Which race would you like to see next (assuming there will be one.)

[Velvathos]

Not sure if there is any real plans to add in a new race.. But the two most popular races to roleplay as besides a Human and an Elf have been Dwarves and Orcs, I know that they have said in the past that there will be no dwarves in UO, they aren't really found in the lore..

Orcs would be tricky, I think they owe though it to all the large orc guilds and orc roleplayers we have had over the years.

With the current arc going on I sense that the next races will be meers and jukas if there is another expansion.. (I imagine we'll get both.) No, in fact, I am positive that there is where the story arc is leading to with what's going on and the changes to Ilsh that are being made, but I could be absolutely wrong..

Orcs would be a tricky one like I said because they are an enemy to all and they speak their own languages, orc roleplayers have always used black speech which is a Tolkien language, those who roleplay as orcs have always played them in a specific way and by adding in a race of them, would probably destroy all that history and roleplay from the past 15 years... There would have to be a different approach if UO ever got an orc race.

 

[Lorddog]

PANDA"S

 

[silent]

I didn't vote because you're missing an option, NONE.

 

[Velvathos]

I'm sure there will be another expansion eventually with a new race.. They have to keep adding content to the game..

 

[Ron Silverbeard]

Other

Smurf's FTW!

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

Orcs, Meer, and Juka would be the easiest races to add. All they would need to do is hue the body and add a new skin to the paper dolls. Since all 3 are humanoid, they could wear human armor. Minimal need for new graphics.

As for orcs being "destroyed," I call BS on that. Not every RP orc in UO is Tolkien-based, nor do all use the same language, nor are all of them 'evil.' The easiest way is just add them and let the players do what they will with the race.

Dwarves do have a history in Ultima, btw, especially in relation to the Underworld.

 

[garillo]

Orcs are long overdue. Should've added them before elves or gargs

 

[Daelomin]

Lizard men...
in the spirit of UO and one of the first monsters you fought outside Britain as a new player.

 

[Old Man of UO]

I voted Other.

While not a race, I've always wanted to see Ultima include Druids, Clerics and Priests - classes that fight without armor. Who needs AOS? Who needs all this fancy weapons and armor with 25 different attributes when you can run nekked through Yew, grab a tree branch and whomp on the big bad BOSS monster?

 

[Frarc]

Daemons!

 

[Pinco]

actually is unthinkable to add new races... the game needs to be consolidated, there is a serious player loss and a big part of the game contents became old faster than they can renew it.
I think the game is became too predictable right now, everytime you do something ends always in the same way there are no more surprises.
Once there was some good arties as reward, now the 90% of the arties are just good to stay in a box as collection, the few others useful arties are too rare and requires enough farming to make the game boring.
The EM events are just an activity for few since for me (and many others), it's almost impossible to partecipate it due to real life programs.

 

[G.v.P]

Orcs would be a tricky one like I said because they are an enemy to all and they speak their own languages, orc roleplayers have always used black speech which is a Tolkien language, those who roleplay as orcs have always played them in a specific way and by adding in a race of them, would probably destroy all that history and roleplay from the past 15 years... There would have to be a different approach if UO ever got an orc race.

Not sure the addition of Orcs would destroy history but female Orcs would take a bit of time to implement and there hasn't been an Orc event line since the savages...so live event wise they'd have to do a lot of work to get to the point in which Orcs would make sense, then they'd have a bit of work to do making orc paper dolls and the like. But in the end I think Orcs should be able to wear anything humans can.

Actually I wonder if they could just take a human base paperdoll, give new hues, then edit the faces...then on the sprite just change the head a little like they did elves. Seems as if in-game Orcs are a bit shorter perhaps than humans, aside from the Brute, but Orcs could possibly be done like Elves.

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

The EC already has Orc, Meer, and Jukan paperdolls. No reason these couldn't be replicated for the CC in less than a day.

 

[lupushor]

Mongbats?

As Martyna said, easy to implement, they could wear garg armor.

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

Those'd be some damn big mongbats!

 

[Viper09]

I'd like Orcs but Meer and Juka seem like a more likely race that would be added.

However mongbats would be fun, I'd name him Twinky

 

[QueenZen]

What if I want to be a Pixie ?

Meh...
I could go for juka's and meers though, since we also have had them too, for some time.

 

[Lorddog]

slimes?

 

[Meatbread]

Orcs. Also, Ultima isn't Lord of the Rings, and the fact that some roleplayer somewhere used "the black speech" is about as relevant as the time I roleplayed as Lando Calrissian. Besides, who are these strict Tolkien roleplayers? All the orc roleplayers I've ever seen have always said "Hoho klomp da humies!" and silly stuff like that.

 

[G.v.P]

The EC already has Orc, Meer, and Jukan paperdolls. No reason these couldn't be replicated for the CC in less than a day.

