From the Dev Team - Producer's Update - The Future of T-Hunting and Fishing

[LeBaiton]

Full article here:
http://www.uoherald.com/news/news.php?newsid=1039

The ability for boats to plot courses on Treasure maps … (oh and I might as well tell you now we are targeting a major update to treasure maps for the middle of this Summer)

Let me start by saying: Awesome, treasurehunting could use some TLC, and I hope the Devs have some good ideas to make things interresting again...

Since we're talking about an upcomming summer update, I know it's probably too early to ask what the update exactly holds in store for us t-map junkies, but I will do so anyway, because I really hope "major update" doesn't mean "1% more chance of better loot"...

So Devs, any chance you'd want to post here and share some of the ideas for the update? I would also like to know if Fishing will be updated within the same update? Fishing needs TLC just as bad as treasurehunting does...

Looking very much forward to your replies!

 

[Babble]

Any other treasurehunter using rune libraries to get to the spots?

For the feature to plot courses they really should disable recall and gatetravel
, else I see no reason to implement it. Maybe though they meant sos bottle?

 

[LeBaiton]

I wasn't really focussing on the planned ability to plot a course to a treasuremap, but rather on the part in the quote which I made bold. It says they're planning a major update to treasure maps for the middle of this Summer...

 

[Lynk]

I used to LOVE doing treasure maps.

Then the loot table got screwed and there doesn't seem to be much of a point anymore.

Can you guys put invis items and teleport rings back in the loot table as a rare item?

 

[Ls Jax Ls]

Oh yes please add teleport/invis rings so that on top of pots/apples/petals you have to deal with instant teleports and hiding...what a great idea!

 

[Tina Small]

Full article here:
http://www.uoherald.com/news/news.php?newsid=1039

Let me start by saying: Awesome, treasurehunting could use some TLC, and I hope the Devs have some good ideas to make things interresting again...

Since we're talking about an upcomming summer update, I know it's probably too early to ask what the update exactly holds in store for us t-map junkies, but I will do so anyway, because I really hope "major update" doesn't mean "1% more chance of better loot"...

So Devs, any chance you'd want to post here and share some of the ideas for the update? I would also like to know if Fishing will be updated within the same update? Fishing needs TLC just as bad as treasurehunting does...

Looking very much forward to your replies!

So.....are you back in UO now or just considering a return??

 

[cdavbar]

I hope Thunters and Fishermen get some nice TLC...im not asking for mega rare items....i dont want our waters filled with people farming for that rare Tangle or Crimmy. But we do need enough to make it worth it again. I used to be part of a guild that did at least 10 Ingenious maps a night. When ML came out and the loot became worthless because of the MAJOR drop malfunction flooding the economy with Mini Arties. Slowly the hunts dwindled and now i havent even done one in over a year. I have 500+ Maps waiting to be done.

As far as course plotting, course plotting on the SOS's would be great! UOA and UOMaps dont work with the enhanced client and to be quite frank, Enhanced is like a can of pringles once you pop you just cant stop, I love it compared to 2d but it is a lot more time consuming now to plot courses on the high seas.

(Maybe make a Craftable Ship) Using rare ingredients needed by people from all over. Maybe some Lumberjacking ingredients, some mining ingredients, Some fishing ingredients. The difference with these ships compared to NPC bought ships would be that they would have more storage space, and maybe even put a cannon on them for some high seas battles in FEL (now that would be a good event to see)!

Whatever the Devs have in store for us I am looking forward to it!

 

[StifledArgument]

I love the ideas cdav has.

I don't do the SoS's my husband used to but I can't get him to stop working long enough to come back.

Please let them give some love to these folks, they have been patient and deserve it!

 

[Shelleybean]

I would like to know if fishing will get some love too. As far as treasure hunting, here are a few ideas:
1) Add alacrity scrolls
2) Add pieces of rare loot - similar to the way environmental spawns work.
3) Add rare "pet claim tickets". Drop on ncp animal trainer to receive a rare pet.
4) Add small chance for peerless reagents.
5) Expand the artifacts on level 6 maps. Add special talismans, sashes, footwear, etc that can only be obtained through treasure hunting.
6) Add special cloth of rare colors that cannot be obtained anywhere else.
7) Add special spices and herbs that cooks can used to make enchanted food.

