Okay, I just need to get this off my chest because it is driving me insane seeing all these classic shard threads..
So I will be putting to rest the whole "We need a classic shard" and help give everyone a new direction to fight for..
First off, what was so great about CLASSIC UO? I will tell your right now that it wasn't the fact that you could PVP anywhere and then take all that phat loot after killing your opponent! What you do miss is some of the old game mechanics! Am I right?
Diminishing Returns: This should have and could have been implemented and when you think about it, it would have GREATLY made the game less item based and leveled out the playing feel.... But.. But when the time came everyone ambushed it.. Good job guys!
And might I remind everyone that we have had some of the older mechanics put BACK in, because we suggested and agreed on it, and the developers listened, an example is the stat system, we argued that the old "sea-saw stat system" needed to come back and it did.. Let's take a look at some of the "GOOD" that has been added in since the release of Age of Shadows..
1.The New Guild System
2.Custom Housing
3.Gating From Facet to Facet
4.The Current Skill and Stat System
5.Insurance
Let's look at some of the old that we WANT back in..
1.House Keys(I think some people would lose their house keys) Which is why this is no longer around.)
2.Moonstones.. Yes, while we can gate and recall from Trammel to Felucca.. It was nice because you could make yourself a gate from the spot from where you were, straight to Fel, without having to travel..
3.Armor and crafting: I am going to argue about this for quite a bit. It was better during the Pre-AoS days, I won't lie.. I have been playing quite a few MMO's lately and I will tell you my thoughts. Artifacts were a "GOOD IDEA" many online games have name based items, World of Warcraft is a example, you see a specific item you want and you let yourself work for that item.. What was bad for UO in my opinion was not runics however, it was the random item generator that happened when you crafted items.. There should have been NO random properties on items from crafting.. Sure, there was no problem with runics, but nothing should have came out with random item properties on it.. A list of specific "name based" items would have been better.. Imbuing actually helped solve this to some degree..
Lastly.. Mage armor is baaad, and it should be gone.. Metal armor should be made for tanks and mage armor should be made for casters and mages.. It was like this during the Pre-AoS days.. Heavy armor was no benefit for mages, it slowed down their casting, gave you minus strength and dex, but offered much more protection than leather armor, it was a situation where mages had to sacrifice that protection for leather armor.. Warriors benefited from metal armor more than leather, cause well? They didn't get penalized for wearing it like they do now(leather armor is better than metal armor for all classes of characters) A mage was able to deal a great amount of damage to those without that metal armor.. It was a even playing field between tanks and mages.. It STILL can be..
4. Guild Stones: While I love the current guild system, I miss the old one just as much, guild stones should still exist, but mostly for show.. It was actually through guild stones that created player towns, I remember when I ran a guild in Minoc, it was where the guild stone was, at my tower in Minoc, and we always played around that area because that is where the stone was, you brought members there to recruit them, and it became a situation where we built around that area, everyone would become friended to the house, and we would have meet ups there..
5. Friendly fire: I don't need to explain myself to argue as to why friendly fire should be turned back ON! :gun:
6. Order & Chaos.. Sure why not? I didn't see a reason it should have been taken out, it was like factions without the penalties and we were able to fight in any facet.. But there was no benefits either or real goal to aim for like you could with factions..
So there you have it, I named 5 good things about the current UO and 6 good things about the old UO.. Combine the two together, and most players would get their wish.. The biggest issue which we face is with the game being too item-based, to go back to old ways, the only solution is diminishing returns in my opinion and that would be just a start..

First off, what was so great about CLASSIC UO? I will tell your right now that it wasn't the fact that you could PVP anywhere and then take all that phat loot after killing your opponent! What you do miss is some of the old game mechanics! Am I right?
Diminishing Returns: This should have and could have been implemented and when you think about it, it would have GREATLY made the game less item based and leveled out the playing feel.... But.. But when the time came everyone ambushed it.. Good job guys!

1.The New Guild System
2.Custom Housing
3.Gating From Facet to Facet
4.The Current Skill and Stat System
5.Insurance
Let's look at some of the old that we WANT back in..
1.House Keys(I think some people would lose their house keys) Which is why this is no longer around.)
2.Moonstones.. Yes, while we can gate and recall from Trammel to Felucca.. It was nice because you could make yourself a gate from the spot from where you were, straight to Fel, without having to travel..
3.Armor and crafting: I am going to argue about this for quite a bit. It was better during the Pre-AoS days, I won't lie.. I have been playing quite a few MMO's lately and I will tell you my thoughts. Artifacts were a "GOOD IDEA" many online games have name based items, World of Warcraft is a example, you see a specific item you want and you let yourself work for that item.. What was bad for UO in my opinion was not runics however, it was the random item generator that happened when you crafted items.. There should have been NO random properties on items from crafting.. Sure, there was no problem with runics, but nothing should have came out with random item properties on it.. A list of specific "name based" items would have been better.. Imbuing actually helped solve this to some degree..
Lastly.. Mage armor is baaad, and it should be gone.. Metal armor should be made for tanks and mage armor should be made for casters and mages.. It was like this during the Pre-AoS days.. Heavy armor was no benefit for mages, it slowed down their casting, gave you minus strength and dex, but offered much more protection than leather armor, it was a situation where mages had to sacrifice that protection for leather armor.. Warriors benefited from metal armor more than leather, cause well? They didn't get penalized for wearing it like they do now(leather armor is better than metal armor for all classes of characters) A mage was able to deal a great amount of damage to those without that metal armor.. It was a even playing field between tanks and mages.. It STILL can be..
4. Guild Stones: While I love the current guild system, I miss the old one just as much, guild stones should still exist, but mostly for show.. It was actually through guild stones that created player towns, I remember when I ran a guild in Minoc, it was where the guild stone was, at my tower in Minoc, and we always played around that area because that is where the stone was, you brought members there to recruit them, and it became a situation where we built around that area, everyone would become friended to the house, and we would have meet ups there..
5. Friendly fire: I don't need to explain myself to argue as to why friendly fire should be turned back ON! :gun:
6. Order & Chaos.. Sure why not? I didn't see a reason it should have been taken out, it was like factions without the penalties and we were able to fight in any facet.. But there was no benefits either or real goal to aim for like you could with factions..
So there you have it, I named 5 good things about the current UO and 6 good things about the old UO.. Combine the two together, and most players would get their wish.. The biggest issue which we face is with the game being too item-based, to go back to old ways, the only solution is diminishing returns in my opinion and that would be just a start..