We need change, for the sake of the server.

[Budner]

Pixels = new content = more and stickier population.

I say this as a longtime passionate supporter of UOSA - Are the devs going to comment on any of this? They know what the fixes are.

(height of geekdom) Devs slavery to era accuracy and passivity reminds me of Spock, and we are Dr. McCoy. "Blasted Vulcan! Why couldn't you have red blood like any normal human? How can that green blood of yours be so cold?"

"It's a song, you green-blooded... Vulcan. You sing it. The words aren't important. What's important is that you have a good time singing it."

We have played and loved this game for 16 years. UOSA is the best thing that ever happened to UO, apart from the era it emulates so well. We are letting it die. Why?

This amazing game. We love it.

IT IS TIME. You realize we have stage 2 cancer. Do we let the patient die or not? IT IS TIME.

Devs please respond. I mean this, without criticism - Are you worn out? Are you tired? Are RL priorities justifiably drawing your attention, as we all age? Are you so devoted to dogma that we let it die?

Do we let it die?

Do we let it die. Have the fucking courage to admit that's what you're doing.

[Syphilis_Jack]

The problem, is the beloved era accuracy. It is a blessing in some ways but a curse in more. Keeping to strict era accuracy only benefits those who actually played in that era, those who came afterwards or new players get bored or turned off by the mechanics and lack of innovation. Some of the mechanics of the second age are best left in the dustbin of history, such as the ridiculous mount fatigue.

UO has seen an infusion of new players that weren't around back then that somehow have found this ancient game and come on to play it. The learning curve for the game is high and they are pretty much thrown to the wolves, get town pk'd, and leave for greener pastures. The noobs have a question and need to page a gm? Good luck with that.... staff on this shard are non existent and don't answer pages for anyone unless someone decorates Pringles doorstep with garbage and she snaps her fingers calling them to clean it up. Maybe it's burnout, I don't know, but if that's the case, maybe you should hire new staff.

The only thing this shard has going for it is the nostalgia factor, your stuff will still be there if you don't let it fall. But on the opposite side of the coin, it's a detriment as well. I'd wager at least 75% of the housing on this shard are owned by players who only log in once every few weeks to refresh, but spend all of their time on other shards. New players who finally scrounge up enough money to buy an L shape get discouraged because there is absolutely no space left to place it. You can, however, be gouged to buy one already placed if you are willing to cough up the L shape deed plus a small house deed and your left kidney.

Despite the noble efforts of some players good and evil, player run events just aren't enough. Lack of staff involvement makes things appear stagnant. I remember seeing the same login message from Christmas 2013 up until this summer. While people here are scrounging up 4 people to do anything, people are flocking to the shards that actually have events and people to attend them, like capture the flag, town raids, etc.

While I like many of the people here, it's kind of depressing when you log in to see whats going on and the only excitement on this shard aside from abusing era accuracy mechanics, are idocs and the same rich vets squabbling over hued sandals and masks. I thought at one time the shard was making a comeback when I saw a few old faces and a few URKs running around, but again, things are stagnant here. Time to shake it up a little guys. It isn't really a problem of lack of pixel shinies. It's just the primitive and bland layout of both the in game gumps and the website even. Even a revamp of the website will go a long way with people. You can still keep the spirit of the second age but revamp the menus and gumps, do bulk order deeds, all the cool stuff Renaissance had to offer without all the bullcrap trammie stuff. Swallow your era accuracy pride and do something innovative. Otherwise, people will still leave this shard en masse.

[Abyz]

Stick a fork in it.

[Treysta]

Are the devs going to comment on any of this?

They have. Over and over. They are unwilling to bring events back. They have confirmed this ad nauseam.

I officially started playing seriously in January 2014, and here are my experiences with GMs on UOSA:

Derrick

Haven't seen him post, say a single word in IRC, in game, or anything of that nature. He's invisible. He's probably busy, apathetic to the shard at this point, or whatever. No problem, other GMs exist to delegate duties to to alleviate pressure off of Derrick, right?

Kaivan

Kaivan is essentially nonexistent to me as a player. He'll occasionally post on the forums, but I've never seen him say anything in IRC or in game. That being said, I've talked to him a couple times and I would be lying if I said he wasn't professional. Inactive, but professional.

