lack of new content, player decline, and this shard

[Eremite]

also... felluca hedge maze would be a great place to hunt if you could teleport over the hedges to be able to loot the corpses

Teleporting over might defeat the purpose of it being a maze, but at the very least, I'd like for the mobs to not be able to cast over the hedges. Putting down that many LOS blockers as a GM is a nightmare though - I've done it before. D:

It's pretty decent if you go in with a ranged weapon though for the maze parts - you can still use [claim or [claimall if you're within archery range.

[Silent]

I have to disagree with everything that's been said here lately. I find most places void of players... Have you seen the price of a Bone Crusher (fresh) recently ? You are all complaining about farming spots but there is a farming spot named doom that is super noob friendly if you get a pack of any animals you can get almost 200 EDS as a reward...

You want to buy ED's by farming cash ? as a new player you wont make it. Look for things vets buy and don't want to bother about it...

Now back to the player decline talk... its definitely not about farming areas. We have no activity in the shard and players even have to pay to make the effort to bring players together (event stone?!). It is unthinkable that in a declining server a player needs to spend his own wealth to promote the server in exchange for what? maintaining the server alive? Isn't that the admins job after all?

Back when we had seasonal quests there was much more money flowing around between newbs and vets and there was an economy because there were players online to play the quests and this attracted new players. Right now, with a dead server you have no economy and look for direct gold incomes and gess what ? there aren't enough... So you can have a live server with commerce or you can start complaining about farming spots. I at least would like to see more players...

Quests and events bring back vets -> vets buy stuff -> noobs sell stuff -> noobs get cash -> more noobs spawn -> new noobs buy things from vets and older noobs -> economy. It's not rocket science folks.

[Muolke]

This server has practically been abandoned for 4 years now.

Players complain about the need for more activity, events etc and once every few months there’s an auction to calm things down for a bit and then back to a few more months of nothing.

Then once per year Colibri makes a post about some vision he has or something he’s supposedly working on that all generally amounts to nothing. It’s basically just lip service.

The reality is that what you see today in game is all you’re ever going to get. If you want events, regular improvements etc…you’re not going to find it here. Look elsewhere.

[Jebidia]

Just a thought....I remember when this game was about community. Now, for the most part, it is about "just run around and do your own thing". I think as an option, perhaps some changes in the guild system might help. Most people run around as a "guild" of one. There are exceptions, before all the naysayers jump me. Why not have certain bonuses attached to guild membership? Maybe, a redraw on a BOD, or a free vendor, or a item that grants the guild a small stat boost that is transferred to the guild with the highest membership? Make getting a guild stone hard. It would seem to me that if we work together we would all have more fun. Let the vet. guild members help their own members along.

When we take the M out of MMO, then we are just playing a single player game and sit around and bitch about what is being done and not being done. Or the he said she said crap that always goes on here on the boards. If you feel that the server is practically abandoned, well....If you feel the need to put down the admins and the job they are doing in spite of RL issues, well....If you feel that you should push people to leave by saying that this shard will never be anything more than what it is, well....Maybe....just maybe, YOU might be part of the problem.

Everyone wants to have their opinion validated. It is too bad that everyone here is the master of the game. They know the best way to do everything, and know exactly how to fix every problem. If this where the case, I am sure you would have started your own server long ago. Most of us know where the problems are. Instead of complaining about them, why not pull together as a community and make the server more fun. In the guilds of old we did not require Admins to do stuff for us to have fun. We held our own events. This is an open world MMO! It is what YOU make it to be.

[Dirtybook]

*shrugs* This is just a place for me to come and kill stuff, make a million or 2 gold from casual hunting, while I am recovering from work outs now days. Save up for ED room items, or buy rares, or make nice homes. I am fine with things as they are. Back in the day, there was no constantly entertaining people on OSI UO either. The only difference, is now days, people want to be "Entertained". Rather than entertain them selves with what they have available.

Other than a few tweaks on my wish/desire list, I don't think this place is so bad. Considering I have looked at a lot of other servers, in which this same very complaint is also happening. "Not enough events/content", is on every single server I have been on. Todays entertainment is none stop, fast paced, and filled with drama to keep it going, and for many, keep it interesting. UO, is not that kind of entertainment. It is an old RPG game, with a much slower pace.. which I personally, am fine with.

