[UO Herald] Test Center Update - Publish 68.3

[MrNiceMNC]

Good job devs, i also like fishing the way it is now....i like that the quests are hard please dont make it super easy. Thanks.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

...

Did you even read what I wrote? I was mostly criticizing the complicated procedure of crafting ammunition.

But yes, the firing procedure is complicated too, while it still can be handled. However, what would you think if before every swing with your sword you'd have to use an interface to pick up a knife grinder, sharpen your blade, wipe it with oil, then take a swing? Oh, sissies would those be who would complain about this!

 

[Amren]

Hopefully the devs are not going to change anything regarding cannons, mainly because there is no reason to make anything easier. If it takes you more than 20 shots to scuttle another ship then you're doing it wrong. Likewise, if it's hard to collect 1,500 boards and 1,500 cloth for repairs, well, that's pretty sad. 150 swings from an axe is no problem if you use a use last object / last target macro, and you can just buy cloth from an npc. Like I said in your thread, your thread is not based on facts, it's based on your first time experience playing new content. You have some vocal idiots in there like Skrag, who hadn't even played the content, but not enough to go on really. You should have done five or ten pirates then averaged out the costs. That would be worthy of a "FACTS" tag to your thread.

You know, not everyone who plays UO, actually plays 24/7. Some people have real life obligations, or in my case, some people are so bored with UO, that we look for anything that may be remotely fun to justify our monthly cost for this game (even if all I need to do is run around pressing a UOA macro). I personally only play on Tuesdays, which is when WoW is down for the 6 hour maintenance, which gives me more or less , 2-3 hours a week in UO.

I broke down last week and bought the booster. I said I would not for a few months, to let the bugs get fixed. I hate knowingly paying for buggy code, but that's what you get with UO. When I realized what I needed to do to participate (even though I have a crafter), I was a little turned away. BUT I stuck with it, only to find that what would possibly be "fun" (The ship combat) was a long drawn out yawn fest.

I kind of understand where EA was going here. If it was too "easy", people would whine it was too easy and/or not realistic. I do give EA credit for finally adding something that promotes group play. Everything in UO is way to easy and does not require friends.

 

[G.v.P]

You know, not everyone who plays UO, actually plays 24/7. [...] I personally only play on Tuesdays, which is when WoW is down for the 6 hour maintenance, which gives me more or less , 2-3 hours a week in UO.

I started two new crafter chars on Atlantic Saturday night, from scratch, and after 2 hours of game play I got the first one to 40 carp, 55 smith, 50 tailor, 75 mining, 40 mage, 55 tinkering, 75 mining, and the second char has the stock 50 alch, 50 lj, and 50 scribe. I'm sure others could have done better given the same amount of time, but I get things done. The people I addressed in this thread could have gotten things done by practicing, but instead they whined about limitations that are probably best described as player handicaps rather than developer miscues. For example, just one tree on Atlantic gave me over 500 wood, and my LJer was less than 50 LJ at the time. Any established player in this game should be able to achieve 50 LJ, no?

 

[Viquire]

I don't suppose anyone else is noticing new gold hued NPCs?

 

[olduofan]

I don't suppose anyone else is noticing new gold hued NPCs?

none yet where did you see them ?

 

[G.v.P]

No one has complained that they're too difficult

You've spent a lot of time complaining about things being too difficult, even though I assume you haven't actually done the quest yet. Judging from your "bone wall" comment I'll have to assume you're an old dog who is unable to learn new tricks. Did you quit after AOS? Here's a review of some of your complaints:

Firing a cannon should consist of two steps. Loading and firing. Everything else is pointless clicking.

Even a two-macro dexxer should be able to click five times to load and fire a cannon. Hardest part is loading a cannonball, which is the only thing that requires more than a click. How much easier could it be? The options are lined vertically and you can simultaneously load four cannons at one time. I'll ask you again since you never answered me, have you even fought a pirate yet? I'm going to assume you still haven't.

If you're a hardcore crafter and have thousands and thousands of resources just sitting around [...] a few hundred thousand gold worth of resources on every battle [...] my buddy has a crafting mule, but he doesn't have piles of resources just laying around

Once you make your cannons you don't need that many resources. Also, you don't really need more than one cannon to take down a ship, assuming you guys are skilled players in some capacity. You can get cannon deeds from pirate ships and build up that way as you take them down. The hardest part is if you don't have an alchemist, but that's an easy grind if you have an income (will take me awhile from scratch).

You can get 1,000 wood from three trees with less than 50 LJ, you can buy cloth, and most of the miscellaneous things you need take 0-20 skill (human JOAT), which means anyone can make them. Maybe you and your buddy should take the time to figure all that out, and split up the work. I take it you guys don't have soulstones or can't buy soulstone frags either? And that bit you said about no one in chat or game helping you? While I was on Atlantic Saturday night, three people commented back on a guy who needed something like 20 bark fragments. I have a hard time believing your difficulties with the Atlantic community after that. One guy even got random people to do an Arcane Circle.

