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How to bring back Ultima Online

RazimusRazimus Member UncommonPosts: 128
in Ultima Online

Step 1. Ultima Online goes Free to Play; the item-mall will be expanded to include more items including never released items, limited time only monthly rares & more!

 

90 Day Countdown; All accounts being fully activated & Free to Play a 90 day Countdown period will begin, after this 90 day period the following will take place.

 

Step 2-A. Merge the Shards; After the 90 day Countdown all shards will be merged down to a low number, the game started in late 1997 with only 3 shards, Pacific, Great Lakes & Atlantic, there were thousands upon thousands of subscribers per shard. Then they added multiple American, European & Asian shards. All shards are merged down to 6 shards maximum.

 

* West Coast

* Central

* East Coast

* International-Europe

* International-Japan

* Siege Perilous

 

The 6 above is still too many but it's a start. Pacific is West Coast, Great Lakes is Central, Atlantic is East Coast. Int-Europe is the most popular European Shard, Int-Japan is the most popular Japanese Shard, and Siege Perilous remains the same.

 

Step 2-B. Give everyone a free shard transfer token per character. All accounts will be assigned to a server but may transfer freely with their shard transfer tokens.

 

Step 3. Land Rush; After the 90 day period all houses will be deleted. It wouldn't be fair to keep the houses on Pacific when the Sonoma player's houses & server will be deleted, because of this all houses on all shards will be deleted. This will cause a land rush frenzy, it would be un-popular to the few who have only played to refresh their houses, but it would be vastly popular with the many who always wanted a shot at a house plot near a moongate, their faorite city road or Luna.

 

An email will be sent out to all registered users that the time has come for Ultima Online to downsize to a few number of shards, and thus, their houses & castles must be deleted & compensated for. The compensations will be based on the following;

 

* Location of House (Houses will be zoned for property value, houses within Luna walls will be worth a great deal, houses outside of Luna will be worth less for example).

* Size/Type of House (An 18x18 will be worth a certain amount, as will a 7x7, a Castle or a Keep).

* Age of House (The length of time a house has been there since it was placed).

* Age of User Account (The age of the house owner's account, if the user has paid a subscription for the past 10 years to refresh a house this will be accounted for).

 

Step 3-B. New Item Mall Credit Currency; Home owner compensation will take place with item-mall credits, which is seperate from gold-coins. Because gold-farmers have been hoarding gold-coins for 15+ years the value of the gold-coin has dramatically been reduced to the point that it now costs 10 million gold coins to purchase a decent piece of armor or weapon in the game. Because of the devaluation of the gold coin we will introduce an item-mall credit currency, which is will be more valuable than the gold coin, the extent of this value will depend on the player, but players may purchase gold coins with item-mall credits.

 

Step 3-C. House Items; House decorations & rares & items will not be compensated for. This 90 day Countdown period will be the only time for hoarders to collect their favorite items and store them on their characters & in their character bank accounts. All items not in the backpack of your character or character bank account will be permanently deleted.

 

Step 4. Shardwide Auction-House; All shards will now have an auction house which will do-away with the vendor-system. Players pay a fee to place their item on the auction-house and all players shard-wide will have access to buy and sell their goods. The auction house will have a section for gold coins and a section for Item-Mall-Credits. The Item-Mall-Credits section will be the place we will showcase the weekly & monthly rares. Want a Skull Candle of Teleportation? This item will only exist on the Item-Mall-Credits section of the Auction House for 1 week and is limited to a number of 1,000.

Thank you. --- Razimus

 

Step by Step Concept on How to bring back Ultima Online by Razimus. Feel free to tweet UO Lead @Jeff_Skalski this idea. I personally believe UO going Free to Play is the only way it can be brought back to life. The above has enough to stir the Ultima community to rekindle the interest they once had in this great game, the gold farmers & vast amounts of empty shards is the downside, this plan will fix this, I do not work for EA but I do believe this plan would save them money and at the same time increase revenue, especially with the Item-Mall, New Item-Mall-Credit-Currency & Auction House with Daily & Weekly limited time only rares available only with the new Credit-Currency. Note: I have played Ultima Online since the E3 Phase-1 Beta Test in 1997, I believe this idea would bring back a lot of old players as well as bring in a lot of new players. When there are fewer shards they have a livlier setting, a world filled with players is the reason we all want to play an MMORPG to begin with. --- @Razimus

--- Razimus

Comments

  • ChakaCanChakaCan Member UncommonPosts: 22
    I want an Ultima Online 2 with the graffix of todays games and huge 3d vertual world.
  • AkulasAkulas Member RarePosts: 3,029
    Delete Chivlary skill so Mages can make a comeback.