The one thing I like about this server, is that it's set up simple. There is literally no wrong way to play UO.. but expecting it to be constantly hopping and on the move all the time? Kind of silly.. Yet some of the more loud, and in you're face players of this server, turn it into a extreme "Rat Race", in which it goes from an RPG, and makes it into a circus where people complain more than they play the game it' s self.

Complaining about how much gold you can farm, indicates that the "Competition Bug", has taken hold of a lot of the player base. The in game money isn't the problem. It's the expectation of entertainment value. Becoming rich fast, and not having to grind very hard, is pretty much how newer games operate now... As I have stated before, this is not a newer game. Being a "Power Gamer" will only leave you empty when you play a old game like this. Moulke, as well as a handful of more vocally dissatisfied Power Gamers, will make sure you hear what they have to say.

My first week on this server, a few years ago, I was under constant bombardment, and at the time I did not understand why. I made a comment, "I'm only here for fun." Apon hearing this, I had a player tell me "This sever isn't for fun!".. I was baffled. However, through the years, I have constantly seen as the most dissatisfied players on this server, are loud, in you're face, and will make sure they belittle you if you choose to enjoy the game it's self, rather than compete for top spot. As if it validates them for doing so.

However, the majority of people who play this server are silent, they don't respond in WC, and don't often reply to [pms, or have that option turned off. (Some of these people have been here for years, without a word spoken on WC.) I my self have joined that group. I refuse to interact with 99% of what's now on WC, and I won't take any [pms. (I turned accepting [pms off.) They are right where I am, casually playing UO. Where an old RPG should be. If you want more, go logging to any number of high graphic, high gamer turn over games that are out there. They will be more than happy to chew you up, and spit you out.

Other than that, my Sagely advice, would be to slow down, smell the roses, and play UO. Donate if you feel you want more, or don't. That is 100% you're choice. As anything in the ED room can be gained over time with casual game play. And if you haven't played for a month due to RL, donate a few bucks (Euro) to catch back up on what you missed. OR! You could take that as a month lost, if you won't or cannot donate to catch up.. you know.. like what used to happen in UO when you took a break on OSI?

Bottom line, stop expecting an old platform to be more than it was to begin with. OSI never had levelable weapons, or full screen explosions from a Druid Spell book, and Yumi's where a mid-tier bow, under a Composite Bow, and barely above a Repeating X-Bow. Where Double Strike and Dual Shot on weapons never triggered the spell hits on the second hit. Where Whirlwind weapons, did not trigger any weapons hits past the first target hit by them. Where Relayers did not exist for equipment. Where you couldn't sink the foundation to you're home, or sink it a level or so into the ground. The Yard Wand never existed.. where you couldn't have more than 1 house plot... Hmmmm, seems to me like this place might have more things on it to make the game much more user friendly, that OSI did in the past, and present. (Almost forgot, Insta healing with bandages at 220 Dex. OSI does not have that either.)

If anything, this server is far easier than OSI. (Which it really is..) You guys might want to think.. how many events would it take to make this server fun, when almost everyone on it, is invincible? That sounds like a nightmare that's to hard to tackle. I'm a mage player 95% of the time, and I am pretty much indestructible after a few relayers. Minus the 1 shot kill monsters, but I am not so dumb as to confront those often. Nore do I let them hit me (If i can help it).

I feel I am going off topic a bit.. but, "it is what it is".. party on dudes!

[Geriatric]

out of the various free servers ive played on this is by far the best, has one of the friendliest communities, and i really wouldnt wanna change to much, just a few balancing issues that ive noticed
cos lets face it alot of the reason we are all still playing the game to this day is because we are chasing that dragon

[kurganwins]

This server has practically been abandoned for 4 years now.

Players complain about the need for more activity, events etc and once every few months there’s an auction to calm things down for a bit and then back to a few more months of nothing.

Then once per year Colibri makes a post about some vision he has or something he’s supposedly working on that all generally amounts to nothing. It’s basically just lip service.

