Excelsior

yeah this server is very slow and inactive, very rare to get any events.
Best suited to slow people who come in and play 15 minutes a days like me (just vote and do bee), and then run around a bit.
but yeah I agree, event spending 15 minutes now , waiting for any event to come feel like a lifetime.
I read somewhere that there was going to be quick 3 auctions one after another, and all we got was one auctions and then silence for a long time.
I just hope that we get our IDOC events near the end of this month and then Halloween and winter events.
but again there no guarantee anything in this server, it up to the time available from the admins

p.s hang in there.

I don't think this server will go offline anytime soon to be honest. That being said, there are definitely less people on now, at this pace there will be negative population growth until a new and lower average online player count is reached.

Less people online doesn't necessarily mean it's due to lack of a staff, there are always seasonal and external factors, but in the case of this shard right now the lack of staff is definitely a big factor.

You can segment the players into different groups. There are people who will still come online regardless of how active the staff are, there are people who aren't going to come online regardless of how active the staff are, and then there are people that will come online if the an active community is maintained by the staff. I think it's a fair assessment to say the first group (people who will be here regardless of staff activity) donate enough to pay for the hosting expenses, that is why I don't think the shard is actually going to go offline.

Did you ever watch The Matrix? Neo tells The Architect he doesn't believe the machines would do anything that could have the potential to completely destroy humanity, because the machines need humanity to survive. The Architect replies, there are levels of survival we are willing to accept. It's a pretty interesting dilemma https://www.reddit.com/r/matrix/comment ... s_willing/

Anyway, just like how the AI that created the Matrix has different levels of survival, so does this shard. It can thrive with an active community and growing population like it did in the past, but if it's not maintained by admins it will regress into a lower level of survival, a meager existence. We're definitely in a regression stage now.

As for me, I'm in the category of people that will come online regardless if there is 0 admin activity. I have less than 0 interest in any other PC game or shard. Not because I'm loyal to this game, my house was about to IDOC until I came back just in time when the pandemic hit. I'll probably be here until the pandemic is over, and once it's over I am gone, no matter if this shard is thriving by that time.

Halloween dungeon will reopen soon, it's always very popular and there will be an influx of activity and players. That usually leads into everyone hanging around until Xmas. There's generally an auction at this time of year as well, often a grand one, which will get player activity rising.

There has been a lull, however the player base is fairly steady still, I foresee activity increasing in the coming months.

It's been 48 days since this thread was started... Clock is ticking....

I remember back when we were doing the walking dead, battle for Hogwarts, and several other events randomly, as well as the seasonal hunting/fishing contests.
During that time, there was an average of 115 - 130 people logged on.
And that was with all those events.

Yes, events will create a boost in people logging on, but not forever. Games like this one has an ebb and flow. I never thought I would see over 200 people logged on again, but we hit that several times this year.

Some new players won't stay, some veteran players won't stay. I got my first 3 relayers from a vet player who was quietly leaving. That is how online games work. Sometimes we have vets who threaten to leave publicly if they don't get action of some sort, while others tend to fade away quietly. And the rest of us, will still be here. Some new players will become veterans, and some veterans will become old-timers

acolyte wrote:I don't think this server will go offline anytime soon to be honest. That being said, there are definitely less people on now, at this pace there will be negative population growth until a new and lower average online player count is reached.

Less people online doesn't necessarily mean it's due to lack of a staff, there are always seasonal and external factors, but in the case of this shard right now the lack of staff is definitely a big factor.

You can segment the players into different groups. There are people who will still come online regardless of how active the staff are, there are people who aren't going to come online regardless of how active the staff are, and then there are people that will come online if the an active community is maintained by the staff. I think it's a fair assessment to say the first group (people who will be here regardless of staff activity) donate enough to pay for the hosting expenses, that is why I don't think the shard is actually going to go offline.

