Population

Bilbo

Honkwomp said:

Bilbo said:

I was on Napa 3 hours ago and it was not dead.  Shout out in Gen Chat and let people know that you are a new/returning player.  Not all shards bank sit in Luna, they go play the game so you may not see them.  If you are on the West Coast log on to Pac and give a shout out.  Pac is the most active West Coast shard.  Make chars and spend a day on each shard to see what you like and how it fits your game play.

I have been on Napa Numerous times at all times during the day and never gotten a response.  But that is not the way I am judging population  Go to any server.  Easy to place an 18x in Malas and Castle lots available?  Then it is deserted.   If you have years and years, and you are well established, other players are not necessary.  I play alone a lot.  But in this age of UO, I need stuff that I otherwise cannot get on my own.  .  That was why I started on Atlantic and then instead of going back to Napa, split the difference and hit Chessie.  It is not deserted but not so populated like Atlantic that you gotta work around other people.  I am now getting set up and have a nice suit and so I am not concerned about population.  But if you prefer being alone and have no desire for any contact with anyone, then you are in the wrong game

I was in Luna and there were people walking around.  I do not think you could place a castle in Napa unless maybe it was a swamp castle and as far as 18x18 in Malas, you can find on any shard, As far as playing with or without people that is a personal preference for any UO player so no if they want that then they are NOT in the wrong game but I guess you consider to be one of the game police that tells people that they are playing a SANDBOX game the wrong way, now that is funny.

Mariah

House locations are restricted in Malas, not all the areas you see are available for housing, also castles cannot be placed in Malas. With the exception of some contest rewards, there are no castles on the facet.

InLor

Honkwomp said:

Bilbo said:

I was on Napa 3 hours ago and it was not dead.  Shout out in Gen Chat and let people know that you are a new/returning player.  Not all shards bank sit in Luna, they go play the game so you may not see them.  If you are on the West Coast log on to Pac and give a shout out.  Pac is the most active West Coast shard.  Make chars and spend a day on each shard to see what you like and how it fits your game play.

I have been on Napa Numerous times at all times during the day and never gotten a response.  But that is not the way I am judging population  Go to any server.  Easy to place an 18x in Malas and Castle lots available?  Then it is deserted.   If you have years and years, and you are well established, other players are not necessary.  I play alone a lot.  But in this age of UO, I need stuff that I otherwise cannot get on my own.  .  That was why I started on Atlantic and then instead of going back to Napa, split the difference and hit Chessie.  It is not deserted but not so populated like Atlantic that you gotta work around other people.  I am now getting set up and have a nice suit and so I am not concerned about population.  But if you prefer being alone and have no desire for any contact with anyone, then you are in the wrong game

Vendor search is also an easy way to gauge a shard. The vendor search on (and nearly) dead shards is virtually non-existent. 

Honkwomp

Mariah said:

House locations are restricted in Malas, not all the areas you see are available for housing, also castles cannot be placed in Malas. With the exception of some contest rewards, there are no castles on the facet.

I fully understand that you cannot place castles in Malas, I was there the day Malas opened and  placed one of the very first 18x there right before my wife and daughter placed.  The wording of my message was not very clear, but that was why I said "Place an 18x in malas"   Otherwise, what would be the purpose of even mention the specific facet before talking about castle lots

As far as Bilbo's post?  I play mostly by myself too, but if I never wanted people around, I would not play UO.  I think I am gonna be done with this post  I managed to get the moderator involved and tick off Bilbo. 

North_LS

what do you like to do? Atlantic is the most populated shard, and that comes with its pros and cons. LS is great if you like taming, we have a pretty great taming community and there's plenty of group activities to do *or* you can go off on your own and not be bothered too. if you're into RP, i believe Catskills is considered the go-to RP shard?

If you swing by LS, give us a shout in chat - there's usually 3-4 people falling over each other to help any recent returners.

