W
Woodsman
Guest
So we are just over 4 months away from the 15th Anniversary.
Going by pub 72, 73, 74, 75, and 76, that means we will probably get two more publishes after pub 76, before the anniversary, assuming that pub 76, 77, or 78 don't get pushed back a few weeks. If any of those get pushed back by more than a few weeks, then we might only get pub 77 before the anniversary.
Jeff said they just started planning pub 77. There is also this big interview in PC Gamer with Jeff and Mesanna about UO, but that seems to have disappeared, unless it was in fact the June and not May issue of PC Gamer, because I went over the May issue with a fine-toothed comb and know it wasn't in there. If it's still happening, I hope it's good, because PC Gamer reaches more people than play UO, including a lot of ex-UO players. Good chance for EA to bring some people back in depending on what's said.
For the 15th Anniversary, I believe these have a high chance of happening:
1) High resolution terrain and housing graphics. Grimm said "soon", and Jeff said they had increased the funding, so I hope they can get it in.
2) One more dungeon revamp or perhaps some areas such as T2A or one of the islands.
3) Finished or nearly-finished virtue system. Jeff said they wanted this done before the end of the year.
4) Return to Britannia and Bring a Friend programs reinstated. Based on what Jeff said about RtB.
5) New website. Based on what Jeff said.
6) Something being done with factions that will make some people happy and some people angry
I think these are probable:
7) Huge town invasions that are going to be influenced by town loyalty in some way. We're getting this huge story, we've already had rioters, we have the Exodus machines.
These could realistically happen.
8) Some pre-built housing and shop layouts based on "classic" UO houses and shops that we see with the NPCs. Some may want new housing tile sets, but I've seen more than a few buildings in my travels that I would like to have available as a pre-built house. It would be a nice way to get in touch with UO's past. Okay, so the reality is that we'll probably get a new theme pack based on UO history.
9) An announcement that all of the work Grimm is doing - doing stuff in 3D, putting in a high resolution animation pipeline, is building towards something huge and it will get announced in PC Gamer.
10) An appearance by Lord British (I know, EA doesn't have the rights to use LB, but maybe they can bury their differences with RG).
So what's everybody's predictions for the 15th Anniversary?
All I ask is that you try to keep it within the realm of possibilities - keep in mind that the devs have at most two publishes over four months to get this in - that's a few months of planning and a few months of testing. That rules out a classic shard, ditching of one of the clients, and shard mergers (not to mention the devs have repeatedly shot down those ideas). If you want to discuss things that won't happen before or during the anniversary, then let's start another thread, maybe about the 20th anniversary.
Going by pub 72, 73, 74, 75, and 76, that means we will probably get two more publishes after pub 76, before the anniversary, assuming that pub 76, 77, or 78 don't get pushed back a few weeks. If any of those get pushed back by more than a few weeks, then we might only get pub 77 before the anniversary.
Jeff said they just started planning pub 77. There is also this big interview in PC Gamer with Jeff and Mesanna about UO,
For the 15th Anniversary, I believe these have a high chance of happening:
1) High resolution terrain and housing graphics. Grimm said "soon", and Jeff said they had increased the funding, so I hope they can get it in.
2) One more dungeon revamp or perhaps some areas such as T2A or one of the islands.
3) Finished or nearly-finished virtue system. Jeff said they wanted this done before the end of the year.
4) Return to Britannia and Bring a Friend programs reinstated. Based on what Jeff said about RtB.
5) New website. Based on what Jeff said.
6) Something being done with factions that will make some people happy and some people angry
I think these are probable:
7) Huge town invasions that are going to be influenced by town loyalty in some way. We're getting this huge story, we've already had rioters, we have the Exodus machines.
These could realistically happen.
8) Some pre-built housing and shop layouts based on "classic" UO houses and shops that we see with the NPCs. Some may want new housing tile sets, but I've seen more than a few buildings in my travels that I would like to have available as a pre-built house. It would be a nice way to get in touch with UO's past. Okay, so the reality is that we'll probably get a new theme pack based on UO history.
9) An announcement that all of the work Grimm is doing - doing stuff in 3D, putting in a high resolution animation pipeline, is building towards something huge and it will get announced in PC Gamer.
10) An appearance by Lord British (I know, EA doesn't have the rights to use LB, but maybe they can bury their differences with RG).
So what's everybody's predictions for the 15th Anniversary?
All I ask is that you try to keep it within the realm of possibilities - keep in mind that the devs have at most two publishes over four months to get this in - that's a few months of planning and a few months of testing. That rules out a classic shard, ditching of one of the clients, and shard mergers (not to mention the devs have repeatedly shot down those ideas). If you want to discuss things that won't happen before or during the anniversary, then let's start another thread, maybe about the 20th anniversary.