Publish 81 Update?

[Cetric]

Haven't heard anything about the publish from a dev in a while. It was announced that it was added to TC a month in advance to get feedback, I get that. But it was been 1 month and 3 weeks since it was added.

Feb 1st - announced
Feb 8th - Update 1
Feb 22nd- Update 2
March 8th - Update 3

Are we due for an update today?

Before all the naysayers come rolling around stating that "let them get it right before they put it in" I understand the sentiment, but the last update took two weeks and the only thing added of significance was giving 4 more resists to some material bonuses, which thank god i didn't make suits right before that update, or i would of been pretty irritated.

Just hoping for an update, or at elast a dev comment stating what they are working on with it. there is a lot of high anticipation for many people, but others, the holdup is costing game play (armor/template designs).

 

[Winker]

let them get it right before they put it in

 

[Lord Frodo]

NO because they are dealing with this http://uo.com/article/Character-Transfer-Downtime right now, shortly after dealing with this http://uo.com/article/Account-Center-Maintenance-0320

 

[AxiamInc]

I was guessing that we'd see some kind of update today.

Though it isn't even 1pm on the East Coast yet, so I'm not going to freak out for a few more hours.

 

[Viper09]

Let them take their time. After all, this is more of an overhaul than a simple publish.

 

[Vexxed]

Haven't heard anything about the publish from a dev in a while. It was announced that it was added to TC a month in advance to get feedback, I get that. But it was been 1 month and 3 weeks since it was added.

Feb 1st - announced
Feb 8th - Update 1
Feb 22nd- Update 2
March 8th - Update 3

Are we due for an update today?

Before all the naysayers come rolling around stating that "let them get it right before they put it in" I understand the sentiment, but the last update took two weeks and the only thing added of significance was giving 4 more resists to some material bonuses, which thank god i didn't make suits right before that update, or i would of been pretty irritated.

Just hoping for an update, or at elast a dev comment stating what they are working on with it. there is a lot of high anticipation for many people, but others, the holdup is costing game play (armor/template designs).

It still doesn't hurt to let us know where things stand. I'm definitely in the same boat as a lot of other people because I'm waiting to redo some suits & pub 81 is what I'm waiting for. I'd be playing more & having more fun doing it ..... heck even if they gave me a better idea of WHEN I might see pub 81 I could make some decessions. We all know that "ah who cares I want it now!! " feeling & have given in to it in UO heh.

 

[silent]

More frequent communication about the issues everyone is concerned about would be nice instead of 10 page threads debating the same issues over and over again. No acknowledgement that any one particular idea has been heard. Just one day there will be another post with what they decided to do that will start off a whole new series of debates yet again. It would be nice if we could address the main concerns of this patch interactively one by one with the dev team and be assured the next update to test center will have at least a majority approval from the player base.

 

[flappy6]

they can wait 6 months to release it but something will be messed up ,it always does, no biggie after 15 years just deal with it

 

[Lady Storm]

PLEASE LET THEM WORK OUT THE BUGS!!!!!!!
Give them all the time to hang themselves.... and get it right for once. As i understand it there is still work on some aspects of the armor and weapons needed and I for one want it to stay on Test till its good to go and NO BUGS. Wishfull thinking I know...

 

[MalagAste]

Personally I wish they would just table this silly idea of adding the new system to armor crafting/enhancing...

No bugs.... that's so funny..... ..... that'll happen. NOT.

 

[Cetric]

Storm, its not the bugs, its the weird system they added. literally the majority of the publish is great, but this strange refinement system they are trying to add is borking it and delaying everything.

The good part about the publish is what is holding everyones suit building up.

 

[Lady Storm]

Yea I know ...............UO =no bugs??
Its a hoot when you been here for close to 16 years and never once has a publish gone in with out a bug of any kind...... makes you wonder.

