Why did you used to hang out at the Britain Bank? [Insert Your Answer Here]

Margrette

Maybe if we all pitch in, we can give Mesanna and the dev team a list of reasons for why people used to hang out at the West Britain Bank.  Not sure what they can do with such a list, but for the rest of us, at least it's a little bit of nostalgia, right?

I'll kick things off with a few reasons for why I used to like to visit the WBB.  I know I haven't been playing as long as a lot of other folks.  I started right after the Samurai Empire expansion was released, near the end of 2004 and played on Great Lakes.  I vaguely remember there being an invasion in Britain not all that long after I started playing, so in addition to just learning how to play UO, I was also discouraged a bit by other players from going to Britain with my absolutely brand new and mostly useless characters.  I hung out in Haven most of the time and it was several months before I even discovered Luna.  I can remember trying to help a little bit with the invasion, but it was mostly beyond my abilities.  I was very happy when it was done and I could finally experience crowds at the WBB.

Anyway, I digress.  Below are some of the reasons why I used to visit the WBB 

- To get my pets rezzed.
- To gawk at all the better-dressed, better-equipped players.
- To eavesdrop on conversations.
- To rummage in my bankbox and act like I knew what I was doing.
- To see which guilds were recruiting.
- To see if anyone had dropped something interesting on the ground.
- To see if anyone was hosting an interesting activity and putting up gates to help you get there.
- To see if anyone was selling a plot.
- To see what people were trying to sell to anyone who was interested.

I had so very little gold, I never went to Britain looking to actually buy something from someone else.  But it was always fun to see who else was around and what they were talking about.  This was before we had guild chat and years before we had global chat.  Britain was just the place where you went to see and be seen, I guess.  Maybe people who had more invested in the game can speak to why the WBB used to be important to them.

JackFlashUk

WBB Europa used to be the place to go, it was always busy,  when I was training taming I used to sell horses 500gb beetle 5k, Ozzy and lamas and swampies

I used to share the grass opposite the bank entrance with another tamer called Celle. 

Always wondered what happened to her.........

Arnold7

That’s where everyone I know hangs out.  The arcane circle and the moongate might have something to do with it.  But I hang out there because the players I know hang out there.

JohnKnighthawke

This isn't what she said.

What she said was:

" I want to remove all decorations from all banks on all shards.  Before I make any final decision on this I am willing to hear your comments as to why it should stay. "

She wants reasons to keep the deco, not reasons we do or used to hang out at the WBB. I, for one, still use it as an important social location and to see who's on and what they're up to, same reason I visit Luna Bank.

But that's not what she said. She was talking about removing the deco.

Bilbo

Everybody hung out there looking for groups to do things with or they would be at the smith shops getting gear made or repaired.  Now we have Chat and repair deeds so maybe Bonnie needs to do away with these also.

loop

I used WBB for:

1. Shopping / trading with other players. No longer needed with vendor search.
2. Seeking services from other players. No longer needed with general chat.
3. Proximity to a more complete array of vendor services. Somewhat obsolete due to Luna.
4. Population ("you go there because other people go there"). There's something to feeling like you're in a living world. Vendor search and general chat means player density needn't be as concentrated as it once was.
5. Socializing. Today, I mainly socialize via guild chat or discord.

I currently use WBB for:

1. Nearby tinker shop.
2. Moongate on Atlantic.
3. Spellweaving circle.
4. Trash chest.

I wasn't playing when the WBB decoration contest was underway. If the intention was that decorations themselves would bring people back to WBB, without consideration of function or the larger context of why people gather where they do, then I think the effort was misguided. 

When I first came back to the game, I did find the decorations off-putting. Now I see the decorations as a vector for making shards more unique, but with some shards having moongates or ugly decorations things can be controversial. It would have been better not to have them at all in the first place, in my opinion, but I fail to see what the problem is now and why the sudden interest in removing them.

Arnold7

The roof on ours might look a little odd because of the grass but the ground level looks like lots of other real city streets.  Just a couple benches and a couple plants so what is the big deal?  Our felucca version does not have anything on the ground level and not much on the roof.  It could not look anymore uninviting than it does.  Can’t go to other shards to see what is so over the top, but ours looks the way you would expect it to.

Margrette

JohnKnighthawke said:

This isn't what she said.