 

[mikni]

I wouldn't mind some more deco items from chests, both at sea and the buried ones. If I get a Candelabra of Souls I can actually be a bit happy, the equipable minors are just meh. So more stuff like that!

But most of all I wish for the normal loot in the chests to be reworked. I think there should be only a few items (maybe as low as 1-2 per level of the chest?) but they should be GOOD. Who is it that's stupid enough to go through the trouble of hoisting their garbage bin out in the woods and bury it? It should be a treasure in there!

 

[LeBaiton]

I don't think the future of treasurehunting lies in magical weapons and armor anymore, but rather a combination of magical weapons and armor, plus some rare deco items and the occassional marty/arty. This could be done in certain themes, think character themed (a mage's treasurechest), or profession based (a blacksmith's treasurechest)...

And it would need to be carefully balanced so that level 1 to level 5 maps won't be worthless compared to level 6 maps. You need to somehow even it all out. There's tons of possibilities however, and I really hope they'll make it worthwhile to do!...

Who is it that's stupid enough to go through the trouble of hoisting their garbage bin out in the woods and bury it?

Let alone create a map to it

So.....are you back in UO now or just considering a return??

Yes, I have returned to UO. I showed my face around to friends, and before I knew it they somehow got a hold of my feet and dragged me back in...

 

[Tina Small]

Yes, I have returned to UO. I showed my face around to friends, and before I knew it they somehow got a hold of my feet and dragged me back in...

I'm very glad they did. Welcome back!

 

[Silverbird]

As far as course plotting, course plotting on the SOS's would be great! UOA and UOMaps dont work with the enhanced client and to be quite frank, Enhanced is like a can of pringles once you pop you just cant stop, I love it compared to 2d but it is a lot more time consuming now to plot courses on the high seas.

Umm ... no ... actaully the EC has improved funtionality for fishing. You simply can set up multiple custom waypoints on its map. Those waypoints are shown in your main window, once you are coming close to them.
The technique is easy:
- get a couple of sos messages (i usually pick up 25)
- set 25 waypoints (one for each sos)
- recall to a spot close to a water area, where you have several mibs marked
(Since most of my sos seem to be near Skara, I refill my fished up messages and mark them in addition to my remaining spots. That way I am ending with about every area with a couple of spots and drastically reducing the average time, that I need to reach each spot.)
I still have to stear my ship by hand, but thats not an too hard task. Even I can mange that. (If you know UO-Rudder ... you can setup a similar control grid in the EC without too many afford.)

Not directly related to fishing, but I would like to have a wider variety of fishing related wall trophies. I would like to see wall trophies made from aquarium fishes. (Especially the rare ones that can only be breeded randomly.)

 

[Seren Devonf]

I just returned to the game after a long hiatus. I enjoy T-Hunting tremendously, and I look forward to any positive changes that come about. I do not know enough about the mechanics of the game to comment on that, however I do know when I see enough people posting that changes are required then changes are needed. I just want to have fun while I play, and if people are saying T-Hunting is not fun anymore it makes me sad.

I also enjoy fishing alot, and from my experiences I have seen this aspect can definately use some updating.

 

[Shelleybean]

Not directly related to fishing, but I would like to have a wider variety of fishing related wall trophies. I would like to see wall trophies made from aquarium fishes. (Especially the rare ones that can only be breeded randomly.)

I love this idea!!!

 

[BajaElladan]

Yes, I have returned to UO. I showed my face around to friends, and before I knew it they somehow got a hold of my feet and dragged me back in...

Welcome back, Indeed. Always great seeing returners.

Elladan of Baja

 

[Bill Gates OSD]

A lot of what I read on the link sounds exciting. I have a simple request for the devs regarding treasure maps. I would love to be able to tell at a glance, after decoding the map of course, where the treasure is. How about numbering the maps by location to make sorting and storing them easier?

 

[Stewpid]

Both treasure hunting and fishing have been a long time without any/much love. An increase in chest loot for both these skills would be a huge bonus, and perhaps revitalize each skill as well!!

 

[Howlin Wolf]

At some point before you needed a calculator to play UO the Devs turned up the loot quality on treasure maps. Loot was off the charts, I got silver vanquishing weps and things I could only dream of before. Lockpick and carto were 2 skills hard to gm so t hunters deserved to have some fun. After the numbers were added to UO, loot began to suck again. They added some stuff but overall they ruined it.
They made each level of map or chest have a range of loot quality and low level maps are not worth doing now. Really none of them are worth doing. Each map or chest should have a chance of getting something good. As it was before. And one small thing would improve fishing, get rid of the footwear, that's an ancient cartoon gag that most players don't even understand. It sucks, it's tedious and unnecessary.
I hope the Devs can revive this once great part of UO.

