[UO Herald] Ask & Answer No. 2

[UO News]

The Ultima Online team has received another set of questions last week. Here are the answers.

Concerns
People using high Seas boats, moored along side each other, to 'house hide' in PvP.
Mesanna: We have written this up as a bug and hope to have it fixed soon.

Questions
Are there any plans to make gargoyle horn dye and/or restyle available on hairdressers? Daslo, Neverplay UO, Cerwin Vega
Mesanna: After speaking with the team we think Horn Dressers is a good idea…Thanks for the suggestion

Are there any plans to revamp Doom? By this I mean changing or evolving the bosses, changing the loot, artifact pool or drop mechanics. There are several problems, for one an increase in players causes more bosses to spawn, however there is no obligation to complete a full round (which would be my definition of running a gauntlet), so people do the 5 rooms then leave before the Dark Fathers, usually leaving one skilled soloer to spend 30 mins plus killing each of them. Now we have gargoyles some gargoyle drops should probably also be included. (CKTC, ask the devs)
Mesanna: CKTC, Doom is on our list, it needs updated as much as champ spawns, dungeons and peerless do.

So awhile ago, I inquired about this and someone said the refer a friend program would be making a return. I recall someone saying the program would be back, but now I can't find where this was said. Is there any chance the program will be making a return soon? I am asking because there are many players who gave their accounts away or sold them. Some of them that I have pestered mean to return via the trial so it would be really great to get referred by them if the referral program returns. (Sablestorm, Stratics)
Mesanna: Sablestorm, at this time we are not starting up the Buddy Referral program. With all the account management changes this is something that was not moved into the new system and would require a lot of coding.

A while back I read about EA's plan for WAR/UO/DAoC: They planned to switch from 'continuing content patches' to so called 'booster packs'. For UO that resulted in the 'High Seas booster' and the 'Gothic' and 'Rustic' theme packs. My question is: Will you continue to add boosters? And if so, will they be more in the line with the theme packs or the High Seas expansion? What is the timeframe in which you will add new content (other then differently colored items... . (from Knuckleheads.dk)
Mesanna: No UO is not going to be working on a booster pack or a theme pack for a while. We want to take the time to do a big bug push. We want to put in an in game Vendor Search, we want to be able to update the outdated armor in the game, we want to improve the fishing rewards, we want to finish virtues, and we want to finish the high res art. So at this time we don’t have a booster pack or expansion in the works. I am not saying we never well but just not at this time.

When will the Virtue system be completed? (from Knuckleheads.dk)
Mesanna: We have come up with several ideas but just don’t feel they are worthy of the last two virtues. We have read some of your ideas on stratics but would love to hear more.

Will the "brainstormed" Order/Chaos involve Warfare in usual None-PvP areas, Such as trammel? (from Knuckleheads.dk)
Mesanna: We have not gotten that far in the discussions with this, hopefully we can talk to everyone during the 15th Anniversary Party and get a good discussion going. Since a lot of you are not able join us we will also start a thread when we are at the point of go or no go on the project.

Non-medable armor is underpowered compared to medable armor. Is there any plans to boosting non-medable armor without ruining the usefulness of leather? (from UOForums.com)
Mesanna: We are in discussion regarding updating armor, making all armor useful again. We are going to do our best not to mess up leather but still make the other materials a viable option.

It is very bad impression goldspammers leave on newbies and returners, with the default channel being help, trials unable to change, and returners often not know they can switch channels. Could you at least make the default channel "General" if the account privileges grants access to it? (from UOForums.com)
Stephen: If you account is not a trial account we will make the change to have the default as general instead of help, this will be made in one of the upcoming publishes. Trail accounts will still be placed in the help channel. Please keep in mind the gold spammers are trial accounts those have to stay in the help channel.

Is it possible to see if your character is friended to the Ants? If not wish they could make something on the character sheet.(Ingame Question from Drachenfels)
Mesanna: Currently there is not a way to tell if your friended to the ants other than not getting attacked. It is something we can add in the future so I will add it to the backlog.

Still I must ask, Will you please fix houses to allow more than 10 Co-owners? Many of us have multiple accounts and are sick and tired of being nothing but a Friend in our own homes... I know I'm not alone and I know I've asked time and time again but PLEASE can we have at least 70 co-owner slots on our house. From MalagAste, Uhall. Risso, Ask the Devs (Clarification: Only the owning account characters are all counted as owning. Subsequent account characters are treated individually. Therefore it is not possible to co-own more than 8 characters from other accounts, any above that number can only be friended.)
Mesanna: Everyone will be happy to hear (or I hope they will be) that we as a team have talked about it and want to make a change to the housing co owners. Instead of 10 co owners we want to change it to 10 accounts which is 70 players total.
If you have something you want to know about Ultima Online and the team, post your questions on your fansite. All interesting questions will be collected and send to our team, so we can continue to answer them.

