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[UO.Com] Publish 90 Part 1 Time of legends

Cyrah

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend

On test I placed new stone walls in a castle. You click them like the ter mur rugs to lock. They did not decay and I place some in a custom house , did same to lock and they did not decay. That is all I know. To get short walls use deco tool on the short corner one, it can become all directions and or a corner. Petra told me this.
 

Capt. Lucky

Grand Inquisitor
Stratics Veteran
yes there is a reason, some people have not learned how to behave in a mature and respectful way!.
You can post in a constructive and respectful way and still tell, what you feel is good and bad.
If Devs have to read posts like yours, to get some useful info from testing and useful opinions, they will have less time to fix the game.
Frustrations about how the new stuff works are useful info too as new and returning players may feel that way too. Just post it in a better way.

Maybe Mods need to remove some posts, that break the rules about showing respect to others including Devs
Hey you talk the talk, walk the walk, show me where I'm disrespectful. In this everyone gets a trophy world I say exactly what I think. I don't blow sunshine around, beg, flatter, if I don't mean it, then pull a dagger outta my cloak at the end of the flattery in the last line of the post. I speak very directly to what I really feel and think. I sincerely appreciate others to do the same with me. Like you've done :) *IF* it's truthful. Show me where I lied about anything I've posted. If ya haven't got thick skin you got no place being a dev for a video game. I'm not rude, I'm direct. I'm truthful and honest in my love for this game and my opinions. People that can't handle that should go home to mom and have a good cry till they feel better. I'm passionate about this game and it shows. If you search my posts Mesanna has been super helpful to me at times and I posted about it here. She very often goes above and beyond for the community and she's done so for me. When that happened I applauded her publicly. Same with the dev team. When she makes lame excuses I call her on that too. That's who I am. Direct? Yes. Disrespectful? No. BTW you've directly violated the Stractics ROC personally attacking me about not being constructive or respectful because I don't conform to your thinking :) So get your own house in order then come talk to me.
 
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Uvtha

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Just tested Swordsmanship Masteries.
"Onslaught" with 120 Swords/120 Tactics and a 100% Physical Damage Iron Katana, applied a flat -20% Physical Resist debuff for 6 seconds to a High Plains Boura, dropping him from 64% Physical Resist, to 44%. Onslaught ignores Consecrate Weapon, and will always debuff the Resist that your weapon regularly targets.
Onslaught with 120 Swords/120 Tactics and a 100% Physical Damage Iron Katana, applied a flat -10% Physical Resist debuff to another player for 6 seconds. This debuff can be overcome by overcapping Resists, so 80/80/80/80/85 renders an Elf immune to the effects of Onslaught.
Well that sounds like it has some utility anyway, especially in a group. Sadly, solo this would only be useful on monsters with resists already low enough to use double strike rather than armor ignore.
 

PlayerSkillFTW

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Tested Parry Mastery.

"Heighten Senses" with 120 Parry/120 Wep Skill gives +12% Parry chance, and costs 10 Mana (subject to LMC) every 3 seconds to maintain.

"Bodyguard" with 120 Parry/120 Wep Skill gives 50% Damage Reduction to the targeted "protectee", the "protector" will then take 55% of the original damage that the "protectee" would've taken, for 90 seconds. So it basically diverts half the damage from the "protectee", to the "protector". Bodyguard only functions when the protector and protectee are within 2 tiles of each other. This ability is absolutely perfect for cross healing, so long as the protectee is the one with the aggro, tanking.

"Shield Bash" with 120 Parry/120 Weapon Skill did about 60 damage (normal auto hits were averaging 30 damage) to a High Plains Boura, and paralyzed it for 6 seconds. Shield Bash with 120 Parry/120 Weapon Skill did an average of 30 damage (normal auto hits were averaging 15 with a Katana) to another player with max Resists and paralyzed them for 3 seconds.
 
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Uvtha

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Parry Masteries are fun to use, Heigtened Senses make Pure (6x120) Paladin come closer or overpass 120 Bushido 120 Parry Sampire (47% Paladin Parry Chance vs 40% Sampire Parry Chance). I think it was wise move to let people use shields on Warrior Templates more.
I doubt it will make anyone drop Bushido for a shield though. Luckily for me I am one of few warriors who already use a shield. While its fine as it is, I think this and shield bash both could use a buff. Mainly I think that this ability should just be passive when you use a shield.
 

Kojak

Slightly Crazed
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Has anyone going crazy trying to get the tooltips bothered to mouse over the lines of text rather than the buttons? That worked for me.



Okay. Hmm.

What if all the platinum stuff only appeared if you had over 1b on the account? You know just make a copypaste of the gump sans platinum and call that version when the account is under 1b. That removes some clutter for the 95% of players who are never going to use platinum and hides the shock factor involved in tossing a "billions counter" out in front of everyone.

That three-paragraph "you have zero billions lol" NPC bark needs to go away, it's cumbersome and just terrible psychologically.

