I wqs sent this excellent account from The Syndicate....many thanks to them.

There were actually two UO Townhall meetings this past week. There was the one in Seattle on Saturday but there was also one on Friday at EA.


The Syndicate held its annual guild conference from last Thursday through Monday. This year we picked San Francisco as the location. The major highlight of the conference was a tour of EA and a special Townhall hosted by Dragonhead. We wanted to share the highlights of that with the community:

* Touring the UO Development area and meeting many of the development team face to face reinforced to us that EA remains committed to UO.
There is a great deal of work going on.
There are lots of motivated, passionate, energetic people working on the project.
When you walk into an office and it has no character and the people working there seem to hate what they are doing you can sense that and it doesn't give you confidence in the product.
Conversely when you go to an office where people like talking about what they do and the office clearly has character and personality and a positive vibe about it, you can gain confidence.

We gained confidence in UO and in EA from our tour. In fact, we even gained a number of converts to UO from WoW due to what they saw and heard and experienced.

* Sodas only cost 25 cents at EA and Candy is only 35 cents. That really has nothing to do with UO but it was cool. I was amazed how many people will buy a soda just because its a quarter regardless of whether they are thirsty or not.

* The KR client does not get enough praise from enough people, in my opinion. Nick/Dragonhead piloted his way through the client like an expert and seeing him use it that way really gives you an appreciation for the power of it. Yes, it does run slower on some older machines. But on modern machines, it runs really well. And the features that are both in the client and that are coming really give it a major leg up over 2D and bring in more in line with modern MMOs. Some of the coolest things, that not every player realizes include (and none of this is really news to those following KR but alot of players dont follow it as closely as they could):

1) You can pull up a big map of a town. On that map you can see labels of all major locations. You can add your own waypoints to the map and inside the game itself, those waypoints will show up. So you can get visual markers, in the game itself on where to be and where to rally at. That is a really useful feature.

2) Skinning of the game is great. Within 6 hours of that feature going live, a player released a very cool backpack skin that they have already incorporated into one version of the client. So a great deal of cool look and feel features can be added in.

3) The macro/hotkey system is very powerful. It even has built into it the ability to repeat a command 10 times with 1 press so that helps automate many things even more than before.

4) The new female paperdoll is major improvement over the old ones.

5) The Friends List, the ability to send tells and the new chat system bring UO in line with the 'standard' of the industry and give long awaited functionality (now if we could just get Wilki to add a Guild Message of the Day, hehe).

Those are a few of the more cool features of KR. I realize that many of the veteran UOers have years of "muscle memory" on the 2D setup and it is a real pain to overcome that. I am still trying to do that myself. But overcoming it can be worth it to gain the new features. And with each patch they add more features, make it run even better and remove more bugs.

* Stygian Abyss looks to be VERY exciting. I can't wait to see that. Looking at the pictures of the monsters that are likely to be added, you can tell its going to be alot of fun. There are really cool new monsters ranging from easy ones to very hard boss ones. There are new skills coming. There are new weapons and armors coming. We saw one picture of a weapons display that looked really cool. There are new pieces of eye candy for your house like tile sets and displayable items. There is, of course, the Gargoyle Race which also looks very cool. They were evasive on the question of whether there are new rideables likely because decisions of that sort haven't been fully fleshed out and, lets face it, we players take every "well, possibly" to mean "we WILL get this! woohoo!" so being cautious is a necessity.

There are new skills coming including something that crafters will REALLY like. They wouldn't say specifically what it was but asked a question or two about what we would like to see. The implication of the questions and the comments was a skill or a way that allows crafters to create items with powers on them that we want versus the random chance from a runic that exists today. Of course no one flat out said that but reading between the lines that was the way the discussion was headed. Is that vague but specific enough? hehe I don't want anyone to say "but EA promised!" but it certainly sounded like that was an upcoming feature that we would probably see in SA.

And finally there is the new dungeon itself. It is massive. How massive? they wouldn't say. But massive. I get the impression its more like taking an expansion pack sized area and putting it underground more so than it is making a dungeon. I personally think of it almost like taking T2A and all of its events and areas and sinking it below ground. They said it will have linear areas (like say.. a peerless fight where you move through collecting key parts to reach and fight the boss) and nonlinear areas where you can farm.