Continue reading...

 

[Storm]

very good answers to very good questions! Thank you I like the fact that you took time to explain the answers in short and not just we are looking at it...very good in my opinion

 

[Ron Silverbeard]

......We want to put in an in game Vendor Search...

THIS!!!! Me like! Tumbs up! Very nice!

 

[MalagAste]

The Ultima Online team has received another set of questions last week. Here are the answers.
Concerns
People using high Seas boats, moored along side each other, to 'house hide' in PvP.
Mesanna: We have written this up as a bug and hope to have it fixed soon.

Well that's Good to hear.

Questions

Are there any plans to make gargoyle horn dye and/or restyle available on hairdressers? Daslo, Neverplay UO, Cerwin Vega
Mesanna: After speaking with the team we think Horn Dressers is a good idea…Thanks for the suggestion

Thank you this would be a very welcome new addition. Could we beg and plead to add more faces to the Body Sculptor as well and some new hairstyles? I also would like to see more color choices added to skin tones for both Gargoyles and Elves. Thanks.

Are there any plans to revamp Doom? By this I mean changing or evolving the bosses, changing the loot, artifact pool or drop mechanics. There are several problems, for one an increase in players causes more bosses to spawn, however there is no obligation to complete a full round (which would be my definition of running a gauntlet), so people do the 5 rooms then leave before the Dark Fathers, usually leaving one skilled soloer to spend 30 mins plus killing each of them. Now we have gargoyles some gargoyle drops should probably also be included. (CKTC, ask the devs)

Mesanna: CKTC, Doom is on our list, it needs updated as much as champ spawns, dungeons and peerless do.

Can't wait!

So awhile ago, I inquired about this and someone said the refer a friend program would be making a return. I recall someone saying the program would be back, but now I can't find where this was said. Is there any chance the program will be making a return soon? I am asking because there are many players who gave their accounts away or sold them. Some of them that I have pestered mean to return via the trial so it would be really great to get referred by them if the referral program returns. (Sablestorm, Stratics)

Mesanna: Sablestorm, at this time we are not starting up the Buddy Referral program. With all the account management changes this is something that was not moved into the new system and would require.

Would require what? And is there any plans to make us able to safely "transfer" an account from one player to another again?

A while back I read about EA's plan for WAR/UO/DAoC: They planned to switch from 'continuing content patches' to so called 'booster packs'. For UO that resulted in the 'High Seas booster' and the 'Gothic' and 'Rustic' theme packs. My question is: Will you continue to add boosters? And if so, will they be more in the line with the theme packs or the High Seas expansion? What is the timeframe in which you will add new content (other then differently colored items... . (from Knuckleheads.dk)

Mesanna: No UO is not going to be working on a booster pack or a theme pack for a while. We want to take the time to do a big bug push. We want to put in an in game Vendor Search, we want to be able to update the outdated armor in the game, we want to improve the fishing rewards, we want to finish virtues, and we want to finish the high res art. So at this time we don’t have a booster pack or expansion in the works. I am not saying we never well but just not at this time.

Can't wait! I'm looking forward to all that! Especially the search and High Res Art.

When will the Virtue system be completed?

(from Knuckleheads.dk)
Mesanna: We have come up with several ideas but just don’t feel they are worthy of the last two virtues. We have read some of your ideas on stratics but would love to hear more.

I'll try to think of some ideas.

Will the "brainstormed" Order/Chaos involve Warfare in usual None-PvP areas, Such as trammel? (from Knuckleheads.dk)

Mesanna: We have not gotten that far in the discussions with this, hopefully we can talk to everyone during the 15th Anniversary Party and get a good discussion going. Since a lot of you are not able join us we will also start a thread when we are at the point of go or no go on the project.

I have so many reservations about this... But I'll save it to see what you all propose.

Non-medable armor is underpowered compared to medable armor. Is there any plans to boosting non-medable armor without ruining the usefulness of leather? (from UOForums.com)

Mesanna: We are in discussion regarding updating armor, making all armor useful again. We are going to do our best not to mess up leather but still make the other materials a viable option.

I would love to see armor updated... First though need to have that etherial dye so folk can dye their ugly robe etherial and have it be see thru..... so folk can actually see armor again. Many have forgotten what armor looks like anymore since 96% of the population wears a robe or something to cover it up.

It is very bad impression goldspammers leave on newbies and returners, with the default channel being help, trials unable to change, and returners often not know they can switch channels. Could you at least make the default channel "General" if the account privileges grants access to it? (from UOForums.com)

Stephen: If you account is not a trial account we will make the change to have the default as general instead of help, this will be made in one of the upcoming publishes. Trail accounts will still be placed in the help channel. Please keep in mind the gold spammers are trial accounts those have to stay in the help channel.

