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Classic Shard is under consideration by EA staff
MaeEye
Member UncommonPosts: 1,107
I thought some of you might find this interesting. (highlighted in orange)
This was posted on uoherald.com on February 12th
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Producer's Letter - Where are we and what the heck are we doing?
Calvin Crowner
12 Feb 2010 20:45:02 EST
Where are we? Busy.
By the time you read this, our Valentine’s Day publish should be out the door. Just so you know, a handful of our intrepid developers braved the snowy wilds of Northern Virginia to get everything staged and delivered. Now if that isn’t love, I don’t know what is. This publish was the first step toward a six- month dev cycle for updates to the live game and updating some Stygian Abyss (SA) content.
We’ve made some core updates to Mysticism that from early reviews seem to be on the right track … For our publish in March we’re taking another look at the entire Mysticism spell line and amping it up a bit. Yes, I know … we didn’t just add an expansion and then move on, we really meant what we said about continuing to support what we’ve put out into the community. Also, we’ve got some artifacts for humans that were never released for SA content. We have to get those out too.
And given that … what about Magincia? It’s just … there like the Statue of Liberty at the end of Ghostbusters II. (Esoteric reference +5 points) I will tell you there are four major topics that the team is discussing at present:
What follows is in no way a schedule or in any way meant to imply that these things will happen in the near term, but instead to give you a peek where my head is and what the team is iterating on …
First: factions revamp. We want to make it not only engaging for PvPers, but make it possible for those who craft and heal a contributing part of the system. In addition, we want to make factions a coordinated part of roleplaying. In my mind, if there is a purpose behind the factions beyond hacking for the sake of hacking, that make a much more engaging play experience. Given that … we need to address how factions play into the arc of Ultima and Ultima Online. More to come on this in the next month, to include an update on how Magincia will … or will not play a role.
Next: is there ever going to be a classic shard? I will tell you … it’s a good idea … in theory. In practice it gets a LOT more complicated. We had a Saturday lunch recently (the same method we used when we were developing for Stygian Abyss), and discussed the benefits and costs (resource and impact to community) for developing a Classic shard. First we discussed what does a Classic Shard really mean? We came up with some core ideas and left it at that. There are several other things surrounding the implementation, and we almost have it nailed. Will we do it? I don’t know and cant’ say for certain, but at some point we will put the idea to rest one way or another, and we hope to make that decision this year.
Third: Speedhackers and movement. We have had this on internal testing for a couple of months, and are in the last 5% of a 100% solution. So as anyone who has had any project management experience knows … this is where you sometimes have to consider …”Is this good enough?” I’m sure you’ll let us know. We’re going to implement the system in the next couple of publishes after some time on Test Center. After that we’ll be looking into coming up with a solution for 3rd party program detection.
Final thing: What are we doing about the live story arc (see the reference to Magincia above)? We need to resolve the relationship between Dawn and Zah. How are we going to do that? Well I’m a believer that we seed you with some of the basics and let the community roleplay the outcome and transitions for the story. In short, as in Dungeons and Dragons, we’ll give you the nodes of the story, and allow you to fill in the blanks.
Given that, we’re giving Event Moderators a few more tools that will allow them to create better gaming moments. This does NOT mean making better things to give to their friends, it means creating better creatures with interesting behavior that will fry your noggin and add to your gameplay experience.
Coming for March: Mysticism spell enhancements; updates to Gargoyles; and tentatively the first glimpse of the new story arc and factions. Also, we’ve been trying to come up with the best way to allow a fair and just method for winning the housing plots down in the Abyss. The idea on the table is an event where you hunt clues that give you an opportunity to find a unique key to “unlock” the housing plot. We have an idea now on how to implement it, but again … we want to make certain it makes sense and gives every person on every shard the best opportunity for winning some prime real estate.
Finally, not sure if you’ve heard, but the team has been playing in Baja. The reason? Cause we laugh hysterically when we do, and two, we want to learn how to reduce the barrier to entry for those who want to play our game. We need to understand what the ‘X” is for UO and help others get into it and love it as much as the community and the team does. I’ll be opening a blog in the near future that will journal our exploits (in a journey sense, mind you … not a cheating sense).
