Anyone still plays UO?

[sinij]

I quit UO long time ago after playing for many years but I still from time to time wondering how things are. If anyone still plays UO can they tell how things are nowdays with UO, specifically PvP and expansion, factions, artifacts and gear, crafting, community.

[Krakrok]

I don't still play but they did just spam me with this:

SAMURAI EMPIRE IS GOLD!
The dev team can finally take a rest, because the sixth, and perhaps best expansion in UO's history is done and sent off to the printers. The official shipdate is Nov. 2 so look for it on store shelves Nov. 3. Pre-order now to secure your pre-order gift, the Soulstone.

So I guess you can play ninjas in tights now if that's your thing.

[schild]

Facts:

1.    Ninjas are mammals.
2.    Ninjas fight ALL the time.
3.    The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people.

[WonderBrick]

Age of Shadows completely changed the game.  If you like item-centric pvp, and Diablo-style gameplay, then you might want to give UO a shot.  If you like player skill, not items, determining victory, then stay away from UO.  

A few Publishes(25 & 26) have helped lessen the impact of items, but it is still a head-on collision with a car, instead of a truck.  High-end loot used to come only from dungeon Doom champs, but now comes from a wider variety of creatures.  But people complained that there was to much balance, giving no one an edge, item-wise, so loot drops returned to a somewhat shitty state.

I have not played in a few months, so I am not aware of the current status of Factions, but it was still completely dead when I last looked.  

Artifacts are no longer as essential, due to some property caps.  They are very useful, adding flexibilty, and overall alot more balanced.  

Crafting is still dead, due to Item Insurance, and people playing the upgrade game.  People have zero reason to buy anything from crafters.  BODs are even dead, since the time spent on them is wasted, compared to the loot you can get.

The new UO: Samurai Empire will be adding samurai and ninja, and a Asian-themed landmass(from Ultima 1).

I recommend that you try it out, but just for curiousities sake.  The game really has gone to hell.  Item Insurance and item-centric combat ruined the game in a irreversible manner.  Even the split in community, brought on by Trammel, could have eventually been fixed.  EA has had alot of time to fix UO, yet no major effort has been made.  Instead, UO has attempted to roll in features that other games do better, and has lost it's own identity in the process.

[sinij]

EA claims UO still maintains above 200K active subscriptions, somebody must be still playing it since even Peaches can't afford that many accounts.

[WonderBrick]

Alot of speculation has taken place, concerning subscription numbers.  In the forums, after comparing figures, it is estimated to be around 150-175k subscriptions.  BODs(crafter Bulk Order Deeds) have also contributed to alot of people running multiple accounts, so the customerbase has become somewhat more top heavy.  If one unhappy customer with an 5 acounts leaves, it is not as noticeable.  But if the overall customerbase has an increased average of accounts, when the overall customerbase is unhappy and leaves, it is alot more noticeable.

[SirBruce]

EA claims UO still maintains above 200K active subscriptions,

Really?  Do you have a link to that?  Because I haven't seen it.

Bruce

[SirBruce]

Alot of speculation has taken place, concerning subscription numbers.  In the forums, after comparing figures, it is estimated to be around 150-175k subscriptions.

Just tell people to refer to my chart. :)  165-170K.

Bruce

[Liquidator]

Facts:

1. Ninjas are mammals.
2. Ninjas fight ALL the time.
3. The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people.

Ninjas are sooooooooooo sweet that I want to crap my pants.  I can't believe it sometimes, but I feel it inside my heart.  These guys are totally awesome and that's a fact.  Ninjas are fast, smooth, cool, strong, powerful, and sweet.  I can't wait to start yoga next year.  I love ninjas with all of my body (including my pee pee).

[Numtini]

I still play on and off and my FFXI shell is collapsing and until we get things together so I can get an airship pass, I've been UOing. I think Wonderbrick's pretty much got everything down there. The chivalry skill for paladin's is actually pretty good and is a nice alternative to magic. I'm not sure anyone plays necros. They don't seem to be very good.

My observations at Britain bank would put the population down by about half on US servers. And there's a feeling that hangs over the game that it's winding down.

Yesterday someone was looking for their first house. I showed them a spot for a 8x12 on ice island. Free! Nope too small. Spoiled rotten kids.

[Dren]

I play very casually.  I do still BoD with a few characters and that is what gets me to log in at least once a day (for 4 minutes.)  I actually fill BoD about once a month or whatever.

I go hunt once in awhile and try to pump my gold reserves and get lucky with some items.  Item drops have been greatly increased just about 4 weeks ago.  Paragons (hyper-stat-skill monsters) have put a twist into PvE in Illeshnar.  You can't just sit and camp the high end monsters without one popping from time to time and wiping you out (unless you are a tamer.)

