• Hail Guest!
    We're looking for Community Content Contribuitors to Stratics. If you would like to write articles, fan fiction, do guild or shard event recaps, it's simple. Find out how in this thread: Community Contributions
  • Greetings Guest, Having Login Issues? Check this thread!
  • Hail Guest!,
    Please take a moment to read this post reminding you all of the importance of Account Security.
  • Hail Guest!
    Please read the new announcement concerning the upcoming addition to Stratics. You can find the announcement Here!

[UO Herald] NewTest Center - Arena Test

UO News

RSS Feed
RSS Feed
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
There’s a new Test Center in town: TC Arena Test. This is a special rule set shard for testing a new Arena Combat system. Here are the basics:

  1. This is a temporary test shard, but it does not have the usual Test Center features. You receive no extra equipment and cannot set your skills and attributes.
  2. If you wish to participate in the arena fights, we recommend you copy a character from a live shard to TC Arena Test. Make sure to bring some extra gold and supplies. Instructions for how to copy a character can be found here.
  3. The map is limited to a block of four arenas surrounded by the void. No other part of the game map even exists on this shard. So, make sure to load your character up with all unusual supplies you will need before copying that character to TC Arena Test.
  4. We provide a basic set of merchants, including a banker and stablemaster. All amenities are found at the north edge of the map.
  5. That area also contains a set of crafting add-ons and an Arcane Circle.
  6. Also, the northern section of the map is an insta-log region – listen for the background music changes.
  7. Faction artifacts may be brought along and used. The Factions system is disabled here, but Faction items can be used without restriction or limit.
  8. The map is Trammel ruleset. Fighting is allowed through the Arena Matches.
  9. You may create guilds for sparring, but we request that you keep guild fighting away from the arenas and the northern section of the map.
  10. If you copy a murderer to TC Arena Test, all murder counts will be wiped from the copied character.
  11. In front of each Arena is a bright red Arena Stone. Double-click this stone to access the Arena Matches and Leaderboards.

To start a match, click the button labeled “Host a duel”. On the next screen, set the rules:

  1. You may choose to restrict mounts, pets, summons, and/or ranged weapons.
  2. If the match is Ranked, then the outcome will change stats and leaderboard standings for all participants.
  3. If you set the room to Public, then others may join your match by clicking “Join a duel” from the main menu. Otherwise, you must use “Invite a duelist” to add more players until your match is full.
  4. “Survival” matches are free-for-all. When you set up a “Team” match then the match owner may assign players to either team.
  5. When ready, click “Start the duel”. If the arena is empty, your match will start within a few seconds. Otherwise, your group will be placed in a queue to be run later.
  6. If you are unable to complete the setup of your match, use “Cancel the duel” to clear the match and return to the main menu.

When an arena match starts, the participants have a short time to enter the red moongate that takes you into the arena. Players will have their movement restricted within the area until the match starts. Gladiators who die in an arena match will be transported outside of the arena and resurrected immediately. Once you die in a match, you cannot re-enter that match!



More...
 
R

RavenWinterHawk

Guest
More hard work for little gain.

When will people realize the reason Player Fighting and PvP and Murdering and Defending was once popular was because you could get loot?


Im sure it will be a great system that gets little fan fare.
 

Symma

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
It'd be interesting to see the scope of this for EM events.
 

Ludes

Babbling Loonie
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
More hard work for little gain.

When will people realize the reason Player Fighting and PvP and Murdering and Defending was once popular was because you could get loot?


Im sure it will be a great system that gets little fan fare.
I don't know anyone that takes a bunch of loot with them when they go PvP'ing.


P.S. Wonder how many people get banned trying to use their speeder in the arena..
 

Lynk

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
More hard work for little gain.

When will people realize the reason Player Fighting and PvP and Murdering and Defending was once popular was because you could get loot?


Im sure it will be a great system that gets little fan fare.
I'm sure you have no idea what you're talking about.

Good effort though.
 

lucitus

UOEC Modder
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I can copy character to this shard but i cant login with the Enhanced Client?

I don't see TC Arena Test in the shardlist.
 

Theo_GL

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Sounds cool.

After the fight - the winner should get a deed with the date, the rules and the person they killed as a token of remembrance.

I could see people locking these down in their houses etc.

OR you could capture it on their profile - their count and list of people they defeated

4-1
Defeated : Rolo (2), Lynk, Petra, Detroit
 
G

Gunga_Din

Guest
I'm sure you have no idea what you're talking about.