 

[NuSair]

More frequent communication about the issues everyone is concerned about would be nice instead of 10 page threads debating the same issues over and over again. No acknowledgement that any one particular idea has been heard. Just one day there will be another post with what they decided to do that will start off a whole new series of debates yet again. It would be nice if we could address the main concerns of this patch interactively one by one with the dev team and be assured the next update to test center will have at least a majority approval from the player base.

Communication has never been their strong point.

 

[KLOMP]

The developers really love Refinement and the players UNIVERSALLY hate it, so the publish has been delayed for an extra month while the devs frantically rearrange deck chairs on the Titanic, trying to save their stupid idea. It's really one of the more perverse spectacles I've seen in recent UO development history. You won't find anything else like it without going back to at least MrTact and his failed Diminishing Returns system, and that was years and years ago now.

 

[Kyronix]

You should see an update to TC sometime next week. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

 

[Cetric]

You should see an update to TC sometime next week. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Thanks, you're the man!

 

[hen]

You should see an update to TC sometime next week. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Is Phoenix still part of the UO team?

 

[Orgional Farimir]

The developers really love Refinement and the players UNIVERSALLY hate it, so the publish has been delayed for an extra month while the devs frantically rearrange deck chairs on the Titanic, trying to save their stupid idea. It's really one of the more perverse spectacles I've seen in recent UO development history. You won't find anything else like it without going back to at least MrTact and his failed Diminishing Returns system, and that was years and years ago now.

LOL Truth hurts because it is the truth.

 

[KLOMP]

This is going to be a very interesting test case on whether the developers REALLY care about feedback or not. Will they ditch a proposed system they really like, just because pretty much every single player hates it? Or will they really insist on cramming it down our throats?

 

[Lore Denin (GL)]

This is going to be a very interesting test case on whether the developers REALLY care about feedback or not. Will they ditch a proposed system they really like, just because pretty much every single player hates it? Or will they really insist on cramming it down our throats?

If they insist on implementing like they planned then I agree with Klomp...

However, If they've read and understood the player's feedback, I think Refinement can be a great system that improves crafting and combat. Its really about intergrating their ideas into a pre-existing game with multiple systems that require a great deal of experience and knowledge to balance correctly.

-Lore's Player

 

[Winker]

This is going to be a very interesting test case on whether the developers REALLY care about feedback or not. Will they ditch a proposed system they really like, just because pretty much every single player hates it? Or will they really insist on cramming it down our throats?

Being a games developer is like being a politician. Just because we pay their wages does not mean they will do what we want, once they have the job, they think their ideas are better than ours and they think there is no need to listen to those who pay their wages.

Democracy is a one way street.

 

[Petra Fyde]

Is Phoenix still part of the UO team?

If you consult his profile you will see it says:

Phoenix_Mythic was last seen:
Yesterday at 9:45 PM

or whatever your timezone is.

Being a games developer is like being a politician. Just because we pay their wages does not mean they will do what we want, once they have the job, they think their ideas are better than ours and they think there is no need to listen to those who pay their wages.

Democracy is a one way street.

Listen? And when there are 20 or more different opinions on each change, which opinion do they listen to? It's not as easy as you're trying to make it appear.
The tweaks they've already made prove that they ARE listening.

The unfairness of some of the accusations thrown at the devs on this board make me truely sad.

 

[Winker]

Listen? And when there are 20 or more different opinions on each change, which opinion do they listen to? It's not as easy as you're trying to make it appear.
The tweaks they've already made prove that they ARE listening.

The unfairness of some of the accusations thrown at the devs on this board make me truely sad.

If they listened in the first place we would never be where we are about to be. The Paying Playing, community was just asking for ALL armor to be made usable. No one ever asked for these refinements to be added and hidden stats that will be added. We are now trying to do damage limitation on a feature that the DEV's want. These changes are about to be real game changing changes and if history is anything to go by, once they are live on the main servers that’s it! They will be here to stay. If people decide that they either don't like the new changes or cant understand them, these changes could mean the death of the game, then where will we all be?

