munchies wrote:IMHO Old RA is what Balances the server. Do you really want the 5 natty/3x healer group have purges etc up every fight? We didnt have problem fighting big groups from RR4-RR5, ofcourse it was tougher, but totally doable. Also there are several zones for RvR and tbh there's no way to balance RvR between super skilled 8men and casuals. I think the skilled 8men would win even without using any RA's. That's just life.

New RAs offer a lot more different group combinations, caster groups are still the strongest but they require more skill due to charge, many more solo classes become viable and hybrid tanks can be played in groups more efficiently. I've played both on uthgard1 and 2 enough to know this. With New RAs people would not be running 3 healer or 5 naturalist groups that much, because you have DI and on the previous patch level we had faster heals. There were way more casual groups trying to 8v8 or just run as 8 and fight anything. With old RAs Skald is a glorified speed bot but you absolutely need skald speed for incs, ok on higher realm ranks you get some nice passives but that's about it. Even with the new RAs skald dumping everything, some people liked to run more on RM speed because they had a good caster setup, you can't do this with old RAs. Also on alb Reavers become way more viable, so do Paladins. Anyway, could go on and on but let's agree to disagree.

Btw, I'm not looking for absolute balance and equality of outcome for everyone, best people will always win and you're 100% right about that. However, the frontiers are more than big enough for everyone to have some fights and win some/lose some and have some fun, no? We never had purges up every fight on uthgard1 btw, not on healers anyway. As a support class you took purge 1 just for root/nearsight. Sometimes pac healer in high rr group took purge 3 but that's about it. However, there was no idiotic stuff like group purge on a patch level where purge is scarce, there was no SOS where you can run around in sos and hit people(logic, eh) and so on.

Romu wrote:
You still have a 50% bonus if you level in safe zones with a full group. Thats still like a permanent summer heat event. If you want more xp you have to take the risk of being killed, thats your choice.

There is no information about the 50% XP bonus at all zones still there.
I guess , it gone with Summer Heat. Or, if it still there, the news were very poor communicated.

To the Changes:

1. Oh! Nice! Group bonus - logged, tried 1 hour to build the group. Find no pala, no cleris - logged out.

2. Oh! Nice! Bonus XP in FZ! But in the same time:

3. Oh! Nice! RP Bonus for SmallGroups! Each small group, especially on an underpopulated server tend to be gray ganker only group. So, the second "oh nice" will disappear very fast!
Really, I cann't see the reason to push small group section. Its always the way to push the farming of leveling lowlevels and to farm of small groups by full groups. Both has nothing to do with competitive RvR and fun.

4. Oh! Nice! Underdog Realm bonus für Hib! But, why not for Alb? Hibis has it very easy to build a level or a Rvr group, easer, than each other realm. Alb has a hardest task to build them. So, why no realm bonus for Alb too? Just because we still stupid try to do something against overpowered Mids?

I don't know whether it is the way to make Uthgard in modern situation more attractive, while each change by itself sounds nice. The question is, whether they meet the current main goal.

Hasbulat wrote:

Romu wrote:
You still have a 50% bonus if you level in safe zones with a full group. Thats still like a permanent summer heat event. If you want more xp you have to take the risk of being killed, thats your choice.

There is no information about the 50% XP bonus at all zones still there.
I guess , it gone with Summer Heat. Or, if it still there, the news were very poor communicated.

To the Changes:

1. Oh! Nice! Group bonus - logged, tried 1 hour to build the group. Find no pala, no cleris - logged out.

2. Oh! Nice! Bonus XP in FZ! But in the same time:

3. Oh! Nice! RP Bonus for SmallGroups! Each small group, especially on an underpopulated server tend to be gray ganker only group. So, the second "oh nice" will disappear very fast!
Really, I cann't see the reason to push small group section. Its always the way to push the farming of leveling lowlevels and to farm of small groups by full groups. Both has nothing to do with competitive RvR and fun.

4. Oh! Nice! Underdog Realm bonus für Hib! But, why not for Alb? Hibis has it very easy to build a level or a Rvr group, easer, than each other realm. Alb has a hardest task to build them. So, why no realm bonus for Alb too? Just because we still stupid try to do something against overpowered Mids?