Wish there was an easier way to get those accounts who spam that BS 24/7 to be permanently shut down. I have most of them on ignore but it's just so irritating.

Is it possible to see if your character is friended to the Ants? If not wish they could make something on the character sheet.(Ingame Question from Drachenfels)

Mesanna: Currently there is not a way to tell if your friended to the ants other than not getting attacked. It is something we can add in the future so I will add it to the backlog.

I like this suggestion.

Still I must ask, Will you please fix houses to allow more than 10 Co-owners? Many of us have multiple accounts and are sick and tired of being nothing but a Friend in our own homes... I know I'm not alone and I know I've asked time and time again but PLEASE can we have at least 70 co-owner slots on our house. From MalagAste, Uhall. Risso, Ask the Devs (Clarification: Only the owning account characters are all counted as owning. Subsequent account characters are treated individually. Therefore it is not possible to co-own more than 8 characters from other accounts, any above that number can only be friended.)

Mesanna: Everyone will be happy to hear (or I hope they will be) that we as a team have talked about it and want to make a change to the housing co owners. Instead of 10 co owners we want to change it to 10 accounts which is 70 players total.

*smiles* THANK THE UO GODS! I can't wait to stop being a just a friend in my own home!

 

[Arcades]

Where's the website to submit questions??

 

[Storm]

Where's the website to submit questions??

you are on it.. you can submit questions here in these forums ,you can send them to petra ,submit to ask the devs, and some questions are even pulled from in game , this goes for the other fan sites also you can submit questions with them also and they will be forwarded on to proper place.

 

[Woodsman]

Where's the website to submit questions??

There is none, Petra volunteered to collect questions from the community.

I like the Q&As this week, much better.

I am curious why they just dropped the puzzle and pretended like it didn't happen. Almost two weeks now.

 

[Arcades]

Here's my question: With everyone asking for new content and revamps for old dungeons like Doom, etc, would the DEVs consider re-instating imbuing artifacts/replicas as long as the item caps remain the same for non-exceptional items, meaning all artifacts/replicas would be imbueable to 450 property cap? I mean its a huge undertaking to come up with new artifacts/properties, think about the balance required, and most of the stuff will probably be a rehash of older items anyhow. Why not let us have some fun with it? I think it would really invigorate older lesser/minor artifacts without making anything overpowered, considering how some reforged/new shame loot is insanely good now.

 

[NBG]

Great deal of information and really nice to know what are in the works.

One thing, I know you guys formatted with Bold lettering for questions and regular text for answers. Could you add like 2-3 empty lines in between each question\answer set?

It really put a strain on eyes trying to read a huge paragraph and trying not to miss anything and my eyes definitely bugged out after reading it.

 

[Merus]

Here is my question...

Is EA's bank account so fat that items made available to other regions, specifically the new singing balls and secret chests, can not be made available to the other regions as well? I am not sure why EA is willing to accept their purchases for those items, but players in the US or Europe do not get those same items in our stores...

 

[MalagAste]

Here is my question...

Is EA's bank account so fat that items made available to other regions, specifically the new singing balls and secret chests, can not be made available to the other regions as well? I am not sure why EA is willing to accept their purchases for those items, but players in the US or Europe do not get those same items in our stores...

That's so that folk in Japan or who can buy those things can gouge the heck out of everyone else for several months before most of the folk know WTF is going on ..... So they can make insane amounts of gold off folk or cash .... lining the wallets of the sale site folk because someone at EA must have a finger in that pie .... so they keep doing it year after year getting rich off others.

 

[startle]

.....We want to put in an in game Vendor Search....

YEA, YEA, YEA.... FINALLY !!!!

 

[Petra Fyde]

Great deal of information and really nice to know what are in the works.

One thing, I know you guys formatted with Bold lettering for questions and regular text for answers. Could you add like 2-3 empty lines in between each question\answer set?

It really put a strain on eyes trying to read a huge paragraph and trying not to miss anything and my eyes definitely bugged out after reading it.

Sorry. There are spaces on UOHerald, somehow the rss feed seems to lose them. I'll edit the post and put them back.

 

[Lien Ragus]

First of all i d like to thank Mesanna and the new team. For the first time in years i feel informed about what s cooking. Great job !! Please do continue that way

Obviously i m all in favor of what can be done to fix old (and recent) bugs as well as everything that will add to our fun... However reading about a search items online system makes me a bit.... cautious (to say the least).
The game has suffered over years of "reselling" activites... Yes, i know and I insist... Lemme explain why :

Dedicated vendor runners really spend their all time in CREATING things... gathering ingredients, raising needed skills, etc... and are proud to achieve an objective which is to offer goods to others. It may be tough sometimes especially for some vendors (ressources, feathers, filled runebooks, etc...)

