Why Are Paying Customers Being Silenced on Critical Topics?

Mariah · May 26

In an effort to not further exasperate NikonUS I will not close this topic, instead I will delete the entire side topic started by King. I apologize to those posters who spoke in opposition to King's ToS breaking proposal.

Seth · May 26

Mariah said:

In an effort to not further exasperate NikonUS I will not close this topic, instead I will delete the entire side topic started by King. I apologize to those posters who spoke in opposition to King's ToS breaking proposal.

I don’t think there’s any need to apologize for removing off-topic posts that break the Terms of Service. Consistent action like this sets the right tone — it encourages constructive discussion, discourages feeding trolls, and reminds us to use the report button instead.

That said, I do hope the Dev team can be more present to help address concerns or at least provide closure where needed.

Oreogl · May 26

Kyronix said:

Your feedback has been shared with the team as noted. We will discuss the issue internally and if we feel changes are warranted we will make them known when they get through development. Regardless - anything housing related requires engineering support and those resources are dedicated to the classic client upgrade which is slated for a mid-summer test version.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I haven’t been around as much since it’s rolling into summer, but are there any previews for the classic client update?

Is this going to primarily be a functionality update or going to include some graphics upgrades as well?

If this has already been addressed please disregard, someone will point me in the right direction I’m sure.

Thanks again.

Jepeth · May 26

Oreogl said:

Kyronix said:

Your feedback has been shared with the team as noted. We will discuss the issue internally and if we feel changes are warranted we will make them known when they get through development. Regardless - anything housing related requires engineering support and those resources are dedicated to the classic client upgrade which is slated for a mid-summer test version.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I haven’t been around as much since it’s rolling into summer, but are there any previews for the classic client update?

Is this going to primarily be a functionality update or going to include some graphics upgrades as well?

If this has already been addressed please disregard, someone will point me in the right direction I’m sure.

Thanks again.

Patrick asked Kyronix this in their interview this past week. The long and short of it, all though I’d encourage everyone to listen to the whole thing, is that the major work so far has been on the back end getting the CC to the point they can make any changes at all with up to date code libraries. After that they’re looking at mid summer tests for more frame rate and expandable play window. More qol will come later.

Oreogl · May 27

Jepeth said:

Oreogl said:

Kyronix said:

Your feedback has been shared with the team as noted. We will discuss the issue internally and if we feel changes are warranted we will make them known when they get through development. Regardless - anything housing related requires engineering support and those resources are dedicated to the classic client upgrade which is slated for a mid-summer test version.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I haven’t been around as much since it’s rolling into summer, but are there any previews for the classic client update?

Is this going to primarily be a functionality update or going to include some graphics upgrades as well?

If this has already been addressed please disregard, someone will point me in the right direction I’m sure.

Thanks again.

Patrick asked Kyronix this in their interview this past week. The long and short of it, all though I’d encourage everyone to listen to the whole thing, is that the major work so far has been on the back end getting the CC to the point they can make any changes at all with up to date code libraries. After that they’re looking at mid summer tests for more frame rate and expandable play window. More qol will come later.

Thanks for this. Time has been a hard commodity to come by lately. I appreciate any help I can get. Have a good one!

steven · June 4

its easy. there friends can do want ever then want. u do 1% of that and get ban. easy as that. u don't like it go play a new game then think. the pop of uo is so low less then 15k real players. Rember this game had 1 million players before. then killed it . then let there friends run the game in the ground.

Lokea · June 4

steven said:

. the pop of uo is so low less then 15k real players. Rember this game had 1 million players before. then killed it .

I doubt it's as low as 15,000, otherwise there would be a lot more large (keep/castle) spots open on more shards, and a lot more Luna spots open.

And UO never got close to 1 million (although there's been over a million accounts opened and closed since 1997). The peak was 250,000 in July of 2003, and that was an average of about 9,000 players per production shard, but the reality is that shards like Atlantic, LS, GL, etc. had more than 9,000 players, while smaller shards had 5,000-7,000).

Those of us playing back then would have definitely felt it if we had a million players, and there'd be a helluva lot more than 27 production shards.

If we only had 15,000 players, Atlantic would not be nearly as busy as it is and there'd be more housing spots, because almost all keep/castle spots are taken on all other shards, as are most Luna houses, etc.

