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Crowfall's Gordon Walton on how Trammel impacted classic Ultima Online
With Ultima Online's second expansion in 2000 (yes, 2000) came a copy of the world, a facet called Trammel where non-consensual PvP was forbidden. Ever since, the current and former UO community has debated whether this was a brilliant or terrible move. Now we have the word from former Executive Producer Gordon Walton, who discussed Trammel on the Crowfall forums. "I regret some (but not all) of the outcome," Walton began, going on to explain that the rampant PvP was driving away over 70% of new players to UO. The creation of Trammel doubled the playerbase, but he said that it disenfranchised the hardcore PvPers who now had to prey on each other instead of PvEers. "I also learned from my UO experience that it's really hard to change a brand," he wrote. "Inherent in the UO brand was the fact it was a gritty, hard core world of danger. We were not successful in bringing back the (literally) hundreds of thousands of players who had quit due to the unbridled PvP in the world (~5% of former customers came back to try the new UO, but very few of them stayed). We discovered that people didn't just quit UO, they divorced it in a very emotional way. But we did keep more of the new players that came in by a large margin, significantly more than than the PvP players we lost."
Dark Age of Camelot takes aim at group finder and bug fixes
An end-of-the-year community Q&A at Dark Age of Camelot revealed that the team has a lot on the docket for Patch 1.117, including the long-awaited casual group finder and a heap of bug fixes. "We think that focusing our development resources on bug fixing for an entire patch cycle is something that hasn't been done in a long time and is something that will make everyone's gameplaying experience that much better!" Broadsword posted. Other topics discussed include freeing up space in quest logs, plans to update the patcher, and ideas to help out starter guilds. The Q&A even revealed that there will be "official Broadsword player reps" and "scheduled raids of all sorts" for trial accounts, although details on those will be coming later.
Ultima Online publish brings holiday gifts, veteran rewards
You might forgive 17-year-old Ultima Online for long stretches between patches, but fortunately, you don't have to. The antique sandbox's Halloween event is now over, being replaced yesterday with a new patch that ushers in the winter holiday event and its attendant gifts. This year, Santa's bringing us a fireplace, a plant grinder, a power scroll book, and "a steam powered beverage maker that can be used in conjunction with the cooking system to create new items listed in the 'Beverage' section of the cooking menu." Yum. The update also includes a new monthly game hunting competition sponsored by the Skara Brae Ranger's Guild, with special hunter-themed rewards like a new title and weapon. PvPers can look forward to a new leaderboard to track PvP progress in the still-fresh vice-vs.-virtue PvP system, and long-term players will find new veteran rewards are available, including new statuettes for youngish accounts, an ethereal hell hound mount at the 15-year-mark, and a sewing machine and smithing press for sevenbies.
Ultima Online dares you to seek the Treasures of Doom
Ultima Online's publish 87 arrives on all shards today, bringing with it Halloween gifts as well as a fresh round of 17th anniversary gifts meant as an apology for their tardiness. The patch introduces a new Halloween event, Treasures of Doom, which funnels players into the dungeon Doom. Artifacts collected inside the dungeon can be traded to new NPC researchers stationed outside in return for brand-new titles and loot items, including named lanterns, unique slayer bonus buffs, and several pieces of high-end gear. The update also installs bug fixes for the vice vs. virtue PvP system, trade quests, and enhanced client. The game's standard trick-or-treating events run until November 19th, while the Treasures of Doom promotion continues until December 1st and won't resume again until Halloween next year.
Dark Age of Camelot grants accounts free playtime for its birthday
Like its sibling Ultima Online, Dark Age of Camelot is currently welcoming old players back with free account time just in time for its October anniversary. Unlike UO, though, DAOC's Come Back to Camelot promotion extends to the most ancient of accounts and runs for two weeks only: All accounts that were inactive on or before September 24th, 2014 are eligible for 13 free days! Simply login to the account center, re-subscribe, and the 13 free days will be applied to your account automatically! This campaign will run until October 31st. Broadsword Online also touted a hot fix that permits a dozen previously unrollable race/class pairings. If you've ever wanted a Troll Warlock or Sylvan Champion, now is the time.
