Congratulations to the team!
It’s here! It’s now!
Pretty soon after I began to read as much as I could about what people thought about this new shard. To try and grapple with that first deluge of information I wrote too many words about my Thoughts on our New Legacy and, looking back, while what we got isn't 100% what I was trying to write into existence (some of those hues from NL beta aren't my cup of tea!) I kept finding myself excited about the prospect of discovering something new. Of how y'all weren't just going to spin-up some sort bodged-together something era shard. There was risk in this endeavour. There's this idea in creative work about how you should not give people what they want but give them what they don't know they need. That's what I saw the team doing.
It was my privilege to play part of the alpha and as much of the beta as I could and watch the community experience this new world together. Watching crafters figure out the Congiarium. Seeing the theorycrafting on how best to handle boss mobs like the Manticore and Veylara develop in real time. Experiencing the new art, quests, and big story moments together with others as our conceptions of what UO is was changed in real time. It was truly a great experience and I feel lucky that I got to have even a small part in it.
I hope that today you, the team, and all of us can take a moment to reflect on all the hard work that led here. This game brings out the passion in people. No one gets this heated, this excited, this critical about something they don't love. And when you flip the switch today and the shard is up I hope y'all can afford yourself a few moments of reflection and gratitude from the community who love this silly wizard game from the 1990s.
I ended that aforementioned post in this way, and I still believe it completely: "At the core of the game, under all the crazy things they have added since 1997, it’s still a place we can explore a fantasy world together. I think this is what New Legacy is about and what they will emphasize. It’s why you should be excited for it."
It began with a hint about something big on the horizon for UO. What a spark this ignited in the community! Would it be the long rumored Steam release? A new client? A Release/T2A/Renaissance/AOS/whatever a person's individual take on the best era shard?
And then, September 24th, 2020 the live stream hits. That was months into the pandemic and the world was in utter ruins. UO was a real comfort at that moment for us who were home-bound and/or dealing with the visceral, real effects of the pandemic every day.
I remember watching the stream large on my TV, with my laptop open to chat to folks as we awaited the stream to begin in full:
And then you all appeared and we saw our first look at New Legacy:
A new shard! A brand new experience! Something wholly different from what we had already. And then, September 24th, 2020 the live stream hits. That was months into the pandemic and the world was in utter ruins. UO was a real comfort at that moment for us who were home-bound and/or dealing with the visceral, real effects of the pandemic every day.
I remember watching the stream large on my TV, with my laptop open to chat to folks as we awaited the stream to begin in full:
And then you all appeared and we saw our first look at New Legacy:
Pretty soon after I began to read as much as I could about what people thought about this new shard. To try and grapple with that first deluge of information I wrote too many words about my Thoughts on our New Legacy and, looking back, while what we got isn't 100% what I was trying to write into existence (some of those hues from NL beta aren't my cup of tea!) I kept finding myself excited about the prospect of discovering something new. Of how y'all weren't just going to spin-up some sort bodged-together something era shard. There was risk in this endeavour. There's this idea in creative work about how you should not give people what they want but give them what they don't know they need. That's what I saw the team doing.
It was my privilege to play part of the alpha and as much of the beta as I could and watch the community experience this new world together. Watching crafters figure out the Congiarium. Seeing the theorycrafting on how best to handle boss mobs like the Manticore and Veylara develop in real time. Experiencing the new art, quests, and big story moments together with others as our conceptions of what UO is was changed in real time. It was truly a great experience and I feel lucky that I got to have even a small part in it.
I hope that today you, the team, and all of us can take a moment to reflect on all the hard work that led here. This game brings out the passion in people. No one gets this heated, this excited, this critical about something they don't love. And when you flip the switch today and the shard is up I hope y'all can afford yourself a few moments of reflection and gratitude from the community who love this silly wizard game from the 1990s.
I ended that aforementioned post in this way, and I still believe it completely: "At the core of the game, under all the crazy things they have added since 1997, it’s still a place we can explore a fantasy world together. I think this is what New Legacy is about and what they will emphasize. It’s why you should be excited for it."
Comments
You anxious too? I think the news said today at noon eastern. See ya in NL
Completely different ruleset. Possibility of unique items you can only get there to bring back to production shards.
If there's gold and items that can freely traded, i'm sure people will do RMT to have the best while they're there.
The theme park UO with an extraction bribe; ain't for me as a pre mythic UO lover.
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QFT! Great job from Broadsword!
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