Adventur On the HighSeas - Another Overview

[Syndicate]

Here is our take on today's Townhall from the perspective of our members who attended the presentation.

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On Saturday 8/28/10, EA/Mythic/Bioware did a UO Townhall meeting in Northern VA at the Mythic HQ. It was shown concurrently on ustream and the audio was available through Whispering Rose Radio. Two key things were revealed at the TownHall.

#1 - UO (as well as Warhammer and DAOC) are shifting to a Booster-Pack type of deployment rather than full blown expansion packs. A booster pack is smaller than an expansion but there will be 2 of them per year. Each one will add substantial content and fix a number of more major bugs. With the rate of deployment, by the time players grow bored with one Booster, the next one will be on the near term horizon so that model helps "pull" players through to the next piece of content.

#2 - The first Booster pack for UO is due out in a couple of months and is called Adventure on the High Seas. As the name states, it will be all about ship combat and adventuring on the vast ocean areas of Sosaria. Currently, the ocean areas are devoid of life except for the occasional fisherman or rogue water elemental. This Booster will change that in a dramatic way. Here are the key features this content adds for players:

* Three new ships (plus a rowboat) that are much larger than the current ships. The Orc and Gargoyle model ships each mount 3 cannons on each side of the ship which the Tokuno ship is faster but only mounts two cannons per side. You will be able to store things in your hold, re-deed your ship when not in use (and you can only have 1 ship deployed at a time), color your ship using special paints and you will need to repair your ship (thus creating a market for most of the UO crafting skills). Ships also gain the ability to be steered by mouse rather than by ordering the tiller around.

* Two different cannon types and two different ammo types (round shot and grape shot). Cannons have to be cleaned, primed and loaded so having a team of people working the boat will mean much faster shot time and can mean the difference between victory and defeat. Additionally cannons take damage when fired (i.e. wear and tear) or when hit by enemy fire so they will need to be repaired.

* A floating island located south of Moonglow and north of Fire Island where vendors exist to give you quests and repair your ships.

* A new quest based around finding a special map that then leads you to an 'instance' of a magical island with cursed pirates and other baddies and, of course, cool loot. The premise behind it takes a queue from Pirates of the Caribbean in that you cannot find the island unless you are seeking it with the right clues (i.e. the map).

* A great deal of love for those players who enjoy fishing. There are new types of fish (including those only obtainable at max skill level and rare fish and even Lobster) and new things you can make with the fish. Those new things provide cooks with more recipes and provide players with more buff-food types (16 in all). And there are new fish you can mount and decorate your player housing with.

* There will be NPC boats you can attack and loot including Merchants, Pirates and Orcs.

* There will be Ship to Ship PvP where you can cripple the enemy ship, board it, kill the occupants and steal the items in their hold.

* There will be quests offered to track down "Dread Pirates" that are roaming the world which offer fame and fortune.

* There are new boss encounters. One of the bosses is Scalis and he seems to be a very tough but very straight up boss fight. The other boss fight was not described in much detail except to liken it to a champ spawn in that hordes of minions have to be cleared to reach the boss which will then be quite a fight.

* As a side bonus, bank and player housing storage will be increased by 20%

The Booster pack will cost $15. While no firm time lines were committed to, it should be released in the next 2-3 months with testing beginning in about a month.

As a side bonus, the dev team spoke about a 4th ship type being internally referred to as the Whale. That is an extremely large ship that will be persistent in the world and thus can be used as floating player housing. That ship will not be part of the launch of the Booster but is intended to be added shortly thereafter. It will be very rare and hard to obtain but will offer a unique housing option for UO. It will be so large you will not be able to bring it close to shore but instead will have to use a rowboat to get to and from it.

 

[Uvtha]

Neato, sounds like a good development approach.

