NEWS [UO.Com] Publish 81 Updated on TC1

[Frarc]

For all who "think" they going to loose mage armor on their current suit after pub 81 i show you 2 pictures of my samurai in full plate samurai armor with mage armor properties.

Drachenfels:

TC1 with pub 81:

Can you see the difference? I can't ,its exacly the same

Your current armor is NOT going to change.

 

[Shakkara]

For all who "think" they going to loose mage armor on their current suit after pub 81 i show you 2 pictures of my samurai in full plate samurai armor with mage armor properties.
Drachenfels:
TC1 with pub 81:

Can you see the difference? I can't ,its exacly the same

Your current armor is NOT going to change.

You fail to see the point!

Metal armor is getting fixed by FINALLY getting some nice properties to counter the loss of medability, making them useful.

But, having Mage armor prevents you from receiving the properties, thus all armor is getting fixed, but the items with Mage armor on them.

Their solution is to remove Mage armor from your current gear.

BUTTTTTT

Mage armor is a property that has value, has been paid for, because it takes up an imbuing slot, imbuing weight, OR just a loot or artifact property that could have been taken up by another property.

Removal of the Mage armor property DOES NOT COMPENSATE for the lost property value.

Here's something: Remove Mage Armor, add 15 hit chance increase on the as property. That's equal value (130!!!) for the points we paid for it!

 

[Heimi]

Really pissed off.

Refinement is still there, 70 DCI or not, the SYSTEM SUCKS!!!
Not only because of the DCI, but also with the many ways the resists can be exploited, as I've warned you about over a month ago, but which you seem to ignore! REFINING MUST GO!

Mage Armor, so now we have to remove mage armor from our artifacts WITHOUT GETTING ANYTHING OF EQUAL PROPERTY VALUE BACK! Making the whole property, and any item that currently has it, either useless or overpriced!!!
Again, mage armor should be just that, make armor medable and keep all the other bonuses untouched!

I'm confused, what effect does Mage Armour have on other properties/artifacts and why does it need to be removed?

 

[Frarc]

oh, i see, you want someting back for the removal of the mage armor property, i can understand that.

 

[Shakkara]

I'd rather just not mess with the system though and just keep it simple, keep mage armor as is, and let mage armor NOT block the armor type bonuses (stam reduction, LMC).

Because stealthers use mage armor too as it doesn't interfere with sneaking. And I can totally see a rogue wearing studded armor.

 

[Obsidian]

Mage Armor cancels out the +1-3% LMC cap-bonus non-med armor applies.

Where did you get this info? I missed this in the notes of it was there or did you confirm this on test center?

 

[Adol]

Add me to the list of those people who thinks this publish is likely to be a disaster; and I'm also someone who got one of the new Bug Fixes in to it, see if you can spot which. So it's not like I don't want to help protect the future of the game... I just have very, very serious reservations about the design ethos behind the Publish, because they don't seem to be paying attention to either community feedback, or their own past mistakes.

People are stating our suits will not change; this is simply incorrect. What about the stamina loss associated with armour type? What about crafters who find their craft increasingly too complex to follow? There is just an assumption that the only people we need to listen too are the end-users of gear who are obsessed with maximizing every last detail, and none paid at all to those who want to create armour for the pleasure of being a blacksmith...

Likewise, giving people the chance to run as Lord Mayor, give out titles to their favourites, but no way to recall them in the short term, promises months of agony if someone despicable gets in. Are the Devs really so unaware of the collapse in faith in Politicians in real life, and their own recent shambolic contests in game where they left the judging to the public, that they think the wider playerbase is clamouring for the same feelings of being cheated and of second class impotence in the face of the greedy, in their free time too? That the benefits of a city's trade deal is in perpetuity and they only need to take citizenship to get it is scant consolation for the amount of complete asshattery that's about to ensue when people can buy fancy titles for their friends and sit next to the EMs during their events and officially break wind on the thrones of the mighty.

Still, they did fix the bug I reported as I said. But otherwise...

 

[Shakkara]

Where did you get this info? I missed this in the notes of it was there or did you confirm this on test center?

It is true. Not only does it cancel the LMC, it also cancels the stamina protection. The armor technically just counts as leather (medable, no bonuses). THATs what all the mage armor complaining is about.

It's not in the patch notes but has been complained about since the beginning, as it would make artifacts like gladiator's collar useless. The 'solution' they just came up with was to make mage armor removable. But that'd devaluate the other artifacts like armor of fortune and rune beetle carapace, as the mage armor properties on those are going to be removed, without getting anything back.

And the people that use mage armor for stealth purposes get the short end of the stick for everything.

