Hemperor was right. (Razor features)

[Blaise]

Requiring Razor does not mean one must actually use it beyond launching the game though, right?
If the options forced were era-accurate (or as close as they could be) then what's a button on the taskbar/systray amount to?

A minor annoyance in my opinion, as it was when I started here.
I played for a month or so without it really using it aside from launching the client. (yes, my friends were casting Night Sight on me)
Now I'm addicted, as I've come to realize survival on this shard practically requires the advantages gained by the myriad options I never used in the past, within Razor.

Quite a difficult topic though, I must admit. Once control of it is in place, people will complain about the what/why of everyone option.

[Sandro]

If they were to negotiate features, you would be required to use razor to connect. You don't actually have to "use" it, but you won't be able to play without connecting via razor and you'd be forced to have it running along with the client to play.

[Errikos]

I'd argue that being forced to use Razor but not playing with players who get to ignore light levels and other such stuff creates a more era accurate experience than the alternative.

[marmalade]

The benefits that would come with limiting some of Razor's features would FAR outweigh the slight inconvenience that some (very few!) people might have to go through by downloading Razor. They don't have to use the program if they don't want to, they just use it to connect and forget about it. Their game experience would not be any different than if they were connecting using ConnectUO.

[Roser]

I agree marm, well said.

You could simply treat razor as a means to connect and nothing more. After all, it is very easy to use in that regard.

Errikos, also well put.

[MatronDeWinter]

While I do agree with marmalade, perhaps some actual statistics on the number of people using razor vs. those that do not would help here.

[marmalade]

While I do agree with marmalade, perhaps some actual statistics on the number of people using razor vs. those that do not would help here.

Yea, would be nice to know. I haven't actually got a clue tbh, but I would assume the number of people not connecting via Razor would be fairly low considering how easy it is to download Razor and get it to connect for you. It takes just as much effort to download and run ConnectUO every time you want to log in.

[MatronDeWinter]

While I do agree with marmalade, perhaps some actual statistics on the number of people using razor vs. those that do not would help here.

Yea, would be nice to know. I haven't actually got a clue tbh, but I would assume the number of people not connecting via Razor would be fairly low considering how easy it is to download Razor and get it to connect for you. It takes just as much effort to download and run ConnectUO every time you want to log in.

Well, when I decided to give uo another try after X years I searched google and found a topsite type website and sorted by players online. If I could not have immediately connected to UOSA I would have probably tried another server and played there. There is obviously a reason (as staff has stated) that razors negotiate features is not already used, and I assume that more people than one would think connect without it.

[iamreallysquall]

While I do agree with marmalade, perhaps some actual statistics on the number of people using razor vs. those that do not would help here.

Yea, would be nice to know. I haven't actually got a clue tbh, but I would assume the number of people not connecting via Razor would be fairly low considering how easy it is to download Razor and get it to connect for you. It takes just as much effort to download and run ConnectUO every time you want to log in.

Well, when I decided to give uo another try after X years I searched google and found a topsite type website and sorted by players online. If I could not have immediately connected to UOSA I would have probably tried another server and played there. There is obviously a reason (as staff has stated) that razors negotiate features is not already used, and I assume that more people than one would think connect without it.

^^^^^^^^^^^

[Roser]

When I first started, I didn't even know what razor was... All of my hot keys were set though the UO options screen, and my first macro was putting a battery (weight) on my F1 key to macro hiding.

Razor to me back then was simply a means to connect to a server, I thought nothing of it. Also Razor was included in the download package, and I just assumed this is the new way to connect to free shards.

From my understanding, UOSA could have a much greater T2A feel if razor was required, and I am unclear as to what real damage would result in doing so.

Matron, anyone who has ever played a free shard has some sort of "getting set up" expectation, be it a login.cfg edit, or use of a 3rd party program. I realize Derrick has made it easy to just click the UO icon and simply log in... But clicking razor is just as easy, all the info is ready to go, AND it is included in the download package. So seriously, we are talking about clicking one icon over another...

Now, the only real problem I can perceive with requiring Razor, is that of compatibility with operating systems that are not Windows... But if you are running UO on something other then windows, then you are probably going though a lot of hoops to get UO running anyway.

So what is the real problem here? Connecting with Razor has been made just as easy as connecting with the UO client...

PS. If it helps, I have found some really good UOA websites that detail exactly what it could do during 1999.

[iamreallysquall]

"Matron, anyone who has ever played a free shard has some sort of "getting set up" expectation, be it a login.cfg edit, or use of a 3rd party program"

so everyone! clearly does this i think not, many people are not computer savoy and wish to play that game they played long ago and don't go in with that mindset at all.

Staff should devote more time to fixing other inaccuracy's like the inaccuracy's that involve events or the broken pvp system currently in place, rather then making it harder to connect to the server.

[MatronDeWinter]

Don't get me wrong here. I am all for removing razor entirely for the most part. Heck, I didn't even use UOassist when I used to play anyway.

However,
Since Derrick has said that the negotiate feature option would make it more difficult for new players to connect to the server, I think that there might actually be something to that. Perhaps more people than myself or rose think, connect without razor. Since Derrick has made such a statement, and I assume he has the stats to back up that decision, I think it would be prudent to weigh in both sides of the situation before simply saying "It's easy to use razor, everyone knows how".

[Keener]

Hello, I'm a few days into this shard. Aside from a friend playing OSI during the T2A era and a few months playing on IPY before it shut down I don't have much experience with the UO T2A time frame.

After going through the forums and whatnot I get the sense that this shard is very committed to keeping it as close to T2A as possible. I applaud that goal. As far as re-creating the past its not 1999, its 2011, how far do you want to go? Do you want to make everyone connect on an original pentium 60 machine with a 56k modem? This is 2011. There are computer programming classes in high school! Razor is here. Its something that makes the game much easier to play (as I have found out over the last week).

I'm assuming the population base of this shard is in their 20s or above. Having a program like Razor with its features makes this game practical for me to play between work and all the other responsibilities of life. I'd love to be able to go back to 1999 and jam a key down on my keyboard to execute a simple macro or stay up most of the night with a friend training resist manually. But I can't.

While I see that there are aspects of razor that take away from the 1999 experience (nightsight). I don't see it as a factor in making any drastic changes to the way people connect and play the game. I think energy could be better spent elsewhere.

Or I could of been way off in reading this thread.... forgive me.... I'm new

[Matty]

heh it sure would suck to carry around nightsight potions. kinda miss the sound though.

[marmalade]

Well, when I decided to give uo another try after X years I searched google and found a topsite type website and sorted by players online. If I could not have immediately connected to UOSA I would have probably tried another server and played there. There is obviously a reason (as staff has stated) that razors negotiate features is not already used, and I assume that more people than one would think connect without it.

But how did you connect to UOSA initially? Was it through ConnectUO?