Balances on the gump for sure. And if the gump is going to appear whenever we open the box, then it needs to close by itself whenever the box closes. I'd still rather see it called via saying "balance" or maybe by clicking an unremovable "gold ledger" item inside the bank box.

And maybe add a withdraw button for the main gold account. I know everyone here knows to say "withdraw x" but that's some pretty basic functionality to make text-command only.
hehe

 

CovenantX

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Skill Masteries


  • Each skill mastery has 3 levels of proficiency and do not have a cumulative requirement (you don’t need to use volume 1 and volume 2 to use volume 3). Double click a volume to learn that mastery.
Continue reading...
Depending on how difficult these masteries are going to be to get, I'm not so sure I like the idea of skipping levels to reach the most potential of something that's tiered

Unless you're able to switch from Mastery tier 3 down to tier 1, if there would be some kind of benefit to doing so?
 

Sinder Shayde

Lore Keeper
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Awards
1
Noticed Tailoring has a few new items to be made. "Chef's Toque" will be a must-have item!..LoL
The craftable armor for both the tigers and dragon turtles looks pretty cool, as does the same for the chars.
Any ideas as of yet where the recipes can be obtained?
 

FrejaSP

Queen of The Outlaws
Professional
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Patron
Hey you talk the talk, walk the walk, show me where I'm disrespectful. In this everyone gets a trophy world I say exactly what I think. I don't blow sunshine around, beg, flatter, if I don't mean it, then pull a dagger outta my cloak at the end of the flattery in the last line of the post. I speak very directly to what I really feel and think. I sincerely appreciate others to do the same with me. Like you've done :) *IF* it's truthful. Show me where I lied about anything I've posted. If ya haven't got thick skin you got no place being a dev for a video game. I'm not rude, I'm direct. I'm truthful and honest in my love for this game and my opinions. People that can't handle that should go home to mom and have a good cry till they feel better. I'm passionate about this game and it shows. If you search my posts Mesanna has been super helpful to me at times and I posted about it here. She very often goes above and beyond for the community and she's done so for me. When that happened I applauded her publicly. Same with the dev team. When she makes lame excuses I call her on that too. That's who I am. Direct? Yes. Disrespectful? No. BTW you've directly violated the Stractics ROC personally attacking me about not being constructive or respectful because I don't conform to your thinking :) So get your own house in order then come talk to me.
Hehe, think we stop it here, you got my point and so did others. I don't think anyone did mean to be disrespectful, they was just frustrated. Sometimes a little wake up call can changes a lot :)
 

FrejaSP

Queen of The Outlaws
Professional
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Patron
Noticed Tailoring has a few new items to be made. "Chef's Toque" will be a must-have item!..LoL
The craftable armor for both the tigers and dragon turtles looks pretty cool, as does the same for the chars.
Any ideas as of yet where the recipes can be obtained?
I too can't wait to craft this, I hope the recipes won't be to hard to get.
 

Riyana

Operations
Administrator
Professional
Governor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Event Coordinator
UNLEASHED
Campaign Patron
Let's keep this thread on topic, please... and without either insulting individuals or unfairly maligning or miscategorizing large swaths of players.

Change can be hard to swallow, but this expansion is mostly additive--nothing is being substantially changed about how you play, and the only thing being taken away is checks (and even those won't go away if they aren't in your bank already). Even if you hate everything you see here, you can easily just not use most of it. For the parts you will use--like the banking and trading options--that's what Test Center is for! Give some constructive feedback. ;)
 

Capt. Lucky

Grand Inquisitor
Stratics Veteran
Hehe, think we stop it here, you got my point and so did others. I don't think anyone did mean to be disrespectful, they was just frustrated. Sometimes a little wake up call can changes a lot :)
And I'm sure you got my point. *Bows with grand flourish*
 

Longtooths

Supreme Commander
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
From what I have read only, I think the additions make the game more confusing for new and returning player to understand. Because of this I do not think this expansion will do much in the way of bringing people to UO and having them stay. It was my sincere desire that it would.
 

Uvtha

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
ecause of this I do not think this expansion will do much in the way of bringing people to UO and having them stay. It was my sincere desire that it would.
That was an unrealistic expectation. I think it's even rather unrealistic to expect anyone who doesn't already play to even be aware there is an expansion going on.
 

Capt. Lucky

Grand Inquisitor
Stratics Veteran
From what I have read only, I think the additions make the game more confusing for new and returning player to understand. Because of this I do not think this expansion will do much in the way of bringing people to UO and having them stay. It was my sincere desire that it would.
The way I see it, the problem is everyone more or less reaches a certain point, at that point the "game" decides to dangle a new carrot on a stick for us to chase to up the bar. So what happens is I have this awesome mage, new "features" come into play and now my mage isn't uber anymore. He's close to uber but he really needs to get these new items and take advantage of these new features. So everyone runs around like a chicken with their head cut off trying to catch up. Everyone gets caught up then the cycle begins a new. This is an easy way to add content and such. Especially with limited dev resources. The problem as I see it is that with every round of new content the game gets more complex and more confusing. If your gone for a year or two and come back it's an entirely different game and can be rather difficult to get back up to speed. Some will succeed, some will not. Those that don't we'll never see again. For a new player it will take awhile to get up to speed with this game, I hope they stick it out. Things like adding stable slots is fine, the concept is easy to understand. Adding new dimensions to characters really isn't always a good thing. I ask can I kill something I didn't before, if not who cares and why bother? If it's just a different way to bring about the same results, what's the point? I like expansions that have new lands (although seriously I think we have enough), add gardening, add house customization, new items to craft, things that really expand the game. Not so much expansions that force me to chase the new carrot that pretty much brings me right back to where I was before. I think we're in the same ballpark on this one. I would like to see a little more vision about completely new innovative features and not so much pet projects like the virtues.
 
