• Hail Guest!
    We're looking for Community Content Contribuitors to Stratics. If you would like to write articles, fan fiction, do guild or shard event recaps, it's simple. Find out how in this thread: Community Contributions
  • Greetings Guest, Having Login Issues? Check this thread!
  • Hail Guest!,
    Please take a moment to read this post reminding you all of the importance of Account Security.
  • Hail Guest!
    Please read the new announcement concerning the upcoming addition to Stratics. You can find the announcement Here!

Cleaned up: Developer Meet & Greet June 13th, 2016 on Drachenfels

Merlin

The Enchanter
Moderator
Professional
Governor
Supporter
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Patron
Mesanna: The first 28 questions were given to us ahead of time so we are able to get in extra questions after we give those answers.

PvP QUESTIONS

Q: Are there plans to make thieves more relevant in PvP? They feel rather useless these days.
Kyronix: We have no immediate plans, PvP thieving is a tricky profession to build for given the blessed, insured, and otherwise unstealable items.
Kyronix: if anything we’ll look to improve their role in Vice vs Virtue.

Q: Will you change the VvV tagging outside of VvV towns? Such as at champion spawns so that blues don't go red as easily?
Kyronix : We have no plans to change that.


CLIENT ISSUES
Q: What is the state of the graphics enhancements that were announced in the past – EC and CC?
Mesanna: The past producer said we were going to update the graphics but that would take 5 to 8 years.
Mesanna: All the newer art is high resolution but the older art will not be updated as stated originally.

Q: Will it be possible to re-size the CC game window? Think about new monitor resolutions. UO game window will have the size of a stamp with 4K.
Mesanna: we have already talked about it and Bleak is looking into it.

Q: EC bugs, spellbooks if you right click them, soulstone use and relogging, both always crash it.
Mesanna: please send me those observations in writing so we can try to reproduce them.
Mesanna: make sure you give a lot of details so we can reproduce it.


TAMING ISSUES

Q: A pet crystal to send a pet into the stables (the opposite of the pet summoning crystal that already exists).
Mesanna: we will review this request. There would have to be a lot of restrictions on the pets.

Q: Are there pets which are able to stealth? I would expect a Raptor having that skill, but they never actually stealthed after being tamed.
Kyronix : Stealthing pets are something we’d really have to evaluate before we did anything like that.

Q: I hope the pet revamp is actually coming next year.
Mesanna: we are gearing up for it.

Q: Why are Greater Dragons and Cu Sidhe not accepted as donations at the Moonglow zoo?
Mesanna: Because we have not updated the zoo in a long time to be honest.
Mesanna: When we do the pet revamp we will look at the zoo at that time.

Q: Will we get other hued llamas? and maybe speckled horses?
Mesanna: we will review it during the pet revamp, and any hue changes will be tasteful.


MASTERIES ISSUES

Q: Why do the new masteries have such high mana requirements?
Bleak: The strength of the mastery spells are higher than most spells in the game which requires a high mana cost.

Q: The fencing mastery Thrust seems to not working. At maxed skills and level 3 primer the damage bonus/reduction is still 0%.
Bleak: We will look into this report.


ITEM PROPERTY ISSUES

Q: Antique property, the guide says you can use Powder of Fortifying 3 times, but I can never get it to work on my ring.
Misk: You simply cannot POF jewelry at all.
Kyronix : Yes it is on purpose because jewelry is one of the few things left that has a finite lifespan.

Q: Why are dropped items with the Brittle mod at 255 durability, but reforged ones at 35?
Bleak: So we updated Dungeon Brittle items based on feedback to 255 durability which currently provides an advantage over reforged items. We will take a look in the future at re-balancing the items that are reforged to be more in line with Brittle.

Q: Ephemeral/Antique items are not used by players much due to that property. Do you have a concept to resolve this?
Kyronix : Everything can’t last forever. Despite the desire to the contrary, it isn’t healthy for the economy or the gameplay loop if the best items last forever.
Kyronix : Great question though, and a worthwhile conversation to have!

Q: There is only a minimal chance to get good dexxer loot compared to good mage armor. Is this with intent?
Mesanna: a lot of the properties can be used for both and if you have an idea of what you would like to see for a dexxer send it to us.


GOVERNOR ISSUES
Q: Are there plans to introduce means to enhance the abilities of governors to communicate with their citizens? The first implementation of the city boards allowed citizens to post there.
Kyronix : If a governor would like an old style bulletin board, we can place one. They just have to ask for one and we can place it.