Resellers of those stuff just dont bring anything to the game. They just rent a vendor in an expensive location and get the difference in their pocket. They dont invest time to benefit the all communauty and are just here to "make" money ! and before you start arguing that the law of offer and demand just ask yourself :

- are we playing a game ?
- Should you send CV's to get a trader's job in financial instead ?

Other nasty effect of this is named inflation... Prices raise and raise and raise again... Think of the actual problems in real financial markets and see how it is correlated...

Giving those ppl a special tool to monitor what they want to resell will only fasten their profits.

This being said i ll suggest we can get a list of SHOPS instead. The shop runners who wish to be listed will buy a "merchant franchise" or whatever you may call it and will appear in a shop list accessible to anyone. After all it would be more interesting to promote our shops globally instead of constantly see ppl's efforts to keep replenished ruined by "traders".
As far are top items are rarely on vendors (we have special auctions and rare forum to trade those) the main concern is on current items like hereabove mentionned.
I also think you should re think of vendor fees as well. I understand the wish for gold sink but it seriously prevent vendors to offer the best they have. As a consequence we often see nearly empty vendors....

That s just my 2 cents on that matter,
Regards

 

[Rupert Avery]

First of all i d like to thank Mesanna and the new team. For the first time in years i feel informed about what s cooking. Great job !! Please do continue that way

Obviously i m all in favor of what can be done to fix old (and recent) bugs as well as everything that will add to our fun... However reading about a search items online system makes me a bit.... cautious (to say the least).
The game has suffered over years of "reselling" activites... Yes, i know and I insist... Lemme explain why :

Dedicated vendor runners really spend their all time in CREATING things... gathering ingredients, raising needed skills, etc... and are proud to achieve an objective which is to offer goods to others. It may be tough sometimes especially for some vendors (ressources, feathers, filled runebooks, etc...)

Resellers of those stuff just dont bring anything to the game. They just rent a vendor in an expensive location and get the difference in their pocket. They dont invest time to benefit the all communauty and are just here to "make" money ! and before you start arguing that the law of offer and demand just ask yourself :

- are we playing a game ?
- Should you send CV's to get a trader's job in financial instead ?

Other nasty effect of this is named inflation... Prices raise and raise and raise again... Think of the actual problems in real financial markets and see how it is correlated...

Giving those ppl a special tool to monitor what they want to resell will only fasten their profits.

This being said i ll suggest we can get a list of SHOPS instead. The shop runners who wish to be listed will buy a "merchant franchise" or whatever you may call it and will appear in a shop list accessible to anyone. After all it would be more interesting to promote our shops globally instead of constantly see ppl's efforts to keep replenished ruined by "traders".
As far are top items are rarely on vendors (we have special auctions and rare forum to trade those) the main concern is on current items like hereabove mentionned.
I also think you should re think of vendor fees as well. I understand the wish for gold sink but it seriously prevent vendors to offer the best they have. As a consequence we often see nearly empty vendors....

That s just my 2 cents on that matter,
Regards

I think a list of shops/locations of shops would actually be a very good idea... This would slow down resellers. I am all for an official way for easy shopping as long as it still means interaction with the vendors. Part of why I love UO is the ability to look around people's very well made shops this would also give the ability to find all those far out there shops that are usually better looking than Luna shops (I say usually but not always and that is in personal opinion)

Seriously good idea

 

[Woodsman]

However reading about a search items online system makes me a bit.... cautious (to say the least).
The game has suffered over years of "reselling" activites... Yes, i know and I insist...

Online search systems already exist and have been around for a few years apparently. There are 3-4 that I've seen. It's not a hypothetical system or anything, they exist right now, only they are breaking the TOS and are out of EA's hands.

I was one of those resellers you speak of many years ago. Long time ago. Ingots and lumber. A Saturday afternoon of just running around Brit and I had runebooks full of vendors selling ingots and lumber. I bought many of them out on a weekly basis, even bought some at a loss to keep my vendors stocked and customers coming back. Eventually quite a few of the people I was buying up began selling directly to me, but some didn't and maybe weren't happy, I don't really know. I do know that these days people can do the same thing with scripts, with little effort.

I guess what I'm saying is that both of those already exist, and EA is now at least trying to provide a legitimate search engine for those of us who abide by the TOS. If you don't abide by the TOS, you've had vendor searches for years, and the ability to easily be a reseller with little to no effort.

I like the idea you propose about a list of shops, but quite frankly I want them to do whatever is easiest, because they don't have a big team these days and the more complex something gets with UO, the chances of it happening diminish, or it delays other additions. If it's easiest for them to query a database and spit out a list of locations, items, and prices, then so be it.