I don't know whether it is the way to make Uthgard in modern situation more attractive, while each change by itself sounds nice. The question is, whether they meet the current main goal.

You really can't expect all these changes to have some massive effect right away. Even during uthgard1 times where there were no other shards around, summer was low population time. You can't expect to find a group right away as soon as you log on. You're not paying for this service and if you want a more stable server, show up more frequently and maybe advertise on forum to find people who are willing to xp with you a few times a week.

Trust me, I have massive problems with uthgard staff but really it's an old game, many players have quit forever due to uthg1 wipe and others left really fast because of 1.65 and old RAs, some are jumping on hype trains as we speak, so you can't expect them to provide an ideal environment you like all year long 24/7, it's not realistic. You can however try to contribute yourself. I never had any problems making xp groups because I take my time to organize them via irc/forum/whatsapp/discord and basically I just log on and most of the group is ready.

Dunno what to say, try sticking around and finding at least a few people with whom you can play with few times a week and who are ready to grind, even if it's a bit slower but at least you'll have company and you can talk and pass the time.

This is just great and really moving forward, thanks and congratz Staff and council

Valfar wrote:

All of these changes are made by the staff and were discussed by all of us and the council.

Yes - all staff members. We were behaving in the past through a ruleset / vision that said 1.65 strictly, that veil has been lifted and now you will see what the staff really wanted to do. This is not the work of Blue coming in as your savior, this is the work of all of us.

I don't see what you really wanted to do. I was and always be loyal to Uthgard, but please don't insult my intelligence or anyone's who has an IQ over 50 with this "This is what we always wanted" stuff. You had a monopoly and you tried to create some super hardcore 1.65 which crumbled as soon as another shard appeared. I don't need anyone to be my savior because I never wanted any changes, other than tiny QOL like faster travels and potions with more charges. New RAs I would like, but I'm not hoping for them or expecting them. I have chosen to play here so I've accepted the rules and that's fine. Just don't try to tell me this was planned all along, it's clearly a reaction to competition(which is ok and is your right, but it's hilarious when you try to make it out to be something that it's not). It's also funny and hilarious that in this player council you have people who are not capable of simple DAOC PVE, let alone something more complicated and they have no clue about the game mechanics.

Do what you want, it's your server and it's cool but no need to say stuff nobody can buy at this point. I understand you're swamped with requests and many of them are not written in a friendly manner and they often come from players who have not been here for long or put in any serious effort. Hell, even if all the requests were well argumented and reasonable, it would still be a chore to actually read them all and consider them. So yeah, I understand it's not easy to make all the right choices all the time and you can never make everyone happy. That being said, since 2011. when I started, you've also been very arrogant to many players who were valuable parts of the community and who had reasonable requests based in reality. So next time just say blatantly: "We're a bunch of amateur/pro game developers, it is our goal to recreate a certain patch level to the best of our ability and see if we can do it. If people like it, cool. If not, we're sorry but our primary goal is to test our abilities, not to make everyone happy". It's a lot more fair than claiming you want to create a server with long term stability and listen to the players etc. Hell, even on uthgard1 you weren't willing to meet players half way and make potions with 9 or 10 charges after removing barrels. Then after claiming for years there would never ever be a wipe and even 2 weeks prior to wipe Abydos claiming this on IRC and on forums(he probably deleted those responses by now), you wiped the server because people went to Genesis, instead of just weathering the storm.

So much bad blood. As I agree in some of your points, you can ´t deny uthgard is in a change now. From my own point of view for the better. Maybe lean back for a while and watch if the new Uthgard can maybe convience you for good for the future. Past is past and even if you ´re right in some points, it doesn ´t help to complain about it again and again, right?

Valfar wrote:You really can't expect all these changes to have some massive effect right away. Even during uthgard1 times where there were no other shards around, summer was low population time. You can't expect to find a group right away as soon as you log on. You're not paying for this service and if you want a more stable server, show up more frequently and maybe advertise on forum to find people who are willing to xp with you a few times a week.