 

[Frarc]

People are stating our suits will not change; this is simply incorrect. What about the stamina loss associated with armour type?

You do not loosing more stamina after pub 81 then you do now, You only loose less stamina then you do now with different armor type.

Pub 81 notes:

Player’s stamina loss will now be based on the type of armor as well as the amount of armor that is equipped*. Each piece of armor up to five pieces will reduce the amount of stamina lost when taking damage. The armor pieces which provide the most stamina loss reduction will take priority.

• Cloth armor, leather armor, and jewelry will give the same stamina loss reduction as Pub 80.
• Blacksmith armor (platemail, ringmail, chainmail, and dragon armor) will provide a heavy bonus to stamina loss reduction.
• Studded leather armor, stone armor, bone armor, woodland armor, and hide armor will provide a light bonus to stamina loss reduction.

*Human racial ability Tough now provides a small bonus to stamina loss reduction.

 

[Lord Frodo]

Just registered to post that if this refinement nonsense goes through in any form, I'm outta here. The devs are really aren't listening to the community and they're forcing stuff down our throats we don't want, while not working on issues that need work. It's just factions all-over again. Mage armor is just a mess too and really a great indication of the poor system design: Making stuff overly complicated with all kinds of exceptions and special rules everywhere. Can take it off, can't take it back on, can't get it as a mod from reforging, can get it as mod on loot or normal runics, etc etc etc. JUST KEEP MAGE ARMOR AS IT IS! WITH THE ARMOR TYPE BONUSES! FFS!

And you think UOStratics is all the UO playerbase. If it is we are hurting for sure and who knows how the Asian players think of this.

 

[Shakkara]

You do not loosing more stamina after pub 81 then you do now, You only loose less stamina then you do now with different armor type.

Pub 81 notes:

Player’s stamina loss will now be based on the type of armor as well as the amount of armor that is equipped*. Each piece of armor up to five pieces will reduce the amount of stamina lost when taking damage. The armor pieces which provide the most stamina loss reduction will take priority.

• Cloth armor, leather armor, and jewelry will give the same stamina loss reduction as Pub 80.
• Blacksmith armor (platemail, ringmail, chainmail, and dragon armor) will provide a heavy bonus to stamina loss reduction.
• Studded leather armor, stone armor, bone armor, woodland armor, and hide armor will provide a light bonus to stamina loss reduction.

*Human racial ability Tough now provides a small bonus to stamina loss reduction.

So, blacksmith armor and studded armor with the mage armor property should give LMC bonus and stamina protection exactly as described above. PROBLEM SOLVED.

 

[Frarc]

So, blacksmith armor and studded armor with the mage armor property should give LMC bonus and stamina protection exactly as described above. PROBLEM SOLVED.

Why?

 

[Adol]

You do not loosing more stamina after pub 81 then you do now, You only loose less stamina then you do now with different armor type.

Pub 81 notes:

Player’s stamina loss will now be based on the type of armor as well as the amount of armor that is equipped*. Each piece of armor up to five pieces will reduce the amount of stamina lost when taking damage. The armor pieces which provide the most stamina loss reduction will take priority.

• Cloth armor, leather armor, and jewelry will give the same stamina loss reduction as Pub 80.
• Blacksmith armor (platemail, ringmail, chainmail, and dragon armor) will provide a heavy bonus to stamina loss reduction.
• Studded leather armor, stone armor, bone armor, woodland armor, and hide armor will provide a light bonus to stamina loss reduction.

*Human racial ability Tough now provides a small bonus to stamina loss reduction.

Ok, I've edited this post because I had to go stand under Wyverns to see it, but there is stamina loss with Leather armour currently. My wider point remains though;

And why should people have to struggle with this, and then Imbuing on top, and THEN reforging, and THEN the latest Publish 81 mechanic? It's just ridiculously complex; And who is asking for this, except the extremely introverted, obsessive PvP types and the people who want to leech EM event items who need min/maxed gear, when the rest of us just want to craft and play for fun...

 

[Kyronix]

Like that is an excuse for poor game design? If you don't like it, don't do it?

What does that remind me of? Oh yes:
"If you don't like the way they messed up factions, just don't play it"
*Everyone stops playing factions and the whole system is dead now*

"If you don't like the overcomplicated crafting system, then just stop crafting!"

"If you don't like the overcomplicated suit building, then stop playing on a viable combat character!"

"If you don't like the imbalanced PVP, then stop PVPing!"

...

Eventually, there won't be any game left.

