Writing on the wall?

Lerxst · October 2017

In all fairness, it's not just the Alt playing, but its Papaya's policies, choices and lack of communication overall, that's not exactly looking good lately.

If some people wanted to power game with alts, fine, they'd be the minority... IF. IF... new players were always cycling through the game, like they did when UWO first launched in 2010. When they game first launched, most people didn't actively play alts, since they were still in the WoW and other MMO mindset of just having mules; it only became a thing later on, after the "freshmen" group of players matured-in-game a bit. So far, I have yet to see this steady stream of new player base coming into the game now:

School chat may be full, but look at the stats on players and you'll see plenty who are collective levels of 50+.
The actual schools, are nearly dead zones already, with barely anyone in sight.
School chat is a void of... nothing. At most, I've seen about 5 or 6 people being active vs the dozens a few days after the relaunch.
I see almost nothing online about this game, no ads, no articles, no news on other sites... nothing.
My friends list and company list, who I selected based on their newness to the game, are also looking very gray lately.

This isn't 2010. There are places hundreds of thousands of players rely on to look for games. UWO already burned one of those bridges under OGP. There's still at least one of those places left online for people to find this game without knowing about it, but so far, there's been no mention of it over there.

Unfortunately, Papaya Play seems to just be using this game to take over the cash shop market OGP started. They give away things to temp people already here to keep playing to spend more, but they seem to avoid investing any kind of expense into the game itself. How many GMs has anyone seen? How many staff post on these forums? How much news and how many changes are reported to the players?

These are all red flags I keep seeing, that I'm trying to muster up the strength to play through and ignore... but they're there.

It's clear they give a rat's ass about the use of alts being played side-by-side with main characters since they don't even seem to care about responding to anyone about anything on even the most simple topics and already seem to have their plans in place. They opened up E Coast of Latin America for all, without anyone having the requirements to actually do so as a community. Just wait for the day they pop EA for everyone... you know it's going to happen. This is how much they care about the future playability of the game world.

I see Papaya doing the same things that Netmarble and then, OGP later did. They injected billions into the economy just via Founders packs alone, so the opening days haven't been about players collectively finding ways to earn wealth to invest in ports, but more about how many multi-millionaires decided to spend that wealth on investments in ports. They give away free things and items through various packs and then they promote a power leveling event to 60 and start the game with a 200% bonus to exp earned.

They've completely failed at understanding what this game was designed to be and are simply crunching numbers at this point.

For everything they implemented... why even wipe?! There has been nothing they introduced that they couldn't have done on a developed server. The only thing they accomplished was the culling of some older players and ensuring only the whales would stay behind to feed their addiction. They haven't even tried ot recruit new players to the game....

WesDoobner · October 2017

Have you actually tried to play the game rather than writing novels on the forum? I have, and I'm having a blast, which I will continue to do until the day the game closes down. It seems like some people are more interested in finding stuff to complain about rather than playing the game. Papaya is going to try to make money off this game, that's the only reason to host a game. That's how the real world works. In the meantime, why not try to play the game the way it is being played currently instead of bitching and moaning that the game is being played the wrong way, hosted the wrong way, forum not responded to the right way, etc. It's a game. Play it or don't, but why waste your time and ours with your buzz harshing million word essays?

aceman39 · October 2017

I totally agree with you Wes

clemsonfan · October 2017

this post is whinier than anything i said pre-launch. since launch i have sen alot of good and alot of bad. but overall i am satisfied with the way things are going. we the players control the economy as it appears and in order to get a grip on the inflation there must be competition of goods. as i have learned since launch if only 1 person offers a good that is desired or needed, they can ask and get whatever price they want.

As to your other point about alts. get over it there is no need to continuously beat a dead horse int o the ground we have rule of 3 toons we can use. this is a very deep game and there isnt any possible way 1 toonis enough to hold all the gears- skills or ships you need ot experience it in its full glory. if you and pekkaweur want to leave bye. its better for us if you did. papaya is advertising alot and see and talk to alot of new players all the time.

there is always room for improvement with anything. and to be honest papaya can't make every single player happy. you can make a choice to play or not to play. i made my choice to give them a chance and they so far have not let me down.

quit yer bellyaching and play the game.

aceman39 · October 2017

I have nothing against papaya and I agree with you Clem and people keep saying alts kill the economy people are just whiners and they need some cheese to go with that wine. People need to play and enjoy themselves

JustToTalk · October 2017

Papaya looks like a group of kids who is running the show. There is a saying in my place, "If you want to earn, forget your ego. If you want ego, forget about business." Papaya probably wants both. So I wish them good luck.

Its practically throwing a basket of rotten eggs out and demanding gold in return. This is a kid's mindset. Immaturity, arrogant and lack of sincerity.

