UOWoW

[Cadaverine]

Eh, I'm already patched to 3.1, and I can't be arsed to mess around installing the game over again, just to try out a freeshard.

[Segoris]

Can't login.
Says my account/password isn't right basically, "Unable to validate game version", but the reply isn't UOWOW custom, just the default Blizzard one.

Need to manually patch WoW client from 3.01 to 3.09. Couldn't find how within 4 seconds of Google-fu and because of that my interest is waning...

Remember to patch from 3.01 to 3.09 and DO NOT install 3.10.

Additionally, http://uowow.com/modules.php?name=WowSignup  is the site to create the login account.
-Free level 40 mount is under pets tab.
-It seems any size donation will get you a level 60 mount (Deathcharger), but no actual gear is given away for donation.
-The pvp works, I've killed a few people (same faction on live server, killable on this one ).
-So far it's not bad. I'd like to see the money increased a bit since just training take all the money you earn (this is based off of farming the human starting area which has more coin drops then other). The number of greens is increased, it seems around level 8-9 it starts to be noticeable.  I'm only level 14 now though after about 3.5 hours (over an hour of that was trying to fix an addon for action bars).

Eh, I'm already patched to 3.1, and I can't be arsed to mess around installing the game over again, just to try out a freeshard.

This honestly only took me ~45mins, 25-30 mins of that was because I did the first patch through the Blizzard patcher. After that I remembered I could just download the patches from another site and install them, screw the Blizzard patcher. It's really not a bad startup time

Edit: FUCK HOGGER

[Falconeer]

Ok, patching required me 5 patches. 4 easy to find, one not so easy (between the third and the fifth). So it's NOT SO EASY TO JOIN.

But I am in, I can attack NPC and questgivers, I attacked a guy at level 1 and got instagibbed by a guard.
Have to admit, smells fun.

[Segoris]

Ok, patching required me 5 patches. 4 easy to find, one not so easy (between the third and the fifth). So it's NOT SO EASY TO JOIN.

I'm uploading the patch files to megaupload now just so it's easier for anyone else who wants to play

But I am in, I can attack NPC and questgivers, I attacked a guy at level 1 and got instagibbed by a guard.
Have to admit, smells fun.

Aside from some pretty minor bugs (for the time being) I agree, it's wow but it's not. Not a lot of people, but every red name gets the adrenaline pumping again ^^

[Segoris]

Patches for 3.01-3.09

3.01-3.02
3.02-3.03
3.03-3.08
3.08-3.08a
3.08a-3.09

Roughly 400mb total


Edit: Updated 3.01-3.02

[Redgiant]

...  you can edit your realmlist.wtf file in your World of Warcraft/Data/enUS folder from the Blizzard servers to "uowow.com" (without the quotation marks) But you will have to edit it back if you want to play on the Blizzard servers again.

If I change the following lines in realmlist.wtf, does this allow patching to work correctly via their launcher and stop at 3.09 or is uowow set up to actually mimic all this?

set realmlist uowow.com
set patchlist uowow.com

I can just download the patches but if it will do it for me and stop at the right place ...

edit: nm, I just downloaded them. I did the first file alone since it is the biggie around 370Mb, then waited 10 min so the Megaload limits wouldn't annoy me, then did the other files (which together total about 100 Mb).

[Azuredream]

This would definitely benefit from having more people around. I haven't seen a single person from 1-20. Kind of hoping there'll be some STV FFA chaos going on when I get there.

[squirrel]

The FFA PVP is fun, but like most ArcEmu shards it's a broken form of WoW right now anyway. A lot of abilities and talents are broken (even low level ones, like Warrior's Charge), many quests I've found are broken, many mobs are missing pathing AI, loot tables are broken (chests are empty, pickpocketing is on the standard loot table), ... etc...

But I killed a lvl 14 warrior at lvl 9 and there's some fun. Just don't expect anything near Blizz-like - it's FAR from that.

EDIT: Oh yeah - when I first connected there were 64 people online. And the server crashed twice. Or at least disconnected me and went grey (unavailable) in the server screen twice.