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Angel of Sonoma

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
The way I see it, the problem is everyone more or less reaches a certain point, at that point the "game" decides to dangle a new carrot on a stick for us to chase to up the bar. So what happens is I have this awesome mage, new "features" come into play and now my mage isn't uber anymore. He's close to uber but he really needs to get these new items and take advantage of these new features. So everyone runs around like a chicken with their head cut off trying to catch up. Everyone gets caught up then the cycle begins a new. This is an easy way to add content and such. Especially with limited dev resources. The problem as I see it is that with every round of new content the game gets more complex and more confusing. If your gone for a year or two and come back it's an entirely different game and can be rather difficult to get back up to speed. Some will succeed, some will not. Those that don't we'll never see again. For a new player it will take awhile to get up to speed with this game, I hope they stick it out. Things like adding stable slots is fine, the concept is easy to understand. Adding new dimensions to characters really isn't always a good thing. I ask can I kill something I didn't before, if not who cares and why bother? If it's just a different way to bring about the same results, what's the point? I like expansions that have new lands (although seriously I think we have enough), add gardening, add house customization, new items to craft, things that really expand the game. Not so much expansions that force me to chase the new carrot that pretty much brings me right back to where I was before. I think we're in the same ballpark on this one. I would like to see a little more vision about completely new innovative features and not so much pet projects like the virtues.
you nailed it with this post.
 

Lord Frodo

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
From what I have read only, I think the additions make the game more confusing for new and returning player to understand. Because of this I do not think this expansion will do much in the way of bringing people to UO and having them stay. It was my sincere desire that it would.
Hell it ain't just new and returning players that feel this way. Between all the items/properties and everything else to do with equipment and the different char builds and now masteries sometimes just gives you a massive headache and you wish you could just return to simpler times. Just about anything pre Age of **** would suit me fine right about now.
 
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Spock's Beard

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Why is the billion - platinum thing a problem? It's not as if there is actually a physical 'platinum', it's just a way to keep the noughts under control on the bank gump
It makes the game seem like an absolute joke when the first thing the bank has to tell you is how many billions you have. If I came back into the game after quitting a few years ago and saw that, I would immediately write the economy off as a complete loss.

It's just tacky and and makes gold seem worthless.
 

Capt. Lucky

Grand Inquisitor
Stratics Veteran
you nailed it with this post.
Thank you. It's not fair to criticize though and not throw something back. A couple of things I'd like to see done would be for them to revisit the High Seas expansion and make things like reloading cannons and getting the resources to make the stuff you need a lot easier. That was one crazy good expansion in theory that is seldom used and should really be addressed. Cause that could really be an awesome expansion. I'd like to see them go back and do work on the King's Collection so when you pay real life cash and get a tapestry it doesn't sit on the floor and if you raise it a notch it sticks up through the floor. There's a tons of things like this. I'm guessing Broadswords contract with EA probably mandated an expansion. EA *loves* expansions. But once they get past this is would be great if they could relax a bit and clean up a lot of loose ends. Do those things Mesanna always says they're going to revisit in those meet and greets. There's a lot of clean up that needs to be done.
 

Old Vet Back Again

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
It makes the game seem like an absolute joke when the first thing the bank has to tell you is how many billions you have. If I came back into the game after quitting a few years ago and saw that, I would immediately write the economy off as a complete loss.

It's just tacky and and makes gold seem worthless.
Or as an accomplishment?
 

Polaris75

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Why is the billion - platinum thing a problem? It's not as if there is actually a physical 'platinum', it's just a way to keep the noughts under control on the bank gump
Why could there not just be an exchange rate in a "new bank" location for gold checks. Call it the FED... UO style. Everyone who wants to trade a platinum (you could make it worth 50m or something... for easy trades...) can cart however much gold they want to the new bank with pack horses or a beetle... and Viola.

That's the main complaint with all of this is changing our 18+ year old trade window... it's not Ultima if you add cartoon gold to a trade window and numbers... and make it smaller sized... I mean... it's hard to see what you are even trading? I seriously hope it's not too late to fix this one aspect.

The masteries are not looking as bad... new land is ok too, new castle/keep customization rocks... I get it, I have to buy new armor for 500m and make a tamer/weaver/mage if I want to get event items... that's ok too even... I don't get those anyway. The new IDOC system rocks... so in all the work the past year has been a great change. But why change the trade window and take away checks? Every idea the GMs told to us have been proven false with simple logic... or just were a lie to begin with (no offense intended,) but they didn't want poor people to feel shafted about a new banking system just to help the elite trade items and save space.

