If you could ADD just one thing to UO, what would it be?

[Wallenstein]

If you could add just one thing to Ultima Online, what would it be? A new mount, new weapon, new skill, new hue, new spell?

I'd personally love to add a 'house boat'. House boats would be purchasable and placeable in the same locations as normal ships in the game. However, house boats would contain up to two levels, two rooms on each level, and a storage hull for storing items that would hold items even when the house boat is drydocked. This, of course, would take up storage space in your pack, but could act similarly to BOD Books in that a certain amount of items (i.e. 100) would only take up 1 item slot in your pack.

House boats would act as a house on your account and would follow the current housing rules (i.e. one house OR house boat per account).

Pricing for house boats would be as follows:

Small House Boat: One level, two rooms, ~500 item storage hull-- 128,000gp.

Medium House Boat: Two levels, three rooms (2 on bottom, 1 on top), ~1,500 item storage hull-- 456,000gp.

Large House Boat: Two levels, four rooms, ~2,500 item storage hull-- 712,000gp.

As stated, the hull-to-in-pack-item ratio could be 100:1. So, the 2,500 item storage hull-- when drydocked-- would take up 25 item slots in your pack.

House boats would have to be placed in the water in order to retrieve items from their hulls. A house boat would have a decay period twice as long as that of a normal ship. Similar to current houses, house boat owners could edit who has the ability to open the boat's plank and walk on board.

Got any ideas? Throw 'em out!

 

[Nine Dark Moons]

my answer has always been spider webs!!! and now we have them which makes me happy happy happy

 

[Rotgut Willy]

A Wand of Neon Disintegration.


Seriously though.. more hull storage in larger boats.

 

[Sweeney]

Dedicated support staff.

 

[TazzUGK]

I always thought it would be cool to have a Hawk as a pet that was actually useful. Maybe they would be able to hunt food for you or go out and bring back reagents? I wouldn’t want them to really be a tank but just something useful.

 

[Farsight]

Dedicated support staff.

That.

 

[Prince Caspian]

Pudding.

 

[TirNaNo'g]

The one thing I would add would be a more dynamic natural world.

I want weather. Rain, snow, sky-darkening storms with wind noises, sheets of rain and lightning... Defoliation of deciduous trees and winter snow accumulation based on the sosarian calendar. Fairly common snowfalls in areas that are normally snowy (with the occasional significant white-out). Common rain-falls at sea and in tropical areas. How about a rain of ashes over the demon temple on fire island too?

Add to that progressive nightfalls, longer and darker nights, followed by dramatic dawns...

 

[rareitem]

Real arties:

Felucca only Unique items. ( only one item with same properties , Felucca = steleable/lootable )

Extreme power ( gives great advantage to wearer )

Never decay and cant be destroyed. ( they stay in game for ever )

Cursed ( cant be insured , so free to steal or loot )

Cant be moved out of Backpack/Paperdoll ( if you are the owner you have to face it )

Active items ( If not used after a period of time the item rejects its owner)

Merit System ( Owner has to meet certain requirements to keep the item along time)

 

[Cardell]

Only one thing?

Well if it was one thing I wouldn't add it, I would just scrap trammel.. but there are tons of **** that has to be done. Especially after this patch.

 

[Viquire]

A one and a half handed ******* Sword.

 

[Saphireena]

A possibility to have my characters lay down.

 

[Sarphus]

I've always wanted a viable pack of bears...
I've also always wanted to have a pet with parry


Dire Bear

Taming Difficulty 110
Control Slots: 1
Rideable: No
pack instinct Bear
Damage Type: 100% Physical
Base Damage: 11-17 (same as frenzied ostard/hell hound)

Str: 95-165
Dex: 95-115
Stam: 95-115
Int: Doesn't matter
HP: 120-175
Phys Resist: 35-45
Fire Resist: 35-45
Cold Resist: 45-55
Poison Resist: 0
Energy Resist: 35-45

Skills
Wrestling: 85-95
Tactics : 85-95
Anatomy: 0
Resist Spells: 70-80
Parry: 0 (needs to be trained)

I wouldn't give the bears any special moves even though it's tempting to give them bleed attack. Reason being that 5 pets all hitting a target at once would almost guarunteed fire a move off, which could create balance issues.

The idea is to make a pack creature that is pretty survivable once trained, but would take a while to train.

I made them vulnerable to poison to prevent them from being abused in pvp. Theoretically, they should be killable with poison bolts or consecrate weapon fairly rapidly. PVP is another reason I don't think they should be mountable.