Trust me, I have massive problems with uthgard staff but really it's an old game, many players have quit forever due to uthg1 wipe and others left really fast because of 1.65 and old RAs, some are jumping on hype trains as we speak, so you can't expect them to provide an ideal environment you like all year long 24/7, it's not realistic. You can however try to contribute yourself. I never had any problems making xp groups because I take my time to organize them via irc/forum/whatsapp/discord and basically I just log on and most of the group is ready.

Dunno what to say, try sticking around and finding at least a few people with whom you can play with few times a week and who are ready to grind, even if it's a bit slower but at least you'll have company and you can talk and pass the time.

Are you kidding me? We had over 5000 people trying to play at one time a 1.65 classic server with old RAs. Old game...Uthgard 1 wipe...Summer blues...come on man, stop with the insanity.

It's simply easier to KEEP your population, rather than burn them to the ground, tell them to pack up and leave if they don't like it, spit on them on the way out, and then make some changes to the server to see if they come back.

munchies wrote:...
- Make Rechargers recharge crafted items also. The argument about the alchy loosing profit stream is not valid, since recharger is 10g per charge, alchy is 4g. But at the moment i had to wait weeks until i got my items recharged, since i didnt manage to find any alchys.
...

It does not matter that it costs 10g at a NPC Recharger and 4g(cost) for an alchemist todo the recharge of items per charge. I cannot see how it makes the arguement about alchemist loosing a profit stream invalid. Perhaps you could clarify. Those i recharge items for usually pay 40g+tip(usually 50g total), some offer more, thats a profit there. I dont usually ask for a tip or suggest a price, unless asked.

Having said that, if they do decide to allow NPC rechargers to recharge items made by an alchemist, I hope they then allow alchemists to recharge drop items.

Excalibur93 wrote:Hello,

i appriciate what the staff is doing to keep the server alive, even if i dont like it personally. But its ok, life is about adapting to changes.

But... this walkspeed increase is not good in my opinion. It changes the whole feeling of the game. its like a world on drugs. everything moves faster.... mobs, npc... this just feels wrong. sure, i can understand the need of players to get anywhere faster then its designed for this game. But then maybe more horses or more hastners?

because this "everything moves faster" destroys in my opinion a big part of the athmosphere, the game has.

Just my feeling, but ofc im only one person and on top of that really sad seeing Daoc moving away from what it was and what i loved. Anyway, a big thank you for the staff giving all to make Daoc still possible for us.

Excalibur93

You're not alone, I agree. The hasteners, horses, charges for potions and XP bonus are just too much in my opinion. Actually I could also name the GPS dot but I know I am alone on this.

While I appreciate the changes for hybrid classes and incentive to create XP groups or go out in RVR solo, which I think are just slight alterations that could fix big issues caused mostly because our community is small (and so people don't play exotic meta or find groups easily or dare to go out solo), the addition of all the other changes really alter the whole feeling of the game more than they fix specific issues.

After 1.5 years into Uthgard 2.0, this really is a u-turn in development. And it is sad because I also feel that we are moving away from what DAOC was and what was the greatest strength of Uthgard. Of course, most people probably have a different opinion, but I just wanted to step in to say that while these changes are probably the best option to keep players on Uthgard, they do not miraculously satisfy everyone. I do appreciate, however, that the staff is taking actions and willing to try things, and I understand that my point of view belongs to a minority. It is very likely that we are simply not enough to like the strict 1.65 ruleset to make it work in the long term, so there is probably no way around it, but I must say it is a bit frustrating for me.

This is great, but two years too late.

I played on Uth2.0 for a bit, was burned out like many others - didn't have the same charm as Uth 1.0. I'd check the website out once a month or so just to see what's happening and what the population numbers are doing - was a sad sight watching it fall to the point it's at now.

It might have been better trying to preserve the population than let it burn and hope for returns, personally I have no motivation to come back regardless of whatever positive changes come - it feels like the ship has sailed.


I really do wish you guys the best of luck

Hasbulat wrote:3. Oh! Nice! RP Bonus for SmallGroups! Each small group, especially on an underpopulated server tend to be gray ganker only group.