I like going to the bank for checks... in fact... that is the ONLY reason I go to the bank ever... it makes Ultima seem more realistic. The trade window being simple and the old style helps players feel like it is really Ultima still. Please re-think this Devs... please for the love of the game. I know it's in testing and it is not too late... listen to the complaints on this issue. I get the coding was easy or something... that's no excuse. Someone could work at Pizza Hut easily... but it doesn't mean their family is going to be happy with the results.

You could have 1 single bank in Britain... for a currency exchange. If someone wanted 780 million for some crazy event item... you could take enough gold to the New Britannia Mint and exchange 50 x 15 loads of checks for 15 platinum... and pay the guy 15 platinum (750m) plus 30m for the item. It would seem realistic like Ultima was meant to be... it would be logical... it would simply add a new "real" currency to the world, without taking anything away.

Dupers will keep 100m gold checks to dupe anyway... and we've already deduced that down to an illogical reason, as they can dupe Sphinxes to recuperate any loses. They can still trade gold... so the buying isn't going away from the sites... so I fail to see the point in changing the trade windows and checks that have existed for 18+ years. My idea would also free up space and give the Devs a new "Bank" to design rather than wasting countless hours on coding trade windows and a new banking system... it's absurd to change UO so much.

I hope this was constructive criticism instead of my usual pessimistic take... as I hope it truly helps. Listen to the players on this please - don't change the trade window and make it ugly. Girls absolutely hate ugly stuff... that's the reason we don't use the sheep statue reward, because it should have been the 2d kind and been "cute" my wife says.

Thanks... I do hope they you guys listen. You did on the IDOCs and I thank you, now I've got my 2010 Valentine's day Bear and a few other event items finally. :) :)

*Whispers* [Better yet, make this new bank in felucca!]
 
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Uriah Heep

Grand Poobah
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
The way I see it, the problem is everyone more or less reaches a certain point, at that point the "game" decides to dangle a new carrot on a stick for us to chase to up the bar. So what happens is I have this awesome mage, new "features" come into play and now my mage isn't uber anymore. He's close to uber but he really needs to get these new items and take advantage of these new features. So everyone runs around like a chicken with their head cut off trying to catch up. Everyone gets caught up then the cycle begins a new. This is an easy way to add content and such. Especially with limited dev resources. The problem as I see it is that with every round of new content the game gets more complex and more confusing. If your gone for a year or two and come back it's an entirely different game and can be rather difficult to get back up to speed. Some will succeed, some will not. Those that don't we'll never see again. For a new player it will take awhile to get up to speed with this game, I hope they stick it out. Things like adding stable slots is fine, the concept is easy to understand. Adding new dimensions to characters really isn't always a good thing. I ask can I kill something I didn't before, if not who cares and why bother? If it's just a different way to bring about the same results, what's the point? I like expansions that have new lands (although seriously I think we have enough), add gardening, add house customization, new items to craft, things that really expand the game. Not so much expansions that force me to chase the new carrot that pretty much brings me right back to where I was before. I think we're in the same ballpark on this one. I would like to see a little more vision about completely new innovative features and not so much pet projects like the virtues.
Amen! Some of us get tired of chasing the carrot. I get to play maybe 2 hours a day avg now, I want to log in, have a bit of fun, and then go watch some tv or something. Training just isn't fun anymore...hence the reason I still dont have a mystic or a thrower lol.
 

Lord Frodo

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Amen! Some of us get tired of chasing the carrot. I get to play maybe 2 hours a day avg now, I want to log in, have a bit of fun, and then go watch some tv or something. Training just isn't fun anymore...hence the reason I still dont have a mystic or a thrower lol.
And you also get a big AMEN. UO is starting to get way to complicated for the casual player.
 

Slayvite

Crazed Zealot
Supporter
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
And you also get a big AMEN. UO is starting to get way to complicated for the casual player.
"starting to"???
Lol, it was way to complicated when they introduced Imbuing and item weights that make no sense, on top of chance ratios for enhancing which change with every item and artefact thrown on top just to add to the confusion ect.
The average person without a degree in applied mathematics, it's a hard time to try to be a crafter of any merit....:coco:
 

Polaris75

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Why could there not just be an exchange rate in a "new bank" location for gold checks. Call it the FED... UO style. Everyone who wants to trade a platinum (you could make it worth 50m or something... for easy trades...) can cart however much gold they want to the new bank with pack horses or a beetle... and Viola.

That's the main complaint with all of this is changing our 18+ year old trade window... it's not Ultima if you add cartoon gold to a trade window and numbers... and make it smaller sized... I mean... it's hard to see what you are even trading? I seriously hope it's not too late to fix this one aspect.