 

[Luke Carjacker]

Thanks for the info, it sounds awesome. So many questions. Sounds like there will be a new peerless and a new champ - that's nice. Sounds like they are implementing a lot of the ideas people have suggested for fishing, that's great as well. Tying fishing to house deco is definitely a great plan - fun new items that don't alter the game balance. Tying fishing to cooking sounds cool too, provided the new buffs are properly implemented.

My biggest question is about the whale...I would LOVE to have a house boat, but does that count as the single house per account? I hope not, because I can't see giving up either of my two current houses, but if it could be an additional location, I would be first in line to do the quest. Maybe one whale per account? Damn I hope so.

 

[Evlar]

#1 - UO (as well as Warhammer and DAOC) are shifting to a Booster-Pack type of deployment rather than full blown expansion packs. A booster pack is smaller than an expansion but there will be 2 of them per year. Each one will add substantial content and fix a number of more major bugs. With the rate of deployment, by the time players grow bored with one Booster, the next one will be on the near term horizon so that model helps "pull" players through to the next piece of content.

Although I've no reason to criticise a sea-based expansion, as it's something the game has been crying our for, for many years, there's a couple of things there (aside from the actual "content") that worry me.

You'll note I highlighted - "...and fix a number of more major bugs."

Now surely it isn't just me here worried by that? Does this not set a worrying president here?

Basically, what this boils down to, as I see it, is paying extra to fix problems with content we've either already paid for in previous expansions, or should expect to be fixed within the scope of our subscriptions.

Charging for an expansion or "booster", with new content is fine. Charging within that, to fix existing problems and bugs, isn't. I think that it's an insulting slap in the face to current subscribers, wrapped up conveniently in new, shiny content. If you will, a Trojan Horse.

As for the secondly highlighted "...by the time players grow bored with one Booster, the next one will be on the near term horizon so that model helps "pull" players through to the next piece of content."

Well...

Is this not also a worrying president? Is this the fault of developers over the years, or the players themselves?

Does this suggest that the overall quality of any "booster" won't actually be that good? Will players indeed be bored of it so quickly, they'll demand another "booster" to keep them playing the game?

What happens when the next "booster" is released? Will anything that's gone before it then be consigned to the usual "forgotten" list? If for example, certain features are left unfinished or "broken", will they be forgotten about upon the next "booster". I mean, it's not like we haven't seen that happen before, have we?

It smacks to me of an EA influenced decision to apply similar principals to their MMO's, as employed with DLC for other games. The response to DLC has been split both ways, though there's a strong indication that people don't overly feel they're getting value for money.

So, seafaring expansion. Love the idea, wished it had been in the game long ago.

As for the president I feel the "booster" concept will set, especially relating to "fixing bugs", I'm far from impressed.

Will it bring me back to UO? Tempted by UO seafaring activity though I am, I'm not keen on paying towards bug fixes that should have been covered by the subscription fee or the price of the previous expansions, which have yet to be "completed", or introduced some of the bugs and issues in the first place.

In essence then, thanks, but no thanks. I shan't be buying into it.

Note: This has absolutely nothing to do with my "support" for a classic option. These are merely my observations, having subscribed to the game for eleven years.

Were this a F2P "model", then I wouldn't have such an issue with the buying of additional content and items. As things stand, this game is within the subscription model, with EA seemingly trying to milk the best of both markets, to their benefit, of course...

I think with this "booster" model, on top of existing RMT/Gamestore content/items... PLUS... subscription... they're pushing the loyalty of players too far. I fear that many will vote with their wallets.

 

[StaticOnAtlantic]

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[Lord Frodo]

* As a side bonus, bank and player housing storage will be increased by 20%
If you look on UOGame Code Store the price for this alone is $19.95 and this Booster Pack is only $15. Worth the $15 just for the extra storage.

 

[G.v.P]

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Er, can I buy a vowel, please?

 

[Storm]

Er, can I buy a vowel, please?

lol i saw that

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

Official Logo​

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Cool, except for the typo. Adventure ends with an 'e'.

