What can be done?

[TheGooch]

The staff of uof have done all they can do. You have marketing from them, there are instructions and guides from them and players on the forums, you have the young building next to wbb. Not really sure what more they can do. The rest is up to us as veteran players. But honestly, most of the vets here talk the talk. Hardly ever do I see a vet helping some new player out. More like "let me take advantage of the new guy and take his shit, whether in town stealing hard earned SS or out in a dungeon taking his loot." This type of shit happens daily from ppl that have more gold combined than half the server. Then when the new guy makes an acct to voice frustrations, he pretty much gets castrated on the forums. Only way to fix this is to fix yourselves.

See a new player in a tight spot somewhere? Toss him a heal. New player trying to tame a young dragon/ dragon? Stick around and para the mob/ keep him healed. New player in town about to get took for a skill scroll? Tell him to wait and explain the docks. New player short 50-100k for that first big house? Spot him. Out pk'ing folks? Skip the noob areas, the noobs NOT on ethereals, etc. There is so much that could be done to help. But it all starts with a persons attitude and most attitudes here are the "shit on everyone and everything" variety.

 

[Lexington]

Just curious to hear about ideas from our community as diverse and distant as most of us are..... -_-
maybe we can all take a page out of each others books, as much as heh... majority of us hate each other theres that slight chance we can reach out to a ACTUAL new person rather than some poor basterd trying to act like a new person and help them out, word of mouth is a motherfucker so the small shit you may do for a new guy MAY attract more people down the line.....

what can we do as a whole to keep people playing? to keep people interested, rekindle the flame everyone once had their first days in starting to play Ultima Online many years ago

Of course greifing is part of the game yada yada yada, but are we really doing all, what we can to attract/keep people coming from other shards or people who just play the game differently than us here????

Idk about you guys, but UOF is the fucking Alamo for the majority of the people I associate with, if this shard fails we are probably done with Ultima Online, so with that said... whats some of the issues/bullshit on your guys minds, also where can we go from there, to fix it? correct it?

Its summer time, yeh thats cool, I understand I been alot less active during the days due to actually enjoying my summer and playing mostly during the nights but seriously..... idocs are falling at an alarming rate, since being here damn near almost 550 days old now, Have never seen this cycle of idocs falling without the revolving door of new people coming in to buy up, place houses.

in conclusion... we shouldn't have to rely on staff for each and everything in the fucking game, let them do their jobs... to get shit done, be a helpful player once in a while to people not in guilds, running solo, quit the fuckin res killing of kids in despise or covetous, grow some hair on yo nuts and come to shame 5, deceit 4, cove 4, champs, or even join factions.... let the young players develop... as i said word of mouth is a motherfucker in game and outside the game so let them noobs be

WE GOTZ TO DO BETTER

If you want to keep people playing, how about we get some friendly and diligent customer service from the admins again. I think they might have forgotten why they started the shard? It wasnt that long ago I read a thread about a player wanting to add poker back to the game. Carl replys "NO" and just locks the thread. I could care less about poker.... this is just one example that the attitudes of the admins seem to be degrading.... Its like running this game has turned into WORK and us the customers are are just pains in the ass.

 

[Dellan]

I somewhat despise all this newbie helping.. Companion programs.. When I started playing UO, I didn't knew shit about this game. But I was fascinated by possibilities, that you can do everything.. Played and played, changed classes, skills, found out this and that.. Then I got griefed hard. I was pissed off, but still, kept playing.. Then got griefed again, and again.. And more people griefed me, more I learned to deal with it. Nowadays I get called kind person, gay, * regularly thanks to my chosen profession, and I don't see anything more than TEXT running on my screen while I'm laughing. What was most fun I got from all of this? These beginnings. Finding out stuff MYSELF, being amazed at massive content UO has, and even though this game is rough, it is also fun fun fun. So I say, do hurt people if you wish to, since that is the price for ultimate freedom, help them if you wish to (I do it sometimes too, running into ghost, ressing him, bringing his stuff back from deepest depths of hell), but let them find stuff out themselves, because that's what keeps you hooked. All this Help me, I was killed or I need a money to train my character.. Run to healer, or take a fucking dagger and start cutting wood and killing animals, because helping in other than random way stinks much like Trammel.

 

[Violence]

The difference between "I started playing UO in..." and the present time is that there is now a huge variety of MMOs for people to choose from, which wasn't the case for a lot of us veterans. Today, this even includes other open world MMOs, anywhere from Darkfall to Minecraft PvP servers.

If you want to attract people to the server, then be an attractive server.

