Farming Community...

[Lady Storm]

Thank you kindly.

All the skills should have a bod system. The rewards should be simple with all the items we have laying around players woudl love to get their hands on.
The tailor and smith bod system is good but could be better and should rotate gifts more as the ones now are a bit old and worn out. With the exception of the bless deed and the hammers , well i can see the rugs staying but perhaps a few changes there are other animal rugs...
The idea for a tiered system would do them a bit of good too.

 

[Babble]

Bod system .. Hanse .. blargh...
The original idea of rewarding crafters with gold was good. Placing important crafting items on them was bad...

Better make gardening things consumable, but no more silly rng games

 

[Trebr Drab]

Bod system .. Hanse .. blargh...
The original idea of rewarding crafters with gold was good. Placing important crafting items on them was bad...

Better make gardening things consumable, but no more silly rng games

I agree. BODs feel gamey and not like part of a world like UO was made to be.

Just give value to foods, and different needs for different sorts of foods, so that they are marketable. Allow cross pollination and crossbreeding to give rare and semi-rare rewards, as well as special care in the fertilization and feeding of plants and animals.

This could be a deep system that feels both natural and magical in a fantasy world.

 

[Lady Storm]

Very true. Bods do hamper ,but to be fair many do like the bod system. Plus you could make the rewards gold.

I like the fact many here do likethe Farming aspect and the growing of new and common plants, we must not forget that some gardens do have weeds....

hehe the thought of a crossing to get a weed! a snap dragon that bites you!

Plants with a use is what we need, deco is fine but i'd rather see that once harvested the plant goes poof and your left with the vegie that you can then sell, trade, or eat. Unless you want to keep the deco version that is.

We do need to increese hunger back to original levels and this would give a good reason for players to buy the food harvested. I do like the idea of them giving some boost to the over all health and stamina of the character.

The cooking menu changes and the farming go hand in hand. And what self respecting chef would not have a few fine fish dishes in their repatuar? Deep sea bass in dill sauce....

Thats another thing for cooks and the garden ...Herbs I mean what kitchen is void of herbs and spices and Salt and pepper?? Mining can get the salt... another adition to the kitchen is using the small black rock bits for coal to run your oven.

It dont take a genius to revamp this into a xpac we just need mythic to take the steps to set it into motion.
Remove the 1 house per account to open up the way for players to (1) make it possible for players to have a siege house and not forfet main line homes. (2) Farm et all styles (3) Revamp and Add in the changes to gardening and eating for players.

Take the chance to pull back past players who wanted this and the new ones who would find it more challenging.

 

[Trebr Drab]

hehe the thought of a crossing to get a weed! a snap dragon that bites you!

And give seeds that you can plant anywhere that quickly grow into a defending helper. With various abilities like Charming, Sleep, Confusion, that mainly act as a Camp System to set up a healing point.

Or even new Plant Pets.

 

[Lady Storm]

Hehe now dont go so far out on that limb that the dev run away then read the post! hehe

But I have to agree that some "seeds" should be shall we say special. The idea of a dud/ weed that can harm you is doable. We have them in game so I knwo we can make more sassy plants.

Garden gnomes? idk I just wish Cal and the mythic gang take this thread seriously.

The chance to get players back is well worth the trial.

 

[old gypsy]

I understand that many players are disenchanted with BODs, but a BOD system shouldn't be completely discounted. Some people really like such systems and it might bring some benefits long denied to chefs. I agree it shouldn't be the primary concern, however, in bringing a real purpose back for food resources. The farming community concept is far more embracing than that.

I definitely think "herb farms" deserve a look. Perhaps ordinary foods should not give much of a boost to players, but how about foods specially "seasoned" with herbs, with the most benefit delivered if prepared by a GM chef? The herbs could be only availale from player-run farms -- not dropped by creatures or able to be found elsewhere.

 

[Zyon Rockler]

Mapper is right. How much easier would it be if our characters were hungry?

Food is knowledge, when we eat food we are consuming an idea, for example: Look at all the things our brain does and our tongue. How we perceive it and its' pleasure it brings. It's all converted into pure thought.