 

[Phoenix_Mythic]

Basically, what this boils down to, as I see it, is paying extra to fix problems with content we've either already paid for in previous expansions, or should expect to be fixed within the scope of our subscriptions.

Bug fixes done as part of booster development are rolled out to everyone whether they buy the booster or not. In addition, there is also feature "spillover". For example: smooth boat movement will be rolled out to all players in the same client patch, and boats will move smoothly on everyone's screen, whether or not they purchase the booster. You won't be able to use the new ships if you don't buy it, but the classic ships will continue to be available to everyone and they will benefit from smooth motion and bug fixes. So, the entire game benefits, and those who purchase the booster benefit more.

With bug fix work, there is a sort of economy of scale as well. If the team spends a significant portion of its time intensely focused on a few systems, then there is synergy with both the development and testing cycles, so more work gets done with the same number of man-hours.

 

[Storm]

Thank you !! we needed some clarification before people start spreading untruths

 

[The_Traveler]

The missing "E" is a bug.
This will be addressed in the next booster release. UO: Rise of the Bank Sitter.

 

[RaDian FlGith]

The missing "E" is a bug.
This will be addressed in the next booster release. UO: Rise of the Bank Sitter.

*coughs*

Risee of the Bank Sitter.

Sheesh.

 

[StaticOnAtlantic]

WAS suppose to be a spoof on the original post creators thread being spelt wrong I just jumped into Photoshop really quick. Lol sorry

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

Careful, or the big scary Syndicate will pwn joo!

 

[LordDrago]

Official Logo​

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Cool, except for the typo. Adventure ends with an 'e'.

The typo will be fixed in the next booster, but only if you pay $15.


Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

[Aurelius]

Now surely it isn't just me here worried by that? Does this not set a worrying president here?

Basically, what this boils down to, as I see it, is paying extra to fix problems with content we've either already paid for in previous expansions, or should expect to be fixed within the scope of our subscriptions.

Charging for an expansion or "booster", with new content is fine. Charging within that, to fix existing problems and bugs, isn't. I think that it's an insulting slap in the face to current subscribers, wrapped up conveniently in new, shiny content. If you will, a Trojan Horse.

I don't see it quite as harshly, and Phoenix's post seems to fit what I'd suspected....

If there's enough content in the 'booster' to justify $15, and the regime for testing the boosters will also be testing the bug fixes, thus the major bug fix patches will coincide with 'booster' releases. Everyone will benefit from the bug fixing, regardless of them buying the 'booster', and we might get a better testing regime out of it too. That's certainly needed.....

They need to make more money - EA corporately has been making it clear they are in trouble, and UO will be feeling that pressure too. A fairly regular $15 from players for a decent amount of content, alongside bug fixing that you're actually not paying more for, seems fine for me.


And I know it's pedantic, but..... you can't set a president, you elect presidents, you set precedents, completely different words! You might feel you have a worrying president, that's a political opinion that EA/Mythic can't really influence much...

 

[Fink]

I heard "two mountable fish" somewhere else and thought they finally put in seahorses. So to clarify, they're just another trophy?

 

[hen]

I heard "two mountable fish" somewhere else and thought they finally put in seahorses. So to clarify, they're just another trophy?

Just a trophy yes. Sadly no rideable sea monkeys yet.

 

[Petra Fyde]

yes, a trophy for your house wall.

 

[Syndicate]

Rideable Seahorses did come up in conversation but it was made clear those are not going in at this time and, while it was not overtly stated, it didn't seem likely they would go live in the foreseeable future either. Apparently there were lots of issues with them so it comes down to where limited development resources should be placed.

One of the earlier posters mentioned "new Peerless and new Champ". That wasn't exactly how it was explained. Scalis certainly seems very much like a Peerless fight but he wasn't labeled as a Peerless in the chat. The other unknown boss is not a champ but has a similar type of fight in terms of lots of small things having to be cleared to reach the boss. It is not, however, a progression spawn where you clear a wave of one tier of monster only to have the next tier spawn. There is also the third new combat 'type' which is the map that leads you to the island full of Cursed Pirates.