Return to Britannia campaign starts tomorrow in Ultima Online [Updated]
For the entire month of October, Ultima Online will be running another Return to Britannia campaign in the hopes of luring both the old guard and the new generation for the game's 17th anniversary. From October 1st through the 30th, former players will be able to return to the game for free, mirroring previous Return to Britannia events. There's a lot to celebrate in UO these days above and beyond its birthday. The game recently implemented its Publish 86 with the vice vs. virtue system, added more sea adventures, and is working on a new UI for the enhanced client. You can check out video of the 17th anniversary festivities after the break. [Update: Players are reporting that the Return to Britannia campaign is not resurrecting very old accounts.]
Dark Age of Camelot builds statues of King's Tournament champions
Have you ever fancied the notion of having a giant in-game statue erected in your honor? This egotistical dream may come true for you in Dark Age of Camelot... if you are one of the winners of the October's King's Tournament. This brand-new event in DAoC kicks off tomorrow to commemorate the game's 13th anniversary. Each of the three realms will be tracking RvR stats for everyone in the game, and at the end of the month the top two players from each realm will be crowned champion. These six winners will have a statue of their character constructed in their realm's capital city. To track the progress of the tournament, players can check out an in-game leaderboard which will be updated on an hourly basis.
Dark Age of Camelot passes the torch to a new producer
It's a season of change over at Dark Age of Camelot, as the team is transitioning from former producer Talal Saad to the new one, John Thornhill. Saad said that he's not leaving the studio, but moving into a role that oversees more than just one game. "Rather than serving at the helm of one particular game, my responsibility will be to act as advocate and to use my time and energy to focus on how Broadsword can have a bigger impact, provide more investment, and achieve greater success for multiple products," he wrote. Thornhill introduced himself as the former lead designer for DAoC and outlined what the team would be focusing on for the future. He said that there are plans for the game's 13th anniversary (including new race and class pairings), the release of patch 1.116 around the end of November, the increase to champion level 15, an addition of a casual group finder, and more interaction with the community. "Our focus is going to be updating and modernizing the user experience of Dark Age of Camelot for the foreseeable future," Thornhill promised.
Richard Garriott becomes Lord British again for Ultima Online's 17th anniversary
On September 24th, 1997, Ultima Online opened its doors, forever changing the MMORPG landscape. That was 17 years ago today, and that means it's time for cake and ice cream! Just make sure to check that cake for deadly poison. Poisoning cake and giving it to unsuspecting passers-by is actually a thing you can do in this crazy sandbox. Wanna celebrate? UO Stratics reports that the Broadsword team is hosting an in-game party tomorrow evening with some notables from UO's history in attendance. Join me for a live, in-game event on TC1 September 25th 2014 at 7pm ET! Meet Richard "Lord British" Garriot and Starr "King Blackthorn" Long at Castle Blackthorn to celebrate Ultima Online's 17th Anniversary! The anniversary parties are always a blast (Thanks to the Dark Lady). This year will be very special as both Lord British and King Blackthorn will join us. If you can't attend, it will be shown on youtube . It will also be streamed live on http://www.twitch.tv/stratics. A post on the official site also welcomes the new patch we covered last week and a new player Advisor program similar to the old Counselor program made famous in the game's early days.
Vice vs Virtue PvP system arrives on Ultima Online's test center
In testing now on Ultima Online's test server is publish 86.3, better known as the Vice vs Virtue patch. You remember the virtues, those iconic and ambiguous philosophical principles guiding the Avatar? OK, now forget all that because peeveepee, guys. Yes, Vice vs Virtue is a a new system designed to bring a fresh version of Order and Chaos consensual PvP -- any PvP, really -- to landmasses that are currently PvE, including Trammel and most of the expansion territories launched in the last forever. The opt-in faction-based system brings the battle to the core cities of the game and rewards participants with a special currency that can be traded for everything from mounts and artifacts (gear) to murder pardons and hair dye. Look, UO players take their hair dye very seriously. The patch also introduces new trader quests to the game and revamps dungeon loot spawns to encourage ventures to the open-PvP Felucca facet. The devs have invited players to help stress test the systems this afternoon.