The reality is that what you see today in game is all you’re ever going to get. If you want events, regular improvements etc…you’re not going to find it here. Look elsewhere.

Facts!

[Jebidia]

If you feel that the server is practically abandoned, well....If you feel the need to put down the admins and the job they are doing in spite of RL issues, well....If you feel that you should push people to leave by saying that this shard will never be anything more than what it is, well....Maybe....just maybe, YOU might be part of the problem.

[Geriatric]

If you feel that the server is practically abandoned, well....If you feel the need to put down the admins and the job they are doing in spite of RL issues, well....If you feel that you should push people to leave by saying that this shard will never be anything more than what it is, well....Maybe....just maybe, YOU might be part of the problem.

agreed
i think the admins are doing pretty good under the circumstances,
but i have seen a bit of a decline in the server population, im trying to atleast offer some possible solutions or at the very least ideas for consideration
im no coder or anything like that but im more than happy to help out if there was anything i could do

[Muolke]

If you feel that the server is practically abandoned, well....If you feel the need to put down the admins and the job they are doing in spite of RL issues, well....If you feel that you should push people to leave by saying that this shard will never be anything more than what it is, well....Maybe....just maybe, YOU might be part of the problem.

Facts don't care about your feelings, and neither do I.

Nothing about what I said is about my feelings, it's purely factual. A vast majority of players feel the same way but most don't speak out because they don't want to ruffle any feathers or be jailed for speaking the truth. But since i've basically stopped playing...I don't really care.

You can keep your hand in the sand for all I care, it doesn't make a difference to me at all.

Btw: There's only 1 admin, which is a large part of the problem, so please stop saying "admins".

[+Colibri]

We've had several threads that ended up like this, or started with this concern.
But otherwise, as I glimpsed, I see some points of view that are worth reading thru.

Well yes, fact is true, there are no events and no game *content* in the making. Also fact is I'm working towards that being a possibility again. Fact is there was a lot of technical debt, odd life during corona, and me getting into too many things that bloated. But i'm not a quitter, neither with those projects and neither with Excelsior.
Everything relevant to cleanup and technical debt is in Roadmap Part 0: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13336
Everything relevant about going forward is in Roadmap Part 1: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13973

Also consider that... we see the world as we are. A while back I helped someone out with a technical problem, and got a reply back: "Yeah, really good, thanks! You're still that same amazing guy" - which is a nice little spark of motivation, so I printed that out and sticked it on top of my monitor. So, depends on who you ask... you can get a group of players who would say "I didn't go to many events anyway, so it's all the same to me", and if most of your friends are like that, you will think that it's no big deal. And if your friends have quit the shard, then you will think that everyone is quitting.

Untitled.png (139.03 KiB) Viewed 2905 times

So, eventually hopefully when there's 3 weekly events, and a game improvement about every month - then the complaints will be like this:
- these events are all too simple, for newbies, when are we getting any events for high-geared players?
- this new area is just for vets, what about us newbies?
- the quests have an 8 hour cooldown, I can't be online so much, it's unfair to those who don't have all day to play.
- the quests are configured to be fair even to players who have only 1 hour to play per day, but that discriminates against those who can be online 10+ hours.
(speaking from experience)

Jebidia also makes a good point - you might be part of the problem - or at least, you're not helping. If only I could go to some forums and rant, but there's noone I can rant to, or well there's no point in me ranting to anyone.

Oh and I almost forgot, regarding player decline overall. Every year about this time of year, there's less people playing because most players are from the northern hemisphere, with spring and summer getting in. I remember posts from 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 about how the shard is failing and it's the end. And as Corona brought a boost in numbers in 2020, now that corona is a thing of the past, more people are getting back into their lives. But don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to downplay the importance of things happening on the shard... it's a big factor as well.
Yeah usually numbers pick up around october, then go down in april. But I remember we've already seen very active months of May or August, but also sometimes a rather dull winter month like January. And even times when had a lot of activity with new content and events and the online numbers were about the same, but also a period of months with nothing going on but the online numbers were also the same. But again, more stuff going on will definitely be good for the shard.