Yes, teach new players how to avoid and mitigate the the sort of grief that will be coming their way. But please stop constantly shitting on them before they even have a chance to begin to discover the amazing things UO has to offer.

UO is old as shit. We should consider ourselves lucky to have as many new players to the game as we do.

 

[Dellan]

I started playing 4 years ago!

And UO has so many new players for a reason - no other game is like this. And probably never will be..

 

[Darktrix]

Without a doubt coloured wood needs adding in. This is the first and only server i have ever played that doesn't have it! I love UOF but can't fathom why it's not in yet? If not just for the I've got all oak furninture in my house bragging rights hehe.

A cool event that used to be on another server, not sure if you have it as im still fairly new.

Basically you had 2 teams, 1 person was nominated King of each team, you had roles selected at the start. Ie. Crafter (for pots,weapons,armour,bows etc) and defender and mage.

A chest full fo resources for the crafter.

You had 10 minutes to prepare for the battle ahead, the crafter would have to equip the whole team of defenders/mages and constantly supply throught the battle as people died. Usually there woudl be at least 2 crafter team size dependant.

After 10 minutes the gates opened and all hell broke loose, the teams charge eachother with the ultimate goal of killing the King of the other team!

It was an awesome event and hours of fun!

Also paintball that was always a laugh, but the above was always my favourite event!

 

[halygon]

I somewhat despise all this newbie helping.. Companion programs.. When I started playing UO, I didn't knew shit about this game. But I was fascinated by possibilities, that you can do everything.. Played and played, changed classes, skills, found out this and that.. Then I got griefed hard. I was pissed off, but still, kept playing.. Then got griefed again, and again.. And more people griefed me, more I learned to deal with it. Nowadays I get called kind person, gay, fool regularly thanks to my chosen profession, and I don't see anything more than TEXT running on my screen while I'm laughing. What was most fun I got from all of this? These beginnings. Finding out stuff MYSELF, being amazed at massive content UO has, and even though this game is rough, it is also fun fun fun. So I say, do hurt people if you wish to, since that is the price for ultimate freedom, help them if you wish to (I do it sometimes too, running into ghost, ressing him, bringing his stuff back from deepest depths of hell), but let them find stuff out themselves, because that's what keeps you hooked. All this Help me, I was killed or I need a money to train my character.. Run to healer, or take a fucking dagger and start cutting wood and killing animals, because helping in other than random way stinks much like Trammel.

During that time, did you also walk to school in the snow -- uphill -- both ways?

As much as I feel everyone should also go though the rigorous ramp-up that us veterans went through and enjoyed, that kind of thing cannot be forced on new players as easily today. There is the massive amount of free (and paid *shudders*) MMORPGs out there, but I think it is more along the lines that since it is free (and if said new player doesn't donate right off the bat), they have literally no ties to this game. If they get pissed off, they just quit and move on to another game.

There needs to be some (*shudders again*) hand holding to help those new players become acclimated to the style of game play that is Ultima Online. They will never have the "gotcha" moments that we have had while figuring things out and learning how to do things that no one has ever done as those can't ever happen again with all the resources out there. These guys don't play for those reasons, they play because the mechanics are fun, can take skill, and provide a huge flexibility on their play style, which other MMOs just do not give.

 

[Karl Sagan]

Need to stop the atrophy of end game players. Give them things to keep playing for.

This means items need to have value.

I think the dono vendor and gold vendor need to be changed up. Get rid of ~75% of the stuff on the dono vendor(not out of rotation permanently) and take old stuff off as you add new stuff.

And scrap the 4 hour random idoc window, it's excessive as hell. 30 mins, maybe an hour MAX.

 

[Karl Sagan]

If you want to keep people playing, how about we get some friendly and diligent customer service from the admins again. I think they might have forgotten why they started the shard? It wasnt that long ago I read a thread about a player wanting to add poker back to the game. Carl replys "NO" and just locks the thread. I could care less about poker.... this is just one example that the attitudes of the admins seem to be degrading.... Its like running this game has turned into WORK and us the customers are are just pains in the ass.

LOL ya @Carl has always had a bit of a silver tongue.

But really this is just a hobby for regular guys, not a job. They have families and jobs and shit too. It's summer. And yeah there is probably some burnout factor as well.

I've said it before but @Shane needs to add a customer service position to his team. It would make such a huge difference to have one person who was GOOD/GREAT at dealing with the community and complaints and such. Someone without so much attachment/investment to the shard so they don't take offense to criticism and can just deal with keeping people happy. Hell I'd be happy to help develop a job description for something like that.

Part of it would be developing a spreadsheet for tracking donations. If it is as much work as Shane says, then it is insane to be doing it manually.