I see nothing unfair about having our say. Once the game is ruined they can move onto another job, what do we the players do?

 

[SpyderBite]

I see nothing unfair about having our say. Once the game is ruined they can move onto another fjob, what do we the players do?

Move on to another game?

I heard stories a few people who have done this over the years. Probably just an urban legend though since its silly to believe that UO is not the only MMO in existence.

 

[KLOMP]

And when there are 20 or more different opinions on each change, which opinion do they listen to? It's not as easy as you're trying to make it appear.

Except the opinion that Refinement is garbage is pretty much unanimous. The system was derided as overcomplicated unasked-for crap when it debuted, and a month of tweaking has only made it even less popular. A few optimists want it put aside to be revisited and rebalanced in the future, while as far as I can tell most of us just want it gone.

 

[Lord Lew]

these changes could mean the death of the game

The sky is falling, the sky is falling.. Year after year, Change after change, the same cry rings out. Looking around, 15 years later UO is still running. Yes the player base is smaller, but in separating the wheat from the chaff, it's stronger. As long as the hardcore player base continues to support the game, it ill survive, and the sky falling statements will continue.

Enjoy UO, it's why we're here, adapt with it!

 

[MalagAste]

I'm sure if they implemented the Refinement system tomorrow it would NOT be the death of UO. Though it will be yet another disappointment for some like myself which will push me that much closer to seeking another game that is more "fun" and less straining on my brain. I play to relax..... not to do calculus and complicated mathmatics just to play. I want to enjoy the community aspect... not get frustrated everytime I have to consider whether it is more beneficial to assist someone in making a suit for them or just tell them to forget it it's too complicated and I just don't want to do it. It's pretty close to that now... I've still yet to do any of the reforging and I highly doubt I ever will..... add another system and I'm highly likely to not bother wasting time with that either...

I keep hoping they can make thing LESS complicated. Not force me to switch out all my armor on 56+ characters ..... honestly I don't think they really know the impact of doing something like that. NO one suit is going to benefit every template. Sure some templates could use the same style suit but with so many different combinations of skills and such it's not possible to use the same suit on every player.... and with all the random properties out there on everything you do it's not possible to figure up "one" magic template for "spellcasters" or for "dexers" or anything you see where I'm going.... It's not write down what worked on that and use that to build each time because it's not going to be the same... each and every suit will be unique and a pain in the ___ to calculate...

Now they want to change all the rules on what you want to have on your suit to begin with not to mention change up what you have on your weapons.... so build all new weapons and all new armor... And for what???? Why add to the confusion, when all we REALLY wanted was a way to change things so we weren't all wearing the same robe, glasses, and boots. So we had some variety to look at. And to make the base properties of things more "balanced"... So people might actually WANT to use dragon scale ....... or bone...... or metal...... other than the samurai stuff with the free mage property.

And lets also remember we also wanted something to balance out templates so one or two are not always the "Flavor of the Month" super slayer template...... so everyone gets an equal chance in combat and in PvM.

 

[NuSair]

This is going to be a very interesting test case on whether the developers REALLY care about feedback or not. Will they ditch a proposed system they really like, just because pretty much every single player hates it? Or will they really insist on cramming it down our throats?

That statement shows that you really don't understand what their jobs are and what development means.

Do I like refinements? No. I think the system is over complicated and I think that a Legendary Smith/Tailor (at least) should have a bit of control over which elemental resist are affected (even to the point of adding in an extra ingredient to say which resist you want to affect).

Anyway- their job is to do what they feel is best for the game. Even if most of the players disagree, it is their job, if they truly believe that it is best for the game to implement it.

While I don't like more than a few things they do, I respect that they are doing their jobs (well, except on the no communication part, I think that is one of the dumbest things ever).

