Ultima Online

Well I have a different point of view on UO.  I started about 9 months after release, I understand the first 9 months were pretty bad.

I really think the addition of trammel was not the backbreaker you feel it was.  I always lived in Felucca, my girlfriend too who never pvps.  We did just fine.  Had the house looted a few times, no big deal, part of the game.  Trammel was necessary, because not everyone wants to pvp.  I think it worked well, if you wanted to pvp, you adventured in Felucca, if not trammel.

What really broke the camels back was "Age of Shadows".  There was the expansion that really deviated from Richard's Ultima.

First off you could rarely play the first two months after the release of the expansion, there were so many bugs.  Then they had the gaul to raise subscription fees. 

Age of shadows introduced overpowered items into the game.  They were trying to keep up with EQ or one better them and instead it backfired.  You used to be able to pvp with just hand crafted items, so big deal if some looted your corpse, you still were very competitive.  Age of shadows changed all that, weapons and the new skills seriously skewed pvp fights.  Now you had special skill extensions that you could only get in certain Felucca dungeons, nothing like narrowing down where the griefers could interrupt your play. 

Just horrible design, completely missed their target audience.  My entire guild, almost 100 strong just left. 

Oh btw Consequence, nice fanboy, but meaningless post, my gf still has an active account and the lake superior server she is on is practically empty,  There is hardly anyone playing.  So much for the game going strong.....

Originally posted by Ciredric

Well I have a different point of view on UO.  I started about 9 months after release, I understand the first 9 months were pretty bad.

Yes there were quite a few bugs and the notoriety system put good-guy players at a disadvantage to reds. The reputation system was a great improvement. The time of its implementation to the intro of Trammel was the prime UO experience IMO.

I really think the addition of trammel was not the backbreaker you feel it was.  I always lived in Felucca, my girlfriend too who never pvps.  We did just fine.  Had the house looted a few times, no big deal, part of the game.  Trammel was necessary, because not everyone wants to pvp.  I think it worked well, if you wanted to pvp, you adventured in Felucca, if not trammel.

I sort of agree. To the average non-PvP focussed player, Trammel was not the end of the UO. However it did mark a significant turning point in UO development philosophy. Even Raph Koster was against it, citing that the death penalties for murderers had already brought the rampant pk problem under control. Additionally it ruined the element of danger and unpredictability that made UO so unique. Even if you were not out to PvP you always had to be prepared. On Trammel you could be half asleep or watch your favorite TV while playing and not have to worry about surprises - Yawn...

What really broke the camels back was "Age of Shadows".  There was the expansion that really deviated from Richard's Ultima.

For the average player, I think you are correct this was the big hit to the game. A total deviation from the Ultima philosophy.

 

Originally posted by niko084

What they need to do is stop making all this new stuff to attract new players and start focusing on the players they have. EA really seems after the money on this and only the money. Mainly because they make more off in store and account sales then they do off the monthly accounts as long as they sell them fast enough. So release another upgrade at $40 that is a complete waste and totally full of bugs. Then they go and release new graphics, targeting systems etc that really nobody has any care for. Sure it looks pretty, well I am a member of 6 large guilds throughout a few servers and I don't know a single person that is looking forward to the new graphics to come out, or the uses the poor excuse for a targeting system they released.

Ok this is my take.

Yes I was a Pre-UOR player. In fact, I still have the original game copy with cloth map and pin somewhere around the house. What got me into UO was the fact that you could be ANYONE you wanted to be. They didn't give a toot about your name (unless it was racist/sexist etc) or if someone else had it already. There you can already see where modern games fail. True, they want their ingame messaging system, but honestly, big mmo gamers usually have their own chat room anyway.

UO:R - I wouldnt exactly call it the downfall of UO but it was the first nail in the coffin. Don't get me wrong, I was a trammel boy for a long time until I got bored of it. One day i was sitting at trammel bank, just reading what other people wrote for a good 3 hours. "im paying $10/month for this?" And so I started going to Fel a bit more, building my store there (everybody wants Death Inc. weapons :P) and just having a good time with my thief.

I pretty much quit when Age of Shadows came out. Don't get me wrong, I really liked some aspects of it all, like the ongoing quest (was it invasion of trinsic or something? yew? i cant even remember) but the updated graphics were so unecessary for the game. To this day I'd still rather play pre-UOR UO for $20 a month than WoW for free. Give me shitty graphics, connection dependant gameplay compared to dull and lifeless questing anyday of the week.

What made UO fun? Open ended-ness. You could go out with a 50 mage, a bag full of blade spirit scrolls and rake in money at ogre lords. Nothing was level dependent. You could bend the game rules to your advantage. In this game, skill was more important than items.

I've played many of player run shards, trying to rekindle my flame for UO, but it never really gets me going. It's never going to be the same as back in 98 or 99. I just hope that one day, EA will see where they went wrong and Open UO:Legacy, shards that follow the pre-UO:R ruleset. I'd pay $20 for that.

Sad to read this ... just started playing UO about 8 months ago and I enjoy the game ...  Will EA revamp the problems or is this game run it's course for the most part??

- FRAG

Originally posted by Fragmentor

Sad to read this ... just started playing UO about 8 months ago and I enjoy the game ...  Will EA revamp the problems or is this game run it's course for the most part??

- FRAG