    This isn't a signature, you just think it is.

  • LoktofeitLoktofeit Member RarePosts: 14,247
    Who is the audience that you are looking to attract once this effectively drives off the existing playerbase? Your idea is the the UO equivalent of SWG's NGE.

    There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
    "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre

  • AnslemAnslem Member CommonPosts: 215

    I feel like the only things that could revive UO is a time warp where those of us who nursed our gaming addiction first with UO could return to it. 

    I like your ideas - but the housing delete sweep would be a problem for a lot of invested players.  Sure, it's "just pixils" but we all know how much time/gold/energy was put into housing.  I like the idea of compensation, though I despise item malls. 

    Merging the shards is an idea, but I remember that on Lake Superior at least there were a lot of player run places.  

    As much as I miss, miss, miss he UO days, it may just be time to let sleeping dogs lie. :( 

    Played: Ultima Online - DaoC - WoW -

  • RazimusRazimus Member UncommonPosts: 128

    If you didn't play a big shard during late 97, 98 or 99 you really can't know how great the game was at it's peak. This idea will not copy and paste what it was like pre-trammel, what it will do is inject a large amount of players into each shard, re-creating what it was like to play in a game that is full of active players. For those that have only played this game in the past 5 years, you are missing out, every single shard is currently dead in the eyes of a player that remembers the early days. In 1997 there were always 100 players at the bank, you had to walk around the bank area if you didn't want to lag out, that's how popular Britain bank was back then, but we all had dial-up or slow DSL back then, we didn't have the high-speeds we have today, so this lag problem wouldn't really be an issue.

    To answer a repliers question, this idea would kill off 3 types of players;

    1. Hoarders. Cool, you have 1,000 rares on your roof, congrats.

    2. Land Slum Lords. Cool, you have 10 18x18s in Luna that have been empty for the past 5 years, congrats.

    3. Gold Farmers. Cool, you have ruined the economy, congrats.

     

    --- Razimus

  • AnslemAnslem Member CommonPosts: 215
    Originally posted by Razimus

    If you didn't play a big shard during late 97, 98 or 99 you really can't know how great the game was at it's peak. This idea will not copy and paste what it was like pre-trammel, what it will do is inject a large amount of players into each shard, re-creating what it was like to play in a game that is full of active players. For those that have only played this game in the past 5 years, you are missing out, every single shard is currently dead in the eyes of a player that remembers the early days. In 1997 there were always 100 players at the bank, you had to walk around the bank area if you didn't want to lag out, that's how popular Britain bank was back then, but we all had dial-up or slow DSL back then, we didn't have the high-speeds we have today, so this lag problem wouldn't really be an issue.

    To answer a repliers question, this idea would kill off 3 types of players;

    1. Hoarders. Cool, you have 1,000 rares on your roof, congrats.

    2. Land Slum Lords. Cool, you have 10 18x18s in Luna that have been empty for the past 5 years, congrats.

    3. Gold Farmers. Cool, you have ruined the economy, congrats.

     

    I didn't start playing until about 3 months before AoS and I clearly remember the lag at WBB and at Yew Gate's server wars at the wee hours of the morning.  Might have been around 2002 and LS was active as hell, especially when the +20 stat and powerscrolls were a commodity.  Fighting off raiders when defending a Harrower was seriously so much fun -- no place was safe!

    There was always something to do, and I remember communicating in Teamspeak and ICQ since we only had party chat.  I remember lagging infront of the rares "museums", but then again when a rares house was IDOC those always brought out the best fights. 