I will tell you I recently played another game that had a barrier of entry not unlike UO’s. But there was one major difference … when I play on any shard invariably there is a person who will assist and take me aside and shake his or her head sadly saying …”No no no … This is what you do …” Recently someone has helped one of our artists make her way into the warm fold of Ultima Online, and now she’s working on buying a house, when she swore she’d never be able to get into the game. That is UO. Eventually, everyone will understand how magnificent and sublime it is. I believe it because I’ve seen it.
Oh ... one last note... thanks to the guy who put up the MacDonald’s on Baja … it looks great in presentations to execs about what makes UO … UO. And for the record … I am gearing up a mage. Yes, I played a tamer for a while, and got all kinds of grief … and why the heck do I have to have 100 LRC anyway? There has to be a way that I can reduce the cost of reagents without having to know a dozen imbuers to get what I need. I’m gonna have to see who is in charge around here!!
Total time played: 9125 Days, 21 Hours, 29 Minutes, 27 Seconds
Time played this level: 39 Days, 1 Hour, 24 Minutes, 5 Seconds
Comments
Alright, I can tell you right now what their answer is going to be:
NO.
And here's why: because it would be a good idea. And if there is one thing EA is not known for, its good ideas. Half baked ideas, lousy ideas, ideas that completely f**k a game over, yeah, they've got tons of those.
So, no, the idea isnt really under consideration, as soon as they mentioned the word cost that right there tells you they are just going to slap a big no label on it and toss it aside. More likely than not, they are just saying this so that at the end of the month they can say to all of those who have been begging/waiting/wishing for a classic server tough shit go to hell and STFU about it already, we drove this game into the crapper and we intend on keeping it there.
I mean, come on, if some douch who works at tacobell can afford to rent the server space and run his own UO emulation server, then Im sure EA, with its ill gotten millions from poor quality games, would have been able to set one up in less than a day.
And even IF, and I use that if EXTREMELY LOOSELY, they do make a classic server, they are only going to f**k it up. To return to a classic server means remaking an era like T2A, before the trammel/felucca split. That means no elemental resists, no runic crafting tools, no artifacts, no BODs, or any of that other nonsense that came in after Ren. Back when you could deadly poison any bladed weapon and didnt need some wussy little special attack with modifiers to poison someone. Back when the rule was "if your heart is true, you dont kill blue" or "If you see a red, cut off his head". Back when it was harder to gimp your character than it is today. those where the days being a theif, or a GM smith or carpenter meant something.
With that, I am sorry to say to all of those who think this might be a dream come true, that we might finally get the golden age of UO back, forget it. Its not going to happen. We have to limp back to the sickening plethora of EQ clones and continue to have the same crap forced into our faces wrapped in different packages. (I mean, come on, WOW, AOC, LOTRO, they are all bascially the same game just with different "stories")
The UO we all knew and loved is nothing more than a dream, lost in a sea of uber arti suits and item whoreage, to remain a memory thought of fondly, until the day someone with the proper drive and vision takes it upon themselves to reforge what was quite possibly the greatest era of online gaming ever.
I dont like your comment...Mainly because you are 100% correct and it makes me sad.
I dont like your comment...Mainly because you are 100% correct and it makes me sad.
ROFLMAO =P
(even sadder though....)
You guys should try out Mortal Online -its getting many of the features UO had such as FFA PVP, full loot, skill based advancement, thievery, vast crafting system, etc.
Cheers!
Ummmmmm. UO worked though.
I was looking forward to MO until I tried the Beta (yes, I know what a beta is) and after 3 days of trying to get the patcher to work (going through hundreds of possible fixes provided by the community, nothing official) I got to play the game... Its not anything like UO.
No game will ever be UO. Part of UO was the mixture of player types (now there is a "niche" for each player type)- MO (even IF they get it working) will just be a PK gankfest... UO had that- But it had so much more.
Ummmmmm. UO worked though.
