As the Title says, does anyone have any idea or suggestions on how we can revitalize the Community?
- Thread starter cameron1900
- Start date
I think ServUO does a good job. It is really about players bringing in their friends and the links. Telling old friends to come back and posting in reddits or ICQ or what have you.
Hmm I think for that there would be a need for a fresh, complete stable client. Something like Sallos is / was but more complete.
Or something like the Essence UCS launcher by StaticZ that breaks a lot of limits on the current client.
And then things like UltimaLive and how you can implement it into mining and lumberjacking. I mean you even could make RP events where the players could pave a way through a mountain.
Then there are the graphics, with every release of new graphics the graphic style changes. The base era looks nice, then there were the weird scepter and all those weapons that came in from Ultima Online 2 after it was canceled. And not talking about the horrible Samurai graphics .. but same goes for mobiles.
There would be a need for a launcher / updater like how ConnectUO worked back in the day, it would allow people to easily go and visit shards.
The mul / uop files limit certain things to by how they work with the client.
Also there needs to be some more diversity in the shards in my opinion. A lot of them are just the same repacks. Not that these are bad but yea.
And finally I go with rebalancing. Without a pet you are more or less screwed the stronger the enemies get.
This is just what I think would greatly help and push ultima back up
Or something like the Essence UCS launcher by StaticZ that breaks a lot of limits on the current client.
And then things like UltimaLive and how you can implement it into mining and lumberjacking. I mean you even could make RP events where the players could pave a way through a mountain.
Then there are the graphics, with every release of new graphics the graphic style changes. The base era looks nice, then there were the weird scepter and all those weapons that came in from Ultima Online 2 after it was canceled. And not talking about the horrible Samurai graphics .. but same goes for mobiles.
There would be a need for a launcher / updater like how ConnectUO worked back in the day, it would allow people to easily go and visit shards.
The mul / uop files limit certain things to by how they work with the client.
Also there needs to be some more diversity in the shards in my opinion. A lot of them are just the same repacks. Not that these are bad but yea.
And finally I go with rebalancing. Without a pet you are more or less screwed the stronger the enemies get.
This is just what I think would greatly help and push ultima back up
I agree on alot of points that @PyrO have said, and these are some things i am working on, i myself am not changing the client and graphics but as for the shard itself i am working on making the Ultima Live system work as intended, and not crashing all the time like the older version of it as i am also looking at the ability to be able to just stream the maps from the server to client means alot less patching needed. Also i am going to be redoing the way equipment and weapons are, adding in new types is not enought as most people do i am going to work on actually increasing the BASE weapons and armor to make them much more affective and helpfull specially for smaller shards. The other things i am also working on is going to try and bring back some of the older RP styles in the game that some of us actually miss, such as actually getting fattigued by running, also requiring to eat and drink, like u should (Can live if you dont eat) but in doing this i have added new cooking stuff in and going to also be adding in temp "BUFFS" to some of the newer cooking items i am adding in.
Let alone people will once i finish working on the system be able to obtain actual land (with limits) to place farms and even ranches that will require u to learn hearing and other skills that have been passed off as usless over the years, my end goul for my shard is to have it PvM with some RP, as well as well the old school Fel PVP stuff cause there are those out there that love there pvp, also going to fix and make it so Idoc houses work not only with the houses but farms and ranches as well... these are only some of the things i have planned and am currently working on to try and bring a new experience to and old game.
This game may be as some people say dying but if we as a comminity stop trying to make it a cookie cutter game from OSi and push the limits of what we all know and can do then i feel we can breath new life into the game, We just need to make it more fun and have some sort of challange to it again, not just login get skills and stats handed to us and we can have kick @ss gear housing and stuff in less then a week of playing alone.
We need to make it so that its not easy but not overly hard to do things eathier, such as a tamer can go do almost anything alone but a warrior or mage need to have someone to help them, well why not give the other a fighting chance to be able to do at least some of these things a tamer is able to do, and even maybe make it a little harder for tamers to get the stronger pets.
Sorry started to ramble a bit LOL, but i see how the trend of OLD games have been comming back and we can make this game just as good with what is available if we all work at it... WE can make it happen we just need to work hard at it and keep the lights on here at ServUO so we can show that were not going to go out without a fight
Hope ya'll have a good day
Psychoman78 (AKA Veldian)
Happy Coding/Gameing Everyone
Let alone people will once i finish working on the system be able to obtain actual land (with limits) to place farms and even ranches that will require u to learn hearing and other skills that have been passed off as usless over the years, my end goul for my shard is to have it PvM with some RP, as well as well the old school Fel PVP stuff cause there are those out there that love there pvp, also going to fix and make it so Idoc houses work not only with the houses but farms and ranches as well... these are only some of the things i have planned and am currently working on to try and bring a new experience to and old game.