Grimbeard · June 4

Lokea said:

steven said:

. the pop of uo is so low less then 15k real players. Rember this game had 1 million players before. then killed it .

I doubt it's as low as 15,000, otherwise there would be a lot more large (keep/castle) spots open on more shards, and a lot more Luna spots open.

And UO never got close to 1 million (although there's been over a million accounts opened and closed since 1997). The peak was 250,000 in July of 2003, and that was an average of about 9,000 players per production shard, but the reality is that shards like Atlantic, LS, GL, etc. had more than 9,000 players, while smaller shards had 5,000-7,000).

Those of us playing back then would have definitely felt it if we had a million players, and there'd be a helluva lot more than 27 production shards.

If we only had 15,000 players, Atlantic would not be nearly as busy as it is and there'd be more housing spots, because almost all keep/castle spots are taken on all other shards, as are most Luna houses, etc.

I think you grossly underestimate how many people have multiple and I mean MULTIPLE accounts....

Lokea · June 4

Grimbeard said:
I think you grossly underestimate how many people have multiple and I mean MULTIPLE accounts....

True, 15,000 players could mean 30,000 - 45,000 accounts. I do think there are more players than people realize, it’s just many of them are not actively playing, and instead just holding on to their home.

When UO was at its peak of 250,000, I wonder how many actual players that was.

_Psycoder · June 7

Jepeth said:
Patrick asked Kyronix this in their interview this past week. The long and short of it, all though I’d encourage everyone to listen to the whole thing, is that the major work so far has been on the back end getting the CC to the point they can make any changes at all with up to date code libraries. After that they’re looking at mid summer tests for more frame rate and expandable play window. More qol will come later.

I have a feeling I might be eaten alive for this but I do hope the CC changes do not break some of the automation that is available via some other means. At least until all of the QoL changes are in place.

I have a minor disability and I love to play crafters in UO. I once had more than 40+ crafters in the game. Collecting 20+ bods for each crafter, sorting those bods, filling those bods one by one would take me more than 24 hours every day and it would cause me unbelievable physical pain.

@NikonUS the person you are referring to does not use 30 accounts. That is just a rumor. He once found a bug with ethereal mounths and used that for a while until devs fixed it. Then he found another bug with pet summoning balls and used that for a while until the devs fixed it. Remember UO code base is almost 30 years old. The development in UO started before most of the software engineering principles were created. 30+ accounts is just a rumor that he is spreading when he finds a new bug.

I agree that we need a change with the current IDOC placement. But, I just wanted to voice my opinion that breaking some things without putting QoL in place will hurt me and many others.

I agree with @KroDuK on this. I think a bit of automation is ok as long as we are not AFK.

@Kyronix I hope this is taken into consideration with the new CC changes.

@Mariah I hope voicing my opinion does not violate the ToS.

KroDuK · June 7

_Psycoder said:
I agree with @ KroDuK on this. I think a bit of automation is ok as long as we are not AFK.

You just teleport them.. problem solve.. after all we need is a legit shard.. for the good OW PvP.. no wuss automation for 95% of PvP actions.. (hard capping on gear.. bring back 95% of the content with good theorycrafting instead of entire generic set of BIS like we were playing a theme park)

At first on a GM island.. then they will realised 99% are bots.. and teleport them instant in a brit cell for public shaming for the time of their sanction.

Or in the middle of britain.. hand tied to the pillory.. so people can play with the pinata.. dropping pieces of his wealth for the time being.

InLor · June 7

Kyronix said:

Your feedback has been shared with the team as noted. We will discuss the issue internally and if we feel changes are warranted we will make them known when they get through development. Regardless - anything housing related requires engineering support and those resources are dedicated to the classic client upgrade which is slated for a mid-summer test version.

"classic client upgrade"?? Be still, my heart! Where can I read about these upgrades?

__Psycoder · July 13

Grimbeard said:

Well despite you admitting to being a cheater the thread still open maybe it's how you're going about it?

It is the weekend, the mods are sleeping

With that being said, this thread is not about me having a mild disability and using a 3rd party client. It is about how 1 guy had a years long monopoly in the game, and why the management is extremely insistent on looking the other way.

I am ready to answer your questions about me in a thread you can create about me.

JohnKnighthawke · July 13

__Psycoder said:

JohnKnighthawke said:

A two-page thread is not being "silenced" on anything, especially when it includes accusations of corruption on part of one of the employees.

