UO is kinda like my senile Uncle...

[Cheddar]

Good news!  UO is getting its bugs fixed along with various other improvements!

Hooray! Time to tap the ol’ ale keg and start the leg of dragon roasting. We have shipped Mondain’s Legacy! I hope everyone is enjoying the new content as much as we are. The Ultima Online Team and I appreciate all the feedback we received during beta testing. And we continue to look forward to hearing more feedback as you really dive in to the Elven world.
What’s next you might be asking? Well, let me take a few minutes to explain. The Ultima Online Team is now focused on our next project, live improvements. We are taking stock of the game as we know it:


Digging into our database of things we’d like to fix (or finish!)
Researching suggestions (and gripes!) from the players so we can make Ultima Online better
and generally spending time considering improvements that we’ve not had time to think about
Working out ways to make the game more fun and more accessible to new players, and at the same time making sure current players continue to be challenged by the depth and variety UO offers.
Our team is psyched to get moving on the next evolution of UO. We plan to roll out these changes with our regular publishes. There won’t be a box or a fee for this content! And we won’t be waiting until the end of the project to share our improvements. This will give the community a chance to get us feedback sooner and for us to make any relevant changes.
The goal is to invest in Ultima Online and continue to keep it a kick ass place to play for all. We want to get new players into the game as much as we want to keep our beloved long time players happy. So, keep your eyes and ears open for our improvements!

Also, we have some new team members that we’ll be introducing to you in the near future. (A couple from the UO community, even!)

Also, can you believe that we are about to celebrate our Eighth Anniversary? I can’t! If you haven’t already checked out The Eighth Anniversary website, you should! This commemorative edition does two things: 1. Offers a lot of value to current players with more than $70 worth of Power Up services included, 2. Creates an attractive package that should entice newcomers.

Thanks again for your dedication and passion towards Ultima Online! We’re going to be talking a lot about what the future holds in the coming months.

Lady Lu
Ultima Online Producer

I do believe this is only the second time I have seen a Producer say "kick ass" on an official website.

First time was with Asherons Call 2.  And that was just Xtreme.  And stuff.

[WindupAtheist]

Prepare for mindless flaming from the masses.  After all, nobody plays UO anymore.  Granted it still has more active accounts than at least some of the games people like to talk about around here, but don't question the party line.

[Cheddar]

Prepare for mindless flaming from the masses.  After all, nobody plays UO anymore.  Granted it still has more active accounts than at least some of the games people like to talk about around here, but don't question the party line.

The situation is not about the empty promises nor the vague promises of patched fun.  This could very well signal the demise of one of the "first three."  There are currently rumors of the franchise moving to new ownership; possibly back to original ownership.  THAT is why it could potentially be gossiped speculated about.




edit. Missed an ly

[WindupAtheist]

Yeah, the "selling to Cryptic" rumor.  I considered posting it here, but there's almost nothing to go on besides hot air spewed across the Stratics boards, and what has to be an error on one vendor's website.  As for it reverting to original ownership, the original owner is... EA.

What, let me guess.  There's a rumor that Richard Garriot is going to fly down through the ceiling, wearing a Superman cape, and buy the whole thing out?

[Cheddar]

The Original owner was Origin Systems, Richard Garriot and his brother.  EA was the big brother above them, and did not interfere until you know, money was being made.  As far as typo errors, that is quiet a whopping typo.  And as far as wearing costumes?



It is really like a sewing circle barring certain points of information.  But the facts remain; Look at the switch of corporate personas, the milking (as in increase recently +++) of resources to generate income, the use of profanity from someone "at the top", and errr, typos.  What is big is the fact that one of the first 3 could be crashing.  It happens to be the virtual world one. 




Edit.  My vague and uneducated prediction?  UO is going away from EA, Sunsword has moved on from EA online, and EA will be refocusing all efforts on console online titles. 

[WindupAtheist]

The Original owner was Origin Systems, Richard Garriot and his brother.  EA was the big brother above them, and did not interfere until you know, money was being made.

EA purchased OSI five years before UO arrived.  They were always the owner.

As far as typo errors, that is quiet a whopping typo.

One vendor's website, out of who knows how many, applied the wrong developer name to a product.  One would have to wonder how said vendor, and said vendor alone, became privy to such secret information if it were anything but a mistake.

It is really like a sewing circle barring certain points of information.  But the facts remain; Look at the switch of corporate personas, the milking (as in increase recently +++) of resources to generate income,

That they're milking UO for all it's worth has been known for years now, ever since they started selling pre-developed characters for thirty bucks a pop.

the use of profanity from someone "at the top",

I don't see why you think someone saying "kick ass" in a cheerleading PR statement is noteworthy.

and errr, typos.  What is big is the fact that one of the first 3 could be crashing.  It happens to be the virtual world one.

