Incentives/Enticements to play the new UO Legacy Shard

What specific incentives/enticement would you need to motivate you to play the new UO Legacy Shard?

When they released Age of Shadows, the game introduced Malas, Paladins and Necromancers.  When they released Mondains Legacy the game introduced Heartwood, Sanctuary and Spellweavers.  When they released Samurai Empire the game introduced Tokuno, Samurai and Ninjas.  When they released Stygian Abyss, the game introduced Gargoyles, the Underworld and the Abyss.  High Seas, Eodon, so on and so forth.

With the release of this new Legacy shard, they have expressed returning to our role playing roots.  Developing our Avatar's story.  Every year this shard will be refreshed, and we will be able to transfer our characters back to production shard.  What incentives and enticements would make playing this new shard worth our time?

For me, it would need to be just as dramatic as what has been implemented in the past.  My new character has to be special, and easily distinguishable from the shards I already play on.  I would highly recommend they introduce either a new race, new profession, or both along with the accoutrements designed only for that race or that profession.  In lieu of being unable to execute that idea, I would at least like a new mount that can only be acquired on the Legacy Shard.  Just adding more items, armor and weapons that look like everything else would not be enough for me.  I need new art and new abilities to tell my new story in UO.

I imagine if they refresh this annually, that introducing at least two major incentives like these would keep players coming back again and again.  The game wouldn't need new expansions as long as they keep adding quality content through this new shard that will add diversity to the game.  Otherwise why do it at all?

Race ideas Juka/Meer, Dwarf/Orc, Half-Orc/Half-Elf, Sub-Races of what we have.

Kyronix said humans only.     As pre AoS there was no other race. 

Lady_Storm said:

Kyronix said humans only.     As pre AoS there was no other race. 

I know what he said, and does that mean they can't change their minds?  I am looking for reasons to play this shard.  I am expressing them.  What are your ideas, what do you need to play this shard?

I wouldn't worry, I'm not sure the current players would be all that welcome there. They want new/returning people, not the dregs left at the bottom of the barrel that currently populate the live shards.

Mervyn is close in what my thoughts are as well. 
They want new players to get the feel we got that first year in UO.  To have the freedom of growing up in UO lore and pain.  I say pain because that first year was a pain in the arse to live through.  
So what would I like to see?
Well for one is for players not being so picked on by the seasoned player who knows the tricks of UO character building who thinks this is a fun killing zone to drive out the new guys.  Don't tell me that is not on the mind of some of our depraved players who live to make others miserable.
See I remember when Tram first came out and the Thieves had a field day stealing keys and runes to homes.  Telling players to hand over tons of gold to get them back or they would trash barrel them to oblivion.  Yes this was before rune books.   The down side is one thing the Dev need to keep a check on.

Mervyn said:

I wouldn't worry, I'm not sure the current players would be all that welcome there. They want new/returning people, not the dregs left at the bottom of the barrel that currently populate the live shards.

Interesting perspective.

Lady_Storm said:

Mervyn is close in what my thoughts are as well. 

So you also think we're dregs from the bottom of the barrel like he just said we were? Interesting perspective.

Each new year/wipe should be themed. Different every year.

More like we are a base to build on and the shard is to bring up a new generation of players based on what we did in the first years of UO.

Don’f know the team’s goal.  If it is to attract new players and returning players maybe they should be the ones that populate the shard and maybe the shard should have quests and challenges designed for new players.  As it stands now, new players get no guidance at all on how to develop or play their characters.  To me this is the biggest failing of UO.  Most everyone reading this can create a top notch character in about a week or two because we have done it before, but for new players without the years of experience we have it is a different story.  That ability gives us a huge advantage on a new shard starting from scratch.  So maybe this shard should be designed with more thought to helping players develop and the kinds of quests that will provide benefits more appealing to developing players than established ones.
Don’t agree with the dregs remark.  If it were not for the established players that I never really got to know but helped me along the way, I would not still be plying this game.

Mervyn said:

I wouldn't worry, I'm not sure the current players would be all that welcome there. They want new/returning people, not the dregs left at the bottom of the barrel that currently populate the live shards.

You are the one that has been clamoring for a Fel shard.  That's what they made.

Personally I am very disappointed at this big announcement. The truth is I highly doubt they are going to entice a lot of new players to a 23 year old game. I would have preferred they fix all the broken things in the game. Things like maybe fix vendor search so it actually works. And add some quality of life changes to the enhanced client to make it better. Or even better fix all the graphics glitches. I'm genuinely curious who thought making another shard with this extremely outdated game was going to bring in new players. 

Getting rid of pets would be a big plus.  

Justin_Credible said:

Getting rid of pets would be a big plus.  

