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NEWS UO Newsletter #7

John Knighthawke

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Their ongoing failure to understand the Skara bridge issue is disconcerting. Everyone knows that the Skara ferry is really a teleporter. Rather we're asking for an alternative system, such as planting a public ship (like someone did on GL and someone else who posts on this issue did on another shard), or, maybe, building a small narrow bridge from the docks to the mainland.

Both are within their capabilities.
 

MalagAste

Belaern d'Zhaunil
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
Their ongoing failure to understand the Skara bridge issue is disconcerting. Everyone knows that the Skara ferry is really a teleporter. Rather we're asking for an alternative system, such as planting a public ship (like someone did on GL and someone else who posts on this issue did on another shard), or, maybe, building a small narrow bridge from the docks to the mainland.

Both are within their capabilities.

Don't ask for a bridge... I did for ages.... I finally got a teleporter installed from the yew mainland to the Yew Far Farm but that took ages to accomplish... Pretty sure a bridge is beyond their technical capabilities...

Just have them fix the stupid ferry so it's not considered a teleporter... IMO it's supposed to be a ferry.... and no ferry ever teleported anyone anywhere... it IMO breaks the immersion of the game to think of it as a teleporter and not the ferry it was supposed to be.
 

Xare

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
UNLEASHED
Don't ask for a bridge... I did for ages.... I finally got a teleporter installed from the yew mainland to the Yew Far Farm but that took ages to accomplish... Pretty sure a bridge is beyond their technical capabilities...

Just have them fix the stupid ferry so it's not considered a teleporter... IMO it's supposed to be a ferry.... and no ferry ever teleported anyone anywhere... it IMO breaks the immersion of the game to think of it as a teleporter and not the ferry it was supposed to be.
You're being inconsistent. Asking them to build a bridge is beyond their capabilities but redefining a mechanic that's been there since inception isn't?

I think I'd rather have the bridge. Much less chance of them breaking something major.
 

dvv

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
UNLEASHED
You could even say that over time the city decided a bridge was possible so they built one to replace the ferry.

I don’t think anyone would be heartbroken over the change. The absurdity of having to drop a boat or ship just to get across this tiny area of water when on a trade run is ridiculous.
 
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ShriNayne

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
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Awards
5
They could change the ferry to actual teleporters like they have at Jhelom, or did they forget how to do that too? A ferry is not a teleporter and saying it is so is just an excuse.
 

Keven2002

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
UNLEASHED
I must be the oddball. I always kinda liked the Skara ferry and couldn't care less if I need to drop a boat quick to run a crate of stuff across. I carry one on almost every guy anyhow.
Yep. A small boat is 10k, you could create 7 characters and be 70% of the way to buying the boat without actually doing anything else. You also have the option to decline trade orders to Skara if it's such a huge issue (you only need to wait like 5min for the next order).

The response to this will be "yea but that's not the point..." which just means people would rather act entitled and complain about Devs as opposed to actually bring up a big issue that impacts the game play of everyone.
 

Ning

Journeyman
I do plenty of trade orders. It takes like seconds to drop a boat and cross to Skara. I really can't believe this is a gripe at all. The Skara ferry is unique and a neat element. I just use the MG's for the other island runs but Skara is just too easy. Who really churns trade runs for the city treasury anyhow? It's about the goodies. This game has plenty of dents and dings and warts, but really....the Skara ferry is a problem?
 

John Knighthawke

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
I guess these negative reactions were about in line with expectation. To reiterate, yes it is a problem when a game cannot meet reasonable expectations, and being able to take something called a "ferry" when using a mechanic that allows boat travel is a reasonable expectation. (Especially at a time in the game's history when far more work is being put into new mechanics for a shard that doesn't exist as of yet.)

No one's saying it's game breaking and I've used the various workarounds available for years. But I will not pretend an anthill is a pebble either.

A bigger problem than the ferry issue, though, is the dev team's reacting like we were saying something other than what we're saying. If the ferry problem is an anthill then their reaction is a molehill. This isn't the only issue in the game with that problem. So strange how folks react to my pointing out an anthill like I'd tried to pretend it was a mountain.
 

Laura_Gold

Certifiable
Governor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
I think when the game opened in 1997 there wasn't a ferry to Skara Brae at all. It's been a while. I might be a bit forgetful because I've also aged a bit.
... and moongates wouldn't take you where you wanted to go. The destination varied depending on phase of the moon?

Is that a ship in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
 

Ning

Journeyman
OMG I remember the old moongates. I didn't understand the mechanics and the world itself was so big and imposing. I scared to death of wandering somewhere and getting lost so I didn't leave Moonglow island for my first 2 months in game. Trying to bank gold hunting only Moonglow graveyard wasn't easy. Especially when it still spawned liches to barbeque noobs.
 

Pawain

I Hate Skilling
Governor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
OMG I remember the old moongates. I didn't understand the mechanics and the world itself was so big and imposing. I scared to death of wandering somewhere and getting lost so I didn't leave Moonglow island for my first 2 months in game. Trying to bank gold hunting only Moonglow graveyard wasn't easy. Especially when it still spawned liches to barbeque noobs.
Ya, just as I figured out what time the gate would take me where I wanted to go, they changed them to the way they are now.
Was always fun to hang around a bank and wait for a moongate to open. I waited for players with armor to go in and I would go away from the fight and then run and grab some items from a corpse and run away.
 

