So we are gonna have SA Mostly in 2D, 11th Vet Reward, Commbat Rebalance...

[MYUO]

Last night's UOHOC was quite informative. Some of the highlights according to my understanding:
SA: use mostly 2D arts, different screen aspect ratio, possible higher skill cap, additonal stable slot not planned, new doom level arities, POF can't be used on new imbued items, UI changes

Dedicated designer ('a very experienced UO player") for combat (pvp, pvm, crafting) re-balance.

11th vet award and other "goodies" in the work

"Vewy good" Halloween content/event.

New theif content before SA.

Naturalist quest include the newer plants.

All news are good. My quesitons:
Naturalist quest include the newer plants - how does that work? the naturalist gives peculiar seed and all the new plants will be colored?

Are we gonna see jewlry box anytime soon?

Here is the transcript:
zigzag - Good evening and welcome to another great Stratics Ultima Online House of Commons chat! Tonight marks the 116th UO House of Commons. The topic is open, so any questions are welcome.
zigzag - Please send said questions to me - to do so type /msg zigzag and type in the window that pops up. Questions sent the developers will not make it into the lineup. Full logs of the chat will be up on uo.stratics.com shortly after the chat.
zigzag - We'll start with a brief introduction from Jeremy, who has a tough task tonight Now would be a good time to send those questions.
Jeremy_EAMythic - Hey guys! We're actually all in one room tonight, so I'll be typing the answers from a whole bunch of people (Oh, and I'm Jeremy, your friendly local community person)

zigzag - *CLEVER_DRAGON* Guten Tag, Bore Da, Hello! I would like to ask (if I may) if UO plans to expand beyond the 120 skill cap. It seems like fewer skills are needed these days because of some wonderful items one can obtain, and I think that a cap of say, 150 would be appropriate to allow players to specialise even further! Thank you sirs! *bows*
Jeremy_EAMythic - Draconi says "We have, in fact, been thinking quite a bit about this. Leurocian and I are now locked in fierce negotiations about this in Stygian Abyss."

zigzag - *FIERCE_DRAGON* Hi. Now that UO has a multitude of playable races(I LOVE IT) when can we expect to see Trolls and Gnolls enter the game?
Jeremy_EAMythic - There have been at least three questions about new races so far, so I just wanted to hit them all - right now, Gargoyles are our new race and we don't have concrete plans beyond that.
Jeremy_EAMythic - Once SA is out, we can start talking about future plans

zigzag - *Magnus* Question: Can we get some information on the SA client - Namely, will we be able to use Kingdom Reborn artwork solely, or will it always have the mixed? (And any other tidbits you can give! )
Supreem-EAMythic - We've decided to make the legacy tile art the default for the new client because it is very consistent and keeps to the general feel of UO. We might still make the KR art an option but definitely not the default.
Supreem-EAMythic - There are bits and pieces of the KR art still in the legacy art mode when they are necesary (for example cave entrances and shorelines)

zigzag - *Greg* Can we expect a good amount of new weapons in SA? Are classic weapons going to get rebalanced?
Jeremy_EAMythic - Yes, we will be introducing a number of new weapons - stay tuned to the SA website for more info. We also have an additional designer who's dedicated solely to balance!

zigzag - *Jove* When is the Stygian Abyss scheduled to release and will it be available be for 2d?
Jeremy_EAMythic - We have not yet announced a release date, but it WILL be available for 2D.

zigzag - *Zelda* will there be an 11th year vet gift?
Jeremy_EAMythic - We were just plotting today the details of the 11th year vet rewards and other goodies

zigzag - *illandril* Any ETA on beta time for SA/SA Client? Or at least for the next tidbit of juicy info?
Supreem-EAMythic - Well I can give you some juicy tidbits now!
Supreem-EAMythic - There are no more fixed UI elements. Any window's position can be moved!
Supreem-EAMythic - Game window is no longer locked to 4:3 aspect ratio. This means a widescreen resolution will show more of the game horizontally.
Supreem-EAMythic - Flexible desktop can be stretched to any size and aspect ratio and is always on (no longer an option)
Supreem-EAMythic - Mob highlighting has been implemented a la the legacy client
Supreem-EAMythic - The map and radar now have a 'classic' look and the radar shows houses now
Supreem-EAMythic - Healthbar appears under the mob you are currently attacking
Supreem-EAMythic - Tip of the Day window gives tips and tricks for adjusting to the new UI

zigzag - *Jove* What I really want to know is, Will the Naturalist quest include the newer plants?
Jeremy_EAMythic - Yes, that should be in Publish 56

zigzag - *Fearmeirl* Question 3: "We also have an additional designer who's dedicated solely to balance!" Is that just for items, or does that include everything from PvP to PvM to crafting?
Jeremy_EAMythic - It's for everything! He's going to be a very busy man and is a very experienced UO player.

