Shard Activity

Frequent automated events are the scourge of a stable shard. They remove players from the actual game and bring them into a sub-game. The players they attract are typically those seeking instant gratification and they often look to take out their inadequacies and frustrations on new players in the immediate time after they lose and are bounced from the event. I would wager for every player who joins a shard primarily for the automated events, two leave due to the PKing and f@g-calling.

If we're making anecdotal and unjustified claims, I may as well point out that every shard that has had automated events now sucks. 100% of them. This shard does not have automated events, and does not suck. Therefore we must conclude that automated events make shards suck.

Considering you have no skin in the pvp game that I've ever seen, sure. As for the inadequacies and frustration venting, it's already happening all day, every day. Events would be a reprieve from the frequency of murder currently ongoing on UO:R.

I'd take your wager and be confident of a win in saying that overall activity will increase on all fronts and PKing in the field will stay relatively the same, but with more opposition. I remember fielding with huge groups around events and practicing on off-schedule for them with K^A back on UOSA. This was a very exciting and active time in the shard's history and that's the only thing actually missing here.

When they turned it off.....it crumbled.

I have skin in the shard. And I've done these types of events on multiple shards in the past. My experience doing such things has led me to not want to do that stuff here. In the entirety of 2014, I think I've seen just one use of a racist/homophobic/infantile slur directed at me. It's been rather pleasant.

IMO, other shards have crumbled because the events attracted a certain type of player, and when the events were removed they had even more free time to be themselves.

I think dueling events would be a good outlet for many players here. It would attract some assholes but we have had asshats in the past and will continue to have them.

While the events are going on at least PvM will be relatively safe lol

There will be a certain amount of butthurt rage killing directed at those who can't mount a reasonable defense, i.e. miner and bard killing when the event losers are kicked but as I experienced today, it only lasts a little while. (believe me I was in vent for an hour listening to a red hot rant about how PKing is fucked up when directed at bards, miners and other non-pvp temps. After a good long venting session my friend calmed down and at that point I asked him if he would rather play a trammel shard, to which he replied "no".)

Overall having events that promote PvP can be a good thing if PvM and other events are in place to create balance. A good shard offers something for everyone, PvP, PvM and even RPing.

I never implied you don't have skin in the shard. I do however feel that the pleasant times you're experiencing have little to do with the lack of consistent PvP events and more to do with a lower active fielding population in general. If you've experienced such things and you don't want to do them, that's fine. Don't do them.
The shard may have a pleasant community, but I've been seeing, hearing about and occasionally taking part in, that kind of talk since Beta. You're fortunate, sly or rarely interacting if you've managed to only encounter one instance.

Then again, you're not a PK either. That tends to really bring out the best.

As Brymstone points out, the fields were quiet during events so those were also prime time farming hours. Many folks would watch the duels after their matches and before as well too. There were also great PvM games there too with things like Survival that was basically you stuck in a box with spawn coming from the west wall. Regardless, group activities that are fun without all the butthurt of field combat, help people get practice in combat, pvm or otherwise. This then translates to more people feeling ready to handle the growing pains of a fledgling pvper that might actually get out there and fight back against all those murderers that have plagued their childhood memories for 15 years.


Still TLR, Events make parties you can count on and promote a healthy population, in my opinion and experience.

I can somewhat see where Dalavar is coming from in that events remove people from "the game" and the ones currently being run don't result in item loss. So even though I'm pro-scheduled-events there's something to be said for going easy on the events or making it sting to lose them. But I have to confess, I've never played anywhere except here and on OSI so I don't know what the overall effect is on a free shard.

I'm too new to UOR to have any sort of "skin" in the PvP game. I get killed by PKs as I lvl/farm, that's about it. But what I have gathered is that the PvM game play has been solid for the past couple of years. That should mean that there are some players/guilds with access to a good amount of resources. Players could then organize and run their own events. How much resources goes into one of Blaise's FreeResist events? What if that was the prize of a PvP tourney? Or if there are PvP guilds who are finding no one on the field to fight, set a challenge for any 5 to come fight your best 5 for a set amount. Oh and don't recruit everyone who PvPs and plays around the time the rest of your guild plays.

I think in the UO environment the best the actual game staff can do is provide a good PvM atmosphere and allow full looting of bodies when you kill a player. That should provide the basis to create PvP situations. Sure it is mostly Murderer PKs running around looking for PvM farmers, but there is no one stopping those guys from fighting each other.