Not just me but many, a lot of the old players are trying to communicate with them, but they blocked off the communication. Refuse to listen.

You are a game hoster. You are a businessman. We are the gamers. Kindly please GET YOUR MIND STRAIGHT ON THAT and don't be confuse with the ROLES.

Did you put in any thoughts at all to your customers? You pour in your real money in to host a game, and you come to do business with such attitude?

Many of us already very unsatisfied with Papaya. Tons of us disagree. They are aware of that. But they ignore it. Uwo can continue until so long mainly because there are a group of a very nice players in it. They helped the newcomers, guide them, and never gave up the game until they took over.

You can't possibly imagine. You have no ideas at all. How these groups of players have helped the game goes on.

How do a game survives? You don't need to be a genius to understand that. These is only 2 basic you should know.

One. Player base.

Second. Profit.

A successful game host will always try to keep their player base first. With player base, only they start thinking about earning money. Which game publisher do not understand this? Only Papaya doesn't.

Papaya does thing the opposite.

They are thinking of securing their profit first. Then only they worry about their player base.

From the beginning I already tried to communicate with them. BALANCE is the key. Don't bias on one side. You can both satisfy the Pirates, and the other groups of old players, without wiping the server. When you took over a server, the primary thing you should worry about is to keep as many old players over as possible.

You should not be thinking about oh, their items are all full. They won't spend anymore. You should not think like that at all. That is the thinking of a loser's. You should think, okay, now I took over from OGP. I want to do a better job than OGP. What is my policy? How should I manage it?

First impression! First impact! How important it is!!

But... they took the advise of a pirate player and really believe wow, all kinds of players I don't mind to lose them. I just want to keep the pirate players. Lol. The result now? Expected. Why? We play uwo longer. We understand the game environment better.

When Papaya took over. I am trying to offer my 3 cents, trying to give them a gold key. But they threw it away. They want to follow another player who has the bad attitude which mostly a pirate player, the way how they should run the server. End up? Everyone is unsatisfied, unpleased, angered.

Is it unimaginable? Unexpected? A pirate's mindset what. They only know how to destroy. They do not know how to construct. End up now? Ruin our beloved game. And destroy your own game.

Satisfied? I guess so. There is nothing we can do. Look at how they manage their forum. "Approval" for days lol. They are stubborn. There is really nothing we old players can do. You want to walk towards the path of destruction? Go ahead then. The choice is always yours anyway.

Being extreme always end up losing. Now both side are losers. Sad. But life goes on. With this kind of policy I doubt rarely any old players will support them at all. Given almost a month's time, and a very disappointing news at the relaunch, is enough to give us old players to find ourselves a new game and stay there. Gratz at losing the loyal players to the other server.

Continue with your forum approval please. It helps :p

Crimsonbunny · October 2017

Its funny alts do kill the eco i dont really get how people cant see that.I dont care really any more but its true they play a huge part in recking the eco.when u get to the point where 1 toon cant even buy a good midto end ship because people want more thin what 1 toon can hold that in its self should be a red flag .

Its sad people forgot what this game was like when u where only allund to use 1 toon .When people did things as a guild. and not just by there self with alts.Fact u where never ment to be able to do everything &never ment to have all skills that was the point of being in guilds .

And u think it was badbefor in less something changes in game our player market will be even worse off thin befor the wipe.

Dont get me wrong i still have tuns of fun but find it mindblowing some people cant see the impact alts have on the eco.

Denialism is strong with many of u lol

VictoriasSecret · October 2017

10 years this games been out? And people who are ignorant still complain about the same things. No matter how many guides are posted or how many vets feel forced into ranting on the forums. Here is a rant condensed into one sentence: There are MANY more ways to get rich than hauling nanban with 5 ships. Now go figure them out.

Lerxst · October 2017

@Victoria - Of course, you forgot to say that it will take them 5 years longer, but...

Anyhow, on with Papaya.

The fact that this post has remained semi-active for a few days, yet there has not even been a single word from the hosting company about any of it; no GM/Customer service/community manager response, no locked topic... hell, I'll even take a banning; at least that would show that someone at Papaya has a pulse! I'm beginning to think the company is just a shell put together by some rogue AI.

SkyNet... is that you?

Skelmer · October 2017

You don't like it? don't play. Some of us enjoy playing and will continue to enjoy playing until there is no game to enjoy, Or stop bitching and do something useful.

And what's all this talk against alts? I play Skelmer and Selmka, I do everything together with them and it benefits me as a player, my company and my Nation ( Venice ) not many Venetians doing Imperial Quests out there right now, so having 2 doing the same IQ at the same time speeds things up a bit and will benefit other players later on, as they will not have to do the dozens of IQs I do to get the next port permit.

seapiratedeluxe · October 2017

I am enjoying myself playing thats for sure, but there is some problems here...

