New items with Covetous points (good news for resource harvesting)

[Pinco]

For the ones who have not noticed it, the new covetous dungeon provides points for some nice items:

- Cauldron of Transmutation: increase by 1 level the ingot/wood. This cauldrons have a life span of 24 hours and there is 1 for every kind of metal/wood.

- Resource Map: allows the player to locate an ore deposit or a source of wood.

- Smelter's Talisman: give 100% chance to smelt a metal. Has a life span of 24 hours.

- Woodsman's Talisman: give bonus logs while chopping a specific wood type. Has a life span of 24 hours.

- Temporary forge: allows to place a forge NOT in a house. The forge will last for 4 hours and cannot be redeed.

- Magical Fish Finder: allows you to locate the location of a magical fish. Has a life span of 4 hours.

- Artifacts (brutal copy of the worst doom arties): this artifacts have the mod "Ephemeral" that still unknown...

 

[Meatbread]

Artifacts (brutal copy of the worst doom arties): this artifacts have the mod "Ephemeral" that still unknown...

Ephemeral. So they're gonna probably disappear, or be unrepairable, or some junk like that. Because being terrible wasn't enough.

 

[Dan123The123Man]

Ephemeral. So they're gonna probably disappear, or be unrepairable, or some junk like that. Because being terrible wasn't enough.

lol

 

[Meatbread]

But anyway no, I think these resource rewards are a great idea. Possibly even brilliant if executed correctly. The common man's answer to scripters, as I said elsewhere.

Now Martyna ran up and went "Argh they'll just script the points, scripty script script, argh fail!" but I'm not so sure. PVM of any real intensity is a lot harder to script than mining, and it would be incredibly easy for someone to pull a bunch of spawn over to a scripter and then whoops go invisible.

 

[Pawain]

Those rewards could be useful. Do you get to pick or are they random?

 

[Pinco]

Those rewards could be useful. Do you get to pick or are they random?

it's a system like the community collection so you can pick what you want when you want if you have the points

 

[Storm]

it's a system like the community collection so you can pick what you want when you want if you have the points

I think these are great additions especially to get some of the rare materials

 

[OvenBird]

I'm digging these rewards

 

[Raptor85]

Can the cauldrons transmute iron or normal wood? If so the scripters are about to have a freaking field day with this + free trial accounts.

Interesting and all but again requiring PVM for resource gathering ingots/wood? I just don't really see miners and lumberjacks getting suited up and grinding mobs for hours to buy one of these (how many ingots can these convert? if it's capped then it's pointless since it would take no longer than just staying out and mining longer....and also be more expensive. If it's not capped these are going to be scripted to death), far more likely they'll save up ingots and such for a long time then simply buy them from pvm'ers who hunt there.

 

[Redxpanda]

If anyone is wondering what Ephemeral means, it means it lasts for a very short time. One can only assume that this may be the new "Cursed" but personally, i have been walking around with my cursed arties for a long time and just haven't died (or been looted) while using them. It would be nice to be able to have some that are not cursed for a change though. I really like the ones that allow you to find a certain fish and the temporary forge.

 

[Pinco]

Can the cauldrons transmute iron or normal wood? If so the scripters are about to have a freaking field day with this + free trial accounts.

Interesting and all but again requiring PVM for resource gathering ingots/wood? I just don't really see miners and lumberjacks getting suited up and grinding mobs for hours to buy one of these (how many ingots can these convert? if it's capped then it's pointless since it would take no longer than just staying out and mining longer....and also be more expensive. If it's not capped these are going to be scripted to death), far more likely they'll save up ingots and such for a long time then simply buy them from pvm'ers who hunt there.

there is no plain, now I don't remember exactly which material is the first but if I don't mistake is gold for metal and ash for wood...
there is also a conversion rate that is NOT 1:1, for example on verite to valorite is 3:1 (3 ingots of verite converted into 1 of valorite). AND there is a counted number of uses to avoid abuses (something like 20k).

 

[LordDrago]

I am thinking I am gonna love these rewards.

By teh way, ephemeral means "lasting a short while". I am assuming that this is in regardsw to their 24 hr lifespan (which I am hoping means the effect lasts for 24 hrs, not you have 24 hrs from thew time of obtaining to use - although I guess I could handle this).

I also hope that these are used in a way to disrupt their use in scripting.

 

[hen]

I am by and large a resource gatherer. Am I going to have to pvm to obtain these rewards?

