Some New Info on Next Expansion

BigT

  From the Live Producer of Ultima Online:

Things have been incredibly busy at Origin for the past nine months as we’ve been building up the team, working on publishes, and planning for the future. Part of that planning is research, which includes reading the message boards, taking part in live online chats, conducting surveys and attending focus groups.

As some of you may have noticed, we recently conducted focus group research in the San Francisco area and got a wide variety of opinions and ideas from some diehard fans. Focus groups give us the chance to have a deeper discussion about key issues, and in general, they give us a better understanding of survey results and trends we see on the message boards.

We’ve been doing this kind of research for some time in various locales. Each focus group is aimed at different audiences, so if you didn’t get to participate in the last one, who knows, perhaps you’ll be in the next one! Keep watching the website for when and where the next one will happen.

And where is all that research taking us? I can tell you a little now, and I’ll be able to tell you a lot more in the near future.

For the past year, the UO Live team has been working with the EA Online executive team, our marketing group, customer service, and quality assurance to forge a long-term strategy for UO’s future.

The first small step in that future is the next expansion, and that’s what I’d like to talk about today. UO has a very large, international audience, but I think you would be surprised how much all of you have in common. Whether we ask our North American customers, our fans in Japan, or players in Europe, we commonly receive the same responses.

So, based on these similar desires, I don’t think you’ll be surprised to hear that the areas of focus for the next expansion are Player vs Player systems, 2D wearables, professions/skills, and new world content. As usual, we want to hear your thoughts and opinions on all of these possibilities.

While we’re considering this expansion, we’re also working to bring updates to the live service more frequently. You’ll be interested to know that a few team members have proposed an improved update cycle, which is currently under review. Once the team has finished the new "Character Transfer System," we’ll begin rolling out regular publishes again.

So, I hope I’ve answered some of your questions about the future of UO, and we look forward to hearing your thoughts on the new expansion soon!

Anthony "SunSword" Castoro
UO Live Producer
Origin Systems

Here's the link.  http://update.uo.com/comments.html