zigzag - *mayadevi* What is the timing scedule for pub 56 ? I understand that the last pub only spent one day on origin to give everyone on other shards teh chane to discover new things, but that seems to have hepled it be very buggy. Will we get a week to bang on pub 56 on origin ?
Jeremy_EAMythic - Currently the plan is to put 56 on Test Center for a week or so, then a couple of nights on Origin. Mesanna personally requests your esteemed presence on TC to help us bang on it!
Jeremy_EAMythic - 55 had some unique issues that made it difficult to test properly on TC (relating to the plants' maintenance cycle and the nature of vet rewards) that shouldn't be repeated.

zigzag - *Jove* Any chance of new arties coming out?
Jeremy_EAMythic - Draconi says "I'd like you guys to think of Stygian Abyss as the next generation of Doom, so yes, there will be arties. That's not to say the system of getting the arties will be the same."

zigzag - *mayadevi* My cook woudl really really LOVE to be able to wield her rolling pin and/or frying pan as a weapon, the way smith can weild hammers, any chance those could make it into the new weapons for SA?
Jeremy_EAMythic - Draconi again: "This would be absolutely cool, and it's something we can look into after we've squared away all the new equippables for SA."

zigzag - *Jove* What about Fel are you adding new places for people who love Felluca?
Jeremy_EAMythic - There will be parts of the Stygian Abyss that are Fel-ruleset! They're not mirrors of the Trammel ruleset areas - they will be unique sections of the dungeon.

zigzag - *Greg* Are you planning something new for the Halloween content/event? (I'm assuming we're going to have one)
Jeremy_EAMythic - Draconi says "Heck yeah!"
Jeremy_EAMythic - Draconula says "Vewy good..."

zigzag - *athos_uo* Will be Powder of Fortifying be used on imbued items in SA?
Jeremy_EAMythic - Leurocian says no, and you can hear more about the details of Imbuing at the Chicago Town Hall
Jeremy_EAMythic - Leurocian can answer all of your questions there in person

zigzag - *GvP_[Ches]* Any word on new tameables with SA, and any considerations regarding a stable slot increase?
Jeremy_EAMythic - Our new designer Mark says "The plan for SA is currently for new tameables but no new stable slots. This doesn't mean that new stable slots are entirely off the table, but they aren't currently planned to be part of the expansion."
Supreem-EAMythic - Mark is cool

zigzag - *Jove* Anything for a thief to do in this new world of yours?
Jeremy_EAMythic - Mesanna says "We will be giving thieves some love even before the new world opens up!"

zigzag - ok everyone...that will wrap it up for tonight! Thanks to everyone for attending! You can join #ultima-online to chat more about the game. The log for tonight’s chat will be up shortly on http://uo.stratics.com!
Supreem-EAMythic - Bye guys!
Supreem-EAMythic - *waves*
Jeremy_EAMythic - Thanks for coming!

 

[GarthGrey]

Dedicated designer ('a very experienced UO player") for combat (pvp, pvm, crafting) re-balance.

Oh boy...another one.

BTW, great questions from Stratics names that to my knowledge, have rarely posted in Uhall.

 

[the 4th man]

I don't mind the townhall being in the city.....look forward to going, but parking down there is $$$$$$$$.(there's a gold sink if I ever saw one)

Woulda been better off having it in Addison off the 355, near swift and army trail......at least they have a big lot and parkings free.

oh well.

 

[Aboo]

So I guess I need to save my two unclaimed 11th year vet rewards? They didn't give any idea as to when they may be doing these did they?

 

[Gheed]

Ugh PoF proofing items... in a game heavily dependant on items? Haven't we tried this before?

 

[kinney42]

Ugh PoF proofing items... in a game heavily dependant on items? Haven't we tried this before?

Completely agree. Why would I waste my time gathering the crap to imbue, waste the time to train the skill for an item that will last less than a day?

 

[MYUO]

Completely agree. Why would I waste my time gathering the crap to imbue, waste the time to train the skill for an item that will last less than a day?