 

[Strawberry]

A Dev team member who understands crafters and consistently adds stuff for us to do (that does not involve fighting anything, just crafting). More non-fighting quests (or puzzles) would be nice too.

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

Bard success chances/timer changes that give a realistic chance at discording and provoking BEFORE everyone else has killed whatever it is.

 

[Bman]

Ummm... NO LAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

and maybe a little less LAGGGGGGG

But on another note.... the house boat is a good idea, as well as seige type boats that could actually be used in fights and be sank by other boats. Have the ability to have a crafter on boat repairing damage as it occurs making the boats more dynamic.

A rideable Dragon!

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

he one thing I would add would be a more dynamic natural world.

I want weather. Rain, snow, sky-darkening storms with wind noises, sheets of rain and lightning... Defoliation of deciduous trees and winter snow accumulation based on the sosarian calendar. Fairly common snowfalls in areas that are normally snowy (with the occasional significant white-out). Common rain-falls at sea and in tropical areas. How about a rain of ashes over the demon temple on fire island too?

Add to that progressive nightfalls, longer and darker nights, followed by dramatic dawns...

I approve of this message

 

[The Craftsman]

To be able to swim, or maybe even see the sky.

 

[Multani]

A giant rideable toad.

Seriously what would be sweeter then riding a Toad?

 

[GFY]

I would like to see a permanent, but very low, spawn on Tokuno arties. These are some of the most useful and most used items in the game. Perhaps a drop similar to the powerscroll drop but at the Tokuno champ. About 10 or so minor arties dropped for each champ, and one major dropped for the person who kills the champ. Have this number double for the person giving protection, just like on powerscrolls in Felucca. Perhaps you could even limit participation to once per day.

 

[Maplestone]

farms: plot of land around one's home that can be planted with herbs/vegitables/grains (game of life style growth patterns) with barns (fill with herded animals for aquarium-type rewards), animal-breeding (through selective breeding, can raise higher-stat pets), plant/animal-resource BODs, mini-events like wild-animal invasions to fight off, etc.

( hmmm, I'd better stop ... this "one thing" idea is turning into an expansion )

 

[MalagAste]

Balance?


If I can't have that...... I always wanted to be able to tame other spiders.... I'd love to have a pet Dread Spider...

 

[Phaen Grey]

A seed catalog to store all my plant seeds like the BoD system.

 

[Lady Tia]

A rideable Dragon that could fly.

or if not that, Castles that you could grow things in the grassy area.

 

[Nok]

A Wand of Neon Disintegration.


Seriously though.. more hull storage in larger boats.

Pudding.

A possibility to have my characters lay down.

Oh these would be posted already! *ponders... thinks... smells smoke*

A 3-masted, non-blocking, non-decayable, ethereal ghost ship with lockdowns.

 

[laurlo]

I would have them reinstate the city/housing options where you could set up a town and have a town marker.

 

[Draconi]

If you could add just one thing to Ultima Online, what would it be? A new mount, new weapon, new skill, new hue, new spell?

Got any ideas? Throw 'em out!

All 13,000 lines of speech the NPCs used to have. I miss the richness and depth they provided to the world.

(Note: This is a wishlist. The number one thing we want to add to the game tends to already be a part of our publish schedule )

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

How about more scripted "lives" to go with those 13,000 lines of speech? (would also go well with the day/night thing *hinthint*)

 

[Sweeney]

All 13,000 lines of speech the NPCs used to have. I miss the richness and depth they provided to the world.

(Note: This is a wishlist. The number one thing we want to add to the game tends to already be a part of our publish schedule )

Scripting languages already exist.. and are easily incorporated. Once added, adding additional keywords, keyphrases is childsplay. The languages are also freeware if a source is noted in the credits.

 

[Crysta]

Scripting languages already exist.. and are easily incorporated. Once added, adding additional keywords, keyphrases is childsplay. The languages are also freeware if a source is noted in the credits.

They were removed because it would be a major pain to properly localize 13k lines into all the languages UO can use. Now, if you know someone that can do all the translation for free, then it might be a bit more probable.

As for me, I still want the old moongate system back, so i'd have to go with that. Would be interesting to come up with a way to manage all the locations that have been added over the years to the menus.

 

[DrDolittle]

If they are going to keep adding races then I want a playable dragon race.

 

[Draconi]

They were removed because it would be a major pain to properly localize 13k lines into all the languages UO can use.

I think, honestly, they intended to rebuild the system for it once they'd completed the rest of the localization effort.

