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Ultima Online... how is it now?
Gavinburt
Member Posts: 6
Hey guys, this is my first post here at mmorpg.com.
I've played a few different MMORPGs, such as EverQuest and Star Wars: Galaxies. But none have stuck out in my mind quite like Ultima Online has.
I played it up until Third Dawn, when I cancelled because I did not like the direction the game was going in. Can anyone tell me how it is now? Is Siege Perilous fun? How is the population? Thanks to all who help.
Comments
Siege para got ripped apart just like the rest of the shards.I did give it 2 months a bit back with my gm x7 character.the pvp is still intresting,and if you are not ruined by the old school feel or the grafx then you might get alot more time out of it.theres still lots off people playing.
I how ever like the old school role players and open pvp,but thats long gone,.its more main stream now like the rest but with a bit more in depth pvp and bad grafx.if your looking to fight Role playing orcs and stuff on Sp then sorry bro,. its gone man its gone.
What do you mean, ripped apart? What exactly happened?
I'll try my best to give you an un-biased overview of what UO is like now, as well as some alternate options.
The fact is UO is NOT what it was prior to the 2nd expansion (3rd Dawn), simple as that. There has been so many changes that I could hardly start to list them here, not to mention the numerous expansions. As for if these changes are good or bad, I will leave that up to you to deside for yourself.
Combat, Armor, Weapons, etc.. are all different, housing has changed, there's more mounts, more pets, several new lands, and dozens of new monsters and NPC's, as well as a new race (Elves)and several new skills like Necromancey (which people begged for back in the day), Paladins, Boshido, and Ninjitsu. There's some quests to do threw out the land, but not like the original ones where you could run up to any NPC and ask them for a quest and have them hint at something for you to do.
Some skills are still or put into the useless catagory, but the Dev's are aware this is an issue, and going by what I've read on the UO Stratics Forums, they plan on seeing all these put back ino full form eventually (key word there is eventually).
Like one posted said, it is much more mainstream now, offering features we've seen in some other MMO's. The graphics are still old school, and the music is untouched by time. The population is moderate, but far from WoW-like numbers.
*PERSONAL THOUGHTS*
I to was one that had a hard time adapting to the numerous changes presented by the "3rd Dawn" expansion and the others, as I was there sence the days of beta and UO was my first love as far as MMO's go. I tried to keep an open mind about the changes and over time I noticed that the game grew on me and was still fun.
I do not play on the official servers much anymore, but I do play on the "non-official" ones quite often. Unfortunatly, the mmorpg.com rules prevent me from talking to much about this so if you have questions, please PM me or email me and we'll talk more about it then.
My advice is to give it a try, there's nothing to lose by doing so.
Also, from one UO vet to another, remember the UO of old, keep it close to you and never forget the game that forever changed us, and the video game world forever. It is a part of history now, and we all owe it our constent thanks and gradatude for paving the road for the future.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
Except for one minor fact:
UO, even EA's craptacular version, is still better than 99.9% of the "new cars" on the road
If it weren't NOBODY would be playing it. Even EA's servers have over 100k players to this day (10 years later). That's 1/3 the number it had at it's peak. I guarantee that 10 years down the road WoW won't have 2 mil subs
LOL
That's not even counting the number of people who play on "unofficial" servers
(probably close to another 50k, at least)
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
about 130,000 subscribers worldwide, with about 70,000 of those in Japan. Quote from http://www.mmogchart.com/)
Seriously, we should stop defending EA and UO. Should have left the boat when the official Lord British jumped off the game. The game is nowadays a bunch of pixels, the people behind it is as dedicated to the game as much as my 1 year old brother can build with lego. A game doesn't make itself, a team behind it and a dedicated playerbase does. UO lacks both.
(As of January 2006, UO had
about 130,000 subscribers worldwide, with about 70,000 of those in Japan. Quote from http://www.mmogchart.com/)
Seriously, we should stop defending EA and UO. Should have left the boat when the official Lord British jumped off the game. The game is nowadays a bunch of pixels, the people behind it is as dedicated to the game as much as my 1 year old brother can build with lego. A game doesn't make itself, a team behind it and a dedicated playerbase does. UO lacks both.
Sorry hate to break this to you but 130,000 subscribers, especially for a 10 year old game running 2D Sprite graphics is phenominal. I don't care how you slice it. I could give a rip about EA. UO was written by Origin Systems. It was one of the last games they ever made before EA destroyed them. It is, to this day, despite EA's mis-management and bad code changes, still a better GAME than most of the crap on the market. It still boasts a larger player base than most other titles on the market. ALL of which are NEW compared to it.
Whether you like it or not to this day UO remains a profitable title. And is still one of the top MMO's, by subscriber count, on the market. Though it is in decline. I've never pretended that.