Trebr Drab, for me food would have to be based on hunger. Even animals should have hunger. If you don't eat, you starve. Maybe they could make it so hunger does not affect PvP. Maybe some time of adrinelline rush could over ride starvation.

Lady Storm's idea is also another good example of how farms could be used and be very important to community.

I think it's important that we focus on ideas that cause people to work together, in teams and think of ways to make it very difficult for just one person but not impossible.

One of the things that would be interesting, would be to add a unique, possibility. Alot of games produce one type of outcome. In UO, there are mainly two types, Normal and Exceptional. It might be possible to look at certain properties besides skill, that would determine a unique creation. Almost the same as old gypsy was thinking , so we are all seeing the same things come to light.

It also makes you wonder, what type of relevance it might have but for example: Using alittle more sugar or not cooking long enough, would change results.

I would really like to see time become a factor. The length of time it might take to bake something, the possibility of burning something. It almost gives you that real cooking feeling. The same in farming. Different crops having different times to grow, rather than them all being the same helps to make that plant more unique. It also opens up more possibilities. For example: A plant that is 200 years old, compared to one that is only a few days old.

I think it also promotes community because if something takes so long to do, being human you have to rest but a community can give constant care. So, again, imagine a tree that is 1,000 years old, that is cared for by everyone, rather than a tree that is left to wither.

 

[UOKaiser]

I used to love the bod system. It was one of my main reasons to play for many years. Untill the high end rewards were not worth the trouble no more. So now it sits 100s of thousands of bods just hanging out awaiting for a return of usefullness that will never come. And whatever you do, do not mention dull runic and powder as a reason to continue my huge collection which was meant to spit out high level hammers and barbed kits daily.

 

[Trebr Drab]

As far as food and the players goes, I have a dream system in my mind that I've always wanted to see.

A character would have food tanks, based on stats. And different food types would fill different "tanks".

• Meat/milk/dairy for strength
• Vegies for Stamina
• Fruits for Intelligence

These tanks would range in a wide range from something like +1000 to -1000. And actions reduce what's in the "tank". Skill checks, running (lesser reduction for riding mounts), and even a timed reduction just for standing around.

Once a tank gets low, maybe to 250 points (25% of "full), the character starts losing ability in that stat. Strength related skills become a little more difficult to accomplish, and increasing as the character loses more in his "tank". Hit points recover slower. And the same for each other "tank" and their stat related skills.

A full tank would last for quite a while, and doing it this way would cause players to eat a variety of foods to fill all 3 "tanks" up. Special dishes, such as Stew, Twice Baked Potatoes, Quiche, Soups, etc., would give the character fill-ups in more than one Stat.

Now, make "Freshly Prepared" dishes fill the character up much faster, and you have a reason for players to go to player run taverns, or otherwise make use of other players proficient in cooking skills. Camp sites, etc. Give cooks a use for kettles and such too.

 

[Lady Storm]

This is exactly why I added in bods in the revamp. If you ponder it many bods sit in books on houses till players quit! Not done or even thought of except for $$ gain.
Mythic needs to upgrade the gift rewards on them badly. Drop some of the items, the sandals and the hides are stupid now. Far too many of the 2 tapestrys and rugs (perhaps change colors or alow to dye them?) Hammers.... well they do have a use. 105-120 power scrolls ok yes keep it as with new players need. Shovals and picks are ok too but id like to see a way to combine them to perhaps 1 item with x amount of uses. Add in a cash choice to it. There are tons of item in game already I can think of putting on a menu chopice list. Yes I said choice. We should be able to choose what we get. Players would be happyer for this.

The Chef menu for cooking would greatly improve with the kitchen farm... the tie in's are off the chart if you think of all that can be done.

Right now the gardener grows sugar cane for sugar, why not an orchid for vanilla, cocoa is off a seed from a tree why not make cocoa butter from it? wheat yes you can pick wild all over UO but corn? no but the use in baking is open! Plants can be made and we have plants that can fill the neich for produce. Tomatoe eggplant corn peppers onions carrots .. almost all these are in the game already in one shape or form.

