I played UO from 1997-2007, then returned about once a year for nostalgia. I looked for the fabled 'UO 2' ever since. I started playing Legends of Aria but was disappointed. One of their players recommended I try Outlands. I'm extremely happy that I did. The reason I left UO, and never stayed when returning, is that it always seemed sad - like visiting a graveyard. While people played, there was not enough life on official servers to make me feel like I was in a breathing world. Now with Outlands I see people everywhere, and there's been so much development it feels like a whole new game. I'm thrilled, and will absolutely support the shard financially.
Exploring Outlands I started down the path of 'what ifs' - what if these developers had been at the helm of live UO the whole time?
There are some things in UO I always thought needed to be either redone or introduced in some way. Many of those things I've found in Outlands - like dismounting for dungeons. They've also gotten much better use out of the range of skills in UO to create some very interesting templates (use of forensic eval etc).
So - what's next? This is the suggestions area.
One thing that immediately struck me was, with the focus on T2A, that the number of viable PVP builds might not be as diverse as it could be. Perhaps I'm wrong - please correct me if I'm not. This post: UO Outlands PVP mechanics seems to list all of the old school PVP builds I was familiar with. Have people found new ones? If not - maybe skills like arms lore could be looked at even further to add more burst damage potential to other builds.
I also began thinking about the much un-used medium armour (chain or ring). People don't wear these. It's either plate or leather. There's got to be an opportunity there. Perhaps potential for melee DPS builds that are less tanky. I guess this could be done by attack speed debuff on plate, or without nerving plate - adding natural buffs to certain skills when you wear medium.
I have a huge hope (perhaps a dream) that this dev team will re-work the skills added to UO over the years and make them viable for Outlands. This thread moar ideas has a start which I think is great, relating to Chivalry and Necromancy. First I'd say that all skills not already in Outlands would need to be renamed and repackaged to prevent people from being confused. A lot about them would need to change. Necromancy could be Death Magic. Spellweaving could be Druid, whatever. I just think there is an opportunity missed in not using these assets at all. There's a wealth there, and I have built characters will all of these skills and enjoyed the concepts. They have some mechanics which break other elements of the game, and they would need to be thrown out. I'm not clever enough to suggest how - but I would love it if this team gave it a serious look. Does anyone know if this is even possible?
Finally I don't know why UO never had a cosmetic second paper doll. This would of course be a paper doll that would take visual precedent over the paper doll with your actual equipment on it. As a rule, I personally think it should only work if what you put on your cosmetic doll is as heavy or lighter than what you're really equipping in your main doll - i.e. if you're wearing leather you can show leather, cloth or nude on your cosmetic doll, but not chain or plate.
Thanks for reading. I hope none of what I've written defeats the spirit of the shard.
Exploring Outlands I started down the path of 'what ifs' - what if these developers had been at the helm of live UO the whole time?
There are some things in UO I always thought needed to be either redone or introduced in some way. Many of those things I've found in Outlands - like dismounting for dungeons. They've also gotten much better use out of the range of skills in UO to create some very interesting templates (use of forensic eval etc).
So - what's next? This is the suggestions area.
One thing that immediately struck me was, with the focus on T2A, that the number of viable PVP builds might not be as diverse as it could be. Perhaps I'm wrong - please correct me if I'm not. This post: UO Outlands PVP mechanics seems to list all of the old school PVP builds I was familiar with. Have people found new ones? If not - maybe skills like arms lore could be looked at even further to add more burst damage potential to other builds.
I also began thinking about the much un-used medium armour (chain or ring). People don't wear these. It's either plate or leather. There's got to be an opportunity there. Perhaps potential for melee DPS builds that are less tanky. I guess this could be done by attack speed debuff on plate, or without nerving plate - adding natural buffs to certain skills when you wear medium.
I have a huge hope (perhaps a dream) that this dev team will re-work the skills added to UO over the years and make them viable for Outlands. This thread moar ideas has a start which I think is great, relating to Chivalry and Necromancy. First I'd say that all skills not already in Outlands would need to be renamed and repackaged to prevent people from being confused. A lot about them would need to change. Necromancy could be Death Magic. Spellweaving could be Druid, whatever. I just think there is an opportunity missed in not using these assets at all. There's a wealth there, and I have built characters will all of these skills and enjoyed the concepts. They have some mechanics which break other elements of the game, and they would need to be thrown out. I'm not clever enough to suggest how - but I would love it if this team gave it a serious look. Does anyone know if this is even possible?
Finally I don't know why UO never had a cosmetic second paper doll. This would of course be a paper doll that would take visual precedent over the paper doll with your actual equipment on it. As a rule, I personally think it should only work if what you put on your cosmetic doll is as heavy or lighter than what you're really equipping in your main doll - i.e. if you're wearing leather you can show leather, cloth or nude on your cosmetic doll, but not chain or plate.
Thanks for reading. I hope none of what I've written defeats the spirit of the shard.
