So about Ultima Online and EverQuest

[Dunes]

Originally Posted by indiscriminate_hater [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

UO was the wild west of online gaming. To date the most fun and nerve wracking game I have played. So much scamming and thieving and murdering. You could lose months of work in a matter of seconds

Exactly!

First "real" MMO that I played was "The Realm Online". Then screenshots were published for UO and the freedom it promised had me following every detail of its development. When it launched, I jumped ship and played UO... only to discover that rubber band lag, scamming, and PK's made the game incredibly frustrating. It is one of the few games where I actually broke PC peripherals in bouts of rage. At least two keyboards and a mouse succumbed to my righteous fury [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Anyway, that said, it did offer so much freedom that it had its own sort of appeal. Many memorable moments of fleeing from a PK, killing dragons with blade spirits, and locking down the orc fort near Cove... good times! EQ is still the superior game though given the depth that a 3D environment, group dynamics and complex dungeons can offer.

[douglas1999]

Pre-trammel UO was the greatest thing that ever existed. It's a shame that it really can't ever be re-lived, because I think a large part of the experience was the sheer diversity of players on a given shard, which was due largely in part to the fact that UO was one of a very small set of mmo's when it launched. People who wanted an mmo experience pretty much had to play UO. Now, even on emu's like second age that emulate the pre-trammel ruleset, only hardcore pvp'ers play. You can't wander out into the wilderness and find a naive roleplayer melee'ing an ettin, because that type of player was ultimately driven away from the game by the rampant pvp. I pvp'ed and pve'ed pretty equally in UO, and the sense of danger once you left the protection of the town guards was unmatched in anything else I've played. Sure it sucked to die and be looted, but because of the item balance at the time it wasn't the end of the world, and if you were able to hunt down your murderer and extract revenge it was immensely satisfying. No other game has gotten my adrenaline pumping like early UO, not even close.

Obviously I love classic EQ also, but it's really apples and oranges for me, they're just completely different types of games. If there were a UO emu that offered a comparable experience that p99 does for EQ, I'd play both equally. Unfortunately UO second age maxes out at around 180 players [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Vyal]

Originally Posted by douglas1999 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Pre-trammel UO was the greatest thing that ever existed. It's a shame that it really can't ever be re-lived, because I think a large part of the experience was the sheer diversity of players on a given shard, which was due largely in part to the fact that UO was one of a very small set of mmo's when it launched. People who wanted an mmo experience pretty much had to play UO. Now, even on emu's like second age that emulate the pre-trammel ruleset, only hardcore pvp'ers play. You can't wander out into the wilderness and find a naive roleplayer melee'ing an ettin, because that type of player was ultimately driven away from the game by the rampant pvp. I pvp'ed and pve'ed pretty equally in UO, and the sense of danger once you left the protection of the town guards was unmatched in anything else I've played. Sure it sucked to die and be looted, but because of the item balance at the time it wasn't the end of the world, and if you were able to hunt down your murderer and extract revenge it was immensely satisfying. No other game has gotten my adrenaline pumping like early UO, not even close.

Obviously I love classic EQ also, but it's really apples and oranges for me, they're just completely different types of games. If there were a UO emu that offered a comparable experience that p99 does for EQ, I'd play both equally. Unfortunately UO second age maxes out at around 180 players [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

There is Hybrid, a few thousands players daily...
Hybrid is probably the equivalent to p99 for UO expect it has a lot more players.
I think Hybrid brings in a 100 - 300k a month or every two something like that in donations.
I always thought p99 would be around the same number monthly and always wanted to know why they said they do it for free.... NOT GOING TO TOUCH THAT AGAIN THO!
However UO now a days is far superior then it was in the past you just need to know where to look, like I said Siege Perilous is the place to be.

[Millburn]

"GUARDS by the bank, please inform them I would like to check my balance." F5 F5 F5 F5 F5 F5

[applesauce25r624]

Originally Posted by Valdarious [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

people at the bank once you got good enough.

don't bank

don't bank

don't bank so close to me

[applesauce25r624]

Originally Posted by douglas1999 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

You can't wander out into the wilderness and find a naive roleplayer melee'ing an ettin, because that type of player was ultimately driven away from the game by the rampant pvp.

UO an corp has plenty of delicious noobs to devour

at least they did a few months ago when i took a break from it

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[applesauce25r624]

Originally Posted by Vyal [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

There is Hybrid, a few thousands players daily...
Hybrid is probably the equivalent to p99 for UO expect it has a lot more players.
I think Hybrid brings in a 100 - 300k a month or every two something like that in donations.
I always thought p99 would be around the same number monthly and always wanted to know why they said they do it for free.... NOT GOING TO TOUCH THAT AGAIN THO!
However UO now a days is far superior then it was in the past you just need to know where to look, like I said Siege Perilous is the place to be.

hybrid was pretty fun a few years ago. I need to check that out again

[Valdarious]

Originally Posted by Pringles [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

this is an in-game email one of them sent to our guild leader)

OMG, lol.

[Mblake81]

Originally Posted by applesauce25r624 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Some areas are King Guard controlled so that they blues may breed, they all wander out eventually.

Some go Red (Cutthroat), others stay Blue (Helpful) to seek their adventures.

A Modern UO

[Chrysus]

Originally Posted by douglas1999 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Pre-trammel UO was the greatest thing that ever existed. It's a shame that it really can't ever be re-lived, because I think a large part of the experience was the sheer diversity of players on a given shard, which was due largely in part to the fact that UO was one of a very small set of mmo's when it launched. ...

I completely agree. While I have played and enjoyed many MMOs such as EQ, ShadowBane, WoW, etc., they have all been "games", only UO was a "world". And you're right about the diversity, which I think is also at least partly due to UO being a "world", and attracting people that didn't want to play a game, just socialize/RP/explore a virtual world.

Everyone, the PKs, the 24/7s, the girls that just want to decorate their house/tower/castle, even the developers, where playing and figuring out their first MMO.

Originally Posted by Vyal [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

... Siege Perilous is the place to be.

So many memories. Those GC vs UDL battles...

Full (everything) looting, and magic items/gear having so little impact on balance (at least from the 97-99 span I played) was an amazing, thrilling combination. I sincerely hope some ambitious developer team, sick of wow rip-offs, gets crazy enough to attempt such an open, free, "world" again.