Without knowing the details, it is premature to assume that the imbued item will last "less than a day". If the difficulty to imbue is a lot lower than enhancement and you have the ability to maximize the durability of the components prior to imbueing, it is quite possible tgat the imbued item can last for weeks if not months.

The point of imbuing is that you don't have to fit your template to the item. But you have the option to do that with regular arties.

 

[Silly Seadog]

Ugh PoF proofing items... in a game heavily dependant on items? Haven't we tried this before?

Completely agree. Why would I waste my time gathering the crap to imbue, waste the time to train the skill for an item that will last less than a day?

Arrrr, make sure ta imbue Self Repair 3+ !

 

[kinney42]

Without knowing the details, it is premature to assume that the imbued item will last "less than a day".

True, you are right. It is premature but The Historical Track Record with UO is definatly on my side. History repeats itself which means there is a VERY HIGH chance imbuing will be worthless. I hope it isn't though!

 

[Kyrie_Elaison]

zigzag - *Magnus* Question: Can we get some information on the SA client - Namely, will we be able to use Kingdom Reborn artwork solely, or will it always have the mixed? (And any other tidbits you can give! )
Supreem-EAMythic - We've decided to make the legacy tile art the default for the new client because it is very consistent and keeps to the general feel of UO. We might still make the KR art an option but definitely not the default.
Supreem-EAMythic - There are bits and pieces of the KR art still in the legacy art mode when they are necesary (for example cave entrances and shorelines)

Does this mean we will be seeing the return of the 2D Unicorn? I hope so.

 

[Dol'Gorath]

Ugh PoF proofing items... in a game heavily dependant on items? Haven't we tried this before?

Just make sure all your items have Self Repair 3+ and you don't have to worry about it. Of course you are trading off another property but, hey, better to NOT lose an item than have something else right?

 

[Gheed]

Without knowing the details, it is premature to assume that the imbued item will last "less than a day". If the difficulty to imbue is a lot lower than enhancement and you have the ability to maximize the durability of the components prior to imbueing, it is quite possible tgat the imbued item can last for weeks if not months.

The point of imbuing is that you don't have to fit your template to the item. But you have the option to do that with regular arties.

Without knowing the details, it is premature to assume what "the point of imbuing is ". We don't know if imbuing is a one shot enhancement or the ability to add/max out 5 mods on an item. We don't know what properties we will be allowed to imbue. If they will break... etc.

With knowing the detail that imbueing is PoF proof, it is not premature to assume that items will eventually wear out. Be it days, weeks, months or years... they will eventually go bye bye. No other MMO I have ever played works like this. Most do not even have durabulity or insurance. They stay with you and last forever. Still these MMO's have thriving markets with high demand items both crafted and looted.

I play many templates in uo, each with many more combinations of weapons and armor that allow me to play them in different ways. I currently do not and will not use items that I will eventually have to replace. Insurance and durability are enough to worry about. Add to that the fact that templates systematically get thrown into the grinder through either new skills or skill enhancement/nerfs and the perfect suit will eventually become not so perfect in time. Since AoS I have aquired excellent gear for my templates. But they are not perfect. I could see adding a chance that they can not be PoF'd if you were allowed to max out mods... and only then if you were imbuing near the high end of those intensities. But not automatic to the proccess.

To balance this out, high end items will have to be extremely easy to make in very short time with very little or no chance of breaking them. I can not see that happening. Strike one for S/A.

 

[Zym Dragon]

If the items are fairly easy to make, then losing them due to wear and tear won't be much of an issue. I think it's good, because it'll give crafters the ability to keep selling these items.

 

[Gheed]

I think it's good, because it'll give crafters the ability to keep selling these items.

Me too if items were allowed to be renewed. You could sell a limited selection template specific suits on vendors while offering custom orders to folks with specific needs. I'd like to see the devs add the ability to custom order these items through some sort of system similar to bulletin boards. Maybe the new chat system will have a reliable messaging system for stuff like this.

 

[kinney42]

I agree with everything Gheed said.

 

[Zym Dragon]

I think it's good, because it'll give crafters the ability to keep selling these items.

Me too if items were allowed to be renewed. You could sell a limited selection template specific suits on vendors while offering custom orders to folks with specific needs. I'd like to see the devs add the ability to custom order these items through some sort of system similar to bulletin boards. Maybe the new chat system will have a reliable messaging system for stuff like this.