Miners for Salt, black rock(coal)

Foresters for wood kindleing,pepper, fruit (bananas pears apples cherrys etc.)cocoa butter

Fishers for fresh fish (named ones in menu for chef like cod and bass etc)

Carpenters for things like matches (already in game) to lite the oven, makng ovens

Tinkers for tools and pans for baking - cookie sheets

Ranchers for meat - yes raise bessy for milk, cheese, meat same with goat and sheep for lamb. Eggs from chickens (this can be reg chickens or use the battle chickens with their coops the dud plain eggs for cooking!

the links to other skill is only limited by imagination. WE just need mythic to sit down and look at this.

 

[old gypsy]

I was really excited when they introduced cocoa trees and let them produce cocoa pulp to make cocoa butter and cocoa liquor from. But it all stopped there when it became evident that chocolate making was going absolutely nowhere, with no real value in game. We have so much in game right now that could be made useful.... wish the Devs would give these thoughts some attention.

 

[Zyon Rockler]

Trebr Drab, I agree covering all points would work best but is there another way, just for example, that would be the same but not affect the player negatively? The reason I say this is because I was told the system was shut off but I have no way of understanding why, So just for example.

Something like instead of decreasing the character, you just buff them up. For example: Caps that might be in place and expanded on.

Important, say a cake made with exceptional would have to be made with player grown or farm crops.

So, you could no longer get NPC stuff unless a player sold it to them, then the farm or winery, dairy could give exceptional crops that make exceptional food, that gives the buff.

So, maybe you don't have to change the character's system in a negative way. You just create ways to buff up to the caps, with the same idea.

Again, I agree. Your idea is the best. Maybe a hunger switch for hardcore people that live off of the land, so that you would need to eat to survive and as you mentioned, hunt off the land and as long as you had a cook, possibly create exceptional cooked meat or fish to create some type of buff.

 

[Zyon Rockler]

Lady Storm, I agree with you and you're right. Alot of this is just talking and probably going nowhere but it's important that we at least think about the ideas. I think there are still solutions that need to be realized to make certain connections that will actually work.

I think alot of people agree that the BoD system did not work for them and this is a problem I think we should try to resolve to make a clear point why some people will not do it. One of the reasons I stopped doing BoDs was because it was easier to pay for the reward.

One of the things you have to think about is that people would go hunting, make the money that they needed and be able to buy a better reward than they would if they spent weeks doing BoDs, with thousands of things to organize. I blame myself for being lazy and never having the interest to collect BoDs and to really try the system and with just the small dabbling that I did, my smith started collecting million gold checks.

But again, I don't think I cared that much about money. I just wanted the fortification for my suits but again, it just seemed easier to buy from someone else. Another thing I don't like about the BoD system, is that you're working alone. If there was a way that all of the players were connected, well that's the problem. I'm not sure what the solution is but i'm sure there is one.

 

[Zyon Rockler]

I was just wondering if anyone thought about how farms might work? The more I think about it, the more I would see the need for items to be connected to spread sheets. An example might be: If you were growing things, you would have a hay wagon that you would click open to bring up a menu telling you what towns you could sell to. So that you could have a system that sells to the system but then also shows how much you can sell to players.

So, two types of products. Something sold to the system would reward you in gold and possibly trade. The other product would become exceptionally grown and could be sold to players.

Maybe, another menu would open up over a trough, for breeding that might tell you X amount of animals are eating X amount of food or need water and some are pregnant and maybe one is giving birth and you need to stay with it during this time, perhaps.

So, when it's born, it becomes an actual spawn that can be sold to a player and the surplus, which is done through the menu, might be sold to different stable masters or NPCs for gold.

Are there other ideas on how this might work? This was just an example.

 

[Lady Storm]

I must admit I have forgotten many only run 1 or 2 accounts. I am so use to having 5 or 10 characters working one skills. On mutli shards working skills, I get going on one char going at various times of the day, doing the same thing to each one where I am making and doing bods left and right. hehe yes I like to multi task.

