Char Copy for Test

[Naxatilor Feluka]

Has anyone given serious thought to what impact this addition will have on pvp? Let me elaborate.

Why would anyone EVER fight on a regular shard when they can go to test center with a perfect duplicate of their suits, adjust their skills at will in combat, and never have ANY consequences for dying?

Obviously there will still be those of us that enjoy our regular shards, and enjoy not having people turn their necro mages into parry ninjas when they are redlined. I guess my biggest fear is seeing test center become a temporary "shard merger," people begin banksitting on test, a rising test center population dwindles reguar already dying shards, and soon enough this game is nothing but a test center. Even the role players and pvmers will begin playing test center just because there is a community.

Please read, argue, ideas, comments.

 

[Petra Fyde]

The facility is being put in to allow people to more thoroughly test game additions. That's what test center is for after all.
We should forgo better testing facilities because some pvpers would abuse it?

Players will be able to duplicate their character and the items it is weariing - not the whole content of their bank box and house.

 

[Viper09]

I sincerely doubt this will have any impact at all other than allowing for better testing. This is, after all, test center; a shard that on occasion will restart, wiping existing characters and belongings. This will only remove the painstaking journey of trying to replicate our characters' suit on the normal shards. Any negative impacts on production shards in terms of PvP would have been noticeable a long time ago since this really isn't changing that much.

 

[DVDA]

On that note Viper, when was the last time TC was wiped? My characters have been there forever, I keep expecting a delete

 

[Viper09]

On that note Viper, when was the last time TC was wiped? My characters have been there forever, I keep expecting a delete

I don't really know. Last time I played test was a long time ago, back when they wiped it every now and then. Just naturally assumed they were wiping it just as often now days.

 

[Aran]

I will not miss them. Goodbye!

 

[JC the Builder]

I don't understand how this is going to make testing better. You already get every single artifact, unlimited charge runics and every imbuing ingredient on test center. This seems like a lot of wasted effort for next to no gain. Other games have character copy because they don't give you everything on the Test Center.

 

[AtlanticVlad]

Unless You can take stuff in a bank box or packy I don't see housing testing getting any better... Id love to be able to copy my moving crate or god forbid all the stuff in my houses in a moving crate... Oh the amazing things I could create before deciding if they actually needed built for real.... I'm still gonna hope they let us copy more then just the chars and equipment... seems t me if they want testing they need more then that.. many of the problems that arise bug wise stem from the dev team not remembering old items and considering their implementations... if we cant copy out house contense there's really not gonna be any more testing then before.... Personally I think if there gonna do it give us an option to copy our contense of our houses by putting it all in the moving crate on TC and not letting us claim it until we place a house big enough for it item count wise...

I don't really think it will hurt anything so what if you pvpers all go to TC maybe the general chat on some of the heavily populated servers will become more civil...

 

[Viper09]

I don't understand how this is going to make testing better. You already get every single artifact, unlimited charge runics and every imbuing ingredient on test center. This seems like a lot of wasted effort for next to no gain. Other games have character copy because they don't give you everything on the Test Center.

Test center only gives you artifacts, gold, crafting resources and other junk. Players wanting to test templates usually rely on maybe very few of those items for their suits. I was thinking more for players wanting to test their templates with their own armor. On test you don't exactly have the armor you have and suiting up with nothing but arties is nowhere close to the suits most players use. In fact most players find the best suits are those custom made ones by players from runic kits, which if you try to re-craft on test could quite possibly take a long time.

 

[Cetric]

Has anyone given serious thought to what impact this addition will have on pvp? Let me elaborate.

Why would anyone EVER fight on a regular shard when they can go to test center with a perfect duplicate of their suits, adjust their skills at will in combat, and never have ANY consequences for dying?

Obviously there will still be those of us that enjoy our regular shards, and enjoy not having people turn their necro mages into parry ninjas when they are redlined. I guess my biggest fear is seeing test center become a temporary "shard merger," people begin banksitting on test, a rising test center population dwindles reguar already dying shards, and soon enough this game is nothing but a test center. Even the role players and pvmers will begin playing test center just because there is a community.

Please read, argue, ideas, comments.