Just because it's a hobby doesn't mean you can't apply some business principles to make it more efficient.

 

[Easy_buddy]

LOL ya @Carl has always had a bit of a silver tongue.

But really this is just a hobby for regular guys, not a job. They have families and jobs and shit too. It's summer. And yeah there is probably some burnout factor as well.

I've said it before but @Shane needs to add a customer service position to his team. It would make such a huge difference to have one person who was GOOD/GREAT at dealing with the community and complaints and such. Someone without so much attachment/investment to the shard so they don't take offense to criticism and can just deal with keeping people happy. Hell I'd be happy to help develop a job description for something like that.

Part of it would be developing a spreadsheet for tracking donations. If it is as much work as Shane says, then it is insane to be doing it manually.

Just because it's a hobby doesn't mean you can't apply some business principles to make it more efficient.

Eehh... I disagree. People love griefing, and griefing through a stressed out service rep that wants to please everybody is all too common--especially in this day of passive aggressive PC progressivism. IMO, a grizzled, callus, useful man that speaks his mind should be on the other end of every complaint--especially with this crowd.

 

[Karl Sagan]

Eehh... I disagree. People love griefing, and griefing through a stressed out service rep that wants to please everybody is all too common--especially in this day of passive aggressive PC progressivism. IMO, a grizzled, callus, useful man that speaks his mind should be on the other end of every complaint--especially with this crowd.

I see your point and agree, but there is a point in between the two extremes where exists a well mannered person who doesn't take shit, doesn't fall for the trolls, and enjoys working with people (even/especially angry people and assholes).

 

[jeffe]

I believe that most people that decide to play here--and have never played UO--have already read all the horror stories about getting PKed or stole from. Just like most of us, the freedom to be victimized or victimize creates a thrilling atmosphere.

The ability to exact justice on your Murderer(s) or a thief presents , in my opinion, the most compelling aspect of UO & UOF.

Having the chance at revenge and actually getting revenge is where I think we lose new players. Every now and then a new player is gonna get lucky and their assailant is going to make a mistake and die to the spawn, break their macros, crash, etc. However, the large majority of these interactions end in two ways a successful recall or a slaughter.

How long does it take a new player to learn some of the things that we take for granted? Do they know that when another player targets them with a spell that their aggressor will face them? An attack last macro? Do they know ctrl+shift will make it easier to grab bars? Do they even know to grab bars!?

We've played this game for years--these are basic concepts to us; but, just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to combat. New players have to be taught these things. In some cases, they need to be explicitly told exactly what to do. Its frustrating and time consuming just to coach someone through setting up their own hotkeys and macros (hoping by this time they've read and asked enough questions to have an understanding of the advantages of different skills so they don't try and put Cooking on their 5x Mages and want to go fielding).

Even if they commit the best dueling/pvping/mage guides out there to memory, they still need hours and hours and hours of practice w/ firend or guildmates or someone, before they might have a chance at besting you: who has been playing UO for 15-years, you nerd.

That's the biggest issue as I see it.

So maybe when you duel someone that sucks or doesn't seem to have the basic understanding of what to do, maybe you should rematch them and start teaching.

Maybe when your gank squad pwns a newb for the 4th time in a day maybe teach him how NOT to be such a mark (show them a better spot farm) or even *gasp* have mercy.

 

[jeffe]

What I've written above, imo, can largely be associated with many returning players as well. There may have never been a coach there to teach them things. Or even if some of the basics are there think about how much UO has changed with the advent of razor/steam (oh yah, gotta teach em about razor/steam too).

We are too jaded from our own time playing to notice that the learning curve is fucking huge.

 

[Darktrix]

I gotta second that! I've met some pk's that seem almost robotic in the way they play. Like to fast for manual moves, I now know that's because of razor macro at a button push. I played years ago when the most we had was uoautopilot. First time I got killed here I thought I got bot'd lol! Major learning curve even for pre players! But that's part of the fun for me

 

[Darktrix]

Oh and I think a little tweak or two could be done to add to certain systems!

A big one for me would be rare plant seeds. I love the gardening on uo and would love to see some nice plants added in!

What better way to chill after getting your ass handed to you while farming, than popping home and tending to your pixel plants!

Another idea:

I've not taken part in one here so not sure if they exist. But city invasions were always a good laugh too! System wide message "Britain is under attack!" Then the town gets hit with mobs from all sides! Brings the community together and gives scope for a storyline development too!

 

[Bryce]

Another idea:

I've not taken part in one here so not sure if they exist. But city invasions were always a good laugh too! System wide message "Britain is under attack!" Then the town gets hit with mobs from all sides! Brings the community together and gives scope for a storyline development too!

