Create a newbie dungeon that combines multiple shards

[yadiman]

I know we don't want to merge whole shards together, but have the devs ever stated whether it's possible to merge dungeon servers?

I'm sure it wouldn't be easy, but I think the benefit would be worth it. Especially for a newbie dungeon in old haven. I doubt I'm the only one whose ran into a new/returning player in Covetous 1 or somewhere, wondering where everyone else is and what he should be doing. Players are given quests to level to 50 skill in old haven, and after that they are on their own. Wherever they go from there, they aren't likely to see many other players for a long time.

 

[Merus]

Would also love to see a new dungeon area with some special item rules... Characters can't trade items or loot corpses... With a Fel rule set and a new champ spawn...

New pvp zone open to all shards with a champ to fight over...!

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

If they can do this, do it for PvP and have the rewards be something PvP specific, like a weapon that's of no use whatsoever in PvM, double insurance bounty, a constantly-updated part of UO.com that shows kill points there, etc.

-Galen's player

 

[Sauteed Onion]

I played Aion during a browse over some free to play games, and one thing they did was really interesting and not a concept I've personally seen anywhere else, but I'm sure it's exists in some other game. (Also I do not like Aion very much, to WoW'ish).

When you create a new character you can open your options tab up and choose to go to a special server that is shared amongst all other servers for the first 50 levels of play, you gain increased exp per monster but not quests (which is like how you get stronger in the game for UO purists who've never strayed from this mmo), and can basically bump elbows with more than enough people to get into a dungeon. The things you can't do in that server are pvp, the exception being dueling. It's a bit more in depth than that, but to see what I'm talking about, I encourage devs to fire up an account (it's completely free to play, even with no purchases from the cash shop you have full access to everything anyone else does) and you can get a better understanding of what's going on. On the newbie server though there are some fairly intelligent ideas; no exchanging items or money, no access to pvp areas (to avoid safely farming reputation points to exchange for gear I'm assuming), and a few quests that can't be done on the newbie server requiring you to go into enemy territory to complete them. These quests are a bit more monetarily rewarding and experience giving than the typical quests; but still rarely done because so few people will take the time out of their day to help you with them.

I will say the idea was brilliant, but it's an entirely different game, and I'm sure replicating it in a UO form will pose a challenge of it's own. Anyhow, back to thinking of ways to interest developers into putting cinnamon rolls ingame.

 

[Gospel]

As you have literally no idea what this would require from a development standpoint, I don't think you can realistically say the benefit would be worth it. If cross shard servers of any kind were to be made, newbie dungeons would be nowhere near the top of the priority list. You seem to spend a lot of time trying to think of compelling suggestions and that certainly isn't a bad thing, I just don't understand why you can't apply some common sense to them.

 

[Lord Frodo]

I know we don't want to merge whole shards together, but have the devs ever stated whether it's possible to merge dungeon servers?

I'm sure it wouldn't be easy, but I think the benefit would be worth it. Especially for a newbie dungeon in old haven. I doubt I'm the only one whose ran into a new/returning player in Covetous 1 or somewhere, wondering where everyone else is and what he should be doing. Players are given quests to level to 50 skill in old haven, and after that they are on their own. Wherever they go from there, they aren't likely to see many other players for a long time.

3 reasons why this is a bad idea:

• The lag alone would kills this.
• There are players that like playing on lower populated shards.
• The largest shard would control all the dungeons.

 

[Lord Frodo]

Would also love to see a new dungeon area with some special item rules... Characters can't trade items or loot corpses... With a Fel rule set and a new champ spawn...

New pvp zone open to all shards with a champ to fight over...!

All about "Show Me the Money" and Alt would control this. So sad that you have to 'LURE" people to PvP.

PvP for the sake of PvP is DEAD. So so SAD.

 

[Merus]

All about "Show Me the Money" and Alt would control this. So sad that you have to 'LURE" people to PvP.

PvP for the sake of PvP is DEAD. So so SAD.

What a sad small view of the world....

I didn't say anything about new drops, just a new champ spawn... Something us fel players haven't already done 10,000 times. Furthermore, I don't see this as a lure to get people to pvp, champs can be done at will on most shards with no chance of pvp. I do see it as something that those who like to pvp to pvp over.

As far as who would control, I find it short sited to assume everyone on ATL would fight on the same team and that no one from another shard would fight with them. The truth is that there are several pvp groups on ATL that would continue to fight each other... And those from the smaller shards would be able to band together or join up with an ATL crew to get in on the action.

The biggest benefit to something like this would be that pvpers from all shards would be able to pvp against a much larger segment of the population without having to create characters and suits for multiple shards. This is what killed pvp on most of the smaller shards... Faction gear went to crap and everyone lost their suit. If they could find a way to make this happen and limit the ability for it to be used as a item/gold transfer system I think it would go along way to make pvpers happy.

 

[Lord Frodo]

What a sad small view of the world....

I didn't say anything about new drops, just a new champ spawn... Something us fel players haven't already done 10,000 times. Furthermore, I don't see this as a lure to get people to pvp, champs can be done at will on most shards with no chance of pvp. I do see it as something that those who like to pvp to pvp over.

As far as who would control, I find it short sited to assume everyone on ATL would fight on the same team and that no one from another shard would fight with them. The truth is that there are several pvp groups on ATL that would continue to fight each other... And those from the smaller shards would be able to band together or join up with an ATL crew to get in on the action.

The biggest benefit to something like this would be that pvpers from all shards would be able to pvp against a much larger segment of the population without having to create characters and suits for multiple shards. This is what killed pvp on most of the smaller shards... Faction gear went to crap and everyone lost their suit. If they could find a way to make this happen and limit the ability for it to be used as a item/gold transfer system I think it would go along way to make pvpers happy.

