High Seas Verdict

[Spogfrawn]

Well, I've had the High Seas for a few days now.

Frankley I wish I had not purchased the Booster pack at all and I will be VERY cynical before parting with any more money for the next Booster for UO. Yhy? Well, let me tell you...

I want to start by saying that I was actually looking forward to this. So much so, that I changed all my crafting skills around on my characters so I could make the things I knew I needed. But here comes the bad...

Ships, and cannons.

First off, I do not have the patience to go mining or logging for the next year of my life just to get enough iron and wood for a five second fight on a ship. Saltpeter is too hard to get. Black Powder takes too long to make. So, because I do not enjoy mining and logging (who actually does?), that means I won't be able to look after my ship or get the rediculous amout of resources needed for what should be a fun outing. So after all that, I find that I have no will to go through all these hoops and would rather go and smack my head against a brick wall for an hour.

Fishing.

Well, at first this seemed like fun too. But after actually doing it I find yet more problems that turn it from an enjoyable experience into a frustrating and annoying waste of time. Why? Well, to start, lobster fishing is HORRIBLE! You have to buy traps and wait similar times to fishing BUT you can't DO anything with the crabs and lobsters after catching them! I can't even use the crappy ones to raise cooking like I do with fishstakes. And then the ones you need for the quests are so rare that getting 15 of them is probably going to take you something like 5 hours playtime -- just for ONE quest!

Even worse, the improvements to MIB's have not materalised. So what am I actually doing these quests for? To get a 120 Fishing powerscroll? If I get a PS, what can I do with my 120 fishing? Only make those fish pies? A pie that takes 5 hours of fishing to get the ingredients and gives me 3 mana regen for 2 seconds? WHAT!? Why would ANYBODY bother????

The last straw...

This morning I fully intended going fishing. I recalled to my ship to find it completely blocked in Papua docks. I cannot redock my ship because I am half way through a fishing quest and I would have to throw hours of hard fishing away just to quit the quest and start again. So I call a GM, and they refuse to unblock my ship! All they did was send me a link to the web page telling me how to operate my ship. Useless!

So now I cannot continue with my fishing quests until some random person decideds to move his ship!

So I am UNABLE to play the only addition to UO that I like (fishing quests) and payed 30$ for! What a waste of money!

 

[Uvtha]

15 dollars. Get a rowboat.

 

[Spogfrawn]

15 dollars. Get a rowboat.

I have 2 accounts 2 x 15 = 30

I can't take my fish to the right town in a rowboat...

 

[popps]

GameMasters, that I recall, are required to help players stuck in the game.

Either you phrased the help page in a wrong way or you had bad luck with the GM who answered.

Page again making sure that you mention the ship being blocked and that this required GM assistance.

If they do not help again, PM one of the official reps who hang around on Stratics and let them know.

Customer Assistance should be a smooth service not a nightmare........

As in regards to the Booster Pack, I disagree with your conclusions.

I think it was well thought out and Designed only, for TEAM WORK mostly.

I have a feeling that most of the complaints are from players trying to run those Galleons on their own or with too few people.

They are designed, from what I gather, to be handled by a team of sailors and the more the better and the smoother the operations will be.

 

[Spogfrawn]

I think it was well thought out and Designed only, for TEAM WORK mostly.

QUOTE]

Made for a team? That may be true, but I haven't seen ANYBODY attacking the Pirates with more than one person on a boat. I know UO is full of people who SOLO Everything they can...

 

[ziggy29]

Made for a team? That may be true, but I haven't seen ANYBODY attacking the Pirates with more than one person on a boat. I know UO is full of people who SOLO Everything they can...

Single data point here, but our guild/alliance doesn't have many soloers. Most of the hunting we do is in groups of about 3-6 people. In fact, in our first trip out on a boat against the pirates, there were 7 of us on the boat. Soloing is great for bragging rights and for not "sharing the loot" but frankly we prefer some of the social aspects of a good team hunt.

 

[canary]

GameMasters, that I recall, are required to help players stuck in the game.

Either you phrased the help page in a wrong way or you had bad luck with the GM who answered.

Page again making sure that you mention the ship being blocked and that this required GM assistance.

If they do not help again, PM one of the official reps who hang around on Stratics and let them know.

Customer Assistance should be a smooth service not a nightmare........

As in regards to the Booster Pack, I disagree with your conclusions.

I think it was well thought out and Designed only, for TEAM WORK mostly.

I have a feeling that most of the complaints are from players trying to run those Galleons on their own or with too few people.

They are designed, from what I gather, to be handled by a team of sailors and the more the better and the smoother the operations will be.

Popps, while I encourage for people to have opinions, as they are a wonderful thing, I have to say that most of the times you come across as contrary just for the sake of being contrary.