The masteries are not looking as bad... new land is ok too, new castle/keep customization rocks... I get it, I have to buy new armor for 500m and make a tamer/weaver/mage if I want to get event items... that's ok too even... I don't get those anyway. The new IDOC system rocks... so in all the work the past year has been a great change. But why change the trade window and take away checks? Every idea the GMs told to us have been proven false with simple logic... or just were a lie to begin with (no offense intended,) but they didn't want poor people to feel shafted about a new banking system just to help the elite trade items and save space.

I like going to the bank for checks... in fact... that is the ONLY reason I go to the bank ever... it makes Ultima seem more realistic. The trade window being simple and the old style helps players feel like it is really Ultima still. Please re-think this Devs... please for the love of the game. I know it's in testing and it is not too late... listen to the complaints on this issue. I get the coding was easy or something... that's no excuse. Someone could work at Pizza Hut easily... but it doesn't mean their family is going to be happy with the results.

You could have 1 single bank in Britain... for a currency exchange. If someone wanted 780 million for some crazy event item... you could take enough gold to the New Britannia Mint and exchange 50 x 15 loads of checks for 15 platinum... and pay the guy 15 platinum (750m) plus 30m for the item. It would seem realistic like Ultima was meant to be... it would be logical... it would simply add a new "real" currency to the world, without taking anything away.

Dupers will keep 100m gold checks to dupe anyway... and we've already deduced that down to an illogical reason, as they can dupe Sphinxes to recuperate any loses. They can still trade gold... so the buying isn't going away from the sites... so I fail to see the point in changing the trade windows and checks that have existed for 18+ years. My idea would also free up space and give the Devs a new "Bank" to design rather than wasting countless hours on coding trade windows and a new banking system... it's absurd to change UO so much.

I hope this was constructive criticism instead of my usual pessimistic take... as I hope it truly helps. Listen to the players on this please - don't change the trade window and make it ugly. Girls absolutely hate ugly stuff... that's the reason we don't use the sheep statue reward, because it should have been the 2d kind and been "cute" my wife says.

Thanks... I do hope they you guys listen. You did on the IDOCs and I thank you, now I've got my 2010 Valentine's day Bear and a few other event items finally. :) :)

*Whispers* [Better yet, make this new bank in felucca!]
I do see an illogicality in my own reasoning... as they could dupe the platinum and exchange it for gold checks I guess... as that you cannot do with the Sphinxes. But still... the trade window... don't take our trade window. :( Maybe the new "Britain Main Bank" would be able to more easily track who traded what platinum pieces... maybe have them tagged with names for example, from Player X to Player Y... that way duping could be tracked?

All in all, thanks dupers... for screwing up Ultima time and again. I still think my ideas above are great. ^^^^^^^^
 

Lord Frodo

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
"starting to"???
Lol, it was way to complicated when they introduced Imbuing and item weights that make no sense, on top of chance ratios for enhancing which change with every item and artefact thrown on top just to add to the confusion ect.
The average person without a degree in applied mathematics, it's a hard time to try to be a crafter of any merit....:coco:
I was trying to keep it to just this publish/expansion but hell anything past the day Age of **** went live qualifies in the complicated category. Please go to post 371.
 

Thrakkar

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
It makes the game seem like an absolute joke when the first thing the bank has to tell you is how many billions you have. If I came back into the game after quitting a few years ago and saw that, I would immediately write the economy off as a complete loss.

It's just tacky and and makes gold seem worthless.
Ah, just like some random guy at the bank handing me over a 1 mio check for apparently no reason? Happened to me once.
Or seeing ridiculously high numbers in vendor search or when rummaging through vendors the old fanshioned way...

Adding platinum in no way changes anything...
It just helps calling a spade a spade.
Personally I couldn't care less about platinum...
 

Old Vet Back Again

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
I do see an illogicality in my own reasoning... as they could dupe the platinum and exchange it for gold checks I guess... as that you cannot do with the Sphinxes. But still... the trade window... don't take our trade window. :( Maybe the new "Britain Main Bank" would be able to more easily track who traded what platinum pieces... maybe have them tagged with names for example, from Player X to Player Y... that way duping could be tracked?

All in all, thanks dupers... for screwing up Ultima time and again. I still think my ideas above are great. ^^^^^^^^
You realize that there hasn't been a gold dupe since like 2005, right? Now those that did the duping had duped massive amounts of gold that most likely are completely sold out. Now they buy from someone, mark it up and resell it. I'm telling you, again, you are extremely daft with the game mechanics and what has been fixed by the devs. Oh ya, and NO ONE CAN DUPE A SPHINX!. If they could, there are much more valuable rares that could be duped and flood the market, but we don't see that happening no do we?

Please for the love of god, just let it go.
 