Did you even read what I wrote? I was mostly criticizing the complicated procedure of crafting ammunition.

What you wrote wasn't hard to digest. You tried once with a crew of four and you didn't do that well. Since it was your first try, you didn't do that well because you didn't know how to do things precisely. As a result, your numbers reflect your first time at trying new content. Instead of trying to learn from your mistakes, you decided to complain about the content being too hard. You posted your thread as "FACTS," as if you really spent a lot of time and effort going over the content, when in fact it was just your first time through. Why wouldn't you try to get better before you complained?

I apologize if I come off as brash. I have multiple fighting chars on Catskills and can lend a hand if you need any help. Feel free to PM me.

 

[G.v.P]

I don't suppose anyone else is noticing new gold hued NPCs?

Graphically, I have noticed that Essences look crappy since High Seas ... haven't noticed new yellow npcs though ... ? As you were asked by olduofan, where?! ;P

 

[hawkeye_pike]

Did you even read what I wrote? I was mostly criticizing the complicated procedure of crafting ammunition.

What you wrote wasn't hard to digest. You tried once with a crew of four and you didn't do that well. Since it was your first try, you didn't do that well because you didn't know how to do things precisely. As a result, your numbers reflect your first time at trying new content. Instead of trying to learn from your mistakes [... bla bla bla...]

Again, you talk about a totally different issue. I think you do this deliberately. Whatever. This is pointless. Bygones.

 

[popps]

?

All fishing will now act like every other resource gathering in the game. If an area is fished out you will get a message stating so.

==> This will kill crab fishing altogether.

I agree 100% this will KILL Crab Fishing which stinks altogether right now because you lose 40% of the time anyway, not to mention 65% of the time you get plain crabs and/or lobsters. So having to pick up and move to a new spot every few uses will make this already overly tedious chore even more distasteful.

Can't they just LEAVE OUT crabs/lobsters fishing out of the changes equation ?

That is, it will only apply to fishes, NOT to crabs/lobsters........

 

[Viquire]

Well. just now I'm going to suppose its just a bit of untidied up something from and EM event on GL. I saw nothing on either test or origin.

Shame that, I was excited to meet Shamino. I wish they'd clean up after themselves. Then again, in order to need to clean up, you have to actually do something that makes things messy eh?

Whatever it was it took people to cool out of the way places and looked like it would have been a lot of fun.

 

[Sevin0oo0]

-->Players now have a 100% chance to get sand when mining for this resource.
Big nurf for glass blowers - empty vendor, throw away tools, maybe sell duped arties instead

@popps - Can't they just LEAVE OUT crabs/lobsters fishing out of the changes equation - NO, they Always have to come back and screw something up about a release

@hawkeye_pike - good catch about Guild fighting in Tram

-->Target Relative in CC - until they fix it, an 'alternative' app may be required, same for the other instances of the hand cramping repeated mouse clicking, such as rat renowns

The rest looks Great! And the most positive posts in one spot I've seen in a Week

 

[Kas Althume]

-->Players now have a 100% chance to get sand when mining for this resource.
Big nurf for glass blowers - empty vendor, throw away tools, maybe sell duped arties instead

Why is that a nerf? Is there actually any glassblower out there running a vendor that pays fot itself? I havn't bought a single item concerning glassblowing from another player ever. I doubt iam alone with that.

What has bothered me was the fail rate. I would have loved to craft my own bottles when i had my pvp vendors running (alchy), but then again .. that was when they introduced glassblowing ...

It's good to have that feature, but its coming like 7 years too late (what did they release ilshenar?)

-->Target Relative in CC - until they fix it, an 'alternative' app may be required, same for the other instances of the hand cramping repeated mouse clicking, such as rat renowns

it has been fixed. There was an update for UOA this weekend.

 

[G.v.P]

Again, you talk about a totally different issue. I think you do this deliberately. Whatever. This is pointless. Bygones.

A totally different issue? You and your crew took 50 shots to take down one pirate and then you complained about it here on Stratics when you could have used that time to get better at the game. You guys used nearly five times the supplies to get the job done then presented that as "fact." You can continue to be ignorant and champion your lack of in-game skill all you want if it makes you feel better, but crying to the devs for a crutch is the issue, no matter how much you try to avoid it. Like I said, if you want help or need to see how to do it easier I have a few chars on Catskills. Or you can remain obstinate, I really don't care.

 

[toast_particle]

If there is no use at all for plain lobsters/crabs then why don't they take them out of the game for god's sakes? That would clear up a heck of a lot of aggravation/frustration involved in this snoozefest "mini-game". And while they're at it, add an extra second or so before the traps get yanked under? When I lose mine, they bob briefly long enough for *bob* to appear on the screen, then it's gone! That isn't even long enough for me to turn to move. Or maybe I just have the worst luck of anyone when it comes to trapping...I put out 12 traps, they all started bobbing pretty much at once, next thing I know, 10 of them were already gone.