 

[Gheed]

"give bonus logs while chopping a specific wood type. Has a life span of 24 hours"
"100% chance to smelt a metal. Has a life span of 24 hours"

To me that is a boon to scripting. Before rng ore I could mine about 4 hrs max. Now I cant stand it for more than two hours. Either way a 24 hr life span is mostly a waste for anything less than automating.... which can use every minute of that 24 hrs.

All these additions for no particulary good reason. These materials have no real bulk demand save community collections, which created an artificial demand for them. As if we may have learned from that colossal blunder? But instead we add resources to clean up brit. I just dont get it. This is just more pvm un-rnging of rng resources. I went to tc last night. My miner would have his butt handed to him in no time.

 

[Pinco]

I am by and large a resource gatherer. Am I going to have to pvm to obtain these rewards?

I don't think will be hard to buy from someone who really pvm... especially because they don't requires too much points...

 

[Meatbread]

Interesting and all but again requiring PVM for resource gathering ingots/wood? I just don't really see miners and lumberjacks getting suited up and grinding mobs for hours to buy one of these (how many ingots can these convert? if it's capped then it's pointless since it would take no longer than just staying out and mining longer....and also be more expensive. If it's not capped these are going to be scripted to death), far more likely they'll save up ingots and such for a long time then simply buy them from pvm'ers who hunt there.

Fighters being dependant upon crafters for gear: The hallmark of a robust interconnected economy.
Crafters needing fighters as anything but customers: Freakin' bullcrap, amirite?

 

[silent]

I am by and large a resource gatherer. Am I going to have to pvm to obtain these rewards?

Buy from other players or barter supplies if you don't want to engage in PVM. I don't gather resources I buy from other players, same principal.

 

[Tina Small]

I don't think will be hard to buy from someone who really pvm... especially because they don't requires too much points...

Pinco, can you give these reward items to another character, or can they only be used by the character that earned the points and claimed the reward? If you can transfer them to another character, does the timer on the item start ticking off as soon as a character claims it from the NPC in Minoc or when the item is first "used" in the appropriate fashion?

 

[Tjalle]

Before rng ore I could mine about 4 hrs max. Now I cant stand it for more than two hours. Either way a 24 hr life span is mostly a waste for anything less than automating.... which can use every minute of that 24 hrs.

You can mine an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening and use the same 24 hour reward...

 

[Gheed]

You can mine an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening and use the same 24 hour reward...

Just got a golden talisman. The timer starts ticking a soon as you recieve it. It has a charge limit of 6k (less charges for higher level ore). One charge is consumed per ingot smelted, so 1 large ore consumes 2 charges. one talisman cam smelt 3k ore. So it looks to have no advantage toward scripting or honest mining what so ever. Just save up 3k large ore before you get one.

I thought the point cost was fair. 50 points per one gold smelting talisman. If your fighter is well equiped for the void pool thinger, you can easily get that many points in one wave.

They are transferable, at least the talismans

 

[Tina Small]

Pinco, can you give these reward items to another character, or can they only be used by the character that earned the points and claimed the reward? If you can transfer them to another character, does the timer on the item start ticking off as soon as a character claims it from the NPC in Minoc or when the item is first "used" in the appropriate fashion?

Well, to answer my own questions:

The timer starts as soon as you claim the reward. I claimed a Woodsman's Yew Talisman and equipped it. It showed 300 uses remaining at that point. First two trees I smacked outside the house in Fel gave yew wood, for a grand total of 112 boards (remember, this is in Fel). And then that seemed to be the last of the yew. After that, every tree gave wood like it normally would (ash, oak, heartwood, regular wood). The charges didn't go down though. There still sitting at 296. I even took it off and put it back on again several times and proceeded to smack some more trees. No yew.

Switched the talisman to another character. She got no yew wood at all. The charges didn't decrease either. Timer sure did keep ticking down though.

I have no idea what I'm doing wrong with the talisman. Was it a fluke that the first two trees the first character that used it hit gave yew wood, or were they already giving yew wood? I have no idea.

 

[Tina Small]

Well, to answer my own questions:

The timer starts as soon as you claim the reward. I claimed a Woodsman's Yew Talisman and equipped it. It showed 300 uses remaining at that point. First two trees I smacked outside the house in Fel gave yew wood, for a grand total of 112 boards (remember, this is in Fel). And then that seemed to be the last of the yew. After that, every tree gave wood like it normally would (ash, oak, heartwood, regular wood). The charges didn't go down though. There still sitting at 296. I even took it off and put it back on again several times and proceeded to smack some more trees. No yew.

