As for IPY vs official Classic shard, I wouldnt get hopes up too much for now considering that EA have barely confirmed it’s go ahead. In honesty, i doubt it will happen but if it did there are pro’s for both IMO.

IPY will be more in touch with the players and changes, content updates probably more frequent if needed. I also think IPY will harbor a more hardcore type of player on average at a higher skill level and knowledge.

Official shard would I think have a larger player base (laziness factor and EA marketing). As mentioned earlier you also have the legally bound assurance that your characters and items are all going to be there in the morning which a free shard can never guarentee. Also, it would attract more sheep.

Cons are that EA’s shard could turn out to be a poor mans classic shard, or worse some sort of mutated hybrid mishmash of old and new features, despite the great efforts put into the threads on Stratics laying out the rulesets and time to base the classic shard on, I would fear that EA will simply not pay attention to this and do what it thinks best. Alot of if’s and but’s currently and not really worth discussing seriously until we get something more substantial from EA.

Most free-shards have enabled people to do that, and it seems like that might be part of the reason they flat-line not long after going up. Activity crashes pretty quickly after the first few months; everyone has touched and experienced every element of the game, and they get bored. (see: IPY, Redemption, Metropolis, Divinity, etc.)

I’m sure there is another way around it, I mean I was farming Destard Level 1 solo killing 3 drakes and a drag at a time every 3-4min with just ev, that’s a little too easy. You’re right though, getting two hit from the far end of the screen isn’t a good fix at all.

I too am surprised with all their money they haven’t made a UO2. I mean they can’t really expect to make a huge profit off UO regardless of what they do.

People who homebrew their own stuff like this have barrels more to get out of it. It’s more intimate, it’s more personal; it’s like a small town. And at this point, I’d rather know everybody around town rather than deal with the anonyminity of a giant money-making server for rejected hipsters who farmed orcs near Cove and lie about how they had “20 castles and 5 7xGMs”

I’m honestly amused by EA even considering it. He’ll, I’m amused by EA still hosting p2p UO. In fact I’m totally shocked they haven’t completely dumped the entire source code, shut off the shards, and said “See ya in 5 yrs for UO2 (again).”

You had to get around the dispel with some clever techniques. Forcing players to party to make any decent coin is bullshit. If you want us to party, add some new content that requires a party but gives like 5x the gold, don’t just buff the regular mobs that most of us rely on to fuel our pvp.

Mobs that are too tough aren’t fun though. Fighting players is fun. PvE pros will play warcraft. Look at what darkfall did with PvE and its one of the bigger obstacles that people have to enjoying that game.

Of course I don’t mind party driven content, but if that’s my only option to make, you know, 10k in two hours… then that sucks and I’m going to stage a protest in Britain.

There really is no happy medium with this 2d framework.

As for the poll on stratics.. back in Feb. in the letter from the producer they talked about how they are giving a classic shard some serious thought and will either go forward with it, or put it to rest with a no sometime this year. As far as video game development goes that is a fairly reasonable time line.

Now I don’t have to justify the need or want for a Classic UO shard to this crowd. The main difference between a player run shard and an EA run shard is that you know when you log out tonight you are guarenteed to find your server and character still there in the morning. With player run shards this isn’t always the case. No offense to Az, we all read his farewell we all know the story, and I am not trying to call him out. But we have seen the same before with IPY 1.0. Another reason is corrupt GM’s and officials. Most player run shards give hand outs to friends that play them, and as we have seen again on IPY power can be abused for personal gain.

Now the reason IPY 2.0 is going to be so successful is because Az has recognized these problems and is taking his time to find the proper solution. I honestly believe that for a player run shard to work correctly you need to run it like it was an official server. Meaning no dumb racist character or guild names, discourage the use of profanity and words like rape, or racial slurs by at random picking reports and suspending those accounts. Doesn’t mean you have to get them all, but just the CHANCE of it bringing a penalty will really crack down on the c00l d3wdism.

Now this is getting a bit off topic, and that is not my purpose here, but I will continue to support both IPY 2.0 and a EA Classic Server because I believe that there is room, and a player base, for both to be very successful.

Anyways, I was playing some UOSA last night and ran into a guild farming in LL’s. It was pretty cool. 1 Bard, 2 Warriors and 2 Mages. All the people who recalled into the LL’s stopped and watched them as they farmed, hell I joined in as did the person I was playing with. It made me think about what is missing from UO. The fact that you use to do stuff in game with other players. The more stuff they added to the game, the easier it got. Why would I farm LL’s with 4 people when I can do it solo? or Solo all of level 1 dest and make 20x the money?

I really think EV is overpowered and needs to be toned down for one. Also, higher end mobs like LL’s Blood Eles, Dragons and PE’s need to be buffed up a bit I think. Really, you shouldnt be able to solo them unless you’re a tamer. Or if you can solo them, it should take you a fair amount of time. Now just 1-2 EV’s.

Goes back to an already discussed topic. If Money and Mobs are harder to farm, more people will be in dungeons doing stuff together. I mean, ask Domu, it was really cool to see and made me realize what I feel has been missing in the game.

Free shards are that. They are free. They are way more malleable. People who understand the game have voices.

I guess there’s still a few people hanging around at Stratics, hoping for an EA Classic shard. I have to admit that when I first opened the newsletter, I thought it was official EA news – not just lonely uo vets asking for votes on a poll.

After browsing a couple threads, it looks like a couple of you have already participated in this discussion.

Speaking of crafting would there be a way to get a skill scroll through actions other than killing monsters? For instance if I wanted a mining or blacksmith skill scroll I could get it from looking for ore or if I wanted lumber jacking or carpentry I could get it from chopping wood?

1) Dungeon viable
You’re able to survive encounters with monsters, and generally profit from visits to dungeons. In my head this happens almost right after logging in for the first time, if you pick the right starting skills, or have a good group of people with you.

2) PvP viable
You’ve got fairly firm handle on the basic skills; 60-70 of ea of the 7 tank skills.

The PvP viable character will usually trump the Dungeon viable character 1v1, but it won’t take more than a brief period as Dungeon viable to become PvP viable.

I’m wondering, what kind of timeline you have in your head, Az?