I AM interested in town politics and I'm going to run for governor. After all I was the first player ever to reach venerated status with a city (and had to wait over a year before anything can be done with it!!!). I'm just not very happy with what I see so far. The system has so much potential and what do we get? Expiring titles, expiring funds and more numberbuffs. I expected something along the lines of being able to set blueprints to build inside the city, the citizens contributing funds/resources/labour, and the building being placed once everything was handed in. Governor being able to lock down addons and other items inside the city. Citizens being able to place vendors in the town. Any other reason for people to come and actually visit the town and work together! Freeshards had this 10 years ago as part of their player-run city systems, why can't we?

"But hey, if you don't want 5% swing speed increase, don't take it!"

Yeah right.

You'll be able to do most of the things you mention as far as dressing up a city. That's the whole point of being able to sit on the council and interact with his majesty's government. Lets say for example you want to petition the crown for a park to be built, then you can do that by making your petition know through the council. Sure, we could have given the Governors the ability to build whatever And wherever inside the towns like you suggest. Unfortunately you are looking at a substantially greater length of dev time and also a concern that not every Governor may have the best intentions when it comes to city additions. The intent here is to foster roleplaying and interaction by leaving some of the autonomy out of the system. This is also only the first step. As we progress we may consider some of the things you mention like vendors and buildings, no promises, but it's always a possibility.

 

[Cetric]

Really pissed off.

Refinement is still there, 70 DCI or not, the SYSTEM SUCKS!!!
Not only because of the DCI, but also with the many ways the resists can be exploited, as I've warned you about over a month ago, but which you seem to ignore! REFINING MUST GO!

Mage Armor, so now we have to remove mage armor from our artifacts WITHOUT GETTING ANYTHING OF EQUAL PROPERTY VALUE BACK! Making the whole property, and any item that currently has it, either useless or overpriced!!!
Again, mage armor should be just that, make armor medable and keep all the other bonuses untouched!

There goes my dream of having a bad-ass mage in heavy (dragon) armor THAT ACTUALLY WORKS! Look at all the imbue weight I'd be prepared to pay for it! But nooooooo, character diversity, the core that is UO must be destroyed even more!

Why keep a perfectly awesome system, when you can mess it up and break it into multiple disfunctional systems that no-one asks for, eh?

Then we have this fun thing:

• Trade deals cost 2,000,000gp from funds obtained from the City Treasury.
• The City Treasury can be donated to by dropping gold or checks on the City Herald near each City Stone.
• The City Treasury is subject to a daily 5% reduction above 10,000gp to pay for general City Services.

So why would I as governor want any funds in the treasury when the only thing I can buy is trade contracts, and I can just keep the money in my own bank until I have to buy a new trade contract??? Why have a reduction system, when it is so simple to circumvent it, and players get no advantage for leaving funds in the treasury?

Your dream of making a mage in dragon armor is actually easier.... mage armor while still adding a property, has no imbue weight.

 

[Kyronix]

Likewise, giving people the chance to run as Lord Mayor, give out titles to their favourites, but no way to recall them in the short term, promises months of agony if someone despicable gets in. Are the Devs really so unaware of the collapse in faith in Politicians in real life, and their own recent shambolic contests in game where they left the judging to the public, that they think the wider playerbase is clamouring for the same feelings of being cheated and of second class impotence in the face of the greedy, in their free time too? That the benefits of a city's trade deal is in perpetuity and they only need to take citizenship to get it is scant consolation for the amount of complete asshattery that's about to ensue when people can buy fancy titles for their friends and sit next to the EMs during their events and officially break wind on the thrones of the mighty.

There are tools in place to impeach a Governor should they fail to uphold the duties of their Office. All a citizen must do is report this failure to the King's Government and steps can be taken to remove and replace the Governor.

 

[CovenantX]

Where did you get this info? I missed this in the notes of it was there or did you confirm this on test center?

I believe Bleak mentioned it on the original pub 81 notes. So "Mage Armor" sort of became a negative property (towards dexers) due to it negating all the benefits.

"Mage Armor" negates that armor piece's mana phase and ssi penalty ability. "Mage Armor" does not benefit from bonus stamina protection.

 

[Obsidian]

Why?

Then you have differentiation in the armor types. If not, then we are back where we started and people will use leather so you don't need to waste a property slot and imbuing intensity on Mage Armor. I thought the entire point of all this was to make all armor unique and viable.

 

[Frarc]

I see, just trying to understand what the major problem is with the mage armor property.

As i said, i usually play my warriors in full plate metal armor and my mages in leather armor i crafted myself with a few arties. To ME i don't see too much disadvantages in the changes . On TC my warrior feels, with the exact same armor and weapon, that he can deal with a lot more and my mages still plays exactly the same.

I know there will always things we never agree on.

 

[Adol]

There are tools in place to impeach a Governor should they fail to uphold the duties of their Office. All a citizen must do is report this failure to the King's Government and steps can be taken to remove and replace the Governor.