I was looking forward to MO until I tried the Beta (yes, I know what a beta is) and after 3 days of trying to get the patcher to work (going through hundreds of possible fixes provided by the community, nothing official) I got to play the game... Its not anything like UO.
No game will ever be UO. Part of UO was the mixture of player types (now there is a "niche" for each player type)- MO (even IF they get it working) will just be a PK gankfest... UO had that- But it had so much more.
Screw MO, check out Earthrise. See, if you shoot Earthrise down by nit-picking the stupidest things like (most of us) do with (most) MMOs, then you're only shooting yourself in the foot.
"Combat doesn't feeeeeeeeeel right! I want combat to feeeeeeeeeel right!"
"The graphics looooooook funny. Why can't the graphics looooooooook normal?"
Now, some complaints are legit, such as performance issues, bugs, glitched UI, etc. And suggestions/criticism can be good, as long as they're constructive (read: offer a way to fix it instead of whining. If you can't, don't bother complaining). I'm sure as Earthrise gets closer and closer to release, it'll receive the same schnitzel storm that most MMOs do - sandbox or not. I hope not, though, and I hope those clever Bulgarians can make a game that we can enjoy. EVE on Earth? Yes please.
Ummmmmm. UO worked though.
I was looking forward to MO until I tried the Beta (yes, I know what a beta is) and after 3 days of trying to get the patcher to work (going through hundreds of possible fixes provided by the community, nothing official) I got to play the game... Its not anything like UO.
No game will ever be UO. Part of UO was the mixture of player types (now there is a "niche" for each player type)- MO (even IF they get it working) will just be a PK gankfest... UO had that- But it had so much more.
Thats your personal opinion which I respect.
However I guess since MO is in open beta everyone can try it out and judge by themselves.
Earthrise is a game I was looking into but as far as I know its far from beta state.
I dont like your comment...Mainly because you are 100% correct and it makes me sad.
It hurt me as much to write it as it did you to read it. But, its the sad truth. EA will never do it, they will never make classic servers, and heres why:
Anyone with a shred of common sense or basic grasp of logic will tell you that a lot of players will come back to play a classic shard. Go on any MMO out there, from WoW to AOC, from EVE to LOTRO and bring up UO in the general chats. There you will see the old UO vets start to emerge and there is one thing they will all agree on, that they would come back if a classic server was made.
However, if EA were to do this, and the classic server was a huge hit, it would be evidence that everything EA did to UO IE- Renaissance, 3rd dawn, LBR, AOS, SE, ML, and the rotten cherry on the crap sundae, SA- was for naught. That all of those years wasted on trying to WoWize UO hurt it more than help it. It would be an undeniable truth that EA is not willing to face, now or ever. They'd rather continue to march UO off of a cliff than say "Alright, we messed up, we should have just left things alone and improved upon what was already there and working well, instead of gutting the game completely, cutting out its heard, and replacing it with a neon japanese kiddie WoW steampunk item dependent ripoff to try and ride another games coat tails to success".
When Richard Garriot initially made UO, he had the core concepts down to a T. It was meant to be a player driven world where the players made their own destinies and adventures. No quests, no lame ass EM's, none of that mainstream bullshit we get shovel fed from all of the other EQ clones out there. Sure there were bugs and glitches like any other game, but inspite of them, the game was still good.
Its funny. If EA had spent the same amount of time working on all of the old glitches and bugs from Old UO as they did killing it, the game would have probably been pretty much completely fixed long ago and it wouldnt have the problems it has today. It would have saved them a ton of money, and the game would still have been going strong.
So, until EA and its so called developers learn some humility and realize they will never have Blizzard's 12 million subscriptions, expect a big fat no from EA come time for them to announce their decision in regards to a classic server.
Well, folks, I guess our only hope is that Richard Garriot somehow gets UO back and fixes things and DOESNT let someone take the game away.....again. But, even in saying that, it makes me feel we have better chances of EA releasing a classic server.
Mortal? Are you serious? That blatant con-job that relies on people's stupidity? Hah! Mortal is going to bomb just like Darkfall (aka Darkfail) did.
I mean, come on.
