Secondage is the only shard thats population is increasing.

[Pristiq]

While Faust is indeed intelligent and knows what he's doing/talking about, most people have a problem with him because he is arrogant, pretentious, always has to be right, condescending, and never, EVER admits he is wrong (much like hemp). There's always some excuse about how he was "technically" right.

[Dreakon]

While Faust is indeed intelligent and knows what he's doing/talking about, most people have a problem with him because he is arrogant, pretentious, always has to be right, condescending, and never, EVER admits he is wrong (much like hemp). There's always some excuse about how he was "technically" right.

I think I understand where you guys are coming from.

[IM FKING CRAZY]

Just FTR, UOSAs pop is definately not growing. It has been at these exact same population numbers since I started playing here a year ago.

Peaked.

a year ago there were like 120 unique IP's and tons of room for housing. I started a year ago and the pop has definitely increased since I been here.

Here's the 2 year pop graph for UOSA:

http://joinuo.com/Stats.aspx?i=2

A year ago (midway) you could see there were 500 to 600 people on (it's usually about 1.5 to 2 clients per IP so there's no way it was only 120 then). Basically the same as it is now. When I started a year and a half ago, it was ~250-300 peak. Of course there will be less housing spots available considering anyone can place 15. Not saying that's a bad thing at all (having a solid ~500 for a full year). It's rare to see a shard grow to this size and keep population for so long so gratz to Derrick and staff for pulling it off.

Yeah, its pretty commendable. Im just saying, the average online has been 500 since I started, and it hasnt changed. Lets not fool ourselves into thinking the population is somehow growing.

[Tron]

Pops been about the same for the close to a year that I've been here.

Not a bad thing at all.

Wouldn't mind more, or more pvpers rather. What I don't see is UOSA ever losing its mainstay playerbase. Derrick is the best admin I've ever seen on any free game or uo shard.

[Faust]

While Faust is indeed intelligent and knows what he's doing/talking about, most people have a problem with him because he is arrogant, pretentious, always has to be right, condescending, and never, EVER admits he is wrong (much like hemp). There's always some excuse about how he was "technically" right.

Well son of a son!

There have been a select few cases where I was wrong my son. For example, the disarm delay that used to be 2 seconds was in fact wrong but very close since the comment surrounding the issue was based on a general statement from Lords of the Dead Hades of Baja.

The majority of the issues that I am wrong about are misconceptions based on what actually existed and was accurate on production shards back in the day that isn't necessarily accurate here. Most of the time when I make a comment about something it's based on my pre:uor experience instead of my experience with UOSA. This will sometimes be incorrect since UOSA obviously isn't a hundred percent accurate yet.

If you want to call that an excuse than so be it because it really doesn't matter to me son.

[Hicha]

What I notice isn't so much the population increasing or decreasing, but merely changing. The grove south of Trinsic has caught my eye since I first joined this server, and it represents my thoughts on UOSA population:

This area is constantly changing; month by month you can expect to find different housing here. Houses go IDOC, new houses arise, house types change, a few smalls become a large patio or tower, a tower disappears to reveal a keep, a keep disappears... to small houses. I always think its just someone's spare house thats collapsed (or house hoarding), but you always find them packed full of items, a footprint of someone who has long been gone from the residence.

People come, people go, but its a steady stream of houses, towers and keeps that appear and disappear in this amazing little area.

[IM FKING CRAZY]

peaked

[Lebowski]

ya. uo:sa is a good shard and all, but where it stands now, peaking in the 500's, you're going to be in trouble when IPY 2 starts, and ryan starts fixing divinity.

either one of those is bound to create waves on their own, but combines the 2 and i wouldn't be surprised to see this shards population halved, and it's going to be much harder to build back up when competing with them. This shard made it's rise while there was no real competition out there. I mean, there was divinity, but it was a joke.

Don't get me wrong, i'm not a gamers fan, but you'd be stupid to deny that ryan knows how to draw attention. And ipy 2 is just bound to be great. No more easy ride to the top.


So, i'll say the same thing i tell everyone else.... ad campaign. be ready. etc etc.

[Arcott Ramathorn]

Ive heard tons of comments about the fabled "Ad-Campaign" that brought 1000 people to Divinity at one time. Who were these people and where did he get all their Email addresses?