Is this through the EM system (who will be playing the King per shard), and based on breaking let's call it the Fourth Wall of roleplay behaviour and thus the ToS of Ultima Online... or is it through a mechanic in game, like the elections themselves are?

Because if it's the former, how do you prevent the easy cop out of "I'm roleplaying a villain!" ... or "I won the election, so I can make what ever clique I want?". We recently had an attempt to honor the winner of competitions on Europa with statues in Castle Blackthorn, where the winner of the first round spent the next rounds abusing the winners of those, spamming over the EMs demanding his recognition before events can continue, and just being abusive in general. But by the rules... he won. The EMs were only able to reconsider when chat logs were submitted which proved he'd broken the wider rules of the games with his language. But if he hadn't? If he'd just been obnoxious...? No one else wanted to see him so honoured, but they couldn't stop him until he crossed that larger line. Do you think we wanted to see him centre stage every time we went into the castle if we hadn't been so able?

And if it's the latter... if people are just going to game the system to win the election, how are you going to stop them gaming the second steps to remove them in turn? Who says they won't be the concerned citizen reporting the actual roleplayers out of spite?

This isn't a theoretical question; this is Ultima Online here, a game which wrote the book on anti-social gameplay being excused as roleplaying. On Europa our Lord Protector arc was marred by huge amounts of dubious voting, about 30 actual participants at the EM events, but around 700 votes cast in total. The Mini House deed contest was completely broken by it. Can you not see how detrimental to community it will be to let just one poisonous apple bob to the top in the public eye in game? It would be far better to have voted for the bonus, not someone who gets to set the bonus and then give his friends special titles.

 

[Lord Lew]

Please tell me it's one vote per account!!

 

[Kyronix]

Please tell me it's one vote per account!!

One vote per City per account.

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

Current armor crafting system:

Step 1 - craft a base piece of armor
Step 2 - reforge the piece
Step 3 - Powder up the piece
Step 4 - Imbue the piece (ideally no need to imbue if reforged optimally but some pieces still need imbuing occasionally)
Step 5 - Enhance the piece.
Repeat entire process 4 or 5 more times and you have one specific suit. Not even counting jewels yet.

Is this not already a lengthy and tricky enough process that now we have to add Refining to the mix? Seriously?

A 5 step process per piece is not enough?

Does anyone think that difficult and lengthy processes like this are good for the game in any way?
Why are we trying to keep people in their house with a calculator and speadsheets instead of out in the world fighting and spawning and interacting?

Wtf am I missing here?
$13 a month to do this nonsense?
Who's idea of fun is this?

Somebody needs to own up to this **** asap imo.

I like the overall direction of the publish but it is just way too overshadowed by Refining imo.

 

[Tina Small]

Kyronix, can you please give us a list of the possible titles that a Governor can give to citizens of the City? It would be helpful to know if the titles are already set in stone and will be consistent across cities and shards versus the Governors being able to make up whatever titles they choose.

The publish notes aren't all that clear on this particular issue. They merely say that a Governor can grant a title to a citizen by accessing the context menu on the City Stone, with the following additional rules:

• Governors can only grant titles to the Citizen of their City
• Characters may remove their city title by accessing the City Stone and selecting “Remove City Title”
• Governors may remove City titles by leaving the title input form blank
• Titles do not persist through character transfer and will be removed if a character denounces citizenship
• Titles will expire at the conclusion of the Governor’s term in office

Because it says that the governor removes city titles by "leaving the title input form blank," it sounds like the Governors will be typing in the titles and not selecting them from a list of pre-approved titles.

 

[Tina Small]

Kyronix, did you guys do something to the layering order of clothing? Just logged on now with the client_tc client and my tamer's Robe of the Equinox is not showing as the top layer of her clothing. It seems to be hiding under her leather tunic or it's become invisible or something like that. I can mouse over her and get the words "Robe of the Equinox" but just looking at her paperdoll or her in-game character, I don't see it.

 

[Tina Small]

Kyronix, can you tell us what's the point of being hated in a city? I'm looking at these hate/love gates and remembering people who did stuff to become hated and how pointless it's turned out to be. Maybe you could get people a little more interested in this stuff if you'd explain that too.

 

[Kyronix]

Is this through the EM system (who will be playing the King per shard), and based on breaking let's call it the Fourth Wall of roleplay behaviour and thus the ToS of Ultima Online... or is it through a mechanic in game, like the elections themselves are?

