Starting area proposal for new players: Get them easier/faster to Ocllo

bump

i like this idea as well.

Too bad it'd require so much of Telamon's time.

I think this idea is a good one, as I am new player to the server and when I first logged on I seen the players online was floating at the 500 mark and when I went to WBB there was like 3 people.. I just assumed it was like every other server I played until I found Occlo and seen it was pretty populated so at that point I was feeling pretty good and confident that this server was going to be good.

I had no problem finding the teleport to Occlo button in the new player gump..

Here's a better idea. Nuke Occlo.

Make Ocllo Great Again!

This is what I'm saying! Ocllo is a pox on Britannia!

Occlo was indeed nuked on the official shards... the lower half of Occlo is in ruins now. Some sort of fire storyline that I don't quite remember.

zombie plague

I been warnin' ya'll but noooooooooooo, ya'll called me crazy.

We'll see who's crazy!

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Ocllo contributes to high playerbase churn.

discuss...

New players join the young program and get an entirely false idea of what this game is and when the young program runs out they quit. (Or sometimes they quit even before the young program runs out because they're bored but too scared to leave Ocllo.)

That's my hypothesis, anyway!

Well, if players wish to remain in Occlo permanently; there is such a thing as 'Perma-Young' status.. Where it wont run out on them, but they cant leave the island either. But that's done on request only.

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Sing Bobby Mcferrin's 'Don't Worry, be happy!'

I never played UO. I cried at age 8 realising that those months of saving up pocket money and buying the box meant nothing when I read the words "credit card required". I'm here on the back of big dreams, I could have been a contender etc.

Anyway. From an active noobs' perspective, the things that have meant the most to me/could be most valuable to new players are:

1. Vets and reasonably seasoned players just helping me feel like I have a grasp of the major mechanics (battlemining, protection against thieves, the absolute necessity of moving quickly towards purchasing a house, building a dexxer, commonly used spells for defence/offence) and not giving me stink lip when I ask what must be obvious questions to them, but the answers to which can't be found easily on the forums on in the compendium.

2. Noob 'quests' provided in the new player guide for Occlo. I know this probably brings up some bad memories for OSI people, but having some in game direction for the first ports of call mean a lot to new players, especially if you want to draw some of the younger gamers looking for a bespoke, classic mmo experience.

3. Doses of reality. I'm also here via a love of perma death, rogue-likes and new-wave survival games like Rust, Day Z etc, so I'm perfectly chill with the idea of losing all my booty in a flash. Some cats won't be. Might be worth some of the vets taking extra time to adventure with new players (not necessarily provide resources and gear, I understand there is the issue of constantly losing gear when new players you've set up leave). Beyond a new player program, how about a "You're in the real world now buddy" program. Roll with them through The world a little, stand there while they get locked and boshed by a Lich hiding in Brit graveyard, Rez them and give them further hints about their playstyle.

4. This is a bit of a fun one. Play up the characters and personalities of the biggest characters active on the shard. I mean strike me down if I didn't spend a week just stalking Blaise's posts and his clashes with other players and thinking "these are the interactions built on years of involvement in watching this shard grow, and I want to be a part of that". Never play down the importance of the self created server gods; I think they actually give people a goal rather than discourage them from playing.

I know all of this involves time from the existing player base; time that a lot of people don't have or don't feel they should have to spend when they really just want to enjoy the game their own way.

Either way, these are my perceptions so far.

As a new player to the shard:

My friend and myself started in Skara, was our old home along time ago; still has great access to a stable and the moongate.
We didn't check occlo at all.
Found two people macro'n at West Brit' found maybe one or two at a few other banks, as usual found Empath Abby to be surrounded by vendors and checked the prices on gear and where to find a black dye tub on someones steps. *because reasons

We proceeded to do Destination I will take thee's until we could purchase two full spell books then went straight to Destard to farm dragons for a tower. We were run outta there by a red or two, which didn't stop us, and were met by one of their alts that showed us to Ice, which we still get run out of - or killed at, to this day (a week later)
*resist training unnng. (to those that made an attempt to duche me with gxplo's in town - thanks for the gear dingbat)

I didn't run into the occlo 'hub' if I could call it that until about day four. Which was after checking the website, reading the forums.
Funny enough only the bank was really active, but it looked a little different so I gave the town a once over. A man surrounded in dragons re-taught me the camping trick, felt a little silly when I can remember now a guy teaching me the same thing half my life ago. Yet I digress!
Found a spot to the south of the bowyer while searching the island with an alt. It was a sunken cave full of undead, I herded all the weak ones into a corner and gm'd parry in about four hours at the cost of six bucklers and less than three hundred bandages. Figured it was the best darn spot in all of the land as we had already checked the bone knight room and found that Deciet to be a dead dungeon *badabum-tish* forgotten in time and filled with far to much trash, completely devoid of player activity.

Why is any of that relevant? Well, I should have looked into Occlo a little sooner. It may have given us something to do other than just farming dragons and fizzling blade spirits, maybe we would have met some people there, who knows. Things played out as they did.

Experienced players probably don't need to find Occlo and new players should visit the website (more thoroughly).
We attempted our Uo Restart at two other shards before settling into UOR, both of which forced a start in Brittain (I myself didn't like that, I'd feel the same way about Occlo) There is something to be said about *finding- something. especially in UO*

TLDR: I suggest encouraging folks to visit the website; you can focus on finding Occlo from there.
If you do wish to focus on Occlo in game, perhaps give a line of dialogue to the town criers? You're a creative bunch I'm sure you'd come up with something.

Direct the players, dont hold their hands. You're the GM's after all.

Multiple accounts outweigh Occlo.

Worse is finely parked accounts with hiding or tracking, sometimes just the convenience of a well placed house. This contributes to a lower player base. Discussion better suited for another thread though may be at least one spoonfull of what keeps people in Occlo. Or banishes them to the wet.

Nobody likes pop'ups.