Dark Age of Camelot patch spruces up keeps and relic raids
Patch 1.115c went live on Dark Age of Camelot's servers today, bringing with it a slew of changes to the game's relic raids, keep art, and New Frontiers system. Players will log in to discover that relics are back in the possession of relic temples, bringing back the old raid mechanics for a new age. To steal a relic, teams have to open up certain relic milegates first and then plunder the item from its respective keep. Keeps have also received a visual upgrade and can be captured and upgraded by the three factions. There are several new RvR quests as well as plenty of fixes for bugs that may vex ye, so check out the patch notes and give the updated classic MMO a whirl!
Dark Age of Camelot adjusting New Frontiers again
Sometimes adjustments seem like a good idea right up until they're implemented. That's the case with Dark Age of Camelot's recent changes to New Frontiers. The game's most recent producer's letter states that they were made and quickly proved to not have the desired effects, which means that several elements need to be tweaked and re-balanced. This includes several rollbacks -- Relics will return to Relic Temples, docks will be returned to their original location, and players will no longer be able to port to shore-keeps. The updates to the game in the near future won't be limited to PvP, however, as the development team is also looking for ways to spruce up PvE content by modernizing mechanics and adding in new loot. In the longer term, there are also plans to revamp the game's LFG interface and provide a Champion Level increase. Check out the full producer's letter for all the details.
Ultima Online overhauls factional PvP in publish 86
Broadsword Online has announced that Ultima Online's publish 86 will arrive on the test server this evening. Notably, the patch includes the first phase of the game's new Vice vs Virtue system, a massive ground-up rework of the existing faction PvP system intended to bring rewarding, objective-based PvP back to the cities. The update also features a new trading-based quest system, new property generation mechanics for spawned loot, and a refreshed Cleanup Britannia vendor. Check out the complete patch notes on the official site. If you're a former player thinking of dropping by your old haunt to see how it's doing, recall that last month, the developers hinted at a return-to-UO promotion coming in August.
Dark Age of Camelot brings back character and guild searches
Looking for a particular person or group in Dark Age of Camelot? Fortunately for you, Broadsword has made it that much easier to track those people down for a hopefully not-at-all-creepy reunion. The devs announced that they have brought back character and guild searches to DAoC. Currently, these searches are limited to the Ywain server but will expand to other servers in the future. The team also said that it's going to be adding more in-game lists for realm point earners and champions of the realm in the near future. Character and guild search used to be in DAoC until Mythic took it down several years ago.
Ultima Online patch delayed because of Mythic shutdown
While last month the Broadsword Online team reassured players of its games that they would not be affected by the shutdown of Mythic Entertainment, Ultima Online Producer Bonnie "Mesanna" Armstrong has admitted today that update 86, originally slated for July, has been delayed until at least mid-August. "The shutdown of the Mythic Studio [...] has caused us to move the rest of our build machines from that office to the office in Herndon before we were expecting," she wrote in her producer's letter today. "So that has caused a delay in our publish time." But there's also some good news for players of the veteran MMO. Here's some of what Armstrong says the team is currently working on: a new trade quest to acquaint players with the world, new Clean-up-Britannia rewards, a new interface for the enhanced client (helped along by a well-known player modder), a revamp of the Advisor program (what used to be called the Counselor program), revisions to the global loot system, anniversary rewards for the game's 18th birthday in September, and a return-to-UO promotion for former players in August. Armstrong also notes that the UO team is looking to hire an engineer and site designer.
