage of some people talking about UO up to and including existing gameplay footage.

To me, the delay has got to be development-related. I don't think it's a booster pack video either, because that would have meant them announcing a booster pack at the beginning of January when they were still dealing with the fallout from the last booster pack.

 

[Woodsman]

I just looked at when Cal announced the video thing, and it was mid-December, as they were still working on High Seas, Publish 69 issues, and even some SA content, so the video definitely wasn't meant to showcase upcoming booster packs. He announced that everybody was taking a break and working from home as well.

In the announcement, Cal mentions discussing the hardware upgrades in the video, but the primary focus was showcasing the developers and their plans for 2011.

Because of the hype and because of other comments made by Cal, that to me implies in-game footage of some sorts, because if it was just a simple talk with the developers, they could have banged out a "developer's diary" every week with just a half hour of work (including uploading to YouTube) and we would have already had several posted by now. Plus, EA PR would not have made a fuss over adding anything to videos of developers talking.

In a perfect world, because EA just wrapped up several major titles that employed a lot of graphics artists, it would have been cool if they could have devoted a few dozen of them to UO for a short time, but that would never happen.

 

[Aurelius]

Plus, EA PR would not have made a fuss over adding anything to videos of developers talking.

Adding, no, but past experience of EA makes me fairly sure they'd want to edit out stuff far more than they would ever want to add.

 

[HD2300]

I've made may jabs and points but I don't really recall seeing something that I thought would have had more support.

Why the hell do we need a video to tell us how the game is going forward ? I don't recall the team having some great movie producer. I don't recall acclaim for the last video we saw from the team. Am I alone in thinking we need to tell them to discontinue with this great video garbage and just type into the herald what the hell the plan is and ask for feedback?

It's it a little bit like writing a cookbook on microwave pizza when you can just print the instructions on the side of the box?

Ultima Online: High Seas is the most recent expansion(aka "booster") and launched on October 12, 2010 with Publish 68. It was first announced during a UO Town Hall Meeting held on August 28, 2010

On a 6 month booster release schedule...

August 28 == ~February 28

It is getting real close to ~February 28. The timing is no coincidence.

The State of the Game Video will be the video PR of the next booster. All the EMs (paid EA staff), I mean fanbois, will chime in and say that this booster is the best thing since sliced bread, and everyone will forget about the carrots in last years state of the game.

 

[Uriah Heep]

LOL
followed the link to last years state of the game...
Other than moving a factions base, ah nm, it aint worth the typing

 

[Orgional Farimir]

On a 6 month booster release schedule...

August 28 == ~February 28

It is getting real close to ~February 28. The timing is no coincidence.

The State of the Game Video will be the video PR of the next booster. All the EMs (paid EA staff), I mean fanbois, will chime in and say that this booster is the best thing since sliced bread, and everyone will forget about the carrots in last years state of the game.

I won't worry about the booster release date.... The dev's always hit their deadlines

 

[Woodsman]

On a 6 month booster release schedule...

August 28 == ~February 28

It is getting real close to ~February 28. The timing is no coincidence.

The State of the Game Video will be the video PR of the next booster.

Except that the video was supposed to be rolled out in early January, when they most definitely would not have even been close to having the next booster pack in a working state, let alone available for game footage.

Cal announced it right after Pub 69, in mid-December, for a release in early January. I doubt they were even heavy into design for the next booster pack during that time, and probably not by early January. In early January, they were just coming off of a short vacation/break, still working on issues from SA/HS/Pub 69, and working on server migrations.

There is no way that EA would have let them take a few weeks off/work from home if they were about to produce a video covering the next booster pack, since they would have to actually, you know, produce the content for the next booster pack so that it could be filmed.

If EA had planned the next booster announcement for early January, they would not have been rolling out Pub 69 in December, and they wouldn't have been taking breaks in December.

I'm leaning towards video of an improved EC. Work on improving the EC could have progressed alongside High Seas and up through Pub 69.

Unlike a booster pack which would require much/most of the dev team dropping everything in November/December, improving the EC would have required just a small number of people, and it's just the kind of thing that would make it into some kind of develop diary (which is what the video is referred to). Artwork on the other hand, is a different story.

 

[Tjalle]

It will be interesting to see how the team handles events and restores Magincia on the shards that lack an EM presence.

Did someone say Siege?

Good point, Tina!

 

[georgemarvin2001]

To the apologists: Failing to produce a product on time is often unavoidable. I used to be in construction; delays due to weather were a common occurrence. However, failing to just issue a simple statement with a rough idea of when the product will actually be issued, is inexcusable. No company, from a mom-and-pop business to an international conglomerate, can exist for long if they don't at least offer some semblance of customer service, and at least minimal updates and explanations when an expected product or service is delayed. I am retired now, but I ran a construction company for 10 years, and a wholesale jewelry company for another 9. If I hadn't provided my customers with updates and progress reports when something was delayed, I would have been out of business in a matter of weeks. And out of business signs may be in the future for EA, if it doesn't begin paying more attention to its customers.

In response to several people talking about whether a classic shard would bring back people, get new subs, or just keep the game going a few more months: Before AOS, I had never suspended my account. I began playing in early 1999. When AOS first came out, I played Doom in hopes of getting that artifact armor, until I figured out that only tamers had a real shot at it. That was a total of over 50 months before the first time I quit. Back when they changed to 1 house per account, I got an extra account just to hold a house. After AOS, in the next 8 years, I have managed to get my characters up to 83 months in their profiles. I come back for an expansion, or to keep my house from falling. But the game lost a LOT of its appeal when they changed it from the pre-AOS skill-based game to the current item-based system. I'm sure I'm not the only cost-conscious current customer who hasn't maintained an account continuously for the whole nearly 9 years since AOS. A LOT of us currently come back, stay a month or two, then leave again. Even if the classic shard just brought back 1% of the people who are currently on free shards, that would be 10,000 people, an extra 14% or $100k or so per month in revenue for UO.

