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Hail Guest! Please read the new announcement concerning the upcoming addition to Stratics. You can find the announcement Here!
And new deco for real money.
Seems like most of the better deco items put in game are store items now.
The last 10 store items could have been rewards or new recipes to craft them.
And still not a peep as to what is going to be bring in the new audience not even a hint.
Next few months the train will be gone by then I feel.
The last 10 store items could have been rewards or new recipes to craft them.
And still not a peep as to what is going to be bring in the new audience not even a hint.
Next few months the train will be gone by then I feel.
I was very frightened but I noticed this is for EM tools and not champion spawns, so I just very careful about this all right now;
Maybe not frightened but extremely disappointed.
Few thoughts:
- Doesn't appear that there will be ANY brand new content this year...just a whole bunch of dusted off stuff (nothin' sweeter than a repeater I guess).
- They say "seasonal content is the most popular" which technically could be if we are talking Halloween or the High Seas stuff last year but then it's followed up with 23 Anniv Rewards (past several years have been extremely lackluster), pumpkin carving, Huntsman challenge trophies (assuming this meant things to hunt not new rewards), and VvV rewards which might be ok. So from the sounds of it we are getting new decor.... greatttttt
- They talk about helping Test but I haven't been able to copy my char to test center from my home shard in over a week so even if I wanted to test, I wouldn't be able to without having to start everything all over and build new suits just to help test something I have no idea about.
- The biggest "thing" I see from this newsletter is the EM Tool which helps the EMs run the events I'm assuming. That sounds like EM's need to test that, not us. I don't do EM events because they are just lag fests that end with me lagging out dying with the only "drop" being a collection of a few death robes. If anything they should work on the load testing of having 40 people in the same area with dragons so everyone doesn't lag out.
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It's hard for some people to get excited by seasonal content that is just the same year after year with one or two new rewards, but no doubt the same people that like repeating the same things over and over every year will be happy....the Artisan festival is just not fun for a lot of people, even if they do have crafting characters, if you do BODs anyway you will just collect some up through the year. Personally it's not a thing I have ever enjoyed and I do have a couple of crafters. I just never had the space or inclination to collect thousands of BODs.
I can't say I have ever been into the Halloween content, I have done the Huntmaster challenge a few times, but never as a regular thing.
So what have they been doing all year so far? Working on something that they still haven't announced or even hinted at I guess...
I can't say I have ever been into the Halloween content, I have done the Huntmaster challenge a few times, but never as a regular thing.
So what have they been doing all year so far? Working on something that they still haven't announced or even hinted at I guess...
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From the letter
We've heard concerns regarding the new teleporters the EMs are using that randomly divided players which meant you were not able to fight with your friends/guild. To address this we've made a change in the upcoming publish that will make sure party members will go to the same location.
I can see it now that someone is going to whine that they got banned because all their accounts were in the same party but they forgot to say they were all being used to multibox.
We've heard concerns regarding the new teleporters the EMs are using that randomly divided players which meant you were not able to fight with your friends/guild. To address this we've made a change in the upcoming publish that will make sure party members will go to the same location.
I can see it now that someone is going to whine that they got banned because all their accounts were in the same party but they forgot to say they were all being used to multibox.
Since you have been asked this question for awhile, maybe, just maybe, you should take it off your "yeah, yeah, we'll consider it if we are bored" backlog and move it up to the next publish? Search is not something revolutionary that you need to allocate huge resources to.
This 10000%. I thought the exact same thing. Jewelry boxes are pretty new and I'm sure they could re-use the same logic as Vendor Search without breaking anything. I feel like they could have easily do that rather than code another artisan reward very few will use. Seems like a lot of effort goes towards decoration and pixel crack rather than functionality these days.
- 23rd Anniversary Rewards!
- New Jack-o-Lantern Designs to collect from Graveyard Butchers and Grimms!
- New Trophies in the Huntmaster's Challenge!
- New sets of Vice & Virtue Themed Rewards in the Artisan Festival!
Should be done every year. Is not big or bold.
When it comes to rethinking how events are implemented you've heard us talk a lot about EM tool updates. Some of you have already hopped on TC1 to check out these new tools which include,
- Completely refactored mob generation to allow greater customization of monsters for more exciting PvM fights!
- Custom Champ Spawns to allow on the fly spawns with more dynamic monster combinations and custom bosses!
- Dynamic Quest System with new support tools like revamped quest NPCs and new narrative items like Lore Books & Quest Items to immerse yourself deeper into the story!
Can players access these tools? If so, how.
Or did an EM do an event on TC?
Why have we not been told about this in a better method.