I also agree that adding more NPCs with schedules and individual lives is great - the more Ultima the better.

And finally, Crysta, I love Earthbound/Mother. Now there's some fine game design!

 

[Maplestone]

I seem to remember that Sherry the Mouse was a nice little experiment you (individually or collectively?) tried to take things in the direction of giving NPCs lives. That was really eye-opening as to what the game could be turned into.

*starts imagining what sort of emergent behaviours one could have with NPCs semi-randomly wandering around town interacting with each other when they crossed paths*

 

[Draconi]

Scripting languages already exist.. and are easily incorporated. Once added, adding additional keywords, keyphrases is childsplay. The languages are also freeware if a source is noted in the credits.

Oh certainly.

UO, for instance, uses Wombat for almost all its game systems and content. It's very C-like, but allows us to do insane things that would normally require pure engineering effort to pull off.

The old "speech script language" that the NPCs had was also fairly complex. It handled gender, attitude, intelligence, and notoreity for deciding sentence fragments, after which it could then could swap in tokens depending on what was supposed to modify the sentence. It could also deal with pure game events (like items being handed over), rather than purely speech.

I miss it.

 

[Draconi]

I seem to remember that Sherry the Mouse was a nice little experiment you (individually or collectively?) tried to take things in the direction of giving NPCs lives. That was really eye-opening as to what the game could be turned into.

*starts imagining what sort of emergent behaviours one could have with NPCs semi-randomly wandering around town interacting with each other when they crossed paths*

Yep. In fact, her AI has been broken into a generic scheduling, pathfinding, and interaction system for future NPCs... like in Stygian Abyss

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

While we're on the tangent of NPC speech, is there any way to make it easier to recognize keywords in conversation with key NPCs that do NOT require constant guessnig or looking up spoilers?

I know in U6 the key words were bolded (also you have the main "name, job, bye" ones), but considering that the fonts are based on the client (and in KR changeable), seems like something else is necessary to do this.

While it may make the whole thing easier, it would at the very least remove some of the frustration in trying to figure out the next key work without a spoiler at hand.

IMO of course.

 

[Maplestone]

Very cool! I was wondering if that was going to make the cut

 

[Draconi]

...

While we're on the tangent of NPC speech, is there any way to make it easier to recognize keywords in conversation with key NPCs that do NOT require constant guessnig or looking up spoilers?

I know in U6 the key words were bolded (also you have the main "name, job, bye" ones), but considering that the fonts are based on the client (and in KR changeable), seems like something else is necessary to do this.

While it may make the whole thing easier, it would at the very least remove some of the frustration in trying to figure out the next key work without a spoiler at hand.

IMO of course.

I always liked the U6 system myself, and you're right, there's no easy way to bold portions of speech :/

In the short term, I'd like to establish a very consistent system for them. For instance, having "name" and "job" literally be good enough jumping off points that all other keywords can be discovered by starting there.

 

[Crysta]

And finally, Crysta, I love Earthbound/Mother. Now there's some fine game design!

Damn right!

Also.. the name/job/bye thing.. always reminds me of U7 at the playhouse in Britain.. the Avatar actor walks around saying them. With such difficult lines though, its obvious why he was having trouble getting into character.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

The only way I see to make it easy to discern the key words and deal with font customization is to have the words involved in all-caps, but that might come across odd in game (kind of comic-bookish).

Maybe something like blah blah blah ~something~ blah blah?

Just throwing out ideas.

As with the earlier post about environmental effects, I feel that the environment and NPCs, while they aren't game-make/break systems (i.e. balance, stability, etc), they are a subtle part of the game that can work to really draw a player into the game.

For example, as I look over on my game monitor, I see embers coming off the forge and braziers in my house (KR). An insignificant thing in terms of the game as a whole, but something that helps lend to the feel of the game itself in a good way. Makes the game a little more "alive".

More little things like that with the NPCs and the environment are top notch in my book.

 

[Crysta]

Actually, rather than bold, wouldn't alternate color be the best option? Have something set up to discern what the character's current choice for text color from NPCs is, and have keywords display in either a complimentary or opposing color caluculated mathmatically based on the available palette.

 

[Kaleb]

If you could add just one thing to Ultima Online, what would it be? A new mount, new weapon, new skill, new hue, new spell?

I'd personally love to add a 'house boat'. House boats would be purchasable and placeable in the same locations as normal ships in the game. However, house boats would contain up to two levels, two rooms on each level, and a storage hull for storing items that would hold items even when the house boat is drydocked. This, of course, would take up storage space in your pack, but could act similarly to BOD Books in that a certain amount of items (i.e. 100) would only take up 1 item slot in your pack.

