Why no one is into the Story Arc

[Sean]

IF I was an EM- and honestly, I haven't been following this on the shards or doing any EM events for a while now- I would have some rioters attack the player towns- sure you don't build loyalty, but you want to engage the players, make them feel they are a part of it- have their player towns over run.

And it doesn't have do to anything other than that- people will love it.

Great idea!

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

the loyalty that should be awarded is the continual type. What better way to make sure THAT type of loyalty is rewarded other than making it have a decay rate.

I've highlighted the part in your own post that doesn't make sense, there is no award for doing it, so imo having it decay at this point is asinine.

Sure there is. The award I was referring to was the awarding of loyalty for what deeds are being done, not a possible reward for building the loyalty.

 

[Uvtha]

EM decorations are not what the other poster was talking about. And as for that my shard has basically none. Nor have we had an EM for like 2 years now.

We were talking about making a world where player have freedom of choice in events. They don't. They never will and cannot because it all has to be designed ahead of time.

 

[Uvtha]

I guess we were playing different games then...

Name me one system ever put into this game that really has something to do with the virtues. Order vs Chaos? Nope. Any of the virtues that are in game now? Nope. Any quest ever? Nope. They are all designed to reward you with an item or ability for doing some random task, or to give you a reason to pvp.

Did you play UO back in its early days? Greed and opportunism were rampant. The anti-pks did their part playing the virtuous ones, but the game was not designed with tools to actually help virtuous players deal with the evil ones, so the game gets neutered instead by splitting the lands up.

No addition in early UO had anything to do with implicitly or explicitly encouraging exploration of the virtues. In fact the lack of that core element in development was a common complaint.

I'm not talking about what players do. Players can do the same things now as they ever did RP wise. I'm talking about developed in game systems. I'm talking about what "the game is about" which is what the code is and what it was designed to do.

 

[Uvtha]

Skipping most of the posts in the thread because my eyes started to roll really early on...

I'm curious.. why do so many people rely on shiny trinkets to do anything? Is your worldview so narrow that you can only focus on "WHAT BENEFITS ME IMMEDIATELY?!?!?!" and ignore everything else?

I for one don't care so much about rewards as I care about impact, and lack of things to do.

The current stage did not have enough content to last the time its covering. It needed to move on like a week ago or earlier.

And like has been covered it doesn't matter if we do it or not at this stage. The fires don't burn anything, the trash doesn't seem to accumulate or have any other effect. Quelling the rioters and raiders doesn't make them stop or slow, there is no feed back other than your town ranking which is sloooowwww to change.

Not that I think its not a normal reaction to want a reward in this game. That's how things are set up every time, so its natural for people to expect to be rewarded for taking part in events, especially when partaking in the events is a tedious clickfest rather than something fun or engaging.

 

[tiggertessa2007]

I was into it but the town I am defending is Yew and I think it is broken. there are hardly ever any rioters and I only saw raiders there once. On top of that, the walk to the court where the guard captain is can be long.

It is just getting to be a frustrating tedious grind. I can't seem to make any progress so I will probably just stop *frowns*

i duno if you play a mage or not, but you can gate them back to the prison, they will go right thro the gate with ya =)

 

[Aran]

I for one don't care so much about rewards as I care about impact, and lack of things to do.

Welp, better not bother with an education, no immediate effect when I register for classes!

 

[Madrid]

Story Arcs died with Lord British.

That was one of the dumbest things ever to happen with UO was to take out the King and the other original cast of characters.

 

[old gypsy]

I'm very much interested in the story and looking forward to seeing what developments will follow. Eventual rewards aren't my main concern, although I'm doing what I can to keep my main characters at venerated loyalty status. I like the concept of loyalty to a particular community/area. Since Lord British left and isn't coming back, I guess my characters are learning to prefer a small local government over a defunct monarchy.

 

[Aran]

Story Arcs died with Lord British.

That was one of the dumbest things ever to happen with UO was to take out the King and the other original cast of characters.

You must be new to the Lord British/EA... uh... adventure.

 

[PitrGri]

Name me one system ever put into this game that really has something to do with the virtues. Order vs Chaos? Nope. Any of the virtues that are in game now? Nope. Any quest ever? Nope. They are all designed to reward you with an item or ability for doing some random task, or to give you a reason to pvp.

Did you play UO back in its early days? Greed and opportunism were rampant. The anti-pks did their part playing the virtuous ones, but the game was not designed with tools to actually help virtuous players deal with the evil ones, so the game gets neutered instead by splitting the lands up.

No addition in early UO had anything to do with implicitly or explicitly encouraging exploration of the virtues. In fact the lack of that core element in development was a common complaint.

I'm not talking about what players do. Players can do the same things now as they ever did RP wise. I'm talking about developed in game systems. I'm talking about what "the game is about" which is what the code is and what it was designed to do.

A system that was put into the game that had anything to do with virtues...

Hum, us versus FoA, or us versus Juo'Nar... I do remember dueling Keeonean on the top of the Yew Winnery... and prolly the last story arc... us versus the Banites it was about virtue... was it not?