 

[G.v.P]

Saltpeter is too hard to get.

It spawns at most trammel docks on most shards now, 2 alch npcs per dock. Mark runes at every dock and pretend youre reg shopping. But bring a packhorse, cause a 999 stack will fall to ground.

So, because I do not enjoy mining and logging (who actually does?), that means I won't be able to look after my ship or get the rediculous amout of resources needed for what should be a fun outing.

You can acquire cannon deeds and the like by adventuring with other players and sharing pirate loot. Those offers might help balance the cost for you if you can team with a friend who has better stockpiles.

Well, to start, lobster fishing is HORRIBLE! You have to buy traps and wait similar times to fishing BUT you can't DO anything with the crabs and lobsters after catching them! I can't even use the crappy ones to raise cooking like I do with fishstakes. And then the ones you need for the quests are so rare that getting 15 of them is probably going to take you something like 5 hours playtime -- just for ONE quest!

Agreed. I think lobster fishing is best done on shore, so you can toss out maybe 3 or more traps. I like to make two rows of 4 in front of me off a dock. I would try to either keep them in your bank or your ship hold. Also, if you get a quest you can't complete, you could cancel it then get it again to see if the new one is better ... although, a friend of mine said he heard or read that this could reset your quest points ... not sure if there is any truth to that. Best to get a stockpile of everything before you get a quest though.

Even worse, the improvements to MIB's have not materalised. So what am I actually doing these quests for? To get a 120 Fishing powerscroll? If I get a PS, what can I do with my 120 fishing? Only make those fish pies? A pie that takes 5 hours of fishing to get the ingredients and gives me 3 mana regen for 2 seconds? WHAT!? Why would ANYBODY bother????

MIB improvements were not part of this booster. Mesanna claimed it's on the table, at the last town hall meet. No date, though.

You can use baits to increase your chance of getting a fish, but I agree 120 fishing seems a little limited at current. However, the buffs last 5 minutes. Not bad for PvP, or high end PvM boss fights (if you can acquire a few).

As for being blocked, that really sucks. What I would suggest is they make it so you can take your fish or lobsters or crabs out of a quest box if you want -- or better yet, just make it a BOD system. It is annoying to get trapped or to want to dock in that situation.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

This is a little harsh.
I disagree.
This booster is fantastic and great. It just needs a little tweaking.

 

[Skrag]

Yet another player noticing that the new systems are totally economically unviable, yet more all-caps TEAM SCREAMING from Popps.

 

[Kafka72]

I think MiB has been improved, not sure. I was on a friends boat last night and he had a white chest for junk loot. Inside was a oddly hued box that was locked, weighed 7 stones. I unlocked it, then telekinesis to remove the trap and inside was 3 corruption. So seems like ML ingreds have been added to MiBs in some fashion.

 

[Lady Storm]

Popps is right.
You didnt phrase the request correctly.
Secondly the booster is very good for such a fast release. I quite enjoy it.
So get your panties out of a bunch and try to enjoy your time, also grab a snack, it's beginning to sound like my son when his sugar level is low and he gets cranky at the world.

P.S. GM's will and do move boats from non parking places ..Example is when people block the spawn areas in T2A.

 

[Spogfrawn]

Popps is right.
You didnt phrase the request correctly.
Secondly the booster is very good for such a fast release. I quite enjoy it.
So get your panties out of a bunch and try to enjoy your time, also grab a snack, it's beginning to sound like my son when his sugar level is low and he gets cranky at the world.

P.S. GM's will and do move boats from non parking places ..Example is when people block the spawn areas in T2A.

Wait just a cotton picking minute. Did you read the message I sent to the GM's? Are you an omnipotent being who can see all and hear all? How the heck do you know what I typed to the GM?

Geez!!

 

[Voodoo990]

Popps is right.
You didnt phrase the request correctly.
Secondly the booster is very good for such a fast release. I quite enjoy it.
So get your panties out of a bunch and try to enjoy your time, also grab a snack, it's beginning to sound like my son when his sugar level is low and he gets cranky at the world.

P.S. GM's will and do move boats from non parking places ..Example is when people block the spawn areas in T2A.

Criticism is good, criticism doesn't' mean that the OP doesn't like or support UO. He showed his support by BUYING the product, that fact that he took the time to play and post concerns about it shows even more support for the game. Everyone wants a better game and you don't get that with blind acceptance thinking you are showing your support for the game. I like the concept of this booster, I took the time and played the beta, I took the time and gave the dev's input, I supported the booster by buying it. Do I like the concept, yes, it is flawed, very and those flaws need to be brought out and addressed for a better game.

Oh and I was going to say,
"So get your panties out of a bunch" when were you born 1902, who says that anymore, but thought against it as it could be kind of mean, but then I thought it wouldn't be any meaner then you calling the OP a child for expressing his views.