I'm not sure what you mean by items being allowed to be renewed. If you mean that they should be powederable, then there is no return business for crafters. Once you buy the item it lasts forever. Items need to be destroyed in order for repeat business to happen. The trade off for losing items is that they should be fairly easy to replace/make. Just not so easy that anyone can make them in no time flat. The reason crafters had a good business in the days of old is because crafting took time and most people didn't want to bother with that, so they bought from us. There needs to be a balanced approach to this.

 

[Gheed]

I'm not sure what you mean by items being allowed to be renewed. If you mean that they should be powederable, then there is no return business for crafters. Once you buy the item it lasts forever. Items need to be destroyed in order for repeat business to happen. The trade off for losing items is that they should be fairly easy to replace/make. Just not so easy that anyone can make them in no time flat. The reason crafters had a good business in the days of old is because crafting took time and most people didn't want to bother with that, so they bought from us. There needs to be a balanced approach to this.

See that's what I dont understand. It isn't set in stone that a purchased item in UO will last forever just because of PoF. There will always be insurance issues or those who forget to powder thier items. There will always be new skills or changes in existing skills that require a suit to be re-adjusted. Beyond that there are just too many ways to skin a cat for PvP and PvM. Thousands of combinations of templates and items. Lots of demand.

And as for reapeat business, how would you expect a crafter to keep up with all of these things? Would you require a PvM, PvP template constantly monitor the condition of their suit and place a custom order a week before they calculate it will become too low in durability to maintain in battle?

Or would you suggest a merchant keep vendors stocked with every possible combination of all imbueable mods on every available piece of armor or weapon? IF imbuing gets you exactly what you want in the end then why settle for something less than exactly what you want?

 

[Uvtha]

Jeremy_EAMythic - There will be parts of the Stygian Abyss that are Fel-ruleset! They're not mirrors of the Trammel ruleset areas - they will be unique sections of the dungeon.

Oh my god they finally figured it out...

 

[Landicine]

If the items are fairly easy to make, then losing them due to wear and tear won't be much of an issue. I think it's good, because it'll give crafters the ability to keep selling these items.

I suspect that nothing will return things to the "good old days" for crafting. Either:

1) Imbuing uber items will be so easy that people will simply use their own crafters which forces prices down.

or

2) Imbued items are so expensive to make that if they break too quickly, people will simply stick with the older less-uber powderable items.

or

3) The items have such high durability they last almost forever and crafters never sell anything.

Am I missing any possibles?

 

[MYUO]

I suspect that nothing will return things to the "good old days" for crafting. Either:

1) Imbuing uber items will be so easy that people will simply use their own crafters which forces prices down.

or

2) Imbued items are so expensive to make that if they break too quickly, people will simply stick with the older less-uber powderable items.

or

3) The items have such high durability they last almost forever and crafters never sell anything.

Am I missing any possibles?

Yeah, the average of 1) and 2).

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

I think it's good, because it'll give crafters the ability to keep selling these items.

Me too if items were allowed to be renewed. You could sell a limited selection template specific suits on vendors while offering custom orders to folks with specific needs. I'd like to see the devs add the ability to custom order these items through some sort of system similar to bulletin boards. Maybe the new chat system will have a reliable messaging system for stuff like this.

I'm not sure what you mean by items being allowed to be renewed. If you mean that they should be powederable, then there is no return business for crafters. Once you buy the item it lasts forever. Items need to be destroyed in order for repeat business to happen. The trade off for losing items is that they should be fairly easy to replace/make. Just not so easy that anyone can make them in no time flat. The reason crafters had a good business in the days of old is because crafting took time and most people didn't want to bother with that, so they bought from us. There needs to be a balanced approach to this.

But if you step back to the beginning, then things didn't break. But you sure as hades lost things easily enough.

Then some one got the bright idea of Items should wear and tear and DD bought into that and the Crafters got their wish to be IMPORTANT in UO.

Things have come full circle and for all intents and purposes we are back to the beginning of UO.

A real issue with the Crafter Position is the issue of, CRAFTED Items being available 24/7/52/11 (hours/days/weeks/years). This never happened originally and it isn't there now.

Yeah, it is great to have a crafter play style, but it should never have been allowed to be the defining path for items.

Equivalent items should be available from NPC's

 

[Oriana]

If the items are fairly easy to make, then losing them due to wear and tear won't be much of an issue. I think it's good, because it'll give crafters the ability to keep selling these items.