Way ahead of ya
More on this in the coming weeks.

 

[Darktrix]

Can't wait!!!

 

[Babethoven]

a few things i've been thinking about......

just personally.... clothing bless deeds should ONLY come from the tailor, it would increase the value of it, as well as the price of wearing flashy clothes

120 lumberjack - gives you the chance of obtaining the new different woods to be introduced..... each one holds specific value, towards PVM each wood will have the +5 fire, +5 energy +5 etc etc towards that kind of a monster, similar to the slayer capability, each exceptional wooden bow of that wood would hold the same +5% property of some sort

honestly i think idocs should stay at this 8 hour max theres many many many people who log on just to refresh their houses down to the minute it'll go awaiting demo and just log right back off.... if you change it fine... let it drop, but 2. you will potentionally lose those players from ever, Ever coming back here to play.... when people "quit" or take breaks.... they are bound to check back on "hmmmmm whats going on"

tailor bod rewards.... possibly 1/10000 bods turned i, , it have a chance to distribute the chance of 1 piece of odd color with the normal reward of the bod turned in, this way you can introduce hueXXXX + hueXXXX etc etc at the same time, then after the months one month introduce sandals on the donation vendors, next month this mask, next month another kind of mask, it just seems like a win/win for us and you guys, excitement!!!! its what drives us to do things here in game

almost like the tailor bod reward , but wield a piece of somthing, make it a legendary hammer craftable, " a volcannic hammer" which obvously you'll need X amount of valocanic rocks and whatever else you may put into, but relating back to the wood.... IFFFF you guys ever introduce new ores, BOOM there you go volcannic hammer in they ass

whirl pools need to have that % chance to get a rare cloth or something!!!!! if you do the odds right maybe only make it a chance at 1 cloth per 2-3 month span or slightly shorter.... i dont see anything great EVER floodng the shard with stuff, u lesson the chance you keep the player base with shit always always to pursue, to own something very unique only a few people or NO people have on the shard! thats what drives us the most here, but idk balron revamp, monsters = to the balron maybe have a chance to drop 1 thing per, doesnt have to be super fucking uber rare but just keeps people excited........ nothing too rare about a balron dropping ice whie sash when u can just make it off your tailor bods!

 

[jeffe]

a few things i've been thinking about......

just personally.... clothing bless deeds should ONLY come from the tailor, it would increase the value of it, as well as the price of wearing flashy clothes

120 lumberjack - gives you the chance of obtaining the new different woods to be introduced..... each one holds specific value, towards PVM each wood will have the +5 fire, +5 energy +5 etc etc towards that kind of a monster, similar to the slayer capability, each exceptional wooden bow of that wood would hold the same +5% property of some sort

honestly i think idocs should stay at this 8 hour max theres many many many people who log on just to refresh their houses down to the minute it'll go awaiting demo and just log right back off.... if you change it fine... let it drop, but 2. you will potentionally lose those players from ever, Ever coming back here to play.... when people "quit" or take breaks.... they are bound to check back on "hmmmmm whats going on"

tailor bod rewards.... possibly 1/10000 bods turned i, , it have a chance to distribute the chance of 1 piece of odd color with the normal reward of the bod turned in, this way you can introduce hueXXXX + hueXXXX etc etc at the same time, then after the months one month introduce sandals on the donation vendors, next month this mask, next month another kind of mask, it just seems like a win/win for us and you guys, excitement!!!! its what drives us to do things here in game

almost like the tailor bod reward , but wield a piece of somthing, make it a legendary hammer craftable, " a volcannic hammer" which obvously you'll need X amount of valocanic rocks and whatever else you may put into, but relating back to the wood.... IFFFF you guys ever introduce new ores, BOOM there you go volcannic hammer in they ass

whirl pools need to have that % chance to get a rare cloth or something!!!!! if you do the odds right maybe only make it a chance at 1 cloth per 2-3 month span or slightly shorter.... i dont see anything great EVER floodng the shard with stuff, u lesson the chance you keep the player base with shit always always to pursue, to own something very unique only a few people or NO people have on the shard! thats what drives us the most here, but idk balron revamp, monsters = to the balron maybe have a chance to drop 1 thing per, doesnt have to be super fucking uber rare but just keeps people excited........ nothing too rare about a balron dropping ice whie sash when u can just make it off your tailor bods!

I am in no way trying to diminish your ideas (I like many of them), but these are end game problems. If you are truly wanting to keep players around you have to address the vast ability gap between vets like yourself and new players. The constant influx of new players is wonderful and great; however, if UOF can't retain NEW players then the population will gradually wane.

 

[Poptart]

hmm