UO Second Age

Hey,

Just wanted to add some fuel to the fire on the discussion between era accuracy vs. better gameplay. I vividly remember using the 'log out bug' way into the 21st century and the T2A era, however, when I tested it on UOSA, it appeared to have been fixed.

To briefly outline the bug:
- Start the campfire
- Use the bedroll
- Keep the dialogue open
- Go fight
- If in a shit situation, hit the dialogue accept button and insta log out even if crim flagged

This worked well into the T2A era and beyond. When I tested it on UO2A, and I moved away more than half a screen from the campfire, the dialogue closed. I am not advocating for this bug to be reinstated, should my claim be accurate, but rather for an evaluation of the assumption of era accuracy vs. enjoyment of the game. I might have used this move to survive with PKs, but I was somewhat happy when it was fixed. Similarly, even if accuracy dictates it, it should not be reinstanted in UOSA.

My point is simple: there are so many things that came after T2A that vastly improved the gameplay of Ultima Online (i.e. poisoning = no heal in pvp among others) that, despite era accuracy, should be considered for implementation to further the shards success and the enjoyment of the players. I think this shard is fantastic and if admins would consider a more flexible implementation of post-T2A features, the shard would grow exponentially as players would switch over from the shards that have been flooded with hooded shrouds and donation items.

I understand that some people consider this a slippery slope, but I think that admins have exercised common sense so far and will continue to do so in the future, be it with the implementation of non-era characteristics or not.

Just my 2 cents.

Cara

P.S. If I am totally off in my bedroll bug claim, feel free to flog me, but I am 99% sure that I am right.

Caranthir wrote: My point is simple: there are so many things that came after T2A that vastly improved the gameplay of Ultima Online (i.e. poisoning = no heal in pvp among others) that, despite era accuracy, should be considered for implementation to further the shards success and the enjoyment of the players. I think this shard is fantastic and if admins would consider a more flexible implementation of post-T2A features, the shard would grow exponentially as players would switch over from the shards that have been flooded with hooded shrouds and donation items.

Bad way to start an argument . Bugs and features are very different. In theory there are several duping methods that SHOULD work, but should they actually be implemented? Short answer is "No".

I see what you're saying. Technically from my standpoint that bug should work, but since it does not and it's really undesirable I likely wouldn't take the time to implement it unless there was a player consensus behind it. However, this is very different (to me anyway) than to go spend time intentionally putting in non-accurate features.

This is a lot like the issue of stat locks. They are inaccurate, no doubt about it. It's not a high priority to change. But on the other hand, if they weren't currently available I would not put them in.

Like what Roadkill said, Dupe bugs were era accurate "bugs". But I prefer to call them, "exploitable bugs"

We tolerate some bugs... Bearded Ladies for exmaple. The reason being? How much can that actually effect gameplay? Other then creating a drag queen mafia of sorts... That also have female bodies... Just a weird UO evolution

But I think this loop hole you brought up falls more under an "exploitable bug" category. So I don't know if it's that great of an example, and that's not to say there aren't good examples, but I see your point.

A fresh topic lately has been Bank Checks. They aren't era accurate but there is a huge amount of player support to keep them in game for the convenience of trading. Another angle is what about Party/Guild chat systems? Or the party status bar for that matter... None of these systems are era accurate, but once again, there is enormous player support for the convenience factor.

Era accuracy is a very tricky thing to achieve, and the honest answer I think to the ultimate question is; It's impossible to be 100% era accurate. The means at which we connect to UO has changed (Razor), the way we connect to the internet (high speed I love you) has changed, the clients everyone has installed have changed (sticky bars), this is a free shard so we have multiple clients, etc. These are just some that quickly come to mind. You really could go on and on.

The most important thing though is we have a very talented staff and player base that all work to create a more accurate feel. And I think respectively when you look at all the other shards out there, this IS the best T2A shard. And it will only get better.

And that's my .02