They silenced the original thread. Let me repeat this for you:

THEY SILENCED THE ORIGINAL THREAD, LOOK AT THE FIRST POST IN THIS THREAD AND THE TOPIC OF THIS THREAD, AS THEY DID TO THE SAME TOPIC MANY TIMES BEFORE

Look at the first post in this thread.

Why is the topic of this thread "Why Are Paying Customers Being Silenced on Critical Topics?"

When they realized it is a bad PR, only then they allowed this thread.

Please learn your facts.

Once again: You are obviously not being silenced. The more you use all caps and big font to simulate shouting, the more you drive home the fact that you are not being silenced. It takes more than a single deleted thread to be silenced, especially when that deleted thread is immediately followed by a thread that cries quite loudly about being silenced.

If a deleted thread equaled being silenced then, between multiple versions of the official boards and Stratics, I'm likely the most-silenced player in the history of this game.

Community Manager · July 14

First and foremost, I would like to state that GMs will *never* give information about another players action/non-action with a submitted ticket investigation.

Second, I would kindly ask that you refrain from making wild accusations about the Broadsword staff.

Finally, because you admitted to using a 3rd party client, are you certain you did not get a message? GMs will not *ban* people just for the sake of it, they do investigate every ticket that comes in thoroughly.

NikonUS · July 14

@Community Manager and maybe @Kyronixif he care about reading about the situation.

First and foremost, I think it’s important to acknowledge something that keeps being overlooked: players have been raising concerns about the "nonono" player and house placement issues for years. This isn't new. Kyronix has stated he's aware of the situation, but for far too long, it felt like the dev team's attention was fully consumed by New Legacy. Now that NL has been released and the Riftborn event as well, can we finally give this long-standing issue the attention it deserves?

We've asked for action on this matter, and all we've received in return is silence. Yes, Kyronix posted in Discord, but that’s not the same as actual engagement or a plan. Why not ask the broader community for feedback? Ideas like raffling IDOC plots or introducing more equitable systems have been brought up before. Even something temporary would be better than this continued inaction.

Meanwhile, this "nonono" player continues to place every single house like clockwork using 50+ accounts, there is screenshot available if needed, with names and all and nothing is done—even though people are paging daily. How is it possible that this has gone on for years with no action? It naturally leads the player base to question what’s really happening behind the scenes.

It’s time. Enough is enough. Please take this seriously and involve the community in finding a fair solution. Personally, I believe a raffle system would provide a far more balanced and hopeful experience than the current system, where regular players feel like they have zero chance.

Kyronix · July 14

@__Psycoder you were not banned for bringing up any situation with relation to this thread. You're free to talk about it, and as I mentioned in the PM (which is in poor taste sharing publicly, btw) I am aware of the sentiment. An analysis of the house placement system following a house collapse is on our radar and any solution we implement will take the sentiments of these threads into consideration.

So why were you banned - typically we don't discuss this publicly, but since you seem intent on bringing this situation to the public forum it's important to share some facts.

In 2024, your accounts were actioned for violating the TOS. You reached out to me in 2025 apologizing for your actions and asking for a review of the term. You were eligible for a 1 year reprieve in the ban was lifted.

Fast forward to this weekend. You were actioned for another violation. Stop violating the TOS and you will no longer face these consequences.

NikonUS · July 14

Thanks for the reply,@Kyronix

It’s reassuring to hear that:

It’s a known issue — it’s “on your radar.”
You’re analyzing the current system, not just monitoring complaints.
Community feedback is part of the process, so these threads are being read and considered.
While no specific fix is promised yet, it’s at least a hint that changes might come.??

That said, it’s more than time this issue got real attention. The problems with house placement after IDOC's , especially around scripting and unfair advantages, have been around for years.

Many in the community are frustrated that it’s taken this long to even get acknowledgment.

Specially that you know about "nonono" guy.

We really hope this means tangible progress is coming soon. At the very least, some open communication or timeline would go a long way. Players who value fair play have waited long enough.

username · July 14

Kyronix said:
An analysis of the house placement system following a house collapse is on our radar and any solution we implement will take the sentiments of these threads into consideration.

