Your favorite change to the game?

loop

I found myself reflecting on my experience with UO, and, contrary to all the nostalgic feelings I have for the days when I first fell in love with the game (UOR to AoS), I had to actually admit that I have more fun and have been able to accomplish more in today's UO than I did in the past. Some folks may feel the same way owing to certain community advancements that make the game easier to automate and navigate in 2023, but there have also been updates to the game that, even if controversial, made a lot of sense in context and have contributed to the game's longevity.

A few things that stick out in my mind:

1. Custom housing. Some ugly houses, sure, but what a great addition to the game.
   
2. Pet training. I'm not a big tamer but can't deny that this is a big deal for a lot of folks.
   
3. Vendor search + commission vendors. I'm conflicted here since the game has lost a sense of real estate, but I honestly would not be playing if it weren't for these two things.
4. Soulstones. I'd prefer these to be craftable in game rather than mostly purchased from the store, but Soulstones have added a lot of value to the game for me by making it easier to experiment and swap templates. I think it was good calculation on the dev team that more people would be willing to pay extra for soulstones than would be willing to open extra accounts and that the mechanic would make the game more fun.
   

I guess there's the whole Trammel/Felucca split, but that horse has been beaten to death... I'm curious if other folks feel the same way and if there are any other updates that make you say "All in all, this was a good change"?

Urge

Imbuing was and still is my fav. It really helped create equal footing and help those like myself that fell behind with crappy rng drops. 

keven2002

I'd agree imbuing was a good addition.

I also think the pet training was a very nice addition so players can kind of customize their pets for different things. 

The other thing that I personally liked was adding the masteries to other skills on top of bard masteries. I think some of the masteries should probably be revisted and tweaked to make them a little more worth while but there are several that are very good to use.

Not to derail this thread but these are the exact type of additions / changes that we've been missing the last 3 years. Improving older mechanics is what has helped UO last 20+ years because as the game evolves, the function of other older mechanics also need to evolve. 

Skett

High seas 

loop

keven2002 said:

I'd agree imbuing was a good addition.

I also think the pet training was a very nice addition so players can kind of customize their pets for different things. 

The other thing that I personally liked was adding the masteries to other skills on top of bard masteries. I think some of the masteries should probably be revisted and tweaked to make them a little more worth while but there are several that are very good to use.

Not to derail this thread but these are the exact type of additions / changes that we've been missing the last 3 years. Improving older mechanics is what has helped UO last 20+ years because as the game evolves, the function of other older mechanics also need to evolve. 

+1 for masteries. Not perfectly balanced, you're right, but they add incentive to maintain "real" skill rather than have +skill gear. They also add easy ways to train many skills post-90.

Yoshi

"when they finally corrected sandwhich to sandwich"

Pawain

Pet revamp. 
Adding new magic such as Chivalry.
Beacons and the pirate vendor. (Used to cost like 12M a month to keep a city buff paid for,  now just toss on cargo)

SaulGoodman1

That balding dude cutting off his ponytail.

Arnold7

Getting vendor search to work more than 50% of the time.

Rocko

All of these things listed by folks are what, 5 to 10 years old (or older).  Nothing lately.

Merus

The ability to lock skills and stats.

SaulGoodman1

The ethy tree in yew fel was the best idea ever, brought a lot of new players back to fel.

Skett

? Tree ? 

Seth

Best addition that saved the game: Shard transfer
Worst idea in history of UO-kind: Shard bound

The rest are not even close.

Victim_Of_Siege

Skett said:

? Tree ? 

He's Trolling, as usual.

Nails_Warstein

Account bound gold, no more checks revolutionized this game.  I volunteered my time for free for almost 10 years being the go between players who didn't trust each other.  Holding up to nearly 1000 x 1m checks on me and pack animals, later on storing the gold on vendors, then paying them out one at a time.  I would do this over 100 times in a single day when hosting a Rare Festivals.  It drove my wife nuts how I dedicated hours and hours of my free time receiving nothing in return solely because I didn't want players to get scammed.  As someone who was scammed so many times throughout the course of UO, I was on crusade to protect players.  When they made account bound gold, I can't express how grateful I was.  The change happened just in time before the arrival of my first son, so even though I still broker for players across shards, I now can enjoy all my free time with sons, and play UO after they go to bed.

Lord_Frodo

Tram, Crafting updates, Imbuing, Pet training just to name a few

Queen_Mum

It is hard to think of just one out of many good changes over the 25 years! 
My very favorite is when MR TACT developed the HOME DECORATING TOOL!

HE DA' MAN 


*COOKIE HUGS*

SaulGoodman1

Queen_Mum said:

It is hard to think of just one out of many good changes over the 25 years! 
My very favorite is when MR TACT developed the HOME DECORATING TOOL!

HE DA' MAN 


*COOKIE HUGS*

Is that Mesanna ?