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So about a year ago during the summer I joined the shard (probably around June or July) and then I played it for awhile. The shard was good had a lot of players, good economy(aka Samild) and decent pvp (BOO TO 20 mana pots). Anyways, I took a brake from UO and I come back and I find out that the entire population of IN:X is completely decimated.

Now what really is eating away at my mind is the reason for its decline. So I am asking your help in this. What was the cause for this sudden decline in population and disinterest in IN:X?

I want you to take a moment and think about this. Dont give me a hasty answer because most of the answers that I get from this question have nothing to do with it. I asked a lot of people why it ended, and here are the most popular answers:

1. Taran turned the shard off and thus players began to lose trust in the shard's stability and in that time lost their interest in the game all together.

The most important thing that's wrong with this statement is that, my question does not pertain to the IN:X that existed as of before June 2008. To my knowledge (AND CORRECT ME IF IM WRONG, BECAUSE I HAVENT BEEN ON) IN:X has not shut off for a long interval during the time from June 2008 till now. Therefore the population drop cannot be related to this. Also I'd like to clarify this population drop, what I mean is, back when Gang-bang, Pedro, Monkey, etc... those pvpers played at a population of atleast 30-40.

2. Number two on the list is: "People didn't want to macro their skills so the shard declined in population as a consequence." Ok, so this answer has flaws it in it also. First of all there were at least 40 or so people who had GMed many skills such as Magery, Healing, Anatomy, tailoring etc (ALL THE IMPORTANT ONES) and that means that those people DID NOT CARE ABOUT THE HARD SKILL GAIN seeing as how they already had important skills gmed. And my question is asking why those 40 or so people quit! Not why more people aren't joining!

3. The third answer is Splinter's shard came out and stole all the players. Once again correct me if I am wrong, I thought the population drop occurred a bit before his shard came out. If it occurred at the same time, well then thats an answer, but why did they go there? Why would players downgrade themselves to a 51a shard that has so many flaws. Auto-cut, bugging kills, bad economy, worst PVE.

4. The Pvp is not good on IN:X. Well whats wrong with this is that the populace didnt think so because there were so many people pvping here that thought it was good pvp. Gang-bang, Pedro etc.. all those guys thought the pvp was good so no idea why they left. Items on this shard are pretty easy to get too, so that isnt a problem. Its not like they quit because they were unable to gather resources.

So anyways If you have a theory other than the four I just mentioned please share it with me. I am very curious as to why such a well scripted(besides for 20 manas) and uncorrupt shard is so lonely.

My only reasons why this happened is:
-20 mana pots
-Laggy server( all those useless items just causing lagg... at the duel arenas)
-And as always i think anyshard without Color Wars is bound to fail
-This, I don't think is a problem with this shard but it is with most. Separation of staff from players. In order to avoid corruption at all costs, it is best to make sure staff do not have players as it will reduce the temptation for corruption and thus provide a sounder economy and server.
-Well this isn't coincidence, as soon as Slaethin takes a brake from UO, all of the population just declines... definitely not a coincidence. I think that you guys should get used to the idea that Slaethin is an integral part of the UO society, a sort of glue that connects everyone together.


P.S I would really like to commend the servers staff right now. See most servers would've shut off by now and who ever is paying for this server right now, *hats off* to you and good job. Also I would like to praise Taran for his persistence, he still hasn't given up. A quality that a lot of people lack. So Good Job and Best of Luck to this server in coming years.

Good things come in time!

"This, I don't think is a problem with this shard but it is with most. Separation of staff from players. In order to avoid corruption at all costs, it is best to make sure staff do not have players as it will reduce the temptation for corruption and thus provide a sounder economy and server."

here here brother...

from my opinion... the reason why the shard died was because of staff... taran did a great job with INX except hiring the wrong staff to run the shard... tiesto was good, enough said.

the economy, too many restrictions on skill use, macroing, harvesting...

its a damn shame :doubt:

Okan Wrote:the economy, too many restrictions on skill use, macroing, harvesting...