Picus of Napa

Certifiable
Supporter
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
The days when a powerful mage could conjure a magical portal to a fantastic adventure. Who knew what might be on the other side and the challenges facing those brave enough to venture.....ahh, classic 1998.....



Of course it was eventually a group of reds.....every dungeon crawl seemed to end that way and it was still fun.
 

Drakelord

Grand Poobah
Governor
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Awards
3
Don't ask for a bridge... I did for ages.... I finally got a teleporter installed from the yew mainland to the Yew Far Farm but that took ages to accomplish... Pretty sure a bridge is beyond their technical capabilities...

Just have them fix the stupid ferry so it's not considered a teleporter... IMO it's supposed to be a ferry.... and no ferry ever teleported anyone anywhere... it IMO breaks the immersion of the game to think of it as a teleporter and not the ferry it was supposed to be.
On Sonoma we used to have a set of armor that was in Skara's Hall, would take you to another set of armor in Serpents Hold, one day the armor vanished in Skara, yet the armor in SH was still there and still worked for return trips to Skara. I asked and asked to get the armor replaced. no such luck. Then there is the Sorcery Tower in Moonglow, over 15 years old it is, had a banker, mage, inn keeper and dragon stablemaster. The day all stablemasters vanished I ask for ours back and was able to get it since she was replacing all the other stablemasters. Come another year or more our banker for the tower up and quit. Tried to get that back, asking as the Governor of Moonglow at meeting and also at M&Gs on Sonoma, but alas she refused saying she could not justified the reasons for replacing it. People quit using it.
 

AdamPD

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Come another year or more our banker for the tower up and quit. Tried to get that back, asking as the Governor of Moonglow at meeting and also at M&Gs on Sonoma, but alas she refused saying she could not justified the reasons for replacing it. People quit using it.
They make it out to sound like such a chore, requiring a ton of work and effort to simply replace a banker NPC.
On a freeshard it'd be a 5 second job - [add banker set cantwalk true
Jobs done, enjoy! ;)
 

ShriNayne

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
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Awards
5
The speed of bugs being fixed on free shards is astonishing, even when there is only one person actually working on it and they also have a day job, I'm not really buying the 'old code' excuse any more. The situation is unlikely to improve now they have NL to work on too.
 

petemage

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
The speed of bugs being fixed on free shards is astonishing, even when there is only one person actually working on it and they also have a day job, I'm not really buying the 'old code' excuse any more. The situation is unlikely to improve now they have NL to work on too.
I also find it astonishing how much faith prodo players have in BS. They were never able to fix ghost mobs or naked players in EC, still have broken health bars in the CC, took years to fix "target nearest" (does it actually work reliably nowadays?), designed a new type of container without figuring people would ask for sorting or filtering, etc. pp.
What makes them believe NL will be of any better quality? Wishful thinking?
 
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Merus

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
I also find it astonishing how much faith prodo players have in BS. They were never able to fix ghost mobs or naked players in EC, still have broken health bars in the CC, took years to fix "target nearest" (does it actually work reliably nowadays?), designed a new type of container without figuring people would ask for sorting or filtering, etc. pp.
What makes them believe NL will be of any better quality? Wishful thinking?
No, target nearest is still broken.
 

John Knighthawke

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Regarding bug fixes in real UO: Yes they definitely need to do a better job with this. That's been consistent since the game opened. What the problem is I don't know. "Old code" is a very real thing and a decent excuse for delays and difficulties, but not like we've seen for decades now. The code was not always old. Further, if they can start from scratch to make a new shard with a separate rules set and different systems, then they can start from scratch and design systems that have fewer bugs to replace the buggy systems on shards that you know, actually exist.

However....

Regarding bug fixes in free shard UO: Dumb comparison. We're talking about smaller-scale operations who have been, from what I can tell, using the same code consistently for years. Only a limited number of pipes to worry about so security isn't going to be as much of a concern. They have a smaller customer base, one they know, appreciate, and seemingly in closer touch with. We're talking about labors of love here. They have no profit motive to worry about is my understanding. No EA legal to run things through. No EA corporate to run things through. They can just do. No one's going to ask "why spend so much time on bug fixes when our marketing studies show it isn't cost effective" and stuff like that.

Some of those free shards seem really, really great at what they do. I've seen some cool screencaps of ballroom dresses, montante swords, greater variety of tame-able pets, dedicated customer service teams, and other cool things we should have in UO and there's no excuse for us not having. But it's not a fair comparison.

Pointing this out doesn't excuse the UO team from their foibles (though I know the more-competitive among you will likely think that's what I'm saying), but it does mean that we should stop comparing big apples to tiny oranges.
 

Picus of Napa

Certifiable
Supporter
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
There are two types of managers/bosses/business owners; those who can articulate a plan where they can explain the process, reasoning and justification of such plan, and there are those who are simply in it for themselves and thusly cannot explain the process, reasoning and justification because they don't know it.

The first tend to prosper better because the team is aligned. I believe we have the other option.
 
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