Has anyone ever tried a petition?

The_Boo_Cat

Just curious.  I keep seeing people talk about the good old days of UO...indeed, I am one of them.  What gets me is that I have never seen (or played) a game that has gripped me and others like pre AoS, maybe even pre Trammel UO.

Now, having been reading Stratics it seems that the European server was only launched due to popular demand and a petition by players.  My question, as stated above, is has this been tried to get them to release a classic server?

Of course, I also hear people talking about how revenue is all that matters to these companies, not what the playerbase wants, well, why don't we use this against them.  I'm sure if EA thought they would make more money with what would ultimately be a stripped down version of a game then they would jump at the chance.

Maybe I'm just being naieve.

Thoughts anyone?

 

uoplayer123

There have been many attempts at a classic server , This website seems to have a not so UO friendly crowd , and alot of the info is outdated..

Stratics has a great following and UO has come a LOONG way , they just need to make it easier to play , 10 years of content  is alot to learn , but stay away from UHALL and its craziness..

eammo

Yes, there have been numerous petitions over the years.  They have been quite significant considering the percentage of subscribers that participate in the most popluar polls or petitions at their forums in relation to the total number of subscribers.

Typically a poll on UO Stratics will result in about 200 votes out of about 150,000 active accounts.

Many player petitions for Pre-Renaissance shards have netted over 500 results - nearly all of them have a majority in favor of such shards!  All these numerous polls and petitions over the years would undoubtedly be more convincing and effective if they were consolidated into one.  But,as is often the case, who is going to professionally organize anything and spend the thousands of dollars it would take to be an effective study -- and do so just for the sake of a video game?  That's EA's job and the don't seem to care much about the tiny UO game in their portfolio - they obviously have not seen the potential while the main business model has been licensing, franchising, and selling boxes.

Here is a major thread and a few polls that players put together for a Pre-Reniassance or The Second Age (T2A) classic shard, it's dozens and dozens of pages long and about 50-65% of voters, in several polls, wanted such shards:

http://boards.stratics.com/php-bin/uo/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=5789993

So, the question is, why has EA avoided providing something that many people want and that was already proven to be successful?  Is it out of plain ignorance, pride, or simply that they just don't care?  UO makes up for less than 1% of their revenues, so it's probably just that it's not a great concern.  EA is busy pumping out the next franchised movie-ripoff games along with EA Madden sports titles, which are all fire and forget.  All their other MMOs except UO have flopped, and ever since EA began directly supervising the development of UO, it has been flopping too.  So, it's likely they just have little interest or no clue as a result of focusing on their big money makers.

However, now that WoW has proven that a service type subscription game can bring in more revenue than all of EA's boxed games combined, EA is taking a second look, with Warhammer online.  Unfortunately, UO was likely not deemed worthy of upgrading to compete in the expanding market, so it will just continue limping along in EA's back closet.

The bottom line, EA is just a big dummy when it comes to running a service-oriented MMO game.

obii

Yes, it has been tried and EA stated that they cannot support so many different server codes.

They already have big problems supporting their one alternative server code on 'Siege Perilious'.

 

In my opinion UO sort of runs on 'low budget' and only the most necessary things get done and they throw in an expansion a year if they can finance it. I cannot see any real support for the game, when everything  stops while they work on one thing and cannot spare anyone to add some content for months and months, until many quit out of sheer boredom.

 

At the moment you could try some freeshards (though I have not found an european one), or wait until EA cancels UO and then surely see more dedicated freeshards pop up.

There are some interesting freeshards out there, but at the moment most lack the playerbase.

eammo

I've tried playing on some free shards, some of them were very well run, maybe even better than EA's own shards and support, but you just don't get the same feeling or experience from them as playing on a live official one that you are paying for.

Why is that?

Is it because you are paying and as a result you appreciate it more?  I don't think so, because I made a $100 donation to one of the free servers and it still did not feel the same as paying and playing on an official server.

So what is it?

Is it the knowledge that everyone playing with you is also paying to play?  Not really sure.

Maybe it's just the knowledge that it's legitimate, professionally run and as stable as possible.  But, even then, there are free shards now that rival EA's in both stability and professionalism and they have been running for years.

So I ask again, what is it?

I can't really put my finger on it.  Can you?

But, what I do know for sure, is that if EA opened up a classic pre-Trammel server, I would be rushing to sign up and pay my subscription fee, even buy a $100 box, and be extremely excited to play!

Go figure...

vajuras

the problem wit trying to play on the other shards it can be pretty brutal using the old ruleset. I really like it but the graphics- I wish they could use UO: KR graphics

 

 

what is this siege perilous? what makes it suck so bad i mean r they gonna make us grind fer gear? I only know the old ruleset im not joking i know nothing of this Age of Shadows

 

and did they ever add global chat in the newer rule sets. and is it easier to find an angel in the new rule set haha after u get smoked

obii

Siege only has a Feluccan facet and your skill gain above 70 is controled by a Rate over Time system. Means you can only gain so many points a days above 70.

 

Siege also has no insurance, so the gameplay is not all about the bester weapons and to the nature of danger has often a closer community.

 

No global chat, but with KR when you look at the map you can see a healer that resurrects you.