Frankly, most of the playerbase would welcome the game being sold to pretty much anyone who isn't EA.  They certainly couldn't fuck it up any worse.

Edit.  My vague and uneducated prediction?  UO is going away from EA, Sunsword has moved on from EA online, and EA will be refocusing all efforts on console online titles.

On the surface, it seems to make a certain amount of sense.  UO still has well over 100k active accounts, enough to make it worth someone picking up, and the Matrix Online sale might have given EA the idea that it's better to sell than to trash.

Still, there's not enough here to merit serious consideration just yet.

[Azaroth]

About the typo and Cryptic Studios and all of that, there's a *little* more too it. And when I say little, I'm not being sarcastic.

It just happens that the same person who predicted EvilMantis leaving the development team about a week before he announced it himself was slyly hinting that developers were talking about UO changing hands. I think.

That's purple monkey dishwasher shit though. I can't remember exactly what was said, just the jist of it.

[WindupAtheist]

Shit, as a UO player, I hope it IS true.  I'm not a CoH fanboy, but Cryptic over EA?  Fuck yes.

[Jain Zar]

If Cryptic takes over UO I will go back, even if its just for a month or two.

EA doesn't get my cash.   I won't even buy Burnout 3 on budget because it will give those game destroying nunfuckers money.

[Pococurante]

I can't see going back over who owns what unless Cryptic's into after buying the franchise is to oversee a rewrite - then I'm all over it.

[Mesozoic]

My underlying opinion on Cryptic hinges somewhat on the upcoming CoH/CoV pricing scheme.  And anyone wanting my subscription dollars for UO would have to fix the graphics.  Not to necessarily overhaul them, but to at least improve the resolution. 

[Signe]

Darn.  I was hoping for a bonfire.

[WindupAtheist]

All it would really take is having some new models created for UO3D by someone who doesn't operate the computer with their feet.

[Bunk]

Prepare for mindless flaming from the masses.  After all, nobody plays UO anymore.  Granted it still has more active accounts than at least some of the games people like to talk about around here, but don't question the party line.

No need, I think UO does a perfectly fine job of flaming itself these days.

[Strazos]

The lady wants to appeal to new players, but I could not imagine trying to jump into UO this late in the game.

It'd be like trying to start fresh in EQ right now; you're so far behind the curve, etc etc.

[WindupAtheist]

The lady wants to appeal to new players, but I could not imagine trying to jump into UO this late in the game.

It'd be like trying to start fresh in EQ right now; you're so far behind the curve, etc etc.

As far as PVM goes, nah, not really.  Building a character doesn't take very long even without scripting, which is rampant.  (I've met newbies on their third day of UO who have upwards of 90% magery, because someone grabbed them on day one and showed them how to script.)  As for items and housing, there's a great divide between the most elite and everything else.  A house measuring 18x18 tiles will run you twenty million, while a 14x14 will run maybe one or two million, and something like a 10x10 will be a couple hundred thousand at most.  Anything smaller than that you can probably just place yourself, if you try.  A berzerker's maul will run you around a million, but a cavorting club is almost as good and costs almost nothing anymore.

The PVP game is an entirely different story, of course.  Nowadays it revolves more or less entirely around zerg guilds fighting over champion spawns, and pointless fragging at the Yew moongate.  That and the usual trammy/roleplayer guild war type stuff.  But I've seen plenty of newbies cut their teeth on the latter before moving on to the former after a couple months, so it's workable.

No, the thing keeping newbs out of UO is exactly what we all know it is:  The graphics.  This isn't just a case of the game being old, it's a case of incompetence on the part of EA.  Most of the graphics added in later years actually look WORSE than those the game was shipped with.  Not only did everything in UO3D look like ass, but many of the old 2D sprites were replaced with new ones based on scans of the shitty 3D models.  A daemon in UO right now looks worse than it did in 1997.

That's the part that makes me want to strangle someone with their own colon.  They actually went to the time and trouble to graft a polygon-based engine onto the existing game, only to have it fail because nobody knew how to  craft a 3D model that didn't look like refried dogshit.  WTF.

[Driakos]

Jessica "Lady Lu" Lewis, is an awesome producer.  It is just too bad UO didn't get her sooner.  She knows how to get things done, meet milestones and deadlines without butcherblocking features.