House boats would act as a house on your account and would follow the current housing rules (i.e. one house OR house boat per account).

Pricing for house boats would be as follows:

Small House Boat: One level, two rooms, ~500 item storage hull-- 128,000gp.

Medium House Boat: Two levels, three rooms (2 on bottom, 1 on top), ~1,500 item storage hull-- 456,000gp.

Large House Boat: Two levels, four rooms, ~2,500 item storage hull-- 712,000gp.

As stated, the hull-to-in-pack-item ratio could be 100:1. So, the 2,500 item storage hull-- when drydocked-- would take up 25 item slots in your pack.

House boats would have to be placed in the water in order to retrieve items from their hulls. A house boat would have a decay period twice as long as that of a normal ship. Similar to current houses, house boat owners could edit who has the ability to open the boat's plank and walk on board.

Got any ideas? Throw 'em out!

That is flawed. Let me tell you why. 2500 items when dry docked would allow you to carry counting as 25. basicly a pouch that whenever near water you can access? and water is what either a step to a few screens to a recall/gate away?

I can see cooler ships with more cargo spaces let me say ships not these dingies we have now. that can have a couple different levels and cabins, maby allow the storage changes but not allow you to carry everything while drydocked. Add ships from the 50k (next up from the largest we have now) to 5 mill+ range (3 mast 3 level big ships like huge pirate ships). even fishing boats (3mill) that when the nets are used they fish up things for you instead of having to carry a pole and catch like a batch of fish seaserp, kraken, water elementals maby new seacreatures.

 

[Maplestone]

there's no easy way to bold portions of speech :/

Not even to [simulate] it?

 

[Draconi]

Damn right!

Also.. the name/job/bye thing.. always reminds me of U7 at the playhouse in Britain.. the Avatar actor walks around saying them. With such difficult lines though, its obvious why he was having trouble getting into character.

Avatar: Excuse me there! Name?
NPC: My name is Bart m'lord, your humble servant.
Avatar: Job?
Bart: I am thy humble servant!
Avatar: Servant?
Bart: Aye, m'lord, at your service.
Avatar: Service?
Bart: Why yes, m'lord, I am your humble servant!
Avatar: Humble?
Bart: I'm sorry?
Avatar: Spam?
Bart: I'm sorry?
Avatar: Humbug?
Bart: I'm sorry?
Avatar: *!@#
Bart: That's not very Avatar-like, m'lord
Avatar: Bye
Bart: Have a nice day, m'lord.

 

[Draconi]

Not even to [simulate] it?

Oh, no, sorry, the simulation thing, with [], etc, would work fine! It's the actual font bolding.

I'm liking the [] idea for non-secret text keys. E.g., the things you should be able to figure out in the conversation, not the secret keywords you find out from other NPCs or are required to discover through effort.

Hey! Score one for a constructive Friday evening conversation

 

[love2winalot]

i would add NPC Vendor change. They can buy anything releated to their job field, "And it shows up on their inventory". and any other player can buy it.

Carpenters buy rubble.
Farmers buy plants
Stablemasters buy pets

and so on. This gives the player who does not have a luna vender, who's house is in Felluca, or has a private house, the ability to sell items they normally can not. It would also make NPC shopping popular again, and force luna venders to have more reasonable prices on some of their items.

 

[RoseBlue]

I would add growing animals (etc etc)

 

[Viquire]

All 13,000 lines of speech the NPCs used to have. I miss the richness and depth they provided to the world.

(Note: This is a wishlist. The number one thing we want to add to the game tends to already be a part of our publish schedule )

Drac,

Would that include the old tillerman tales. If it would you're right. I really miss meaningful interaction on any level with npcs, but those were a hoot!

 

[Viquire]

Avatar: Excuse me there! Name?
NPC: My name is Bart m'lord, your humble servant.
Avatar: Job?
Bart: I am thy humble servant!
Avatar: Servant?
Bart: Aye, m'lord, at your service.
Avatar: Service?
Bart: Why yes, m'lord, I am your humble servant!
Avatar: Humble?
Bart: I'm sorry?
Avatar: Spam?
Bart: I'm sorry?
Avatar: Humbug?
Bart: I'm sorry?
Avatar: *!@#
Bart: That's not very Avatar-like, m'lord
Avatar: Bye
Bart: Have a nice day, m'lord.

LOL, and right on too. Damn those were the days.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

And the old SOS messages.