 

[Tukaram]

Any love they give to t-hunting and fishing would be greatly appreciated.

Yet even now my favorite things to do in-game are fish, t-hunt, solen matriarch quest, and skill gain.

 

[popps]

Personally, the 2 most important things that I would like the Developers to add with this major update to treasure hunting are :

n.1) - I would like to see Peerless and Imbuing ingredients added to treasure chests ;

n. 2) - I would like to see Maps' Books like Bulk Order Deeds books where like 500 Treasure Maps can be stored but counting only for 1 item ;

 

[Derium of ls]

Personally, the 2 most important things that I would like the Developers to add with this major update to treasure hunting are :

n.1) - I would like to see Peerless and Imbuing ingredients added to treasure chests ;

n. 2) - I would like to see Maps' Books like Bulk Order Deeds books where like 500 Treasure Maps can be stored but counting only for 1 item ;

I would like something along those lines for the MIBs also.

 

[Shelleybean]

Another thing that would be nice is if dungeon chest loot could be updated.

 

[Tukaram]

I'd be happy if we could just right click to loot like we do on the critters corpses.

 

[Sparrowhawkmk2]

Im sure that its all been said, so Ill just say yes please to TLC for T hunters and Fishers.

Treasure hunting used to be THE best way to get Vanqs - best weapons in game, and is a brilliant way for people to get together for fun.

Spawn some random named bosses from the hardest maps, for marty and arty drops!

ATM people have 200+ T maps in their houses taking up room that they shouldnt be, because T hunting is worthless as a profit making scheme. Where as T hunting still remains one of the things I remember most fondly about UO, and one of the reasons why I returned to the game a few months ago after 7 years away.

 

[Sparrowhawkmk2]

At some point before you needed a calculator to play UO the Devs turned up the loot quality on treasure maps. Loot was off the charts, I got silver vanquishing weps and things I could only dream of before. Lockpick and carto were 2 skills hard to gm so t hunters deserved to have some fun. After the numbers were added to UO, loot began to suck again. They added some stuff but overall they ruined it.
They made each level of map or chest have a range of loot quality and low level maps are not worth doing now. Really none of them are worth doing. Each map or chest should have a chance of getting something good. As it was before. And one small thing would improve fishing, get rid of the footwear, that's an ancient cartoon gag that most players don't even understand. It sucks, it's tedious and unnecessary.
I hope the Devs can revive this once great part of UO.

Or at least give us an easier way to destroy foot wear lol! trying to stack 50 pairs of shoes/boots on the deck of the ship is a nightmare! and I dont relish leaving the items strewn all over the place like I do atm.

 

[Fink]

I'd be happy if we could just right click to loot like we do on the critters corpses.

...me too.

The resizable containers help, especially grid view, but it's irritating that they aren't lootable like corpses as we often switch between container types when treasure hunting. I would like to see this functionality extended to haus secures too.

--

I think the revamp is going to be "the maps are now always random", along with "once the current maps are all used up those old locations will be useless so toss out your runes".

Which'll be fine I guess. It's probably better that way for adventure's sake. I'm wondering if there are non-human T-hunters without mining, though, might be troublesome for them. In any case, I think they'll fix maps so that you need cartography to dig up decoded maps, no more stoning it off.

 

[Crysta]

I posted this in another thread after the last patch, but after some thought I think it probably belongs with the treasure changes that they said are coming more than my original thoughts of it being part of what's going on with the current events, so..

Spoiler

Sprites for a new chest and key. Both have multiple facings. The chest opens. More and more I think they're part of whatever change is coming to treasure hunting.

Remember to keep any responses to the spoiler spoilered as well, since some people might want to be suprised, if this is involved.


Also, just a personal thought with no basis.. i'd expect they're doing the 'revamp' not only so they can make things interesting again, but so they can add treasure maps to other facets finally. Having things recoded so they aren't permanently stuck in Tram/Fel after so long would be nice. I'd expect to see treasures in Ilsh, Malas, Tokuno, and Ter Mur after whatever update is coming.

Maybe if we're lucky they'll add maps for them to mapmaking finally as well, since the two systems should be pretty intertwined.