Completely agree and have been saying this since the idea of char copy was even mentioned. No one listens, everybody doubts, and as soon as it turns on me and you can leave and say i told you so. #missing real pvp

 

[Cetric]

Any negative impacts on production shards in terms of PvP would have been noticeable a long time ago since this really isn't changing that much.

It is noticable. When you get on test center and see that there is about as much pvp as some of the more notable pvp shards, you know its there. the numbers on prodo shards of pvpers has dwindled alot. Sure it has a few problems, but take all those pvpers and put them on prodo shards, and it helps the underpopulation problem.

I think they should just wipe test center daily, that may help some... but isn't the overall solution

 

[JC the Builder]

Test center only gives you artifacts, gold, crafting resources and other junk. Players wanting to test templates usually rely on maybe very few of those items for their suits. I was thinking more for players wanting to test their templates with their own armor. On test you don't exactly have the armor you have and suiting up with nothing but arties is nowhere close to the suits most players use. In fact most players find the best suits are those custom made ones by players from runic kits, which if you try to re-craft on test could quite possibly take a long time.

You don't need the perfect suit to test the Magincia Lottery or gardening changes. If you spend 10 minutes you can make any suit you want. The Test Center is no meant to be a replacement for production shards, which is basically what you are saying. If you have a template idea it should be tested on production shards.

 

[Vlaude]

I think this will actually be beneficial for PvP. I can understand the concern for PvP on the production shards but if this will work like I'm understanding it you won't have to travel around shard to shard to find a good fight you can just tell someone from another shard to meet you on test for a duel. You can agree beforehand whether you will do any suit changes before battle and even if everyone has the same perfect suits is that really a bad thing? That makes it more about skill level than what suit you're wearing.

 

[Cetric]

I think this will actually be beneficial for PvP. I can understand the concern for PvP on the production shards but if this will work like I'm understanding it you won't have to travel around shard to shard to find a good fight you can just tell someone from another shard to meet you on test for a duel. You can agree beforehand whether you will do any suit changes before battle and even if everyone has the same perfect suits is that really a bad thing? That makes it more about skill level than what suit you're wearing.

I guess all the pvpers should just copy all their chars with all their gear to test and pvp there from now on huh? might as well just delete fel on prod shards..... i know that sounds like a sky is falling comment, but to an extent its true.

Right now test is a copy of gl, you wouldn't believe the number of ppl who login to GL and spam in chat for people to login to test and give them their tangles, slithers, etc etc etc.

I'm sure EA don't care though, these people pay for a subscription either way.

*set evalint 0*
*set meditation 0*
*set mysticism 0*
*set focus 0*
*set alchemy 1000*
*set parrying 1200*
*set Bushido 1200*
*set ninjitsu 800*
*set int 50*
*set dex 85*


*Evades*
*confidence - Heal pot macro*
*animal forms and runs away*

 

[Vlaude]

I guess all the pvpers should just copy all their chars with all their gear to test and pvp there from now on huh? might as well just delete fel on prod shards..... i know that sounds like a sky is falling comment, but to an extent its true.

Right now test is a copy of gl, you wouldn't believe the number of ppl who login to GL and spam in chat for people to login to test and give them their tangles, slithers, etc etc etc.

I'm sure EA don't care though, these people pay for a subscription either way.

If you really want my opinion, they should have created a classic shard. But to me, this is a good thing because of the balancing from one character to another (item-wise). I wasn't a fan of the AoS-generated item hunting that involves sitting and killing Navrey for 10 hours to get nothing. I understand your concern, but as of now I don't share it (yet). That may change. I have friends that are contemplating returning to UO who left because of the AoS changes and something like this might encourage them to come back for the PvP. Probably not though.

Maybe they can just add a timer delay to skill changes?

 

[Viper09]

You don't need the perfect suit to test the Magincia Lottery or gardening changes. If you spend 10 minutes you can make any suit you want. The Test Center is no meant to be a replacement for production shards, which is basically what you are saying. If you have a template idea it should be tested on production shards.

What are you talking about? I never suggested it to be a replacement for your home shard. All I suggested it to be was a testing ground. Did you even read my post through? My only point was about being able to test templates which obviously has nothing to do with testing gardening and lottery. And why would I want to test a template idea on production shard when it would take a fair amount of time to arrange my stats and skills to my exact specification when on test it would only take a matter of seconds? If it doesn't work out and needs tinkering it would take even more time to try and find the right set-up as opposed to being on test where it's a simple matter or setting the skills/stats with commands. That way you find the right template on test then go back over to your production shard and only have to change your build once.

