My POV, not quite a suggestion just an observation.

[Mikel123]

It's just a little... convenient... for you. That's all.

Really though, anything we can do to make it artificially harder for new players than it was for us, in a non-era-accurate way, is a good thing for the shard, right? Right?

[Mikel123]

And for what it's worth, as a new player a couple months ago, I didn't mind seeing a bunch of people macroing at the bank at all. If they're not active players now, they will be soon, or may already be with another character.

[Caranthir]

You also realize that this game is 12 years old right? In 1999 the game was a novelty, the concept of MMORPGs was a novelty and the mystique of exploring and raising your skills was too.

Now it's 12 years later, most people have played tons of MMORPGs, know the UO map like the back of their hand and probably can tell you the average melee damage an ophidian knight-errant does to a full-plate 98 parry heather dexxer...

What was once new and enjoyable just isn't anymore, so people play the game for different reasons. To kill other players, to steal, to loot, to hold events, to gather rares, whatever. In that larger scheme of things, character development is just something that stands in the way of these new ways to enjoy the game.

Does that make you better or worse? Neither. People have different ways of enjoying the game now. Someone who never played UO will still have that wide-eyed sense of exploring a sandbox world, someone who played UO for years won't.

There is nothing you can do about it and changing some macroing rules won't do anything to bring that feeling back. You can emulate an era technically but you will never have the same scenario, the same novelty; as much as you wish for it.

My 0.02.
Cara

[Hoots]

Excellent point.

Proposals for accuracy should no longer be considered because other players had the pleasures of enjoying the inaccurate gameplays beforehand.

Any players who gmd resist in town without healing before that patch, please drop your resist to 0 and re do.

I could list a couple dozen more changes in this same sense.

You have to take a step back from the trees and look at the forest for a second.

You are 18. While i dont know what the average player break down age is i would think that you are on the younger side of the norm.

People have jobs, families and responsibilities now that most did not have in 1999. These same people are the one who are more likely to donate to the shard for their play. These same people are the ones who would have most likely never started playing here if you couldnt afk macro (im in this boat).

A massive % of the players on this server would not be here. (this also includes PvP only players who come from other shards and WOULD NEVER build a char they couldnt macro with)

So in theory, if there was thousands of players beating down the door to make chars and donate to the shard it would be great to be able to have no macroing and basically pick the player base you want.

In reality, the shard needs to build a player base. This same reality is filled with players like myself who would have never even considered coming back to UO if i couldnt macro... <-- that sounds sh1tty to write/type but there just isnt enough hours in the day.

Anywho... afk macroing was a big part of 1999 as well. My roomie and I macro'd alchemy and scribing in our forge every day while we worked... Never a peep from a GM. So its not like this is a new concept.

[Derrick]

I agree that the mindset just isn't there as it was when it was not only a whole new world, but a whole new concept. It seems to me there became a split among playstyles even during this era, an that some maintained that romantic feeling about the game, and other who became bitter over the countless changes yet still found a way to enjoy the game. The confict between players who see the game from different points of view is one of the biggest drivers of the game itself.

It may not ever be the same as it was, but it's never been our intent to socially engineer the game into the feel that the game had back in '98-'99, but rather to recreate the accurate mechanics. The world belongs to the players, and what it becomes will be unique.

It's still a big world, and there is room for all varieties of play on Second Age. I honestly do believe that we have the widest variety of players and some of the richest player interaction available on a free-shard. A hands off policy of staff contributes much to this I think; we don't want to be in-game policemen, and staff intervention can rarely be anything but biased, no matter the good intention.

It's a world, and players do well at solving their own problems. The freedom to act allows sufficiently motivated players to clean out Brit Bank macorers without the need of us getting involved.

[archaicsubrosa77]

First off unless you are new or you are looking to pvp some theives at the bank or other players in the graveyard most tend to stay away from the Brit area. Most of the time they are in Brit is when they are awaiting an event or Guild sponsered hunt/quest, gathering supplies, doing odd things like picking locks or scouting for recruits.