Q: Governor for Serpent Holds would be great.
Kyronix : Serpent’s Hold is a military base.


BALANCING ISSUES

Q: What about a Focused Fighter? There is a Focused Mage. Any chance to not having to pick Chivalry or Bushido as a melee character and still being effective
Misk: This is something that we will need to discuss further, but I agree that not requiring those two skills would be a wonderful addition to the game!

Q: Why are both of the new Eodon armor types medable? There seems to be a shortage of melee armor.
Kyronix : It worked out that way based on the materials that were available from the natural resources in Eodon.
Kyronix : We experimented early on in making some heavier armors, but the look just wasn’t right.
Kyronix : A combination of say dragon turtle pieces with leather, which is more minimalistic, fit better aesthetically so we wound up with two light armor types.

Q: Sampires are able to kill almost anything solo. Most other melee builds have little chance of surviving, even with support, against enemies using special attacks or massive damage. So, how high is the bar set?
Misk: Very high.


MAP AND TILE PLACEMENT ISSUES

Q: The randomly generated maze down at dungeon Wrong seems to be not solvable most of the time due to the teleport sparkles blocking the way out of the dungeon. Is this intended?
Mesanna: sounds like it might be broken we will look into this issue.

Q: Could you use less dynamic mapping for tiles? When I press CTRL + SHIFT to get bars my screen in EC is filled with "floor tile".
Kyronix : We are looking at a solution for this for Shadowguard.

MASTERIES ISSUES

Q: Why does offline time not count against changing active masteries or resetting the pet training timer?
Bleak: The mastery timer is based off in game time.


HOUSING ISSUES

Q: Why when decorating your home, sometime later, do items pop above others that were placed below them?
Mesanna: We don't have an answer for that at this time.

Q: It's not possible to build up to the in place walls with the new stone crafting wall pieces as it always leaves gaps.
Kyronix : If you can send us some screenshots, it would be helpful and if there is something we can do maybe we can.


CRAFTING ISSUES

Q: Tiger and turtle armor can’t be enhanced by using better leather types, so stat wise it is worse having these new armor types drop, compared to existing armor types.
Kyronix : This is something we hope to add in a future publish, its in our backlog.

Q: We can remove Damage Increase from weapons, I would really love to remove Splintering from weapons.
Kyronix : This is something we can investigate and see about adding in a future update.

Q: Do you have statistics of all items unraveled? Do you track which are sought after or considered junk?
Mesanna: no we do not track this and if we did our database would be soooooo big.

Q: I heard the Bulk Order Deed system would change?
Mesanna: Yes we want to redo it, especially the reward system, possibly a point based system.


EVENT ISSUE

Q: Could town criers be enhanced to announce official events in a way that they mention the time of the events more detailed when they come closer, like “happens in two hours”, “has started”. They could also automatically stop announcing the event after it has ended.
Mesanna: This is the responsibility of the EM’s and you should talk to your EM on your shard and request this.


HUNTING ISSUES

Q: The random combat moves of dinosaurs are very unnerving if you are a melee fighter. Every dinosaur at the turtle spawn can do every special move.
Kyronix : All the dinosaurs have a preselected set of stats, resists, tactics, and special moves.
Kyronix : So you can learn about them and make a tactical decision as to how to best face them.


ITEM ISSUES

Q: Are there plans to allow cameo talismans to be powder of fortable? or no dura like the slither?
Kyronix : This goes back to what we talked about earlier about things not lasting forever.
Kyronix : We have to evaluate it for balance and longevity, before we change it.

Q: Is it possible to make brazier, vet brazier and candelabra dye-able?
Mesanna: We will look into it.

Q: Some items are too small… like small rings. Could this be changed to a bigger graphic?
Mesanna: That's an art question that I would have to address with the team, but not all players like for us to change the art.
*undoubtedly she's referring to the runebook art revert*

Q: The stacking box for grass and snow tiles is very useful, could you include small blackrock to be stacked in a similar manner?
Misk: Due to the varying tiles used with small blackrock, making them stackable is not a possibility.


MISC ISSUES

Q: Are there plans to introduce new rewards for the hunters trophies? Possibly something expendable, since the market for the currently available rewards seems to be saturated.
Kyronix : We added some new trophies for last years update, this is something we can keep in mind when looking at a future update to the Huntsman’s Quest.