[Segoris]

If I change the following lines in realmlist.wtf, does this allow patching to work correctly via their launcher and stop at 3.09 or is uowow set up to actually mimic all this?

set realmlist uowow.com
set patchlist uowow.com

I can just download the patches but if it will do it for me and stop at the right place ...

edit: nm, I just downloaded them. I did the first file alone since it is the biggie around 370Mb, then waited 10 min so the Megaload limits wouldn't annoy me, then did the other files (which together total about 100 Mb).

I don't believe so since the patcher for this server seems to just be to launch to the server, not an actually game updater. Fastest way is to download the patches and install them. You don't even *need* to change the realmlist.wtf file, I know I haven't and it works just fine.

This would definitely benefit from having more people around. I haven't seen a single person from 1-20. Kind of hoping there'll be some STV FFA chaos going on when I get there.

I agree about it needing more people, but it has only been open for what, 3-4 days? That's actually not bad. Additionally you really won't see a whole lot of people from 1-20 (well, 1-30 really) because levelling through those levels is incredibly fast. 6 hours played yesterday (as mentioned before I spent a lot of time fucking with mods too) and my rogue is 26 or 27, lock at 10 (just levelling to up enchanting really as my next char will be a healer). It seems most people are level 35-50 right now. I'm not wanting to say 'stick with it, it gets better!' but that seems to be the case as the server did just start up and has a fast levelling with lots of room for a small number of players.

The FFA PVP is fun, but like most ArcEmu shards it's a broken form of WoW right now anyway. A lot of abilities and talents are broken (even low level ones, like Warrior's Charge), many quests I've found are broken, many mobs are missing pathing AI, loot tables are broken (chests are empty, pickpocketing is on the standard loot table), ... etc...

But I killed a lvl 14 warrior at lvl 9 and there's some fun. Just don't expect anything near Blizz-like - it's FAR from that.

EDIT: Oh yeah - when I first connected there were 64 people online. And the server crashed twice. Or at least disconnected me and went grey (unavailable) in the server screen twice.

Charge works, it just has some issues with going up/down decent sized slopes. It does need looking into. Pets on the other hand, are pretty fucked right now. Loot tables are definitely messed up, but it's in favor of the player from what I've seen. As I said before, the extra green drops are really noticeable later on. Once I hit 20 there were some mobs dropping 2-3 greens at a time. I'd rather have this then working treasure chests. My enchanter alt is in bliss atm with these drop rates though. And I found beastslayer +2...hello red glowy weapons of doom!

Blizz-like fun? I'm hoping to all gaming gods it's nothing like the actual WoW. I say that because I want to pvp....actual pvp. Not that arena/instanced b.s. and definitely not some craptastic pve grinding. I'm honestly having more fun, bugs and all, then I have in the last 3 years of on/off playing of WoW. Best of all, no Chuck Norris jokes. For this last point, I'm going to be sitting in the Barrens tonight telling Chuck Norris jokes to anyone who walks into the zone just so it feels normal 

On a good note though, they did just order a new server, so it will be shitty with lag for a week or so (I'd guess) but after that I'm guessing it will be better, because I agree that crashing with 64 people or so online sucks. Bigger cities (even empty) seem to lag more then any other areas.

Overall, I think this server has tons of potential and has been fun. If some bugs and lag bother someone, then I'd say hold off on joining for another week or so. Let the word of mouth do it's thing and the new server get up and running before trying it out.

[squirrel]

Blizz-like fun? I'm hoping to all gaming gods it's nothing like the actual WoW.

No. Blizz like quality.

The other issue of course is that on a FFA server if you're going to be solo or in small groups some classes just aren't going to cut it. I think you'll need stealth or healing to survive - I expect to see a lot of druids. I doubt my mage will be very successful heh.

[Segoris]

Blizz-like fun? I'm hoping to all gaming gods it's nothing like the actual WoW.

No. Blizz like quality.

My bad, the sentence was about fun then it just said Blizz-like.

Lacking Blizz-like quality I agree with absolutely. They have a solid game to base their changes on but there's no way 3-5 people can keep up that level of quality with this many changes. To me that seems unfair to expect that as Blizzard quality is top notch. We can, however, expect them to provide better quality then the companies who released MMOs in 2008, and they seem to be doing that 

[Redgiant]

I doubt my mage will be very successful heh.