I hope this is sooner than later. Like, to be specific, this should be the next thing for production shards even if it means whatever scheduled content gets delayed. Hell, everything right now should be dropped and this should be fixed. These players that have a stranglehold on housing specifically because they're using 3rd party clients that allows them to do this should not only perma banned immediately but more importantly this should have been fixed oh 5 years ago. It's fucking embarrassing you allow this to happen, for this long... one of the largest aspects of the game get completely ruined by a handful of players.

FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT

PS: I have no care for the housing market but playing a game where this is allowed is EMBARASSING. Be somebody, you're new to the position and can make the decision, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT NOW

NikonUS · July 14

@Kyronix

Proposal: Revival of the New Magincia Raffle System as a High-End Gold Sink for the new House Placement for 2025

Objective:

Reintroduce the plot raffle system from the 2011 New Magincia event as a recurring or special-event housing lottery, specifically designed to reduce excess gold in the economy.

How It Works:

Raffle Tickets:
- Available for purchase via special vendors in designated cities or via the UO Store.
- Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable (bound to account).
- Cost:
  - Normal plots (18x18 or smaller): 500 million gold per ticket. or SOV's
  - Keeps and Castles: 1 platinum (1P = 1 billion gold) per ticket. or SOV's
Raffle Structure:
- Each available plot or shard-specific slot has its own ticket pool.
- Players can enter multiple plots, but can only win one plot per account per event.
- After a set duration (e.g. 7–14 days), winners are randomly drawn.
Winnings:
- Winners receive a House Placement Permit (bound to account, expires in X days if unused).
- Placement can only occur on that designated raffle plot or on shard-specific open areas (if unrestricted).
Unclaimed or Unsold Plots:
- Made available via traditional placement rules after a grace period.

Economic Benefits:

Massive gold sink: A single event could absorb tens of trillions of gold if implemented shard-wide.
Limits hoarding: One win per account limits abuse by multi-boxers.
Fair chance: Equal opportunity for all players, regardless of connection speed or time zone.
Engagement boost: Revives interest in shard-wide events and long-term play.

NikonUS · July 14

yes, people will complain about those players with 20+ accounts will always have better odds.

but under the current system, most players have zero chance of ever placing a castle or keep or any 18x18.

Even with a biased raffle, the odds are still better for everyone.

Let me help you frame this clearly using a simple formula and logic.

Let’s assume:

One castle plot is available.
500 total tickets are sold.
Some players own many accounts, some only 1.

Player Type	Accounts	Tickets Entered	Odds (%)
Player A	1	1 ticket	1 / 500 = 0.2%
Player B	50	50 tickets	50 / 500 = 10%

Now compare that to the current system: 0% for 99% of players.

Plus if the person with 50 accs enter all his accounts in the raffle, he will have to drop 50P for only 10% chance!!

“Yes, players with 20–50 accounts will always have more entries. But under the raffle, I still have a real chance, no matter how small. That’s infinitely better than the current state where I have no chance at all.”

creampie · July 14

Why complicated solution lol.... if you want a raffle after a idoc only put a stone and the high bidder receive it after 24 hours super easy. None will buy to resell because the price will be the market price.

Lokea · July 14

Kyronix said:

An analysis of the house placement system following a house collapse is on our radar and any solution we implement will take the sentiments of these threads into consideration.

For the love of Ultima, ditch the timer on the house placement tool. It has caused me so much frustration when I came back earlier this year. I didn’t even realize there was anything interfering with placing if you tried to use the tool a couple of times, and that stupid “true” message should have been replaced with a “please try again in a few moments” message.

I almost quit after barely a month back because of how frustrating it is to place for a legit player using the official clients. I found a great spot and then had to waste so much time on the tool itself.

Now that I’ve re-subbed an old account for my son, we are right back to the house placement tool delays and it’s wasting so much time as we find places and try to see what fits.

It’s literally faster to log out, log in to Atlantic and other shards, ride out with a horse from the nearest moongate. see what’s there and screenshot it, ride back to the nearest moongate or inn, log out and log back into my home shard and try again than to keep using the tool.

The placement tool delays are not hurting the people cheating, just the legitimate players.

Lokea · July 14

NikonUS said:

Cost:

Normal plots (18x18 or smaller): 500 million gold per ticket. or SOV's

Keeps and Castles: 1 platinum (1P = 1 billion gold) per ticket. or SOV'

So the goal is to cut out all but the wealthiest players and also drive sales to RMT sites and ensure that large houses and keeps and castles coming onto the market stay with the wealthiest players?