 

[Barok]

You already get every single artifact, unlimited charge runics and every imbuing ingredient on test center.

What is the command to get the essences on TC? They aren't in the standard resources box.

 

[JC the Builder]

What are you talking about? I never suggested it to be a replacement for your home shard. All I suggested it to be was a testing ground.

Yeah, a testing ground for game changes. It should not be a bypass for the effort put in on production shards. Test Center is already one of the most populated shards, why do the developers feel the need to drive more players on there?

 

[Pinco]

there is nothing bad about that... if you have fun to pvp and the pvp is moved to tc, then have fun on tc!
I mean, pvp give no real rewards so you can do it where you want, and if this is your favourite playstyle you can play it on tc like on a prod shard like on siege...

If you like more pvm, you will be able to enjoy more the other shards without frenzy pvp cheaters running around at 100mph with auto-heal/cure/godmode, and less baby cries on general chat like: "you are a cheater!" "no I'm not, you are!" etc...

 

[Viper09]

Yeah, a testing ground for game changes. It should not be a bypass for the effort put in on production shards. Test Center is already one of the most populated shards, why do the developers feel the need to drive more players on there?

Again you seem a bit confused. I don't know where is says that TC is only meant for testing game changes. A lot of players have always used Test Center to test different templates. If you're against using test center for testing something other than game changes then obviously we're both wasting time discussing this with each other. However, game changes also include changes to skills which would also warrant testing of templates. Regardless, this character copy will only make it easier for them if they want to use their equipment with an experimental template. The devs are not trying to drive players to test center with this, only helping people who want to test with their own character. Are you somehow imaging that players who worked hard to on their home shard to get set up and put together great suits for their characters will suddenly stop playing their home shards?

Personally I really don't know who would want to abandon the real shards for test. TC is a shard that the devs can wipe whenever they want, a place where cheating is so obvious, where there is no GM support at all. You could built an extravagant empire on test and maybe the next day the devs decide to wipe it for once in a long while and you're suddenly back to square one.

 

[JC the Builder]

Again you seem a bit confused. I don't know where is says that TC is only meant for testing game changes. A lot of players have always used Test Center to test different templates.

The only purpose of Test Center is to test upcoming game changes. Players have the option of taking advantage of Test Center to do other testing for their own interests (house placement, new template ideas, etc). I don't see anything wrong with that.

But for the past many years Test Center has been online 24/7/365. You can basically live there. It is rarely reformatted or used for meaningful testing.

I think player testing would be more meaningful if Test Center was only available for short periods when something really needs testing. Character copy isn't going to help focus player testing.

 

[Aran]

If you have a template idea it should be tested on production shards.

Cool so if I want to test out changing a few skills I should have to spend hours upon hours to work the skill up to the requisite level and then dump it if I decide I don't like it, having wasted that much of my time, when there's already a test center?

That sure sounds like lots of fun and not miserable in the least!

 

[Vlaude]

Character copy isn't going to help focus player testing.

I think the purpose is to encourage testing of arenas, which originally were to go live on test center at the same time as character copy.

 

[Viper09]

Players have the option of taking advantage of Test Center to do other testing for their own interests (house placement, new template ideas, etc). I don't see anything wrong with that.

Really? Well you certainly fooled me with you arguing that TC should only be for testing game changes and saying that if people want to test new templates they should do so on production shards....

On a side note I do agree they should be wiping that shard more often. It shouldn't be a permanent shard.

 

[Viquire]

The only purpose of Test Center is to test upcoming game changes. Players have the option of taking advantage of Test Center to do other testing for their own interests (house placement, new template ideas, etc). I don't see anything wrong with that.

But for the past many years Test Center has been online 24/7/365. You can basically live there. It is rarely reformatted or used for meaningful testing.

I think player testing would be more meaningful if Test Center was only available for short periods when something really needs testing. Character copy isn't going to help focus player testing.

This would make more sense if skills that require quests were readily adaptable for the character, and training and bonding of pets can be easily accomplished.

