I started playing UO in 2000. I had an account for 6 and one half years strait. There was a time that UO was full of people everywhere you looked. When I left in 2007 Britain bank was full of people selling stuff. I rejoined UO two weeks ago and I find Brit bank deserted and apparently anyone left in the game is now found at the Luna bank.
I went to World of Warcraft for 2 and 1/2 years and found it enjoyable. There comes a time however when one cannot continue grinding and regrinding the same content and I finally closed my two accounts and came back to UO.
What I noticed on WOW versus UO is that they have a better communication system which allows the server wide population anywhere they are to communicate with the rest of the server if they joined the same communication channel. It is my thought that if UO installed a shard wide communication channel they would add a great deal of value to their product and the players would also be able to coordinate/communicate a lot easier.
It seems to me that UO is the same in content style sense as WOW. They both have quest systems remarkably the same and each work well. What UO does not have is a group dungeon system although peerless bosses are considered group events. It just seems to me that a global communication system would facilitate group oriented events a lot easier.
I know EA tried to rework the client to be 3D which apparently failed miserably. My take on this is that they should have phased out the 2D when 3D was released. I know the 3D had a buddies list which would be nice in the 2D.
I am also aware that EA is not promoting or marketing UO any longer. I have some education in marketing and it appears that UO is a dying horse and the decision to stop marketing a product is an attempt to shore up costs and improve profit margins before phasing out a dead product.
I did some research on the internet and found a statement that UO has under 200000 users. This is apparently down from a high of 250000 in the early days of UO. (Odd as it seems that does not account for the obvious lack of active users).
Continuing the subject of marketing is that if EA intends to continue to keep UO alive they should start piggybacking UO onto other products. I do not believe that the monthly fee for usage is out of line it just seems to me that from my research that the only marketing is by user word of mouth and return old players.
On the subject of WOW versus UO (and other 3D games currently MMORPG) is that 2D (old school some call it) cannot compete on the same level as 3D online games. It appears that UO lost a large portion of its user base to the 3D games because 3D is visually a lot more appealing.
It seems to me that EA needs to market UO as the best online DnD style game available because it closely resembles the DnD game style. It also should be marketed as a 2D old school game which clearly sets UO apart from 3D games and would give it the market share in 2D online gaming and appeal to people looking for this type of online gaming.
UO has a mass multitude of built in game avenues which appeals to many different types of gamers. Housing, questing, t map hunting, group events, solo gaming, soul stones which allow to skill transfer and customize your character (best thing EA did), crafting ... the list goes on and on. EA needs to kick their marketing segment in the $## and get back to making their product profitable and viable.
I went to World of Warcraft for 2 and 1/2 years and found it enjoyable. There comes a time however when one cannot continue grinding and regrinding the same content and I finally closed my two accounts and came back to UO.
What I noticed on WOW versus UO is that they have a better communication system which allows the server wide population anywhere they are to communicate with the rest of the server if they joined the same communication channel. It is my thought that if UO installed a shard wide communication channel they would add a great deal of value to their product and the players would also be able to coordinate/communicate a lot easier.
It seems to me that UO is the same in content style sense as WOW. They both have quest systems remarkably the same and each work well. What UO does not have is a group dungeon system although peerless bosses are considered group events. It just seems to me that a global communication system would facilitate group oriented events a lot easier.
I know EA tried to rework the client to be 3D which apparently failed miserably. My take on this is that they should have phased out the 2D when 3D was released. I know the 3D had a buddies list which would be nice in the 2D.
I am also aware that EA is not promoting or marketing UO any longer. I have some education in marketing and it appears that UO is a dying horse and the decision to stop marketing a product is an attempt to shore up costs and improve profit margins before phasing out a dead product.
I did some research on the internet and found a statement that UO has under 200000 users. This is apparently down from a high of 250000 in the early days of UO. (Odd as it seems that does not account for the obvious lack of active users).
Continuing the subject of marketing is that if EA intends to continue to keep UO alive they should start piggybacking UO onto other products. I do not believe that the monthly fee for usage is out of line it just seems to me that from my research that the only marketing is by user word of mouth and return old players.
On the subject of WOW versus UO (and other 3D games currently MMORPG) is that 2D (old school some call it) cannot compete on the same level as 3D online games. It appears that UO lost a large portion of its user base to the 3D games because 3D is visually a lot more appealing.
It seems to me that EA needs to market UO as the best online DnD style game available because it closely resembles the DnD game style. It also should be marketed as a 2D old school game which clearly sets UO apart from 3D games and would give it the market share in 2D online gaming and appeal to people looking for this type of online gaming.
UO has a mass multitude of built in game avenues which appeals to many different types of gamers. Housing, questing, t map hunting, group events, solo gaming, soul stones which allow to skill transfer and customize your character (best thing EA did), crafting ... the list goes on and on. EA needs to kick their marketing segment in the $## and get back to making their product profitable and viable.