 

[Cal_Mythic]

I love this idea!!!

*makes a note*

 

[GarthGrey]

Make Remove trap mandatory for chests, no more tele from afar. Get some loot going in the Ilsh chests already.

 

[Hildebrand]

Make Remove trap mandatory for chests, no more tele from afar. Get some loot going in the Ilsh chests already.

If not "mandatory", then make it so Remove Trap will give you greater chance at better loot/arties/ingredients.
Telekenisis would give you the regular.
Just a thought.

 

[Mapper]

Make Remove trap mandatory for chests, no more tele from afar. Get some loot going in the Ilsh chests already.

Noooo! Don't ruin my THunter template!

 

[GarthGrey]

Noooo! Don't ruin my THunter template!

There are some who believe you're not a real Thunter if you don't have Remove Trap... rolleyes:

 

[Vercingitorix]

I have Detect Hidden and Remove Trap Gm'd and stoned for just such an occasion!

 

[Kas Althume]

I have only a small wish (aside from the standard request about making mibs worth looting).

I want a new title in the title menu. Once you are red your skill title should switch from fisherman to pirate (if you have fishing and that skill title displayed. I sooo want that. rolleyes:

 

[LeBaiton]

I have GM Lockpicking and GM Cartography on my character, but unfortunately there's no "the Treasurehunter" title...

Such a shame!..

 

[Zyon Rockler]

One of the things I would like to see is fishing itself made alittle more interesting by adding the ability to fish up different kinds of fish, like sword fish, whales, tuna, crabs, clams, and add different types of boats. So, basically you would need fishing skill to use the boat. Like, if the boat was used for crabbing you would get crabs equal to your skill level.

Also a small bucket that holds maybe 20 fish and boats that have holds that are used for keeping the fish, so if you find a rare type of fish you could add it to your fish tank.

Or you would be required to use a dock to sell your fish off. So, if you take back to the dock a full hold or boat of say clams, the guy at the dock pays you and also could give you pearls if any were found inside of the clams.

Or if you had lobster on your ship you could maybe put one in your fish tank or get alot of money for a full ship of lobsters.

Also, there would be the chance to pull up different sea monsters, like a giant clam or a giant lobster or a squid.

It would also be nice to sell in a special seafood vendor fresh clams, lobster, caviar that might give good bonuses.

On the t-map side, I would like to see the map of the known world turn into a sectioned map with the ability to pick the level map, so, say you pick level 6 maps you would see all the push pins for level 6 maps. Maybe, after a map is completed, you drop it on the larger map so the map would be owned by and then they would add completed maps that would add the push pin.

Each push pin would be numbered, say, 1 to however many maps there are and then a rune could be marked as a level 6 map, push pin 25.

So, now you have a map that matches a rune book library and its' master map, which would be unique in each case because the order maps of which the maps are dropped on to the map of the known world.

Also, the map would be an excellent tool to match up if it were made identical to treasure maps where you could zoom in and out and mouse over exact coordinates.

And of course, better loot.

 

[The palmer]

They need to completely randomise the drop locations to eliminate rune librarys and make mining useful, and require remove traps for them, that way it'll turn into a proper group activity rather than just a one man item farming event

 

[Zyon Rockler]

They need to completely randomise the drop locations to eliminate rune librarys and make mining useful, and require remove traps for them, that way it'll turn into a proper group activity rather than just a one man item farming event

I disagree. The rune library is very important for community and an expansion on the game for players to build. Removing more marks, slowly causes them to fade. Also, the fact of them being random would make them to complicated. People would spend hours trying to find them and finally give up angry.

People don't want to spend alot of time looking, they want to be able to find it and mark it as an acomplishment of finding it. If you get a group of 10 people together, take out a map, level 1, give it to a guy who just started playing and ask him to find the treasure and see how many people are still with you by the time he finds it.

There are still more levels that could be added that might be more fitting for what your talking about, A level 7 map which spawns completely randomly and never can be marked. For example: once you find the treasure it could open a small hole in the ground where your party can then enter into a room and of course there could be guarded treasure.

And you could do level 8 maps, level 9 maps and level 10 maps.

 

[Zyon Rockler]

How about level 7 maps in Ilshnar, where you get paragons with level 6 creatures, completely random locations that can not be marked.

