I think a great source of disagreement stems from the fact that everyone has very different views of what obsidian should be.
I'd like to share the basic view broadband has for obsidian with everyone, and then my additional take on it.

Basic Mission Statement for obsidian:

Obsidian is a UO: Renissiance era shard that is focused on providing a neutral environment for both RP/NRP players. Because it is renissiance era, it means that while we may utilize things from future patches, the overall feel will be based on the european medieval settings. It also means that bright colors and flashy items will be relatively rare, more of symbols of status and effort than decoration for everyone. It will strive to maintain very little restriction on PK actions, and work to encourage such actions in ways that do not directly increase griefing(pking with no point but to harass others).
It will also strive to provide a world that is guided mostly by players actions, that is directly influenced by the players, and will maintain a continually progressing storyline that is not predetermined.

That's the basic outline for obsidian.

My personal view:
Obsidian never has been and never will be a GM in a day shard. In fact that's one of it's perks that it's touted in many of it's recruitment efforts over the years. When you hit GM in a skill, it will be an accomplishment, not a requirement. It will not always have the cool stuff other shards have in 50 million colors, but that doesn't mean new things won't be added in. It just means that the goal will be to preserve the setting, so things like speckled robes(which are gaudy as heck IMO) just don't quite look right.

In the past a lot of things have been tedious, boring, and downright rediculously stupid to train. I will never disgaree with that. However the solution isn't make it easier to train. It's make it less boring and repetitive. Making 5,000 bandanas is stupid. Especially with the way the current crafting systems are set up. I'm sorry I haven't been able to redo everything as fast as possible, but i've been doing my best while balancing stuff out with the rest of real life.

The reply is always "well the skill of the player matters, so the fact that they have a gm char won't help them". That is true, however there should be no way someone can gm a skill without playing the game and being able to use it. It is insulting to others who have worked their skill up to see someone GM in a day or even a week through usually illegal means. And even if they don't do it through illegal means, it is usually questionable at the least. Mostly just because no one has that much patience.


That's my views.

Now on to development for the comming month:

-- Race overhauls beggining. Most approval is done and being implemented, final approval is tenative.
-- Crafting patch - currently in progress, will affect every crafting skill. New items, new progressions, redone gains.
-- Gain systems for 5 major skills - will be done immediately after. As well as progression rebalances. (i.e. what abilites you gain at what skill).

As i've said, in no way do i promise systems will be perfect immediately upon release. I do the best i can to make them work, but only true playtesting shows how well they interact with everything else. The only thing i will guarantee is this.

If your complaint is that you cannot make a character GM by sitting on your ass. This is not for you.
If your complaint is that you cannot make a character GM by sitting on your ass with a decently smart macro program and a good script. This is not for you.
If your complaint is that you cannot make a character GM in under a week. This is not for you.


"Obsidian is not the type of shard where you will be able to watch a macro program doing all your work for you. It's here to be enjoyed while you build your character, not simply after you've gmed every skill."

Beyond that, it's open to discussion and balancing.