Boomland

I haven't seen him post anything since becoming a GM, and besides the occasional hello in IRC to a friend of his, he has no presence whatsoever on UOSA. He has responded to a support ticket of mine, which was handled quickly and courteously, but I don't consider that to be active.

Mammoth

A fairly active GM in the sense that he organized the Champions of Britannia events (I believe it was him at least) and has held a few impromptu 1v1 tournaments. That kind of initiative is what the shard needs, but Mammoth can't be expected to be the only person doing this on a semi-regular basis. And worse, recent events have made him unable to participate in UOSA GMing duties, leaving us with no official PvP options whatsoever.

Anarcho

Finally an active GM! He has an IRC presence, deploys patches, and posts on forums a bit, usually to moderate them. In fact, Anarcho is in my eyes the only active GM on the shard. That being said, I do have criticism.

One example is when I directly quoted something Anarcho publicly posted on this very forum that I viewed as hypocritical and/or hilarious. He PM'd me immediately on IRC and informed me that he removed my signature and if I return the quote to my sig, I'll be forum banned because (not verbatim) "we're GM's and we don't have to put up with your shit" . I personally believe that criticism is the backbone to constructive change and that if I say something publicly, it's fair game to be quoted. At the end of the day, I am cognizant of the fact that this is a game and GM's are allowed to flex their authority as they see fit. I readily admit I may have pestered Anarcho too frequently and that his frustration with me could very well be justified.

Another issue I had with Anarcho is when he released a housing placement patch that allowed the players to obtain top tier houses that were previously unattainable. Seems cool, right?

Facts:

• Players received no previous notice of this housing patch, which means that...
• Only those who were on right after downtime had any shot at placing these houses because...
• The patch was rolled back on live a few hours after being implemented.
• The housing patch is still not live while the newly grandfathered houses still remain.
• The patch was originally implemented May 14th 2014.

Let me emphasize the notion that I believe Anarcho's intentions in releasing this patch were indeed innocent. Was this patch some clever conspiracy to allow Vega to place an Ocllo bank house or Eo to grab the Trinsic gate house? Of course not, and anybody who thinks that's the case is very clearly mistaken. It was, however, a very unfair and thoughtlessly implemented patch, and the way the mistake was handled is a direct indication of why I believe we need more active GMs to help handle these types of situations and ensure they don't influence the integrity of UOSA's gameplay.

-----

So, let's take a tally of my anecdotes. 1 invisible boss, 2 inactive GMs, and 2 active GMs with one being out of commission. Is it any wonder why the status quo is so shitty right now? There's no staff!

In conclusion:

If automated events are off the table forever, pick members of the community that can be trusted and give them authority and tools they need to run sanctioned PvP events on a regular basis. That's the only way out of this hole. The administration needs help, and I'm more than willing to bet that some community members here, myself included, would gladly offer a helping hand if we were given the opportunity.

[Wonder]

It was nice knowing yah Treysta


I like the idea of having an organized time for the PVP scene to become more active. I feel like that's one of the few things we as players can do to try to contribute to more people logging on. Something like a daily battleground that can be posted 5 minutes before the start time to keep things fresh and keep people from knowing where its at ahead of time to get a competitive edge on other people.

[Capitalist]

Mammoth does events. I like that. RIP treysta.

[Treysta]

Good point, I forgot about the couple pvp events Mammoth has held. I'll edit that in.

[Jay]

need more cowbell

[Boomland Jenkins]

Boomland

I haven't seen him post anything since becoming a GM, and besides the occasional hello in IRC to a friend of his, he has no presence whatsoever on UOSA. He has responded to a support ticket of mine, which was handled quickly and courteously, but I don't consider that to be active.

Yes, it's true. I never post anything on the forums, ever. You've got to be kidding me. Look around, seriously.

I don't think I should have to make you a list of what I've done or currently do, but here's a starting list.
- Weekly (5+) UoH Dungeon Crawls last Fall until players didn't want to organize them
- Gem Encrusted attacks on random graveyards - over 15 different daytime events
- Gem Encrusted attack in Deceit (month-long)
- Gem Encrusted end battle in Deceit and Lord British (with collaboration with Mammoth)
- Designed new website for UOSA (isn't live yet, that isn't because of me however)
- The Guardian Event - ran 3 events this year for this
- Multiple "A Pirate's Life for Me" town/regional invasions
- Current Covetous Gem Encrusted attack (with collaboration with Mammoth)
- Handle page requests regularly 8am-3pm EST most week days.
- Catch AFK gatherers regularly
- Handle in-IRC request on a near daily basis.