For UO to revive, it needs a complete graphics overhaul.  Something to keep it from being embarrasing to buy/sell.  Other than that, the depth and content is there.  I agree it doesn't even need a swanky 3D engine.  Just redo the 2D art.  3D would probably be faster and cheaper though.

I don't think EA is selling UO.

They had many buy offers for Earth and Beyond, and wouldn't let that go.  Better to close it, and get a tax write-off.


Besides the 8th Anniverary Edition plug, all that announcement means is: Don't fret, we're working on stuff after Mondain's Legacy, we just haven't decided what our next box will be.

[sinij]

UO doesn't even hide anymore that they are whoring for money in a worst possible way. They are one step away from charging for uber loot, now every expansion has less content than previous and more 'bundles" and "bonuses" that spin mudflation out of control.

[Cheddar]

I thought they already charged for uber loot.  No, seriously.  I was talking to a buddy just other day about it; he quit after buying the third or fourth "must have to keep up" item they sold in recent times (I believe he quit around 2-3 months ago).  Before calling him a chump realize he has only ever played UO (began a little after I did in '98) off and on, and has never had any desire to play any other game. 

[WindupAtheist]

He's... exaggerating.  Certain things are sold, but they're always either something that previously a pre-order for some expansion, or else something that they're giving everyone one of for free.  IE, you can buy certain decorative items online for like $3 each, but everyone got their choice of one for free when the promotion started.  When the 7th Anniversarry items came out, everyone got one of those for free, and people who bought the box just got two.

[Simond]

I won't even buy Burnout 3 on budget because it will give those game destroying nunfuckers money.

A little harsh there.
I mean, what did some poor, undeserving game-destroying nunfucker ever do to you to get compared to EA?

[waylander]

The lady wants to appeal to new players, but I could not imagine trying to jump into UO this late in the game.

It'd be like trying to start fresh in EQ right now; you're so far behind the curve, etc etc.

This seems to be a pretty realistic statement to me.  I have the 9 dollar UO version from Walmart with all the expansions to Samurai, an advanced character code, and 45 free days. I've never used it yet, and after reading up on all the changes I'm not sure if I ever will.  Now, even more than in the past, you need several characters to support your main character.  That is a pretty steep time investment.   Without certain armors or enhancements it seems like you are dead meat if you venture out too far beyond the old classic map areas.

If I were to restart today I wouldn't know what shard to play on, what type of advanced character would help me get re-established fast, and all the other things.  If I had people I was starting with it might be different, but coming back solo is a daunting task I agree.

If they gave me about 4 advanced character codes (30 bux a pop is stupid), I'd consider it.

[WindupAtheist]

Between advanced characters and what they refer to on Stratics as The Program, you can get your character skills up to a respectable level in no time flat.  (That comment I made earlier about the third-day newbie with 90+ magery wasn't hyperbole.)  After that, it's just a matter of piling up the money for increasingly better items.  And while the prices for the most elite and rare items continue to be astronomical, item inflation seems to be keeping well ahead of gold inflation everywhere else.  Meaning most mid to mid-high level items have actually been going down in cost.

[Dren]

The last time I played (about 8 months ago,) it definitely was a buyer's market.  Unfortunately, I'm the selling type and found that to be extremely challenging.  There are 20-30 vendor's on every screen around the best shop areas.  I even had a decent spot selling some necessary items, but the market was so competitive, it didn't make sense doing it, in my mind. 

I was better off, farming for gold and buying my items.  The items I did collect I just kept and upgraded when I could with my GM smith.  I then built up sets of armor that made sense for different situations (PvE and PvP, resistance vs. damage vs. protection, etc.)  The weapon sets were nice for all different situations too (daemons, dragons, ogres, etc.)

[WindupAtheist]

When I came back from one of my longer absences last year, having given away all my loot last time I quit, I lurked around the West Britain Bank until I had a feel for what was selling and how much it was going for.  Then I would patrol vendors in obscure locations, looking for bargains.  Once I had a solid number of underpriced weapons, I would go back and sell them to the bank crowd for twice what I had paid.

Thing is, lately the developers seem more interested in balancing character power by dropping good equipment all over the place.  Thus the price of all but the most uber gear is taking a beating.  Annoying for a seller, but hardly a barrier to newb entry.

[waylander]

Ok.  Say I came back after all these years with nothing but my UO:Gold version, 1 advanced character code, and nothing else.  Here are my questions:

1.
What shard?

2.
Which advanced character would be best to get on my feet?

3.
What support characters must I have and how long would it take to GM things? (blacksmith, etc)

4.
Fighter templates don't have magery anymore (they used to have at least 50 for the recall and mark ability) . How do they get around effectively and efficiently?

