Resurrecting Factions

[Fattson]

Part of the issue is the devs. They're bending over backwards to make the server as a whole so awesome and well rounded that very few people have any excuse to join factions. It pretty much comes down to who wants to fight an hour a night and then spend the next ten hours on the forums talking about how good they are at uo pvp and how cool they are in rl. This very thread is a perfect example of that. Which is unfortunate. It started off so well...

So here's where the real question is. To boost factions, do devs need to start taking away from other aspects of the game and giving them to factions as incentive to join? At first glance, that may seem unfair. But for the future of the server and the sake of breathing live into factions, is it the only option?

If that's not an option, I think they should take the same ideas that make this server great and apply them to factions. While not much of a pvmer, I do quite a bit of crafting and here's some suggestions:

Faction only bod cloth.
Make special craftable faction robes & ar.
High end furnitue and/ or weps that can only be created and used by factioners.
Reg discounts could bring in the alchy/scribe guys.

As far as pvm and crafting go, it's about making gold or being self-sufficient. So if you want crafters and pvmers active in factions, give them something that can make them money and make it something they can't make more gold doing in a non faction guild.

 

[Fattson]

Ok. This just popped into my head after I posted and that shit is way too long to edit. How about a tiered point system for crafters and/or pvmers?

At a certain amount of faction crafting or mob points, they're able to access a rewards window, similar to what devs are already using for events, and they have options for certain things. Could be like a combination of the conquest and the event point system.

Make 100 faction robes, recieive 10 faction crafter points
Make 1k robes, receive x points

Faction robes must be made from faction only bod cloth.

I dunno. Maybe I'm dumb.

 

[Shake]

Saying that factions is dead because there is a skill gap between good and bad players tells me that you and every factioner is assuming that factions is simply about a 5v5 group fighting in town on mages and the winner is the winner. This isn't what factions was, it's what factions has become. Most of the people who have only experienced the last 5-8 years of Ultima have the same mentality of "I'm da bestests" and that is what ruined factions. Factions is "Dead" because the players made it that way. I never claimed that factions wasn't dead, hence the name of the thread. If you change the player mentality just a little, it can be repaired.

Look at the replies in order and you can clearly see what the problem is. A bunch of people wanting to change factions with the playerbase and all the try hards come in and turn it into a big e-peen fest.

I agree to some extent. Factions has turned into the end game where good groups go to fight, sadly not much of that happens here. The gap between good and bad players is a huge factor for guilds not joining. Better players are going to hunt you down and kill you, maybe tell you you're bad. Groups much like yours did have to suck it up and join if they want the old factions working together to win and defend bases/capture towns. Factions here at the moment offer barely any interesting fights for PVPers and offers nothing to PVM/crafters.

Part of the issue is the devs. They're bending over backwards to make the server as a whole so awesome and well rounded that very few people have any excuse to join factions. It pretty much comes down to who wants to fight an hour a night and then spend the next ten hours on the forums talking about how good they are at uo pvp and how cool they are in rl. This very thread is a perfect example of that. Which is unfortunate. It started off so well...

So here's where the real question is. To boost factions, do devs need to start taking away from other aspects of the game and giving them to factions as incentive to join? At first glance, that may seem unfair. But for the future of the server and the sake of breathing live into factions, is it the only option?

If that's not an option, I think they should take the same ideas that make this server great and apply them to factions. While not much of a pvmer, I do quite a bit of crafting and here's some suggestions:

Faction only bod cloth.
Make special craftable faction robes & ar.
High end furnitue and/ or weps that can only be created and used by factioners.
Reg discounts could bring in the alchy/scribe guys.

As far as pvm and crafting go, it's about making gold or being self-sufficient. So if you want crafters and pvmers active in factions, give them something that can make them money and make it something they can't make more gold doing in a non faction guild.

On top of what you said, I really think capturing towns, holding points of bloodshed etc and defending bases should be heavily rewarded. Items much like those on the donation vendor should be buyable with a faction currency (not silver unless you have a way to stop point farming).

 

[besttherewas]

Saying that factions is dead because there is a skill gap between good and bad players tells me that you and every factioner is assuming that factions is simply about a 5v5 group fighting in town on mages and the winner is the winner. This isn't what factions was, it's what factions has become. Most of the people who have only experienced the last 5-8 years of Ultima have the same mentality of "I'm da bestests" and that is what ruined factions. Factions is "Dead" because the players made it that way. I never claimed that factions wasn't dead, hence the name of the thread. If you change the player mentality just a little, it can be repaired.

Look at the replies in order and you can clearly see what the problem is. A bunch of people wanting to change factions with the playerbase and all the try hards come in and turn it into a big e-peen fest.

A group of say 10 archers, random mages and katana/shield wielding players who can't even throw exp pots let alone xheal will get stomped every time by say 3x stun mages who are skyped and will do run/dump surprise tactics.