"Oh, we're going to release the game half-assed and charge you a ton of money to pre-order so you can beta test, but thats okay because we're being honest about it".
PFFFT, incompetance is incompetance whether youre honest about it or not.
Mortal (Aka Moron) online is notiong compared to what UO used to be.
Mortal? Are you serious? That blatant con-job that relies on people's stupidity? Hah! Mortal is going to bomb just like Darkfall (aka Darkfail) did.
I mean, come on.
"Oh, we're going to release the game half-assed and charge you a ton of money to pre-order so you can beta test, but thats okay because we're being honest about it".
PFFFT, incompetance is incompetance whether youre honest about it or not.
Mortal (Aka Moron) online is notiong compared to what UO used to be.
heheh MO is closer to UO than any other game on the market.
The game is in open beta which means noone has to pay anything in order to play it -.-
Mortal? Are you serious? That blatant con-job that relies on people's stupidity? Hah! Mortal is going to bomb just like Darkfall (aka Darkfail) did.
I mean, come on.
"Oh, we're going to release the game half-assed and charge you a ton of money to pre-order so you can beta test, but thats okay because we're being honest about it".
PFFFT, incompetance is incompetance whether youre honest about it or not.
Mortal (Aka Moron) online is notiong compared to what UO used to be.
heheh MO is closer to UO than any other game on the market.
The game is in open beta which means noone has to pay anything in order to play it -.-
Listen, Mortal's developement is too shoddy and they are already telling people its going to be incomplete, which means they are bascially admitting they have no idea what they are doing. Big deal if the beta is open, it still proves nothing.
Mortal is nothing like UO was. Wow, its got open PvP, big whoop. Its a half assed slipshod operation and will fail or end up a F2P reject.
with that said, stop hijacking the thread to try and promote something that couldnt hold a candle to UO on its best day.
Vaultbrain, do know that EA has been involved with UO since the release. Origin System has been a part of EA since 1992, when EA acquired them.
Also just so you know Richard was as much part of UO's decline as EA was. He was only a part of the whole Trammel thing, but I do agree that what messed up UO the most when AoS released.
You say you wish Richard would come back and save Ultima. I say I doubt he would even be able to save UO. He couldn't even create and save his game Tabula Rasa. Now he's out developing social games for Facebook and the likes. To me he sold out. I'm sure he is going to make a killing on some of those mindless games.
There used to be a day when I would doubt EA on anything. Hell, they ruined and had some of the worst games ever. But I can't say the same anymore. With the release of the Battlefield series (especially BF:BC2), Dead Space, and their support behind some of the greatest companies out there, ei Valve, I've learned to almost trust them again.
Sure They will never have my full trust and I'm not going to believe for a second that they would actually bring back a classic shard, but just the fact that they actually acknowledged it and stated that they are thinking about it gives me that slight reason to hope.
Ultima Online, next to WoW, is still one of the best MMO's out there. The only problem with it for me is that it has been so very long since I've played the game that I feel so left behind.
Lets just hope that EA is smart about UO again, and not just pulling our chains......again.
Total time played: 9125 Days, 21 Hours, 29 Minutes, 27 Seconds
Time played this level: 39 Days, 1 Hour, 24 Minutes, 5 Seconds
If only it was true... id go back.. no game has touched old school uo.
Atlantic.
Ive played pretty much every mmo that has come out since EA games took over UO and made me hate it.
AoC,MO,DF and many others right now im just playing FPS lifting/work.. no MMO out today gives me that feel that old school uo did.. it had so many things about it... from the mage duels.. to the killing of over wieght minners/pack horses to bucs den
.. but the pvp was just the scratch of what i loved about the game.. nothing will bring it back though..
If EA games was gunna make an old school server they would have done it already end of story.
Atlantic.
The real problem is that classic UO server would really just end up a gank fest... I LOVE sandbox games, but back in 98/99 what made UO so special was that the world was populated by EVERY type of gamer out there. We had carebear players, crafters, murderers, home designers (lol) - You name it- we had it.