Another thing is that you can have 15 chars here. Sometimes you dump your newbie expendables in a high action place.."and if you noticed it is high action in West Brit at times" just to switch to something like the comedy channel inbetween your adventures, while your party member is digging a privy etc.

If you havent gotten Pked upteen times yet to know there is alot of activity going on out there, maybe you should venture out a little further then the gutters of Brit where everyone is either zoned out, pickpocketing, or looking to fight/townkill anything if they have the chance.

(Another point being most of the macroers are too weak to face all the conflict and challenges anywhere besides above ground with all the PK activity you mentioned)

I agree though we need to create some drama and intrigue, power struggles between guilds, with a dash of role play. Maybe create something more extravegant then order/chaos. Maybe we should start making smaller guilds to be forced to choose sides with larger ones as clans of larger houses. Maybe force solo players to seek assignment to guilds or suffer continual tormenting.

UOH does well in combining efforts of the whole community...but what of the off times? How can we add more flavour to this game so its not so much everyman for himself, by himself?

I for one would be interested in what others would suggest.

[TheDon]

The problem with recreating an era of an old game, is the main people who wish to play it are those who played back then, most know all the tricks of the trade as it were.. so how do we fix this "issue".

You advertise, targetting specifically people who have NEVER played Ultima Online, there are lots of free MMORPG's out these days, new ones which still cant compare to this game, graphics wise and gameplay wise, you target these people, you let them know that here we have a completely free, sandbox MMORPG. get them here and you will again find your newbies exloring the world, training there skills and getting up to all kinds of mishap.

[Ronk]

The problem with recreating an era of an old game, is the main people who wish to play it are those who played back then, most know all the tricks of the trade as it were.. so how do we fix this "issue".

You advertise, targetting specifically people who have NEVER played Ultima Online, there are lots of free MMORPG's out these days, new ones which still cant compare to this game, graphics wise and gameplay wise, you target these people, you let them know that here we have a completely free, sandbox MMORPG. get them here and you will again find your newbies exloring the world, training there skills and getting up to all kinds of mishap.

I dunno, it could be the ease of access to macro guides. If someone, even a new person, wants magery...they can read exactly what needs to be done to get there. They can read the tricks, how to cheat the system, how to make money, etc. Or are we assuming all new people are too stupid to power game?

[TheDon]

Of course not, but do ALL new players want to powergame? maybe some will, but surely some would want to play the game as it was meant to be *shrugs* im just throwing idea's out there.

[Hoots]

Of course not, but do ALL new players want to powergame? maybe some will, but surely some would want to play the game as it was meant to be *shrugs* im just throwing idea's out there.

Derrick mentions a good point about how the player base here has both types of people...just like in '99


But, access to information now has really changed things as far as the non-powergamer goes.

My first char in Fall of '97 had smithing, mining, swords, tact, hiding, magery, resist, archery...

I didnt know any better...When i did fight i used a viking sword!

Even a non powergamer now is likely to come in and macro stats with a specific 7x build in mind. Then you run into the problem of a small community not allowing alot of opportunity to go out and build skills casually like you could in '99.

Head to shame with a 60 str adept warrior by yourself and see how many times you die to spawn or reds before you say screw it... im not coming back until my char is advanced.

Less community almost forces powergaming to enjoy this type of game.

[BlackFoot]

I've been playing here along time and loving it. Before you pass judgment on how the world feels to you please step out of Britain and head to different parts of the world. I think you will be surprised by how much is going on and isn't just LEET pvp. To enjoy the world the way you did back in the day is really up to the player.
You can chose to surround yourself in game by afk macroers, or hang out with large active non macroing groups. They both exist here.
You can become part of the large active groups of people who take on the worlds dungeons or become part of the group that tries to murder them all day. There is an unreal amount of competition in the crafter and vendor market.
UOSA has become a broad enough place for you to be able to enjoy the game the way you did or go a completely other direction with it. Up to the player.
Edit: I still only have 1 7x character and I really only use him for automated events, the myth that you need to 7x your char to be able to compete and enjoy the world nowadays is ridiculous and sad :<
double edit: Reading hoots comments above about getting pked with low skills isn't entirely true. We have a large number of less advanced players in our group training the way they did on osi. Also take a quick run through the worlds forests and brigands camps and it will blow your mind how many people are out there actually playing the game.