Did you ever watch The Matrix? Neo tells The Architect he doesn't believe the machines would do anything that could have the potential to completely destroy humanity, because the machines need humanity to survive. The Architect replies, there are levels of survival we are willing to accept. It's a pretty interesting dilemma https://www.reddit.com/r/matrix/comment ... s_willing/

Anyway, just like how the AI that created the Matrix has different levels of survival, so does this shard. It can thrive with an active community and growing population like it did in the past, but if it's not maintained by admins it will regress into a lower level of survival, a meager existence. We're definitely in a regression stage now.

As for me, I'm in the category of people that will come online regardless if there is 0 admin activity. I have less than 0 interest in any other PC game or shard. Not because I'm loyal to this game, my house was about to IDOC until I came back just in time when the pandemic hit. I'll probably be here until the pandemic is over, and once it's over I am gone, no matter if this shard is thriving by that time.

I like your analogy Acolyte, but what's the level of survival as you put it? What's the floor here? Y'all have been here longer than I have, I trust your guidance on ebbs and flows of activity, I've seen it elsewhere too. UOEX just seems like it's in a downward spiral of negatives that will continue to grind the server to a halt. Maybe +C is fine with ~130 people logged in, 80 afk, 20 afk farming with no consequences, and the rest checking their bees and voting.

I'm not JUST talking about events here. Staff interaction and player engagement is a big deal. I put in a ticket for an issue in May, +K responded in about a week, said +C needed to handle it...... It took 3 months for +C to get back to me and that's only because I saw him online and said something. Listen, my ticket wasn't earth shattering, but 4 months? That's anecdotal admittedly, but I'm sure if there was a survey of unresolved issues we'd hear about a lot more. This just shows that they don't care.

One of the benefits to playing free servers is the custom features, whether it be content like quests, different gear, different play style, or unique events. Everyone's gear is essentially the same (or goaled to be the same), which requires a significant grind or significant "donations", and then you're geared for what? To stand next to each other in TC? We shouldn't have to sit around waiting for this Halloween event or an IDOC event every 6 months or a grand auction which IS ONLY THERE FOR YOU TO DONATE MONEY. What about just daily stuff to do? Why does this other server have 600+ every time I log in? Because there are quests, daily events, daily tasks, which all lends itself to an active player base and active guilds and player events and guild events, which in turn lends itself to communities and an actual market for goods dictated by more than ~5 people and a relevant crafter's market, etc etc. An event every 6 months gets people to log in every 6 months. What about the other ~179 days?

I just keep thinking back to my original point, this is boring. I've played UO since OSI days, so ~23 years off and on (jesus that's a long time), and I've gone through cycles of wanting to play or taking breaks, but I'm in a "want to play" mode now. Beekeeping, voting for EDs, leveling weps for EDs or buying gear with RL cash (lets get rid of the word donation eh?), just isn't enough. Even if I do grind more EDs, get more relayers, get Titan's Hammers, what's the goal? To get more Titans Hammers to relayer?

Electronics Botique October 1997. Chesapeake. Car'a'carn and Mr. Orange. I want that fun. I want the fun I had for 3 years until EQ. I think what most who mvoed over as I did realzied is that the simplicity of UO far surpasses the complexity of graphic focused games we THOUGHT were upgraded as the years went on

I started August 2018, here. September 24th my house burned down.

For the next 19 months life was so complicated I even forgot UO existed until I got a random email.

I came back, was excited. Day 1, grind out those skills. Chat is mild
Day 2, more skills, chat is silent
Day 3 more skills, about ready to go fight. In 6 hours 8 different people posted in chat.

Donated to buy items, short cut it, as the economy here, in the space of 2 years, has devolved, stagnated and progressed to mindlessness of getting gold, by people who really only need it to waste. Sort of like what WOW has become. A ruined economy, BUT...that is only an issue for the lazy or the guy who doesn't have money to donate! I AM A CRAFTER!!

Crafting, to craft. No one selling BODs...no one trading BODs..Only the 2 hour click grind and fingers crossed. Combined with a crashed economy, means my fun is diminished.

Add in the chat, Zues and SMolet seem to be the main helpers there...it sure isn't the AFK bank sitters who COULD contribute, but don't

So, as I started to donate again lastnight, Paypal acted off, gave me the WHOOPS! try later error. I assumed there was an issue with the servers account and came to post and found this thread.