Q: If a pet or summon has mysticism, spellweaving or necromancy skills, is the skill reflected by the value for magery (as shown by animal lore)?
Mesanna: Great question, we will find the answer for you guys.

Q: Which marketing measures are planned or ongoing to attract more players?
Mesanna: We have a great plan for next year and will be asking for approval from EA.
Mesanna: As soon as I have approval I will let everyone know our plans.
Mesanna: I think everyone will be happy with it so please be patient.

Q: In House Searching Tool; Any news?
Mesanna: No news yet on the house search tool.

Q: Can we we have Kings Collection added to the in game shop?
Mesanna: Not yet, because the code still has to be put in on the account management page.


BUGS BUGS BUGS

Q: Would it be possible to give out a message "max 10 quests at a time".
Mesanna: I agree that it should be common knowledge or at least the limitation known.
Mesanna: we do have a bug report in the system on it.

Mesanna: When wearing gauntlets the chance to disarm traps is reduced (not that many do that by hand anymore). Is there an armor part worn by gargoyles that reduces these chances as well?
Mesanna: It is as design that it will reduce it by the amount of armor on your hands.


STEALTHING ISSUES

Q: Auto revealing stealthed characters in the Blackthorn dungeon on the Felucca facet feels out of place.
Kyronix : We added the revealing ability to those creatures to deal with some other issues down there, but since have added additional measures to deal with those same issues.
Kyronix : It's something we can revisit, I’m a big fan of the stealther myself and it certainly is a bother when you seem to get revealed over and over.
Kyronix : So perhaps it also worth revisiting the balance between mobs revealing you and the character’s stealth and hiding.

Q: Should I be able to stealth while on a humility hunt?
Kyronix : The intention for the humility hunt is for to show your humility in the face of an opponent by facing them with reduced resists, stealthing isn’t going to help you in achieving paths of humility.
 

Merlin

The Enchanter
Moderator
Professional
Governor
Supporter
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Patron
Credit for this goes to a fellow guild member who puts these together but wishes to remain unnamed.
 

Angel of Sonoma

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
not to discount the guild member's effort but the condensed version only hones in on the key points and is missing some of chatter. for example (stupid as this may sound) the comment that most excited me from the entire transcript was:
Mesanna: to make it easier we do have different hued backpacks we can put in
i assume, and so very much hope, she was referring to the interior backpack hue.
 

Merlin

The Enchanter
Moderator
Professional
Governor
Supporter
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Patron
not to discount the guild member's effort but the condensed version only hones in on the key points and is missing some of chatter. for example (stupid as this may sound) the comment that most excited me from the entire transcript was:

i assume, and so very much hope, she was referring to the interior backpack hue.
My understanding of the purpose of this was to eliminate some of the chatter and to put it into a format that is more easy to digest. The entire transcript is still available for anyone else to read. So yes, this is one person's subjective version of what the key points are.

As a reference, full transcript can be found here:
Developer Meet & Greet 2016 – Ultima Online EM Website Drachenfels
 

The Craftsman

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
CLIENT ISSUES
Q: What is the state of the graphics enhancements that were announced in the past – EC and CC?
Mesanna: The past producer said we were going to update the graphics but that would take 5 to 8 years.
Un - Freakin - Believable.

Entire games have gone from idea to concept to design to publication to alpha to beta to release in less time than this. You just couldnt make it up.
 
Last edited:

Tjalle

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
Where can I find a stacking box for grass and snow tiles?
 

Magnus

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Un - Freakin - Believable.

Entire games have gone from idea to concept to design to publication to alpha to beta to release in less time than this. You just couldnt make it up.
Ha, I'll paste here what I said in the other thread. Its so true though.

I always find when they ask about graphics, the response very humorous. The fact that a previous producer made the outrageous claim that they would update the graphics, but it would take 5-8yrs to do. Not only was this almost five years ago that this was stated, but also nice way to badmouth your former colleagues, very professional. This was worked on for some time, and therefore whatever was created should have been put into the game.

But, lets ignore this and remember that there is already high resolution graphics for everything in UO - from the old Kingdom Reborn client. Instead of recreating everything from scratch, why not look over the years of feedback you got from that art work and modify it and reintroduce it. People didn't hate all of it, just parts of it. It would save a ton of time, effort and money and still result in a better looking game for everyone else.