What she said was:

" I want to remove all decorations from all banks on all shards.  Before I make any final decision on this I am willing to hear your comments as to why it should stay. "

She wants reasons to keep the deco, not reasons we do or used to hang out at the WBB. I, for one, still use it as an important social location and to see who's on and what they're up to, same reason I visit Luna Bank.

But that's not what she said. She was talking about removing the deco.

This thread is a reaction to what she said prior to saying she wants to remove all the decorations from all banks on all shards, i.e.,: 

"The original intent to decorate these banks and have the contest was to get people out of Luna and bring life back into a once busy town.  With all the changes in the game the banks have remained unused except for the Spellweaving Circle."

So, maybe she could just use a list of reasons why Britain was a "once busy town" and why the WBB was probably the most-used bank on each shard.

Pawain

I didn't.  I preferred Occlo and Minoc.

Larisa

Arnold7 said:

The roof on ours might look a little odd because of the grass but the ground level looks like lots of other real city streets.  Just a couple benches and a couple plants so what is the big deal?  Our felucca version does not have anything on the ground level and not much on the roof.  It could not look anymore uninviting than it does.  Can’t go to other shards to see what is so over the top, but ours looks the way you would expect it to.

They are all different.

This is Origin...it's not horrible

Aenvar

I loved Britain's music. Really, I couldn't leave without a few loops at least.

This one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0Ftun1Pt48 

Sadly, you only hear this on Felucca now.

Seth

Most of the time, Luna is not even busy on most shards except Atlantic.

Bilbo

Seth said:

Most of the time, Luna is not even busy on most shards except Atlantic.

Amen, maybe she should threaten to delete all of Luna unless people give her reason not to.

Seth

Bilbo said:

Seth said:

Most of the time, Luna is not even busy on most shards except Atlantic.

Amen, maybe she should threaten to delete all of Luna unless people give her reason not to.

Lol yeah, then there will be a rebellion

Drago

Its the capital of britannia... therefore everyone flocked to it, including me.   It was best place to get repairs, buy/sell, rez, etc...  I think everyone left it after the stupid grass and waterfalls were put on the roof... smh.

Bilbo

Drago said:

Its the capital of britannia... therefore everyone flocked to it, including me.   It was best place to get repairs, buy/sell, rez, etc...  I think everyone left it after the stupid grass and waterfalls were put on the roof... smh.

Everyone left it when Luna was born, get your FACTS straight.

Drakelord

Sorry but mine favor place to hang out was the EBB, not the WBB.  In the early days we would leave from there for adventures in the lost land, riding Lama was stable in Delucia since you could not bring it out of the lost lands.  (This was on LS) we did not move all our accounts to Sonoma till 2003/2004 when they came out with character transfer, still the EBB was where we normally met (AOE guild then)  It was not till I joined PAS then we were meeting in Nujel'm Fel side.

Astolfo

WBB was the central location for meeting of a time long passed. There is nothing that can be done to return it to a robust hub of activity without fundamentally changing the game UO has become today. 

The AOS expansion was probably the first in a line of game enhancements that began to remove WBB importance. Luna created a better hub by placing many vendors within close proximity as well as centralized NPC shops and moon gate. Adding features like global chat, New Magincia pet stalls, and vendor search only further take away the need for player base's need to gather in a central location to trade, and socialize.  Combine that with a smaller population, third party voice servers, and generally more content to occupy players' time and WBB day in the sun is all but over. 

 Leave the decorations as they are and devote your resources to things that matter. People will continue to use the spell weaving circle in limited fashion and no one will be butt hurt over things staying in place. If you want some bonus points put a moon gate next to the thing on shards where it is missing instead of getting indignant when someone asks you at a meet and greet for the thousandth time if you will.

WBB is dead. Long live WBB!   
   

Victim_Of_Siege

Because that's where all the easy Marks were, of course. 

zima

Many miss the fact that pre global chat system, WBB was like an open air bazaar. I loved buying and selling there, that was my main reason. Meet new people, make money, SPEND money, it was fun. Between global chat, vendor search, and Luna, the Dev's guaranteed WBB would die, then whine that they killed it, and blame US for using what they gave us. 

Bilbo

If Mesanna wants us to use WBB like in the olden days then maybe she needs to destroy Luna not WBB.