I don't have 5 years, 10 years, hell, I REALLY don't even have 2 years since I musted a whopping 7 weeks of play before life went sideways. But 7 weeks was enough to make me glad to be here. The last 2 weeks here have been vapid, empty and dull.

I do hope the issue is addressed in the future post +C mentioned and I will check back for it, but I have decided I would also rather a low pop server, with active staff (No slight +C, i've been there) as I found this morning...a whole 24 people online , but 3 staff on as well. A low pop server that has people so focused on making a creation, not simply giving up because the pop is low. I hope +C is able to do the same. Make it fun for himself and not a comitment based on concern over upset feelings.

OP DOES have the right to know what is what. YES, regardless of the SHAME post by Wil, MONEY does matter. Someone who donates XXXX and likes his new home, and continues to donate XXX, has the RIGHT to make an enquiry as to why his home is devaluing, drafty, and in need of repair.

Ah well.

Best of luck. Since Im not a :regular: then it's not really a fair-weather issue. I'm just not having fun and I think reasons declared by 4 posters shade it pretty well. I am glad they put a figner to it as I thought it was me.

Ok,well, off to me dinky server. While not as kool as a server with a fishing tournament, rumors of harassment by staff/admins,screen shots of bot accounts making up hundreds of players online, and repeated posts about Champ ganking, botters, and staff pay outs for items...It's fun enough for me

Since i've been getting several messages on Discord i'll go ahead and give an update.

I started this thread in the hopes that we'd see some progress. We've seen none. Zero. Zilch. Nada. The original 60 days have turned into about 250 days.

For those who have been wondering, I've joined the dozens of former UOEX players on another shard. Even with all the time and resources I have invested in UOEX i've started over somewhere else. My UO playing time isn't nearly what it once was and starting over isn't ideal but it beats pouring more and more time in an abandoned shard that's dying a slow death.

What's interesting about this specific thread is the number of people that commented on here who also either no longer play uoex or login very infrequently.

It's true, i'm not the owner of this shard and Colibri can run the shard how he pleases but we're all his customers and since this is a business a good businessman listens to the feedback of customers. Not only have my calls for action been dismissed but so have many others who have given suggestions or raised concerns.

I went back about 3 years on my paypal account just to see just how much i've "donated" to Colibri and UOEX. My donations over that period of time are in the neighborhood of 7,000 euro. No, I don't expect special treatment but it would have been nice to at least have your generosity mean something but it seems like no matter who you are, what you do, or how long you've been around your opinion means nothing.

I may check in from time to time and see if anything has changed but I won't hold my breath.

I actually hope other vets will come to this new server. I left 54 days ago to try out this new place and I have had so much fun that most of my time is thinking about how to get better stuff on this new shard. I come back once a week to log on and check uoex website hoping +C say he's giving it over to someone else or at least there will be a new peerless or something. all while my new shard has added a new champ and cave and new quest line coming while an Easter event is going on and a world boss every 5 hours. also when you have an issue I get a reply back most times the same day not weeks maybe months. Just a little bit of effort goes along way. Wish yall the best. I really do.

Based on the type of “upgrades” I’ve seen over the last couple years it seems like +C is more interested in having the shard run on automatic rather than make new content. I’m really frustrated. The beginning of the end seemed to be when he let +N and +V go. I still can’t believe the new facets got cancelled. Was looking forward to the faucets and their content for years before he cancelled that.

Yeah, you're involved and invested with this server, so I understand that this all bothers you.

I have a much bigger involvement with this server, having invested most of my life into it. And i want what's best for it, which at the moment isnt time spent on new content, but things that will make new content easier to manage later on.

I told you at the time, it won't be 60 days. Didn't even give a 250 day deadline. Although I must admit, unfortuantely some things are taking longer than expected, but that's the thing when dealing with new stuff, not rehashing things that's already known.

Good luck on your future travels!

(this is turning into a drama/advertising post, locking)