Most importantly, Mammoth and myself (and Anarcho when he's not doing dev work) are constantly trying to find ways to bring you events that fit within the "UOSA limitations".

UOSA is not like other shards, I think I explained it best in IRC yesterday - it's a UO Museum. UOSA exists to let people experience UO's T2A era "as close as possible" - we're not here to add features or content at the request of PVPers - and when we do have content-events, most players enjoy them, but players such as yourself don't even consider these to be events because they weren't automated pvp-focused events.

[Capitalist]

I'm still butthurt that I fought off half the server to get a Guardian in my house in a table block and you banned it... twice

[Treysta]

Yes, it's true. I never post anything on the forums, ever. You've got to be kidding me. Look around, seriously.

Although 14 posts since May is not what I would consider to be an active forum poster, you are indeed correct; you have posted a lot more since becoming a GM than I gave you credit for. My apologies.

That being said, you shouldn't view my comments as a personal attack on your competence as a GM. It's my anecdote as a new player, and it ought to be viewed as valuable feedback. If anything, you should ask yourself why a new player is saying these things instead of dismissing me as a hater. I'll attempt to respond to what you've rebutted with as best I can while remaining constructive.

1 ) Weekly (5+) UoH Dungeon Crawls last Fall until players didn't want to organize them
2 ) Gem Encrusted attacks on random graveyards - over 15 different daytime events
3 ) Gem Encrusted attack in Deceit (month-long)
4 ) Gem Encrusted end battle in Deceit and Lord British (with collaboration with Mammoth)
5 ) Designed new website for UOSA (isn't live yet, that isn't because of me however)
6 ) The Guardian Event - ran 3 events this year for this
7 ) Multiple "A Pirate's Life for Me" town/regional invasions
8 ) Current Covetous Gem Encrusted attack (with collaboration with Mammoth)
9 ) Handle page requests regularly 8am-3pm EST most week days.
10 ) Catch AFK gatherers regularly
11 ) Handle in-IRC request on a near daily basis.

1 ) Please refer to this quote:

I officially started playing seriously in January 2014, and here are my experiences with GMs on UOSA:

2,3,4,8 ) I'm assuming some or all of these events of these occurred before I joined, because the only thing I've ever heard mentioned about gem-encrusted monsters is "why the fuck are these gem-encrusted mobs still spawning at the GY". If these events have been happening post January, then they must not be very popular.

5 ) Sounds good to me, but how can I credit you for something that isn't live yet? A new website would be amazing, and I can't wait to see it.

6 ) These were neat. Although I don't personally enjoy this style of mosh pit PvM, I know some people that do and I am a big supporter of these. Averaging 1 proper PvM monster event per 3 months is not what I'd consider active though, despite it being a step in the right direction. If you could manage to do a dynamic event on this level on a weekly, biweekly, or even monthly basis, I can imagine the player base would react positively.

7 ) Similar to #6 but less rewarding.

9,10,11 ) Clerical duties as I gave you proper credit for. See this quote:

He has responded to a support ticket of mine, which was handled quickly and courteously

~~~

but players such as yourself don't even consider these to be events because they weren't automated pvp-focused events.

You very misunderstand my stance. I don't PvP in UO, I would not take part in PvP events. I don't care if automated events come back (they didn't exist when I started). I have already stated in this thread that I'm impartial to their return. I barely participate in your PvM events. My replies in this thread serve one purpose, to provide feedback to GMs from a new player in order to shed some insight on why the doomsday tone here might be in full crescendo and offer suggestions based on my experience here.

We're on the same side here. I'm just trying to help.

[Onslaught-]

These "UOSA limitations" will be the death of the server.

If the image for this server is to be a true UOSA museum, where people can walk around and look at how the game might have been in 1998, then you are well on your way to accomplishing that. If you think people can log into this server and experience the game for what it was in 1998, then I'm sorry to say, but you have failed.

UO is not a single player game and that's simply what is going to happen at this point.

[TI_Smithy]

BEB

[Jay]

BEB

[Capitalist]

BEB