What's it all about?

[ShriNayne]

So this part of the newsletter....any idea what this is about? Speculate!

For those who have been part of that legacy, you know the joy and excitement that comes with calling yourself a Britannian. To build on that legacy and bring Ultima Online to the largest audience ever, the team is in the early stages of designing and building our biggest and boldest endeavor in over a decade! We are incredibly excited about the future and cannot wait to share the journey with you!

 

[Pawain]

Ask @Dot_Warner .

Speculate? Account management and customer service will be better?

 

[Gheed]

Been a decade since SA was launched yes? And the EC...

 

[Uriah Heep]

Enhanced EJ accounts? Please no...

 

[Grace of Minoc]

Stygian Abyss came out just over a decade ago. With that a new race of Gargoyles.

With the War Pig mount, I am guessing Orc race will be coming.

 

[GarthGrey]

Prelude to playable orcs, considering the animation showing the orc actually getting on the pig.

 

[Pawain]

So Orcs are going to to bring in players from WoW?

A new expansion is not going to "bring Ultima Online to the largest audience ever".

Someone mentioned Steam. That would increase the "audience". Increase players? Maybe.

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

So this part of the newsletter....any idea what this is about? Speculate!

For those who have been part of that legacy, you know the joy and excitement that comes with calling yourself a Britannian. To build on that legacy and bring Ultima Online to the largest audience ever, the team is in the early stages of designing and building our biggest and boldest endeavor in over a decade! We are incredibly excited about the future and cannot wait to share the journey with you!

Age of Shadows ( Round II )

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

Someone mentioned Steam. That would increase the "audience". Increase players? Maybe.

Maybe, probably not. A lot of players decide to buy or try a game based upon the user's reviews. Can you imagine the negative user reviews UO might generate? I could be wrong, but.....

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

So this part of the newsletter....any idea what this is about? Speculate!

To build on that legacy and bring Ultima Online to the largest audience ever, the team is in the early stages of designing and building our biggest and boldest endeavor in over a decade! We are incredibly excited about the future and cannot wait to share the journey with you!

So in other words they are going to spend 1000s of hours working on something they want without asking us or caring about what we want. When it's too late and they've devoted so much time to it that it must be forced upon us whether we want it or not. They will be like "but it's the largest land mass ever added to UO." Or, it's "the biggest baddest dungeon ever introduced." So what. The content and space in the game is already under utilized on every shard except Atlantic.

What could they possibly add that will bring in the largest "audience" ever? What does "audience" mean anyway? Players? Subscriptions? Strange term to use in this context.

 

[Uriah Heep]

So in other words they are going to spend 1000s of hours working on something they want without asking us or caring about what we want. When it's too late and they've devoted so much time to it that it must be forced upon us whether we want it or not. They will be like "but it's the largest land mass ever added to UO." Or, it's "the biggest baddest dungeon ever introduced." So what. The content and space in the game is already under utilized on every shard except Atlantic.

What could they possibly add that will bring in the largest "audience" ever? What does "audience" mean anyway? Players? Subscriptions? Strange term to use in this context.

This

 

[TheGrimReefer]

UO Remastered

 

[ShriNayne]

My first thought was also Steam, but I think it unlikely since they have Origin. 'Audience' seems an odd choice of word there, so probably not any dungeon revamps, expansions, or anything like that, maybe they are making VRUO, I only thought of that as I just got an Oculus Quest!

 

[Pawain]

I do not see how a new land or Race will bring a bigger audience. Is Facebook still popular?
Maybe they will replace Farmville with Ultimaville.

I would assume audience=exposure.

 

[Cyrah]

Steamy Orcs on TV commercials. Or not. Send emails to every UO player there ever was.

 

[Gheed]

So in other words they are going to spend 1000s of hours working on something they want without asking us or caring about what we want. When it's too late and they've devoted so much time to it that it must be forced upon us whether we want it or not.

What do you want?

 

[Basara]

What do you want?

 

[Dot_Warner]

@Pawain

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Pawain]

Steamy Orcs on TV commercials.

TMI

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

What's it all about?

Ummm... the hokey pokey...

they just gonna keep us putting random body parts in and taking them out and spinning in circles...

 

[Gheed]

I see now why they dont ask..

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

They don't have to ask. All they have to do is to read the forums, read their email and bug reports and listen to us.

I've posted numerous times over the years what I want and I've even asked Mesanna directly at Meet & Greets just like 100s of other players have.

There's a wish list posted almost every year.

 

[Gheed]

They don't have to ask. All they have to do is to read the forums, read their email and bug reports and listen to us.

I've posted numerous times over the years what I want and I've even asked Mesanna directly at Meet & Greets just like 100s of other players have.

There's a wish list posted almost every year.

But we still pay to play right? I have been there many times. I have seen they way I play this game completely destroyed for the silliest reasons... more than once.

But they MUST be doing something right. Because I cant find another MMO this good. Lord knows I have tried many many times.

The devs know exactly what we want... Maybe they should try giving someone else what they want instead. Heck I would mind seeing some playable orcs if that's what is in the pipe... and they wont be WOW orcs, they will be UO orcs. Our orcs are better than their orcs.

 

[Gheed]

I want an eye patch slot.

 

[Arroth Thaiel]

Largest audience = smartphone market
Next generation = smartphone users

Mobile UO

Thought of it while I was finishing a post on UO.com. Meant it as a joke, then thought, "Oh, that is what they are planning."

Makes sense actually. Beamdog has ported Baldur's Gate and NWN to phones. UO is old enough to run easily on phones. Lot's of older games are being moved to phones to be discovered by newer generations.