Switched the talisman to another character. She got no yew wood at all. The charges didn't decrease either. Timer sure did keep ticking down though.

I have no idea what I'm doing wrong with the talisman. Was it a fluke that the first two trees the first character that used it hit gave yew wood, or were they already giving yew wood? I have no idea.

Oh, I waited a few minutes and tried one of the yew trees again with character #2 and I see the message, "The magic if your talisman guides your hands as you cut the wood. You chop some yew logs and put them in your backpack." 100 logs. (And yes, there's a typo in there: "if" when it should be "of.") Tried all the same trees as before and all are still giving the same wood as before, oak, ash, heartwood, regular.

Waste of 50 points.

 

[lit2fly]

Just got a golden talisman. The timer starts ticking a soon as you recieve it. It has a charge limit of 6k (less charges for higher level ore). One charge is consumed per ingot smelted, so 1 large ore consumes 2 charges. one talisman cam smelt 3k ore. So it looks to have no advantage toward scripting or honest mining what so ever. Just save up 3k large ore before you get one.

I thought the point cost was fair. 50 points per one gold smelting talisman. If your fighter is well equiped for the void pool thinger, you can easily get that many points in one wave.

They are transferable, at least the talismans

are there any valorite talismans? I have 90% chance to smelt gold ingots I don't feel I really need a gold talisman, on the other hand I'm interested in a valorite one. how many point it needs if it exists?

 

[Gheed]

are there any valorite talismans? I have 90% chance to smelt gold ingots I don't feel I really need a gold talisman, on the other hand I'm interested in a valorite one. how many point it needs if it exists?

There are valorite, 500 points for 750 charges (ingots). Seems a bit steep for what you get.

 

[Meatbread]

Oh, I waited a few minutes and tried one of the yew trees again with character #2 and I see the message, "The magic if your talisman guides your hands as you cut the wood. You chop some yew logs and put them in your backpack." 100 logs. (And yes, there's a typo in there: "if" when it should be "of.") Tried all the same trees as before and all are still giving the same wood as before, oak, ash, heartwood, regular.

Waste of 50 points.

The talisman doesn't make trees into yew, it just makes you get more logs when you chop a yew tree. (Or whatever type the talisman is for.) Try combining it with one of those maps that lead you to a specific resource type.

 

[Tjalle]

Might put the fire beetles out of business if we now plan on hauling the ore stacks home to save up a stack for when it´s time to smelt...

 

[Gheed]

Might put the fire beetles out of business if we now plan on hauling the ore stacks home to save up a stack for when it´s time to smelt...

More of a fire beetle/pack horse combo where you'd smelt the lesser ores and drop the higher ores on your packie. Speaking of, can we get some pack animals that can hold more wieght?

 

[Tina Small]

The talisman doesn't make trees into yew, it just makes you get more logs when you chop a yew tree. (Or whatever type the talisman is for.) Try combining it with one of those maps that lead you to a specific resource type.

With how rare some of the woods and ores are, unless you have a whole lot of spots already scouted out or a whole bunch of maps, it seems like you will run out of time on the talisman before you use up all the charges. It uses one charge per smack of the tree that yields the wood that the talisman is for. I'm sure I'll be sticking to mining, smelting, and lumberjacking as I always have (walking along and taking whatever I find and making runes to make return trips for as long as the rare resource lasts). I just hope these additions don't mean that the team has tweaked the RNG for the rarer resources so they becoming even rarer.

The void pool was sort of fun, but I can see it being a frustrating experience if there are a lot of people there at the same time, and yet they can't really up the spawn amount too much or it becomes too overwhelming if there aren't enough people there to fight it. And then when it finishes, you have to wait 15 minutes for it to start over again. Plus I really don't understand who thought it was a good idea to put the reward-giver in Fel in Minoc practically right on top of the town stone and the faction sigil monolith. That location is just asking for it to be griefed by surrounding it with faction guards. You have to stand right on top of her to get any kind of response, so push through all the guards to get to her? Don't get to her at all if your character you used in Covetous is in factions, red, and not in the faction that surrounded her with guards?

Stick her in Cove or some other non-faction town and avoid at least that bit of potential griefing.

I'm really struggling to find anything positive to say about this publish. Guess I'll bite my tongue and go away for a while.

 

[Sevin0oo0]

Might put the fire beetles out of business

aye, it'll be like the thread "Tamers: Do you own a White Wyrm? " insert fire beetle - I like that color in 2D over the blue

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

The void pool was sort of fun, but I can see it being a frustrating experience if there are a lot of people there at the same time, and yet they can't really up the spawn amount too much or it becomes too overwhelming if there aren't enough people there to fight it.