Too many restrictions? Like...? Not allowing players to hoard 500k ingots in 4 days of AFK macroing?

Slaethin Wrote:2. Number two on the list is: "People didn't want to macro their skills so the shard declined in population as a consequence." Ok, so this answer has flaws it in it also. First of all there were at least 40 or so people who had GMed many skills such as Magery, Healing, Anatomy, tailoring etc (ALL THE IMPORTANT ONES) and that means that those people DID NOT CARE ABOUT THE HARD SKILL GAIN seeing as how they already had important skills gmed. And my question is asking why those 40 or so people quit! Not why more people aren't joining!

Yea, where the hell are all of you old school, hardcore vets that already have plenty of skills to get by and enjoy the server?

Regards.

Each player who left has their own reasons for it. Whatever their reasons are, it all boils down to the player not enjoying their time here anymore. We are constantly still trying to improve things. We have kept adding content gradually and many of these additions have been initially player suggestions to improve the shard.

For example, today we are launching a new skill boost system for new players. That should make starting here easier as a new player. This system will not forget existing characters either so everyone should come check it out.

Events will be held whenever there are enough players online. Many GMs log in often to check if there is enough players online to host an event but at the moment our player base is small and things like tours or CTF doesn't happen all that often because of that. Therefore, I'd encourage everyone to log on to the shard and start playing, bring their friends with them and start making suggestions on the forums to improve the shard if they think something should be changed. Of course not every players wishes can always be fulfilled but everything is up for a discussion.

There is no one reason why people have left. Its usually a combination of several reasons, or none at all related to uo and moreso related to their own personal lives. Time constraints, etc.

I'll comment on a few things you said.

Slaethin Wrote:The third answer is Splinter's shard came out and stole all the players. Once again correct me if I am wrong, I thought the population drop occurred a bit before his shard came out. If it occurred at the same time, well then thats an answer, but why did they go there? Why would players downgrade themselves to a 51a shard that has so many flaws. Auto-cut, bugging kills, bad economy, worst PVE.

Their shard has 50 average now at times. And a hugely active playerbase which grows. Why? Because despite all the things wrong with the shard itself, the staff has made every effort to give the players what they want. Easy skills, fast ways into the action, tons of tournies, an easier pvp system then inx has (although they'd prefer inx pvp, they just dont have anyone capable of scripting it). Also mounts and armor are not so rare that you cant use good stuff to pvp with. So you see lots of people pvping in good armor with good mounts. And it makes that aspect of play more rewarding for everyone. Ridable dragons, Shrouds available for purchase via pvp and pve.
I think what it comes down to is, when players log in there, they feel like everything is gettable without massive investments of time.

Slaethin Wrote:4. The Pvp is not good on IN:X. Well whats wrong with this is that the populace didnt think so because there were so many people pvping here that thought it was good pvp. Gang-bang, Pedro etc.. all those guys thought the pvp was good so no idea why they left. Items on this shard are pretty easy to get too, so that isnt a problem. Its not like they quit because they were unable to gather resources.

PvP on INX is probably the best skill/timing based PvP system ever created. There are however problems with that. The first being, the best players who've practiced the most (years in this case on the xuo system) completely demolish newer players. New people have no chance at all to beat them. This goes along the same lines as my first reply because when people realise they cannot win, they just dont want to play. The other problems with PvP have been the continual complaints about spam and so many spells disabled. Both of these things CAN be fixed up with a little creativity, but not unless Maka makes the decision to do it and further improve his pvp system in ways that make it more approachable by new players.

Slaethin Wrote:2. Number two on the list is: "People didn't want to macro their skills so the shard declined in population as a consequence." Ok, so this answer has flaws it in it also. First of all there were at least 40 or so people who had GMed many skills such as Magery, Healing, Anatomy, tailoring etc (ALL THE IMPORTANT ONES) and that means that those people DID NOT CARE ABOUT THE HARD SKILL GAIN seeing as how they already had important skills gmed. And my question is asking why those 40 or so people quit! Not why more people aren't joining!