 

[Syndicate]

One of the other fishing related things that I missed in my initial write-up is that the 16 legendary fish will spawn in 16 different locations. You can only catch them in those locations and, of course, only if you are 120 fishing. They will also be tagged with the real world date on which you caught the fish. One of the locations mentioned was in Doom. The point was that you'd have to be crazy to fish in Doom yet there is water so you can fish there so they will be adding a Legendary fish to that spot.

 

[Novak(Caci)]

I want to thank you Ea Mythic for this pirate expansion.
Time ago about 3 years back,someone told me Ea Mythic want to make
a pirate expansion but i didnt belive him.And now it is comming.
So im a bit happy that uo grows and grows.

 

[G.v.P]

Scalis certainly seems very much like a Peerless fight but he wasn't labeled as a Peerless in the chat.

Corrected: one thing to note about Scalis is they talked about Scalis being beaten by the Slasher, in a close fight, which should give an idea of how difficult Scalis will be. A person also asked something like would it be too tough for greater dragons and I believe Cal said something like "(Scoff), oh yeah!" Hehe. Still, I don't know how a water peerless would work ... closest we have to that is Paroxysmus I guess, which is in fact modeled as being on an island ... well, I guess by that definition, so is Dread Horn, huh?

 

[R Traveler]

Bug fixes done as part of booster development are rolled out to everyone whether they buy the booster or not. In addition, there is also feature "spillover". For example: smooth boat movement will be rolled out to all players in the same client patch, and boats will move smoothly on everyone's screen, whether or not they purchase the booster. You won't be able to use the new ships if you don't buy it, but the classic ships will continue to be available to everyone and they will benefit from smooth motion and bug fixes. So, the entire game benefits, and those who purchase the booster benefit more.

Do all boats get feature to control using mouse?

 

[Babble]

YAY, great the fisher in doom can get the good fish...
Hehe.. that is sooo wow for me

But then being really inovative in development is hard

 

[G.v.P]

Do all boats get feature to control using mouse?

I think boat has to have a wheel or whatever, so not sure old boats will get any sort of upgrade like that, probably not.

 

[Stupid Miner]

Charging for an expansion or "booster", with new content is fine. Charging within that, to fix existing problems and bugs, isn't. I think that it's an insulting slap in the face to current subscribers, wrapped up conveniently in new, shiny content. If you will, a Trojan Horse.

You're making an assumption that you have to buy the booster to get the bugs fixed.
It seems to me to be an illegitimate assumption. That not how it's work in the past.

 

[Syndicate]

They were pretty clear yesterday that Live Team doing bug fixes and maintaining all of the current content (which includes maintaining the Booster content once it goes live) will be around in full force doing its thing. Supreem actually spoke about fixing 'older' things in the Boosters when he made the point that while they have already peeled back the layers of code to dive into some of these systems for the Booster, it makes it very efficient to tackle some longer standing bugs related to those areas. Calvin made it clear that "slipping" (i.e. scope creep) was not something they were willing to do but that bugs can, do and will get fixed via the Live team on a regular basis.

I did not mean to imply in my writeup that the only source of bug fixes was in the Booster. While they did not discuss a percentage mix between Live team Publishes and the Booster, one could infer from other things said that while there will be some fixes deployed with a Booster, that you will see the majority of them coming out of the Live team.

 

[canary]

You're making an assumption that you have to buy the booster to get the bugs fixed.
It seems to me to be an illegitimate assumption. That not how it's work in the past.

You are correct, you are assuming bugs get fixed actually. Ever.

 

[canary]

They were pretty clear yesterday that Live Team doing bug fixes and maintaining all of the current content (which includes maintaining the Booster content once it goes live) will be around in full force doing its thing. Supreem actually spoke about fixing 'older' things in the Boosters when he made the point that while they have already peeled back the layers of code to dive into some of these systems for the Booster, it makes it very efficient to tackle some longer standing bugs related to those areas.

