[UO Herald] Producer's Update

[UO News]

It’s a beautiful Spring Day in Fairfax before a long weekend … Memorial Day weekend.
We have prepared a video to answer some questions about what’s in the pipe for this summer and the rest of the year, so I will not spoil that much here.

Nevertheless, I will give you a bit more detail on what to expect …

The Ter Mur Story:
We’ve been hinting for some time about filling out the Ter Mur areas, and this will be done not in epic style, but on a small scale with lots of detail. The story in itself could be released on its own merit, but it will be distributed in game. This is not about invasion or carnage … it is about sharing a story. Zhah is the focus. She will be going through many challenges, and you will be part of her struggle.

Enhanced Client Crashing and commitment to the EC:
We have multiple reports of EC crashes. While it’s important that we improve stability, and we are getting some information about steps to reproduce from players, not all are consistent or truly reproducible from our end. So at present we are enhancing our crash logging information, so we can gather more information and take appropriate actions to address the issues.

Player Abuse:
We are very aware of the escalating cases of abuse in the game over the last few months. We have had problems with our petitioning systems, and have been unable to receive or action some cases as quickly as we’d like to. As an answer our operations team working with CS has developed a new tool to allow our GMs and customer support reps not only to action faster, but to record activity better as well as a functionality to replace lost items. Expect to see the results of this new tool in the near future.

Additional High Seas content:
In the development of High Seas, we had to remove a sea encounter due to schedule. We have taken the time to add it back, as well as revamping some of the fishing quests and reward items. These changes have been submitted for QA, and we will grind on getting them tested and ready for production after the break.

I wanted to keep this brief because there is a beautiful sky outside ... but I have to go check out the worldbuilding for the new zones in Ter Mur.

Please, for all of you in the U.S. it is Memorial Day weekend. A time to remember those who gave their lives in service to protect and create the freedoms we often take for granted. So in the traffic, parades, and revelry please be safe.

- Calvin



More...

 

[Gunga_Din]

Spring Cleaning ETA?

 

[Viquire]

It’s a beautiful Spring Day in Fairfax before a long weekend … Memorial Day weekend.
We have prepared a video to answer some questions about what’s in the pipe for this summer and the rest of the year, so I will not spoil that much here.

Nevertheless, I will give you a bit more detail on what to expect …

The Ter Mur Story:
We’ve been hinting for some time about filling out the Ter Mur areas, and this will be done not in epic style, but on a small scale with lots of detail. The story in itself could be released on its own merit, but it will be distributed in game. This is not about invasion or carnage … it is about sharing a story. Zhah is the focus. She will be going through many challenges, and you will be part of her struggle.

Enhanced Client Crashing and commitment to the EC:
We have multiple reports of EC crashes. While it’s important that we improve stability, and we are getting some information about steps to reproduce from players, not all are consistent or truly reproducible from our end. So at present we are enhancing our crash logging information, so we can gather more information and take appropriate actions to address the issues.

Player Abuse:
We are very aware of the escalating cases of abuse in the game over the last few months. We have had problems with our petitioning systems, and have been unable to receive or action some cases as quickly as we’d like to. As an answer our operations team working with CS has developed a new tool to allow our GMs and customer support reps not only to action faster, but to record activity better as well as a functionality to replace lost items. Expect to see the results of this new tool in the near future.

Additional High Seas content:
In the development of High Seas, we had to remove a sea encounter due to schedule. We have taken the time to add it back, as well as revamping some of the fishing quests and reward items. These changes have been submitted for QA, and we will grind on getting them tested and ready for production after the break.

I wanted to keep this brief because there is a beautiful sky outside ... but I have to go check out the worldbuilding for the new zones in Ter Mur.

Please, for all of you in the U.S. it is Memorial Day weekend. A time to remember those who gave their lives in service to protect and create the freedoms we often take for granted. So in the traffic, parades, and revelry please be safe.

- Calvin



More...

I do not see anything problematic here. Some of the things mentioned I can look eagerly forward too. And some I think I will see if I can find over the weekend.

Nicely done Cal.

 

[Lorddog]

really must you quote that long post and not quote for the purpose of saying something about what your repeating?

 

[Roland']

Im glad to see them finaly look at the crash issue after months and months, i hope it doesnt take as long to fix as it did to work at finding a fix but up untill cals post i was ready to drop sub.

Thanks for your staffs time Cal.

 

[olduofan]

We have prepared a video to answer some questions about what’s in the pipe for this summer and the rest of the year, so I will not spoil that much here.

So when is this going to be released ?

 

[Viquire]

We have prepared a video to answer some questions about what’s in the pipe for this summer and the rest of the year, so I will not spoil that much here.

So when is this going to be released ?

Well, I was wondering how long it would take. Actually we did better than my prediction by 2.

 

[Madrid]

Turn on the Spring/Summer Clean up already!
Turn on UOKR or the high resolution graphics!

Unfortunately for me I could care less about New Maginicia and filling out Ter Mur. I also don't care about the story arc of Zhah.

Every since the original cast of characters (Lord British, Iolo, Shamina, Jaana, Geoffrey, Katrina, Spark, Dupre, Julia, Mariah, Avatar) have been removed from the game the UO's story Arcs haven't been the same. If the original cast of characters were actually involved in Britannian Events & Politics I think I'd actually get into some of the story.