This game may be as some people say dying but if we as a comminity stop trying to make it a cookie cutter game from OSi and push the limits of what we all know and can do then i feel we can breath new life into the game, We just need to make it more fun and have some sort of challange to it again, not just login get skills and stats handed to us and we can have kick @ss gear housing and stuff in less then a week of playing alone.
We need to make it so that its not easy but not overly hard to do things eathier, such as a tamer can go do almost anything alone but a warrior or mage need to have someone to help them, well why not give the other a fighting chance to be able to do at least some of these things a tamer is able to do, and even maybe make it a little harder for tamers to get the stronger pets.
Sorry started to ramble a bit LOL, but i see how the trend of OLD games have been comming back and we can make this game just as good with what is available if we all work at it... WE can make it happen we just need to work hard at it and keep the lights on here at ServUO so we can show that were not going to go out without a fight
Hope ya'll have a good day
Psychoman78 (AKA Veldian)
Happy Coding/Gameing Everyone
IMO making it as easy as possible for current and returning or new players to get on and start playing is key.
This is why I always prefer the real client and no custom files.
I think the key to a good shard is making it relevant to all players - PK, PVM, and RP
How you do that is an endless debate that everyone has their own opinion on
However, creating a good economy within the shard is what will make or kill the player count.
This is why I always prefer the real client and no custom files.
I think the key to a good shard is making it relevant to all players - PK, PVM, and RP
How you do that is an endless debate that everyone has their own opinion on
However, creating a good economy within the shard is what will make or kill the player count.
You all have some valid points on making things more user friendly to "shard jumpers" , thats why some shards go with the custom clients. If a player is really interested for the long haul, they can get the custom client and support the shards work, if they dont want to and find some issues, it takes the liability off the server, example, why cant i cut trees ? Well you need the Ultima Live for this to function. Just as why do the scripts i get off serv not work on my server, and i have to rewrite it? should your scripts be able to click and drop ? cause i know we HAVE to rewrite all scripts that we find on here.
If all the sub-50 player shards united as one productive team and focused on one shard... that shard would literally compete with OSI in terms of innovation, quality and productivity. Shame it will never happen, the UO community is one of the worst for inter-shard competition and parasites that just want to get a shard going to make a quick buck.
New software isn't going to fix the UO community. The community needs a total attitude check.
New software isn't going to fix the UO community. The community needs a total attitude check.
I belive I saw a post before about some of the owners of shards on here get together with other shard owners in a group , but it did not go through. So it has been tried and thought of atleast for ppl to unite , but having the shard owners make a new shard to sink in development would not work out very well unless there were some strict disclaimer , to may ideas on the mechanics it would be a mess to clear up as a "lead Developer". And I have not seen a shard yet that didn't put a dollar sign on something , and I for one know of some who are not doing it for the mo ey either ...
I've seen some really good shards gain a large player base really fast but then it falls apart and disappears over night because of the staff members fighting and usually over things like donations. it's a real shame
The UI isn't intuitive because it's a cobbled mess of gumps that were built without a plan, at varying times during the games development. Compound that with the hundreds of gumps that shards use on top, that don't have any particular common style to them, then you have a big mess to clean up.
I don't think changing the UI is the way to go, doing that means it might as well be another game IMO.
Look at the Enhanced Client, it's supposed to be exactly what you're describing - intuitive and easier for the average player to use, but the client is a pile of crap.
So long as people still require Razor/Steam to attach to their client and the client has 30 years worth of cobbled-together features in it, then we can't hope for much. That's why UOR era shards are so popular, because AOS+ is just way too much, mechanic-wise and graphic-wise, for most people to handle.
So yes, you are technically correct, but what you're basically suggesting is a new game.
I don't think changing the UI is the way to go, doing that means it might as well be another game IMO.
Look at the Enhanced Client, it's supposed to be exactly what you're describing - intuitive and easier for the average player to use, but the client is a pile of crap.
So long as people still require Razor/Steam to attach to their client and the client has 30 years worth of cobbled-together features in it, then we can't hope for much. That's why UOR era shards are so popular, because AOS+ is just way too much, mechanic-wise and graphic-wise, for most people to handle.
So yes, you are technically correct, but what you're basically suggesting is a new game.
another reason why some shards make things custom and not everyone can jump on and play, maybe what pyro stated is something the dev team i am currently under will look into
What made me leave all the public shards is the lack of dedication the owners put into their shards.
When i join one, i can see roads of the same itemid, window lights on candles and lanterns, misplaced furniture, flashy colors, lack of decoration, stones everywhere, too showy/friendly staffs, commonly copy pasted scripts all over, unfinished things, quick fixes laying around for years, gameplay mistakes, badly spawned worlds, overused concepts, annoying pointless events, badly designed equipment/mobiles, badly choosen map or quickly made custom map with too obvious/too many point of interest and no interest in the rest, and much, much more.