[Aminer]

ya. uo:sa is a good shard and all, but where it stands now, peaking in the 500's, you're going to be in trouble when IPY 2 starts, and ryan starts fixing divinity.

either one of those is bound to create waves on their own, but combines the 2 and i wouldn't be surprised to see this shards population halved, and it's going to be much harder to build back up when competing with them. This shard made it's rise while there was no real competition out there. I mean, there was divinity, but it was a joke.

Don't get me wrong, i'm not a gamers fan, but you'd be stupid to deny that ryan knows how to draw attention. And ipy 2 is just bound to be great. No more easy ride to the top.


So, i'll say the same thing i tell everyone else.... ad campaign. be ready. etc etc.

Wisdom.

[Faust]

You're wrong, sorry.

Watch and see my son.

[nickhimself]

Fortunately, we're seeing many players stick around for a while rather than having many who
are interested in checking this shard out because they remember playing
Ultima Online back in the day and say "Oh man, I really want to get back into this game!!", and quitting
shortly after. Seeing people hold on for a while is great for the shards growth and helps keep
the shard population familiar rather than seeing a new name every day, and friends dropping like flies.

Is there any co-relation to the shards era and ruleset to the amount of players who
seem to stay active for a long time?

Generally, it seems like more players that I see posting are interested in this era
anyway, at least they get the "feel" of how UO was intended to be played.
Yet somehow, with the amount of people that hate how it currently is, EA still has activity...

[Hemperor]

I don't think IPY or Divinity will ever have any major (or even noticeable) effect on the population here... The amount of players that would prefer a custom shard that fits their preferred pvp is pretty minimal when you actually think about it. Neither shards will even be able to contend with SecondAge in all other aspects (or even plan to), I think 95%+ of us are here for the whole UO experience

[Faust]

The harcore fans of IPY even admit that the "boring" factor will set in after around a year and that would be the best time to load up IPY 3.0 which is a custom shard that will look absolutely nothing like the Pre:UOR eras that we all love. Azaroth has stated that this would probably be the best route for his ideas. This tells you that IPY that everyone blindly worshipped thinking it was the best thing since sliced pizza will collapse with in a year just like the last time. Only a fool would actually waste their time on that shard again. There is no similarities between that shard and the pre:uor eras. It's a custom shard just like the many you can find right now over at JoinUO.com that are not fun at all. The only true fun experience with Ultima Online is an accurate version of the real deal that existed such as UO Second Age. There is no need to waste time playing a custom version of a 10 year old game that will just be wiped clean and disappear annually.

[Mazer]

The harcore fans of IPY even admit that the "boring" factor will set in after around a year and that would be the best time to load up IPY 3.0 which is a custom shard that will look absolutely nothing like the Pre:UOR eras that we all love. Azaroth has stated that this would probably be the best route for his ideas. This tells you that IPY that everyone blindly worshipped thinking it was the best thing since sliced pizza will collapse with in a year just like the last time. Only a fool would actually waste their time on that shard again. There is no similarities between that shard and the pre:uor eras. It's a custom shard just like the many you can find right now over at JoinUO.com that are not fun at all. The only true fun experience with Ultima Online is an accurate version of the real deal that existed such as UO Second Age. There is no need to waste time playing a custom version of a 10 year old game that will just be wiped clean and disappear annually.

To clarify, the plan is to have one shard that will be a hybrid of original IPY and some new ideas that aim to address past mistakes (too many 'wolves' being the big one). There's a reason why discussion, coding, and testing has been ongoing for half a year with no public access to the content. If Az had wanted to throw up an exact replica of IPY, it would have been up months ago. Stop spreading BS rumors about yearly wipes and stop trying to dictate what everyone's idea of 'fun' is. Hundreds of people that have played here in the past have moved on so it is entirely ignorant to say this is the be all and end all of Pre-Ren free shards.

For people that want to relive 1998 permanently, this place will remain their home. For people looking for the excitement and magnitude of IPY PvP along with other features (ie. giving incentives for people who actively gain skills as opposed to just macro and other features UOSA may never pull off due to accuracy restrictions), they may choose to play there.

I didn't want to make this sort of post here but I won't just let Faust ramble on erroneously.