Level 8 maps in the Abyss that cause your party to fall down into a cavern where they are met by bosses, like The Stygian and Medussa, completely random and can not be marked.

I would still suggest a known map of x place, such as Ilshnar or The Stygian dungeon to be created so you can match them up at least.

 

[UOKaiser]

This is going to be some incredible feat for them to pull. Bumping up the intensity on treasure loot doesn't matter anymore just like bumping up intensity on monster loot don't matter no more. So the improvement has to be monumental of something.

 

[Kas Althume]

Oh i just noticed that you can't imbue serpent slayer (reptile) on a scrappers or imbue anything on fishing poles. I want that too. What a pitty.

.. and the wishing lost grows larger ...

I want some of the new big fish too! But my fisher is red (on Europa). I wan't to fish in the underworld! I don't care if you turn him blue temporarily while being in the underworld. Please ...

 

[Zyon Rockler]

I was thinking one thing that might be interesting for the higher level maps if they added like 7s, 8s, where you needed 4 skills and had to be experienced to be able to find it without using a marked rune.

Maybe they could add a new type of artifact, very powerful artifacts.

Some type of armour piece or weapon or maybe even a rideable, just something amazing and out of the ordinary but with a catch. The items could have timers so they would only last for a time then disappear.

There could be the rare occassion that one does not have a timer. This would cause people to have the need to continually return to try to find the item without the timer. The timers on the item could range from a couple days to maybe a couple of weeks and even a few hours.

So, this item would be found in your higher level treasure maps, SoS, and fishing bosses.

 

[Lord Chaos]

I disagree. The rune library is very important for community and an expansion on the game for players to build. Removing more marks, slowly causes them to fade. Also, the fact of them being random would make them to complicated. People would spend hours trying to find them and finally give up angry.

People don't want to spend alot of time looking, they want to be able to find it and mark it as an acomplishment of finding it. If you get a group of 10 people together, take out a map, level 1, give it to a guy who just started playing and ask him to find the treasure and see how many people are still with you by the time he finds it.

There are still more levels that could be added that might be more fitting for what your talking about, A level 7 map which spawns completely randomly and never can be marked. For example: once you find the treasure it could open a small hole in the ground where your party can then enter into a room and of course there could be guarded treasure.

And you could do level 8 maps, level 9 maps and level 10 maps.

Honestly they should make it so you can recall off treasure maps like they were a rune.

Also there should be an ability to give an SoS to the tillerman and he steers the ship to the location.

 

[aoLOLita]

Another thing that would be nice is if dungeon chest loot could be updated.

I agree Back in the day I bought my first from the gold I made just doing the "dungeon lockpick circuit". Unfortunately, I had to drop GM Fisher(aye, before the Miracle of Soulstones) to do so. Some hunters of treasure only have Lockpick

 

[Mapper]

Honestly they should make it so you can recall off treasure maps like they were a rune.

Also there should be an ability to give an SoS to the tillerman and he steers the ship to the location.

I have to agree, Things like this will improve the game. These aren't 'fun' or part of the game, They are just annoying.

Allowing commodity deeds to be submitted to the Community collections was a great start at removing the reason for certain scripts and making the game easier, I hope it continues.

 

[Zyon Rockler]

I don't understand why there would be a problem with keeping what we already have and adding to it and improving it. There is nothing wrong with being able to recall to a spot because basically it's up to you whether or not to use the recall rune.

Plus, after you become a veteran at it, looking at any map no matter how random it is or how much mining you think you will need, you would still be able to pin point the map location.

The only way to make it difficult for someone would be to place the map on an unknown landmass because basically after you have mastered the landmass there would be no way to hide any location. So, even if it's a completely random spot, to a vet it's still on the same landmass.

And, as far as mining, that only increases your chance by I think 10 rather than right on the exact spot. So, we're really only talking about 10 paces for someone who is experienced.

Even if you made the map where the pin would move, so that once you found the one pin it moved to another location, it really wouldn't make it much more difficult, it would only make it take longer.

Level 1 maps you should be able to recall off of, definetly and level 1 SoS's should be tillerman driven.

 

[Hildebrand]

All these fishing and treasure changes would be great for the next expansion. I'm voting for a Pirate Seafaring Expansion. Just adding to the existing system won't cut it. This needs to be a re-vamp.
I'm betting there's no way they'd get this stuff in by the end of this year.
Looks like they are busy fixing stuff that SA broke.