Margrette

Shade said:

What server does everyone play on? I just started playing and haven't played in 15 years. Napa Valley seems dead.... any suggestions

If you want to have a vendor house in Luna, may I suggest you try Balhae?  There is a small but active, friendly and growing community there; however, if you don't live in Asia, you may miss many of the players when they are around.  Best time to catch a lot of them is between about 4 a.m. and 1 p.m. Eastern Time.    Many of the Korean and Japanese players there do read and write English, but many like to use a translator site/app to make sure what they are saying is correct, so be patient if you speak to someone and don't get an immediate reply.  

Anyone who wants to give Balhae a try and needs a little help getting started, please feel free to message me and I will be happy to help you out with some basic items (LRC suit, spellbooks, runebooks, etc.) and if you are making a tamer and want someone to tag along while you tame something, I have a good peace tamer there and will be happy to help out.  I don't have any shard shields, so I can't help with transferring items to/from Balhae.  However, I know there are other people who do and I am sure they would be happy to help if you want to move stuff to Balhae.

If you are interested in having a vendor house on any shard but know you won't be able to place one in Luna and don't want to place anywhere else in Malas, you might also want to check out Magincia in both Trammel and Fel.  You can place a house there on most shards and it will be in guard zone, is close to a moongate and the animal and commodity broker stalls.   Also check out Ter Mur for house placement.  A character on your account will have to kill stuff in Ter Mur to get enough loyalty to the gargoyle queen to place a house.  However, there are several house spots available around the moongate and on most shards those spots still sit empty.  Now that all accounts have been upgraded to Stygian Abyss, those spots should be more attractive as everyone can now get to them.

I know a lot of people will recommend you just give in and move to Atlantic.  However, I really think that returning players should consider staying on some of the smaller shards and open a shop.  Keeping it stocked will keep you busy and you just never know how much of a positive effect you will have on your shard overall by just being there and doing something to help keep the shard alive.  You will meet other players and have opportunities to help people out that I'm not sure you will get amid the hustle and bustle and competitiveness of a shard like Atlantic.

Margrette

This great message was on my shop's bulletin board this afternoon on Balhae. It is a very friendly shard and sometimes I really get tired of people putting down the "dead shards" and the people who play on them.  

Pawain

My Fav is posted by Yoko. "Have you seen John?"

Honkwomp

I do not recall one message putting down dead shards.  Concerning Napa:  But despite placing two keeps in 15 mins on napa I was not able to place a castle so Bilbo, I will withdraw that part of what I said.  I have forgotten just hard it is to get those things down.  A couple of spots that took castles in the past were open, but I could not get one placed.  I did finally see someone in Luna though
Moving past that, everyone loves the place they play,  and do not take offense if my experience on your shard differs than yours. I am not claiming to be an expert, just stating my personal experience.
  I don't have much time on any shard.  Its been years and I was unable to recover my main account

Canceled_Sub

Estimated current subscriber base is 5,000 give or take.   Of those, probably 3,000 are unique users with some having two or more accounts.  EJ accounts, don't count here, as the game is not currently gaining subscriber base.  

Average user lasts about 1 to 2 months before canceling.

At the current trajectory, I would suggest that Broadsword will not be in control within about 2-3 years.  At that point, subscriber base will not cover costs of employment.  

Edit: I wanted to add that, given the current Trajectory it is very likely that UO will shutdown within a two year window.  Thoughts?

Pawain

Canceled_Sub said:

Estimated current subscriber base is 5,000 give or take.   Of those, probably 3,000 are unique users with some having two or more accounts.  EJ accounts, don't count here, as the game is not currently gaining subscriber base.  

Average user lasts about 1 to 2 months before canceling.

At the current trajectory, I would suggest that Broadsword will not be in control within about 2-3 years.  At that point, subscriber base will not cover costs of employment.  

Edit: I wanted to add that, given the current Trajectory it is very likely that UO will shutdown within a two year window.  Thoughts?

Obviously you have not Cancelled your Sub.   I guess you do not have to re log into this forum daily with a paid account like it is supposed to work.

Wow this is an old thread.