Hmmm does the spawn vary in intensity based on the number of people present... and if not... should it?

 

[Sevin0oo0]

does the spawn vary in intensity based on the number of people present... and if not... should it?

. Makes sense if it does, accommodating solo, or group play. Or vary on how fast they're killed? Should it De-Spawn if people leave to counter griefers? Like leftovers at a deserted champ spawn.

 

[Frarc]

I need to see if the red shovels from the Headless Miners do something.

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

So am I the only one that feels these things further devalue having actual skill? Additionally, instead of actually addressing the issues faced by resource gatherers due to inane anti-scripter code (that doesn't achieve the desired results) we get another item-based band-aid. We're encouraging this...why?

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

The resource randomization was a method of making "rare" resources actually more rare again. Scripting or no, the whole concept of Valorite or Frostwood being rare becomes pointless if anyone can simply recall to every known spot whenever they want and get however much they want at any time. Since UO doesn't use the Fake Difficulty aspects that Level/Zone based games do by putting higher end resources in high level zones and on ridiculously slow respawn timers, it served to increase the rarity level of higher end resources.

Scriptors had little to do with the issue and any effect it has had on scriptors was a side effect.

The Resource-Based rewards to me look like an attempt to cater to issues people have had with resource randomization from being able to find the higher end resources (more a problem for lumberjacking than mining) to being able to process higher end resources (mining specifically).

Since the rewards have a limited use, it keeps the method of obtaining them useable over a longer period of time. It makes the system more like the Bag of Sending/Powder of Translocation quests which have been ingame for a decade now and are still useful since the bags themselves have to be replaced. Frankly I like that system better than decorative and equipment rewards that end up being permanent and oversaturate the market becoming junk in a short period of time.

 

[Pinco]

Plus I really don't understand who thought it was a good idea to put the reward-giver in Fel in Minoc practically right on top of the town stone and the faction sigil monolith.

the reward giver is in trammel and felucca... I used the trammel one for my tests.

 

[Meatbread]

So am I the only one that feels these things further devalue having actual skill?

Yes.

Additionally, instead of actually addressing the issues faced by resource gatherers due to inane anti-scripter code (that doesn't achieve the desired results) we get another item-based band-aid. We're encouraging this...why?

Because we're not all reflexively hostile to everything that gets done? The old system of "Valorite is totally rare, here's a runebook of 16 places to get it!" was stupid. The later system of "Haha good luck ever seeing valorite unless you script!" sucked too. This is a nice halfway point.

 

[FrejaSP]

I really start to like this Covetues changes They may help Siege too where we don't have 2 x resources even when all Fel

- Cauldron of Transmutation: increase by 1 level the ingot/wood. This cauldrons have a life span of 24 hours and there is 1 for every kind of metal/wood.
- Resource Map: allows the player to locate an ore deposit or a source of wood.
This two may work great together, I really love the map even when scripters may too, but we can kill them on Siege

- Smelter's Talisman: give 100% chance to smelt a metal. Has a life span of 24 hours.
This are nice for Siege too, where we only have one char slot and not all can afford alot of soulstones and it allow your miner to have some fighting skills as defence

- Woodsman's Talisman: give bonus logs while chopping a specific wood type. Has a life span of 24 hours.
Together with the map, this may let me do lumbering again, now we just need more/better reason to use colored resources. We need a reason for warriors to choose metal or wood armor.

- Temporary forge: allows to place a forge NOT in a house. The forge will last for 4 hours and cannot be redeed.
At least this forge won't get attacked of our Dark Wips and other monsters

- Magical Fish Finder: allows you to locate the location of a magical fish. Has a life span of 4 hours.
Maybe I need to learn more about magic fish

- Artifacts (brutal copy of the worst doom arties): this artifacts have the mod "Ephemeral" that still unknown...
Not sure about them.
Thanks for the info

 

[Ron Silverbeard]

...
- Temporary forge: allows to place a forge NOT in a house. The forge will last for 4 hours and cannot be redeed.
At least this forge won't get attacked of our Dark Wips and other monsters

y r u so sure 'bout this - might spawn a critter you dont know if u smelt doh?

 

[Sevin0oo0]

So am I the only one that feels these things further devalue having actual skill?

no complaints here either. /What Dermott said. You're still required to have the appropriate skill level. There were already multiple ways of conversion, least this gets people back into the field working, using the skill.