Good effort though.
Its basically setup and controlled PVP. Its something to do but its not gonna give you the same rush as it did before trammel.

Even when my miner was killed and he lost his ore, it was still more fun. Sometimes you might surprise a PVPer with some explosion pots or the GM Swords/Parry he had.

Having an arena just doesn't seem natural enough to me.

Sure nobody caries loot on them , but back in the day if you looted GM armor / Weapons or maybe a Vanq Sword, that was a big deal. Wouldn't u like to loot a crimson or tangle? That would make it interesting :). No loss, no big deal.
 

AirmidCecht

Babbling Loonie
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Sounds cool.

After the fight - the winner should get a deed with the date, the rules and the person they killed as a token of remembrance.

I could see people locking these down in their houses etc.

OR you could capture it on their profile - their count and list of people they defeated

4-1
Defeated : Rolo (2), Lynk, Petra, Detroit

SO love this idea!!!
 

Ludes

Babbling Loonie
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Its basically setup and controlled PVP. Its something to do but its not gonna give you the same rush as it did before trammel.

Even when my miner was killed and he lost his ore, it was still more fun. Sometimes you might surprise a PVPer with some explosion pots or the GM Swords/Parry he had.

Having an arena just doesn't seem natural enough to me.

Sure nobody caries loot on them , but back in the day if you looted GM armor / Weapons or maybe a Vanq Sword, that was a big deal. Wouldn't u like to loot a crimson or tangle? That would make it interesting :). No loss, no big deal.
Yeah, if your talking about the pre-Renaissance and pre-insurance days then I agree 100%
It was fun being scared.
 
R

RavenWinterHawk

Guest
I don't know anyone that takes a bunch of loot with them when they go PvP'ing.


P.S. Wonder how many people get banned trying to use their speeder in the arena..
Oh thats because they don't. PvP was popular before you know the Trammel world.
 

Uvtha

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Its basically setup and controlled PVP. Its something to do but its not gonna give you the same rush as it did before trammel.

Even when my miner was killed and he lost his ore, it was still more fun. Sometimes you might surprise a PVPer with some explosion pots or the GM Swords/Parry he had.

Having an arena just doesn't seem natural enough to me.

Sure nobody caries loot on them , but back in the day if you looted GM armor / Weapons or maybe a Vanq Sword, that was a big deal. Wouldn't u like to loot a crimson or tangle? That would make it interesting :). No loss, no big deal.
People do actually pvp because its fun. The ability to have a secure duel is something that should have been put into this game like 10 years ago.
 
R

RavenWinterHawk

Guest
Its basically setup and controlled PVP. Its something to do but its not gonna give you the same rush as it did before trammel.

Even when my miner was killed and he lost his ore, it was still more fun. Sometimes you might surprise a PVPer with some explosion pots or the GM Swords/Parry he had.

Having an arena just doesn't seem natural enough to me.

Sure nobody caries loot on them , but back in the day if you looted GM armor / Weapons or maybe a Vanq Sword, that was a big deal. Wouldn't u like to loot a crimson or tangle? That would make it interesting :). No loss, no big deal.
Yep. Exactly right. There was a rush in battle before trammel. Whatever side you were on. And there was loot to be had and lost. That created the rush.

PvPing with the idea you lose nothing is well.... boring. Im sure the design is great but nothing will bring back PvP to the form of a rush of exciting for vanquishing the reds.

It will fall somewhere between the way of factions and bagball arena.
 

Vlaude

Lore Keeper
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Coolest thing UO has done in a very long time, hopefully they will see this through until it is fully completed and bug free.

Fully completed and bug free.
Bug free.
... who am I kidding? Oh well, one can only hope.
 

Pinco

UOEC Modder
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
This area system allows you to be something new: a gladiator! :D

"The Gladiator" title should be added for who wins at least 1 fight :p
 

Adol

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
More hard work for little gain.

When will people realize the reason Player Fighting and PvP and Murdering and Defending was once popular was because you could get loot?


Im sure it will be a great system that gets little fan fare.
Sadly, over the years a certain percentage of the Development Team has never been able to face, or understand the PK/PvP mindset of a good proportion of the player base in Ultima Online.

What the Devs think will happen with Arenas is that the players will sign up to put to the test all the inflated claims of skill made in General Chat; that the pugilists will mutually agree to a fair set of neutrally enforced conditions, and before the eyes of many of the peers, in the conviction of their own talents or claims, defend them honestly. This is what they think they want to be able to do...