Congratulations?

Gold sinks don’t work by the way. UO does not have a fixed economy, because gold is being created every day. It didn’t work with the original house customization gold sink, and it won’t work now. it just prices it out of the range of a lot of players. Another good way to divide the player base.

username · July 14

creampie said:

Why complicated solution lol.... if you want a raffle after a idoc only put a stone and the high bidder receive it after 24 hours super easy. None will buy to resell because the price will be the market price.

You really want people with tons of gold buying up every plot to resell at an even higher price? Nope. You can't have a bid system else we're back to square one where RMT is king. Entries should be a nominal fee or free.

Lokea · July 14

username said:
You really want people with tons of gold buying up every plot to resell at an even higher price? Nope. You can't have a bid system else we're back to square one where RMT is king. Entries should be a nominal fee or free.

This. If we do a system where people either bid for the highest price or are spending hundreds of millions or billions on tickets, you’re going to have flippers who are going to have the money to get the spots and they will turn around and sell the houses for higher prices than they paid. Meanwhile they’ve taken high-end plots off the market as well while they wait for somebody who has the gold or real-life cash to pay their prices, which keeps prices for everybody else even higher.

It’s a great way to keep the housing market artificially high. Benefits only the RMTers and uber wealthy.

It really makes a lot of players angry to see this kind of stuff in 2025, when the player base is so much smaller than it was 20 years ago.

creampie · July 14

not hey wont sell it higher than they paid and they are looking for gold sink best idea ever for it. after idocs letting people bid on them with a stone in britain who show plots available... you idea free are exactly the opposing will still be same shit with people trying to resell them

Lokea · July 14

creampie said:

not hey wont sell it higher than they paid and they are looking for gold sink best idea ever for it.

They will sell it for higher than they paid (it’s literally how they make money on it) and they definitely won’t sell it for less.

Gold sinks don’t work in a game where new gold is generated every single day, much of it automated by bots and scripters. Gold sinks have never stopped inflation and they never will. Age of Shadows should have told you that..

Make it a cheap or free raffle and let regular players at least have a shot.

Regular/non-wealthy players are paying the same $10-14 a month for their accounts that the RMTers and bitters and scripters are.

creampie · July 14

Lokea said:

creampie said:

not hey wont sell it higher than they paid and they are looking for gold sink best idea ever for it.

They will sell it for higher than they paid (it’s literally how they make money on it) and they definitely won’t sell it for less.

Gold sinks don’t work in a game where new gold is generated every single day, much of it automated by bots and scripters. Gold sinks have never stopped inflation and they never will. Age of Shadows should have told you that..

Make it a cheap or free raffle and let regular players at least have a shot.

Regular/non-wealthy players are paying the same $10-14 a month for their accounts that the RMTers and bitters and scripters are.

Nope you are totally wrong

keven2002 · July 15

Kyronix said:

@ __Psycoder you were not banned for bringing up any situation with relation to this thread. You're free to talk about it, and as I mentioned in the PM (which is in poor taste sharing publicly, btw) I am aware of the sentiment. An analysis of the house placement system following a house collapse is on our radar and any solution we implement will take the sentiments of these threads into consideration.

So why were you banned - typically we don't discuss this publicly, but since you seem intent on bringing this situation to the public forum it's important to share some facts.

In 2024, your accounts were actioned for violating the TOS. You reached out to me in 2025 apologizing for your actions and asking for a review of the term. You were eligible for a 1 year reprieve in the ban was lifted.

Fast forward to this weekend. You were actioned for another violation. Stop violating the TOS and you will no longer face these consequences.

I don't really have much opinion on housing since I don't get involved, but awesome response Kyronix.... I'm getting Jim Carrey vibes from Liar Liar "stop breaking the law A**hole!".

That said... if you wanted to just hop onto ATL at any point during this event and see the blatant multiboxing that is going on and action some of those accounts... that'd be great. OR just tell us that's legal so people can stop complaining about it here.

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

Why Are Paying Customers Being Silenced on Critical Topics?

Comments

THEY SILENCED THE ORIGINAL THREAD, LOOK AT THE FIRST POST IN THIS THREAD AND THE TOPIC OF THIS THREAD, AS THEY DID TO THE SAME TOPIC MANY TIMES BEFORE

FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT

Objective:

How It Works:

Economic Benefits: