RNG revamped

[Lorddog]

RNG might be redone at least for limited things into a tiered prize.
reward has 5-10 tiers
you roll for tier level first and similar to ToT or doom If you haven't gotten a higher level tier it will raise your chances slightly.
save this stat at each tier level.
so eventually you absolutely will get the highest tier level. and each level.


EDITED: this is just my suggestion and not anything posted from Devs.

 

[Keith of Sonoma]

Where did you see this?

 

[Captn Norrington]

If the RNG is really getting redone, I suggest everyone start hunting imps, in preparation for the day when the RNG inevitably explodes and starts dropping slithers and cameos on every imp in the game.

We all know something that extreme could happen if the RNG is touched, so we should at least be prepared for it

 

[MalagAste]

I seem to recall one of the DEV's long time ago perhaps it was Wilki or someone saying that the RNG was broken..... and they were working on fixing it...

Far as I can recall it was never "fixed" ..... and wasn't long thereafter that the DEV who said that was canned... If I remember right it may have been between the move from Austin to Cali... but I am not sure exactly.

 

[CovenantX]

I'll wait until there's something more official that talks about it before making any judgements.

Though, if it's true, it's about time.

 

[CovenantX]

If the RNG is really getting redone, I suggest everyone start hunting imps, in preparation for the day when the RNG inevitably explodes and starts dropping slithers and cameos on every imp in the game.

We all know something that extreme could happen if the RNG is touched, so we should at least be prepared for it

I've gotten a Slither from an imp before.

 

[Lorddog]

sorry - this thread is my own suggestion (not anything I heard)

 

[CovenantX]

sorry - this thread is my own suggestion (not anything I heard)

NOOoooooooooooooo

shattered my UO hopes & dreams.

 

[Scribbles]

Random in this game simply doesnt exist. Everything is defined. Nothing "random" will ever work well in this game.

 

[Basara]

I seem to recall one of the DEV's long time ago perhaps it was Wilki or someone saying that the RNG was broken..... and they were working on fixing it...

Far as I can recall it was never "fixed" ..... and wasn't long thereafter that the DEV who said that was canned... If I remember right it may have been between the move from Austin to Cali... but I am not sure exactly.

It was Draconi.

He found out after me and several other people did some testing that the RNG was broken in a way that they weren't checking for.

The usual way to check to see if an RNG is flawed is to take a few million samples, and see how they reflect the spread. After all, the larger the sample, the randomness evens out the bumps to where only real problems stick out. BUT...

The issue that the RNG has is that it is prone to streaks on SMALL samples, and those streaks THEMSELVES are evenly distributed. Most of you know the kinds of streaks I'm talking about; Where you make 5 5% chances for success in a row in combat or crafting, or fail 8 times in a row on smelting an ore you had a 90% or 95% chance of success on.

Since the small-scale streaks were equally likely at ALL points of the distribution, they didn't show up on those 500,000, 1 million or more sample tests they were running. because the streaks were balanced out by other streaks at that scale. He said the RNG as it was/is was a public domain RNG of a type often used in mid-level computer programming classes as an assignment to rewrite from scratch, or a variant thereof. In fact, it was little different from the simple RNGs used by many Facebook games, simply because you don't have to pay for that class of RNGs.

Draconi began working on a replacement RNG on his own, and from the way he was talking was about a week or two of bringing it in, and starting internal testing of it, when the post-KR downsizing hit (possibly part of the California to VA move) and he was let go. As far as I know, It never got to the point where EA above the UO team level even knew of it, so Draconi's successors probably didn't even know about what was being referred to when we started asking the Mythic (and later, Bioware Mythic and Broadsword) teams what happened to Draconi's project.

 

[Spock's Beard]

RNG might be redone at least for limited things into a tiered prize.
reward has 5-10 tiers
you roll for tier level first and similar to ToT or doom If you haven't gotten a higher level tier it will raise your chances slightly.
save this stat at each tier level.
so eventually you absolutely will get the highest tier level. and each level.

For the life of me I just can't really get this to parse. What tiers? What reward?

I seem to recall one of the DEV's long time ago perhaps it was Wilki or someone saying that the RNG was broken..... and they were working on fixing it..

I forget who it was but I remember that they referred to it as being on the level of a college project. Not exactly broken, but could be better. Not surprising, we all know it's streaky as hell. In UO it seems like a 50% chance means 500 misses in a row followed by 500 hits.

 

[MalagAste]

For the life of me I just can't really get this to parse. What tiers? What reward?



I forget who it was but I remember that they referred to it as being on the level of a college project. Not exactly broken, but could be better. Not surprising, we all know it's streaky as hell. In UO it seems like a 50% chance means 500 misses in a row followed by 500 hits.

I'm still of the school of thought that your account is given a "luck" generation at creation... and either it is positive, negative, or neutral...

Most my accounts are in the negatives... some VERY negative others only slightly... I think I have one that might be either neutral or has a slight positive .... but I do know a guy who obviously has the positive... How else can anyone EVER get 2 Orny's in a row from back to back DF's??? And why did this guy almost always get a drop from Doom every time we'd go? He's not doing anything over and above what anyone else does... plays the same style characters that most the rest of us did... yet always got drops. No matter what I don't even want to hazard a guess as to how many Marks of the Travisty this guy got or how many crimmy's or what have you.... Hair dye out the ...... yeah... and he did the same stuff we all did.

 

[Lorddog]

For the life of me I just can't really get this to parse. What tiers? What reward?

say that your getting a BOD reward and there are 5 levels of BODs
if your prize reward is on a 3rd level (tier) then you get a bonus to your tiers 4 + 5 so that next time you get a chance for a reward you have a greater chance to get a 4 or 5 level and your 3rd level was reset.
then next time you get a 4th level reward and you get a bonus again to your 5th and the 4th level is reset.
so that eventually you will absolutely get a 5th level reward.


I am unaware if the current system works this way or not. it is just a suggestion.

very similar to the way doom artis are handled.

 

[Basara]

Actually, the way the BODs work currently...

There's a point system for calculating a BOD's value for the reward. That's a fixed level for high-end BODs. with some multiple choice stuff going on at low levels.

Certain reward levels have a random chance for up to a 200 point boost to the point value of the BOD. It works out to about a 20% chance of getting a level or more increase for the BOD - which might not be something you really want, as it can increase some smith runics to being an Ancient Smith Hammer.