Bods died out to the point were people only keep the top cream bods and the rest is tossed out( many of which I grab up), The millions of gold running around a typical shard from just the powders of fort, is astounding.

Players got so much gold that the lazy in them came to rule and most will tell you they dont want to work for it. They would rather buy it from some chump who is silly to do it.
Building up characters in skills is almost done for most. So working bods is not what they want to do.

Granted the bod system needs to be fixed to make it more needed.

I have made some suguestions for change, there is alot of thoughts flying around. I'd like to see a blending of different skills to make things and needed to do bods.
Farm raised items to go to the chef, the tailor, the smith needs to munch on hearty food to get a smithing gain potential for making that shield( something special for bod). I like that idea, food and items for special work and needed to help the farmer make use of his produce. Gardeners of the past had to have players willing to buy the plants for deco...
deco is not so much a factor these days so paint was added.... ok it has a use too but honestly.... now the seeds of renewal you can possibly get. 100k per ok they have a use but what to do with the leftover plant you cant sell?? or make to paint? The one for one ratio was wrong for the paint, it should have been more plants per pigment. Say grind up 5 per or 10 even. The cost would have remained a bit longer and gardening would still have a 2nd use.

Its an idea at least to ponder for them.

 

[Trebr Drab]

I was just wondering if anyone thought about how farms might work? The more I think about it, the more I would see the need for items to be connected to spread sheets. An example might be: If you were growing things, you would have a hay wagon that you would click open to bring up a menu telling you what towns you could sell to. So that you could have a system that sells to the system but then also shows how much you can sell to players.

So, two types of products. Something sold to the system would reward you in gold and possibly trade. The other product would become exceptionally grown and could be sold to players.

Maybe, another menu would open up over a trough, for breeding that might tell you X amount of animals are eating X amount of food or need water and some are pregnant and maybe one is giving birth and you need to stay with it during this time, perhaps.

So, when it's born, it becomes an actual spawn that can be sold to a player and the surplus, which is done through the menu, might be sold to different stable masters or NPCs for gold.

Are there other ideas on how this might work? This was just an example.

Hrmmm...that's certainly got potential.

Hopefully this thread will carry on for a long time, so we can all think about it more.

I think getting a basic premise down, like this, and maybe several as a general possibility, is a good start. Then we can add to those basic ideas and build them into something good.

I do think the Devs come up with some really good stuff, while we players come up with the general ideas to start with. So anything here is a "good post".

 

[Zyon Rockler]

Lady Storm, one of the things with the paint dyes from plants, I think, was missing was the ability to make a crest. Say, maybe you would have a menu that would open, allowing you different options to design a crest, that would make yours different from anyone elses'.

So, a chest piece, might be dyed black and then the white dye might be used to dye the crest. So, now that you have designed your crest, you can place it on the chest piece, then other items could of been made available, so you could do the same thing.

Like horse blankets, shields, cloaks, your own flag, banners for houses, flags on flag poles that would attach to your horse, so that you could show your colors. I think keeping the plant dyes unique, to that type of thing, would of kept them valuable.

There are just to many other colors to compete with. Why pay for one color when you can just choose a completely different color?

One of the things I keep thinking about with the BoDs is if you go to the shop and you get your BoD and then you walk with it into town and another player gets a BoD and then walks with it into town, what could you do to make it beneficial for the two people to work together, besides resources and the type of BoD for trading?

Some type of system. Pretend BoDs don't exist at all, completely new concept but very similar.

 

[Lady Storm]

There is a post for black rock and how much is being gotten mining.... As i suguested it should stack and be used as coal for our cooking.

Pigments and paints player made that is, should have a broader menu and as you said there are players who would love to embelish with another color, Designs I am not sure how the Dev could do it.

Right now I'd settle for getting this off the ground ... Farming has opened alot of minds to it.