Without a continual influx of new players, the environment of the shard stagnates, which is exactly what happened. While those 40 players may have had skills already, if new players joining werent able to get into playing quickly enough then they werent staying, and so as those old players got bored of no new blood they quit as well. This is the main reason I pushed so hard for a better starter pack. Get people into a playing position as quickly as possible and stop the tons of inactive macroing.

Slaethin Wrote:-This, I don't think is a problem with this shard but it is with most. Separation of staff from players. In order to avoid corruption at all costs, it is best to make sure staff do not have players as it will reduce the temptation for corruption and thus provide a sounder economy and server.

Its self defeating to stop staff from having players. The staff then loses touch with the community, and also becomes increasingly bored, staffers dont really have a whole lot to do if they arent scripters. Especially with a low playerbase. I'm hoping that people continue to give ideas and suggestions to keep them busy with interesting new projects.

Slaethin Wrote:-Well this isn't coincidence, as soon as Slaethin takes a brake from UO, all of the population just declines... definitely not a coincidence. I think that you guys should get used to the idea that Slaethin is an integral part of the UO society, a sort of glue that connects everyone together.

Obviously... lol

Jiraiya Wrote:PvP on INX is probably the best skill/timing based PvP system ever created. There are however problems with that. The first being, the best players who've practiced the most (years in this case on the xuo system) completely demolish newer players. New people have no chance at all to beat them. This goes along the same lines as my first reply because when people realise they cannot win, they just dont want to play. The other problems with PvP have been the continual complaints about spam and so many spells disabled. Both of these things CAN be fixed up with a little creativity, but not unless Maka makes the decision to do it and further improve his pvp system in ways that make it more approachable by new players.

if its so hard to defeat the pro's, practice with someone who is as good as you, or slightly better, when u got the timing good, try to fight harder ones to learn alot, like when to heal, how the pro is playing, his weakness, his strong points etc.
but if its rly that hard to even put som effort into the pvp, how about making tours divided into beginners and decent ones? that way even newbies can get tickets

Jiraiya Wrote:Its self defeating to stop staff from having players. The staff then loses touch with the community, and also becomes increasingly bored, staffers dont really have a whole lot to do if they arent scripters. Especially with a low playerbase. I'm hoping that people continue to give ideas and suggestions to keep them busy with interesting new projects.

the staff isn't corrupted, and if u allready didnt know, they can see what items staff has added and can track it down and so on. they have no way of being corrupt or taran will kick their sorry butt

Fable Wrote:if its so hard to defeat the pro's, practice with someone who is as good as you, or slightly better, when u got the timing good, try to fight harder ones to learn alot, like when to heal, how the pro is playing, his weakness, his strong points etc.
but if its rly that hard to even put som effort into the pvp, how about making tours divided into beginners and decent ones? that way even newbies can get tickets

Heh well, I wasnt asking how to get better at PvP, I was replying about why I think people in general are dissuaded from pvp on inx. I agree with ya about your idea, I suggested that before as well, a standard and pro tour. Pro tours being worth much more in terms of rewards but you must qualify for it in the standard tours first. Or something like that where people great at pvp are rewarded but arent just molesting every new player trying to learn and have fun in a tourny. Would obviously need more players to do something along those lines though. :/

Fable Wrote:the staff isn't corrupted, and if u allready didnt know, they can see what items staff has added and can track it down and so on. they have no way of being corrupt or taran will kick their sorry butt

Er, did I say they were? Yeah RunUO is much better then sphere for logging, really helps admins stay on top of things.

Well first off, I would like to give all of you posters a round of applause, congratu****enlations you have brought peace to my conscience and you came up with plausible theories for the decline of IN:X.