 

[Minerva Foxglove]

First of all i d like to thank Mesanna and the new team. For the first time in years i feel informed about what s cooking. Great job !! Please do continue that way

Obviously i m all in favor of what can be done to fix old (and recent) bugs as well as everything that will add to our fun... However reading about a search items online system makes me a bit.... cautious (to say the least).
The game has suffered over years of "reselling" activites... Yes, i know and I insist... Lemme explain why :

Dedicated vendor runners really spend their all time in CREATING things... gathering ingredients, raising needed skills, etc... and are proud to achieve an objective which is to offer goods to others. It may be tough sometimes especially for some vendors (ressources, feathers, filled runebooks, etc...)

Resellers of those stuff just dont bring anything to the game. They just rent a vendor in an expensive location and get the difference in their pocket. They dont invest time to benefit the all communauty and are just here to "make" money ! and before you start arguing that the law of offer and demand just ask yourself :

- are we playing a game ?
- Should you send CV's to get a trader's job in financial instead ?

Other nasty effect of this is named inflation... Prices raise and raise and raise again... Think of the actual problems in real financial markets and see how it is correlated...

Giving those ppl a special tool to monitor what they want to resell will only fasten their profits.

This being said i ll suggest we can get a list of SHOPS instead. The shop runners who wish to be listed will buy a "merchant franchise" or whatever you may call it and will appear in a shop list accessible to anyone. After all it would be more interesting to promote our shops globally instead of constantly see ppl's efforts to keep replenished ruined by "traders".
As far are top items are rarely on vendors (we have special auctions and rare forum to trade those) the main concern is on current items like hereabove mentionned.
I also think you should re think of vendor fees as well. I understand the wish for gold sink but it seriously prevent vendors to offer the best they have. As a consequence we often see nearly empty vendors....

That s just my 2 cents on that matter,
Regards

This is how it should be in an ideal world.
The illegal site used to list Luna shops and the rest of us were safe from resellers that way , thats atleast why I stayed away from Luna. Now they list the shops everywhere without asking owners if they like it or not. Im about to close my place due to this, if I cant find a way to adapt without raising prices. My shop is made to help the new and returning players to get started, not to make me rich.

Resellers are a pain for hard working vendor owners. Vendor fees is another. We could offer more and better items on our vendors it the fees didnt prevent it. If the costs were not so high it wouldnt matter if our shops didnt sell wares all the time, it would not ruin us. Many crafters enjoy to run vendors at their houses , not to get rich but for the fun. The fees makes the venors run off wich isnt much fun.

Registrating the shops and maybe offer a rune sounds good. Only prob is that people dont stick to their shops and continue stocking after a while. Shops that looks wonderful for at first, is just a bunch of empty vendors after a while. Hard to keep the list up to date.

I would vote for an ingame vendor or shop search of some kind where you could stay out of it if you wished. Also stop that illegal site with that most irritating spam in help channel. Set vendor fees in a way that doesnt prevent people from running vendors or offering their best wares!

I like when resellers use Magincia stalls to buy up recources from people that dont run vendors and really want to sell in bulk, most likely for a short while to make fast gold. That is good for the community I believe.

 

[Basara]

Here's my question: With everyone asking for new content and revamps for old dungeons like Doom, etc, would the DEVs consider re-instating imbuing artifacts/replicas as long as the item caps remain the same for non-exceptional items, meaning all artifacts/replicas would be imbueable to 450 property cap? I mean its a huge undertaking to come up with new artifacts/properties, think about the balance required, and most of the stuff will probably be a rehash of older items anyhow. Why not let us have some fun with it? I think it would really invigorate older lesser/minor artifacts without making anything overpowered, considering how some reforged/new shame loot is insanely good now.

Truthfully, I think all artifacts should be treated as exceptional for Imbuing, if not have a higher cap than exceptional.

I can't think of a single existing Doom artifact, Treasure of Tokuno, Minor artifact, ML Artifact or 10th anniversary artifact, that would be overpowering if given a 550 Imbuing cap.

For that matter, I think DI would be best if treated as a non-property (like elemental damage) unless altered or added in Imbuing - or allow 6-property items to have existing properties modified. With the current limits on total intensity for 6-property items from T-maps, they are often LESS usable than a 5-property item, as they seem to have 500 point (non-weighted) property budget.

 

[Ron Silverbeard]

Concerning the items only purchaseable on origin's japan store:

Spoiler

Someone put up they might be purchaseable in Game with some kind of turn in for your city loyality

 

[Silly Seadog]

......We want to put in an in game Vendor Search...

THIS!!!! Me like! Tumbs up! Very nice!

Arrrrr, they can put up Vendor Search Machines in towns, from which ye can get shop coordinates or even have it spit out a marked rune fer ye!

 

[Ron Silverbeard]

Spoiler

That's rich. If you live in a particular country, you may buy them if you wish. Everyone else can turn themselves into a UO slave to acquire them. That idea sucketh, big time.

Hey, wasnt me Tina, i just spread the word!

 

[G.v.P]

Vendor search will be nice, but not if it's at a premium. It'll be interesting to see how they deal with the system and if it becomes a pay as you go feature. A vendor search should allow any home owner an equal shake.