We had pets without any slot limits when we had only one land mass.

I'm not concerned by the Kyronix' remarks about open-world PvP. I'm thinking it will be an opt-in type of system like order vs chaos and if you haven't opted in, you don't have to worry about it.

Margrette said:

I'm not concerned by the Kyronix' remarks about open-world PvP. I'm thinking it will be an opt-in type of system like order vs chaos and if you haven't opted in, you don't have to worry about it.

that is what I got out of it, a consensual PvP system.

Mervyn said:

I wouldn't worry, I'm not sure the current players would be all that welcome there. They want new/returning people, not the dregs left at the bottom of the barrel that currently populate the live shards.

And what is the demographics of nowadays "new" players ?

Millennials ? Post millennials ?

And what are these "new" players after in their games, if I may ask ?

What type of gameplay and expectations do they have when they go play a game ?

Will the New Legacy UO Shard, with its Design, mechanics and intended gameplay, be able to then be of an appeal to these "new" players if I may ask ?

I would like to see rewards that are account-unlock in nature. A title, for example, that any character on said account can display. Or perhaps a special claim system similar to veteran reward, where you earn the reward on Legacy but you may choose which character you claim it on.

I think it would be fun to play a shard where everyone is basically equal. No vet rewards, little to no store items, no artifacts that came from past events which no one can get now.

The first thing I am concerned is skills training on Legacy shard. 

We spent alot of time to train in production shards. So if the Legacy shard is only one year at a time, I hope the training can  be simplified and shortened.

The good thing is that there are items that can be move out to our current shard before Legacy is wiped. Those will be the real carrots for us to play on Legacy Shard.

o.0

Interesting idea - similar to the Seasons other MMOs offer up. And the ability to keep certain items to xfer to a prodo shard is very much like the seasons of other games.

What strikes me the most is the skilling up - like Seth, this is -not- an easy thing to do. Fighting classes can skill up pretty fast if it really is legacy (my original Kirthag skilled to 6xGM as a pure fighter in about 6 months of gameplay before Tram - and that was playing every weekend and some nights with serious role-playing thrown in so it could have been shorter really), but crafting is a different story. My miner/smith took 3 years to GM mining & smithing... I threw a party when I finally got her to GM. As a dedicated character, it may not take 3 years, but it isn't lickety-split I can tell you that.

Ya in the first few years I had maybe 1 skill at GM. But, the difference is, we now know what to concentrate on and not try to be a mage/swordsman/miner/camper/item IDer

The training skills part depends on a few variables.

Tanager said:

I would like to see rewards that are account-unlock in nature. A title, for example, that any character on said account can display. Or perhaps a special claim system similar to veteran reward, where you earn the reward on Legacy but you may choose which character you claim it on.

I think it would be fun to play a shard where everyone is basically equal. No vet rewards, little to no store items, no artifacts that came from past events which no one can get now.

I think it would be fun to play a shard where everyone is basically equal. 

That is only in theory....

On a PvP Shard where some players use cheats, hacks and scripts to gain a hell of an edge in their PvPing, players who do not want to use cheats in their gaming are NOT on an equal footing.. no way.

And today's cheats for UO are quite advanced.... I am not going to go into details, obviously, but looking at what they can allow a player to do is quite impressive or, I should better say, depressive....

Seth said:

The first thing I am concerned is skills training on Legacy shard. 

We spent alot of time to train in production shards. So if the Legacy shard is only one year at a time, I hope the training can  be simplified and shortened.

The good thing is that there are items that can be move out to our current shard before Legacy is wiped. Those will be the real carrots for us to play on Legacy Shard.

Apparently, scripters have no issues with skills training....

They just log in, fire up their training script and let it run 24/7....

Anyone feels to compete with them on the New Legacy Shard IF they do not want to use cheating in their gameplay ?

No incentive would get me to play a shard that periodically deletes and I question how many new players are interested in coming in and finding out whatever they do will only exist for a matter of months.

popps said:

Seth said:

The first thing I am concerned is skills training on Legacy shard. 

We spent alot of time to train in production shards. So if the Legacy shard is only one year at a time, I hope the training can  be simplified and shortened.

The good thing is that there are items that can be move out to our current shard before Legacy is wiped. Those will be the real carrots for us to play on Legacy Shard.

Apparently, scripters have no issues with skills training....

They just log in, fire up their training script and let it run 24/7....

Anyone feels to compete with them on the New Legacy Shard IF they do not want to use cheating in their gameplay ?

Seth said:

popps said:

Seth said:

The first thing I am concerned is skills training on Legacy shard. 

We spent alot of time to train in production shards. So if the Legacy shard is only one year at a time, I hope the training can  be simplified and shortened.