Uvtha

Stratics Legend
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The way I see it, the problem is everyone more or less reaches a certain point, at that point the "game" decides to dangle a new carrot on a stick for us to chase to up the bar. So what happens is I have this awesome mage, new "features" come into play and now my mage isn't uber anymore. He's close to uber but he really needs to get these new items and take advantage of these new features. So everyone runs around like a chicken with their head cut off trying to catch up. Everyone gets caught up then the cycle begins a new. This is an easy way to add content and such. Especially with limited dev resources. The problem as I see it is that with every round of new content the game gets more complex and more confusing. If your gone for a year or two and come back it's an entirely different game and can be rather difficult to get back up to speed. Some will succeed, some will not. Those that don't we'll never see again. For a new player it will take awhile to get up to speed with this game, I hope they stick it out. Things like adding stable slots is fine, the concept is easy to understand. Adding new dimensions to characters really isn't always a good thing. I ask can I kill something I didn't before, if not who cares and why bother? If it's just a different way to bring about the same results, what's the point? I like expansions that have new lands (although seriously I think we have enough), add gardening, add house customization, new items to craft, things that really expand the game. Not so much expansions that force me to chase the new carrot that pretty much brings me right back to where I was before. I think we're in the same ballpark on this one. I would like to see a little more vision about completely new innovative features and not so much pet projects like the virtues.
I dunno. I don't think what you describe is really all that accurate. I mean, the last time we added any new skills or abilities (outside of bard masteries) was like 7 years ago, and the last time they added in new item properties was like a year after that. It's not some crazy cycle of ups and downs, it wasn't even that way in the days when we got yearly expansions. If you don't pvp so much of the game is completely voluntary. You can do 90% of the game solo with pretty basic gear, and really any kind of template you want, if you have just like... 3 friends, you can do anything. You don't have to be uber, you don't have to change anything if you don't want to. It's not like this is WoW where you MUST farm the right gear to move on to the next area, or do the next thing. It's vastly less restrictive.

That said, game b a MMO after all. If the game never ends, it needs to have content updates or people will just stop playing for want of things to do. After nearly 20 years you have to expect its going to get complex. Honestly I would call it "dense" rather than "complex" as much of it is still pretty straight forward. It only gets complicated when you start getting into the area of perfecting your suit or your template or both so you can solo bosses, something no one ever has to do for any reason other than they enjoy the challenge. Really you just pick your skills, grab a spell book or a sword and go whack at stuff till it dies, and that's about it. It's far less complex process than many other games.

As for "things that really expand the game", you are in really subjective water here. I like deco an all but I am much more interested in opportunities to create different kinds of characters, and to do things differently, to liven up my active play time. I mean I can only arrange items in my house for so many hours in any given month. The most of my time is out in the world doing something, and its great to have new things to go out and do, and new ways to go out and do it. Of course it all boils down to the same thing (kill the monsters) but ALL games are essentially like that. The reason for adding different methods to attain the same results is novelty and personal preference, opportunities to be creative. I mean if you boil your notion down the game should never have expanded beyond beta, they should have just added more plants and house tiles. Of course no one would still be playing, because the novelty of the experience would have dissipated over a decade ago.
 

Uvtha

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Amen! Some of us get tired of chasing the carrot. I get to play maybe 2 hours a day avg now, I want to log in, have a bit of fun, and then go watch some tv or something. Training just isn't fun anymore...hence the reason I still dont have a mystic or a thrower lol.
Then don't chase it? You don't HAVE to. The difference between a mystic thrower and an old school paladin or 6% spell focus and 10% spell focus, are shockingly small. I personally use the skills I want, and playing siege I rarely ever have anything better than imbued gear, and there are only like a handful of monsters I can't fight solo. Don't let people convince you you have to be uber or keep up with every little trend to play this game. You realllllly don't.
 

Petra Fyde

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I do see an illogicality in my own reasoning... as they could dupe the platinum and exchange it for gold checks I guess... as that you cannot do with the Sphinxes. But still... the trade window... don't take our trade window. :( Maybe the new "Britain Main Bank" would be able to more easily track who traded what platinum pieces... maybe have them tagged with names for example, from Player X to Player Y... that way duping could be tracked?

All in all, thanks dupers... for screwing up Ultima time and again. I still think my ideas above are great. ^^^^^^^^
You can't dupe platinum. There is no actual item. It's just a number on the bank gump. There are no platinum pieces.
 

Spock's Beard

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Stratics Veteran
Ah, just like some random guy at the bank handing me over a 1 mio check for apparently no reason? Happened to me once.
Or seeing ridiculously high numbers in vendor search or when rummaging through vendors the old fanshioned way...
Yeah just like that, except way worse because now you're making a "billions" counter the first thing everyone sees at the bank. So yeah, just like those things you mentioned but worse and thrust into everyones face 400 times a day.
 

Petra Fyde

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Yeah just like that, except way worse because now you're making a "billions" counter the first thing everyone sees at the bank. So yeah, just like those things you mentioned but worse and thrust into everyones face 400 times a day.
You realise no one else can see your bank balance? My gump will say 0 platinum, I never expect it to say anything else. I shall just ignore it as not relevant to the way I play the game.
I don't much care how many billions someone else has as long as I'm enjoying my time in game.
 

Spock's Beard

Sage
Stratics Veteran
You realise no one else can see your bank balance? My gump will say 0 platinum, I never expect it to say anything else. I shall just ignore it as not relevant to the way I play the game.
I don't much care how many billions someone else has as long as I'm enjoying my time in game.
Yeah but you'll accept pretty much anything.