 

[Petra Fyde]

Concerning the items only purchaseable on origin's japan store:

Spoiler

Someone put up they might be purchaseable in Game with some kind of turn in for your city loyality

Would you mind letting us know where you heard this? Rumours have a habit of turning out to be completely without foundation.

 

[Ron Silverbeard]

Where are these New Items from? | Stratics Forums

Check the Spoiler at Post Number 30 Petra....if i read this correctly, it has something to do with the new items from japanese store AND the possibility how we might be able to get them without purchasing from a store for real $

Me for my part will go and start droping all this thousands of boards and stuff into Moonglows harbourer box soon to get my loyality up to max...

 

[Petra Fyde]

ahh. Interpretation of files as explored by RTraveller - not inside information as Tina has implied.

 

[Ron Silverbeard]

Nonono i am not.that kind of an insider i just read almost.every.post here on the boards to inform myselfe hehe

 

[Storm]

Its a conspiracy I tell you!

 

[Kyronix]

Where are these New Items from? | Stratics Forums

Check the Spoiler at Post Number 30 Petra....if i read this correctly, it has something to do with the new items from japanese store AND the possibility how we might be able to get them without purchasing from a store for real $

Me for my part will go and start droping all this thousands of boards and stuff into Moonglows harbourer box soon to get my loyality up to max...

These strings are associated with the functionality for using Juka and Meer loyalty to purchase the little statues from earlier in the Awakening quest.

 

[Merus]

These strings are associated with the functionality for using Juka and Meer loyalty to purchase the little statues from earlier in the Awakening quest.

Even if it isn't the answer we would like (that those items would be made available ingame) thank you for the clarification related to those lines of text.

 

[Zosimus]

Glad to hear that Doom and champ spawns are being looked into for possible changes and revamps.


Not to crazy from the answer from Stephen about Gold spammers on trial accounts. Truthfully it would be annoying to any player, new and/or vet, needing to use the help channel. There has to be a more viable solution. Free trial accounts are just that. Simply free. That isn't going to cure the problem.

 

[Ron Silverbeard]

These strings are associated with the functionality for using Juka and Meer loyalty to purchase the little statues from earlier in the Awakening quest.

Txs for the clarification Sir..

Now can i use a question for the Q&A Part 3 if i just post it here?

Will you change the Origin Store's items in the near future to the possibility everyone can get every item without beeing limited by countryfication rules?

Thank you

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

The Ultima Online team has received another set of questions last week. Here are the answers.

Going to cut out all of the items that tend to not concern me, then after each one that does give an overall take.

Are there any plans to revamp Doom? By this I mean changing or evolving the bosses, changing the loot, artifact pool or drop mechanics. There are several problems, for one an increase in players causes more bosses to spawn, however there is no obligation to complete a full round (which would be my definition of running a gauntlet), so people do the 5 rooms then leave before the Dark Fathers, usually leaving one skilled soloer to spend 30 mins plus killing each of them. Now we have gargoyles some gargoyle drops should probably also be included. (CKTC, ask the devs)

Mesanna: CKTC, Doom is on our list, it needs updated as much as champ spawns, dungeons and peerless do.

Ok, one small bit of Grammar Police™ from me here because it's something I see being done more often and it drives me INSANE to read it. needs updated NO NO NO!!!! It's "needs TO BE updated" or "needs updating" (preferably the former). The change in tense makes it sound HORRIBLE.

As for the content, this is good to hear. There is plenty of room in the current game to revamp without needing to add an expansion. Good to see this on the menu as it were.

A while back I read about EA's plan for WAR/UO/DAoC: They planned to switch from 'continuing content patches' to so called 'booster packs'. For UO that resulted in the 'High Seas booster' and the 'Gothic' and 'Rustic' theme packs. My question is: Will you continue to add boosters? And if so, will they be more in the line with the theme packs or the High Seas expansion? What is the timeframe in which you will add new content (other then differently colored items... . (from Knuckleheads.dk)
Mesanna: No UO is not going to be working on a booster pack or a theme pack for a while. We want to take the time to do a big bug push. We want to put in an in game Vendor Search, we want to be able to update the outdated armor in the game, we want to improve the fishing rewards, we want to finish virtues, and we want to finish the high res art. So at this time we don’t have a booster pack or expansion in the works. I am not saying we never well but just not at this time.

So glad to read this, now... STICK TO IT. Please don't let "the suits" redirect the game right now. It's time for a holistic update to the game and then when it's ready (as in the High Res graphics are in, bugs squashed and content revamped, REALLY start hitting the media to advertise the "New UO". Show that the game CAN be reborn (ok, maybe not the best word these days) without the need for a sequel.

When will the Virtue system be completed?

(from Knuckleheads.dk)
Mesanna: We have come up with several ideas but just don’t feel they are worthy of the last two virtues. We have read some of your ideas on stratics but would love to hear more.

