We all know that the developers have the ability to turn things off in the game... they show it or say it constantly in patches to the servers... added such and such but is not live or not turned on yet...

With mods on weapons just turn off everything except for damage increase.. on armors turn off everything except for defence chance increase...

one skill would need to be altered to work like it once did.. magic resist... turn everything skill and special related off that came with AOS and after......

they have numerous test shards sitting around.. think they had 5 or 6 at one point... just throw the altered code on it and let it run for 6 months or a year and see how it goes....

least then the players that dream of the good old days would get a chance to taste it a bit again.... wont be exact but enough to show if history would repeat


EDIT: obvious it could contain the new land masses or they could not have malas, Ilsh or tokuno if they wanted it that way...

I basically agree with Warsong's sentiment's. RPers were fleeing UO because of the non-stop PKing, those were the same people that were the force behind the player-run events, player-run towns. And the old lands should definately been setup as Trammel, I think that the biggest mistake Origin/EA ever made with UO.

Also personally, I just don't see folks leaving free shards (some of which are run very nicely) to come back to a pay to play situation. Human nature says if I can get it for free, why pay.

IMHO, of course.

Oh and yeah I been playing since beta in August 1997 with no breaks. Well actually a coup;le of weeks off from beta end till I got my collectors edition of the game.

It's always interesting to see what former UO players have to say about UO... a significant change of pace from all the glitter spoken by current players (and yes, in some ways even the complainers). With that said, all I can say about "old UO", despite not having been there though having experienced it (pre-Trammel) in slightly altered forms, is that it had it's good side and it's bad side, and over time these good attributes were exchanged for different good attributes (though you won't hear about them from me) and it's bad attributes were exchanged for different bad attributes.

As far as legacy shards are concerned, it's possible. If a community of devoted fans can recreate old UO, so too can a large company like EA, no matter what they say. Should they, though? I say no. UO already has everything it needs to be great.

I've come to believe that at this point, there's no way to truly restore the "old glory", but I firmly believe that if people would understand the value that a complex, in-depth, open, immersive and dynamic world has on a community, they maybe... possibly.... conceivably..... UO could regain it's immersiveness and open new doors to smarter PvM, challenging PvP among other things that would really be the foundation for better communities; and that is the ultimate focus.

I do not disagree with you ziggy,

They could/can/have done something like that.

I was just trying to list all the reasons that I recall EAMythic giving over the years as to why a "old school/classic" server is not going to happen.

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they have numerous test shards sitting around.. think they had 5 or 6 at one point... just throw the altered code on it and let it run for 6 months or a year and see how it goes....
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And if they did something like you suggested above? If they just let it run? Could you hear the screams from people if it was not updated/patched/new pixel crack added? Just asking.

Silverfoot, thanks for agreeing with me and if you read my post, thanks.
I had not realized I ran on for so long. But once I got up on the old soapbox, the letters kind of flew off my fingers...

updates for what? folks claim they want the old UO... so they need to live it... say also remove skill and stat locks while they are at it...remove pet bonding and obviously insurance...

if its done with all the current land masses... what else is needed for content? if its the same server code we have now with just the properties Ive said above turned off... no new bugs outside of whats there....

Folks want a classic... so they claim... EA should give it too them so they will shut up about how much better it was back then... let them see pking go unchecked. let them see ya cant do jack with out someone messing with you in one way or another...it would take a bit of time but not much Im thinking for folks on such a shard to start bailing back to their "Home" shards...

Look I will try to give you an example,

Lets say they do what you wish - presto - One classic server -(not going to get into what version)

It still needs to be maintained/patched - not for the new skills/abilities you are right.

But people would still want things like the valentine day cards, christmas gifts,
the halloween events, treasures of tokuno etc... you know the things that do not change the "old school" mechanics/game play just things people have gotten use too and are quite fun, well received.

Also they would still have to maintain it with updates to repair bugs that were present back then, some of those bugs are still with us today. Also optimized the server so it runs as well as possible. There is quite a bit of work behind the screen so to speak, that we as players never see that allows us to log in and play on the server. So there would have to be assigned staff that know the quirks of the server, for the lack of a better term, to keep it up and running.

I do not disagree with you, I think a "classic" server could be done. But I know it will not be do. I am not advocating a "classic" server I never have.

Question why give a "classic" shard such things as the treasures of tukuno? I can see the cards and pumpkins. At best there traded or used for deco. But the treasures would bring "items" back into the game

Vepl

I was just trying to point out that people are going to want things/events that were not around during the "classic" times. That does not change game play.

If you want to pick over the tot event - I would put it in like this, the decor items would be available only - no new weapons, no weapons for turned in minor, just the decro majors.

I was just trying to address ziggy's question what would have to be updated/maintained.

Besides how ever you define "classic" you are going to have items in the game anyway. Even if its a supremely accurate silver heavy crossbow of vanquishing.
It just about the way it is stated now.

Forgot about the decor items from ToT . Good point

Vepl

Even if it's a "classic", they will be paying and therefore expect, additions, new content in some shape or form. I just don't see the company providing the resources. They have a hard enough time with the differences on Siege/Mugen vs regular shards. I just don't see it ever happening, besides I prefer the resources they do have be used for improvement of the game in it's current form. *shrugs*

I would like them to admit they screwed up royaly then revert to Pre AoS then add the AoS changes that they poorly implemented and start over from there. I loved the idea of AoS but why they had to change the WHOLE game system?!?! (Insurance, weapon stats etc). Stupid. They shot themselves in the foot. Seems like this whole thing was just a bad beta since AoS. In my opinion the game is dead and so I move on.

Edit: But I love these boards ;) and I do hope one day that the people who run UO realize what they have in their hands.

It's all well and good to be nostalgic and wish you were 13 years old again, but at the time, being 13 was a pain in the butt and you always wished you were grown up.

It's the same with UO. I played before Trammel and I quit UO because of that fact. After 7 years, I came back and I love it how it is now. It is so much better in so many other ways that it makes the "carebearification" of some aspects acceptable.

Remember when we could only have 10 or so specific house templates, most of which were small, single room houses? And even then, it took you weeks to save up the gold you needed to buy one. Oh, and that's if you could find a free spot somewhere in the world. You want a tower? Forget it.
Remember when there were no cool looking, rare deco items? Remember when the only mounts in the game were plain, normal horses? Remember when there were no runebooks? No Chiv, necro, bushido, spellweaving, ninjitsu; and spirit speak only let you talk to ghosts?

Instead of being nostalgic and wishing for the old days, try to remember some of the bad days you had as well as the good ones; the good changes as well as the bad. It'll balance out your memories and make you miss the "old days" a bit less I think and enjoy your present days.