Supreem can't even take the time to properly code the new tmaps, for god's sake.

 

[Llewen]

yes, a trophy for your house wall.

As long as it doesn't sing "Take Me to the River", I'm ok with it...

 

[puni666]

Bug fixes done as part of booster development are rolled out to everyone whether they buy the booster or not. In addition, there is also feature "spillover". For example: smooth boat movement will be rolled out to all players in the same client patch, and boats will move smoothly on everyone's screen, whether or not they purchase the booster. You won't be able to use the new ships if you don't buy it, but the classic ships will continue to be available to everyone and they will benefit from smooth motion and bug fixes. So, the entire game benefits, and those who purchase the booster benefit more.

With bug fix work, there is a sort of economy of scale as well. If the team spends a significant portion of its time intensely focused on a few systems, then there is synergy with both the development and testing cycles, so more work gets done with the same number of man-hours.

Are you only fixing things that have to do with this content or unfinished business also from the latest expansion SA?

 

[Basara]

One thing to note about Scalis is they talked about Scalis owning the Slasher, which should give an idea of how difficult Scalis will be. A person also asked something like would it be too tough for greater dragons and I believe Cal said something like "(Scoff), oh yeah!" Hehe. Still, I don't know how a water peerless would work ... closest we have to that is Paroxysmus I guess, which is in fact modeled as being on an island ... well, I guess by that definition, so is Dread Horn, huh?

Actually, GvP, I was in the front row, and IIRC the comment was that the Slasher rules all, and that Scalis was owned by Slasher - but it was a pretty good fight to watch.

 

[Sevin0oo0]

I thought the date caught on the fish is only for Big fish, the ones w/ a weight

 

[Amren]

#1 - UO (as well as Warhammer and DAOC) are shifting to a Booster-Pack type of deployment rather than full blown expansion packs. A booster pack is smaller than an expansion but there will be 2 of them per year. Each one will add substantial content and fix a number of more major bugs. With the rate of deployment, by the time players grow bored with one Booster, the next one will be on the near term horizon so that model helps "pull" players through to the next piece of content.

This kinda worries me. It basically shows that UO subscriptions are so low, it's no longer possible to keep the ship afloat by the subscription payments alone. And possibly less people bought SA then was anticipated. So , like it or NOT , this game (like all EA MMOs) probably is costing more to keep running then the profit it was supposed to generate.

To me, it seems like this is more of a "money booster" to justify keeping this game (and all other EA MMOs) running. surely even the most die-hard UO fanboys can see that. This is basically one step above server merges and eventually closing the game.

 

[Syndicate]

Slasher vs Scalis -> I too heard Slasher beat Scalis and not the other way around. I believe Calvin's quote was "Slasher is my baby..." and it was said in such a way as to imply Slasher crushed Scalis.

Bug Fixes -> The question was asked above if bug fixes were just for the Booster or for previous content. I believe it was said a couple of times that all bugs are tracked; all are prioritized; and they all get worked in order of priority regardless of when they came into existence.

Date on Fish -> If I heard right, the date was at least for Legendary Fish as well.

 

[Babble]

Putting out 'Boosters' is maximizing the cash you get with a minimum of effort. Does not mean UO has too few customers, just that EA wants more money.

 

[Harlequin]

Slasher vs Scalis -> I too heard Slasher beat Scalis and not the other way around. I believe Calvin's quote was "Slasher is my baby..." and it was said in such a way as to imply Slasher crushed Scalis.

Bug Fixes -> The question was asked above if bug fixes were just for the Booster or for previous content. I believe it was said a couple of times that all bugs are tracked; all are prioritized; and they all get worked in order of priority regardless of when they came into existence.

Date on Fish -> If I heard right, the date was at least for Legendary Fish as well.

Regarding scalis, I thought someone said that sampires will not like him. Or did I hear that wrong?