I triggered the last Epic investment battle(just wanted to test some stuff) and what i saw was just rediculous, Investment bonds completely ruins this experience. i was not sure they were able to be used but i watched people drop 100mil at a time when im only able to do 10 mil per trip...

The cash shop selling away the most amazing and exciting feature of this game is sad beyond words.

Please papaya i have begged you before and ill do it again, remove investment bonds. If this is just impossible due to your level of greed then atleast agree not to add them into the "event tickets" if that happens UWO will die a slow death once again.

Terrible to sell away the games best features into the cash shop for profit. The potential for "fun" during epic investment battles has yet to be felt by the players, i have not ever seen it done properly organized the way its meant to be. And it never will be because of the cash shop selling Victory.

HeavyWater · October 2017

@Lerxst

If you think it takes 5 years, you:

a) Completely missed Victoria's (excellent) point.

b) Clearly have never actually played the game, or are ignorant to any part of it beyond nanban.

Lerxst · October 2017

@Skelmer I'm sure none of the Spanish players were using alts to complete any of their IQ's too... I'm suuuuuuure of it.

@Heavy Talk about a person who starts with nothing and sees you all now. Stock ships. Stock rewards. no cash ships anything. I'm only barely one step above that since I at least have knowledge of the game though my account still hasn't been linked.

People sail 3-5 ships, at a time, in and out of Calicut every 2 minutes already. Most of those are at least one cash shop ship going faster and carrying more than a Graduation ship can come close to. By the time I'm anywhere near ready to upgrade, any custom ship I want will costs hundreds of millions already - that's several more trips to India. By the time I trade enough to get that, the inflation is only going to get higher and I STILL won't be able to afford anything.

Now, take a person who knows nothing about the game.... doesn't that sound like an appealing "first impression"?

JustToTalk · October 2017

Uwo is a game which can earn profit.

Graphic games all share the same problems - Gain players fast, lose players fast. Graphics are tech. And tech is competition. Competition will eat you up.

Uwo wins on the game design. Never in graphic.

Imo, just me okay, not some so-called arrogant short-sighted smart ass pirates. My opinions are these.

OGP limits the max 3 accounts per IP. Apply your guts on this, don't apply your courage on wiping the server. Limit the toon to max 2. Heck if me? I will even do it 1.

Enforce strict rule once you decide to do it.

You do this, and the players can't complain you, even if they want to. Why? Because you just do what is RIGHT! It is supposed to be one account at the origin. Having multis are already a violation.

So what will be the Papaya giving the impression to all the players? They did something that even OGP dare not do. Wow. This publisher is good! Must be better than OGP.

What is the message you are sending to the players? You are telling players to come back and join and play the game. All the bad things in uwo over the years are gone. Upon I took over, I will bring sunshine into the game.

You create a game environment for them to stay. A reason for them to continue. A hope to enjoy the game again. A feeling that is lost how the game is so nice years ago.

Old players will call upon their friends in real life again. If they have contacted of old uwo players who once gave up the game, they will persuade them to come over.

There is new hope in uwo.

There are so many alternatives to run. Server wipe should be the last of it. You don't have the group of people to brainstorm ideas is it? Or your liking to doing things alone by your own view, dictatorship?

For what sake you went and wipe the server? You are crazy man.

What Papaya did?

First. Come all, prepare to transfer your account. Before OGP end their service.
What are they doing? They give players hope.

Second. Oh sry. Server wipe. You can transfer you account. But only your username :p

What are they doing? They gave a hope first, and then they crushed it. LOL

Third. Bias on pirates. Entirely. Obviously. Because I give you plunderable item, I can reset the server again.

What are they doing? Wow. Dude. You offended a lot of players by doing that you know that? Do you realize that?

An adventurer is not a player to your view?
A trader is not a player to your view?

Only a pirate is worth as a player to your view?

Don't be so arrogant dude. Don't do business with this kind of attitude.

Fourth. Do not allow players to post freely at their forum!

This is the most foolish thing I ever see in my entire life.

The stupidiest. The most foolish. Unwise. Out of their mind, next to their server wipe.

Why? Dear Papaya.. Are you in dreaming? What happened here is, you are going to take over uwo from OGP. Players are fear. Great anxiety among the players.

They need to express. They need to communicate. They need to talk.

And you suppress them? OH MY GOD!

Half a month's time. You should let all people to express their views! This is the one best chance for you to understand the game environment of uwo!! Understand your customers! What type of player base you are having. This is the chance for you to understand the game you wanted to host in a few days later!