Because if it's the former, how do you prevent the easy cop out of "I'm roleplaying a villain!" ... or "I won the election, so I can make what ever clique I want?". We recently had an attempt to honor the winner of competitions on Europa with statues in Castle Blackthorn, where the winner of the first round spent the next rounds abusing the winners of those, spamming over the EMs demanding his recognition before events can continue, and just being abusive in general. But by the rules... he won. The EMs were only able to reconsider when chat logs were submitted which proved he'd broken the wider rules of the games with his language. But if he hadn't? If he'd just been obnoxious...? No one else wanted to see him so honoured, but they couldn't stop him until he crossed that larger line. Do you think we wanted to see him centre stage every time we went into the castle if we hadn't been so able?

And if it's the latter... if people are just going to game the system to win the election, how are you going to stop them gaming the second steps to remove them in turn? Who says they won't be the concerned citizen reporting the actual roleplayers out of spite?

This isn't a theoretical question; this is Ultima Online here, a game which wrote the book on anti-social gameplay being excused as roleplaying. On Europa our Lord Protector arc was marred by huge amounts of dubious voting, about 30 actual participants at the EM events, but around 700 votes cast in total. The Mini House deed contest was completely broken by it. Can you not see how detrimental to community it will be to let just one poisonous apple bob to the top in the public eye in game? It would be far better to have voted for the bonus, not someone who gets to set the bonus and then give his friends special titles.

If I were a citizen of the City in question I would do two things...firstly I would organize a plot to assassinate the Governor in question and would rally an underground resistance and stage a coup. If I was going for the assassination I would devise some way to lure my target to a place where he can be easily killed. Surely the Governor isn't going to blindly follow me into Felucca so I will need to be more cunning than that. This job is going to require some assistance. I'd begin peppering the streets of the City with recruitment propaganda to entice those in agreement with me to join my cause. When our numbers have grown to a formidable size I would build a settlement in Felucca. I would petition the Crown for a dedication ceremony for our new frontier, inviting all the Governors to attend. Surely questions of security will arise, and so I will need to bribe some Guards, offering "protection" to visiting dignitaries. When the settlement's "administrator" takes center stage that will be the signal to attack and kill all Governors who do not stand united in our cause!

If a Governor is blatantly breaking the ToS then action will be taken, all Governors accept the responsibilities of their office when they are granted their powers from the City Stone.

 

[Uvtha]

Adding balanced to 2 handed melee weapons will make for a bit more template diversity and re-introduce some classic old weapons back into pvp.

The parry/evade effect is not a huge factor in Fellucca.

You are looking at the overall picture right? Not just pvm/sampires?

Perhaps I was overstating it, but my real point was that if the penalty WASN'T there then EVERYONE might look into it. I don't understand why they think that its such a bonus that it requires the complete removal of a characters defensive bonuses. I think the simple fact that you have to have a 150 weight imbing slot occupied is balance enough, but if they wanted to do more, then just lower your parry/evade chance some. Not completely remove it.

 

[Kyronix]

Kyronix, can you please give us a list of the possible titles that a Governor can give to citizens of the City? It would be helpful to know if the titles are already set in stone and will be consistent across cities and shards versus the Governors being able to make up whatever titles they choose.

The publish notes aren't all that clear on this particular issue. They merely say that a Governor can grant a title to a citizen by accessing the context menu on the City Stone, with the following additional rules:

Because it says that the governor removes city titles by "leaving the title input form blank," it sounds like the Governors will be typing in the titles and not selecting them from a list of pre-approved titles.

That's correct, the Governor can type in the title they want to give. It's limited to 20 characters if I'm remembering correctly. Titles pass through a number of checks before they are granted to a citizen. Anything that can't be a regular player guild title isn't valid, also none of the titles you purchase through city loyalty are valid either. Every time a Governor grants a title to a citizen information as to what Governor granted the title is saved on your character. If its a case of someone giving inappropriate titles action will be taken against the violating governor.

 

[Kyronix]

Kyronix, did you guys do something to the layering order of clothing? Just logged on now with the client_tc client and my tamer's Robe of the Equinox is not showing as the top layer of her clothing. It seems to be hiding under her leather tunic or it's become invisible or something like that. I can mouse over her and get the words "Robe of the Equinox" but just looking at her paperdoll or her in-game character, I don't see it.

This may have slipped its way into the release TC client as a result of some tinkering Bleak was doing. Thanks for the report, it will be fixed before we move to Origin.

 

[sirion]

Zero parry chance for 2-handed/Balance??

Might as well stop wasting your programming time on this, because no one will use 2h wep still. This is silly.
2h wep is slow already. Why so against it?

Just think about using a halberd against a big mob toe to toe, this is already a suicide...and now, no parry chance??

What is the strategy behind this? =.=

 

[Kyronix]

Kyronix, can you tell us what's the point of being hated in a city? I'm looking at these hate/love gates and remembering people who did stuff to become hated and how pointless it's turned out to be. Maybe you could get people a little more interested in this stuff if you'd explain that too.