    What I do like is that you're not trying to argue that one era (t2a, etc) trumped all others -- I like how your solution is keeping with the current expansions and just consolidating.   That is one thing that the folks trying to recreate UO on private servers miss. 

    Played: Ultima Online - DaoC - WoW -

  • LoktofeitLoktofeit Member RarePosts: 14,247
    Originally posted by Razimus

    If you didn't play a big shard during late 97, 98 or 99 you really can't know how great the game was at it's peak. This idea will not copy and paste what it was like pre-trammel, what it will do is inject a large amount of players into each shard, re-creating what it was like to play in a game that is full of active players. For those that have only played this game in the past 5 years, you are missing out, every single shard is currently dead in the eyes of a player that remembers the early days. In 1997 there were always 100 players at the bank, you had to walk around the bank area if you didn't want to lag out, that's how popular Britain bank was back then, but we all had dial-up or slow DSL back then, we didn't have the high-speeds we have today, so this lag problem wouldn't really be an issue.

    To answer a repliers question, this idea would kill off 3 types of players;

    1. Hoarders. Cool, you have 1,000 rares on your roof, congrats.

    2. Land Slum Lords. Cool, you have 10 18x18s in Luna that have been empty for the past 5 years, congrats.

    3. Gold Farmers. Cool, you have ruined the economy, congrats.

    It would also drive off many of the players that enjoy running venues because you have just negated them.

    BTW, since Luna was introduced after the one house per account change, how would someone have 10 plots of land without having 10 accounts? And wouldn't F2P just make it easier to have those 10 plots of land?

    Driving off the core playerbase doesn't fix a game. Without them, there are no pre-existing groups or established guilds for new players to gravitate toward. There's no invested core to recruit. Taking assets away from players, removing a large chunk of sandbox gameplay, and killing off some of the most invested playstyles (venue operators, collectors, merchants) does not improve UO at all. It's the fastest way to kill the game.

     

     

    There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
    "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre

  • YizleYizle Member Posts: 517
    Originally posted by Loktofeit
    Originally posted by Razimus

    If you didn't play a big shard during late 97, 98 or 99 you really can't know how great the game was at it's peak. This idea will not copy and paste what it was like pre-trammel, what it will do is inject a large amount of players into each shard, re-creating what it was like to play in a game that is full of active players. For those that have only played this game in the past 5 years, you are missing out, every single shard is currently dead in the eyes of a player that remembers the early days. In 1997 there were always 100 players at the bank, you had to walk around the bank area if you didn't want to lag out, that's how popular Britain bank was back then, but we all had dial-up or slow DSL back then, we didn't have the high-speeds we have today, so this lag problem wouldn't really be an issue.

    To answer a repliers question, this idea would kill off 3 types of players;

    1. Hoarders. Cool, you have 1,000 rares on your roof, congrats.

    2. Land Slum Lords. Cool, you have 10 18x18s in Luna that have been empty for the past 5 years, congrats.

    3. Gold Farmers. Cool, you have ruined the economy, congrats.

    It would also drive off many of the players that enjoy running venues because you have just negated them.

    BTW, since Luna was introduced after the one house per account change, how would someone have 10 plots of land without having 10 accounts? And wouldn't F2P just make it easier to have those 10 plots of land?

    Driving off the core playerbase doesn't fix a game. Without them, there are no pre-existing groups or established guilds for new players to gravitate toward. There's no invested core to recruit. Taking assets away from players, removing a large chunk of sandbox gameplay, and killing off some of the most invested playstyles (venue operators, collectors, merchants) does not improve UO at all. It's the fastest way to kill the game.

     

     

    QFT

    Sorry Raz too many flaws in your opinions. Also to repeat what I have said many times Trammel and EA ruined UO. To get back what it was to many that would have to be fixed.

    Your opinions of the types of players that you would be losing and basically your snide remarks that the game doesn't need them is wrong.

  • tazarconantazarconan Member Posts: 1,013
    I wish some dev gave it a shot and tried to feliver a UO clone on 3d.
  • AethaerynAethaeryn Member RarePosts: 3,150

    The game changed in too many ways that were bad in my opinion. . it turned into being about gear and items. .everyone looks like a bag of skittles.  They basically added classes etc.   Even with a launch of a clean shard this game is not going to come back.  RIP UO.

    Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!

  • redcappredcapp Member Posts: 722
    Have to agree with above posters.  A whole lot of reasons for current players to leave, yet little enticement for ex-players to return.
  • Ramonski7Ramonski7 Member UncommonPosts: 2,662
    Look I love UO. It was my very first mmo. But trying to revive UO into what it once was is like trying to put a double scoop of ice cream back together once it melted. Really, it's time to move on...but don't let me stop you from sponging up that ice cream off the burning sidewalk brah. And in the end it may not look like ice cream, but technically it still is ice cream. But good luck trying to get anyone to eat it.

    image
    "Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."

  • VassagoMaelVassagoMael Member Posts: 555
    You can't merge servers on a game like UO. People would go crazy if they lost their houses.

    Free to play = content updates for the cash shop. Buy to play = content updates for the cash shop.
    Subscription = Actual content updates!

  • OhaanOhaan Member UncommonPosts: 568
    Originally posted by Aethaeryn

    The game changed in too many ways that were bad in my opinion. . it turned into being about gear and items. .everyone looks like a bag of skittles.  They basically added classes etc.   Even with a launch of a clean shard this game is not going to come back.  RIP UO.

    Hate to say it but 100% agree.

    I think the only way UO could work in todays MMO industry is if it got a facelift and was free to play for 'lawful' players whereas villians (pks) had to pay a subscription. Then you might get the same sort of player distribution that made the original game fun and unpredicatble.

    Oh well back to the pablum called WoW...

  • OhaanOhaan Member UncommonPosts: 568
    Originally posted by Ramonski7
    Look I love UO. It was my very first mmo. But trying to revive UO into what it once was is like trying to put a double scoop of ice cream back together once it melted. Really, it's time to move on...but don't let me stop you from sponging up that ice cream off the burning sidewalk brah. And in the end it may not look like ice cream, but technically it still is ice cream. But good luck trying to get anyone to eat it.

    LMAO, nicely put.

  • XthosXthos Member UncommonPosts: 2,740

    I loved UO, but I do not like the direction that it currently has.  I hate the new skill systems/combos.  Playing on the 2d client is fine with me, as I just played again not long ago.  I was hoping they would make an official classic server, but they decided not to.  I would like to go back to a older version of UO, and keep its direction, not the newer direction if I had a wish.

     

    I played the alternatives some, but just not enough people were playing, world felt kind of dead.

     

  • Mystic_FuzzMystic_Fuzz Member UncommonPosts: 36

    UO is pretty much dead in the water. At this point, it's far too gone to really revive it. By deleting everyones houses, you will essentially drive them away from the game since most of them are hanging on by a thread as it is. How many accounts remain active for the sake of keeping their houses? They wouldn't need to do that if their houses got deleted. Plus, if you were planning on deleting houses, you may as well delete characters and belongings to start from scratch. The only thing really keeping UO alive still is money coming in monthly. When that money goes away, they will likely close the rest of the servers.

    No, the only real option EA has IMO is to bring back Garriott and let him turn his new project into the new Ultima Online game. Lord knows EA has done a terrible job trying to run it themselves.

    Ultima Online
    Mystic of The Fallen Lords (Pacific 98-01)
    Mystic of Catskills (03 - 08)

  • DihoruDihoru Member Posts: 2,731

    My advice: Lay the dead to rest, UO is under EA and EA and Lord British had a pretty violent fallout, even if they didn't EA is EA.

     

    That said there's a hope for you old UO pre-trammel vets: http://albiononline.com/the-game/ , might be a bit more cartooney but it is the closest thing I've seen thus far even remotely close to UO back in its hayday.

    image
  • wenthwenth Member Posts: 8

    How many peoples playing in UO right now?? someone know in numbers players??

    100?

    200?

    500?

    1000? 

    (official server i mean)

  • ibeekillingibeekilling Member Posts: 1
    Probably not very many. I know I quit playing the official servers a couple years ago and started playing free servers. However, I have even quit those, but I still love the game and remember the "good old days."
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