In games where you can't loot players you have to provide some form of Honor/Currency system and WoW battleground style game play as incentive for PvP. It actually matters when you die/kill here. I don't see why there is need for more incentive. Will it increase server population? Maybe. Will it increase quality of game play? Not necessarily.

We are past the monthly subscription era of gaming. We all play multiple games at the same time. If I want scheduled or organized pvp, I'll load an FPS or RIFT or WarThunder or Planetside or any other of the games designed to have balanced PvP. Lets be honest, UO doesn't have a balanced PvP system. It's a "whoever gets the jump has the advantage and the other guy might just die without having a chance to use an ability" PvP system. That's why everyone runs around in groups and zergs. If this shard starts addressing people's desire for organized PvP, next they will have to address balance issues. Before you know it you get Palladorks and Necromancers and a few months down the road you will hear of a new shard running old school UO rules and you will leave to go there.

I've played on a few free servers. UOGamers used to have 800-1k players on 5 or 6 years ago but they were running poker games during the height of the online poker craze... My guess was half online players were playing poker at any given moment. Whatever the staff on this server has done over the past few years seems to have brought together a decent group of players. Most PKs don't cripple the character they kill and often res them after looting their body. That could have something to do with most teenagers today not being able to look at a 2D game for more than 15 seconds... You also get groups who Earthquake Zerg you inside your house simply because they can, but not that many. Those guys are probably the guys who sucked back in the day when they were solo and are now backed by a guild and are living out their 14 year old boy fantasies....

You guys got a good thing here. I would hate to see it ruined.

The PvP is actually balanced here, which is why two equal fighters can't kill one another unless one screws up or runs out of resources. I also play FPS games and others for a quick battle fix but it's just not Ultima. Everyone runs around and zergs because they can't handle the zomg loss of a few pixels or a few hours of time they'd be retraining if they took statloss. With even playing field PvP events, people have the incentive to come out and practice 1v1/2v2,/CTF (group battle) because there's nothing to lose but your time. It's a fun and mostly relaxing reprieve from the harsh fields of battle.

Think of it like gladiator type events where sure, in ancient Rome plenty of folks killed each other in the streets, but the big fan fare that is still talked about (and has movies about it) were the games.....the games man.

We have been "blessed" with a lull in PK activity except for the random acts of a few, which has allowed the new players a chance to farm up some gold and become somewhat established. This is a good thing and the UO:R staff has done a very good job of giving new players every advantage to do well here.

The implementation of automated tournaments might bring some unsavory types and possibly a few players "we never liked from the beginning" back but I don't feel that it's something, we as a community can't handle.

For those of us who have stayed, we know each other if not "of" one another and interact quite alot on a daily basis through various channels so if a few assclowns do show up and start "ruining" this server I'm sure this community as a whole will deal with them, even if we have to swallow our pride and make some questionable alliances.

Questionable Alliances... a VoP Adventure featuring
Brymstone as Commander of the Disparaging Diatride
A^T as foot soldiers and fodder
Orcs as additional fodder to feed the foot soldiers
Stormhold - To Provide apples and a safe haven for the opposing army to sign their surrender
et al. (this encompasses everyone else whom I couldn't think of a clever thing to say about them because my attention for this response just ran out)

Oh God I forgot all about Stat Loss!!!!!!! I can't believe there are actual Murderers!!!! Next time one of them kills me, I will invite him over to my house and give him some extra money from a previous farm session just for doing what he does and making the game worth playing.

I like the Rome analogy Blaise and I like Brymstone's belief that the server would basically band together to regulate itself in the face of a new PK threat. Being new here, like the original poster, I am trying to see if the server will be worth the time investment.

Of course the nasties are going to come back around but what is a world without every part of the spectrum, from the worst to the best (reversed depending on perspectives).

We absolutely have the strongest communal ties to thwart real evil in the long term and I guess I like to think that more good nature pvm types might dabble in pvp through events, which may turn them into bringers of justice to the wicked, or turn them wicked themselves.

2 tournaments a week is far from "frequent automated events." UOSA was primed when they had automated events on and OFF the event floor. What you saw crumble on that server was a result that took place once the events were removed. The pvp activity literally imploded upon itself and eventually came to what it is today: nothing. Those who are advocating against this are taking this a little too dramatically. This isn't some daily ritual that takes away from the game, but rather gives a little fun incentive for the pvp community to have some fun activity that brings them together and encourages interaction which usually promotes outside activity. Look at how many pvm events there have been since server inception - and yet the only pvp event was a player held one which is now gone. This isn't a bad thing. Just wait to see it in action and after a few months we'll see what kind of pros or cons are yielded.