 

[NuSair]

Things I would consider:

Keeping refinements for everything but woodland armor.
Giving highly skilled blacksmiths/tailors the chance/choice to affect which resist are effected.
Possibly adding in an alchemist component for that.
Allowing GM carpenters the chance/ability to choose which Heartwood bonus goes on the armor.

Allowing for the modification of resist caps / DCI cap, ect is an interesting idea and different enough that I could see using it as an alternative to the bonuses of woodland armor. But, in doing that, I would allow woodland a better chance of getting what it wants from Heartwood. As it is, a 1 in 7 chance (which is something I feel most people are missing) of getting what you want is pretty extreme, especially when you can't get anything really back out of it and have to trash the piece.

 

[Lord Lew]

And lets also remember we also wanted something to balance out templates so one or two are not always the "Flavor of the Month" super slayer template...... so everyone gets an equal chance in combat and in PvM.

No matter what the Devs do, there will always be a flavor of the month, and a best set of gear or items. The player base will quickly find what works the best, spread the word, and it becomes the in template or item. It has been this way since the birth of UO, from tank Mage through thrower, and will continue through the next big thing.

I agree that it's become a complicated mess, but at least it's a challenge, unlike the rest of the ginder games out here.

 

[Petra Fyde]

Except the opinion that Refinement is garbage is pretty much unanimous. The system was derided as overcomplicated unasked-for crap when it debuted, and a month of tweaking has only made it even less popular. A few optimists want it put aside to be revisited and rebalanced in the future, while as far as I can tell most of us just want it gone.

There's a small, but important, phrase missing from your statement. The phrase is 'of those who expressed an opinion'. You totally discount those people who have not expressed an opinion on the proposal either way. There are more people playing this game than are represented by those posting in this thread. It reminds me of votes I've seen spoken of on our news channels '60% of those who voted chose [this]' and then you find only 25% of those elegible to vote actually did so. 60% of 25% is a long way from being a majority.
I suggest that everyone wait until next week to see what the most recent changes will be.

 

[Winker]

There's a small, but important, phrase missing from your statement. The phrase is 'of those who expressed an opinion'. You totally discount those people who have not expressed an opinion on the proposal either way. There are more people playing this game than are represented by those posting in this thread. It reminds me of votes I've seen spoken of on our news channels '60% of those who voted chose [this]' and then you find only 25% of those elegible to vote actually did so. 60% of 25% is a long way from being a majority.
I suggest that everyone wait until next week to see what the most recent changes will be.

Thats the most worrying thing, 90% of the people who play the game never come here. So when changes do go live, they (The 90% who never come here) then make a decission, wheather or not they like the new changes and wheather or not the new changes change the game to the point where the game becomes no longer fun to play. Now thats the scary part.

Just like the faction changes, most of my friends who left the game due to the last faction changes never come to stratics but yet they hated the changes so much they desided the game was no longer fun for them to play.

 

[MalagAste]

Thats the most worrying thing, 90% of the people who play the game never come here. So when changes do go live, they (The 90% who never come here) then make a decission, wheather or not they like the new changes and wheather or not the new changes change the game to the point where the game becomes no longer fun to play. Now thats the scary part.

Just like the faction changes, most of my friends who left the game due to the last faction changes never come to stratics but yet they hated the changes so much they desided the game was no longer fun for them to play.

This is exactly it. Of the people I know only one or two come here..... some used to come here but for reasons I understand they don't anymore.... I'm one of the last holdouts that do. And most of them look to me to let them know what's going on since it's certainly not on the "official" UO site or half the time not on the log in screen where it ought to be.

Most those I know would never have known about the roses given for Valentines or the Goose which is coming out now if I didn't let them know.

You know the only thing I'd like to see would be MYUO back up and running like it should be. For now there is NOWHERE to go and look at what a guild is about or even what guilds are on a shard. It's sad. We used to use MYUO to help newer players train in skills. So we could keep track of who was and was not working on their skills and how we could help them if they were stuck on something. But that's long gone.