The gates just allow you a quick way to swing loyalty one way or the other on test center. Right now there are no outright penalties to having a negative relationship with the City save for your inability to participate in elections and utilize the trade deals. Looking towards the future we hope to give a little more incentive to being the bad guy, just not enough time to do anything with it this pass.

 

[Tina Small]

More questions for Kyronix, this time about city trade deals. The publish notes say that a Governor can open a trade deal with an NPC guild, subject to the following rules:

• Trade deals cost 2,000,000gp from funds obtained from the City Treasury.
• The City Treasury can be donated to by dropping gold or checks on the City Herald near each City Stone.
• The City Treasury is subject to a daily 5% reduction above 10,000gp to pay for general City Services.
• Trade deals can be changed once per real world week and persist indefinitely.
• Citizens may utilize the trade deal for 24 hours by visiting the City Stone and selecting “Utilize Trade Deal” from the context menu.
• Trade Deals Include:
  • Guild of Arcane Arts: +5% Spell Damage Increase
  • Society of Clothiers: +1% Resist bump to all resists
  • Bardic Collegium: +1 Faster Casting
  • Order of Engineers: +3 Dexterity Bonus
  • Guild of Healers: 5% Bandage Healing Bonus
  • Maritime Guild: +2 Hit Point Regeneration
  • Merchant’s Association: +2 Mana Regeneration
  • Mining Cooperative: +3 Strength Bonus
  • League of Rangers: +3 Intelligence Bonus
  • Guild of Assassins: +5% Swing Speed Increase
  • Warrior’s Guild: +5% Hit Chance Increase
• Buffs will not go over caps

What's with the "citizens may use a trade deal for 24 hours"? How often can you do this? Any time your selection has worn off and the governor's trade deal with that guild is still in effect? Or only once during the life of that particular trade deal, which the notes say will "persist indefinitely"?

Also, because the city stones say, "Current Trade Deal: None," it looks like a city can only have one trade deal in effect at any one time. So, if a Governor picks one deal and the citizens hate it and demand he switch to another deal, the treasury might have to be replenished in order to do so. And then, when he picks another deal a week later (or whenever he is convinced to do so), the 2 million gold that was spent on the first deal is just lost, right? A waste of donated gold because the governor made a bad or unpopular decision.

 

[Tina Small]

The gates just allow you a quick way to swing loyalty one way or the other on test center. Right now there are no outright penalties to having a negative relationship with the City save for your inability to participate in elections and utilize the trade deals. Looking towards the future we hope to give a little more incentive to being the bad guy, just not enough time to do anything with it this pass.

Thanks for the quick reply. I hope you can answer my question about why my robe is transparent now, please?? That's one got me really wondering! I see it's happening with a gargish robe my garg crafter is wearing too. No more pretty blue crafted robe showing.

Edited to add: I switched back to the normal client (was using the client_tc) and the robes are showing again. Did you guys lose the robe artwork for the new client or something or is there something you aren't telling us? LOL

 

[ShadowTrauma]

A quick thank you to Kryonix for comming here and answering some of our questions during the weekend, my general opinion of the refinement system hasn't changed much, but it's always appreciated getting some developer interaction. I am happy that at least some players will have some new things to look forward to, and I am grateful you took the time to stop by and toss some more information our way. Thank you.

 

[Kyronix]

More questions for Kyronix, this time about city trade deals. The publish notes say that a Governor can open a trade deal with an NPC guild, subject to the following rules:

What's with the "citizens may use a trade deal for 24 hours"? How often can you do this? Any time your selection has worn off and the governor's trade deal with that guild is still in effect? Or only once during the life of that particular trade deal, which the notes say will "persist indefinitely"?

Also, because the city stones say, "Current Trade Deal: None," it looks like a city can only have one trade deal in effect at any one time. So, if a Governor picks one deal and the citizens hate it and demand he switch to another deal, the treasury might have to be replenished in order to do so. And then, when he picks another deal a week later (or whenever he is convinced to do so), the 2 million gold that was spent on the first deal is just lost, right? A waste of donated gold because the governor made a bad or unpopular decision.

Once a Governor selects a trade deal it will exist indefinitely. A player gets the buff for 24 hours from the deal by interacting with the stone. After the buff expires they revisit the stone to get it again. They can do this so long as a deal is active on the stone. 1 week from initial purchase the Governor may choose to buy another one or just leave the one they currently have. And yes, A City can only have 1 trade deal active at a time. And yes, the 2 million is spent when purchasing a trade deal.