Sprites would be most difficult, yeah...paperdolls shouldn't be too hard overall. I think EC also has pirate and undead faces, no?

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

Pirate, undead, vampire, anime, demonic, old, etc.

 

[Velvathos]

Orcs. Also, Ultima isn't Lord of the Rings, and the fact that some roleplayer somewhere used "the black speech" is about as relevant as the time I roleplayed as Lando Calrissian. Besides, who are these strict Tolkien roleplayers? All the orc roleplayers I've ever seen have always said "Hoho klomp da humies!" and silly stuff like that.

Do you know what Shadowclan is? They were the largest orc guild at one point.. They were on Great Lakes and Catskills mostly. Today they exist in WoW and freeshards.. This is the main language reference that MOST orc roleplayers have used.. Shadowclan: World of Warcraft

That and just a mixture of bad english, but most of us have gone by it, and yes, most of the wording is from "black speech" Most guilds in UO and orc roleplayers, Bloodrock Clan(Great Lakes), Stormreaver Orcs(Atlantic), Served Head Orcs (Europa), Shadowclan, Orcs of Kor(Pacific), have all used pretty much the same language reference.. Here is one of our old community spotlights. ORIGIN - Ultima Online - Main Completely written in Black Speech..

The Severed Heads Orcs Here is the severed head orcs which still exist on Europa, notice that both them and the Shadowclan (two different shards, two different games) have the same reference... I believe the word "Klomp" which means to kill is even from Black Speech but I could be wrong "Vras" also means to kill.. I believe it is mostly the basics of which clans have used that does not come from Black Speech..

 

[G.v.P]

Pirate, undead, vampire, anime, demonic, old, etc.

From an old Oceania post (not my pics):

 

[Eric Ravenwind]

I vote for:
-Half-Dragons
-Half-Trolls

 

[G.v.P]

Have to admit though, most of those look funny with the short brown hair, haha...or bright green

 

[Velvathos]

It's clear that the players want "Orcs" to be a player race one day..

 

[Doubleplay]

I chose "other" because the mechanicals as a group could be considered a race. I would like to play an overseer.

 

[Meatbread]

Do you know what Shadowclan is? They were the largest orc guild at one point.. They were on Great Lakes and Catskills mostly. Today they exist in WoW and freeshards.. This is the main language reference that MOST orc roleplayers have used.. Shadowclan: World of Warcraft

Shadowclan and their ilk don't seem to realize that neither Ultima nor Warcraft are Lord of the Rings. It's especially hilarious in the case of Warcraft, where orcs have a very rich and detailed history, which Shadowclan ignores so they can keep cramming in Tolkien nonsense.

The first time someone calls a troll an "olog" in WoW is the moment I quit taking them seriously.

 

[G.v.P]

Also, didn't know you can have your SA Elf wear an Orc, etc., face...lol...sorta weird, half Elf half Orc...ah, my new half breed ;D

 

[MalagAste]

I voted Dwarf since well... I like them and I already RP one. As for Meer and Juka I think that's a good choice too. As for orcs if you want to play at being an Orc now you can always get your hands on a pair of the Majic Flippers... and well be an orc... If that was your thing. However my thought is Orcs are really just deformed sort of Elven descendants whatever so just modify an elf.

I like the idea of a dragon or deamon race but maybe that's just me. Able to take humoid form when they desire... More powerful in their native forms.... would be fun... but you know...

I rather doubt though with the current state of the game and number of DEV's size of the team or whatever that doing such an endeavor is even remotely possible. So I wouldn't even start to fantasize about it.

 

[Woodsman]

Shadowclan and their ilk don't seem to realize that neither Ultima nor Warcraft are Lord of the Rings. It's especially hilarious in the case of Warcraft, where orcs have a very rich and detailed history, which Shadowclan ignores so they can keep cramming in Tolkien nonsense.

The first time someone calls a troll an "olog" in WoW is the moment I quit taking them seriously.

If you want to nitpick, any swords and scorcery-based game is influenced by Robert Howard. Any high fantasy game is influenced by CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. You can't get away from that.

If you really want to nitpick, Tolkien himself stated that orcs were influenced by the medieval folklore of goblins, which goes back to the 1600s (at least in print). One of the books about Tolkien even mentioned a letter where he directly credited 'The Princes and the Goblin' as influencing his ideas about orcs, and the Princess and the Goblin author was not only an influence on Tolkien, but also on Lewis.

But Orcs and Ultima have a long history - they were in Akalabeth and the first 5 Ultimas - Orcs - Codex of Ultima Wisdom

 

[Velvathos]

Shadowclan and their ilk don't seem to realize that neither Ultima nor Warcraft are Lord of the Rings. It's especially hilarious in the case of Warcraft, where orcs have a very rich and detailed history, which Shadowclan ignores so they can keep cramming in Tolkien nonsense.