I think we can conclude that IN:X declined due to
1. Lack of interest
a. Just got bored with the atmosphere, no changes
b. I quit because he quit
c. Players who got bored of dying to old pvp veterans who totally dominated the shard (This idea can be further extended to PVE. Players got bored of competing with a monopoly (aka Samild)
d . Inability of staff to realize that skill package (I styped stimulus package and had to correct myself) must be given out at an earlier stage than now!

2. Real life issues
3. Splinter's shard (and him offering colorful and flowery items that cannot be offered here)
4. A lack of influx in players when BIRTH RATE = 0 and Death rate= X (for which X must be less than 0) The population will eventually hit rock bottom!
5. Server issues (massive amounts of lag)
6. PVP Inequality
--> most important 7. Slaethin took a brake thus causing players to leave and staff members to feel sad.

But anyways to get more to the juicy stuff, I like both Fable's and Jiraiya's ideas. This separation of noobie and pro concept that you guys have going on has a lot of sense to it. But I would just like to clarify the means by which it should take place.

-All players must demonstrate their pvp ability in first a standard tourney and once they have proved themselves they will be restricted to only competing in the elite tourneys thus keeping the skilled pvpers out of the novice tourneys.

-Some sort of organization of the previous idea must come to place, I think maybe the players can help the staff out by creating a list here on this forum of players who are on the elite list and players who are on the standard list

-All standard players (noobs) should be given the option of competing in the elite tourneys if they want! But all elite players are limited only to the elite tourneys! And also if a standard player chooses to compete in an elite tourney he is not allowed to compete in the standard tourney as well.

-The prize difference shouldn't be so different as to compromise the initial interest that we have in the first place which is to get new players to pvp without quitting. So therefore you cant give the winners of the elite tourney 50k and the winners of the standard tourney 5k otherwise they will just pick up their pvp shovels and get digging for gold (and we wouldnt want that )

I'm sure doing that would piss off quite a few vet pvpers. They would see it as being kept from pvp. But I find it hard to believe raping some 3 week old chars with minimal pvp experience is any real challenge or fun. If the pro tour had really nice incentives, for example a weekly pro tour where winner gets a temporary r/r weap deed along with a tour tick. Thats 90k plus a deed that would last 1 week on their weapon of choice then fade. So the winner each week can have a r/r weap like a trophy. Even making it newbied I dont think would be such a bad idea. It means they can carry it around for world pvp/ganks, but who really uses weaps for ganking anyway? My point is it wouldnt be as huge an advantage to them as it seems at first.

However if you get a pro tour with like 20-30 elite players, personally I think thats worth a perma r/r weap deed. Or for a tourny of 15 elite players have rewards of some stuff not getable through just the pvp stone, like newbied r/r lantern etc.

Anyway, if the incentives are good enough and there is at least a scheduled weekly tour for the elite pvpers like on xuo, I dont think they would mind letting those not as good at pvp practice in peace and have some possibility of winning a tourny.

I have poison oak all over both of my arms. I'm not able to sleep much due to all the itching.

I just tried Runes of Magic and it's too much of a WoW clone. I have been waiting for Darkfall for years but now that it's finally out I really don't have any interest in playing. I think I am going to wait for SWTOR. Hopefully it won't be disappointing.

Hrmm... Once I download UO again I am going to see if my account is still there.

Hot water feels nice on the skin when you have poison oak.

Brandon Wrote:I have poison oak all over both of my arms. I'm not able to sleep much due to all the itching.

I just tried Runes of Magic and it's too much of a WoW clone. I have been waiting for Darkfall for years but now that it's finally out I really don't have any interest in playing. I think I am going to wait for SWTOR. Hopefully it won't be disappointing.

Hrmm... Once I download UO again I am going to see if my account is still there.

Hot water feels nice on the skin when you have poison oak.

If you did not play on the beta, your account will still be here.