Frost Mages can run away quite well though.

[Redgiant]

Patches for 3.01-3.09

3.01-3.02
3.02-3.03
3.03-3.08
3.08-3.08a
3.08a-3.09

Roughly 400mb total

I have the client at 3.0.1.8874 (I even repaired it once after failing a couple times, and it still fails) but I keep getting this as the first patch is in its prep phase:

The file "C:\UoWOW\World of Warcraft\WoW-3.0.1.8874-to-3.0.2.9056-enUS-patch.exe" appears to be corrupt. You may need to download this file again.
  To check this installation for problems, click the "Repair" button. The Repair tool can automatically fix many update errors.

As I said, I repaired and re-downloaded but got the identical file again:

WoW-3.0.1.8874-to-3.0.2.9056-enUS-2-patch.exe
size: 382,880,024 bytes
MD5 checksum from the downloadable Microsoft checksum tool (run 'fciv <filename>'):
//
// File Checksum Integrity Verifier version 2.05.
//
3a451a39fd7089c001edf1f8d45c5d43 wow-3.0.1.8874-to-3.0.2.9056-enus-2-patch.exe

I am running Windows Server 2008, and Windows Defender is not in realtime mode (I also put an exclusion on the UoWOW folder anyhow).

Any ideas?

[Sky]

The owner is Hawthorne of the PvP 'The Regulators'

Ah, 'nuff said.

Pass.

[Salamok]

I haven't played WoW in a year and this has me interested, only thing holding me back at this point is the fear of getting hooked to the tune of 30+ hours a week.

[waylander]

I can't ever get into player run servers. They can vanish in the blink of an eye, they are generally much more unstable than the retail product, and generally have a low player population.

However I do think they are good learning tools for companies to check into to offer specialty servers.  A WoW PVP server doesn't really feel like one to me, and seems more like DAOC's RVR model.

Anyway I've seen this posted and discussed elsewhere so its not a scam, but just another player run server that probably won't last long.

[Segoris]

I have the client at 3.0.1.8874 (I even repaired it once after failing a couple times, and it still fails) but I keep getting this as the first patch is in its prep phase:
/snip
Any ideas?

Either download 3.01-3.02 using the regular WoW patcher, or google for 3.01-3.02. That is the only one I didn't get from the same site as the rest that I had personally used, and patched 3.01-3.02 via the regular patcher. I'll upload a different file when I get home though as that one may just be corrupt.

I had downloaded that file specifically for uploading for others to use and didn't test it myself.

I can't ever get into player run servers. They can vanish in the blink of an eye, they are generally much more unstable than the retail product, and generally have a low player population.

However I do think they are good learning tools for companies to check into to offer specialty servers.  A WoW PVP server doesn't really feel like one to me, and seems more like DAOC's RVR model.

Anyway I've seen this posted and discussed elsewhere so its not a scam, but just another player run server that probably won't last long.

True, some are gone very fast, but there are others that have been running strong for a long time with no sign of slowing down. This is my first WoW private server, but for EQ and DAoC there are about 4-5 that have been running for a while now. I'm not saying if it will or won't last long, and would lean towards agreeing with you that it won't, but while it's available I think it's a great variation of the normal WoW that I've grown to really dislike for a long time now. Bliz had advertised PVP originally, and you see the results of that pile of shit aspect of retail WoW, so this really does appeal to a number of people. No instances, no truly safe spots (safer spots with guards in towns, but that's it), it's so damned nice.

As for this server feeling like DAoC's rvr, that is true for retail pvp servers....if gear wasn't so important and there was a point to pvp on a pvp server (such as the time post-honor points and pre-instances....ahh the golden years weeks). This server isn't doing that though, not at all. That is where the Ultima part comes into play, open pvp. Anyone is a target, even all non-vendor, non-trainer, and non-quest npcs. Don't like that annoying punk who keeps saying stupid shit? Then kill him if you can. Feels great to see a red name anywhere I go and know I'm about to kill or be killed (edit: when I actually see people that is  )

[Lum]

So this is legit? I had another guy on another forum advertise for this game as well, but that guy was very suspect. If it is legit, colour me interested.

Yes, it is legit, "The Regulators" have every right to distribute the WoW client.

The ruleset is interesting - I'm down with item loot drops, cross-faction grouping/warfare and housing. I'm less down with IP theft.

But, please, discuss DAOC private servers more. Those especially amuse me. I just *love* having my work stolen.

[Merusk]

So you get royalties from DAOC? Sweet gig. 

[Lum]

While there I got profit sharing, yes.

[Segoris]

Updated the patch links

And I guess they are switching servers tonight, I didn't think it was for a few days.

[Sutro]

Therein lies the rub though, Lum. Blizzard's not going to do housing, or item loot, etc. There's no indication that there ever will.

There is a market that is looking, requesting and begging for a suite of features that no company is willing to deliver due to badly managed products in the past, resulting in chilled PvP innovation. Is the message simply supposed to be, "STFU, LIKE OTHER THINGS," or should it be something different?

I realize this thread isn't the place for the IP/copyright debate, but UOWoW might make us enter into a better dialogue about it if it picks up steam. I, for one, completely surprised that no company to date has embraced the freeshard concept as long as you still pay that $15/month.

[Xuri]

I think Raph wanted to do something like that with UO but was shut down by people higher up in the EA hierarchy.

[Evil Elvis]

The owner is Hawthorne of the PvP 'The Regulators'

Ah, 'nuff said.

Pass.

Having played on LS, I concur.

[squirrel]

Therein lies the rub though, Lum. Blizzard's not going to do housing, or item loot, etc. There's no indication that there ever will.

There is a market that is looking, requesting and begging for a suite of features that no company is willing to deliver due to badly managed products in the past, resulting in chilled PvP innovation. Is the message simply supposed to be, "STFU, LIKE OTHER THINGS," or should it be something different?

I realize this thread isn't the place for the IP/copyright debate, but UOWoW might make us enter into a better dialogue about it if it picks up steam. I, for one, completely surprised that no company to date has embraced the freeshard concept as long as you still pay that $15/month.

Er. There's no question about it really. If you want that game, build it. There's no rationale that says - "well they didn't give me what I want so I stole their stuff and made it into what I wanted..." that is, well, rational. Anyway, I understand what you're saying, suffice to say I tend to agree more with Lum's PoV. (And no, I'm not still playing this, I just checked it out due to this thread).

[Sutro]

(shrug) That's fine, I shouldn't have even brought it up because IP debate isn't going to take this thread anywhere healthy.

Has anyone gotten a taste of the housing yet? I'm curious as to how it's been implemented.

[WindupAtheist]

In all your years among the UO crowd, you never logged onto a freeshard, am I right Lum? 

Sutro, the problem is that there are like 100k free-for-all PVP fanatics in the entire non-Korean world, and they all want someone to develop a $60 million game tailored to exactly their tastes even though that would mean no one else would ever play it. For obvious reasons, this isn't likely to happen.

The super grindcore poopsock Vanguard fanboy types would probably like a major MMO tailored specifically to their tastes too, but they shouldn't hold their breath either.

[Falconeer]

the problem is that there are like 100k free-for-all PVP fanatics in the entire non-Korean world, and they all want someone to develop a $60 million game tailored to exactly their tastes even though that would mean no one else would ever play it. For obvious reasons, this isn't likely to happen.

That's not right, WUA. In the past, yeah, we felt entitled to have our big games developed, and the future looked bright.

But now we would be very happy with specific nasty but official ruleset servers like this, a WoW one, an AoC one, a WAR one, or a few budget but stable working worldly pvp+ games. Darkfall, which I don't like, is a good example as it is apparently entertaining a bunch of people. Shadowbane was another. EVE is another one too.

The problem is, in a sea of clones of the same few games, there is way less than a handful available for those 100k fanatics. Shadowbane? Dead. EVE? Spreadsheets are not for everyone. Siege Perilous? Unreasonable progression cockblocks. Darkfall? Major hurr..... and still DF is like the only option right now, so that's why they went on and completed anyway.
What else?

So it's definitely not a problem of $60 millions. Much more a problem of "please give us something, anything!"

[Sky]

It's almost as if there's a reason that kind of game doesn't work.

[Mrbloodworth]

No one has answered my question yet, is this real? Is it worth the hassle? is this complete?

[Falconeer]

Come on. Don't be a jerk.

They work, they are just niche. So you have to work wisely and on tighter budgets.
It's like saying indie comics don't work. Or whatever isn't hollywood is broken.

The real problem here, I agree, is that the know-how and the talent in the MMO indie-stry is still lacking. In ten years we'll have plenty of pvp+ succesful MMOs that work on a 20k or so subs basis.

[Segoris]

No one has answered my question yet, is this real? Is it worth the hassle? is this complete?

1) Yes, it is real.

2) The hassle? Downloading WoW and patching to 3.09 (links provided a few posts up) and a patcher to this server isn't a whole lot of hassle. If you don't mind doing that, then really it isn't bad. The biggest hassle I've had is that when you start on the server the money vs levels gained is a poor ratio for a while. I've had enough to train and that's about it, although all the greens I get go to an enchanter alt which is easily cutting my income by 1/2. I still love the mount at level 1 though (check your character tab for pets and you'll find your mount).

3) As for if it is complete, no. There are still a number of bugs being worked out, housing sounds like it is coming along nicely and shouldn't be long before it's in (they showed a demo of housing over the weekend that I missed I guess), claimable cities/towns I'm guessing are a ways off yet. Possibly closing down zones (maybe expansion areas) and making the old world the only available zones to concentrate the population while this server grows was in discussion last night. This would be great for pvp activity and make this server a lot more fun. A few zones would be adjusted so none of the expansion crafting materials and levels would be missed, just a smaller area.

The new server went in last night and lag was non existant with ~50 people, unlike the day before where ~50 people meant delays, lag, and disconnects. So that part seems to be working nicely so far.

Overall, I'm enjoying it. Would be nice to get a group going so I could stop playing a rogue and move to something a little more challenging, but otherwise the community has been good (if you play type /join world for the global channel). Sadly, like any private shard, it suffers from population. I think if the zones are reduced then the population difference won't be as bad if they can reach ~100 concurrent users on average.

And of course, YMMV but that is my take so far on this server.

[Redgiant]

No one has answered my question yet, is this real? Is it worth the hassle? is this complete?

1) Yes, it is real.

2) The hassle? Downloading WoW and patching to 3.09 (links provided a few posts up) and a patcher to this server isn't a whole lot of hassle. If you don't mind doing that, then really it isn't bad. The biggest hassle I've had is that when you start on the server the money vs levels gained is a poor ratio for a while. I've had enough to train and that's about it, although all the greens I get go to an enchanter alt which is easily cutting my income by 1/2. I still love the mount at level 1 though (check your character tab for pets and you'll find your mount).

3) As for if it is complete, no. There are still a number of bugs being worked out, housing sounds like it is coming along nicely and shouldn't be long before it's in (they showed a demo of housing over the weekend that I missed I guess), claimable cities/towns I'm guessing are a ways off yet. Possibly closing down zones (maybe expansion areas) and making the old world the only available zones to concentrate the population while this server grows was in discussion last night. This would be great for pvp activity and make this server a lot more fun. A few zones would be adjusted so none of the expansion crafting materials and levels would be missed, just a smaller area.

The new server went in last night and lag was non existant with ~50 people, unlike the day before where ~50 people meant delays, lag, and disconnects. So that part seems to be working nicely so far.

Overall, I'm enjoying it. Would be nice to get a group going so I could stop playing a rogue and move to something a little more challenging, but otherwise the community has been good (if you play type /join world for the global channel). Sadly, like any private shard, it suffers from population. I think if the zones are reduced then the population difference won't be as bad if they can reach ~100 concurrent users on average.

And of course, YMMV but that is my take so far on this server.

Maelstrom, lvl 41 Shadow Priest. If anyone is online or knows a good guild, I've just been soloing so far.

Yesterday I started, the XP is easy, I soloed my shadow priest to Bloodsails (lvl 41) in one day. The reason why money is tight (but managed to get all the important spells and buy a few things on AH) is b/c you level so fast you don't really have time unless you want to farm for a while to buidl up money. I just went and bought all spells that matter asap once I leveled.

All flight paths are known up front for all factions, and insta-travel time. on all forms of travel (even ships).

The server d/c's every so often, but relogging back in takes maybe 15-20 sec and I haven't died from it yet, although I came close :)

STV had maybe 5-6 people around, but there is world war in places I'm just not high enough yet to go there yet. 226 people online last ngiht.

Some funny bugs, like if you attack any humanoid at Hillsbrad Farm - any - they all aggro from all over the place.

Class skills are okay on Shadow Priest, a couple dumb bugs like Blackout stun procs will reset some mobs to evade mode. But I hear some classes like Warriors complain a lot more due to moe basic issues which screw their PvP builds.

Hawthorne is pretty good about notifying "Server down in 0:60, get to safe spot". They only reset the server whenthey have somethig worth it, and coming back in is only < 1 min. No shutdown/patch has left me out of the game for longer than maybe 2 min.

If anyone is playing, ping me here or in-game as Maelstrom ... I am still guildless just listening and watching who is/is not a full retard before takign that plunge.

Edit: I can see this being very viable for world PvP once the bugs are hammered down more. If they can put in some keeps for claiming and incentives like that, I can see how it could be more like what I wish WAR offered. And no isntances ANYWHERE is great. Reminds me of WoW very early when there was city raids, outdoor zone fighting and TM/SS ping pong.

[damijin]

As a general post about IP theft/freesharding/etc, but not at all related to WoW or UO:

NCSoft had the FBI shut down a very large private server (what freeshards are called in the L2 community) some years back. There are thousands more, some of which have populations larger than the lower populated retail clients, and if you could total all of the populations of L2 private servers together, I would not be surprised if more are playing those than the North American L2. They tend to be really popular in strange parts of the world that don't have localized language versions, like Greece, Russia, and South America.

Private server operators often run 'donation' systems that allow them to essentially provide a free microtransaction-based version of NCSoft's intellectual property. They give expensive items and such to donators at a fixed rate, making them less like donations, and more like microtransaction purchases. As far as I can figure, if you work up a healthy population as some of these servers have, and set the right price ratio for the right types of items, you could easily generate a huge quantity of money doing this.

If you had asked me about how freeshards should be treated a couple years ago, I would have said they were harmless fan-based creations that put creative niche spins on games that could benefit from them. After seeing them turn into a full fledged micro-industry generating most likely hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars each year between the thousands of servers floating around out there -- I'm very much starting to see the legal argument against them...

On the other hand, I'm an ethic-less scum bag and if I didn't live in the US, I would probably be running one. Easy money is lovely.

[Arnold]

I agree about it needing more people, but it has only been open for what, 3-4 days? That's actually not bad. Additionally you really won't see a whole lot of people from 1-20 (well, 1-30 really) because levelling through those levels is incredibly fast. 6 hours played yesterday (as mentioned before I spent a lot of time fucking with mods too) and my rogue is 26 or 27, lock at 10 (just levelling to up enchanting really as my next char will be a healer). It seems most people are level 35-50 right now. I'm not wanting to say 'stick with it, it gets better!' but that seems to be the case as the server did just start up and has a fast levelling with lots of room for a small number of players.

Why even have leveling?  God, that is the most retarded thing in a pvp game.  I have long held the view that everyone should just be born as gods and it's up to the player to figure out how to use the abilities they are given.  Sure, you might have to go farm some gold to keep you in business, but WHY GOD, WHY do you keep on insisting that we grind out levels?

SHADOWBANE!  I AM TALKING TO YOUR CORPSE!  Those jerks talked their stuff up and down but I got so god damned bored killing bunnies that I thought I was playing EQ and quit before I even got to fight another player.  Grinding wheat to bake bread and grinding XP to make levels; SAME DAMN THING!  You tards shot yourselves in the foot.

Look, levels work one time in a pvp game - when the game goes live and everyone is at level 1.  Then it's really fun and battles take place every day for who is going to win the arms race.  But after that, it's just a huge chore.  Eventually there is parity in game level and skill is what makes the difference... but you want to make a new character, well get ready for the pain.