 

[Tina Small]

Once a Governor selects a trade deal it will exist indefinitely. A player gets the buff for 24 hours from the deal by interacting with the stone. After the buff expires they revisit the stone to get it again. They can do this so long as a deal is active on the stone. 1 week from initial purchase the Governor may choose to buy another one or just leave the one they currently have. And yes, A City can only have 1 trade deal active at a time. And yes, the 2 million is spent when purchasing a trade deal.

Thanks again for the quick reply. Also, I'm noticing lots of naked NPCs that would normally wear robes. Dying to know what's up with robes. Guess I'll go make some dresses and see what happens to them.

 

[Kyronix]

A quick thank you to Kryonix for comming here and answering some of our questions during the weekend, my general opinion of the refinement system hasn't changed much, but it's always appreciated getting some developer interaction. I am happy that at least some players will have some new things to look forward to, and I am grateful you took the time to stop by and toss some more information our way. Thank you.

You're welcome.

 

[CovenantX]

Thanks again for the quick reply. Also, I'm noticing lots of naked NPCs that would normally wear robes. Dying to know what's up with robes. Guess I'll go make some dresses and see what happens to them.

Kyronix covered the robe issue quite a few posts ago, here it is incase you missed it.

This may have slipped its way into the release TC client as a result of some tinkering Bleak was doing. Thanks for the report, it will be fixed before we move to Origin.

I experienced this with my robe as well, only in the client_tc.exe (new TC client).

 

[R Traveler]

For all who "think" they going to loose mage armor on their current suit after pub 81 i show you 2 pictures of my samurai in full plate samurai armor with mage armor properties.

Drachenfels:

TC1 with pub 81:

Can you see the difference? I can't ,its exacly the same

Your current armor is NOT going to change.

So current armor is not going to get new material bonuses too.

 

[Tina Small]

Kyronix covered the robe issue quite a few posts ago, here it is incase you missed it.

Thanks. I did not see that. For the record, this is what I discovered with that client:

Completely invisible while worn:
Robes
Plain Dress
Fancy Dress
Gilded Dress
Kamishomo
Hakama-****a
Female Kimono

Visible when worn and appears as the topmost layer when worn with leather tunic or leggings:
Formal Shirt
Surcoat
Jester Suit
Doublet
Tunic
Jin-Baori
Fur Sarong
Skirt
Kilt
Hakama
Crimson Cincture

Visible when worn and appears as the bottom layer when worn with leather tunic:
Shirt
Fancy Shirt

I also noticed that when making a new elven character, even though I picked a hair style for her, she was completely bald until I did something with her clothing.

I guess I'll draw my own conclusions as to what Bleak is up to....

 

[CovenantX]

I'm confused, what effect does Mage Armour have on other properties/artifacts and why does it need to be removed?

Non-medable armor (everything except leather, cloth, & leaf) will not benefit from the increase Stamina protection or the +1% - +3% inherent LMC bonus, if the item has the "Mage Armor" property.

Say for instance, you want to use the Armor of Fortune on a dexer, and you wanted the +3% LMC bonus (this item cannot be imbued/changed) you would pay the 250k gold to remove the "Mage Armor" property, by doing so, you enable the +3% LMC bonus (since it's a studded armor piece) and the extra stamina protection you get as well. at the cost of the item becoming non-medable so a caster likely wouldn't use an item of sorts.

Mage Armor: negates the +1-3% LMC, (fine by me), but the stamina protection should remain as an incentive for casters to use heavier armor types.

They should allow you to Add & Remove mage armor regardless of what the items weight/property count is and regardless if the item is an artifact or not, and just prevent mage armor from being added to items that are under the effects of Refinements.

It's obviously meant as a minor gold-sink as well (250k per removal/addition of mage armor), I don't understand why MMOs make gold-sinks and put limitations on them that make no sense.

 

[Tina Small]

One vote per City per account.

That sounds like you should be able to vote in multiple cities on the same shard with the same account, as long as you have multiple characters and they are each a citizen of a different city. Is this correct? Or do you really only get to vote once per shard per account?

Edited to add: If you can vote for different cities on the same account/shard if your characters have citizenship in various cities, will this ability get botched up if the characters happen to have the same name but citizenship in different cities? E.g., if Mary (1) is a citizen of Britain and Mary (2) is a citizen of Jhelom, will they both be able to vote?

 

[Kyronix]

That sounds like you should be able to vote in multiple cities on the same shard with the same account, as long as you have multiple characters and they are each a citizen of a different city. Is this correct? Or do you really only get to vote once per shard per account?

Yes, this is correct.