This in turn will make them just not bother, and you cant really blame them. The game has changed.

The UO you remember from the glory days is gone forever. Hence the factions you remember won't ever exist again.

 

[DrunkJesse]

Id like to throw out there the point of view from a complete noob to UO (thats me).. for what ever its worth.

Joining factions seems scary. I understand real vets of the game and server would ruin players like me. I know i have much to learn and i get it BUT THATS WHAT I SIGNED UP FOR haha. I dont want a hand holding world of warcraft game.. i came here for the punishment of free looting world PvP and Factions seems to offer that and more.

YES its scary

YES people will always be better than me

in a sick way THATS what makes this game rewarding.

Anything i accomplish in this game as a noob will be ten times more rewarding than you vets who are "over factions" i almost feel sorry for you guys. Your all losing the magic that makes UO... well UO! haha

As far as insintives goes.. What more do you want?!? go get some golden stickers from some other game.. id be stoked to be on the faction controlling all the sigils for braggin rights alone! The silver for buying extra goodies thats all bonus. I dont know.. i am young to the game but i think the beauty of factions is untapped at the moment. I dont think its missing insintives i think it is old vets just over the "little things" that would mean alot to a new player like me. I for one am going to join factions and enjoy the PvP (even getting owned is a learning experience) win or lose. If its possible to earn an extra currency to buy extra goodies along the way thats awesome! If i get to join others in capturing and defending sigils thats REALLY awesome. If i get involved in crafting blessed weapons(blessed weapons are you kidding me!?) then im super excited!

And yes when i get owned over and over again by the disgruntled Vets.. and it WILL happen probly ALOT.. guess what?

I Signed up for it.

 

[The Real Keith]

I suggest doing some forum research.

I see you joined last month on the forums, so it would make sense that you have absolutely no clue what you're talking about in terms of people wanting to make changes to factions on UOF.

Stop being so hostile when people are just trying to do something constructive for the server. I was here for launch 2 years ago and i've played UO for over 15 years. I've seen servers rise and fall. I've seen the militia system fail on rel por, I've seen OSI's factions. Factions here is not that different as far as mechanics. What has changed though is the player base. The people who have only been engaged in UO in it's most recent years and have the incentives and e-peen mindset of the typical WoW player.

You're right, some types of players are discouraged when they die. I've seen some of the players when they die, blowing up the forums, posting videos, arguing for hours about how many people were in the fight to make an excuse. I'm not that player, my guild is not that player and believe it or not the target audience of this thread is not that player.

If you think factions is dead, skip the thread. This isn't an attempt to pitch ideas on how to offer more incentives, this isn't another expansion, this is about taking factions as it is, with all the try hards and balancing the playing field. The people who don't care about Player vs Player. The people who can just as easily rack up kills by simply placing a strategic faction trap. The player that doesn't farm kills but farms silver at their favorite daemon spot, so they can give it to their guildie crafter so he can craft weapons for his entire crew.

Thats factions. Not a bunch of kids who never really played OSI, who never really factioned when it was real factions, who think factions should be setup like a 5v5 duel and the second one thing is out of context they get angry. Factions was hundreds and hundreds of people fighting over a sigil. Now you're lucky if anyone shows up at all because they are all fighting at brit bridge over a point that serves no purpose.

Everyone is so wrapped up in being the better PvPer that they have become shitty players.

 

[The Real Keith]

With the above being said, my guild is a PvM guild, we do PvP, we do farm silver, and we want more players like us to join us. If you're afraid, don't be, if you dont wanna die, you don't have to, Just come talk to me and hear me out. Factions isn't just about what these people have made it. You can faction on a crafter, you can faction on a bard, you never have to fight a single person and you still contribute to system as a whole.

I'm in IRC as Keith, Just ping me.

 

[girana]

I suggest doing some forum research.

I see you joined last month on the forums, so it would make sense that you have absolutely no clue what you're talking about in terms of people wanting to make changes to factions on UOF.

ppl want the pvm noobs joining faction so they can raid them as they fearing going red.

but you can only make them join faction if the rewards are high enough most ppl here dont understand at least 75% of this server dont care about pvp and dont want to.

 

[eric_azria]

Stop being so hostile when people are just trying to do something constructive for the server. I was here for launch 2 years ago and i've played UO for over 15 years. I've seen servers rise and fall. I've seen the militia system fail on rel por, I've seen OSI's factions. Factions here is not that different as far as mechanics. What has changed though is the player base. The people who have only been engaged in UO in it's most recent years and have the incentives and e-peen mindset of the typical WoW player.

You're right, some types of players are discouraged when they die. I've seen some of the players when they die, blowing up the forums, posting videos, arguing for hours about how many people were in the fight to make an excuse. I'm not that player, my guild is not that player and believe it or not the target audience of this thread is not that player.