I craft things, fish up loot, enhance my better loot, put together nice sets of armor/rings/bracelets/weapons.  I do not do this enough to actually sell anything, but it keeps me stocked for my own entertainment.

I haven't gotten back into PvP yet.  I can tell you the moongates are still the prime spots for the chaotic action (saw it myself.)  I'm not sure if organized PvP is still around.

I'll most likely get the expansion for , yes ninjas.  Actually, I doubt I'll play a pure ninja, but use some of the other side skills/attacks for my current characters.  The soul stones sound interesting.  The new craftables might be nice too.  Tinkers get some love this time around.

I still play because UO is so casual friendly and at my pace there is a lot of content I can experience over time.  I probably put in 5-8 hours a week in and still find I can get to 95% of the content in the game.

UO is my backup game to all the new shinier ones.  I'd say the estimates on population are about right.  Trammel is very busy especially after the paragons were put in (too many people for awhile there.)

I'm not in a guild currently, but might start looking soon just for kicks and to try the new system in the expansion (on paper it looks very good.)  

Sorry for the wandering thought style of writing there.  I'm tired this morning.

[Sky]

Crafting is still dead, due to Item Insurance, and people playing the upgrade game. People have zero reason to buy anything from crafters. BODs are even dead, since the time spent on them is wasted, compared to the loot you can get.

Poor UO, too many semesters of Origin University have taken their toll imo.

[Dren]

Crafting is still dead, due to Item Insurance, and people playing the upgrade game. People have zero reason to buy anything from crafters. BODs are even dead, since the time spent on them is wasted, compared to the loot you can get.

Poor UO, too many semesters of Origin University have taken their toll imo.

I disagree that vendoring is dead.  It can't be with the shear number of vendors in the major spots on my shard (LS.)  Perhaps it has risen the minimum level for items that will actually sell, but people are still selling them as far as I can see.

Plus, crafting isn't dead for me.  Granted I don't sell anything right now, but that's not why I craft.  So, if you craft to craft you still have a lot to do and more with the new expansion coming.

BODs still sell all over the place for good cash too, so I wouldn't agree with that statement either.  People  must be doing them if they are still charging that much for them.  I still do them at a slow pace.  The runics still have good value.

While insurance has severely lessened the need for continual suppliers of armor or weapons they still have to be repaired from time to time or they break.

Overall, the crafting game is just different, not dead IMO.

[Numtini]

Vendoring is alive and well, but most of it is resales of dropped loot.

[Dren]

Vendoring is alive and well, but most of it is resales of dropped loot.

Agreed, but isn't most of it enhanced dropped loot?  Those seem to be the most sought out and that requires crafting and resources.

Ingots and hides seem to sell very well yet too.  Reagents are mostly dead due to all the 100% low reagent cost suits (no reagents used for magic.)  Plus, chivalry let's warriors use cash (tilthe) instead of scrolls/reagents to recall around.  Still need them for potions though.

[WonderBrick]

My mage could run a great vendor from monster dropped loot.  

When was the last time anything in the crafting menus was worth crafting, selling, or using yourself?  I could strain my brain for a few minutes, and think of a case or two, but the point is, the items crafters make are useless now.  Crafting menu after crafting menu.  It's a real shame.

Repairing is indeed used alot.  As for enhancing, other then specific specialty weapons, enhancing a weapon is nearly useless, with so many PVM Paladins.

[Dren]

Indeed, making armor or weapons alone is dead other than gaining skill.  You can still do this and make a living if you use runics, which requires playing with BoDs.  Definitely, the easier route is getting dropped loot and enhancing it.

Right, the enhancing is more for PvP gear, which is what I'm trying to build up for myself and friends once I get back into that.  However, I thought that is where the biggest market is anyway.  PvP'ers are looking for those items that give them everything while PvM'ers can get by with less.  Plus, the PvM'ers get their own drops so why go buy the stuff.  

PvP'ers get gold drops only anymore since insurance is in.  They have cash, a demand for good gear, and no time to PvM since that isn't what they like to do.  That's just my take on it though.

[sinij]

When was the last time anything in the crafting menus was worth crafting, selling, or using yourself?

Let me see, right after OSI allowed mages to wear leather armor without casting penalties and allowed to dye leather (why colored leather was dyed by tubs rather than crafters is beyond me).  GM leather suit, bag of potions, ethy, some bandaids and regs were about all you needed to PvP. PvP wasn't as nice as in precast days but crafters were defiantly needed.

Sad part about UO is that over years they introduced plenty of very cool ideas and improved game in many aspects but they didn’t stopped there and went ahead with many changes that were undesirable for players and overall health of the game.

I could only imagine what UO would be if developers stood by core game and instead of trying to reinvent the game with every patch concentrated on adding content and mini-games.