Hey everyone! First I want to say thank you to EVERYONE who has played Overdrive. Sphere style UO is a very niche game and you keep this style of UO alive. If you could tell 13 year old me that a sphere style UO shard would still be going over 20 years later I would have never believed you.
Overdrive is a passion project. We are going to continue to do everything we can to bring players here and make it as successful as possible. We've got a great start, and are only getting better. In the past year, we're not too shy to say that our PvP feels great and we have amazing content which we will continue to build. One of the most notable achievements, which may not be obvious to players, is we've successfully developed a system which curbs speed hacking which has never been done on any other similar shards.
That being said we need everyone to help get the word out.. to push your old friends to play or tell existing sphere players this awesome shard exists. We can turn the novelty of having UO to play, into a constant.
Now, let’s talk about the future of OD:
We have listened to your feedback and have decided to make OD a more casual experience so we have increased all aspects of OD by 2X permanently - LIVE NOW. We believe this will hold the balance for ease of play and will keep the economy thriving. 2X increase includes: rares, skill gain, meta talisman/pet/relic experience, etc.
Event/Duel/Tournament System – This will be a system which automates events to create more consistent and scheduled events. It will also allow people to set up player run exhibition events such as duels or full blown tournaments. Long term goals for this system is to expand beyond pvp: bomberman, races, pet fights – we even have some crafting event ideas. One of the coolest features, most likely not at launch, is the ability for players to create their own arena design. Stay tuned for more info!
Continuation of providing QoL improvements to aspects of the shard. We have a very long list that we will continue to knock things out.
We will continue to be stepping towards the authentic sphere experience and removing all remaining restrictions for bad acts such as unable to use gates while criminal.
Come early summer/early fall we will be doing a total relaunch of Overdrive. I want to be clear:
WE ARE NOT WIPING THE SHARD!
We plan to fully remarket the shard and try to bring players back who gave us a shot initially but didn’t find certain aspects of the shard to their liking. We have learned a lot of this year and corrected mistakes so we hope the progress we’ve made, plus the awesome new additions to the shard, will bring those players back plus some new ones!
Here are some major upcoming system changes we currently have planned:
Armor Update
We are revamping the entire armor system to make armor a core element of PvP. At its current state, Armor is really only an aesthetic feature of PvP due to Magery being so powerful. The solution is to completely revamp armor and make advantages and disadvantages tied to PvP.
We plan to add OVER 30 DIFFERENT ARMORS to the game. Some of the armor will be crafted via mined ore, others will be crafted via combining ingots into alloys. We are taking inspiration of the ColdFire armor system (if you ever played that shard) and will tweak and balance it so it fits with Overdrive.
Our new armor system will reduce or amplify damage from a spell’s element: fire, ice, energy (lightning). An armor could decrease or increase damage you receive from these elements. For example, you could be wearing Brass armor which gives you a spell resistance to Cold but makes you weak to Fire. Resistances are not tied to wearing a full set of armor so you can mix and match armors to put together the perfect suit that fits your PvP style. Much more info to come on this in the future!
PvP Updates
Spells
In tandem with the new armors will require a new spell damage system which will split spells into different elemental damage, this means there will be new spells to swap between based on your opponent’s current resist set.
Melee
I believe the miss rate for melee is too high for it to be useful in PvP so I plan to evaluate it and find the right miss % (@ GM skill) that makes it less frustrating to use. I will also revalute the combat special moves and see if we can add some new ones to add more variety.
Rares, rares, rares!
We will be implementing a treasure bag drop system which will make rare drops more common while doing normal PvM.
Mustangs
Mustangs are a favorite to many players so I want to add about 10 different kinds
Continuing Development
We will continue to receive constant content updates the same as UOForever.
There are just some of the major systems we plan to add to our relaunch we wanted to give you a preview about. Again, I can’t thank you all for the support and am very excited for the future!
Overdrive is a passion project. We are going to continue to do everything we can to bring players here and make it as successful as possible. We've got a great start, and are only getting better. In the past year, we're not too shy to say that our PvP feels great and we have amazing content which we will continue to build. One of the most notable achievements, which may not be obvious to players, is we've successfully developed a system which curbs speed hacking which has never been done on any other similar shards.
That being said we need everyone to help get the word out.. to push your old friends to play or tell existing sphere players this awesome shard exists. We can turn the novelty of having UO to play, into a constant.
Now, let’s talk about the future of OD:
Immediate Update
We have listened to your feedback and have decided to make OD a more casual experience so we have increased all aspects of OD by 2X permanently - LIVE NOW. We believe this will hold the balance for ease of play and will keep the economy thriving. 2X increase includes: rares, skill gain, meta talisman/pet/relic experience, etc.
Short Term Changes to Overdrive (within the next 1-2 months):
Event/Duel/Tournament System – This will be a system which automates events to create more consistent and scheduled events. It will also allow people to set up player run exhibition events such as duels or full blown tournaments. Long term goals for this system is to expand beyond pvp: bomberman, races, pet fights – we even have some crafting event ideas. One of the coolest features, most likely not at launch, is the ability for players to create their own arena design. Stay tuned for more info!
Continuation of providing QoL improvements to aspects of the shard. We have a very long list that we will continue to knock things out.
We will continue to be stepping towards the authentic sphere experience and removing all remaining restrictions for bad acts such as unable to use gates while criminal.
Long Term Changes to Overdrive (late summer/early fall):
Come early summer/early fall we will be doing a total relaunch of Overdrive. I want to be clear:
WE ARE NOT WIPING THE SHARD!
We plan to fully remarket the shard and try to bring players back who gave us a shot initially but didn’t find certain aspects of the shard to their liking. We have learned a lot of this year and corrected mistakes so we hope the progress we’ve made, plus the awesome new additions to the shard, will bring those players back plus some new ones!
Here are some major upcoming system changes we currently have planned:
Armor Update
We are revamping the entire armor system to make armor a core element of PvP. At its current state, Armor is really only an aesthetic feature of PvP due to Magery being so powerful. The solution is to completely revamp armor and make advantages and disadvantages tied to PvP.
We plan to add OVER 30 DIFFERENT ARMORS to the game. Some of the armor will be crafted via mined ore, others will be crafted via combining ingots into alloys. We are taking inspiration of the ColdFire armor system (if you ever played that shard) and will tweak and balance it so it fits with Overdrive.
Our new armor system will reduce or amplify damage from a spell’s element: fire, ice, energy (lightning). An armor could decrease or increase damage you receive from these elements. For example, you could be wearing Brass armor which gives you a spell resistance to Cold but makes you weak to Fire. Resistances are not tied to wearing a full set of armor so you can mix and match armors to put together the perfect suit that fits your PvP style. Much more info to come on this in the future!
PvP Updates
Spells
In tandem with the new armors will require a new spell damage system which will split spells into different elemental damage, this means there will be new spells to swap between based on your opponent’s current resist set.
Melee
I believe the miss rate for melee is too high for it to be useful in PvP so I plan to evaluate it and find the right miss % (@ GM skill) that makes it less frustrating to use. I will also revalute the combat special moves and see if we can add some new ones to add more variety.
Rares, rares, rares!
We will be implementing a treasure bag drop system which will make rare drops more common while doing normal PvM.
Mustangs
Mustangs are a favorite to many players so I want to add about 10 different kinds
Continuing Development
We will continue to receive constant content updates the same as UOForever.
There are just some of the major systems we plan to add to our relaunch we wanted to give you a preview about. Again, I can’t thank you all for the support and am very excited for the future!