 

[Gowron]

I'm forever puzzled by anyone who has difficulty with these quests.

No one has complained that they're too difficult, you ever so brilliant little scamp. How do you type this stuff with a straight face?

I'm really, really, really tired of rocket scientists who can't tell the difference between "This is hard!" and "You made a ******** interface that takes eight clicks to do one thing!"

I'm just glad it only takes one input to cast a spell. If it took 50 you'd probably be sticking up for that too.

Skrag, if you had actually fired a cannon or at least had seen one fired, or if you had any inkling what it takes to make a ship function, you would think the "******** interface that takes 8 clicks to do one thing" wasn't all that bad.

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

Well. just now I'm going to suppose its just a bit of untidied up something from and EM event on GL. I saw nothing on either test or origin.

Shame that, I was excited to meet Shamino. I wish they'd clean up after themselves. Then again, in order to need to clean up, you have to actually do something that makes things messy eh?

Whatever it was it took people to cool out of the way places and looked like it would have been a lot of fun.

This was an event for the 30th Anniversary of Ultima I. You start the quest in Castle Britannia, find Sherry in the throne room and say "story."

As for 'gold hued,' their names are yellow...thats it.

 

[legendsguy]

Live Event

There is a new quest giver in Trammel Britain by the moongate. Visit him to find out how you can get a replica of the Book of Truth.

Those who are loyal to the Bane Chosen can visit Trammel Magincia and seek out Miegen for a quest. You will need 7500 loyalty with the Bane Chosen to get his quest.Loyalty cap for the Bane Chosen, the Meer, and the Ophidians has been raised to 10,000.

So let me get this straight. If you chose to be loyal to the Ophidians you are out of luck? I know everyone here will just tell me to choose a different character and kill Ophidians. But it is incredibly tedious to kill them and 7,500 loyalty is so very much.

I really hope there is an Ophidian version of this quest; otherwise, this is just a slap in the face and another reason why I barely play anymore.

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

7,500 loyalty is so very much.

Agreed... I'd be surprised if many people have over 2,500 loyalty...enough to get the rewards at the time with a small buffer.

Since the Meer are the only way to gain loyalty ATM and people will be desperate to get points, I think I'll avoid Ilshenar...

Also, how exactly does this advance the plotline? This story has more holes than a sieve.

 

[Aurelius]

Those who are loyal to the Bane Chosen can visit Trammel Magincia and seek out Miegen for a quest. You will need 7500 loyalty with the Bane Chosen to get his quest.Loyalty cap for the Bane Chosen, the Meer, and the Ophidians has been raised to 10,000.[/I]

So let me get this straight. If you chose to be loyal to the Ophidians you are out of luck? I know everyone here will just tell me to choose a different character and kill Ophidians. But it is incredibly tedious to kill them and 7,500 loyalty is so very much.

I really hope there is an Ophidian version of this quest; otherwise, this is just a slap in the face and another reason why I barely play anymore.

I'd read it as being evil and siding with the Bane is getting you the quick payback, as long as you ignore the consequences of your actions, but working for the good side means you may have to wait a bit...

 

[Adol]

I'd read it as being evil and siding with the Bane is getting you the quick payback, as long as you ignore the consequences of your actions, but working for the good side means you may have to wait a bit...

THIS.

Notice Meer and Ophidian rep has been raised as well, which indicates it's being watched for something... my guess (and I've said all along I thought this was the intention, even if you check my previous posts, I thought the implementation and fiction has been a bit sloppy previously) is that those of us who fight without reward, in a humble sort of way, are going to be the ones to save Magincia, by slapping about the Bane. The Bane already hate my main character (-15000 rep) but I am watching carefully to see what the quest for the Bane entails, as I may do it once if there's a unique item, as a keepsake; otherwise the path of virtue seems to be getting the Ophidians and Meer to love you. Whether it'll balance out all the people siding with the Bane remains to be seen, but it's been indicated that this grindy, unrewarding way is the path forward ever since Cal hinted in no uncertain terms we needed to be more humble...

 

[Viquire]

I'd read it as being evil and siding with the Bane is getting you the quick payback, as long as you ignore the consequences of your actions, but working for the good side means you may have to wait a bit...

That's what I thought, and that's what I'm hoping. Long ago they said the theme of the event was "how good are you when no one else is looking."

It is a good thought, good idea. How well it will work? Assuming that we're right, and this is really the thought process?

*crosses fingers*

-Galen's player

Yeah well I'm still waiting for the good guy use for blackrock. Just sayin. Being protected from evil wisps does not seem to be quite the same as getting a verite hammer.

 

[Ls Jax Ls]

These are just the few notes for Test Center, next week with the Origin notes we will be adding Anniversary Items, Halloween Quest, Next step in the live Arc, and MIB’s.

Thank god they're going to fix mysticism! Oh wait...they only develop trammel, my bad.