You understand your customers... only you can gain profits, isn't it? Its so simple man.

But you cut off all communication. Took advise from one foolish pirate. Close up the door, ignore all, do things alone, and announce at the last minute.

Hello... Be optism a bit, dont be so hostile dude. We old players... also love the game. New publisher.... we also want to help. If you can earn, of course we would be happy for you. Because that is mutual benefit. We can play, and you can earn. Correct?

Why do you close your door and listen to one fool?

How to help you? Even if you want wipe, don't bias on one type of player, god.

You wipe.
You bias.

And you restrict freedom of speech.

We are seeing your mistakes as clear as the sky. Where do you get that kind of confidence yourself?

Now, wipe is already done. Impression is already bad. Even I want to help I also don't know how to advise you. So much damage is done.

If you have a group to help you brainstorm. Now is the time, dude.

tradetrade1 · October 2017

As a NM and OGP player who came back to play again after I heard about the reset and the founders rewards, its been great talking with some old friends again. But just two weeks in and it's pretty much "meet the new boss, same as the old boss" and my company and friends list is already starting to show fewer and fewer people playing the game. Was hoping PP had more in mind to revamp an awesome game than just resetting everyone so we'd buy more stuff, but it kinda looks like we're right back on the same downward slide that OGP put us on.

It sucks too, people that have played UWO for years and years have some awesome ideas on how to make UWO great again, from ways to advertise to having a wiki that is updated and doesn't die each day, to gameplay fixes, we just can't seem to find a host that will listen.

Atakebune2 · October 2017

@aceman39

I saw you in another thread complaining about sailing for 1 hour for an Imperial quest being too long.

Some people sailed for 6years+ to get their things done. Whos the whiner here? You.

THawk420 · October 2017

so miss my r20 rowing

aceman39 · October 2017

@Atakebune2 I did all these stupid quest years ago and I was not whining just saying that a hour and then had to do it again and again was crazy. I was trying to get a port permit and had to do it over and over. And if you read what I said more closely you would have seen what I said. So don't judge me. There was other things I could have been doing in UWO then sailing back and forth to carribe for a IQ quest.

kadams · October 2017

We agree to the ToS. Our accounts don't really belong to us. Everything in game is imaginary. It's all an illusion and yet, the wipe seems like a poor business decision, and yes, I hope I'm wrong. When making such a severe decision about the game, whether true or not, an implied agreement with players should be thought of as real (even knowing it's not.) Imagine the accounts do belong to the players and everything they have a achieved and possess is real. In life companies don't get to wipe away history because they know to do so creates more problems than it solves.

The real pity is that there couldn't have been 2 worlds available - yes, the player base isn't large enough, but at least PP would have found out which world was the more profitable one - PP has to make money or there won't even be 1 world.

If previous hosts messed the game up, Koei allowed it, and possibly caused some of it. Another bad business decision (my opinion) is to start the whole thing over - it comes across as blaming the most loyal players this game has/had. If PP has a way to bring in new players who have that sense of loyalty, then there's hope - after all, not everyone who threatened to quit actually did so, and those who said they wouldn't spend real moneys probably are buying some things.

Of those I know who played before, I am the only one left and I don't expect the others to come back. I'm trying to continue playing, but the player population going into 2018 will determine if it's worth continuing - I don't mean that in a negative way, but if the population drastically drops, what's the point of trying to aim for the top when the top keeps rising. I don't have time to compete for the level 60 event - just getting back to where I was will take 4+ years (real life still comes first.)

I don't know what the writing on the wall is, but I'll hang in there for now.

KainDeKuri · October 2017

I could honestly read the two books of Guzmán de Alfarache quicker than one of those complaints about alts. My dear lovable people, here is a secret: do dungeons and you'll become richer than nanbaning with less risk of being plundered.

Alts don't ruin the economy, my dear lovable people. Alts are beautiful. Complaining chubby merchants are ugly, they don't see the beauty in this game, they only see ducats.

Fleets of 5 do exist. They could be made by 2 people or they could be made by 5 people, but people will continue fleeting in 5 because that's the maximum number of people you can put in a fleet. And they will continue crashing the market, being 1, 2 or 5 people behind the computer. And this is (wait for it) also part of the game!! If you cannot bear frustration, I'm sorry, but frustration is also part of the game and (in much larger amount) part of life. What if you're holding 50m and then a pirate comes and steals them all from you? What if you arrived to the market in a bad moment? Shit happens, my dear lovable people. Fortunately you still can go to another town with good prizes (maybe the town next to you), fortunately you can just wait for the market to recover by doing other things (cough cough ADVENTURE), fortunately you can... omg, play an alt while waiting for your precious market to beautifully recover! See how alts are beautiful?

Writing on the wall?

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