 

[Parnoc]

Personally I wish they would just table this silly idea of adding the new system to armor crafting/enhancing...

No bugs.... that's so funny..... ..... that'll happen. NOT.

Signed

 

[Ender]

Things I would consider:

Keeping refinements for everything but woodland armor.
Giving highly skilled blacksmiths/tailors the chance/choice to affect which resist are effected.
Possibly adding in an alchemist component for that.
Allowing GM carpenters the chance/ability to choose which Heartwood bonus goes on the armor.

Allowing for the modification of resist caps / DCI cap, ect is an interesting idea and different enough that I could see using it as an alternative to the bonuses of woodland armor. But, in doing that, I would allow woodland a better chance of getting what it wants from Heartwood. As it is, a 1 in 7 chance (which is something I feel most people are missing) of getting what you want is pretty extreme, especially when you can't get anything really back out of it and have to trash the piece.

I would kill for being able to choose which Heartwood bonus gets rolled. As it is now, enhancing a piece at all is a crapshoot and even if you do succeed odds are it'll still be a waste of materials anyway.

 

[budman23]

There's a small, but important, phrase missing from your statement. The phrase is 'of those who expressed an opinion'. You totally discount those people who have not expressed an opinion on the proposal either way. There are more people playing this game than are represented by those posting in this thread. It reminds me of votes I've seen spoken of on our news channels '60% of those who voted chose [this]' and then you find only 25% of those elegible to vote actually did so. 60% of 25% is a long way from being a majority.
I suggest that everyone wait until next week to see what the most recent changes will be.

Who exactly would expect a third party entity like Stratics to run the boards for Ultima Online?
What other "successfull" game does this? Any? I know stratics does this for many games but honestly who else would come here before their own games boards?

Stratics has been a consistent giver of false information from lied or cheated polls to the just lets delete this post attitude because i can.

The sheer fact ultima never made their own boards isn't only a testament to how far they will go to save a dollar, but how far they will go to not spend the dollars i give them.

 

[Tanivar]

I found they'd added the Reforging after my last break from the game, more complications to making gear. Now we have this new pile of complications about to be dumped on us like a pile of rotting manure. I want to have fun playing a game, not have to deal with more complications.

We are definitely lab rats in an experiment to find out how much garbage an online game player will take before he quits. Nothing else fits the situation. They're going to have to try harder in our cases though.

 

[Viper09]

The sheer fact ultima never made their own boards isn't only a testament to how far they will go to save a dollar, but how far they will go to not spend the dollars i give them.

Ultima did have their own forums. And if you ever think for a minute that stratics is too strict at times then you should be thankful you never posted in those forums.

 

[Orgional Farimir]

I found they'd added the Reforging after my last break from the game, more complications to making gear. Now we have this new pile of complications about to be dumped on us like a pile of rotting manure. I want to have fun playing a game, not have to deal with more complications.

We are definitely lab rats in an experiment to find out how much garbage an online game player will take before he quits. Nothing else fits the situation. They're going to have to try harder in our cases though.

Yes!!!!!! crafting it already to complicated. After working with numbers, excel, and people all day the last thing I want to do when I get home from work is pull out another spread sheet for a "game"

KISS..... KEEP IT SIMPLY STUPID.

 

[Kage]

The sky is falling, the sky is falling.. Year after year, Change after change, the same cry rings out. Looking around, 15 years later UO is still running. Yes the player base is smaller, but in separating the wheat from the chaff, it's stronger. As long as the hardcore player base continues to support the game, it ill survive, and the sky falling statements will continue.

Enjoy UO, it's why we're here, adapt with it!

running? More like limping... UO is not still running is slowly dieing. And yes these changes could be the final blow. Sure maybe not for the crafters, farmers, role players, bank sitters, etc... but for PVP this could very well be the end...

 

[Viper09]

And yes these changes could be the final blow. Sure maybe not for the crafters, farmers, role players, bank sitters, etc... but for PVP this could very well be the end...