The first time someone calls a troll an "olog" in WoW is the moment I quit taking them seriously.

Yes but most roleplayers derive their lore, backgrounds and languages for their characters (doesn't matter what game) straight from Lord of the Rings or Dungeon Master.. In fact, I am pretty sure 90% of roleplayers do. I have seen elvish RP guilds use Quenya, as well as Drow guilds.. (Quenya being a Tolkien language as well). It just makes sense for them to use such language when roleplaying, each race should have its own lore, history and language, I don't care what fantasy game it is. I believe the devs came up with one for gargoyles. And it has become standard among roleplayers and amongst roleplaying communities to such language and it is something that will never, ever change... The only exception is Warhammer, but not many roleplayers draw their influence from that considering that it is sci-f, Orcs in Warhammer are the only orcs that are actually different from Lord of the Rings, everything from their names, the way they talk, their speech and the way they look is more similar to Warcraft. (Or is it the other way around?) Most roleplayers who came into UO in 1996-97 had grown up on Lord of the Rings, they grew up playing D&D, Pen & Paper games that were popular during the 80's to mid 90's.

 

[sablestorm]

An easier solution I'd suggest to the Devs is rather than spending man hour implementing another race, give us tools so that we can represent the other races/creatures ourselves. I can already roleplay an orc using the polymorph spell or orc masks. You can roleplay other creatures as well with the halloween masks, but the problem there is they take up a vital hand slot. If they could instead convert these to a little used slot like the earring slots, it becomes much better in my opinion. Now I know this is problematic for gargoyles who make use of those earring slots, but perhaps some solution can be found that will serve them as well. The whole idea is you provide tools and let the player creativity carry the day. It is something that has always served UO well with customized housing, player events, etc.

 

[Woodsman]

Most roleplayers who came into UO in 1996-97 had grown up on Lord of the Rings, they grew up playing D&D, Pen & Paper games that were popular during the 80's to mid 90's.

Roleplayers who came into UO early on would have been exposed to the Ultima games and would have seen orcs, etc. as well.

 

[Velvathos]

Yeah but the Ultima games before UO I doubt exposed ANYONE to Roleplaying..

 

[G.v.P]

I believe the devs came up with one for gargoyles. And it has become standard among roleplayers and amongst roleplaying communities to such language and it is something that will never, ever change...

The Language of the Gargoyles. Stratics also has a lot of great info on the different races and the language used. I'd need a UOWedding or Curse tool with translate ;P.

 

[Woodsman]

Yeah but the Ultima games before UO I doubt exposed ANYONE to Roleplaying..

Well....they are great adventure games, and they fall into the definition of an RPG..

Ultimately I see orcs as being a very rich part of UO player history. Many UO players fought orcs as new/young players, more than a few of the more infamous UO guilds roleplayed orcs, there are plenty of people who design orc-looking houses.

I think the stigma these days is not so much Lord of the Rings, as World of Warcraft.

 

[TheGrimmOmen]

New race....

*ack*

<thud>


-Grimm
(Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD)

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Random responses in no particular order.

RP and Ultima: Who roleplayed the original, pre-UO Ultimas? I did. And I doubt I was the only one but I'm likely one of the few who'll admit it. What's more shocking to me is that there were people who played those games and didn't. Let me rephrase that: What is more shocking to me is that there were people who played those games and don't understand themselves to have been roleplaying.

Other playable races: My strong suspicion is that we'll never again see another playable race in this game. The post just made in this thread by Grimm appears to bear this out.

But if there were? *shrugs* I don't know.

Regarding orcs 1: I seem to recall some lore that I thought was official UO lore that orcs were actually the Hellspawn of Minax and Mondain, created in a sick and twisted and evil mockery of normal life. Was that actual lore or one of those things that was basically fan fiction that got passed around as lore and I happened to pick up?

Regarding orcs 2: As a roleplayer I actually had experiences on a shard I used to play some years back that are opposite to those related by others. I had many instances where I faced great OOC pressure to RP orcs as not evil despite them doing evil things at the time. (Invasions, being hirelings of known and consciously evil forces, "recruitment" of human slaves, etc.) In fact I was once investigated by a political body for the crime of killing orcs.

Regarding RPing races generally 1: There's a degree to which racial distinctions in a game like UO really should be cosmetic-only. And if you have cosmetic-only races, you can have many of them and get away with an awful lot. Unfortunately UO's already long-since crossed that line and I really doubt a cosmetic-only race would be taken all that well by the UO populace that doesn't understand itself as roleplaying.

