Ditto, Mum - I super hope I get to play the beta!!! I wonder how they choose those people?

For ML it was first some first serve for the "Open Beta." Closed Beta people are *I think* chosen first by how many bug reports they have sent in...

I was realy suprised by the fact that UO would get another upgrade! and to me it looks beautiful. How many uo users are there?? ther has to be some, since they still keep updating the content, and does a major upgrade of the client like this.!

I agree with you totally Adam, I've tried 3D it's not for me ever.

Right now I prefer the 2d look. I'm willing to give KR a shot tho. Can't know if I like it or not unless I try it!

historically, the beta players have been a nod in the direction of QA. Only major game play issues were ever addressed .( I was Uo Third dawn beta tester, and trust me, we ALL noted the problems that exist even now). All other observations are filed under "future fix' and wind up in the gaping QA "Black Hole".

Beta is awesome, because the loot rate is often really high. I was getting 10 super slayers a day in Ilsh when we first started playing.

Of course, that does not take into account the "drowning" probelm, where you would fall through the floor, or the stuck in place problem. Often, you had to log back in on the 2d client, which automagically booted you out of Ilsh, back to a moongate. However, this process (suggested by QA) , resulted in a "help I'm Stuck" count on your account. I was once turned down for a rescue by a GM when I was TRULY stuck because o the amount of these I had to do in the Beta.

Since this is a beta for the new client, and does not include a discrete server area that grants access control ( like moongate menu for Ilsh), I am guessing that closed beta will be via direct connect to an internal server, then open beta will be on a special Test Center publish. No beta testing on production shards for this one.

well.. that sounds the wisest to do. And it seems to me that they have more resources available for this client update then the desperat atempt with UO3d. There are some major diffrent between UO3d And UO:KR (from what i have seen on the screens).

UO3d didnt event looked good comparing to the standard when it came out..

One of the things that will keep people away form a new client isnt the fact its soo bad compared to the 2d client.. its that its probably much harder (or impossible) to cheat with macros in the new client... so people stick with the hackish 2dclient. If the gamedev could got focuse on only one client then patching and bug fixing would be more focused.. right now its double work. All in all.. its a smart move from UO-team.

Give them a chance.. they are actually trying to improve the game experience!

i watched the videos from youtube and my hubby plays WoW and we played DAoC so yeah i see alot of it going into UO but at the same time i think this is the best idea going for them ... the way i think of it is this..... a beautiful 1800 house the foundation is distroyed cracks and all... you can move the house piece by piece to a new foundation .... and the house survives .... well i think thats what they are trying to do how many bugs out there how many exploits how many screw ups .... alot have been lost in the foundation of the older clients .... so if they move it to a new one and start from scratch for the foundation it would make it easyer to find the problems and fix them.... now mind me i can be totally wrong but thats just logic .... we shall see but so far they have my support.....

You all know that playing uo needs a LOT of Macros. Im used to qwerty.. ,asdfg.. and zxcvb.. macroes using em with ctrl and alt makes me a LOT of possibilities for quick reacting and as well intuitive controlling my char. I would be very dissapointed if i couldnt use em as i do it now. it would be great if: hotbars could be linked to the key lines of the keyboard like qwert - 1rst bar and so on. In my opinion using F1-F12 for spell macroes or whatever is so uncomfortable. Anyways im also looking forward to see and play the new client ;] to see uo in the new, better way!

I cant wait myself for the new client, I think it looks awesome, it will be nice to set a higher resolution than what we have now, it looks stupid on my 19" monitor. The graphics in KR look great. It will also be nice not to have to use macro's for every move in UO

The macro system today has its strength. and i think people should be able to customize buttons to match their current setup. but for many people this macrosystem is just a big hazle.. i hope they come up with a good predefined macro-hotbutton system. and then let the hardcore players redefine it.

No kidding about the higher resolution, can't wait to have it well above 800x600. I like the idea of hotbars, and I'll probably use at least one myself for some of my newer macros that're tough to remember - but I want most of my macros to remain invisible as they do now, and to be able to keep my black area around the game window where I usually put peoples health bars for fighting and such.

Really do hope we get the option for a legacy-style interface in those ways. I'm glad Kingdom Reborn is coming, but I'm just not going to be able to play it properly if the above and other vital things like the macro system not sucking (compared to UOAssist) or it being properly playtested don't happen. Would be fantastic to see the hotbars able to be turned on, off or whatever so you can range from classic UO style to full on WoWbie style if you so wished.