[Pristiq]

I agree with what Blackfoot said. I've never had a 7 on this server, and still don't. Yet, I enjoy going out with UoH on PvM runs or running around on my thief. Both survive well enough and I get the same enjoyment I did when I played back in '99. I'm STILL exploring the world, finding new places, etc.

[Mephistopheles]

The OP is completely right. The very fact that AFK Macroing is allowed here makes it completely different from OSI's T2A. That policy was/is huge!

As for virtually every other aspect of this shard?

Looks pretty "accurate" to me. The mechanics are nearly flawless.

Personally, I'm glad I don't have to sit in front of my computer for 8 hours clicking that blue crystal and then clicking on an NPC to get my Eval up. If being OK with building repetitive skills (Not like Swords or Magery, that stuff is fun to build IMO) while you're off working, sleeping, etc makes me "less" of a player than someone who isn't OK with that, I couldn't care less.

As for the "issue" with powergamers, I don't see any issue there at all.

Do you know something about this video game that another player doesn't? Awesome.

Will this put you at an "advantage" against a less educated player in the context of PvP, building skills, whatever that "context" is? Possibly.

What difference would it make any way? You're not going to bitch at that kid standing next to you in the arcade after he schools you in Tekken because he's been playing for so much longer, are you?

Anyways, I love this MMO and I'm not going to bother looking for another one until some company grows a pair of balls and allows looting, stealing, sea transport, docile ownership and free-for-all PvP.

[mugen]

Im glad to see this discussion is still alive, and not a whole lot of flames.. Good sign!.

However, when someone says something like "you'd be amazed at how many people are out in the world". I can only "sigh".. Im not amazed, won't be amazed.. Not from a RunUO server.

Maybe i've just played too many? IPY,UOredemption,trepidus,Defiance t2a,Divinity.. Others that sucked so bad I cant remember their names. It was always the same formula, the same people, racing to do the same things.

Every RunUO t2a server starts out the same.. everyones having a blast because its a fresh start in a fresh world and a race to see who becomes "the big dog". I've been the big dog before, and i've spent alot more time being the little dog. Not quite as fun to me as it is to others I guess?

Para explode ebolt hallywhack ventrilo syncs. The combat is great, when there is variety involved. But I personally can only stand to see the same people with the same templates using the same powergaming methods to reach end game gankathon where l33t becomes the king of t2a.. Hell, leetspeak wasnt even around when I played t2a. I still remember the first time someone said "owned" after they killed me, and this became somewhat controversial to even say to people. lol.

You guys are right though, this server was built to meet the needs of the niche' crowd it attracts, sadly it isn't the t2a crowd, only the hallywhack crowd. These players are generally satisfied no matter what the server is like as long as there is someone to hallywhack.

Im just an old geek, craving the nostalgia from the past epic gameplay that was UO t2a. Im afraid we'll never see anything like it again, and I feel bad for anyone who didn't get there chance to experience it in all of its glory.

At any rate, props to the Devs for keeping that little flame burning for people to atleast get a taste.

[Hemperor]

Para explode ebolt hallywhack ventrilo syncs. The combat is great, when there is variety involved. But I personally can only stand to see the same people with the same templates using the same powergaming methods to reach end game gankathon where l33t becomes the king of t2a.. Hell, leetspeak wasnt even around when I played t2a. I still remember the first time someone said "owned" after they killed me, and this became somewhat controversial to even say to people. lol.

From when I joined over a year ago, I can count on one hand the people I know that are still here.

And those people rarely play. There isn't much to achieve on most free shards, it's all the same repetitive bs and that's why people quit. They play for a few months, macro everything there is possible to do and leave.

I guess people are more interested in reliving the era in fast forward, a month later they're bored of it and go back to their other non-macro leet games.