Regarding RPing races generally 2: The issue of the use of UO lore generally, versus using another mythology (whether one with source material or simply made up), is always live to RolePlayers. There are those who consider UO as in effect not having lore, but I am not one of those. Attempting to follow the lore strictly, however, also has it's problems, but fortunately UO lore itself has an interesting escape hatch, and that's that Sosaria has known connections to other worlds. Lord British was from Earth originally and so was The Avatar (known in UO as The Stranger Who Slew Mondain). People and cultural influences can come through those moongates and dimensional pathways, and idea that Drow came in and settled in Sosaria someplace, bringing their ways with them is no less or no more far-fetched than is that any given Drow is actually from some other world.

Eh. I've written long enough.

-Galen's player

 

[Barok]

New race....

*ack*

"Ack" ? Are you implying that the next race should be cats? As in Bill the Cat?

 

[G.v.P]

People and cultural influences can come through those moongates and dimensional pathways, and idea that Drow came in and settled in Sosaria someplace, bringing their ways with them is no less or no more far-fetched than is that any given Drow is actually from some other world.

I think we can all agree the Elves heritage--in terms of UO as a separate from Ultima the single-player series--was forced as heck. Some random tree with Elves? Gargoyles seemed much more natural since an entire facet was devoted to the race, plus there was a Gargoyle town long before that.

For Orcs, the history is surely there--from the City of Cove, to the Delucia T2A Orc fort, to those who RP'd.

 

[Uvtha]

Not sure if there is any real plans to add in a new race.. But the two most popular races to roleplay as besides a Human and an Elf have been Dwarves and Orcs, I know that they have said in the past that there will be no dwarves in UO, they aren't really found in the lore..

Orcs would be tricky, I think they owe though it to all the large orc guilds and orc roleplayers we have had over the years.

With the current arc going on I sense that the next races will be meers and jukas if there is another expansion.. (I imagine we'll get both.) No, in fact, I am positive that there is where the story arc is leading to with what's going on and the changes to Ilsh that are being made, but I could be absolutely wrong..

Orcs would be a tricky one like I said because they are an enemy to all and they speak their own languages, orc roleplayers have always used black speech which is a Tolkien language, those who roleplay as orcs have always played them in a specific way and by adding in a race of them, would probably destroy all that history and roleplay from the past 15 years... There would have to be a different approach if UO ever got an orc race.

Ratmen/Lizardmen!

 

[Woodsman]

I think we can all agree the Elves heritage--in terms of UO as a separate from Ultima the single-player series--was forced as heck. Some random tree with Elves? Gargoyles seemed much more natural since an entire facet was devoted to the race, plus there was a Gargoyle town long before that.

Not just an entire facet, but the focal point of Ultima VI was the gargoyles and their rise.

 

[Woodsman]

New race....

*ack*

<thud>

Ratmen/Lizardmen/Orcs.

But the only available clothing should be what we've already seen them wear in UO.

Compromise?

 

[Basara]

slimes?

I vote for:
-Half-Dragons

To quote from the villain of the classic anime/manga "Dragon Half" (which was about the daughter of a dragon slayer and a dragon that had fallen in love - family arguments were a pancake)

"I'm a Slime Half!!!!"

 

[Cirno]

To quote from the villain of the classic anime/manga "Dragon Half" (which was about the daughter of a dragon slayer and a dragon that had fallen in love - family arguments were a pancake)

"I'm a Slime Half!!!!"

If we're going there, I want Blacksmith Tony's mechanical body.

 

[G.v.P]

Ratmen/Lizardmen/Orcs.

But the only available clothing should be what we've already seen them wear in UO.

Compromise?

( WTS ringmail tunic w/ 70/70/70/70/70 resists )
\

( wtb long sword w/ 100 di, 60 ssi, and human slayer )
\

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

I think we can all agree the Elves heritage--in terms of UO as a separate from Ultima the single-player series--

Hell of a qualifier....Remember that fictionally the universes our characters live in are, quite literally, splinters from the main Ultima world. So its history is ours to a certain point, and ours has mirrored its in broad terms.

was forced as heck. Some random tree with Elves?

As I recall, not quite that simple. The elves were there in the Ultima Prime universe (the single-player games), but had vanished from UO, and returned, kicking things off with the restoration of Yew. Not as sudden as you are suggesting, I do not think.

Gargoyles seemed much more natural since an entire facet was devoted to the race, plus there was a Gargoyle town long before that.

And why? Because of their role in the single-player games.

-Galen's player

 

[Shelra]

I'm sure there will be another expansion eventually with a new race.. They have to keep adding content to the game..

Predator FTW!
A new exciting story arc can be created for this intelligent humanoid species. Much like the 'look' of a possible monster we may encounter ingame. Granted, they do like to hunt human prey for sport and display their winnings hung on trees; coming from another realm/galaxy (reference: Predator-Wiki ).

Perhaps also vamp it up with some New True Blood.

 

[WarderDragon]

How about none?