Sounds good but how is this going to bring a wider audience?
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I thought the work on the quest system was for players to do events and quests but now it seems that it's just for EMs, why does everything start out as one thing and then change into something else and they just act like that was the intention all along.
Riyana
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New options for EMs are internal tools for Broadsword and are not new player content.
EM events are not a substitute for global content. Many players can't participate due to scheduling or lag, and many won't because they have been turned off by the bad behavior that EM events are rife with. While new tools will be nice for the EMs I guess, this is not a universal events update and should not be presented as one.
At the 20th party Mesanna said that they were looking into tools to help players run their own events. I would far rather see this effort put there. Let players make our own fun.
EM events are not a substitute for global content. Many players can't participate due to scheduling or lag, and many won't because they have been turned off by the bad behavior that EM events are rife with. While new tools will be nice for the EMs I guess, this is not a universal events update and should not be presented as one.
At the 20th party Mesanna said that they were looking into tools to help players run their own events. I would far rather see this effort put there. Let players make our own fun.
*yawn*
Riyana
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I don't think it's the big announcement. They mention still working on publish 110.
Captn Norrington
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A part of the newsletter no one has commented on so far:
The following are actions taken on accounts that were banned or suspended during the month of May:
28 - Multiboxing
The following are actions taken on accounts that were banned or suspended during the month of March:
2 - Multiboxing
Taking out 28 multiboxers at once compared to the 2 from the previous newsletter. Great job to the GM's for enforcing the rules against the people who almost single handedly destroy the fun of EM events!
The following are actions taken on accounts that were banned or suspended during the month of May:
28 - Multiboxing
The following are actions taken on accounts that were banned or suspended during the month of March:
2 - Multiboxing
Taking out 28 multiboxers at once compared to the 2 from the previous newsletter. Great job to the GM's for enforcing the rules against the people who almost single handedly destroy the fun of EM events!
Lord Nabin
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Someone is watching 
Are those real numbers or is taht some of that CDC Covid math...
I can tell you from first hand experience that some of those numbers are bogus. They are actioning legit player accounts and passing it off as catching real cheaters.
Banning legit players to pump up stats they don't even have to reveal to us is ridiculous. Furthermore, banning legit players is literally taking money out of their own pockets.
Your conspiracy theory is
.
Naw.... They banned him for multiboxing. He showed us how he uses 4 monitors, seems legit. Dude took his ban like a champ though. Didn't threaten to quit or cry like a silly little girl, I for one am surprised and impressed.Banning legit players to pump up stats they don't even have to reveal to us is ridiculous. Furthermore, banning legit players is literally taking money out of their own pockets.
Your conspiracy theory is
Yes, banning legit players out of sheer ignorance is a pretty sad business practice, but they are doing it.Banning legit players to pump up stats they don't even have to reveal to us is ridiculous. Furthermore, banning legit players is literally taking money out of their own pockets.
Your conspiracy theory is
You can take multiple accounts places. Auto follow in the CC. I have a bard chasing my mages around in a party so i get the extra mana regen.
Someone accused me of mukti bixing for that. Its like, naw, just auto follow.
You will know multi boxing when 6 toons on the same tile cast the same spell at the same time on the same target.
Someone accused me of mukti bixing for that. Its like, naw, just auto follow.
You will know multi boxing when 6 toons on the same tile cast the same spell at the same time on the same target.
You are right, but we have at least one GM who can’t tell the difference.
UWF. Because UWF can field 30+ people at a guild hunt, Atlantic's EM Roenick asked UWF to attend a test of the new EM Tools on TC. He created a unique Champ Spawn, that had Ladies of the Snow, Greater Poison Eles, and other spawn, with the Champ looking like a blaze Pyros from the Invasion, with Dark Father AI.
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Lord Nabin
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Well done UWF
Yep. I have my 7 Throwers auto following around my Bard/Mage in Town Invasions on a dead shard. When i find an Archer General, i have to alt-tab between screens and manually attack the General on all of my Throwers. Once they're all attacking, i'll switch to my Bard/Mage, and try to Discord the General. It's a major pain in the ass, but it's a fast way to drop the General and try to get Bane Soul Glaives. VERY few Gargoyle chars doing the Invasion, so Bane Throwing Weps are pretty rare, especially the Soul Glaives, which i want for my Throwers.
That's where i have my Bard/Mage and Throwers, lol.
This.
Captn Norrington
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Not an updated one. The old one was UO Assist, UO Cartographer, UO Automap, and like one or two others which are map related.