So ya, if you want a successful shard here's my basic suggestion;
- Nearly invisible staff management.
- Effort put into buildings.
- Stable and bug-less mechanics (quests, events, gumps, etc)
- Realistic design (it's not of a neon color because it is, find a reason, kind of thing).
I suppose a mix of those reasons is why most of the free shard community considerably lowered.
Furthermore, making new clients/tools would just advantages those who are already here and might not have as much impact as you may think. Developing something takes alot of time.
When i join one, i can see roads of the same itemid, window lights on candles and lanterns, misplaced furniture, flashy colors, lack of decoration, stones everywhere, too showy/friendly staffs, commonly copy pasted scripts all over, unfinished things, quick fixes laying around for years, gameplay mistakes, badly spawned worlds, overused concepts, annoying pointless events, badly designed equipment/mobiles, badly choosen map or quickly made custom map with too obvious/too many point of interest and no interest in the rest, and much, much more.
So ya, if you want a successful shard here's my basic suggestion;
- Nearly invisible staff management.
- Effort put into buildings.
- Stable and bug-less mechanics (quests, events, gumps, etc)
- Realistic design (it's not of a neon color because it is, find a reason, kind of thing).
I suppose a mix of those reasons is why most of the free shard community considerably lowered.
Furthermore, making new clients/tools would just advantages those who are already here and might not have as much impact as you may think. Developing something takes alot of time.
Yet shard that tried some of what you listed, the majority requested change. It's like my idea of having pet leashes vrs using the stables, I like the stable idea, but everyone wants the leashes, everyone has grown accustomed to things like bless bags bags of sending master looters and so on. It's all on personal preference really , but our "technology" is advancing , why have a Nokia flip phone when u can have the iphones right ?
As for the staff presence, having active staff tells the player we are around, and that we do care. Frig even I go out in the land with players. Just the other night I had a player take me to some locations where the spawners needed edited, I'd rather deal with an issue with the player so I can fully understand if it is either a server error or just player misunderstanding.
As for the deco work and so on, that's again a personal preference, can't please everyone. And your correct, development does take time, alot of ppl don't understand that statement ...
As for the staff presence, having active staff tells the player we are around, and that we do care. Frig even I go out in the land with players. Just the other night I had a player take me to some locations where the spawners needed edited, I'd rather deal with an issue with the player so I can fully understand if it is either a server error or just player misunderstanding.
As for the deco work and so on, that's again a personal preference, can't please everyone. And your correct, development does take time, alot of ppl don't understand that statement ...
I agree @Po0ka Bout development, I've seen so many shards go up that are slapped together and fixed as needed, as for me i am actually truly taking my time, sure i got a live test shard up as well as a Dev Shard, BUT got a few guys doing World building on my Live test shard, and i work behind the scenes on the code on my dev one, sure not everything is perfect but as i find the issues i take the time to fix it, may work on diff things but i go back and fix the problems, For me adding new stuff then going back to fix older things i put in gives me a break on the work tedious bug hunting can always make u wanna pull your hair out LOL. But ya all the flashy stuff is not always good sure if u wanna add a little here and there okay, but i rather try and keep things more natural if possible, i will on occasion add in the "FLASHY" colours just to catch the eye on something. But as for stability and very little staff presance i rather people know when i am there, for 2 reasons they know someones around if something is not right, and for 2 so people know that no matter what at any given time a staff member could be watching and could possibly help prevent players from trying to use an expliot instead of reporting it... or even just plain cheating...
" But as for stability and very little staff presance i rather people know when i am there, for 2 reasons they know someones around if something is not right, and for 2 so people know that no matter what at any given time a staff member could be watching and could possibly help prevent players from trying to use an expliot instead of reporting it... or even just plain cheating... "
The shard I dev on, ppl know even when I'm not around, I'm still there, and when I catch someone doing something they shouldn't be , they will be seeing me ... So either or when I work behind the scene or not , I get the same output , and recently I have received alot of reviews that players have really liked the fact the response times , and the fact I personally greet players that join the shard .
The shard I dev on, ppl know even when I'm not around, I'm still there, and when I catch someone doing something they shouldn't be , they will be seeing me ... So either or when I work behind the scene or not , I get the same output , and recently I have received alot of reviews that players have really liked the fact the response times , and the fact I personally greet players that join the shard .
I would say a lack of dedication in alot of servers. Is a big factor in my opinon. Organized, good flow , deep thought not thrown together. I love uo but I like a different twist that flows right . One that i do not have to learn a new game again. One that seems to merge flawlessly with osi. If I wanted to play osi be same over crowded place no care for players. a Good running shard Customized by a player at heart .one that would rember the crappy things that could of been more with a little tlc, and fix them. So ability to patch from server to client would be great. Then you really could free lag from some bigger graphic shards. just my 2 cents