The phone interface would work for tablets as well. Bascially, you'd be moving toward the hardware of the future. Let's face it, PC's are a dying breed. The next generation is all using phones and touch interfaces.

Plus, you could put UO in the Apple App store, the Android store, even the Steam mobile apps store. Largest audience ever.

 

[Digowiz]

Uo forever was almost a decade ago. Right... I suspect it is a new system like
Nintendo Switch.

Sent from my WAS-LX1A using Tapatalk

 

[PlayerSkillFTW]

People have been wanting Orcs, Juka and Meer as playable races for a very long time.

They could also be bringing this back. lol.

Funny to think, that if that had come out, it would've pre-emptively hamstrung Everquest, and the original Ultima Online likely wouldn't be around today.

 

[Dorset]

Something half arsed done, neon, or a flying horse? …..

 

[Nero]

Maybe something like twitch cam. They said "audience" and the post reads like they are planning to attract completely new players rather than bringing back old ones.

 

[ShriNayne]

If they want new players they need to have a much better understanding of how to make a proper new player area with real help for people who are totally lost. Anyone who has tried to help new players in the last 5 years will tell you what a convoluted and frustrating business it is. We shouldn't need player patrols in New Haven to sort out people's gameplay issues or explain how to do every little thing, the game should be helping them to play.

 

[Uriah Heep]

Something half arsed done, neon, or a flying horse? …..

Rushed, with bugs that won't get fixed, and you can bet if its gameplay it will be overly complicated and strung out.

 

[Tina Small]

Maybe a "classic" server? Or perhaps a "newbie" server? A revamped web site? The ability to look up character information from the account management system? (Have been looking at information on the DAoC website: Dark Age of Camelot and Dark Age of Camelot)

 

[Laura_Gold]

Is it "Martian Dreams"?

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

The only thing that I can think of that UO could significantly benefit from is a unified landmass that ALL SHARDS can access and play there together. Use a special moongate that takes you there and back to your home shard.

If they could make the transfer, there and back, even quicker than character transfers it could work really great.

 

[Pawain]

Steamy Orcs

 

[petemage]

The only thing that I can think of that UO could significantly benefit from is a unified landmass that ALL SHARDS can access and play there together. Use a special moongate that takes you there and back to your home shard.

If they could make the transfer, there and back, even quicker than character transfers it could work really great.

One hour cooldown. Free for all Just dreaming.

 

[Nero]

One area or facet for all shards? that will be lag fest for those not on the same continent where the land mass is hosted. Might work for everybody for trading and chatting, but no serious pvm let alone pvp with a ping of 200-300 ms.

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

One area or facet for all shards? that will be lag fest for those not on the same continent where the land mass is hosted. Might work for everybody for trading and chatting, but no serious pvm let alone pvp with a ping of 200-300 ms.

Solution for that then is to have a server on each continent. One for North America, one in Europe and one in Asia.

 

[Cyrah]

How is any of this going to attract a player who had never or barely heard of UO? Just asking.

 

[Ender]

I don't see anything they do, short of a fresh new game, attracting new players (and getting them to actually stay)

What new player is going to get started with UO and it's 25 year old graphics, see the economy and how far behind they are, and decide to stick with it?

 

[Basara]

Solution for that then is to have a server on each continent. One for North America, one in Europe and one in Asia.

The server clusters always made this fairly easy - have one per cluster (East US, West US, EU, and 1-3 in the Australia/Asia area), though with the cloud-based shards you could have all the US shards share one. I was suggesting something like this as far back as prior to the KR launch.

 

[Danpal]

The issue with attracting new players it seems that Ultima Online has become a pay to win game.

If you plan on playing the long term you need to start makeing gold fast. Back in the old days gm armor and weapon was all that you needed or a spell book and a bag of regs was needed to get to the highest skill level.

Now you need power scrolls witch cost alot. Then you need clothing, weapons and armor looking at 400mil for a decent setup.

Houseing is not a big deal most of us old timers did not have a house to start. Got my frist one when tram opened. So you can deal with no houseing if needed. But then there are spots now where you could place. But then that has the domino effect where are you have no spots left and to get a spot you have to pay which means housing will be double or even triple the what it is now so for new player that is Out Of Reach.

So once once more I would say that the game will be pay to win and the only winners would be the gold sellers.

 

[Uriah Heep]

Y'all dont be negative.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM25-lz1Yms

 

[Victim of Siege]

Y'all dont be negative.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM25-lz1Yms

 

[GarthGrey]

The only thing that I can think of that UO could significantly benefit from is a unified landmass that ALL SHARDS can access and play there together. Use a special moongate that takes you there and back to your home shard.

If they could make the transfer, there and back, even quicker than character transfers it could work really great.

They can, character copy to TC is almost instantaneous, they could do that for production shards too, if they wanted to.

 

[GarthGrey]

Nothing beats a good Caddyshack quote....so you got that much goin for ya...which is nice !!

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

They can, character copy to TC is almost instantaneous, they could do that for production shards too, if they wanted to.

That's pretty much what I was thinking.

Even one shard used to exist on multiple servers. Crossing a server line was near instantaneous too. The technology most certainly is capable.

 

[ShriNayne]

I think some of the suggestions are really fun, but we have to lower expectations to what they can actually code and what they can actually get to work without breaking other stuff in the process....

 

[Arcus]

Bring UO to the Nintendo Switch.

 

[Prince Erik]

Personally I bet it's going to be available on the new NVIDIA GeForce Now service released today. It would make sense, especially since EA Origin games are included.