Where we are so far...

Moderators: Benn, Calix, senji

Post Reply
Calix
MOTODEAMON
Posts: 6109
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2003 10:05 am

Where we are so far...

Post by Calix »

It's almost a year since we started thinking about doing this. We've done pretty well - admittedly all the work has been done in two big bursts of energy with a 4-5 month gap in between, but we've kept on track.

It's probably about time we looked at where we are, where we're going - and considering all this in relation to our original aims. Have we strayed too far from our goals? Neglected many issues or areas? Are we in danger of drifting too far into custom-land, like IPY2? What are we trying to recapture from old UO, and what are we trying to lose from AOS, whilst staying relatively true to the era we are basing our shard on.

I think the main thing to consider is have we stayed true to the free-form nature of UO. The sand-box, do as you like nature? I think we have, completely.

People will disagree because we have insurance - but really does anyone care about looting someone's armour and weapon now? I'd just as happily have the insurance money and their regs and pots. Insurance also works great for the elusive murderer deterrent that all shards have been looking for. 4x costs for murderers, or whatever amount we end up at should be exactly the right dose of discouragement.

We've also decided against any kind of scripted or controlled PvP system. Despite Attard's good ideas, factions is too restrictive. It's much better to allow players to make their own conflicts as they fight for resources. Factions was only needed on OSI because they took the player conflict away with trammel. The same goes for our decision to go against using scripted events.

We've changed PvP, but not unneccesarily. I think all the changes we've looked at either; Pre-empt problems that we saw developing in p25 onwards or on Legacy, or; improve balance.

We've added a lot of PvM rewards and in theory, excitement. All Doom rewards are now in Felucca dungeons, with additional rewards like reward clothing, hairstyle deeds, CBD's, etc.

We've attempted to make crafters more relevant. They can now own houses in town - exclusively purchasable/rentable by crafters. They can place vendors in them, decorate them, keep secures in them. There are no repair deeds, and high-end crafting now isn't just limited to those with the time and patience to get involved in the BOD system. Runics being available from vendors for big gold prices is completely fair - obviously bigger groups are at an advantage - but find a part of UO where they aren't. It's a much superior system to BODs, and hopefully we'll get the right balance between affordable and useful low-end runics, and expensive and luxury high-end units.

We've added a lot for collectors. There's new daily rares, there's new decoration items. Custom housing is in, minus the later SE ugly crap.

There's also a few new areas to explore, secret passages to previously unaccesable areas, etc.

Hopefully we've balanced the economy a bit. 3x housing prices(5x for castles), as well as adding in huge gold sinks like war horses and runics.

I'll add more later, and produce a complete change-list, but for now it's worth looking at this post, and seeing how we've done in relation:

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=4733

I think we're very much on course to having exactly the right kind of shard - it's mostly out of game issues now. Having a good webpage, getting myUO setup, advertising, getting some staff in place, looking at server costs, etc.

Fatalist
POO ELEMENTAL
Posts: 2540
Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2004 8:15 pm

Re: Where we are so far...

Post by Fatalist »

Good write up mate, really useful. A few things on there I didn't know despite being glued to these forums constantly (probably oldmanmemory).

I think we need to look at moving these forums away now, setup aosredux.net and migrate the forums - I don't want the shard to be known as an 'I-C shard' for fears of corruption/cheating allegations which could kill it. I', almost in 2 minds whether I want to play myself, I think I'd enjoy GMing it more and creating events/lore etc. Inevitably I'll want to go around PKing~

This sort of write up should be a weekly/fortnightly thing, and consolidated in a 'news' section, almost as a one stop shop for people to read what progress we are making, a summary of changes we have done/planned without boring them with maths and numbers, and a bit of an insight into our 'vision' of how things should be.

It's going to be hard to generate much interest without a place for people to go and read about it, and a forum here isn't the best medium to engage people.

BENN pls2sortwebsite/forum migration.
Down with Scotland

Calix
MOTODEAMON
Posts: 6109
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2003 10:05 am

Re: Where we are so far...

Post by Calix »

Agreed @ all points. Rather than a main webpage I was considering having a blog as the 'centre' of any site - place to post updates, patch notes, events, etc - with links to forums, myUO, and whatever else.