Personally, I would scrap the current system then look at the old single player games or maybe get the U4E people involved in creating a quest system that makes the Virtues make more sense. Then make sure to release the entire thing instead of getting sidetracked.

Non-medable armor is underpowered compared to medable armor. Is there any plans to boosting non-medable armor without ruining the usefulness of leather? (from UOForums.com)

Mesanna: We are in discussion regarding updating armor, making all armor useful again. We are going to do our best not to mess up leather but still make the other materials a viable option.

It will be interesting to see where this goes. It's been long necessary to rebalance armor since AOS killed EVERYTHING that wasn't Leather. Pre-AOS at least had a balance involved (namely higher AR vs Weight/Dex/Med). A quick idea from me would be to allow armor to raise Physical Resist max so that a full suit of Leather would be 70, Studded 75, Ring 80, Chain 85, Plate 90, Scale 95 (yes, some sets have less pieces, but if you have the full set of one type, that would be your Max possible value) and have Physical Resist work for Melee Attacks with the rest of the resists for magical attacks.

---

Overall, much better than the first batch. If these keep improving as we go, then we might be able to feel like the communications problems we've been having are being handled.

 

[Ludes]

A very trivial request I know, but...

The sound of seagulls when I fish would be very cool.

 

[Merus]

A very trivial request I know, but...

The sound of seagulls when I fish would be very cool.

*caw caw caw*

sorry, just couldn't resist

 

[Ron Silverbeard]

*Mine, Mine, Mine*

 

[Ludes]

*caw caw caw*

sorry, just couldn't resist

That's a crow!

 

[Merus]

That's a crow!

You must not have a southern California seagull accent.

 

[NBG]

Non-medable armor is underpowered compared to medable armor. Is there any plans to boosting non-medable armor without ruining the usefulness of leather? (from UOForums.com)

Mesanna: We are in discussion regarding updating armor, making all armor useful again. We are going to do our best not to mess up leather but still make the other materials a viable option.

​

When implementing this change, could you guys please also make sure that existing armor of each type (armor already crafted\obtained) also gets the upgrade if at all possible?

I know it might be more work to write script to hunt through database and apply the changes to all existing armor that meets the criteria but I am not the only one that hate to scrap good existing armor.

 

[Tanivar]

On the Reseller problem, while it wouldn't work well for stackable items, could the price an item is sold for be added to the items game system info and be used to prevent it from ever being put on another vendor at a higher price? That would allow people to sell things at a reasonable price and prevent someone else from buying it and adding a dozen zeroes to charge the price they feel is reasonable.

Coming up with a way to make it work for stackable items would be a very good thing.

 

[Tanivar]

The Vender Search System would be great if set up with restraints on greedy Resellers.

Please have armor suits sold in a bag list as the bag is priced and labeled.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

Personally, I don't see the issue with "resellers". I think people need to simply get over them. Yes, they exist, big deal. Once you sell an item for your established price, what is done with that item is none of your business. You've made your profit.

If you're working in a global search system and your product is sold "too fast" to resellers (or people you accuse of being resellers), then obviously you should raise your prices and get more out of what you're selling.

If your only goal is to sell to "honest players", then you'll probably want to work out something with those players personally outside of the vendor system.

There is NO WAY the system can be set up to restrict "resellers" because the game does not know what the buyer of a product intends to do with it. Much like the game itself cannot do anything about RMT because RMT is an external trade with the game only seeing the item in question being given from Player A to Player B.

Attempts to try and restrict the ingame economy against people "we don't like" are not going to enhance the system, they're simply going to make it more user unfriendly and still have plenty of holes for those "we don't like" to drive through. If there are actual exploiters involved, then yes, they need to be removed for being EXPLOITERS, not for being someone "we don't like".

 

[NBG]

Not so worried about reseller. They can try to corner the market but since every item of the same type would be listed. Even if they do try to buyout all competition, they can only corner the market for so long. I personally love it because it means that I can sell my item faster if I price below those reseller at (85%-90% of their price).

What I hate is the spam of the same item in search result if someone does attempt to corner the market. I really don't want to flip through all the higher priced items to get to the reasonably priced ones. It would be nice if the Dev could put in Filter option that only display the lowest priced item for a given vendor when there are multiple items of same type on the vendor (maybe add a #count instead of listing all them).

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

Item searches (ok, let's just say Auction Houses (AHs) since that's what 99.9% of other inline games use anyway) are basically Databases with a user interface anyway, so they can be made to filter, sort, display, etc. just depending on what the devs decide to do.

Case in point in one game I'm playing now, in that AH you can filter by item type, level, rarity, max buyout price, and/or you can set the various mods that can appear on that item to show only those meeting a minimum value (say: Strength +XX). Then you can sort those results by the buyout price or the time remaining.