This sort of psychological **** matters when it comes to designing a system. Not only that, but how about some damn granularity in this system? Like instead of knocking nine zeroes off for 1% of the population, how about knocking six off for everyone?

This is shaping up to be exactly the kind of thing you'd hope it wouldn't be. A big ugly artless gump and an NPC yelling three paragraphs of crap about how many billions are in your three different accounts.
 

Polaris75

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Why could there not just be an exchange rate in a "new bank" location for gold checks. Call it the FED... UO style. Everyone who wants to trade a platinum (you could make it worth 50m or something... for easy trades...) can cart however much gold they want to the new bank with pack horses or a beetle... and Viola.

That's the main complaint with all of this is changing our 18+ year old trade window... it's not Ultima if you add cartoon gold to a trade window and numbers... and make it smaller sized... I mean... it's hard to see what you are even trading? I seriously hope it's not too late to fix this one aspect.

The masteries are not looking as bad... new land is ok too, new castle/keep customization rocks... I get it, I have to buy new armor for 500m and make a tamer/weaver/mage if I want to get event items... that's ok too even... I don't get those anyway. The new IDOC system rocks... so in all the work the past year has been a great change. But why change the trade window and take away checks? Every idea the GMs told to us have been proven false with simple logic... or just were a lie to begin with (no offense intended,) but they didn't want poor people to feel shafted about a new banking system just to help the elite trade items and save space.

I like going to the bank for checks... in fact... that is the ONLY reason I go to the bank ever... it makes Ultima seem more realistic. The trade window being simple and the old style helps players feel like it is really Ultima still. Please re-think this Devs... please for the love of the game. I know it's in testing and it is not too late... listen to the complaints on this issue. I get the coding was easy or something... that's no excuse. Someone could work at Pizza Hut easily... but it doesn't mean their family is going to be happy with the results.

You could have 1 single bank in Britain... for a currency exchange. If someone wanted 780 million for some crazy event item... you could take enough gold to the New Britannia Mint and exchange 50 x 15 loads of checks for 15 platinum... and pay the guy 15 platinum (750m) plus 30m for the item. It would seem realistic like Ultima was meant to be... it would be logical... it would simply add a new "real" currency to the world, without taking anything away.

I hope this was constructive criticism instead of my usual pessimistic take... as I hope it truly helps. Listen to the players on this please - don't change the trade window and make it ugly. Girls absolutely hate ugly stuff... that's the reason we don't use the sheep statue reward, because it should have been the 2d kind and been "cute" my wife says.

Thanks... I do hope they you guys listen. You did on the IDOCs and I thank you, now I've got my 2010 Valentine's day Bear and a few other event items finally. :) :)

*Whispers* [Better yet, make this new bank in felucca!] [Re-posted due to personal attacks against me by "Old Vet Back Again."]
You can't dupe platinum. There is no actual item. It's just a number on the bank gump. There are no platinum pieces.
Yes Petra Fyde... did you understand what I typed? I was talking about my theoretical "better" design..... never said what you thought.

You realize that there hasn't been a gold dupe since like 2005, right? Now those that did the duping had duped massive amounts of gold that most likely are completely sold out. Now they buy from someone, mark it up and resell it. I'm telling you, again, you are extremely daft with the game mechanics and what has been fixed by the devs. Oh ya, and NO ONE CAN DUPE A SPHINX!. If they could, there are much more valuable rares that could be duped and flood the market, but we don't see that happening no do we?

Please for the love of god, just let it go.
Old Vet Back Again... that's a personal attack that I reported and hope gets removed by the OP. EM or GM Sangria.. whoever, told me personally that the reason for this expansion was to stop web site sellers. So sorry if I misunderstood or was given mis-information. If that IS true... which I believe likely is based on your own reasoning... then my idea is 10,000x better anyway.
 

Cyrah

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You realise no one else can see your bank balance? My gump will say 0 platinum, I never expect it to say anything else. I shall just ignore it as not relevant to the way I play the game.
I don't much care how many billions someone else has as long as I'm enjoying my time in game.

Petra, ty for stone info. If you are saying no one else can see the gump that pops up when you say balance in the bank. They can see it. We just did this on test and everyone can see it.
 

Old Vet Back Again

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Old Vet Back Again... that's a personal attack that I reported and hope gets removed by the OP. EM or GM Sangria.. whoever, told me personally that the reason for this expansion was to stop web site sellers. So sorry if I misunderstood or was given mis-information. If that IS true... which I believe likely is based on your own reasoning... then my idea is 10,000x better anyway.
No it's far from a personal attack, it is me once again pointing out that you are randomly throwing around facts to persuade people into believing your argument. I'm tired of you making up stories to fit your agenda.

I happen to like to the new trade window and currency conversion. I am also sure that there are many more that will as well. Every time things change in this game the stratics forums blow up with doomsayers, but guess what? They're all still here 6 months later playing the game with the new implementations.