What will actually happen is this;

*Players Herp and Derp kill IPwnz*

IPwnz: You cheap asses, you can only kill me 2v1! Let's take this to arena and see how skilled you are!

Herp: Lolno. umad?

Derp: I'll go to Arena... meet me there.

*Derp goes afk at the Arena stone*

IPwnz: Come on click the stone, let's do this you *****!

Derp: (to Herp on Skype): Dude is still here cussin' me out. LOL.

Herp: We make him RAGE! *high five!*

IPwnz (In General Chat): I fookin' pwned those biatches, they didn't dare use the arena! PWNED!

General Chat: Esc > User Settings > Ignore > Add From Chat > Add Ipwnz > Add Herp > Add Derp > Apply

That's not to say there won't be the odd Guild PvP Night event, and I hope they enjoy the functionality Arenas bring. And I'm not against new content for the few decent players over on the Felucca side who'll enjoy something like this... but really, I think we all know how this kind of content is going to end. It always does.
 
G

Gunga_Din

Guest
People do actually pvp because its fun. The ability to have a secure duel is something that should have been put into this game like 10 years ago.
Your right, just not my cup of tea. I'd rather play a first person shooter for pvp nowadays anyway.
 

Adrianas

Sage
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I think that there might be those who like having this as an option on Siege. Times when the PvPers want to have a good fight, but don't want to deal with possibly being raided, etc.

I am assuming, of course, that they will put this on Siege, but I would think so.

No one would use it exclusively, of course. But having another option won't hurt anyone. IMHO.
 

G.v.P

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
More hard work for little gain.

When will people realize the reason Player Fighting and PvP and Murdering and Defending was once popular was because you could get loot?


Im sure it will be a great system that gets little fan fare.
I'm sure you have no idea what you're talking about.

Good effort though.
Yeah, if your talking about the pre-Renaissance and pre-insurance days then I agree 100%
It was fun being scared.
People do actually pvp because its fun. The ability to have a secure duel is something that should have been put into this game like 10 years ago.
Interesting mix of thoughts. In 2000 I used to duel people every night. I'd get into a verbal fight with someone at a bank and then become friends with them after we fought. We had a group of people who would meet-up at a remote T2A location on Fridays and we'd mostly mage duel, then scoff whenever a dexxer wanted to join the fight ;P but we'd let the dexxer fight anyway. Maybe a core group of 5-7 people. There used to be so many people PvPing just to PvP that people would watch duels outside of Delucia and try to box people in on foot, since horses were somewhat of a luxury back then for the complete noob.

Honestly, I disagree with the people whom equate PvP with loot, fear, or PKs. PKing =/= PvP. Not to say I didn't enjoy the lynch mob of the times, just that the idea of an Arena has nothing to do with the social construct of PKing. It's an attempt to naturalize PvP duels. Like Uvtha said, it's an idea which should have surfaced a decade ago, but a decade ago we didn't need the devs. to help us have a reason to duel. Back in the good ol' days when you were never on your main and always had to get on your main ;).

Anyway, I'm excited to see this system implemented. I love the choices on the gump. I'm not sure how Ranked will work, but this one feature could radically change UO if done right.
 

UOPlayer4LYFE

Visitor
Stratics Veteran
Don't get me wrong, I've been waiting oh about two years since arenas were first announced, so I am definitely glad to see it finally being implemented. However, unless they come up with a way for arenas to work across all shards, I would venture to say Atlantic is the only place arenas would be viable. There are simply not enough PvP-oriented players on each shard to keep it interesting. I can already see my guild being the only people in queue for arenas within a couple weeks.
 
S

Sevin0oo0

Guest
if they were serious about getting people to know about this and try it out, wouldn't they list it with the Patch Notes on the log-in thing? or is it DOA?
 

T-Hunt

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Yep. Exactly right. There was a rush in battle before trammel. Whatever side you were on. And there was loot to be had and lost. That created the rush.

PvPing with the idea you lose nothing is well.... boring. Im sure the design is great but nothing will bring back PvP to the form of a rush of exciting for vanquishing the reds.

It will fall somewhere between the way of factions and bagball arena.
If you are so unhappy of not getting loot , its simple to fix..
Dont insure your crap..

And i remember PvP pre tram..its was nothing but gang fests..
Yes there was times were it was one on one, but not often..
To many people just greifed or use game mechanics to get your stuff..

Anyone remember bocking entrance to dungeons with crates so person could not get in?
Or continualy trying to pass the person a item so they could not loot there corps before it went to bones?