So as you stated ther has to be a reason to PvP.
PvP for the sake of PvP is DEAD. So so SAD.

 

[Petra Fyde]

Suppose you put this idea on hold till we see how the proposed champ spawn re-vamp turns out?
'Less formulaic' is, I think, what Mesanna said at the party?

 

[Merus]

Suppose you put this idea on hold till we see how the proposed champ spawn re-vamp turns out?
'Less formulaic' is, I think, what Mesanna said at the party?

The actual function of the champ spawn is small issue to my idea. I wouldn't really see any reason for the spawn itself to be unique... What would be unique would be to have a place where pvpers from all shards could come with their existing characters/suits to fight each other and go back home when the fight is over. I think it would improve the overall participation of those who like to pvp but don't want to uproot from their smaller population shards.

 

[yadiman]

Well this was about NEW PLAYERS. I know people would rather sink the whole ship rather than care about new players. Who has the hardest time finding other people to group with? New players. And who is NOT going to come to these forums and ask for things? New players... As someone already said, Atlantic will dominate a pvp dungeon like this.

BTW, there would be 2 host servers for lag issues. 1 for east coast, 1 for west coast shards.

 

[Lord Frodo]

Well this was about NEW PLAYERS. I know people would rather sink the whole ship rather than care about new players. Who has the hardest time finding other people to group with? New players. And who is NOT going to come to these forums and ask for things? New players... As someone already said, Atlantic will dominate a pvp dungeon like this.

BTW, there would be 2 host servers for lag issues. 1 for east coast, 1 for west coast shards.

If PvPers want this then it is all about looking for more SHEEP. If this is for NEW PLAYERS/Returning Vets then it needs to be PvM.

 

[yadiman]

If PvPers want this then it is all about looking for more SHEEP. If this is for NEW PLAYERS/Returning Vets then it needs to be PvM.

Yep, the most likely place for this dungeon would be in Old Haven. Players should be about to skill from 50-100+ in there. Add the new loot system and also some things to do for non-fighters.

 

[Merus]

If PvPers want this then it is all about looking for more SHEEP. If this is for NEW PLAYERS/Returning Vets then it needs to be PvM.

If our dev team is able to make something like this a reality, there could be more than one.

What would be really great is if they were able to join multiple areas together over multiple shards... A east/west coast lost lands, etc. It would seem easier to do the fel ones since they can not be recalled into, but I am all for doing both facets.

 

[Minerva Foxglove]

Almost all new players ask: What dungeon should I visite first. Not long ago the answer was Despise. Low on casting monsters and with everything from lizzards to Ogre Lords . They learned and gained loads in there. Now when someone ask that question in help chat , no replies. How do I explain the way to some Orc Fort or Graveyard? where should I send them?? The first lvl of Covetous isnt too bad, but nothing I can think about can compare with Despise. They cant take on the Wind ants yet. I could never dream of Despise being revamped without anything for the new characters to do instead. I dont understand why each shard couldnt have a replacement dungeon in Old Haven thou.

 

[Thunderz]

I think a good first step for new players would be MORE quests that gives them a map say that sends them to a town to collect something or a place to kill something so they get an idea of where what is in the world and like a book of 'hang' out spots were there likely to find other players like Luna etc. I know there is a lot of quests in towns that give some items like the artist and the old obsidian statue but they don't know we're to find these quests unless run around every town. Also maybe better rewards for quests in towns as the mostly likely ones noobs will run into are compassion escorts that they will think wow all that for 200gp's

I'd love to see more quests all round, that's what I liked a out wow it opened up the world to you to explore and a reason to fight mobs not just use a golem like now
There is still loads of the world I haven't seen when I go on little exploring trips and I've been playing 10 years lol

Thunders

 

[CovenantX]

Suppose you put this idea on hold till we see how the proposed champ spawn re-vamp turns out?
'Less formulaic' is, I think, what Mesanna said at the party?

It would be nice, to hear what types of updates are planned to happen, "sneak-peaks" if you will.

But in all honesty, I think it's important that the specific changes "Bleak" mentioned should be done Before or During spawns revamp:

This thread has been a great read thus far, combat balance will always be an ongoing task for us. We currently have the armor revamp in the works as well as a re-balancing of all weapons. Details of those changes will be given as they are ready for public testing. Just wanted to poke my head in to let you know that we are listening.

A couple thoughts on the op:

Mysticism - Stoneform + Protection will be looked at.
Throwing - will be adjusted with the total weapon re-balance.
Archery - will be adjusted with the total weapon re-balance which will bring it up to throwing levels.
Melee Weapon Skills - Two handed weaponswill be adjusted with the total weapon re-balance and all weapon special moves are subject to change.

First, I'd say, You don't want to make something in pvp-land become attractive, when there are things imbalanced as they are. because doing this would make it short-lived.

Secondly, If spawns Do get revamped Before Weapons do: This would explain why balancing would be much harder than it needs to be. Only because of the way damage & stats scale between monsters & players. it would make sense to me, to make sure that in the ways of items/skills, should be as balanced as possible in PvP<PvM, would make it easier to tune PvM upwards (based on an already balanced aspect) making it more challenging, and interesting to people who are not so interested in the pvm aspects, without breaking it for people who are already actively participating in pvm.

I know, This is something that would involve a lot of imbalances between when the two "Champ-spawns & weapon/pvp re-balancing" would take place.... Unless they were both done in the Same Publish. Maybe have an extended Testing period, so that there would be Less of a chance something would go amiss.

Does it not make sense to balance one thing and balance the other accordingly?

 

[Minerva Foxglove]

Newbe dungeon coming this publish! And it sounds like a mini Despice. Cant wait to see it! Thanks devs!