- Lack of Game Masters, Administrators, and Seers who have time to devote to this shard to keep things fresh.
- Policies regarding AFK Buying, Selling, and Gathering.
- The Stables Fiasco.
- De-Syncing. This IS a UOSA-Specific issue. On no other shard is it as widespread and prevalent.
Simply put, with a shard that does not progress and seeks to emulate an Era, the staff need to be interactive and visible. They need to be running Monster Bashes, Invasions, Contests, etc... This is a free shard and most of the people helping run this shard are busy in real life. That is not the issue, though. The issue is that people have not been found who do have the time to devote to making this shard a better place. Seers and Game Masters were commonly seen interacting with players in-era. As far as the automated events are concerned, they do help to bridge-the-gap between the lack of GM/Admin/Seer activity and an ideal staff that had time to interact with the shard. From that point of view, it would be nice to see the Automated Events fixed for the portion of the player base that actually enjoys them.
This shard needs a significantly larger GM/Admin/Seer presence and if that means finding new people that have the time to help out with it, so be it.
Policies regarding AFK Buying, Selling, and Gathering:
This abusive policy is one of the more shameful things about this shard. The cost/risk of stopping people from engaging in these activities far out-weighs the cost/risk involved in AFK'ing everything in-game. Overall, it has a detrimental effect on the shard. This can be evidenced by the string of dead vendors across the shard. Rewarding people for being AFK and punishing someone who actually plays the game for not having a fast enough razor macro is no way to create a good gaming environment on a server. Allowing people to AFK their skill gain is one thing, but allowing players to automate the entire game is quite another. This detracts from the game, overall, and significantly decreases the replayability of the game for its players.
Actually play the game...
The Stables Fiasco:
This is, in my opinion, one of the most ridiculous things about this shard. From my personal perspective, my father is a casual gamer that enjoys playing a tamer. He's 60 years old, so power-gaming and fighting for stable spots isn't exactly in his playstyle. He no longer enjoys playing on this shard solely because of the stable situation. He occasionally logs in and does some more mundane things, but his enjoyment of this game has been taken away from him. I've heard the same story from many of the players on this server. The bottom line for me, though, is this: My father no longer enjoys playing this game with me like he used to. Regardless of the direction of the shard, people's opinions, etc...this is unacceptable to me as a player. For this reason alone, I will be cancelling my UOSA Subscription and ask that my Subscriber status be removed accordingly.
De-Syncing:
This IS a UOSA-Specific issue. On no other shard is it as widespread and prevalent. This makes PvP on this shard, and even fast-paced PvM, all but impossible for me. I never had this problem until recently. My computer wasn't even updated, installed, changed, etc...and my internet connection has never been better. Whatever it is about UOSA that causes this issue for MANY people is completely unacceptable. This problem has gone on for entirely too long.
There are many other things about this shard that upset me, but these are the most serious issues to me.
The bottom line for me is this:
The bad on this shard has started out-weighing the good, in my opinion.
This upsets me and i'd like to see it changed.
-L/S