Not sure if you've read the whole news. The bonus applies only in Emain, Odins and Hadrians. And only one of these zones at a time. I don't think these zones are a favorite zone for greys.

Moondragon1 wrote:

Valfar wrote:You really can't expect all these changes to have some massive effect right away. Even during uthgard1 times where there were no other shards around, summer was low population time. You can't expect to find a group right away as soon as you log on. You're not paying for this service and if you want a more stable server, show up more frequently and maybe advertise on forum to find people who are willing to xp with you a few times a week.

Trust me, I have massive problems with uthgard staff but really it's an old game, many players have quit forever due to uthg1 wipe and others left really fast because of 1.65 and old RAs, some are jumping on hype trains as we speak, so you can't expect them to provide an ideal environment you like all year long 24/7, it's not realistic. You can however try to contribute yourself. I never had any problems making xp groups because I take my time to organize them via irc/forum/whatsapp/discord and basically I just log on and most of the group is ready.

Dunno what to say, try sticking around and finding at least a few people with whom you can play with few times a week and who are ready to grind, even if it's a bit slower but at least you'll have company and you can talk and pass the time.

Are you kidding me? We had over 5000 people trying to play at one time a 1.65 classic server with old RAs. Old game...Uthgard 1 wipe...Summer blues...come on man, stop with the insanity.

It's simply easier to KEEP your population, rather than burn them to the ground, tell them to pack up and leave if they don't like it, spit on them on the way out, and then make some changes to the server to see if they come back.

Uthgard2 was a hype train of a sort, Uthgard1 was down for a long time and Genesis was going nowhere because it gave people too much and they got bored quickly. Out of those 5000 people, many were dual/triple logging and I'm sorry, you clearly have no clue about free shards and you're delusional if you think that many people would stick around for long. Sure, some came back for nostalgia and realized they have no time for this, they got used to playing faster paced games and their skill level is just too low to compete(they weren't any good back in 2002. anyway).

Again, DAOC is not for everyone and I don't understand why people are trying to make it super easy mode, too similar to live or to some other faster paced and instant gratification games. Free shard stable population at its very best is around 500-700 in the summer, maybe 1000-1500 during winter. Obviously, I'm talking EU prime time. You can lower all those numbers by 200-300 if you want your average, I was talking best case scenario. We don't need massive population, I was online on uthgard1 and many times with 800 people online at prime time and everyone was happy. Plenty of keep taking zergs, solo players and 8v8.

I don't care if you believe me or not, but I'm talking from experience, the current Uthgard population is spoiled and they actually think that some "fixes" or improvements will make it able for them to compete. Best players/groups always rise to the top and others get bored very fast because it takes patience to be able to grind in DAOC and slowly learn the game while wiping multiple times in the frontiers, most of them quit after a few wipes and look for excuses. They've had 2 fresh starts and they still cry how something is not fair, maybe...just maybe it's them who are the problem?

You people all sound so paranoid and are shaking in despair of low population, trying to instantly force people to play in worst way imaginable, by offering them free ****** and instant gratification...and nothing, nothing gets boring faster than that. It's an old game, people have their life and they play other games, it's quite normal for population to drop during summer or when another shard is out there. Population always varies and that's ok, we can all use a break sometimes. Again, what I'm saying is really on take it or leave it basis, but I am talking from experience and I've been dealing with free shards for long enough to know.

My only "concern" for Uthgard's stable population is that I don't think they will ever get many disappointed players back, people of all playing styles and skill levels that just loved the game for what it is and played it when they had time. Many of them quit forever after the Uthgard1 wipe and well, they just said "f... it". That was also the non-whining population and they actually took time to xp, make their templates, enjoy the game for what it is. They were not trying to make DAOC an instant game. Well, we'll see how it goes.

Blue wrote:

Hasbulat wrote:3. Oh! Nice! RP Bonus for SmallGroups! Each small group, especially on an underpopulated server tend to be gray ganker only group.

Not sure if you've read the whole news. The bonus applies only in Emain, Odins and Hadrians. And only one of these zones at a time. I don't think these zones are a favorite zone for greys.