Bods should have a better set up and use for more then one player.
Perhaps making the bods mats from farm grown wool, cotton, flax, silk.
To make 20 silk shirts you would need to get the silk fabric, the fabric from silk worms/spiders cocoons(hehe the cocoons in Doom will fit nicely)
Flax is a plant you need to add water and soften to spin them to thread then to fabric. The game already has most of what we need, and as has been pointed out the Dev have changed sand not only in what it looks like but weight. Sooooooo this is not that hard a item to do.

 

[Masuri]

I would love to see a farming expansion as an extension to gardening. Games like LotRO and RuneScape have farming that doesn't in any way feel like a lame FarmVille clone. In fact, I'd love to see a cultivating skill added that combines gardening and farming together and improves harvests and plants grown.

Of course, as other posters have noted, for crop farming to be truly useful, we'd need a much stronger incentive to use food. More buffs please!

 

[Lady Storm]

You got it kiddo!! Food need was reduced so long ago this dev might have trouble raising it but we can hope.

Food need and Farming go hand in hand and gardening is what farming is all about.

 

[Zyon Rockler]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxBgWTi4zIY

 

[Lady Storm]

Well the plight of the american farmer is well known... how many schools have classes on how ot be a successfull farmer and rancher??
Oh they have agraculture classes and animal husbandery but the true farmer is a hands on business that is a family project.
Sadly many family farms are going the way of the dodo bird. Idk about you but the idea of a company who only has a bottom line thats only profet not health and land conservation dont sound so good.
Nor healthy for you or
I. But this is not about an expantion in UO.

Our need for an xpac for farming is a good one, I see alot of potential in it.
I can tie quite a few occupations into this.
Imbuing for example.. you need seeds - we grow them with more in the farming the seed supply will grow.
Carpenter - the more craftable items for the cook and home use and even the chance to grow the hard woods of UO.
Miner - this would give the black rock a whole new use and a second byproduct for mining - salt.
Tinker , tailor , smith, gardener............. the list is so vast and so easy. Why they never thought of it is beyond me. Take 1 look in the gardening forum! I have seen players go gaga over plants in UO... there is alot they can do and still make for the player to grow...

Weeds too hehe have a chance to have a seed turn into a weed...one that bites !
Talk about pest control! heheh

 

[Lady Storm]

Just read a post about Dragons and Sea Serpents...
With Mesanna asking about hwo we feel about "Rare" colored tameables poping up...

Gee sounds like what I proposed in the Ranch part of the Farming. Rare colored ranch animals with say a colored hide/fur once you "harvest" to match.


I do like the idea of a Black Dragon...

It might also be a nice thing for them to boost the power of WW and regular dragons so they can be used. I miss taking out my babys cause most new things will kill them in 1 swat. Unless you make it so we can take out 2 of them at once.. might make up for the slight UO Dev gave my WW.

 

[Lady Storm]

How about it Cal?? Supreem? Mesanna? can we have this ?? I' ll help .... heck we all will if you get stuck...... honest. I'd like friends to return, and perhaps we might ...just might interest alot of new players too.

 

[Zyon Rockler]

I would love to see more things added to the game. I think it would be neat if the colors represented power as well. Maybe the caps could be bumped alittle bit. Even adding some small features, like just drawing an extra horn on one, rather then redrawing a whole new spawn and then maybe giving it some type of unique ability.

Color is definitely a good start. I think that alone, would give the game something extra.

 

[Lady Storm]

Thats another thing they need addressing is the skill cap... 720 is still too low
Yes I know we can bump it up with pieces and make it higher but its not the same for all,
a good crafter has to give up or stone skills to make things work. I saw one guy with 10 full soul stones! all for his crafter~ he said he couldnt work without them cause the skills for things overlaps so bad he needed 1000 skill pts to just do some of it! I have to agree with his analagy.

Gm carpenter, tinker, cook, smith, tailor, minier, lumberjack - ok thats 7 skills of which all need to just get by. Now add in magery or chiv to get around with....... Ok, this is 1 fully loaded character. I do see the need for this on players who have only 1 account. Yes 7 char slots if you upgraded but how many did?


Perhaps they can up skill caps for different classes - say 1000 for pure crafter to
800 for fighters. I do see troubles with this too gee wiz... ok 1000 for all hehe