April 30th
The Day the Music Died... (Out of Character News)
Just barely a year ago our music died. Our world became something that many of the base population despises. The base population being those of us, who have played considerably longer than 10 hours.
There are two facts that need mentioning.
First, Ultima Online was given a 6 month life span. Those of you who began at any point after that initial 6 months should be thanking those of us who were here. We are the ones who assisted OSI in the success that is Ultima Online.
Secondly, the average new player will only play the game 10 hours before he/she leaves Britannia, uninstalls, and says good bye to the game we love.
These facts should be very important to all of us. Yes, EA should be trying to attract new customers but NOT at the expense of their current customer base. We the players, who have long passed that initial 10 hours, are EA's bread and butter where UO is concerned. Any basic business course will teach you that current customers are best kept happy. You never hurt your base clientele in order to bring in new business. Never.
I am not saying that EA should bend over backwards to make us "veterans" happy. However, I am saying that they should be listening to their customer base. When your customers are screaming foul, by God, stand up and take notice, make an acknowledgement, and really, REALLY, look into the issue.
The customer base has been crying foul over many issues since the release of Ultima Online: Renaissance. The topics range from housing to murder counts, and every possible place in between. Day in and day out, posts are made on the UO boards, email is sent, and complaints made to the counselors and GMs within the game. Most fall on deaf ears or seem to be ignored in the hopes that they will go away.
We recently faced a major client update, one that I was supportive of when I first saw it in Austin, last November. However, after multiple upgrades to my system and it still being unplayable, I am no longer supportive. There is nothing wrong with our 2D world that needs such a sloppy fix. Yes, we could use a client upgrade to make changes easier. Yes, new lands are a wonderful thing. Yes, the new creatures are great. But...it is an unfinished, unplayable solution to bringing in more 10 hour customers. Customers that pay no more than the current rate of the UO disk at the local electronics shop.
The time spent on this project could have done more to retain your current customer base (you know, those people that are all of a sudden no longer showing up in the monthly reports). A quick run down the dev boards will give you an idea of what the player base wants:
Vet Rewards
Availability of reagents
UO:R house designs without bugs
PvP fixes
Tamer balancing
Land for housing
Implementation of things long forgotten (guard protection on public buildings, necromancy, alchemy, etc.)
Risk vs Reward between Trammel and Felucca
Town stones
Guild alliances
The end of localization on the North American shards
Return of the pre-Third Dawn interface with in game gumps
Make last buttons
The lists go on and on.
Though my situation is different than most, as I fall into one of the minorities of UO, I have the right to speak out and say that I don't like the world I play in. I stay hoping and dreaming of a day that UO will be the game I love, again. I am not alone.
What has happened in the last year?
The player base has literally been split. This split is the Grand Canyon compared to the once PK vs. RP split among the players.
Trammel. Felucca. For many of you, one of those simple words makes your skin crawl. Why?
Trammelites view Felucca as death and destruction. PKs and thieves run rampant. Looters seize the day. All of which couldn't be further from the truth. The PK raids of times past are just that ... past ... and have been reduced to a few very specific locations since those locations are the only ones that regularly have victims.
Thieves ... yes, thieves are an issue if you don't know (or can't) deal with them appropriately. We won't go into the "can'ts" as that issue has been dealt with in some form on this site in recent days. The ways you CAN deal with the thieves range from outright killing them to using a few simple techniques to guard your belongings.
Those of us left in Felucca view Trammel as the destruction of what we once loved. Trammel is representative of the "I have to have it now!" generation of UO players that freely roam the lands in daemon bone armour carrying vanquishing weapons. This is not the game that we began playing.
Veteran Feluccan players are so used to there being danger around every corner, having to carry "boom bags" and locked chests to hold their belongings, and leaving their "good stuff" at home, that we just can't stomach a relatively safe environment. Some don't like the fact that in Trammel you can't help a player because your guild is allied (warred) to another guild. Some don't like the fact that everything in Trammel is "grief play". Some don't like the fact that AsShOlEpEtE can't be taught a lesson in common courtesy.
It's all a matter of perspective. There are also many on Trammel that are Feluccan "survivors" (as I have heard some refer to themselves). They moved to Trammel because they were tired of the "griefers" that now inhabit Trammel with new faces and new names. The difference is...on Trammel they can't kill YOU and they can't steal from YOU.
But, I digress, to each his own. I will never be able to fix the split between us. I roam around Felucca and look at the landscape. PaxLair is empty...Shadowcove gone...Haven empty...Corwyn empty...Duir empty...and on and on.
I can tell you when and where you will see PKs.
I can tell you when you might see theives and where.
I know the land.
Three and a half years of hard work, dedication, tears of joy and sadness...destroyed. History barely remembered. People once known far and wide, barely remembered. I walk around knowing that it's over, try as I might to rebuild something that will show that Felucca is not dead...but alas, it's over.
With the past goes a love for the game, no matter how much I struggle to find some reason to stay.
Every month EA makes charges to my account on my credit card and each month I look at those charges and wonder why I keep letting them do it.
Why?
I sit here now pondering that question. The only answer is that there are discussions about things that COULD make the difference...provided they ever see the light of day.
The player base needs to be heard.
We need to see things become reality.
The players are the ones that are in the game and know what is happening.
Hear our pleas.
Listen to our cries.
Pay attention to those people who are making logical well thought out presentations. Ignore the idiots who can't form a complete sentence.
Give us a reason to continue to allow those charges to appear on our credit cards...
--Angel Storm, 5:11pm Eastern