Take what you can from the game. If you're not enjoying it then you can always stop playing...
 

Polaris75

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No it's far from a personal attack, it is me once again pointing out that you are randomly throwing around facts to persuade people into believing your argument. I'm tired of you making up stories to fit your agenda.

I happen to like to the new trade window and currency conversion. I am also sure that there are many more that will as well. Every time things change in this game the stratics forums blow up with doomsayers, but guess what? They're all still here 6 months later playing the game with the new implementations.

Take what you can from the game. If you're not enjoying it then you can always stop playing...
1 - You said I'm extremely Daft with the game mechanics... this is not true and a personal attack.
2 - I did not randomly throw around nothing... I talked with GM - Sangria on Atlantic shard about 2 1/2 to 3 weeks ago for an hour while he was on chat explaining the new expansion to us... he said the gold changes were to stop web site sellers. His exact words....
3 - Saying I'm making up stories... that's a personal attack; and I have made up nothing, zero, nada. What have I made up... oh that's right, nothing. You are still steaming from yesterday and want to attack my arguments only.

If you like the window good for you... there have been over 15 people say they do not like it; and in fact, me and my wife hate it. My wife screamed when she saw it... as I'm sure most Japanese are going to because it is no way realistic looking. I quite WoW and came back to UO because I got tired of seeing people ride around in rocket ships and motorcycles... it's not realistic looking. I can say what I feel... without you trying to smack it down with some vague, inaccurate rebuke of what I have to say. My opinion matters as much as yours, more so... because we have 3 people playing.
 

Polaris75

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I thought the OPs and Stratics leaders were trying to turn this back into a fruitful discussion... where is my back up here? I have said nothing but good things the past 10 posts or so......

Another thing Old Vet Back Again... what argument do you think I am trying to make? I simply stated what I like and do not like. I said 10 things were good... and 2 things I did not like. I also gave an idea of how it could have been better implemented. Does that constructive criticism offend you in some way man? I mean... it is on test center for testing... right? And they want to know what we think... so I gave my honest opinions...... which I have gotten about 7 or so thumbs ups so far, not from the same 4 people either...
 
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MalagAste

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To all of you complaining about changing the Trade window I have one thing to say.... Try trading with people in the EC. IF it actually works and you can see what's being trade... then change is a GREAT thing. If not.... then they should scrap it and try again.
 

del55

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Wow... first thing my wife said just now when I tried to give her some items I bought this morning.... "Wow... What Happened??? Trade window sucks!" Lol... I have to agree, I just saw it 30 seconds ago... omg this has world of warcraft "toony" crappiness written all over it... I hate to imagine what the special moves are going to be like. You all just ruined Ultima with the trade window, nice works Devs... I'm at a loss. That don't even look like Ultima any more.
totally agree

please dont mess ultima online with other online games for god' sake

I am bored with seeing lots of stuff from other games. Additionally, this game is not "Samurai Online" this is faking fantastic middle age world with dragons, mages, warriors etc. not the "Ninja Online". whenever i see a samurai thing that dominates UO i miss old days more and more.

they have boosted "ninshitsu and shistudo" instead of nerfing it. Like many said, I won't renew most of my accounts from now on. Only my main.
 
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Larisa

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Okay so I tried to do a google search for trade windows in online games..didn't find much but...

upload_2015-8-28_17-46-25.png

So ok...our new trade window is a bit big...BUT I like it..the current one, half the things you trade you can't see the top half of.

You can trade ANY amount of gold simply by typing it in...you can trade someone half-way across the bank, no more dropping things on people.

Yeah the coins look a bit cartoony...but I think the pro's outweigh the cons.

Auctions....instead of having to get a bazillion gold checks to pay people who submitted items, this is way easier...no more buying items off vendors, you can direct trade the item with the winner right there without ever moving.

Okay so that's my 2 cents :)
 

PurplePotion

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Stratics Veteran
Just my two cents in regards to this expansion. I want to start out by saying that I'm excited about it. UO has been off my radar for a while. I've played since 1999 off and on as well as may other games in between my returns blah blah blah you know the story, you've probably lived it. Here are my take on it.

Change can be scary but it is also exciting. New lands! Ultima Online was always meant to be a living breathing world and that means that it needs to mature, grow, and change. I will admit that the banking does seem a little clunky to me, but I will just think of it as having a UO debit card. Don't forget, if you don't like it that much, you can always use the barter system, or start a new currency. Fish steaks would work.

The best times I've ever had in Ultima Online were the adventures I've gone on with my friends and the events that the guilds I have been apart of have hosted. The human interactions that I have had, both good and bad have made this a place that I will always come back too. I don't collect a lot of rare items and I don't worry about how much gold I have or if I have the most 'leet' armor. I'd rather be the guy that misses the Event because I got sidetracked on the way helping rez someone and then inadvertently dying in the process (true story) and have a great story to tell, then sit on another 10 million in the bank that I won't ever use.

As to the expansion, as I stated, I'm excited about the changes. Good or bad, it means that at least someone still cares enough about the game to keep trying!
 
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