There was some honor at times, were people did pvp for the joy of it , and let the loser get hes stuff back to try again..

Thats what UO is missing...people who are in it for the fun..not some crappy ass loot..

As for the arena..well...they will be interesting to try out new set ups on mains..with out worrying about lost of items or gold..

Unless they dont trun off insurance payout??
Wonder if they took dead pets into account for being ejected from the arena?

Also if they stoped it so you cant cast spells from the stands to people fighting inside?

Lets see what the next few days have to say..
 
5

5% Luck

Guest
A few note,

Be sure that players can not "cancel the duel" to avoid losing

Having a player "hold an arena" indefinitely through any means could be disastrous.

Maybe the magencia "vendor renewed" message box to notify players their duel is up shortly instead of a system message.

Logout to avoid duel results is unacceptable! lost connects resulting is a loss can also be a problem. Catch 22? This there is no known answer to afaik
 

SixUnder

Legendary Assassin
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I am the number 1 pvp advocate on these forums.

I am so against this and everything it stands for.

ULTIMA ONLINE is not WOW or some other cheap knock off, EA please do not go down this road.
 

Tina Small

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I think that there might be those who like having this as an option on Siege. Times when the PvPers want to have a good fight, but don't want to deal with possibly being raided, etc.

I am assuming, of course, that they will put this on Siege, but I would think so.

No one would use it exclusively, of course. But having another option won't hurt anyone. IMHO.
You currently cannot copy characters from Siege or Mugen to the Arena Test Center, but I asked Supreem if he would consider setting up an additional Test Center for that purpose. He said he would think about it.

I think something like this would be a great addition for Siege and Mugen and would really like to see people who have characters there have a chance to test it out. I believe the way things are set up now on the Test Center, your corpse goes out of the arena with you when you die, so there's no worry on Test Center of your stuff being looted. Don't know if that's the way it would eventually be implemented on Siege or Mugen (or any other shard for that matter), though, so that is another reason to hope Supreem has the time to try to set up another shard for the Siege/Mugen ruleset.
 

AirmidCecht

Babbling Loonie
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
I am the number 1 pvp advocate on these forums.

I am so against this and everything it stands for.

ULTIMA ONLINE is not WOW or some other cheap knock off, EA please do not go down this road.
Why don't you like this consent to duel option?

I looked at is an addition to pvp not a take away from UO's style. Color me confused now :(
 

SixUnder

Legendary Assassin
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Why don't you like this consent to duel option?

I looked at is an addition to pvp not a take away from UO's style. Color me confused now :(
its not the duel consent thing, its the format and what arenas do to games.

i just do not approve. just my opinion.

basically, they are throwing more irons in the fire with 12 other ones sculded red and not fixed yet. that is annoying when you pay to play and expect service and quality.

in 14 years nothing i have asked be done has ever been done in this game i dont expect it to be done now. so i shall leave it alone. i voiced my right to say my opinion.
 

AirmidCecht

Babbling Loonie
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
its not the duel consent thing, its the format and what arenas do to games.

i just do not approve. just my opinion.

basically, they are throwing more irons in the fire with 12 other ones sculded red and not fixed yet. that is annoying when you pay to play and expect service and quality.

in 14 years nothing i have asked be done has ever been done in this game i dont expect it to be done now. so i shall leave it alone. i voiced my right to say my opinion.
I totally support your right to voice an opinion, that's why I asked more about it :)

I'm not sure the negative impact arena's have to games so I'm interested in that too. I think the best way to sort it is to discuss it. I mean it's going in but I think healthy feedback is key to getting it right from the get go.
 

Lynk

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
One of the biggest problems with UO PvP is the fact that it is often hard to find a real fight. I know this, because I play all east coast and 2 west coast servers. I have to spend 30 minutes scouting usually before I find an actual fun fight to participate in.

Arenas are awesome, and I'm so happy that it is here. Now you can find a partner for 2 v 2s, and actually get some real fights. The only problem I see is that it is limited to 4 arenas. Unlimited would be better. I guess that all depends on how many people use them though.
 

Ahuaeyjnkxs

stranger diamond
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Another WOW functionality added to the game...

I was waiting for something as BIG as Stygian Abyss when the devs "disapeared"... it looked like something big and I had high hopes.

Just another crappy WOW functionality that would take me 2 days of leisure time to program. And considerably less time to a competent programmer.

They made the list of functionalities look long, but in fact its a simple code to add in for UO.