 

[Basara]

One of the big delays when doing any project, is scheduling - the bigger a project is, the more things have time conflicts for scheduling.

Example:
You want Dev A to work on X, Y and Z elements, that have to be finished in that order.
You want Dev B to work on elements T, U, V & W, also that have to be finished in that sequence.

T & W each will take about 4 weeks to hammer out, while U & V will take 5 weeks each
X, Y & Z each will take 6 weeks

However, U & V require X to be finished, to start work, and Z requires V to be started.

So, while theoretically the two should take 18 weeks of work by each person...

Items T & X start with week 1.
At the end of week 4, T is done, but Dev Be can't start Item U until the start of week 7 (after X is finished).
Week 6 ends: Dev A finishes X, and Dev B comes back after 2 weeks of downtime.
Week 7: Dev A starts Y; Dev B starts U
Week 11 Ends: Dev B finishes U
Week 12: Dev B starts V
Week 12 ends: Dev A finishes Y. However, since Z requires V to completed, they get a 1 month vacation.
Week 16 Ends: Dev B finishes V.
Week 17 begins: Dev B starts W. Dev A finally gets to come back in and start Z.
Week 20 Ends: Dev B is finished
Week 22 Ends: Dev A is finished.

So, what could theoretically take a little over 4 months, ends up taking about 5 and a half months - and that's without any sudden crises, or a project having to be restarted from scratch, from the projected method for a concept not working out.

Now, imagine a project 4 times bigger, and with 4 times as many interlocking parts of the project - you'd be lucky to have only 16 times as much wasted time. Typically the amount of lost time overall is the square of how much larger you expand a project. (A rule of thumb, but one that tends to hold true). One only has to look at how the complexities of KR affected development of SA, before they threw in the towel and restarted development with the classic client in mind.

Anyone who has had to take classes in how scheduling and work flow occurs (when I was in college, my school had the subject as CSC 195: Introduction to Discrete Structures, required for all Computer Science majors) can relate to you just how complex larger projects can get, and why several smaller projects can get more content to an end user than half as many large ones, even though they take the same amount of development time.

In other words, Amren's logic has holes in it large enough to perform an Autobot Ballet in each.

 

[Hildebrand]

yes, a trophy for your house wall.

As long as it doesn't sing "Take Me to the River", I'm ok with it...

ROFL!
Or "Don't worry, be happy"

 

[Surgeries]

Bug fixes done as part of booster development are rolled out to everyone whether they buy the booster or not. In addition, there is also feature "spillover". For example: smooth boat movement will be rolled out to all players in the same client patch, and boats will move smoothly on everyone's screen, whether or not they purchase the booster. You won't be able to use the new ships if you don't buy it, but the classic ships will continue to be available to everyone and they will benefit from smooth motion and bug fixes. So, the entire game benefits, and those who purchase the booster benefit more.

With bug fix work, there is a sort of economy of scale as well. If the team spends a significant portion of its time intensely focused on a few systems, then there is synergy with both the development and testing cycles, so more work gets done with the same number of man-hours.

This is great news, indeed!

Now we don't have to worry about this, and neither do any Presidents!

 

[G.v.P]

Actually, GvP, I was in the front row, and IIRC the comment was that the Slasher rules all, and that Scalis was owned by Slasher - but it was a pretty good fight to watch.

Oh ok -- I was in back row and I got it backwards my apologies. I thought the new thing would be more powerful!

 

[Yalp]

So one wonders if the following scenarios will happen.

1) Team A purchases the booster
2) Team B does not purchase

Team A goes to sea in fel on their new fangled boats
Team B goes to sea in fel to fight team A on their old busted up boats

Team A's cannon's are useless in a fight, since Team B is on old boats. Team B uses their mages/archers/spell casting pets to kill Team A on their boat.

Or.. Team A uses their canons to damage/destroy Team B's boat, but Team B has no means to damage A's.