Edited to add: If you can vote for different cities on the same account/shard if your characters have citizenship in various cities, will this ability get botched up if the characters happen to have the same name but citizenship in different cities? E.g., if Mary (1) is a citizen of Britain and Mary (2) is a citizen of Jhelom, will they both be able to vote?

No, there won't be any issues with this. The name of the character is irrelevant to the vote tracking.

 

[Tina Small]

Yes, this is correct.



No, there won't be any issues with this. The name of the character is irrelevant to the vote tracking.

Thanks again for the quick reply.

 

[Cetric]

This may have slipped its way into the release TC client as a result of some tinkering Bleak was doing. Thanks for the report, it will be fixed before we move to Origin.

Was he trying to make the robe essentially invisible? Because that should end up in the publish =)

This might not be something you can or should answer, but as long as no breaking bugs are reported, any idea when we can expect a prod release for this publish?

chomping at the bit to get some suits made obviously =/

 

[Tina Small]

Kyronix, do you have an idea when this publish is going to go to Origin? Some of us have been busy trying to get stuff together there to do some serious testing and it would be helpful to know how much more time we have left to get stuff together. Also, do you anticipate character copy to TC staying up for at least a few more days?

I also have a question about this part of the publish:

Pets will now be “rescued” if a server reverts to a backup during which the pet was out in the world

• During server maintenance, these pets will be teleported to a safe location
• This prevents the pets from being killed, or losing loyalty and going wild
• When their owners log in:
  • The rescued pets will teleport to the player, if the player has control slots available
  • Otherwise, the pets will go to the owner’s stables for later retrieval

When the pets are teleported to a "safe location" during server maintenance, will this also apply to ghosts of pets?

 

[Tina Small]

Another question for Kyronix. Can you give us any further details on what this means: "The looting rights threshold has been lowered for all mobs." How much damage do you have to do, does it matter if you're partied, etc.?

 

[CovenantX]

Was he trying to make the robe essentially invisible? Because that should end up in the publish =)

If it were available via an option, it would be nice.

 

[Gheed]

So many questions here:

"Any item that is identified as duped can not be placed on a vendor. If a duped item is on a vendor when we publish Pub 81 you can not purchase it. We highly suggest you go thru in- game vendors for all your UO needs."

I see folks commenting about duped resources on vendors. I've seen a very sharp drop in commodity deeds on vendors in general. Especially wood. This started when devs allowed commodity deeds for turn ins... I think now most scripted and duped wood ends up in collections. Please consider dis-allowing duped resources from being turned in or mixed with non-duped resources. If that is even possible.

City elections:
Interesting concept but my overall feel is that I'm going to craft a suit already maxed out in the most important mods to my build. So the bonus' aren't appealing to me because I'll already be capped, and trade deal buffs will not go over caps. I wouldn't build a suit around trade deals because they would most likely change from time to time.

Still though I don't understand the 24 hour use of the deal past just giving folks a reason to show up in town. What if you have a trade deal active then it gets changed by the gov? Would it be easier just to have the buff active at all time?

I do like that you are investing energy into revitalizing towns. But I'd like to see more reasons for actually visiting towns and being active in them. A long time ago I built a matrix of town (building) additions based in part on virtues tied to that town. For example building a greenhouse in Magencia. In the greenhouse you could rent a storage chest, accessible like your bank box, that would hold 200 plants. The plant storage chest would be additional, free and clear of all bank, character and house storage restrictions. While at the greenhouse you could tend your plants and they would cycle at server up as if they were locked down. Based on level of citizenship you would be granted reduced fees, bonus' to reduced infestation, reduced disease and increased seed of renewal/resource production. Even pay an NPC to put your plants in stasis should you miss a day tending them or were going to be away.

So something like that would attract folks to visit a town and give them the opportunity to interact with other folks doing the same activity. It would also create a live reference point for aspiring gardeners to visit others in the trade and learn how to get started.



Mage Armor Update:

Mage armor has been removed from imbuing, reforging, and enhancing. Armor now can be converted to and from Mage Armor by paying a Mage guild master 250,000 gold. Applying mage armor is still subject to the armor not having more than four properties or not being an artifact. Mage Armor now has an imbuing weight of zero.

I could be jaded because i don't use many mage templates but I kind of like this idea save a few points:

1. If your are removing mage armor from imbuing, what are you going to do with abyssal cloth?

2. Should you just remove the free mage armor tag from exceptional sam plate? Leaving pre patch sam plate alone.

3. What would be the drawback of allowing mage armor to be added as an extra mod above four property items or to artifacts. At this point deciding to add mage armor is a pretty simple choice between meditation or LMC/Stamina damage protection. I have thought mage armor shouldn't really be considered a mod like others in the first place. And now we are almost there. Just one less headache to consider when introducing artifacts in the future.