Canceled_Sub

My sub is canceled.  I just decided to do some more research on the game.  I'm trying to understand my experience.   No one can predict the future accurately, but we can see the writing on the wall.  It's coming.  I want to help Broadsword understand why.  It wouldn't shock me if EA doesn't renew with them next year.

At some point, an Executive will say it's done.

Ikeelu

EA is so greedy it will ride this gravy train to the bitter end. 5,000 subs is $50,000 a month and with the current UO Store market I’d bet half the pop buys $10 worth of sovereigns a month $25,000 a month. Thats $75,000 a month. Don’t think any exec is gonna pull the plug on that. UO will live on. 

Canceled_Sub

Agreed, but the costs to sustain are probably in the 50K per month range too.  People/Servers/Electricity/Computers/Etc.  The revenue is shrinking too. At some point, they will pull the plug.

Canceled_Sub

One more thing, EJ was introduced just a little over a year ago.  I don't think it's worked, IMHO.  It was too restrictive.  Edit:  EJ isn't even a year old - apologies.  That's further support for the player base almost being end of the road.

Bilbo

OK all you old UO players how many time have we heard the sky is falling and here we all are still playing UO.  20+ years and I have yet to be hit by a piece of sky.

Acid_Rain

Threads like this only prove Chicken Little is alive & well w/ a paid UO account.

Ikeelu

EJ is workin. I logged on, played a bit, then wanted the stuff in my bank and subbed. Here i am paying 2 subs. I’ve bought 5 mythics 10 soulstones, 3 forged metal, tokuno dyes, the list goes on. I play for challenge. If I ever find my 100% poison spell channel mage wep 25% splinter bokuto I’ll even pvp. But moral of story is EJ duped me with feels and intrigue 

Ivenor

Canceled_Sub said:

Agreed, but the costs to sustain are probably in the 50K per month range too.  People/Servers/Electricity/Computers/Etc.  The revenue is shrinking too. At some point, they will pull the plug.

Just a curiosity: are you here griefing on UO day after day, even after having declared Urbi et Orbi that you cancelled your subs, as a pure divértissement, or are you a full time paid Troll? Otherwise please be so kind to POST HERE the FONTS of the reasearches form which you conclude that the game is finished. Be so kind to show us the HARD DATA, otherwise it is only another flatus vocis.

UO is a SANDBOX game, for Blackthorn sake!, as people had already said to you. Personally I "disagree" with maybe 90% of the play styles I see around, but will stay on, WITH MY 9 FULL PAID SUBS, because NOBODY forces me to play the game as I'm NOT interested to do.

For now I like toying with Deco stuff and have some occasional light PvM, plus I'm staring to try to understand how to parteciapte in EM events with some chances to get a Drop, and have, for now, ZERO interest in Fel & PvP. I can, and I do, taunt other people, here or online, on their obsessions, and react if sombody taunt me on mine, but that's ALL. If I will ever try PvP and/or Fel Spawns I will try BEFORE to understand how it functions NOW, and I will post my objections if I find in it something that is IMO "broken", but, again, that's ALL.

Sure, I make, and frequently, proposals of changes on the stuff I don't like and bitterly defend them, but this too is, IMO, PART OF THE GAME. What is not - always IMO, OC - is making Doom & Gloom previsions on the game lifespan, that, AAMOF, CAN have negative influce on, e.g., New EJ Palyers subscribing, basing them on the fact that you got wacked by some weirdo when you ad-ventured in the worst slums ever of Sosaria.

My two GPs.

I.

Seth

Why is this cockroach still not dead when it said it is and now its spreading Dooms Day prediction and yet the post is not locked and poster is not banned. 

It is like going into someone's house or country to spread dooms day message but you can take it anywhere else please.

I don't care how many threads have been locked player banned but this is one that justifies 100%.

Not going to post another to this thread to bump this up. 

@Canceled_Sub I have been nice but if you want war in the forum and try convince players to quit, then you are an AH. I don't want to see another post from you.

If you have game suggestions there are hundreds of them waiting in queue. You send them directly to Broadsword email. 

Mariah

Closed, by popular request.