Or.. Team B, sails on 2 boats. Doesn't pull up alongside TEAM A's canons.. rather their casters/archers fire on TEAM A's members from the bow/stern thereby avoiding the deadly canons.


just wondering aloud.

 

[Hildebrand]

This is great news, indeed!

Now we don't have to worry about this, and neither do any Presidents!

AAhaaaaaa!! I can't stop laughing!

 

[Harlequin]

You want Dev A to work on X, Y and Z elements, that have to be finished in that order.
You want Dev B to work on elements T, U, V & W, also that have to be finished in that sequence.

T & W each will take about 4 weeks to hammer out, while U & V will take 5 weeks each
X, Y & Z each will take 6 weeks

However, U & V require X to be finished, to start work, and Z requires V to be started.

.....

Week 22 Ends: Dev A is finished.

Good explanation and you are right, Amren's logic is flawed

Now, what if I tell you that a good project manager can complete this same project 2 months earlier AND at a lower cost?

This is not aimed at you, I'm just trying to explain how a good project manager can make the impossible work. Such as delivering new content without sacrificing support of other issues.

Warning, info below belongs to the realm of the truly geeky.




Requirements gathering are very important. It seems X, Y, Z only needs to be finished in that order, that is not the same as they need to wait for each element to be completed first before moving on to the next.

Z also requires V to be started but it's not stated that V needs to be completed first.

I take this to mean that to start on the 2nd task, they need to see a prototype of the preceding task (say sample UI) before being able to start.

T, U, V & W have to be finished in sequence. There's still no need to wait for the preceding task to complete before starting the next. You just need to wait for the preceding task to be finalized so that you can make any changes required.

The only dependencies for an element to be completed first are from U & V. They both require X to be completed first.

Summary of tasks and time required:
(A)X 6
(A)Y 6
(A)Z 6
(B)T 4
(B)U 5
(B)V 5
(B)W 4



Let's get started!

Dev A starts on task X on week 1.
Dev B starts on task T on week 1.

Project initiated (W=Week number, A=Dev A, B=Dev B)

W-1234567890123456789012
A-XXXXXX................
B-TTTT..................

On week 2, someone can actually start on task Y. But both A and B are already busy. This is where a smart project manager will start wondering, hey...maybe I can beg/borrow/steal another headcount to do this. Maybe from the WH team. Or hire a contractor (even ex devs). If an intern can do it, you can even use one. We'll call him "I".

Task U cannot be started yet, since it's one of 2 tasks that have a dependency on X to be actually completed first. Need to wait for week 7.

Intern hired (W=Week number, A=Dev A, B=Dev B, I=Intern)

W-1234567890123456789012
A-XXXXXX................
I-.YYYYYY...............
B-TTTT..................

Week 3 comes, looks like a good chance to start task Z. Unfortunately, Z requires V to actually start first (but doesn't need it to be completed). Haven't gotten that far yet. Extra manpower won't be any help.

Week 4 comes, task T has been completed. First milestone! But U needs X to be completed. Dev B can't start until X is completed 2 weeks later. He can help out, be loaned out to another project manager that needs manpower, or he can go for a 2 week break.

Next milestone looks like it'll have to wait for X to be completed. So we'll fast forward to week 7, where upon U can start.

Second milestone, (W=Week number, A=Dev A, B=Dev B, I=Intern)

W-1234567890123456789012
A-XXXXXX................
I-.YYYYYY...............
B-TTTT..UUUUU...........

Week 8, Y is completed, task U has started, that fulfills all the requirements for task V to start. But B is already working on task U. Hmmm...intern is still around and has just completed his earlier task. Let's make him earn his keep. I want Dev A to work on the final task Z so that he can clean up any mess left behind. I'll let him go for his 2 week leave so that he's fresh.

3rd milestone, (W=Week number, A=Dev A, B=Dev B, I=Intern)

W-1234567890123456789012
A-XXXXXX................
I-.YYYYYYVVVVV..........
B-TTTT..UUUUU...........