Also could not help but note someone stating that pretty much all items are available on test which is just not true. Certainly there is enough available to test better than 90 percent of game systems., but to say you can completely match capacities on prodo shards without a large investment of time is not true.

I am no longer prepared to make this kind of investment for a poor showing of results and certainly not if I will have to do it all over again for multiple fixes before a system is released.

 

[JC the Builder]

Cool so if I want to test out changing a few skills I should have to spend hours upon hours to work the skill up to the requisite level and then dump it if I decide I don't like it, having wasted that much of my time, when there's already a test center?

That sure sounds like lots of fun and not miserable in the least!

Or spend 5 minutes moving skills around with soulstones.

 

[Viper09]

Cool so if I want to test out changing a few skills I should have to spend hours upon hours to work the skill up to the requisite level and then dump it if I decide I don't like it, having wasted that much of my time, when there's already a test center?

That sure sounds like lots of fun and not miserable in the least!

Or spend 5 minutes moving skills around with soulstones.

Hate to break it to you JC, but not everyone in this game has a bunch of spare soulstones with backups of every necessary skill they will need. In fact, I'd say the vast majority of players don't even have anything close to this. Me for example, I think I have maybe one soulstone and a couple fragments at best.

 

[Aran]

Or spend 5 minutes moving skills around with soulstones.

Tell me more about these preloaded Soulstones we all magically got at some point?

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

I don't understand how this is going to make testing better. You already get every single artifact, unlimited charge runics and every imbuing ingredient on test center. This seems like a lot of wasted effort for next to no gain. Other games have character copy because they don't give you everything on the Test Center.

Test center only gives you artifacts, gold, crafting resources and other junk. Players wanting to test templates usually rely on maybe very few of those items for their suits. I was thinking more for players wanting to test their templates with their own armor. On test you don't exactly have the armor you have and suiting up with nothing but arties is nowhere close to the suits most players use. In fact most players find the best suits are those custom made ones by players from runic kits, which if you try to re-craft on test could quite possibly take a long time.

Huh? You don't create a suit of armor & then say okay I have to go find a template that fits this suit. You create a template & then you put together the suit. This can & should be done on a regular shard, not test IMO. I personally do not see any need for copy in this respect.

So what good is having your old templates suit with you on TC?

It just makes no sense either way you slice it IMO.

 

[FishinFool]

Test was destroyed when they put in advancement gates. Be that as it may, what you are complaining about has been going on for years.

People are inherently lazy. If they realize the can be what they want to be - right now - with no work, they'll do it.

Ultimately, they always end up coming home.. it's kind of like playing diablo offline, you can manage to get every unique item in the game and kill the bossman on hell hardcore with only a bunch of throwing daggers in a loin cloth - it doesn't mean jack spit to anyone unless its on battlenet.

 

[Aran]

Test was destroyed when they put in advancement gates. Be that as it may, what you are complaining about has been going on for years.

People are inherently lazy. If they realize the can be what they want to be - right now - with no work, they'll do it.

Ultimately, they always end up coming home.. it's kind of like playing diablo offline, you can manage to get every unique item in the game and kill the bossman on hell hardcore with only a bunch of throwing daggers in a loin cloth - it doesn't mean jack spit to anyone unless its on battlenet.

Uh... things aren't supposed to be hard to do on Test Center. That's the whole point of TEST Center.

 

[Cetric]

i wish the dev team would take a nice hard look at test center - there is a population problem that is undeniable when you have such a high number of players playing your testing shard.

char copy just makes it worse

end of story.

 

[Viper09]

Wipe the shard once a week. Will solve most of that.

 

[Aran]

i wish the dev team would take a nice hard look at test center - there is a population problem that is undeniable when you have such a high number of players playing your testing shard.

char copy just makes it worse

end of story.

Give the players what they want. At least they're paying customers.

 

[Vlaude]

Honestly I'm down to like 2 hours a week of UO these days (if that). I spend more time on the forums than playing the game. The only thing left I like doing is finding a few PvP matches and an occasional champ spawn. I think with character copy on test and the arena system that was supposedly going to be tested along with this will give casual players like me an easier time finding a good fight. I like it

 

[Aran]

I hardly touch UO, but my accounts will be open so long as I retain even the ghost of interest.