Any way you slice it, it looks to be truly massive and a very fun expansion. When is it coming out? Some time after the 10th Anniversary but they wouldn't say more than that and from what I heard I couldn't venture and wouldn't want to venture a more specific guess than that.


Thanks again to everyone at EA for allowing is to come and visit. We really appreciate your hospitality and taking time out of your workday to show us around. One funny addendum is that after the tour we were formed up on the grassy field in the middle of the EA campus with the Second Skin movie crew filming and taking a group photo and shouted "Long Live the Syndicate" for the camera. That happened to be right as the president of EA was walking behind the group. Draconi had to stop and explain to him what was going on and why 100+ visitors were shouting on his grassy field.

Nice! Community at it's best!

cool

Hehe, I wish I could've gone myself, but I had to work.

They had over 100+ people attend, which is funny cause it possibly was EA's biggest "townhall" so to speak in terms of numbers, and it was just one guild representing, lol.


Oh and if no one was aware yet, yes I am the SF Squad Leader of LLTS. Just for clarification purposes

Nice to meet you Mercenary

One other thing that we did hear that is worth mentioning (although I forget who said it specifically) was during the tour part of our EA trip... one of our guides mentioned that EA is planning a bunch of marketing for UO around KR and SA in various media outlets. I know there has been a bunch of complaints on the forums over the years for lack of marketing by EA of UO when we all see it for other games. It seems that has been heard and there will be a marketing push before too long which should hopefully bring even more players into the game.

About time on the marketing!

A Special UO Townhall


with 'OUCH' factor

Very Cool , thanks for info..

I liked this part:

Quote:

We gained confidence in UO and in EA from our tour. In fact, we even gained a number of converts to UO from WoW due to what they saw and heard and experienced.

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I definitely liked to see the converts to UO (and the returning of retired UO players from years back) as well. Comments made to me, from those who hadn't been in UO for some time included that people felt like the new KR client made UO look like what they "remembered" Ultima being from years back and that it looked fresh and sharp and very much worth playing. Since we returned from our conference, numerous members of ours have created new accounts or reactivated old ones. For those of us who have been around for years, that is really great to see since it helps re-energize the community as a whole.

One other thing that we did hear that is worth mentioning (although I forget who said it specifically) was during the tour part of our EA trip... one of our guides mentioned that EA is planning a bunch of marketing for UO around KR and SA in various media outlets. I know there has been a bunch of complaints on the forums over the years for lack of marketing by EA of UO when we all see it for other games. It seems that has been heard and there will be a marketing push before too long which should hopefully bring even more players into the game.

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[i]Very interesting reading... thanks for that.

Just one thing though ..

I personally think of it almost like taking T2A and all of its events and areas and sinking it below ground.



The Lost Lands are already underground

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I've found that the hotbar system makes overcoming the muscle memory a LOT easier. You can just look through your spell icons and see what hotkey you bound to a spell or ability. When I change stuff in 2d, it takes me a LOT longer to adapt.

I really need to overcome my fear and start using KR as my main client... maybe I'll make that my goal one weekend.

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Heh - The Dev's had a lot of fun too.

Really enjoyed talking to people at the event and getting to show off our studio.

Dave "CatHat" Brown - UO Character and Environment Artist - EA Mythic

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Out of your whole report this is the most encouraging news of all! Though personally I think they should hold back a bit on the advertising for now as KR is still obviously incomplete and SA isn;t even out yet. Once SA hits they do need to advertise big time! I look forward to see what these various media outlets are as well.


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*OUCH*

How strange.

A single guild gets its' own Townhall, when entire continents are excluded from attending ANY official EA meeting.


I guess that's the price we pay for being unregarded Australasians / Europeans / Asians.

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Er, you do realize they all WENT to EA, not EA coming to them. If you got 100+ people together to all go visit on your own free time, I'm sure you'd get your own town hall too... so yea, don't complain because others were proactive.

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I wonder what the threshold is for a tour of EA? If I take the family to the States on holiday, do you think they'll offer us the same? After all, we've only been playing for 24 years between us.