Now this new one... it reeks of bigotry.

It is funny that you mention that the anti pk guilds did their best to counter the greedy opportunistic players... our guild did that since 98. We sure won many friends in Felucca!!!

 

[Widow Maker]

What story arch?? *blink*

 

[PitrGri]

The one where you use township(college) rivalry to promote division and instigate players to log in... come defend your colors!!!

 

[Perma Fried]

So the way my calculus goes for this Event Arc is that I can spend hours trying to raise my loyalty rating in a town. I will not "achieve" anything tangible that helps me fight better. There is a possibility there will be a reward in the future, but that is most certainly undefined. Also, loyalty decays. Or the other option is I can work to solo some of the champs, peerless, and other bosses I've not yet done. I can put in the same amount of time and walk away with a fair shot of getting a helpful artifact, a needed power scroll, or gain skill on my characters. In my personal opinion, this is a better use of my time. I know not all will have the same math as me and that is perfectly fine. But I suspect there are many other "achiever" personality types in game that feel much the same way as I do. 4-5 hrs per week is not a lot of time in UO... I want to be as effective as possible during my limited playtime.

-OBSIDIAN-

Yep, it's a time vs possible reward scenario.

Plus walking around putting out fires and dealing with rioters is boring as hell.

 

[Uvtha]

Welp, better not bother with an education, no immediate effect when I register for classes!

Ive said multiple times in this thread I expect there to be more to do. My complaint is that we have been stuck, and will be stuck for weeks more in this event where your actions have no impact.

 

[Uvtha]

A system that was put into the game that had anything to do with virtues...

Hum, us versus FoA, or us versus Juo'Nar... I do remember dueling Keeonean on the top of the Yew Winnery... and prolly the last story arc... us versus the Banites it was about virtue... was it not?

Now this new one... it reeks of bigotry.

It is funny that you mention that the anti pk guilds did their best to counter the greedy opportunistic players... our guild did that since 98. We sure won many friends in Felucca!!!

Honestly I didn't see a whole lot of virtue in those events. All I remember from the battle of trinsic was some new undead monsters and lots and lots of lag.

Just theres a bad guy trying to take over, heres some monsters attacking the town.

Bane chosen kinda I suppose but I also never found that story to be very interesting, players were not really asked to make any hard decisions.

They did try I guess with that one event where the shadow lords got those glass daggers and killed that mage whos name I forget, but nothing, as usual ever came of making the evil or virtuous decision.

I remember the anti pks well. Most of them were really good people. KSS on siege was a really top knotch guild as well.

 

[PitrGri]

Guardians of Light on multiple shards... they rocked!

 

[Arrgh]

I can't help but wonder if this view - one widely held - isn't just a wee bit short sighted.

That there are no obvious rewards disclosed yet does not necessarily suggest there are no obvious rewards.

Sounds like NCFail gaming company to me if this is the case. I can live without mystery and more information myself.

 

[Felonious Monk]

Correction. ULTIMA was about the virtues. UO is not, and never has been about the virtues. Ever. It has, from day one, been about gimmie gimmie gimmie, I assure you.

The only virtues in UO are the ones people adhere to voluntarily. The in game ones are a joke on many levels.

I guess we were playing different games then...

Different games. Yes, PitrGri listed different games.
I would say in order to reach endgame in the Ultima Series you needed to learn and follow the Virtues. I used to cheat and steal early on in U4 knowing the game gave you time to wise up and become virtuous in order to move forward(don't forget the sandalwood box!).
In Ultima Online we all had a choice to pursue myriad titles though game play whether that choice was cloaked as RP or not. From Glorious Lord to Dread Lord or better yet...
Murderer.

 

[PitrGri]

I guess this is why you are a felonious monk and I am a pkk... we picked different playstyles... and one increased the fun of playing the other.

Have Fun!

 

[Uriah Heep]

Im not sure there are enough players left to actually defend 8 cities anymore. We were told if you try to do more than one, you lose the loyalty to your chosen city...
So if I pick Skara Brae, why would I go fight in Brit or Jhelom or anywhere else?

 

[QueenZen]

Yep, it's a time vs possible reward scenario.

Plus walking around putting out fires and dealing with rioters is boring as hell.

True. Of course after getting rid of all the garbage, fires, and arresting every rioter we do find, by the time we get that last one turned into prison, per single city we may be trying to work, oh look, another 10+ angry rioters just spawned, again again !!!

And ya go um... ok like it sure would be nicer to feel ya did/just got done doing, actually made or showed, an impact on the city and the world, [reward or not], & that what ya just spent all that time doing, actually stopped the spawn for a bit, or that what we just did, mattered and actually made an impact; even if only slowing the spawn, for even a stinkin' 5-10 mins. showing that our actions really, did, DO, something !! As it is it is just spawn after spawn of em all, no matter how many all of us arrest, oh look, MORE of em again and so fast as if the past 10+ we arrested only spawned us 20+ more rioters to arrest yet, and in a nano second of time !