Any fears of this drawing nefarious type players that might add a negative detriment in terms of grief or pking is merely a "trammel" type fear that seems to potentially hinder your otherwise hassle free pvm endeavors in game. Using that type of mentality is actually contrary to the sandbox design that ultima was originally created to be that brought a high risk/reward atmosphere which included players of all types, be it virtuous characters or griefing asshats.

Edit: you can argue that it draws away from game play, but I would encourage you to take a look around for a moment (in game), and explain to me what in game pvp activity is actually being drawn from? Apart from occasional brief faction fighting, or a few select pkers, there really isn't any aspect of in game pvp activity that will suffer from this - at all.

Me boy, ya got it wrong. The reason us assholes make it back to UO is in its nature. It has the best PVP in any MMO I've played. And I've played a shitload for a lot of years. Take your 700 points, and find a way to fuck up the other guy(s). Beat guys down 2-1 numbers cause you dropped well, healed, and positioned right.

The reason everyone runs around in groups and zergs is because that's what it takes to truly hold the field. It's not exactly my playstyle (but it's close, CoM rolls pretty deep), but daemons and numbers seem to pull it off. I respect the Minax crew cause they're pretty much always game to meet and scrap, down a guy or not. I'm not saying I'm any good, my best PVP moment last week was when I logged on late to a fight already in progress (cause when someone on voice says 'fight' I say 'WHERE SON ') , I died, and had rezzed in this field fight at Ice Dungeon entrance. I happened to find my horse alive near my corpse. Got spotted by a Claypool, hauled ass around the north circle of Ice with about 8 HP. Sensing a trap at the entrance, i turned into the OLs who dropped me like a wet paper bag. Saved me from losing a point to the would be rezkiller (though my own fault for rezzing in those circumstances).

jLeem said it best one night on our way out of a 3(4) on 4. 'SL are terrible, terrible people." lmao

Not sure if we actually disagree with one another. I said people hang in zergs because the game mechanics kind of forces them to do so to succeed and you said the same thing was true "if you want to hold the field". I say it isn't "balanced" because it was never meant to be. That's the 700 points deal you are talking about. And you are right no other game has really done that. The rest of the games out there are "balanced" which really does take the fun out of it. By balance in the game mechanics I mean each class/character having a relative chance against any other based on gear and level and whatnot. You know, classic WoW... Darkfall was close. I just got into it a little late and didn't have time to play it much. And the lack of a targeting system was just out of whack. Anyway, I digress.

I've played a lot of MMOs over the years too. I have never ever been any good at PVP in UO. Didn't have the time and devotion required to get good at it. But I would still rather play on a Fel only shard. I want that element of danger as I farm. Otherwise there are way better single player adventure games to play than MMOs. Better graphics. Better storyline. When the game is finished you just move on to something else instead of mindless repettetive daily quests, dungeons, and PvP scenarios. UO is a true sandbox. It makes every in-game experience unique. But there is a balance that is required between PvM and PvP gameplay to keep a server active. You need mature PvP players who know causing unnecessary grief to PvM players they hunt down hurts their own gameplay in the long run. Or u basically end up with Fel on OSI. No one farming in fear of getting killed. And tanked out PvP characters chasing each other from one end of the world map to the other without being able to kill each other.

All of that being said, I do retract my original position against scheduled PvP events. 2-3 times a week, they probably won't hurt anybody. They may actually encourage more of a turnout and enhance people's experience who normally don't engage in group PvP like myself.

Let This Be As Rome. My Axer has 95.something magic Resist thanks to the last Freesist Party and almost 80 LJ since that actually requires work. But he is as ready as he is ever gonna be! Think of Private Joker's War Face. Ya that's right.

Yeah, I'm not sure you've spent enough time fielding here to see the balance I guess. You can take any of the dozen some-odd templates for PvP here and 1v1 until you're blue in the face. The only way someone dies in a 1v1 is by a slip-up or lack of resources. That is the best example of balance I've ever seen in a game. Sure, a nox fencer is brutal in a 1v1 but if you've got the resources (plenty of cure pots) they probably won't kill you if you know what you're doing.