5.
Things cost millions it seems, but 100k-120k per hour seems fairly standard for advanced characters....which I wouldn't be one.

6.
Monsters seem to be beefed up with mucho deadly poision and major spells. Until I find a guild I'm likely to get my ass handed to me.  Where should I hunt solo?

7.
Should I install UO:Gold, and then upgrade to ML, and use my advance toon code for an elf character?

8.
I never liked UO's macro interface. Is it legal to use UO assist on an infinite loop where possible, or do they still ban you for macroing afk?

Tx

[Dren]

1.
What shard?
Probably the one nearest your physical location.
2.
Which advanced character would be best to get on my feet?
Mage I think.  Warriors get beat up quick from monsters and mages take longer and cost more to train. 
3.
What support characters must I have and how long would it take to GM things? (blacksmith, etc)
With scripting?  Days.  Without, depends on your playtime.
4.
Fighter templates don't have magery anymore (they used to have at least 50 for the recall and mark ability) . How do they get around effectively and efficiently?
Recall Scrolls or Paladin ability to recall.
5.
Things cost millions it seems, but 100k-120k per hour seems fairly standard for advanced characters....which I wouldn't be one.
You'll gain enough gold to get what you need pretty fast regardless.
6.
Monsters seem to be beefed up with mucho deadly poision and major spells. Until I find a guild I'm likely to get my ass handed to me.  Where should I hunt solo?
The original places are all the same basically.  The new stuff is in the new areas.
7.
Should I install UO:Gold, and then upgrade to ML, and use my advance toon code for an elf character?
I do not know.
8.
I never liked UO's macro interface. Is it legal to use UO assist on an infinite loop where possible, or do they still ban you for macroing afk?
They would still do it, but don't.  I never worried about it.

[WindupAtheist]

Ok.  Say I came back after all these years with nothing but my UO:Gold version, 1 advanced character code, and nothing else.  Here are my questions:

1.
What shard?

Closest to your location, like Dren said.

2.
Which advanced character would be best to get on my feet?

Considering you're coming in with NOTHING but that code, you might consider a samurai or paladin template, as both are pretty low-maintenance.  If you feel the need, script up a mage on the side once you can afford a cheap LRC suit and a boat.  The 35 point difference in skill between an advanced character mage and a genuine newbie represents nothing but an extra couple hours of scripting.

Speaking of which, mages aren't what they used to be, compared to everyone else.  They're screaming all over the Stratics boards currently, because archers are eating them for lunch in PVP.  And while they're certainly a low-risk template in PVM, virtually nothing outdamages a properly trained and equipped paladin.  (The first time a tamer came along to blithely hijack the gargoyle spawn in Ilshenar, only to discover that my paladin could out-kill his goddamn white wyrm, was priceless.)

3.
What support characters must I have and how long would it take to GM things? (blacksmith, etc)

All crafters do now is cry on the boards that they don't have enough to do.  I've never had any "support characters" at all.

4.
Fighter templates don't have magery anymore (they used to have at least 50 for the recall and mark ability) . How do they get around effectively and efficiently?

Runebooks hold double the charges they used to, and can be used with 100% success regardless of magery skill.  Paladins also have Sacred Journey, which is just recall under a different name.

5.
Things cost millions it seems, but 100k-120k per hour seems fairly standard for advanced characters....which I wouldn't be one.

Well, some things cost millions.  But you can equip yourself moderately well, and move into a mid-sized house, without ever having seen a seven-digit bank balance.

6.
Monsters seem to be beefed up with mucho deadly poision and major spells. Until I find a guild I'm likely to get my ass handed to me.  Where should I hunt solo?

Stay away from undead casters (which I think are getting a nerf soon anyway) and the new dungeons, and you'll be fine. 

7.
Should I install UO:Gold, and then upgrade to ML, and use my advance toon code for an elf character?

Elves get some okay bonuses, but it's hardly imperative that you be one.

8.
I never liked UO's macro interface. Is it legal to use UO assist on an infinite loop where possible, or do they still ban you for macroing afk?

As was said, scripting is technically illegal, but everyone does it.  Listen, just take the warrior template with archery, and turn it into this template:

Archery, Tactics, Anatomy, Healing, Focus, Chivalry, Resisting Spells

Stay human.  The 'jack of all trades' bonus gives you a functional 20 in every skill, even though it doesn't show on the actual skill menu.  That's enough for you to make your own arrows.  Pull your punches against anything that can cast Blood Oath, but otherwise enjoy raining uber amounts of damage down on everything from range.