Really need to look into getting this stuff done. I'm prepared to pay for the bits that need doing that we can't do ourselves. Any suggestions on any of this stuff?

Toki
Drive-by Reskiller
Posts: 1789
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2004 6:38 am
Location: http://ninjahobofail.ytmnd.com/

Re: Where we are so far...

Post by Toki »

You already have a Facebook page set up which is good, you should sort out a twitter account because it will be a good way to announce events to players who may not be logged in or cannot be bothered with forums. Once you have set a release date I will post up a thread on SA which will hopefully bring a few goons in, they have a fairly active guild on T2a and if the server is on the east coast a lot will be interested I am sure.
[IMG]http://i64.tinypic.com/6rpqma.jpg[/IMG]

Fatalist
POO ELEMENTAL
Posts: 2540
Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2004 8:15 pm

Re: Where we are so far...

Post by Fatalist »

I'm not sure about a blog, I mean in principle the format it uses to post updates is good, but as a repository for storing information, perhaps not so much.

I'm happy to cover the costs for registering domains, hosting space for site etc (though I would imagine we have that covered) I think we definitely need a dedicated place that doesn't rely on Facebook/twitter interaction solely, though accounts on both are important.

aosredux or aos-redux? .net/com/eu/etc?
Down with Scotland

Superfast Oz
Cardinal Chunder
Posts: 1031
Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2004 11:23 pm
Contact:

Re: Where we are so far...

Post by Superfast Oz »

I always thought aos redux was a placeholder name til we thought of a good one. :(

Fatalist
POO ELEMENTAL
Posts: 2540
Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2004 8:15 pm

Re: Where we are so far...

Post by Fatalist »

Yeah it was, but around a year later nobody has thought of anything better.

I think it's a cool name anyway, and it says what it is, the name has kind of stuck now!
Down with Scotland

Calix
MOTODEAMON
Posts: 6109
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2003 10:05 am

Re: Where we are so far...

Post by Calix »

I'd be happy to switch if we found something better. It's not bad though!

Calix
MOTODEAMON
Posts: 6109
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2003 10:05 am

Re: Where we are so far...

Post by Calix »

http://aosredux.uded.net/

For now. As far as web address goes - redux.org appears to be available?

Fatalist
POO ELEMENTAL
Posts: 2540
Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2004 8:15 pm

Re: Where we are so far...

Post by Fatalist »

yeah either .org or .net are best bets I guess, don't even know what the difference would be other than aesthetically.

I'm happy to pay for a web developer if necessary to get things moving. peopleperhour.com is a pretty good place to get freelancers for peanuts to do things like graphics, web dev etc.

Also happy to put money into sponsored ad campaigns.

If we're going to do it, lets do it properly!
Down with Scotland

Fatalist
POO ELEMENTAL
Posts: 2540
Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2004 8:15 pm

Re: Where we are so far...

Post by Fatalist »

Did we ever put any more thought into the referral scheme I briefly touched on like a year ago? Minor rewards for referrers once referred player hits certain skills etc? I think this will be key, word of mouth amongst the 'underground' freeshard player community will be absolutely key.
Down with Scotland

Calix
MOTODEAMON
Posts: 6109
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2003 10:05 am

Re: Where we are so far...

Post by Calix »

Got a system implemented - rewards aren't set but it's in. Stolen from RunUO.com forums.

Fatalist
POO ELEMENTAL
Posts: 2540
Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2004 8:15 pm

Re: Where we are so far...

Post by Fatalist »

Any chance of a summary/link? Rewards don't need to be much, but definitely something worth taking the effort for!
Down with Scotland

Calix
MOTODEAMON
Posts: 6109
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2003 10:05 am

Re: Where we are so far...

Post by Calix »


Fatalist
POO ELEMENTAL
Posts: 2540
Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2004 8:15 pm

Re: Where we are so far...

Post by Fatalist »

Ok cool - looks like a one time instant thing, I think we can think of a more meaningful staged/phased and scaling system. I will put some thought into it and post a proposal of faction-esque epicness.
Down with Scotland

Post Reply