Statements like these remind me of The Boy who Cried Wolf...

 

[Kage]

Statements like these remind me of The Boy who Cried Wolf...

Explain? Because that makes no sense...

 

[Viper09]

Explain? Because that makes no sense...

Countless times throughout UO's history people have cried wolf over changes that are believed to be the "final blow."

Edit: You know, the whole "sky is falling" reaction where a certain change will bring devastation. Hear it all the time and yet there is still no wolf.

 

[KLOMP]

There's a small, but important, phrase missing from your statement. The phrase is 'of those who expressed an opinion'.

Look if 100% outrageously negative feedback isn't enough to make you discard an idea, then don't pretend you give a **** about listening to feedback. Don't just go "Well I bet someone somewhere would like this idea, so I'm just going to assume they exist and pre-emptively listen to their feedback that they haven't actually said!"

 

[Lord Lew]

running? More like limping... UO is not still running is slowly dieing. And yes these changes could be the final blow. Sure maybe not for the crafters, farmers, role players, bank sitters, etc... but for PVP this could very well be the end...

Kage, the true pvp in uo will adapt and continue, always has, always will. I've heard the slow death cry for 15 years, and expect it for another 15. Yes some will leave and try to find pvp elsewhere, but they will return. I'm gad humanity did not just give up and quit when change happened!!

Call it what you want, but our game has, is, and will change. And it's up to you to adapt or perish, the game will be just fine.

 

[NuSair]

Look if 100% outrageously negative feedback isn't enough to make you discard an idea, then don't pretend you give a **** about listening to feedback. Don't just go "Well I bet someone somewhere would like this idea, so I'm just going to assume they exist and pre-emptively listen to their feedback that they haven't actually said!"

Thing is, the feedback hasn't been 100% negative. That's the problem with people who think this way and their statements. They feel like they are standing for a majority of the community when actually, they are just stand up for their misguided and self righteous claims to make themselves feel better and more important.

 

[Arrgh]

Move on to another game?

I heard stories a few people who have done this over the years. Probably just an urban legend though since its silly to believe that UO is not the only MMO in existence.

The rest of the games suck...

 

[Cetric]

Thing is, the feedback hasn't been 100% negative. That's the problem with people who think this way and their statements. They feel like they are standing for a majority of the community when actually, they are just stand up for their misguided and self righteous claims to make themselves feel better and more important.

Please point out the positive feedback regarding refinements to hold up this argument. KLOMP could list 100s of negative ones.

That and stam leech changes are the only things that have appeared to be universally despised.

 

[KLOMP]

Thing is, the feedback hasn't been 100% negative. That's the problem with people who think this way and their statements. They feel like they are standing for a majority of the community when actually, they are just stand up for their misguided and self righteous claims to make themselves feel better and more important.

The reaction to Refinement has been, and I am not exaggerating one bit, the most overwhelmingly negative I have ever seen for any proposed idea. Go read the threads.

 

[Lore Denin (GL)]

The reaction to Refinement has been, and I am not exaggerating one bit, the most overwhelmingly negative I have ever seen for any proposed idea.

There has strong disagreement on aspects of Refinement but not the concept itself... Regardless of how good an idea is, people will always have different views on the fine details but as long as the concept is well liked, there is plenty of room to refine and balance it.

If you want an example of a proposed change that was not recieved well in concept or details look at the negative feedback recieved by the proposed faction changes. The outrage was so loud and the concepts so out of touch with the game and players that there was no middle ground to move forward.

A complete shame since I moved my entire guild to Origin to help tests the ideas and concepts only to find they scrapped the idea. I wish they had used their initial setback as a stepping stone to sucessfully update factions rather then throwing their hands up and giving up on Faction reform.

-Lore's Player

PS: People will mention rumors of a new Order/Chaos system in the works which is great but both systems should be updated together to reflect changes in the fiction and game mechanics.