In fact most free shards list this as a function, and they programmed it for fun because they were bored... I'm not going to go there and test it out but I am pretty sure it will work smoother than this ; AND without any hacks or speedscripts might I add.

This is totally ridiculous... I wonder who asked this.

Probably the same person who asked for plant gardens to be able to grow in magincia without any way to hire a gardener or let someone else take your place. and oh yes...

IT NEVER RAINS IN MAGINCIA ! AND ITS FULL OF DISEASES AND PESTS... magincia town counsil anyone will request for chemtrails to be sprayd over the damn city ? LETS OCCUPY MAGINCIA STREET AND REQUEST TO BE SPRAYED ! :mf_prop:

The only shards I see this being useful is Siege, and even then... whats the point, 95% people on siege are mature enough not to loot each other already ?

Making you fight against each other within "divine jurisdiction" so we stop holding siege ?

We could also each chop one of your hands off and sell it to the guardian for the next expansion to be "hand on" ?

with all the new programs and third party script things... we only need one !

I'm sorry T-Hunt you had bad luck... with such a name it dosen't come as a surprise... but I still feel compassion towards your emotional state.

However I played atlantic from 1997-2001 and I had many, many one on one fights every night, in fact. In all those years I had only 4 ganks (3 by LLTS and one by a big coalition of guilds... and lemme tell you it was on purpose, it was also a treason by one of my affiliates, and involved 300 angry players just like yourself who used lag (they brought 500 pets to an area) to kill my Brainbug.

But I rarely looted, always was 1 vs 1, or 2vs2... or 2 vs 8 sometimes (I had only one friend always) or I just recalled away, never touched miners crafters and whatnot. I had ONLY a main in the period we are all so fond of PVP wise.

In fact I had only a small house and usually only looted what I needed to keep on fighting... each night was fun, each one of them full of good and honorable pvp.
 

Tina Small

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Get on the Arena Test Center and try this out, folks. It's a hoot and the feedback is important! I've tried it and I'm no PvPer for sure, but it was definitely fun and something I can see myself using to get better at PvP.

Go try it even if you've been telling yourself you don't care about PvP!
 

Ahuaeyjnkxs

stranger diamond
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I'm glad if you are... I do care about PvP... but there is no goal for me to look forward to.

In fact I have played siege for the last year, and I have been taken in chase by a red only once, and he lagged so much it took me about 20 seconds to outrun him. (yes I ran I had just created my char)...

makes no sense to work on this... they should work in brigning new players in first...

And besides... I cannot even copy my siege character there, so its useless for me now since I have just this one character.
 

Tina Small

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Now here's something you don't see every day:



Unfortunately, I missed the actual fight.
 

Ludes

Babbling Loonie
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I guess I was never in it for the loot.. I always liked the thrill of the "win or lose" thing.
Course if I was on my miner I knew I would lose but you could always run. Try to keep a safe place nearby.. or use hiding, which I did on my crafters. It was fun.

I think the arena idea is great.. if they can keep it cheat free I'm all for it.. might even jump in there myself. Speedhacks took all the fun out of PvP for me because I refuse to cheat just to level the field.

2 v 2 like Lynk said sounds really fun. A fighter and a mage teamed up could rack up some wins.
 

MalagAste

Belaern d'Zhaunil
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
I think it sounds interesting... and is a decent addition to the game in my opinion...

But I only causally PvP anyway.

It's not my main interest. Maybe it could be if I worked at it... but not likely.


I think it could be something good. Imagine a shardwide tournament being held... then imagine if they have working ones on this TC and keep it up Imagine the top 3 winners on each shard going head to head... best shard wins???

Doesn't that sound like fun?

Does to me.
 

Viquire

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Thank you! I will be reactivating at least one account right away!
 
O

olduofan

Guest
just tried it out very fun. I like how it ejects you after battle and even the items dropped on the ground in bag with a timer next to your corpse. didn't try to loot corpse inside arena anyone else try ?
 

HD2300

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Just another crappy WOW functionality that would take me 2 days of leisure time to program. And considerably less time to a competent programmer.

They made the list of functionalities look long, but in fact its a simple code to add in for UO.

In fact most free shards list this as a function, and they programmed it for fun because they were bored... I'm not going to go there and test it out but I am pretty sure it will work smoother than this ; AND without any hacks or speedscripts might I add.

This is totally ridiculous... I wonder who asked this.
I did, knowing that most free shards have this. But I didn't think it would take 15 months to code.

Anyway its a strange and good that all sorts of things are happening since the new producer started. :thumbup:
 
Top