Working As Intended: The forgotten fields of Green Acres
My first trip to Ultima Online's Green Acres was in 1998. The first guild I'd ever joined had just split up into a bunch of... let's call them "philosophically incompatible" groups, and I was still hanging out with some of the shadier types because I was a clueless teenager in my first MMO and wanted desperately to fit in and hadn't yet figured out where I belonged. "Hit this rune," my new guild leader commanded. His favorite murderin' weapon was a poisoned warfork. He was not a nice man. "I'm being evicted from my safehouse in Green Acres. Help me move my crap."
Mythic closes, 'end of an era' for former MMO studio
We saw this coming, but it doesn't make it any less regrettable: Long-time MMO studio Mythic Entertainment has been shut down by EA. "We are closing the EA Mythic location in Fairfax, Virginia, as we concentrate mobile development in our other studio locations. We are working with all impacted employees to provide assistance in finding new opportunities, either within EA or with other companies via an upcoming job fair," EA told Kotaku. Former Mythic lead Josh Drescher tweeted his reaction to the news: "Condolences to everyone at Mythic today. It's the end of an era, but you were all part of something amazing." Mythic shuttered Warhammer Online last December, while Ultima Online, Dark Age of Camelot, and many Mythic developers moved over to Broadsword Online Games this past February.
The Daily Grind: What's the nastiest player behavior you've ever seen in an MMO?
It was early 1998, and I had been playing Ultima Online only a few short months. A male character with an offensive name approached me and began harassing my toon, using a quick succession of emotes to simulate something that I suppose to him looked like pelvic thrusts as he informed everyone at Serpent's Hold bank, including my not-at-all-amused guildies, that he was "raping" me. I think I was too astonished to be upset, and my guildies immediately called a GM, who arrived swiftly, renamed the miscreant "George," and whisked him off to prison. It didn't scar me for life or anything; I was already accustomed to rampant murder and thievery and espionage. But it was a brutal introduction to online behavior (and probably a brutal introduction to online justice for the character suddenly known as George). Curiously, that lame attempt at faux "rape" paled in comparison to the extreme psychological warfare and character defamation that I saw presumably much more mature roleplayers employ in later games. That, I found far more emotionally disturbing. How about you guys -- do you have a memory of a really nasty display of online behavior in an MMO? What's the worst you've ever seen? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Dark Age of Camelot plans New Frontiers tweaks, player polling
Broadsword Online continues its push to revitalize the veteran games it took over from EA earlier this year, including Dark Age of Camelot. The studio recently released yet another question-and-answer session with players, this time focusing on the new New Frontiers patch and ending with a soaring explanation of what makes the game so great after a dozen years. Some of the highlights: There are plans to revamp PvE after the New Frontiers content is properly tweaked. First on the PvE list is the top 10% most rewarding and difficult encounters. On the flipside, the devs agree there's too much PvE emphasis in the RvR Frontiers. The team is still looking at incentives for keep, tower, and relic defense. Shards will not be usable in housing zones. Legendary weapon updates are still on the table. Finally, there's a note that the game will ultimately benefit from in-game polling systems as opposed to relying on feedback from just the vocal minority of players. "You will be heard. Count on it," Broadsword promises.
Dark Age of Camelot plans character transfer service and new art
Dark Age of Camelot's grab bag -- written by Sir Grabford B. Bagsworth III Esq., no less -- is back, and at the top of the most pressing questions is the issue of character transfers. Broadsword said that these are indeed in the works: "We would like to provide the opportunity to allow consolidation. This will be among the many updates and upgrades to the Broadsword account center that is currently underway. Currently, it's planned as a premium service –- but there are no details on the prices as yet." Broadsword mentions how art improvements have been going in the game following the studio's acquisition of DAoC. "We have renewed investment in this area, and we're really excited about updating art for various features in DAoC. Things we're currently discussing are: fixes for art-related bugs, new maps, UI skins, new items, monsters, and more!" Other topics in the grab bag include the return of in-game surveys, the status of the new website, and details of the next patch. The studio teased that it will be adding "a new long-term live event with a very cool surprise" with the update.