The good thing is that there are items that can be move out to our current shard before Legacy is wiped. Those will be the real carrots for us to play on Legacy Shard.

Apparently, scripters have no issues with skills training....

They just log in, fire up their training script and let it run 24/7....

Anyone feels to compete with them on the New Legacy Shard IF they do not want to use cheating in their gameplay ?

Good point @ popps

I just realized the usual 3rd party that were not updated for many years, may not work with the new system in Legacy Shard. This would affect CC players and also EC players - as a EC user, I still revert back to CC so that I can use... err... some of the 3rd party to train some skills.

Even when I can use CC+3rd party to macro skills, the "rewards" better be good and attractive to justify my time to retrain a new character in Legacy Shard every year. I don't think just rare decor would attract me there though I know players would pay good gold for them.

For that matter - Dev should announce the rewards for the new Legacy shard every year after each reset. Then we decide whether its worth the time to train a new character that year or give it a pass. 😂

I just realized the usual 3rd party that were not updated for many years, may not work with the new system in Legacy Shard. 

To my understanding, the New Legacy Shard will still be playable with the Classic and Enhanced Client.

That I know of, 3rd Party are being used on the current Shards by some players for script farming, various script PvP benefits, speed hacking, PvP target sharing, skills training, etc. etc. etc.

So, I do not see why they should not work with the New Legacy Shard which will use the same one Clients...

Nails_Warstein said:

What specific incentives/enticement would you need to motivate you to play the new UO Legacy Shard?...

The enthusiasm is nice to see Nails, but the incentives are probably going to fall more in line with what other games are doing for their seasons.

New Legacy sounds like it is basically a Diablo III Hardcore Season, but with a Hardcore=Lite UO twist.

So what you take to production is probably something like:
-All the gold, gear, and skills you built during the season.
-Any artifacts they built for the season (normally these become available on production at the end of the season).
-Title for your toon.
-Character portrait frame.
-Instanced statue in the "Hall of Avatars" that you can click on to see your character and accomplishments you completed during the season.
-A personal journal with a record of your seasonal accomplishments.
-If you're lucky maybe a true vanity pet (no functionality) that will follow you around and not take up follower slots.

Honestly, the Season concept has been around a while, it's pretty fleshed out now on how to run them.

I personally was surprised to see UO go this way, but it's going to be interesting to watch.

New Legacy doesn't seem to be directed towards existing players. We'll see what happens when it get's put in front of the "largest audience ever", eh?

It was mentioned during the stream that there would be less grind when raising your skills.  What that means is anyone's guess.

But my guess is every character gets the equivalent of a free mythic character token.

TimSt said:

It was mentioned during the stream that there would be less grind when raising your skills.  What that means is anyone's guess.

But my guess is every character gets the equivalent of a free mythic character token.

The whole idea is to start fresh. Everybody starts at minimum and they decide what they want to be. The best templates/playstyle will rise to the top. The fun part is going against a name on the leader board. Who will become a UO Legend!

TimSt said:

It was mentioned during the stream that there would be less grind when raising your skills.  What that means is anyone's guess.

But my guess is every character gets the equivalent of a free mythic character token.

I was wondering about skill gain and tokens as well, then realized there is a cleaner solution.

They stressed this shard is to develop your toon the way you want. Backstory, accomplishments, etc. A Mythic token would skip a lot of that skill development process and the psychological rewards the player would experience seeing those skills gain. Those psychological rewards can be powerful in hooking new players, or re-hooking existing players trying a new skill combo in an easier setting (increased skill gain during season).   

Instead of a token, I'd bet that the entire New Legacy landmass will be under an Alacrity buff. (Triple skill gain weekends ahead! Come play UO!, etc.) 

Easy to code, no "what's this token for?" worries as the buff is built in, players still get to watch skills tic up, and it'd be UO's version of the XP leveling buffs players are familiar with from seasons in class based games.

Edit: Never played a tamer? Always wanted to? Pet's too hard to train? Play UO this weekend and enjoy the Quadruple Skill Gain Buff! Works for pets too! Stacks with the buff potion from the UO store for 5 TIMES the SKILL! Last's for the entire Memorial Day weekend..... Disclaimer: XP buff potion is $9.99, lasts for 72 hrs. Single use only. Each character or pet must use a potion for the additional buff. No refunds. Copyright EA Games 2021. 

You can see what's coming.

popps said:

To my understanding, the New Legacy Shard will still be playable with the Classic and Enhanced Client.

That I know of, 3rd Party are being used on the current Shards by some players for script farming, various script PvP benefits, speed hacking, PvP target sharing, skills training, etc. etc. etc.

So, I do not see why they should not work with the New Legacy Shard which will use the same one Clients...