As far as defending EA? I don't even play UO on their servers. I was just pointing it out. Why is it that everyone always wants to discount asian players? I swear to god you guys are the biggest bunch of biggots out there. 70,000 japanese players and 60,000 US/Western players is NOT a small number of people. In UO's PRIME it only ever had 300k players. So to be 10 years old with almost half the playerbase still playing is a pretty damn loyal playerbase. No matter how you slice it. Name another game that has that kind of loyalty 10 years after it's release. Please...
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
Because Asian players and Western players tend to play seperately due to extreme language/culture differences, and this is a western MMORPG site.
Because Asian players and Western players tend to play seperately due to extreme language/culture differences, and this is a western MMORPG site.
No, in point of fact, it is not. It is an MMORPG site. Not a "western" MMORPG site. If it were a "Western" MMORPG site then Lineage, Lineage 2, Ro, Guild Wars, FFXI, Auto Assault and numerous other games would not be mentioned here. The fact that they are puts the kibosh to that strange statement.
MMORPG's aren't about asia or US. They're about "fun" or "Not fun".
The fact that 70,000 of 130,000 (or, roughly, half) players living in Japan means zip, zero, nada. The game had those servers eons ago... back in it's "prime" so those numbers do not dilute the fact that in it's prime it had 300k players and still, 10 years after it's debut, STILL has almost half that playerbase. If that isn't loyal then what is? So what if some of them are asian? All that proves is that it's a game that transcends borders better than most on the market. Most games that play in West/East boast a huge discrepency in numbers. UO never did... it was always pretty much an equal balance. Still is.
Either way, this isn't a "western MMORPG site" it's an "MMORPG site" the fact that most of us that use it is merely because it's a .com address hosted in the US and most asian players visit asian websites.
But when discussing number of subscribers the ONLY Reason people try to discount asia is because games they may or may not like may or may not have a large asian playerbase. Sure there are gameplay differences in most situations. But that's just not true of UO.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
All those games have western servers... do you see Legend of Mir1 featured on this site? This is a western MMO site; it is hosted in the west, is frequented by westerners and only reports news on MMOs that have western representation. The language gap alone seperates the western and eastern MMO communities quite significantly, and that's before cultural factors are even considered. Koreans have a very different approach to online gaming than europeans/americans.
All those games have western servers... do you see Legend of Mir1 featured on this site? This is a western MMO site; it is hosted in the west, is frequented by westerners and only reports news on MMOs that have western representation. The language gap alone seperates the western and eastern MMO communities quite significantly, and that's before cultural factors are even considered. Koreans have a very different approach to online gaming than europeans/americans.
That's fine but you're deliberately misunderstanding the point of contention: You cannot discount the continuing popularity of UO, despite it's age, just because 70,000 of it's users happen to be from asia. That'd be like saying WoW isn't the largest MMO on the market because 5 million of it's 6.5 million users are in asia. Sorry, it just doesn't work that way.
UO is a western MMO. It was released by a western company. Furthermore it is the oldest MMO currently on the market. Despite that it still boasts a user-base half the size it had at it's prime. That is impressive and not to be discounted.
Also, you can't discount the Asian population of an MMO just because they're Asian. They're part of that MMO's community just as much as anyone else. And, in many cases, play on the same servers. Not all, certainly, but many, definitely.
Like I said... UO has had an asian presence for years.... Saying that 70,000 of the current 130,000 users are from Japan as if that somehow discounts the fact that it's managed the amazing feat of maintaining a user base nearly half of it's peak userbase despite being 10 years old and having massively outdated graphics is just plain stupid. It doesn't. Especially when you consider that almost half it's user base when it had 300k players was Asian as well.
Argue whatever you want. My point stands: UO is still a very popular MMO despite it's age.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
Thanks for all the replies guys, they've been very informational. It's very sad how UO has fallen apparently.
I have a lot of great memories from UO (back before Third Dawn).
UO had the best community out of any MMORPG I've ever played. The town you started in (Britain, I think it was called?) was like a REAL city. People hustling and bustling to get where they wanted to go, crafters selling their wares, trying to compete with eachother. Different towns had differnet types of people in them.
There were, of course, other great things I remember. As a "n00b," you always went and killed the little skeleton monsters. Blessed black sandals were the big thing (had a pair myself, lol). PvP was great fun, guild wars, faction wars, etc. And of course, Buccaneer's Den was the single greatest place ever.
OK, I'll stop rambling. Any Sonoma players here? I was Emperor Sidious on that shard. I was in a guild who's guildmistress was named "Venus".
I hope you find your fun if you go back and good luck,.And by the way,Blessed black sandals were a exploit (Killing npc tailors with provoking skill) that was befor they made all npc names "Yellow" so if that is still the only way you can get them,...then they should be rare now.
Istvan- Sieg para
Bloodfin- Sieg para
Prowler-Great lakes