What he said!! Make my crafters fell useful again.

Oriana

 

[Gheed]

If the items are fairly easy to make, then losing them due to wear and tear won't be much of an issue. I think it's good, because it'll give crafters the ability to keep selling these items.

What he said!! Make my crafters fell useful again.

Oriana

Yes make us more useful but don't cram it down our throats. The law of Luna tought us to keep raisng the prices.. especially on consumables.. because fair prices moved much too quickly and we got tired of constantly stocking vendors... in most cases we were bought out only to find our items outrageously marked up in other shops. I went through many vendors simply because they were burnt out on crafting. In the end I inherited all my reagent, alchemy, scroll, ammo, rune, plant and stone furniture vendors because they didnt want to mess with it. In time the only vendors I could find were those that wanted to sell high end for a month or those that wanted to peddle their endless supply of 5k colored ingot deeds. The shop is now empty save a few dedicated souls.

Looks like PoF isnt in the devs favor anymore. I say it was an intuitive solution. There are many interesting ways to work it into imbuing. Instead of breaking items on fail, imbuing attempts could take a substantial amout of durability from the item requireng we powder it to try again...else the item breaks. Low, medium, and high intensity attempts could carry relative chances the item can not be PoF'd. Instead PoF is to be completely removed from the proccess? Discarding current systems for the sake of something new? Is that how we achieve balance?

What about runic tools then? Will the difficulty and time required to imbue properties be competitive with runics? Will it be so easy to imbue that runics will be worthless? Will the only trade off be the ability to powder runic items and not imbued? Will runics work in tandem with imbueing?

It's all a huge balancing act to make sure imbuing does not replace current systems or so easy to craft that all items carry a low average cost point. And I hope it will be worth nuking the entire resource spawn system.

I would like to see imbuing added more as a gap filler. More used for things like crafting a mediocre custom piece to finish off a few extra needed resist points or stats that the whole of the rest of your suit couldn't cover. Or used to craft a set of armor with mediocre intensities that together make a fine suit.

 

[Restroom Cowboy]

Arrrr, make sure ta imbue Self Repair 3+ !

I bet you would like to imbue that pirates hat with rum.

+3 pirates hat of drunkenness.

 

[Kaleb]

Ugh PoF proofing items... in a game heavily dependant on items? Haven't we tried this before?

Um maby because it may keep a demand for some items so they would not be worthless in a few weeks.

I have issues with the skill caps. templates are cramped as it is, IMHO we should revert to the 7x gm and loose 100+ all together. Now my mage would have to have what ever I was able to do at 100 then 120 and now arrrrrgh!!!

 

[Gheed]

Um maby because it may keep a demand for some items so they would not be worthless in a few weeks.

What PoF'able items are worthless now because of PoF? There are a few items out there that are not PoF'able... What are they worth? So.. how do you support your rationale that an item that will eventually wear out be worth anything at all? Please give me some examples.

 

[Turdnugget]

Raise skill cap to 150 so archers will NEVER miss and hit even harder? That makes sense...Might as well bring back the honor/ninja archer too while they're at it.

I can only imagine what a mage with 150 mage/ei + evil omen could do with an explosion/flame strike.

 

[It Lives]

If It happens, I am sure it will be abused but what is not these days?

 

[ColterDC]

I have issues with the skill caps. templates are cramped as it is, IMHO we should revert to the 7x gm and loose 100+ all together. Now my mage would have to have what ever I was able to do at 100 then 120 and now arrrrrgh!!!

Totally agree.

Raising skill caps even further would be completely idiotic.

 

[jelinidas]

Raising skill caps even further would be completely idiotic.

/signed

 

[NuSair]

Completely agree. Why would I waste my time gathering the crap to imbue, waste the time to train the skill for an item that will last less than a day?

The idea, like the non-seed spawning plants, is to keep people going back and actually killing stuff to get the items. Not just a one shot and you are done.

 

[NuSair]

Raise skill cap to 150 so archers will NEVER miss and hit even harder? That makes sense...Might as well bring back the honor/ninja archer too while they're at it.

I can only imagine what a mage with 150 mage/ei + evil omen could do with an explosion/flame strike.

Unless they were raising the resist caps to match it, or making items that directly reduce the damage done by said spells in order to make it so that you need the higher skill level to keep up the same amount of damage ratio.