Week 9, task V has already been started, hey! That means we have seen enough from task V to start Z (it only requires V to be started).

Dev A begins last task, (W=Week number, A=Dev A, B=Dev B, I=Intern, J=Joe)

W-1234567890123456789012
A-XXXXXX..ZZZZZZ........
I-.YYYYYYVVVVV..........
B-TTTT..UUUUU...........

Week 10, there's 1 last task left, W. Requires to be completed after V is completed. W needs 4 weeks, V is completing in 3 weeks. Looks like a good time to start task W. But everyone including the intern is already working. Let's pull Joe over to help.

Project completed, (W=Week number, A=Dev A, B=Dev B, I=Intern, J=Joe)

W-1234567890123456789012
A-XXXXXX..ZZZZZZ........
I-.YYYYYYVVVVV..........
B-TTTT..UUUUU...........
J-.........WWWW.........

Week 24, project is completed way ahead of schedule. A 5 and a half month project is completed in 3 and a half months.

The same project ends 8 weeks earlier. That means for this project, I pay each devs 2 months' less salary. That's 16 weeks' worth of salary. I employed 2 extra manpower resources, 1 for 11 weeks, the other for 4 weeks.
That adds up to only 15 weeks' worth of salary.



So, project is completed earlier with less cost even if I pull in extra resources. Interesting huh? In the business world, that extra 2 months I have over my competition will bring me a huge advantage.



Disclaimer - In the real world, most IT projects miss deadlines due to improper requirements gathering and/or allowing customers to change the requirements. And management not realizing getting extra resources at the right times can pay for itself many times over. Esp if reputations are at stake.

 

[Aurelius]

Probably too hard to do, but it would be fun if the loot on sunk ships went into a system similar to the Cavern of the Discarded, and could either be randomly fished up or occasionally 'washed ashore' somewhere.

 

[Zodia]

So one wonders if the following scenarios will happen.

1) Team A purchases the booster
2) Team B does not purchase

Team A goes to sea in fel on their new fangled boats
Team B goes to sea in fel to fight team A on their old busted up boats

Team A's cannon's are useless in a fight, since Team B is on old boats. Team B uses their mages/archers/spell casting pets to kill Team A on their boat.

Or.. Team A uses their canons to damage/destroy Team B's boat, but Team B has no means to damage A's.

Or.. Team B, sails on 2 boats. Doesn't pull up alongside TEAM A's canons.. rather their casters/archers fire on TEAM A's members from the bow/stern thereby avoiding the deadly canons.


just wondering aloud.

I don't think it will be a problem. If Team A has new boat, and Team B doesn't have the upgrade, it appears from the video that ranged combat still works fine (archery/magery) between any boats.
And the cannons have 2 types of shot -- cannon balls which only damage ships/large monsters, and "grapeshot" which seems to be like scattershot that can hurt players (in Fel). So Team A will have an advantage if they load up the grapeshot, but either way both can still fight (new boat to old boat) with ranged combat. But unless you own the upgrade Team B would be unable to "board" the new ship if they killed all the people on it (plus they have no way to damage the ship w/o the new upgrade so they couldn't board anyway). But they can still kill the players with archery/spells.

 

[Obsidian]

Regarding scalis, I thought someone said that sampires will not like him. Or did I hear that wrong?

I don't remember this statement at all, but I don't know how it would work if the fight is on the open sea. Sampires vs Slasher need ground to maneuver... I don't think you'll have that on your boat (short of running to the other side and then you are still in spell range).

The devs did say they didn't want to give all of the details of the fights away so you have something to look forward too.

-OBSIDIAN-

 

[Syndicate]

There was no discussion (and oddly, no one asked the question) about the interaction between the old boats and new boats. It was said that people without the Booster would see the Booster stuff (like the new boats and like the quest NPCs on the floating market) but would not be able to interact with them. I don't know that if that infers you are 'safe' in Fel on a new boat if the attacker is on an old boat or not. Sounds like a good question to have answered before launch.