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This is great news, regardless of the few people who find reasons to hate on everything.




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This isn't a question of hate. It's a case of questioning whether UO can be really considered a global game, when so much of its' marketing is solely US based.


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Exactly Jeremy said in another thread that they donlt have time to give tours all the time..



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Consider the current series of Townhalls: 1 day to fly out; 1 day to do the presentation; 1 day to fly home. Which of the major population centres could not be reached using this timescale? It might result in some jet-lagged developers, but it would do WONDERS for building player confidence in areas of the world that are currently being ignored.



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...if someone has a lot of guildmates in the area to give them a call and they may see if they can set something up. But aye I find it amazing the sheer lengthes people will go to try and complain about something here.


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The last European meeting, (pre-ML), was attended by a lot more than a hundred people. I travelled 350+ miles each way, and plenty of Brits travelled further, not to mention the Scandinavians, Germans, Danes and Dutch. It's time that EA either think about the rest of the world, or stop pretending that UO is a game aimed at anyone outside of North America.

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It really is kinda pathetic.



If this is as reference to the way non-Americans are treated by EA, then I wholeheartedly agree.


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[One upset Aussie there ....tabby ]

There have been folk wanting to kknow why The Syndicate was 'chosen' to visit EA/Mythic HQ.



Possibly this explains it according to one player .

Exactly especially since apparently it was for over a hundred people. Anyway rather then focusing on trying to make the interview look like it is preferential treatment and crap like that how about people actually talk about what was said?

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I hear ya Nick. The behavior around here of lately makes me feel like some people need a time-out or diaper change not sure which though. LOL

Seriously I found The Syndicate's post pretty positive.

BTW, to the whiners hey if you're planning to be in The Redwood, CA area why don't you CALL EA and ask about scheduling a tour hmm?

Alot of companies will do this, Coca-Cola, Frito-Lay, Dr. Pepper, Mrs. Baird's Bread, Owen's Sausage has a Museum (can't enter factory) all those I know about from when I lived Texas. Here in Oklahoma there's the Bluebell Ice Cream(yum free ice cream!), Bama Pie, and Wonder Bread that I can think of off the top of my head. Here's a few around the U.S. Budweiser Brewery(two words..FREE BEER!!!-must 21 or older of course!) -St. Louis, Jack Daniels Distillery-Tennesse(btw, I here you get little bottle of whiskey if your 21 or older), Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream-Vermont, Jelly Belly Candy Co.- California, Hershey's Chocolate-Pennsylvainia, and shoot the US Mint gives tours in Philadelphia,PA (yes you can see them make coin money.)

All these except the mint you have to CALL AHEAD to setup a tour. I'm not sure about Hershey anymore since I believe the factory has been or soon will be moved to Mexcio(NAFTA at work folks ). So I think the whiner-babies need to take a holiday for a while ...I recommend St. Louis a free brewski will improve ya mood!

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[Our very own Admin ,even posted ]

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I don't think it's suspect at all, I think it's great EA gets involved with the community like that
For those who don't remember, they also invited and I believe PAID for reps from leading UO fansites to come out to EA for a tour, as well
From memory, UOpowergamers, markeedragon and stratics staff were invited.

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Hey, they asked
We can't run tours all the time, or we'd get nothing done, but if your guild is going to have a bunch of people in the area, feel free to drop me a line and we can see if we can schedule something.

E. Jeremy Dalberg
UO Community Coordinator
EA Mythic

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Thank you Jeremy! *Hi-fives* Have cold one on me!

SupaWoohoo- Hey I didn't think of Coors! I'd go St. Louis so I could see Grant's Farms as well, home the Budwieser Clydesdales. I love horses!!

I'm not obtuse but I believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt. Every single problem in game isn't the fault of THIS Dev Team. This entire Dev Team hasn't been there the whole 10 years!! If they had I'd have quit a long time ago.
There has been ALOT of personnel changes. ..............

I got their book this last week and have been reading it the last few nights. If nothing else... it should be required reading for guildmasters.

It's good to see EA welcomed them into the EA studios and gave them a full tour.

Hmm, we should get all the UOF'ers together for a tour, I've already been invited a few times.