Well, I am not sure if they would work, but the question is how much different is Legacy vs regular shards? Without seeing the real thing, we are all guessing.

My guess is that it should not be anything close to existing, not another classic or Siege.

The data stream, character sheet, skills system, etc could be much different from existing. They are probably going to update the CC and EC to adapt to the new and old shards. Things may get broken with each update, esp. if the original dev for the 3rd party such as uoassist do not update their sw.

E**y UO and all the scripts will work with it right?

Currently I train mostly up to the grandmaster level.  I don’t have anything close to the amount of gold needed to buy legendary tactics or resist spells scrolls.  If this new shard does not provide an alternative for getting to the legendary level why would I play on it?

Also, at the end of the year at what level will these players be?  If it is grandmaster, they will face the same frustration with the game that I do: not enough gold to buy the stuff they need, not enough of the good stuff for sale on vendor search (except Atlantic), and not much of anything of use to the advancing player for sale at the official Ultima Online Store.  Honestly, if you could resolve the issues in this paragraph you would not need a new shard.

Arnold7 said:

not enough of the good stuff for sale on vendor search (except Atlantic)

Atlantic may have the most best stuff on vendor but you can't search them. On other shards you can search them but there is no good stuff for you to search. Sorry, don't mean to bring vendor search issue to every post please ignore. 

Mervyn said:

They want new/returning people, not the dregs left at the bottom of the barrel that currently populate the live shards.

So true.  You and I will hold the fort down and place lit candles in the windows so they may fine a way home to UO.

Pawain said:

Mervyn said:

I wouldn't worry, I'm not sure the current players would be all that welcome there. They want new/returning people, not the dregs left at the bottom of the barrel that currently populate the live shards.

You are the one that has been clamoring for a Fel shard.  That's what they made.

It is not a Felucca shard, it is a Trammel shard (consensual pvp war mode on/off). The concept can really only work if it is a Felucca shard, that is what brings back the history, the nostalgia, the danger, the excitement.

Playing UO Sims City or UO Candyland, really only appeals to the over 60's, the kids wants excitement, like we used to have pre Trammel. They want UO Fortnite, or UO Call of Duty, or UO Rocket League.

UO has become a game where the adults have crushed the life out of it, and made it mechanical and far too long winded.

It does need simplifying for sure, a lot of the Devs concepts are things I think could be a good idea, but water it down too much, and it's just not exciting for the major audience.

I think a new race, with all of its weapons and armour is a really bad idea, that is partly what has caused all the over-complication in the current game, the game moves on, leaving billions of legacy items in the past that have no real meaning in the game, and races, quests, professions get forgotten about as the game moves onwards.

Simplifying crafting, simplifying pvp, simplifying everything is what needs to happen, so many of the systems are just way out there. Greater Reforged anyone? WTH.

Cookie said:

It is not a Felucca shard, it is a Trammel shard (consensual pvp war mode on/off). The concept can really only work if it is a Felucca shard, that is what brings back the history, the nostalgia, the danger, the excitement.

And the days of everyone quitting UO and moving to games like Diablo that had killing monsters.

Cookie said:

The concept can really only work if it is a Felucca shard, that is what brings back the history, the nostalgia, the danger, the excitement....

Simplifying crafting, simplifying pvp, simplifying everything is what needs to happen, so many of the systems are just way out there. Greater Reforged anyone? WTH.

TastyTreats said:

Skill gain is an important aspect of the game. Maybe some skills can be made slightly easier but a TC style will just destroy the game.

I really hope most skills are not made easier only the harder ones like Animal Taming but even that I wouldn't want to see much easier if at all.

Seth said:

TastyTreats said:

Skill gain is an important aspect of the game. Maybe some skills can be made slightly easier but a TC style will just destroy the game.

I really hope most skills are not made easier only the harder ones like Animal Taming but even that I wouldn't want to see much easier if at all.

But as long as the reward is good enough, I think most players would not mind some time training.

That's what I'm interested to see for Legacy is the "reward". It's tough to say what they will/should be given things should be more simple right? Example would be that I wouldn't expect legendary gear to even exist with all the mods if we are going back to a "simple" time. So that being said, since we end up transferring to a live shard at the end, what will be the type of rewards that would make things simple yet rewarding?? Not sure I have any thoughts on that yet.

What is actually the problem with fel now? 

Mervyn said:

What is actually the problem with fel now? 

Considering there is item insurance 

For a persistent world, I think its necessary. Insurance is good, so that everyone can fight knowing he would not lose his legendary and rare equipment. 

Again, the fact Legacy is wiped each year, I think makes alot of difference. We don't have years to gather those rare pieces for one fight and then lose it.

For the current Fel, I believe the pvp thread has other issues related to mechanics of the game, not insurance.