Their official line on it is any program which alters the data stream is illegal, and any that don’t are legal. UO Assist originally was illegal because it altered the data stream, but they worked with tugsoft to change the coding of it in a way where it still did the same stuff but without altering the data stream, which caused them to legalize it.
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They might want to actually make a list of what's illegal before banning people from using illegal software they didn't know was illegal....anyone who ever played on a freeshard thinks those 'extra' programs are okay because they all use them on the 'other' shards. Almost every new player on Europa who came from free shards was using them and thought they weren't doing anything wrong, seems harsh to ban people for something if you are not making it clear it's not allowed. The Producer telling people to 'win any way they can' didn't really help either.
People who played on a legally gray servers used 3rd party apps on real servers and were surprised by the punishment? There are so many things wrong with this, I'm not sure of the best place to begin. It would be a very broad statement to say that playing a free shard wrong to begin with, but at the same time, it is.
I agree that there needs to be an official listing of what we can do, but at the same time, it's on the player to have some basic understanding of what they've signed up for.
You have first hand experience being banned for multibotting? You suggest 'cheaters' are not 'real?' - Which part were you 'actioned' for? Being super-legit or real-cheater?
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@Xare They gave away their own code, for free, if those free servers were completely illegal then EA would surely have closed them years ago, EA has done nothing about them, so they multiplied. If they had taken some action, even some token action against some of them to protect their own valuable property then we wouldn't be having this conversation, but inaction seems to be a part of UO.
There have been a lot of players that played on free shards first and then came to the official ones, how many of them were even aware that this game was still around until they stumbled onto it? I've spoken to a few that seemed a bit confused about the term 'official' let alone knew that cheat programs were not allowed, until someone told them.
There have been a lot of players that played on free shards first and then came to the official ones, how many of them were even aware that this game was still around until they stumbled onto it? I've spoken to a few that seemed a bit confused about the term 'official' let alone knew that cheat programs were not allowed, until someone told them.
I have said it many times, that the numbers in their news letters are fabricated.
So yet MORE crap in the store and now the champ are going to be busted for EM ****ty events. Wait and see. No game fixes........
EA DID NOT give away the code for FREE it was stupidly included on a disk so people could play off line as a stand alone game. All free servers are illegal no matter what you may think and yes EA in their own stupidity did not go after these free servers, are they still breaking the law, yes, but trying to get a judge after all these years to do anything would IMHO be a futile endeavor.
This is inaccurate.
Most modern free shards are coded in C#. In fact, on GitHub, you can find thousands of UO code repos that people have done, by literally just playing the game and EMULATING the gameplay, in tons of languages. The code is the authors or organizations intellectual property, it is not EAs and most have their proejcts governed under Frequently Asked Questions about the GNU Licenses - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation
C# came out in 2000.
When was UO first coded? Alpha - Beta 1995 - 1997, released 2-3 years before C#.
The UO team is right when they tell you it is hard to change their code. It is old. Free shard code, however, brand new and constantly updated and maintained by hundreds of people.
The only thing right here is that it still may be illegal.
If you charge a subscription fee = 100% illegal.
Otherwise just the ART aspect but not the code. There are multiple clients out there though that are FINALLY open source because, again, they have EMULATED from the ground up to mimic the client. Now they can just start replacing the art on the client-side.
Also, most free shards keep active EA accounts. If you pay the monthly fee to access that art like everyone else...maybe people who don't pay the subscription and play the free shards could be in question, but if the shard owners pay. I know I know ToS and all that but EA would have to make moves to cancel it. Until then they can just keep taking the monthly fee to use their art.
Would take court action and even then would be limited. If a free shard is set up inside the UO and not set up behind an LLC, and they make money, I would say they are opening themselves to risk. Otherwise, the most that can really happen is you all finally get your EA answer and the LLC closes.
If the free shard is set up OUTSIDE of the US. Good luck.
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Thanks for clarifying that @Lord Frodo but I'm going to read 'stupidly included on a disk' as a freebie. I'm glad we agree on EA's stupidity, but I still think that the only reason EA did not go after them was because they had doubts about actually winning.
Did I say illegal? Nope; I said legally gray. Went back and checked just to make sure.
I will admit, I was unaware of the current state of free to play servers and open sourced coding. And I'll also freely admit, I'm not a programmer, so a lot of this goes over my head, but wouldn't the use of the graphical assets be where the lines get blurry? ie, they're using assets that were created by OSI (and purchased by EA).
LMAO I guess @Dan(Tasanar) never heard of a code converter and UO was trade marked so it was totally ILLEGAL for them to do what they did, UO WAS NOT OPEN SOURCE. EA never went after them because they were stupid and never thought UO would never last.