About why we would rather play an official UO classic server than a free shard: Most popular online games have free shards; most of them comprise less than 10% of the number of paying customers. Players don't want to be at the whim of people who can change the rules arbitrarily, provide their own characters and friends with uber equipment and massively overpowered templates, ban players who beat them in a fight, or who they just don't like, or just delete the shard at their whim. On the other hand, with UO, it's just the opposite. Just one of the free shards has nearly 200,000 subscribers; there appear to be close to a million UO freeshard players out there. Official UO only has about 7% of the number of subscribers as the number of people playing free shards. UO is still a popular game, just not in its current form.

About the EA PR department: EA lost about $435 million dollars last year. 4th quarter sales were DOWN 23% year over year. And consider that we're in a recovering economy; other gaming companies have experienced just the opposite. Marketing and administration cost them $1,029 million (just over $1 BILLION dollars) last year. Something tells me that, instead of cutting services, cutting development and research staffs, etc. they should consider a LOT of pink slips for that vaunted PR crew which has actually managed to raise its budget from $201 million in the 2nd quarter to $328 million for the 4th quarter. If they can't spend a few minutes adding a couple of minutes of game footage to a video for one of the few products EA produces that actually makes a profit DESPITE the near-total lack of PR or even minimal effort from EA to promote it, what are they good for? P.S.: Did anybody who pays attention to the balance sheet of the parent company notice that EA believes that the goodwill of its customers is worth $1.1 BILLION dollars? Without good will, the company's shareholders would only have about half the equity that the company claims it's worth.

Not that a big PR campaign would help UO much. All the advertising in the world is useless if you don't have a quality product, quality customer service, and provide new products and improvements on a regular basis. I think they could have had a UO subscriber base in the millions if they had just kept UO up with the times. I saw the previews for the 3D version of UO that they were working on about the time they came out with Age of Sh!@. If they had continued focusing on UOX instead of AOS, it would have looked great. The only problem was that it was axed in favor of AOS and other new games.

The fact is that keeping 2 clients is a hassle. However, only a small percent of us are willing to migrate to the new client. The artwork in EC looks grainy, especially when you use the zoom, and some of the effects hurt my eyes, the client is really buggy, and seems to love to freeze just when my character needs to run.

There are some EC only things already. My crafting character needs the EC because copper and pinco skins let me see the point value of the items I am going to imbue or turn into relic fragments. I use it when my treasure hunter has opened a chest to see if any of that massive pile of crap is actually worth keeping. Other than that, it's pretty useless. It's a chore to try to make new icons to put all over the screen; with the CC I just drag and drop spells wherever I want them on the screen. Talking on CC is just type and hit enter. With EC, I forget to click the button, and just start typing what I'm going to say, which caused all those d#@! keyboard shortcuts to pop up. With the CC, I don't have any movement problems or crashes. I don't have to worry about trying to run down a street and it being part of a building, with the street actually to the left.

How to get us to migrate to EC: If they make new, higher-definition artwork that doesn't look like crap, especially when you zoom in on it, give us some options to make it look and work more like the CC, and fix some bugs, people might actually switch. New, EC only stuff will only make people grumble more, because, like the item info, they will have to switch clients so they can use it long enough to get the stuff done, then switch back to the CC. And switching back and forth between clients like 10 times during a treasure hunt is a real pain in the neck. I would really hate to have to do it for PvM and PvP.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Except that EA PR has plenty of much higher profile projects to show how important they think they are., and some of those projects are launching in the next few weeks.

In the rational sense, this is quite true.

But never underestimate irrationality at the corporate level.

Do you honestly think they would try to change/add things to the video and then go around telling all of the executives "see how important we are, we did this, this, and this on the Ultima Online video!"

After what we've seen EA do over the years, would it honestly surprise you if it went down that way?

Name me an EA exec outside of Mythic that would care what EA PR did to a UO video.

I know the names of no one who works at EA save those who work with UO, and even then I often don't remember it because I am bad with names.

To me, the delay has got to be development-related.

Would be neat. Assuming of course it's not that gorilla in the corner with the word "custom shard" tattooed across its head.

-Galen's player

 

[Woodsman]

I saw the previews for the 3D version of UO that they were working on about the time they came out with Age of Sh!@. If they had continued focusing on UOX instead of AOS, it would have looked great. The only problem was that it was axed in favor of AOS and other new games.

Ultima X was a sequel to Ultima IX (hence the X = IX+1) and had nothing to do with Ultima Online. It was a completely different game (based on the Unreal engine if I recall correctly) and wasn't going to have the things that make UO, UO. It was going to pick up right after Ultima IX ended.

Think Ultima IX/Morrowwind/Oblivion. Don't think Ultima Online.

Ultima X was also canceled because some/a lot of the developers refused to move from Texas to California, and with what developers would/did move, they didn't have a full team and it would have taken them a while to assemble a new time that was fully up and running. It had nothing to do with AOS and was separately funded from UO.

The only thing it had to do with UO was that some of the remaining employees from the Ultima X team were added to the UO team. It's questionable if anything else (art/content) made its way into UO.

 

[Beer_Cayse]

So, where's the tape? I've been waiting over a month now to see this masterpiece ... where is it?

 

[Sevin0oo0]

Actually years ago, we received a pay hike and one of its selling points was for 'better customer service' from UO.

Maybe that was to pay off contracts and rid themselves of Spada. Didn't fix it, but ya gotta start somewhere, ya know?