People zerg because it assures a victory more often than not. If you want fair fights with balanced numbers (not templates, see above), you'll have to ask for them or just hope you get lucky bumping into folks in the field.

Unlike prior eras where specific templates were 'the' template to run, UO:R has a ton of great templates for a healthy variety and not a single one is truly greater than the next to the point where 'everyone' runs that template.

OK. I will put it into perspective for you.

Imagine you're always kind of a side gamer. Play in spurts when you have time, but often have to work and do other things as you game over the last 10-12 years. Every few years, you and a few friends jump on an established UO server you hear about and have a go at it. But you play in spurts, rarely have time to play together and whatnot due to life situations, so it takes a while to gather initial resources and lvl characters and stuff. While you do that, you face one sided PvP situations where you are engaged in some PvM activity and you get jumped by a mage who hits you for 80% of your life with his first assault. What would your concept of PvP be? I mean that is a bit of an exaggerated perspective, Razor has made things a lot easier over the years. But I don't know if you can understand this but just the thought of programing hot keys for spells for a mage is giving me a headache. I don't have it that bad, I only have a fiance to deal with, my friend Tom (Bohemund) has 3 kids under 5 years of age... So when the poor guy is asking for someone to open the goddamn Provoke House door, someone please let him in. He has a short window of opportunity before a toddler requires his attention.

That is why I am liking this place. I have only seriously been playing for the last month while I recover from Knee surgery but during that time, from my own and my friends' experience, the PK has never been bad enough to call Griefing. I don't remember what server it was, but I left one after a whole gang of people PKed me, tagged my bonded Mare onto a boat, killed the Mare and took its ghost to the middle of the water just to kill time. I wasn't upset about losing the Mare all that much. It wasn't my best one. I just didn't want to be Game for those kinds of people... I wasn't willing to put in the effort to make it challenging for them. That was the bottom line.

Our type of people still play this game too. It's not just the Pure Hardcore Old School UO Players. Other games are much easier to play for our lifestyle. But deep down we know these are the real game mechanics that you should play within when it comes to an MMO. So we come every few years, we stay for a while. Eventually life gets complicating and you don't have time to log for two weeks and your house decays... It's really hard to rebuild from that. But I digress.

Yeah, I honestly have no idea where you're going with that or how it pertains to the topic of balanced combat here or zergs. No shit if you go out and PvM with an unfinished character you're getting smoked by someone who's rolling a finished character. That's not a combat scenario, it is an assault scenario. Had you been on a built PvP character, it would have been balanced.

Yes, I understand we're all older and some folks have more time at the keys than others. Personally I've gotten serious about UO in the last few years and while I enjoy some PvP, I'm not about that life. lol I just PvP when I feel like it and even I can tell the field is as balanced here as I've ever seen in games, outside of like Call of Duty where everyone's got the same shit all the time.

Anyway, not sure what your point was but the shard's got room for everyone and every play style or time allotment and PvP templates are all well balanced presently.

haha Sorry I will admit I originally was thinking WoW style battlegrounds - something repeated and ongoing throughout the whole night - when "organized pvp events" were mentioned. I didn't like that idea and spoke out against it. That isn't the scenario that was in mind here so I have since retracted my stance on it. My other posts have been aimed to support the quality of players and gameplay on the server. I have tried to show from a new player's perspective that the trickle down effect is a decent environment for new players to level in and gather resources.

Dalavar brings up a very good point and has evidence to support it. I would rather players make their own tournaments as opposed to a daily automated event. Liberation's Friday Night Fights were awesome and felt more 'authentic' because they were run by an actual player. Everyone learned to be polite and respect each and every participant, which I think bred a sort of camaraderie amoung all of us. A trust.

I really think we will see an increase in players, but I see it as short lived because it will degrade from the other things that this shard is about. I really want you to think closely about all the additions coming out that take away from the authenticity of our world. Is it realistic (as realistic as a fictional universe can be) for some power unknown to teleport you to a location and pit you up against somebody to fight and then rank you? Are we all robots? Further does it make sense for someone to sign a guilds charter from the depths of a dungeon? Or should they actually have to go to a guild stone and chisel their name in (I REALLY HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THIS)?

As for the CTF, do I ever love this game, I think in this aspect of automation you are still creating a sense of belonging and teamwork among the player base which is always good. I do not see this as a problem and should be weekly to have people log in.