Seems many players want different things and the things I care about or have interest in don't appear to be happening anytime soon.

 

[phantus]

We have prepared a video to answer some questions about what's in the pipe for this summer and the rest of the year, so I will not spoil that much here.

Please stop making videos or stop telling us you are making videos and just post them for us to see. Better yet just outline the damn ideas in text and post them somewhere. You are just giving us another reason to be irritated. We(ok I) honestly don't need more reasons. ***Edit: Good job posting the video. I take back all the damning**

It's May and you are ready to tell us the plans for the rest of the year? Do you realize how asinine that sounds? All the ideas and plans for the next 7 months have been decided and shall be set yet here we are still waiting to hear about the spring cleaning that is happening in the summer.

I'm gonna stop here before the anti negative police start getting involved but I'd very much like to see some real content being added to the game that isn't bug ridden and half-assed.

 

[Hildebrand]

A video is prepared but not posted yet or did I miss something?

A story for Ter Mur is long overdue, so it's good to finally get something out of game, and in-game especially.

It's nice to see something for the HS booster that we paid for. I hope it helps.

 

[Adol]

A general thumbs up from me for this announcement, in particular the wisdom in putting into place the mechanisms for bug tracing with the EC; not only will it help with the crashes to desktop but it will provide the infrastructure for future bug reporting, which is a positive sign of commitment to our client!

Also adding more High Seas content is a good thing; the seas are largely abandoned now, except for perhaps the same 3-4 dedicated fishers I occasionally bump into at the ports. A new encounter will hopefully lure people back, as well as make the last genuine expansion to the game more appealing for those who have yet to make the leap.

Ter Mur I'll hold back judgement on until I see the quests; but I have to admit it's good to see an honest reporting of what it's likely to be... the false hopes were in part why people were so soured on events in Magincia.

Regarding Harassment, I've no experience of it myself... either committing or receiving in a way I felt the need to escalate to a GM upon. But one thought that does occur is whether it would be possible to apply channel specific Ignore functions? Most of the questionable language comes from a small number of PvP players in General. But those who play in Fel without thinking it requires a potty mouth can't ignore them because it blocks them everywhere, which gives them license to treat General as their own potty-playground and fling their poop about. Being able to mute them in General, Local but not say their Spell Casting and their presence in the PvP channel may be a useful solution to reducing the decaying atmosphere.

 

[Viper09]

For those who haven't looked yet and got themselves riled up over the mention of a video already, lol:

http://vboards.stratics.com/uhall/243202-[uo-herald]-developer-q-may-2011-a.html

 

[Hell's Ironworks]

In the development of High Seas, we had to remove a sea encounter due to schedule. We have taken the time to add it back, as well as revamping some of the fishing quests and reward items.

What about the Pirate quests/rewards?

And im also of those who thinks a video is a waist of time...I would much rather have FoF back.

 

[LiquidSolidity]

While it is great to get some news and updates on what you are fixing, this announcement seems a litttle rushed and not genuine. But I guess it is great that you guys are at least trying to keep the players in the loop.

 

[ChReuter]

Player Abuse:
We are very aware of the escalating cases of abuse in the game over the last few months. We have had problems with our petitioning systems, and have been unable to receive or action some cases as quickly as we’d like to. As an answer our operations team working with CS has developed a new tool to allow our GMs and customer support reps not only to action faster, but to record activity better as well as a functionality to replace lost items. Expect to see the results of this new tool in the near future.

I just hope this is as successful as the project to end third party programs and that we see a spreadsheet on it. Honestly I'll just have no faith in it until I see the spreadsheet!

 

[ChReuter]

http://vboards.stratics.com/uhall/243202-[uo-herald]-developer-q-may-2011-a.html

This is really a terrible title for their little update. They really should not title it by using the month, it'll just create an expectation that they will become a regular event for players to look forward too. I'm sure some others here are with me in being pretty certain what the end result of this will be.

Edit: So I just watched the first few seconds of the video and noticed that the one fellow on there as part of his job is directing the dev teams attention towards threads and questions on these boards. He obviously is really good at this aspect of his job! Really though, I think it shows just what the teams commitment towards the community here is. I'll visit the boards and it'll take me just a few minutes to browse around and see if there's anything of interest, would individual team members taking a look for themselves really take just much time out of their day?

 

[Viper09]

http://vboards.stratics.com/uhall/243202-[uo-herald]-developer-q-may-2011-a.html

This is really a terrible title for their little update. They really should not title it by using the month, it'll just create an expectation that they will become a regular event for players to look forward too. I'm sure some others here are with me in being pretty certain what the end result of this will be.

Really? I like it, and think they title it that most likely for archiving purposes. I know if I look back at previous updates I'd prefer they have the month/year in the title. Makes searching for a specific update given on a specific date much easier.

 

[Zoeydamnies]

Well, it's good to see that, after 14 years, UO is finally getting a way to track abusive players. *rolls eyes*

And yet, we still play and pay.

I would vote that, if UO were to increase revenue somehow, new hiring be directed towards customer service, rather than development.

ZO