 

[canary]

Wait just a cotton picking minute. Did you read the message I sent to the GM's? Are you an omnipotent being who can see all and hear all? How the heck do you know what I typed to the GM?

Geez!!

She has like 50-some accounts or some such nonsense (for real-real, not for play-play), so I'm pretty sure she is acutely aware of EVERYTHING in UO.

 

[Skrag]

Like I said in the other thread, so far in terms of economics and rewards this system is like if all treasure maps were level 1, but digging them up required a couple thousand ingots and boards.

How many t-hunters do you think we'd see?

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

As in regards to the Booster Pack, I disagree with your conclusions.

I think it was well thought out and Designed only, for TEAM WORK mostly.

I have a feeling that most of the complaints are from players trying to run those Galleons on their own or with too few people.

They are designed, from what I gather, to be handled by a team of sailors and the more the better and the smoother the operations will be.

Uhm.

From what you gather? Meaning, you haven't played it? Thus invalidating all your comments on the booster?

*shakes head*

 

[Faeryl]

So, because I do not enjoy mining and logging (who actually does?)

*Raises her hand* I actually enjoy doing both...

And then the ones you need for the quests are so rare that getting 15 of them is probably going to take you something like 5 hours playtime -- just for ONE quest!

I've only done one quest so far, but getting the 10 Walleyes I needed only took me... 30 minutes at the most, which isn't too bad considering the delay between casts.

 

[Spogfrawn]

I've only done one quest so far, but getting the 10 Walleyes I needed only took me... 30 minutes at the most, which isn't too bad considering the delay between casts.

Walleyes are easy, wait til you get 15 apple crabs...

 

[Skrag]

These pirates could pull up to Brit harbor and kill themselves, and for a whopping 5 or 10k most people wouldn't even bother sailing to the sea market to turn them in. Have the devs ever played UO before?

 

[Lord Chaos]

I am glad I haven't purchased the expansion. It doesn't sound like fun at all.

 

[Spogfrawn]

OK, so I was going to write something a little more positive here about ways that I think would improve this Booster pack and the things I do actually like about it, but...

I have just spent the entire day trying to get the GM's to move that ship that is blocking mine. And after a total of three contacts they refuse to do anything at all. So I wanted everybody here to know who they are and what they said. Because it seems policy to let paying customers get stuck in UO and they are happy to let them stay that way.

Both GM Inarea and GM Akemai of Atlantic both replied to my GM help requests. They first sent me a link to a web page that does not exist and therefore I was unable to read it. Then I received a message that did not function in UO but I did get the email from that message shortly afterwards. To the help request that simply stated "My ship is stuck" They stated that...

"We understand that you would like our involvement in this situation, but Game Masters aren’t available to assist with this issue."

So there you have it. If your ship gets stuck in UO it's going to stay that way.

Frankly I think this attitude is appalling, and I have submitted a complaint!

 

[Demonous]

Well, I've had the High Seas for a few days now.

Frankley I wish I had not purchased the Booster pack at all and I will be VERY cynical before parting with any more money for the next Booster for UO. Yhy? Well, let me tell you...

I want to start by saying that I was actually looking forward to this. So much so, that I changed all my crafting skills around on my characters so I could make the things I knew I needed. But here comes the bad...

Ships, and cannons.

First off, I do not have the patience to go mining or logging for the next year of my life just to get enough iron and wood for a five second fight on a ship. Saltpeter is too hard to get. Black Powder takes too long to make. So, because I do not enjoy mining and logging (who actually does?), that means I won't be able to look after my ship or get the rediculous amout of resources needed for what should be a fun outing. So after all that, I find that I have no will to go through all these hoops and would rather go and smack my head against a brick wall for an hour.

Fishing.

Well, at first this seemed like fun too. But after actually doing it I find yet more problems that turn it from an enjoyable experience into a frustrating and annoying waste of time. Why? Well, to start, lobster fishing is HORRIBLE! You have to buy traps and wait similar times to fishing BUT you can't DO anything with the crabs and lobsters after catching them! I can't even use the crappy ones to raise cooking like I do with fishstakes. And then the ones you need for the quests are so rare that getting 15 of them is probably going to take you something like 5 hours playtime -- just for ONE quest!

Even worse, the improvements to MIB's have not materalised. So what am I actually doing these quests for? To get a 120 Fishing powerscroll? If I get a PS, what can I do with my 120 fishing? Only make those fish pies? A pie that takes 5 hours of fishing to get the ingredients and gives me 3 mana regen for 2 seconds? WHAT!? Why would ANYBODY bother????

The last straw...