And then there is the point about the item graphics, the game is almost 20yrs old, the classic client was created when the standard resolution was 640x480, but even in the Enhanced Client the item art work is absolutely tiny. Items hide inside each other, or are non distinct. There is absolutely no excuse that they have not either introduced the list item view to the classic client, or allow a zoom setting for the inventory so people can see their items. The basic usability and interface problems that both clients have is embarrassing to say the least.

I won't even get into the comment about the melee bar being set 'very high', in that unless you have a maxed out and very specific build they don't expect that you will even be qualified to do any of the new content in the game. That is at least what I got from it, the 1-2 word and typically hostile answers really don't clear anything up.
 

The Craftsman

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
there is already high resolution graphics for everything in UO - from the old Kingdom Reborn client. Instead of recreating everything from scratch, why not look over the years of feedback you got from that art work and modify it and reintroduce it.
Because it looked like complete crap?
 

J. E. Tamer

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
OOC:
> Q: Will it be possible to re-size the CC game window?
StretchBlt with a couple of calculations to retain aspect ratio, and some calculations to decide which existing size (640x480, 800x600) is best to base the new size on. That'd be a quick fix, and better than "postage stamp."
 

Coco_Zamis_DF

Lore Keeper
Governor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Mesanna: The past producer said we were going to update the graphics but that would take 5 to 8 years.
With this answer i get immeditaley the idea that this could be a community project. Even if there are only 100k players or less, 1000 peoples would be enough to get this from 5 to 8 years down to one year when you have established the right process.
So you get a bunch of peoples instead of having 3 developers which can do this work. You need only one or two persons which coordinate this process.
You need some people which checks the results in quality and other areas. This would be a pyramid structure of workers, visual and technical controller and the few persons at the gate into the binaries and master of process.
You can start small, lets say restyle studded armor. Check if the process work, if it fails reorganize it. Try this for a half year and you know it will or will not work.
 

Magnus

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
With this answer i get immeditaley the idea that this could be a community project. Even if there are only 100k players or less, 1000 peoples would be enough to get this from 5 to 8 years down to one year when you have established the right process.
Pirates of the Burning Seas did this I believe, a fair number of the ships available in the game were built by the community to a standard set by the studio.
 

Uvtha

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Un - Freakin - Believable.

Entire games have gone from idea to concept to design to publication to alpha to beta to release in less time than this. You just couldnt make it up.
It's not really unbelievable. Making new art, especially with modern tools, is infinitely easier and faster than hand upscaling 20 year old assets, and there ara a **** ton fo them to update due to being sprites (old tech).
 
Last edited:

Uvtha

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I always find when they ask about graphics, the response very humorous. The fact that a previous producer made the outrageous claim that they would update the graphics, but it would take 5-8yrs to do. Not only was this almost five years ago that this was stated, but also nice way to badmouth your former colleagues, very professional. This was worked on for some time, and therefore whatever was created should have been put into the game.
Pretty sure that what this is referring to is hand upscaling the CC art assets. It would all have to be done, or none of it could be used. Not only would it have taken those years, but they would have had to have been paying a sizable dedicated art team to do it. I am sure that is why it was nixed.
 

Uvtha

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
With this answer i get immeditaley the idea that this could be a community project. Even if there are only 100k players or less, 1000 peoples would be enough to get this from 5 to 8 years down to one year when you have established the right process.
So you get a bunch of peoples instead of having 3 developers which can do this work. You need only one or two persons which coordinate this process.
You need some people which checks the results in quality and other areas. This would be a pyramid structure of workers, visual and technical controller and the few persons at the gate into the binaries and master of process.
You can start small, lets say restyle studded armor. Check if the process work, if it fails reorganize it. Try this for a half year and you know it will or will not work.
I think you dramatically underestimate both the scale, and the talent/technical resources/time require in such an undertaking. It would basically require professional artists. I for example am a fairly good amature artist, I have some of the tools (PS/drawing tablet) and I have done extensive pixel work in the past, and I highly doubt I could do it, and even if I could it would take ages for even a few pieces. If 20 OK amatur artists such as myself were all working on just upscaling the art the result would be quite variable from artists to artist, resulting in a very patchwork look, because that of course is what it would be, and that would look a) bad and b) like amature hour, which again.... is what it would be. Not good for the game.

Of course the art upgrade that's being talked about isn't NEW art, it's just upscaled old art, which is even more difficult. The whole reason for the idea was to HD-ify the game, so people could see it, but still maintain the charm of the CC graphics.
 
Top