So in UO's version you should be able to tell it to find all vendors selling Commodity Deeds of 10,000 Iron Ingots priced at 100,000 gold max in some form or fashion.

The only issue I see which will have to be made VERY CLEAR if you have to travel to the specific vendor is that there are NO GUARANTEES that the item will be available when you arrive at the vendor, that all listings are subject to prior sale basically.

 

[Tanivar]

Attempts to try and restrict the ingame economy against people "we don't like" are not going to enhance the system, they're simply going to make it more user unfriendly and still have plenty of holes for those "we don't like" to drive through. If there are actual exploiters involved, then yes, they need to be removed for being EXPLOITERS, not for being someone "we don't like".

You may feel their someone "we don't like", but actually their "someone who enjoys harming the game economy" and should be prevented from doing so. Their a definite class of Griefer and should not be allowed to get their jollies by making it harder for players to get what they need to enjoy the game by cornering the market and adding a dozen zeroes to the items price so it's much harder to afford for most players.

You ever check out that one illegal search system and compare the high end and the usual price range? The word 'greed' really isn't up to the job of describing some of the high end prices.

The Dev's should just make up a new Reasonable Price List for the default prices for items and allow only lower prices than that, none higher. It would be a definite good move towards fixing the game economy.

 

[PuckOfPacific]

So, then A in game vendor search, WITH the ability to get that item from the ingame search at a Kiosk? What's all this I hear about "hard working vendors"? You mean you clicked your left mouse button a bunch? Yeah I'd Like an IN-Game vendor search, with the option to buy it on the spot. And then later the option to get a kiosk at your house from turn in points or mils of gold. So If I need something! Boom I just got it. kind of like a catalog, mail order style. Or the kiosk Spits out the rune or has a gate/recall/SJ option to get you there???? I don't mind using the pre-existing website to Search UO for what i need. It's also the fastest solution for helping me price my items. And I could give a woopty-doo about how your shop looks. I am only interested in buying the thing from your vendor, and getting back to what ever it was I needed it for in the first place.

My question: Is EA/Origin taking the approach on "scripters" (not talking about hackers here) that police take on the speed limit? i.e. 3-5 over the speed limit generally doesn't get you a speeding ticket. is this the way things are going now? Could EA/Origin or who ever please say concretely what you will tolerate, as you currently tolerate alot. Is this how it is going to be or are they going to crack down?

To me it seems that they want the subscriptions of the full time sscripter as much as the few remaining "Purists" so......Can you Please give a current to the times official statement. Again, i want to reiterate, not talking 'bout "hackers" server communication manipulators "dupers" or Speedhacks. Just the other ones, the "easy" ones.
Cheers,
Puck

 

[Lord Frodo]

​

When implementing this change, could you guys please also make sure that existing armor of each type (armor already crafted\obtained) also gets the upgrade if at all possible?

I know it might be more work to write script to hunt through database and apply the changes to all existing armor that meets the criteria but I am not the only one that hate to scrap good existing armor.

Please do not do this. Some of us have old pieces made by players that should not be touched. Could you just see all the sewn by pieces being lost forever because of this or the set of Dbl Exp made by a friend from long ago being lost forever.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

The Dev's should just make up a new Reasonable Price List for the default prices for items and allow only lower prices than that, none higher.

No, they shouldn't. Who gets to define what is "reasonable"? It's too broad of a term and the devs should not be using such systems to monkey around with the economy. There is no such idea as "reasonable" in a free market, there is only what the two parties involved in the transaction agree to. If you find the price of something unreasonable... DON'T BUY IT.

 

[Flutter]

...

Please don't let "the suits" redirect ...

Nothing makes me sadder than to see anyone referring to "the suits". (I know why you used the term, I am not ragging on you personally)
There are no "suits". There are no people directing the future of Ultima Online except those working directly on the project (IE: CaptainTwitter, Mesanna, and her crew of merry gentlemen)
I repeat.. there are no suits. Most of the people who make fun of the "conspiracy theorists" on UHall are the first to believe that there are some sort of corporate moguls and law departments that are supervising and editing any changes to the game. The idea is laughable. Well, if it wasn't so sad it would be.

*steps off soap box*

Good points Dermott. Good points.

 

[Flutter]

A very trivial request I know, but...

The sound of seagulls when I fish would be very cool.

Ugh. Please. No more sounds that can end up looping forever.

 

[NBG]

Please do not do this. Some of us have old pieces made by players that should not be touched. Could you just see all the sewn by pieces being lost forever because of this or the set of Dbl Exp made by a friend from long ago being lost forever.

They are not going to change the any of armor property\tag. I just want them to apply the new bonus to armor, they have done this in the past for certain items without impacting item's existing property\tag.

Obviously I would want to make sure that it does not break old rares when it does get implemented and I would definitely copy characters over to TC1 with items just to verify.