Thanks for answer, Blue. Naturally I've written whole news. And naturally those zones are not primary zones for level groups. But for the epic steps and some other quests. The crafter, who would like to get bonus from RvR-Keep, are to find there too.

Let us speculate, what a small group does. Even, if after they built a group and run directly to dedicated zones, we have low population, they wait there a bit and then -

"No action, lets check level spots"

Scenario 2. "We have nice small group, lets check as first level spots in order to adjust our team play. " >And continue it fighting against other small groups occasional only.

Scenario 3. They wiped by other small, by full group, by zerk. They running to check the level spots.

Each small group I joined till now was focused on grey ganking. The only exception - the small groups actions on the live server around the Agramon briges Keeps and in Labyrinth of Minotaur.

While the full group has an option pull the enemy while roaming by keep inc, a small group has 2 options - join the zerg or - the most common - grey ganking.

Thus, I am quite sure - the boost for small groups is in the same time - the disappointing factor for the level groups and in this way it inhibits the (RvR) population growth which is primary needed now.

oh man.....


whining cause u get killed at lvling in fz? intell u what, i lvled the last three days there got ganked sometimes and yeah we knew it will happen but were still there. if u dont want to get ganked dont lvl there its as easy as that. and most of the players dont kill lvling group wich are grey but if u are in briefine etc. u wont be grey anymore to lvl 50 so nothing wrong on kill these people. its a rvr game u can easily build your 8 man group and stay save in albion with just a lower bonus!


greets

Hasbulat wrote:

Blue wrote:

Hasbulat wrote:3. Oh! Nice! RP Bonus for SmallGroups! Each small group, especially on an underpopulated server tend to be gray ganker only group.

Not sure if you've read the whole news. The bonus applies only in Emain, Odins and Hadrians. And only one of these zones at a time. I don't think these zones are a favorite zone for greys.

Thanks for answer, Blue. Naturally I've written whole news. And naturally those zones are not primary zones for level groups. But for the epic steps and some other quests. The crafter, who would like to get bonus from RvR-Keep, are to find there too.

Let us speculate, what a small group does. Even, if after they built a group and run directly to dedicated zones, we have low population, they wait there a bit and then -

"No action, lets check level spots"

Scenario 2. "We have nice small group, lets check as first level spots in order to adjust our team play. " >And continue it fighting against other small groups occasional only.

Scenario 3. They wiped by other small, by full group, by zerk. They running to check the level spots.

Each small group I joined till now was focused on grey ganking. The only exception - the small groups actions on the live server around the Agramon briges Keeps and in Labyrinth of Minotaur.

While the full group has an option pull the enemy while roaming by keep inc, a small group has 2 options - join the zerg or - the most common - grey ganking.

Thus, I am quite sure - the boost for small groups is in the same time - the disappointing factor for the level groups and in this way it inhibits the (RvR) population growth which is primary needed now.

Stop whining, you cry worse than 10 babies. Nothing in life is perfect, neither is DAOC. It offers a lot of freedoms and like everything in life, it's not quite fair many times. That doesn't mean you can't find a way to have fun because these freedoms allow it. I get frustrated by a lot of things in DAOC sometimes, but I don't take it personally because I know that without those freedoms it wouldn't be the game I love and also we need all sorts of players in order to have fun.

You people are seriously spoiled as hell, you expect every single environment to completely adapt to you and what you want and you're trying to make it super "fair" and "equal" for everyone. There is no such things, the more freedoms you have, the more the competent and the cunning thrive, it's a fact. Accept the game for what it is or go away. You do understand that there are dozens of other people with their unique requests too and everyone thinks his vision of the game is better, nobody wants to meet anyone half-way. You lack the basic common decency to adapt to the environment and just contribute, maybe if you act in a certain way more people will when they see you. Instead you want some government like authority to even it all out, yeah right. Any change starts from the individual so either do it or leave.

If you desperately want to try and make DAOC into some instant gratification game where the kid that finishes 18th gets a trophy as well and everyone is patting you on the shoulder and there are safe spaces where you don't feel threatened, then open your own server and run it that way.