All Posts by sempiternal

I can't vote in your poll, because I can't say I love the game, but the lifetime membership should prove to be a good deal in the long-term, especially as the game develops and progresses.  I understand $200 is 20 months at $10 per month, but I can see this game lasting indefinately if developed properly and upgraded along the way as necessary.

In summary:

Pre-CU = people

Post-CU = content

Incorrect.

Both Everquest (blue) and Asheron's Call (purple) grew to over 480,000 subscriptions over a period of more than two years with no significant effect to the growth rate of Ultima Online (Violet).  This is because the MMO market has been expanding exponentially since inception.

 SWGLover is wrong. The entire time UO was non-consensual it experienced solid steady growth. Even after Everquest and Asheron's call were released it continued growing at approximately the same rate as it had since the game's release. It was not until after Renaissance and Trammel was released that UO's growth slowed and then stopped. Within a year after the release of Renaissance, UO then began shrinking. Changing UO into a consensual game put it in direct competition with the other newer consensual games.

Yeah, in my 27 years of computer gaming, UO was the overall best computer game I have ever played.

It really started out on the right track, creating a believeable virtual world.

Now it's just a dumbed-down computer game targeted at the teen market.

Originally posted by Mcgreag

 

That image on the DirectX site has been there for several years now.

Huh.

Any one else hate expansion packs?

Generally, yes!

In this day and age their main purpose is not in improving the gameplay and design, but rather enticing people into making a purchase.

Originally posted by Meddle
We are aware of the problem, heck it happens to us too!  We are steadily working our way through a task list that's about a mile long and this is on it somewhere.  But we are aware of this problem and are working towards erradicating the issue.

Holy WoW, two and a half years ago you were working towards erradicating this issue!  I guess running an MMO website is kind of like developing an MMO.

EVE has ads all over the place right now:

EVE now even has an ad on the Microsoft DirectX website, of which I took a screenshot of:



The funny thing was, when I went to upload the screenshot at www.imageshack.us, they had an ad there too!

What is the story behind all the mod edits?

I disagree, LOTR has a much bigger fanbase than the Warcraft franchise.  With proper marketing LOTRO could grow much larger than WoW.

An increase in cost is one thing, but a drastic 180 degree shift in gameplay from community driven to solo self-interest, implementing two sets of rules for the same game, and then flooding the game with items and properties that throw the gameplay off-balance is an entirely different thing;  it would be like taking your pinball machine and lowering the incline so far that the ball barely rolled and often got stuck, or giving you square balls to play with; and every year they put your square ball inside a new machine that promises more in exchange for a $29.95 fee.

No matter what they do to UO it will forever suck unless they somehow manage to return to the community driven game of UO's distant past.  A good start would simply be releasing some classic pre-Renaissance shards and then diligently keeping with the theme and player-driven environment.

Yeah.

<Mod edit>

That is insane!

This is a bad poll, it's not reasonable to lump FFA PvP together with Permadeath, without also offering an option of them seperately.

Originally posted by Aelfinn

I can't speak for Funcom, but I suspect that it was a measure to help prevent constantly ganking noobs from being a profitable business.

PART: SPECIAL NOTICES
OFFADD: Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, Code
  257, 12350 Research Parkway, Orlando, Fl 32826-3224
SUBJECT: A-MARINE WARFARE TACTICS PC GAME
DESC: The Government intends to negotiate on a sole source basis
  and award, to Atomic Games, Inc., 18201A Egret Bay Boulevard,
  Houston, TX 77058, a contract to deliver a product that will
  teach maneuver warfare tactics to the individual Marine Corps
  leaders using a Personal Computer (PC). The product must include
  capability for a Marine to play an Artificial Intelligence
  or another Marine. A minimum of five different representative
  terrain maps of about 1000 by 1500 meters is desired. Delivery
  of this commercial item within 9 to 12 months of contract award
  is required. This contract will be awarded per the authority
  at 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1) and FAR 6.301-1, "Only One Responsible
  Source and No other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency
  Requirements." Atomic Games, Inc. is the original manufacturer
  of the Close Combat III - The Russian Front commercial game
  and, as such, owns the unique proprietary technology that provides
  a real-time performance in a realistic tactical combat environment.
  Atomic Games, Inc. is the only known source that possesses
  the unique qualifications to develop a tactical decision-making
  game for the Government within the required time frame and
  within the $220K available for this effort. A solicitation
  will be issued on or about 20 December 1999 pursuant to FAR
  Part 12. This procurement will result in a firm fixed price
  contract. See Numbered Note 22. All responses to this synopsis
  must be in writing. No telephonic responses will be accepted.
  Inquiries may be accepted by fax at (407) 380-4164 Attention:
  Michael Harris. A determination not to compete this proposed
  action is solely within the discretion of the Government.
CITE: (W-287 SN391848)

http://cryptome.org/usmc-cc3.htm

Originally posted by Aelfinn

No item looting no. Instead the victor of a war will have to be content with burning down the loser's home, pillaging and/or destroying everything in sight, and otherwise laying waste to an entire guilds livelyhood and hard work. Oh darn, no meaningful consequenses in PvP...

Oh, and I hate to dissapoint anybody, but no you won't be able to steal from other players. You certainly can however pickpocket that NPC vendor, or climb up a wall and enter that wealthy banker's home through the window to steal the silver, and have a merry time running across rooftops to escape the guards when/if you get caught...

"Burning down the loser's home," and "...pillaging and/or destroying everything in sight, and otherwise laying waste to an entire guilds livelyhood and hard work..." is far more severe than item looting, so I don't get it, why not have item looting in the PvP areas?  Item looting is pretty much meaningless compared to the other losses you fondly describe.

By "wealthy banker," I assume you mean just another NPC?

Over two years after the OP and this seems to be a constant problem for the site.

You check the Auto-Login option in My Profile and after some time, you get logged out and the option unchecks itself.

So, when you log back in, the Auto-Login is unchecked again.  Checking it off again and saving your profile again only lasts temporarily as you will then be logged out again and the option unchecked again.  And the cycle continues...

Calling it "crap" before it has even come out; that's the definition of ignorant.  Speculate all you want that it will not come out, but you can't judge the game before it's even available.