This will never happen again due to 8 million games out there focusing on a particular playstyle... Sandbox game now means (or at least people think it means) PVP, full loot, anywhere....It does not. PVP, full loot is just one small part of a sandbox but a sandbox cannot work without those crafter players, merchant players, carebear players, role players, etc....These people will never gravitate to a game like this because there are a million "safe" games for them to ply their chosen trade in.
I remember "hiring" escorts in UO and paying bounties against people who murdered me (I was one of those crafter/builder types) and god it was soooooooo fun... Its over. All a "sandbox" game will attract right now is PKers and that does not make a sandbox... Someone may cite Eve as an example but I dont really think so for a million reasons .
Until a new "sandbox" style is created, we will never have what we once did and due to so much competition, folks will gravitate to the games with ez mode so they can feel "uber" with little effort....Thats where the money is going and the indistry is following the money. Even Darkfall made the mistake of no skill cap meaning dedicated crafters are useless and thus there is no "sandbox".
Its sad but its very true. Even the private shards I have played on are essentially just PVP gankfests. Our prefered game type is dead due to our hobby being invaded by the casual crowd. I would subscribe to a classic UO shard- I just dont think I would stay there.
Yeah ur right... good times though..
Bring back old UO.. Mr Richard aka Lord British
I think it would be fine. It would be a little rough at first but when communities and bonds form between players it would level off.
Back when the game was "good" I noticed an increase in PKing, but I also noticed an increase in groups and community effort. More players banded together and looked out for each other. Everyone knew almost everyone on the server by name.
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!
I'm sure this has been mentioned but I just wanted to agree with it if it had.
The problem with classic shards, of any game, is that people have these found memories that have grown as time went by about how amazing their first (or early) MMOs were. You give them that same situation back and they will play for a month and then realize it's not how they remembered it to be and leave. The shard would quickly become a ghost town.
This is the same for any strong memories of anything in life, They are so strong because you can't revisit them in real life, but when you do it is always a let down because the mind improves the memories as time goes by, making them greater then the actual events were.
Games have tried classic servers before, it never works, people never stay. Just keep the memory of how great UO once was in your head and be happy with that.
I don't think the people who want a Classic Shard have ever really thought through their idea beyond the first hour or so of gameplay.
There were flaws and exploits that needed to be fixed. Do you leave them ingame or do you fix them. In fixing them, do you go the same path as the existing servers went oro try a new path? If you try a new path, doesn't that always open up new bugs and exploits?
In the end, you wind up with one of the following:
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
I disagree with that being an issue (the issue I think for why this wouldn't work is above your post).
Most people who want a classic shard, left because of the changes. I left once the Red/Blue/Grey crap went in game. Before that yes the world was stagnant but it was a fun world. You'd be walking through the woods and some guy would pick pocket you, emerge form the shadows, and run off. You'd spend 10 minutes trying to chase him down and kill him. Or a couple guys would jump out of the woods and try to kill you and you'd run for 10 minutes trying to lose them. It was a fun exciting place. The changes are what killed the fun for me.
Which is the first of the three issues I listed.
You are forgetting the cheese exploit, leather female armor, blackholing, server boundary dupes, the 32k bank bug, alignment iexploits and well, hundreds of major issues that would need to be fixed or updated.
More importantly, what is YOUR definition of Classic server? To some, it's pre-T2A, to others it's pre-AoS. In each group there are people that disagree on what should be fixed and what was good to keep in place.
What's your stance on the harm wands? Teleport rings? Faction? Order vs Chaos? Aggression timers and the many different incarnations of the thieving rules? Stat loss PvP vs murder count vs perma red Dreads?
How about boat ownership? House keys? I ban thee?
A 'Classic Server' is good in theory, but that falls apart once people actually revisit it and the clamouring for changes begins.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Honestly I would still play pre T2A or even Beta.. bugs and glitchs are in every game and people will always find more..as long as people arnt running around one shotting people ill be fine with it...
I know a server isnt gunna happen anyway so this is all pretty much pointless...
Currently play MO Beta
Global Agenda
Age of Conan.
Currently still hate WoW and everything about the carebear leapfrog pillow hugging bullsh*t game.