New Legacy and the Endless Journey
I am currently concerned about how ineffective the current state of Endless Journey will be in keeping players interested and would like to see some changes to the program at-least on the new legacy servers but preferably everywhere if possible. This is just my opinion again but I feel that the release of new legacy will be this game's best opportunity to attract new faces whether they never played before, returning veterans or tourists from current player-run servers. The draw of a classic inspired UO combined with the ability to play for free should be enough to get people in the door at-least to see what it's all about and if it's something they are interested in however if the Endless Journey continues to be needlessly restrictive and a hassle to work around then it will push them all away. The Endless Journey program needs to be a viable way to play the game especially on New Legacy but like I said if at the end of a season you want to see any of these players that you meet on your current live server then changes need to happen there as well.
1st is the bank box which I believe can hold a maximum of 20 items and is a grid style. On a classic server this is way to restricted and should be removed completely giving everyone full access to their fullsize bank (125 items with ability to purchase upgrades) If you are a mage or gathering player the reagents alone or crafting materials will take up almost your entire bank space. UO is very much a collection based game especially as a new player you have no idea what is useful or not and having no place to store the stuff you find will be frustrating.
2nd is the housing I understand the idea behind not letting Endless Journey accounts own a house. That is fine I wish there was a better solution like Endless Journey accounts decay after 30 days on not refreshing but that would probably be to complex to code so the no house ownership rule is fine. However what I do not find acceptable is the inability to allow Endless Journey into private owned houses. These houses are often guildhouses and meeting places for friends to hang out. A major issue I foresee already is that of a PvPer on new legacy since everyone will need to Opt-In to Vice Versus Virtue to PvP with only one landmass I am under the current assumption (hopefully) that PvP will have no restrictions on where and when it can happen. This will mean that anyone in VvV has no safe-zone outside of housing but if Endless Journey players cannot get into private houses they really have no place to go. I never understood this restriction in the first place if you don't want them to access containers still then fine but they've always should have been allowed into friends houses.
3rd resources this is me assuming because little details or known about what happens at the shattering but it is my belief that resources will be something that is lost. Every player is putting in the same effort to go out and collect resources if there are special resources they should be able to acquire those and not be limited to the basic ore and lumbers. Apparently EJ accounts can not use commodity deeds either and should also be changed. Even on live servers the inability to harvest special ore's and lumbers should be removed the value of ingots and boards is so low that it will never have a impact on the economy on live servers. Being able to place a boat I believe should be allowed.
4th thing to me is rewards from Event Moderators, Champion Spawns and holiday rewards. I think it was stated that Event Moderators will not be on New Legacy which I think is unfortunate as the extra content is always nice and helpful to keep players active would be nice to see this reconsidered. My issue with this is EM event's are largely one of the main sources of content in the game it makes no sense to exclude the Endless Journey players from participating and having the same chance at the reward as anyone else. Champion Spawns are a main source of PvP for a lot of people and having more people doing the spawns to get scrolls is good for everyone if endless journey wants to put in the risk to get the rewards why shouldn't they be able to? If anything it lowers the value of top end scrolls to make them more affordable for everyone else that doesn't want to assume the risk. Lastly is the holiday rewards I view these as a Thank You for playing the game and here is a little token of appreciation from the Dev Team. Everyone deserves a little appreciation once and awhile and with a majority of the holiday rewards being one per server by clicking a stone in britain what is the point of denying anyone a simple gift to feel valued?
I ultimately have no idea what New Legacy is going to look like so these are just assumptions that I feel might hold true. I have never played as Endless Journey so I might be missing some changes that should be made and hopefully anyone can point those out I have never understood the restrictions that were put in place on the live shards and they make even less sense on New Legacy. If we truly hope to see any kind of population increase in the game then Endless Journey needs to be a more enjoyable way to play. House Ownership and Veteran Reward status is plenty enough for the paying subscribers to have over EJ all these restrictions that prevent people from enjoying the game need to go. Also if you want players to transfer to your server at the end of the servers lifespan I hope you plan on playing new legacy helping out players making new friends and representing your server.