If you think factions is dead, skip the thread. This isn't an attempt to pitch ideas on how to offer more incentives, this isn't another expansion, this is about taking factions as it is, with all the try hards and balancing the playing field. The people who don't care about Player vs Player. The people who can just as easily rack up kills by simply placing a strategic faction trap. The player that doesn't farm kills but farms silver at their favorite daemon spot, so they can give it to their guildie crafter so he can craft weapons for his entire crew.

Thats factions. Not a bunch of kids who never really played OSI, who never really factioned when it was real factions, who think factions should be setup like a 5v5 duel and the second one thing is out of context they get angry. Factions was hundreds and hundreds of people fighting over a sigil. Now you're lucky if anyone shows up at all because they are all fighting at brit bridge over a point that serves no purpose.

Everyone is so wrapped up in being the better PvPer that they have become shitty players.

Irrelevant wall of text aside, everything you just rambled on about has no bearing considering you can do all the faction trapping, and silver farming you want currently.

What's your point?

If you want to introduce newer players to the game that's great, knock yourself out. You just have to start realizing that your plan of things balancing themselves out over time is a big ass pipe dream that will never come to fruition.

Not enough people that are in factions, and not enough that will be willing to join under any circumstance. 10 years ago it worked because it was all so new, and there were tons of players. uoforever factions worked because everyone on there wanted to PVP, and it had a huge pvp community - not to mention the community of people who want to do exactly what you want to do. You need larger quantities of both for it to work.

 

[Chesty Puller]

I'm constantly donating regs and pots to factions, I BLAME IT ON THE LITTLE ANIMALS THAT FUCK MY STAMINA UP

 

[Saturn]

Huge 100v100 faction fights were never fun, not on Abyss test, not on OSI, not on Siege, not on uoforever.

Factions only became fun when it started to work itself out and have medium sized legit grps in a call fighting each other.

This is when factions were at its hight, OSI never experienced this except for a small period of time before OSI's complete pvp downfall.
The first real factioning how it was most enjoyable was on uoforever where you rolled with 4-10 people and were part of a 50+ person faction.


This is not unthinkable on this shard, i dont see why a 500 active shard cant get 40-50 actives in each faction, making it prime factioning time again.

I mean think about it hold a handout infront of peoples faces like u did sunday and 1200 people log in.

Apply that theory to factions and there you go. (DONT GIVE HANDOUTS!!!!!!!!!! make ppl earn shit but apply the same theory, dangle something shiny and sparkly in front of peoples faces and they will join factions)


Eric please stop posting, this is why ur blocked on my skype, your constantly negative, never have a good thing to say, cant xheal or throw a pot.
Honestly you have added nothing to this thread so far but negativity and you dont even play here so wtf u doing on these forums? Youve always been such a damn wierdo.

 

[girana]

This is not unthinkable on this shard, i dont see why a 500 active shard cant get 40-50 actives in each faction, making it prime factioning time again.

impossible as at least 75% of this server dont care about pvp and dont want to.

 

[ScooterUo]

impossible as at least 75% of this server dont care about pvp and dont want to.

its true:/ if u made a trammel world here 95% of the ppl will be there! every sad:/

 

[girana]

its true:/ if u made a trammel world here 95% of the ppl will be there! every sad:/

why its sad ? isnt it one of the great things about UO that it fits tons of diffrent playstyles

 

[The Real Keith]

Im seeing tons of feedback on this but who wants to actually get out there with us and do it? My guild was afraid, we joined and it's fucking fun. When we're not fighting factioners, we're farming tons of silver. We just avoid the bullshit, we stay out of brit or moonglow and we go on with our normal gameplay.

 

[ScooterUo]

why its sad ? isnt it one of the great things about UO that it fits tons of diffrent playstyles

yea that its why i love you, but pvp is so large part of it, and yea i am an old sucker that is deaming of pvp like it was on europa... but i will never be like that again, but ppl on this server care so much for basic items, if u dotn wanna lose items go play wow or something

 

[agauo]

Im seeing tons of feedback on this but who wants to actually get out there with us and do it? My guild was afraid, we joined and it's fucking fun. When we're not fighting factioners, we're farming tons of silver. We just avoid the bullshit, we stay out of brit or moonglow and we go on with our normal gameplay.

No offense, but where can you find a decent faction fight outside of brit/moonglow?.. It almost seems like you joined factions not for the pvp, but for the slight rewards you get from being a factioner.

 

[The Real Keith]

No offense, but where can you find a decent faction fight outside of brit/moonglow?.. It almost seems like you joined factions not for the pvp, but for the slight rewards you get from being a factioner.

You're 100% right. We joined for the risk and reward factor of factions. We're not looking for PvP. You can win at factions without it.

 

[girana]

You're 100% right. We joined for the risk and reward factor of factions. We're not looking for PvP. You can win at factions without it.

dont even try they dont understand uo fits to more then 1 playstyle

 

[girana]

double post ^^