This morning I fully intended going fishing. I recalled to my ship to find it completely blocked in Papua docks. I cannot redock my ship because I am half way through a fishing quest and I would have to throw hours of hard fishing away just to quit the quest and start again. So I call a GM, and they refuse to unblock my ship! All they did was send me a link to the web page telling me how to operate my ship. Useless!

So now I cannot continue with my fishing quests until some random person decideds to move his ship!

So I am UNABLE to play the only addition to UO that I like (fishing quests) and payed 30$ for! What a waste of money!

not everyone has over 2 million ingots/wood these days?

 

[popps]

Uhm.

From what you gather? Meaning, you haven't played it? Thus invalidating all your comments on the booster?

*shakes head*

Gather means, to my opinion, from a variety of sources.....

From personal experience, from others' experience, from Devs' posts, from reading patch notes and blah blah blah.

Personal experience means from playing the booster, in case that was not clear.......

 

[popps]

Frankly I think this attitude is appalling, and I have submitted a complaint!

That was the right thing to do because, that I know of, GameMasters are required to assist players whenever they are stuck in the game and unable to progress in their gameplay.

If any Gamemaster has not been helpfull in a stuck situation like you explained they have not assisted the customer as it was intended and filing a complaint is the way to go.

Hopefully this will help get GameMasters support straightened up.

You could also PM one of the official reps active on Stratics' Forums so that they can look more into this thing.

Definately, from what I remember, a GameMaster should intervene when a ship is blocked by others and unable to move.

If they do not, something is not working as intended here (I mean in regards to customer service...).

 

[Thor VII]

I am glad I haven't purchased the expansion. It doesn't sound like fun at all.

Same here.

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[Skrag]

If you don't have your crafter mule ready and your billion ingots and boards saved up, don't bother. There's nothing. Even if you do, I hope you like spending a bunch of time and wasting a bunch of resources for a reward smaller than what you spent.

 

[Skrag]

Incidentally, I don't have a fisher, precisely what do these fishing quests give you? Presumably something decent if he doesn't want to abandon the quest to drydock?

 

[G.v.P]

I think MiB has been improved, not sure. I was on a friends boat last night and he had a white chest for junk loot. Inside was a oddly hued box that was locked, weighed 7 stones. I unlocked it, then telekinesis to remove the trap and inside was 3 corruption. So seems like ML ingreds have been added to MiBs in some fashion.

wow really? nice thanks for info, I'll have to try some

 

[soulstoner]

I spent a day at it. Each of your 3 frustrations I think are valid. Friend had their boat blocked at the dock as well ('dock block' - hehe) and was quite miffed. Caring criticism is hard to put out.

I don't know what the 'loyalty point system' is for the questing. It does not display on the character menu --- yet? If the rumor that a canceled quest 'resets' points that would make you wanna not pull the crate to dry dock.
Anyone have link to how the point system works on fishy McQuesting?

I dig the species of fish chosen very nice & the crabs are cute as hell. The traps are a tad pricey but I suppose that is better than
8 gp like the saltpeter where it's camped then set on vendors for 1,000 gp
and you need like 7 to set one off (that's OK I managed a wrangle a few sets off the NPC - balls away - very kewl !!!!). Guessing the prices will be adjusted at some point in time.

It's enjoyable that alchemy and cooking is once again used (re: gorgon lenses) to combine work efforts with guildies/friends carpentry & other crafting skills to make the firing of cannon balls happen.

I'm going into this with gm fishergal so I'm a tad apprehensive at this point what the 105, 110 to 120 advantages will be --- the scrolls seem super-uber rare.

Getting to the spots to round up some more rare fish to make pies at some other point in time. The special pie ingredients at the NPC looked pricey but again - won't be like the saltpeter (feast or famine - lolzzzz). The rare fish ingredient for each 5 stones of pole bending fish you get 1 fish steak.

Least this seems not like grind to the top in one week and be bored with this (don't want to be sent away disappointed too soon though either) -

-------------------------------------------------

These pirates could pull up to Brit harbor and kill themselves, and for a whopping 5 or 10k most people wouldn't even bother sailing to the sea market to turn them in.

That's funny

 

[Skrag]

Yep, but true. Funny thing is, a couple people here seem to think I just love hating this stuff. In reality, I'd rather be on a boat killing pirates for my gold, rather than farming succubi or something again.

 

[KoolAidAddict]

Walleyes are easy, wait til you get 15 apple crabs...

OMFG.......do apple crabs even exist???
Sheesh, three days now, nary a damn one caught in hundreds of attempts.
I mean, wtf over?

/rant off

Im canceling the quest.
Making me very unhappy!
I like the booster, mostly, but agree that it NEEDS tweaks/polishing/finishing/corrections!!

Get on it Devs....theres been enough suggestions that even a few of them would make this booster awesome!!